Why faith? Part 1

timbrauhn

– September 16, 2009Posted in: faiths act, interfaith

Church and mosque next to each other in Zanzibar

Today I leave Chicago along with twenty-eight of the other Faiths Act Fellows (my site-partner Hafsa lives in the city). I’m not flying home since home for me is only 100-odd miles west of Chicago. Tonight I’ll meet up with some of my old professors, mentors, and friends from Aurora University to play catch-up on the last nine months of our lives. Later tonight, I’ll make the hour drive out to my family’s farm in the countryside. Then I will sleep the sleep that only comes after seven rigorous weeks of training on three continents.

On July 30^th, I walked into a room on the campus of University College London and met the people that I’ll be sharing the next eight months (and beyond) of my life with; learning, collaborating, commiserating if necessary, and striving towards a goal that at first glance appears incalculable even to a western audience. The Faiths Act Fellows are going to lay the groundwork for an international coalition of people of faith focused on promoting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); specifically MDG 6, which concerns the eradication of malaria deaths.

In such work, there are many stakeholders: policymakers see the MDGs as promoting political stability; international development professionals aim to raise the standard of life for billions; business people see investment and growth opportunities in fresh markets. Each group has an equally-valid impetus (yes, even the capitalists) for their work. What, then, is the “hook” for religious people? Why are the Fellows tasked with building ties between and among faith communities in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada?

For people of faith, there is a moral-universal imperative to advocate for the downtrodden, to shelter those without homes, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, and to do everything within one’s power to make this planet a more just place. These are the people that we need on board with our work; faith communities inspire hope and carry the vision of a better tomorrow.

The Faiths Act Fellows all come from very different religious traditions and different backgrounds, but we all have one goal: foster a new international coalition of churches, mosques, temples, governments, and NGOs to make the scourge of malaria a thing of the past.

An evening with Tony Blair Last night the Faiths Act Fellows attended a small...

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kellymoltzen

So, you're working on an “international coalition of people of faith focused on promoting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); specifically MDG 6, which concerns the eradication of malaria deaths.” That's awesome!

–How connected are you to charity:water (http://www.charitywater.org/)? Scott Harrison started this organization 3 years ago and they're already making fabulous headway in getting wells built in many developing countries – they recently worked with Partners in Health in Haiti, and do a lot of work in Africa. Since clean water is key to eradicating malaria (and many other problems!), I highly suggest you form a partnership with charity:water. Another added plus is that Scott Harrison is grounded in faith. Feel free to read more about charity:water on my blog, if you haven't already!
http://twitter.com/timbrauhn Tim Brauhn

Charity:water does great work in making water accessible, but the link between clean boreholes and malaria mitigation is a thin one at best. What we're dealing with is not so much an overabundance of stagnant water as it is an underabundance of education. Our model involves churches and mosques and other faith communities because in the developing world, they are the places that can most easily distribute education and perhaps supplies to their members. Clean water helps with a lot of problems, true, but for most all of our work, the focus rests on connecting people to institutions to people.
http://timbrauhn.com timbrauhn

Charity:water does great work in making water accessible, but the link between clean boreholes and malaria mitigation is a thin one at best. What we're dealing with is not so much an overabundance of stagnant water as it is an underabundance of education. Our model involves churches and mosques and other faith communities because in the developing world, they are the places that can most easily distribute education and perhaps supplies to their members. Clean water helps with a lot of problems, true, but for most all of our work, the focus rests on connecting people to institutions to people.
http://timbrauhn.com/why-faith-part-2/ Why faith? Part 2 | In the Hand of Dante

[...] previous post addressed the religious imperative against malaria from the standpoint of those of us in the US, UK, and Canada. So why is the Faiths Act campaign so explicit about the work of churches and mosques on the ground [...]

Why faith? Part 1

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