“There is nothing like living for a time in a different culture to broaden your horizons or change your value system,” said Fred Schuld who served with CRWRC in the Philippines from 1970-1974. Schuld’s mission in going to the Philippines was to help local families increase their household income through agriculture and livestock programs. CRWRC had recently made the switch from being only a “relief” agency to one that was focused on “development” using a “self-help” approach. Schuld was the first CRWRC staff member to join the Christian Reformed Church ministry in the Philippines and put the theory into practice. It wasn’t without difficulty.“We started out by providing the community with capital to start up a poultry project and a food store,” said Schuld, “But the people in charge used their capital to meet the immediate needs of their family, and the businesses failed. We hadn’t understood the local culture. If the family needs food, or a child needs to go to a clinic, any ‘extra capital’ gets quickly used up to meet those immediate needs. In a culture of poverty, people live day to day and are unaccustomed to planning ahead for the next month or the next year.
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“There is nothing like living for a time in a different culture to broaden your horizons or change your value system,” said Fred Schuld who served with CRWRC in the Philippines from 1970-1974.
Schuld’s mission in going to the Philippines was to help local families increase their household income through agriculture and livestock programs. CRWRC had recently made the switch from being only a “relief” agency to one that was focused on “development” using a “self-help” approach. Schuld was the first CRWRC staff member to join the Christian Reformed Church ministry in the Philippines and put the theory into practice.
It wasn’t without difficulty.
“We started out by providing the community with capital to start up a poultry project and a food store,” said Schuld, “But the people in charge used their capital to meet the immediate needs of their family, and the businesses failed. We hadn’t understood the local culture. If the family needs food, or a child needs to go to a clinic, any ‘extra capital’ gets quickly used up to meet those immediate needs. In a culture of poverty, people live day to day and are unaccustomed to planning ahead for the next month or the next year.
“For more than half of the population of the island we worked on (Negros), this was the case. The minimum daily wage of eight pesos ($1.25) was quickly spent as follows: two kilograms of rice at three pesos per kilogram, and one-third kilogram of fish at two pesos. This fed the average family of eight (parents, five children, at least one grandparent) for one day. In a situation like this there is no provision for home, schooling, social security, clothing, medicine, medical care, or recreation. For people in this income group, food is the only necessity they can afford. For persons who earn more than the minimum wage, other needs quickly devour the additional wages. First priority goes to the needs of any other member of the family of the husband or wife-brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, even to third cousins. Therefore, even someone with above average income may not be able to provide much beyond tomorrow.”
The immediacy mindset that comes with a subsistence lifestyle had led to traditions that were not easily changed no matter how much money was invested in community programs: handouts weren’t helping. CRWRC began to recognize that to make true, lasting improvements in the lives of people in need, it had to understand the cultural values of the community they were a part of and at the same time build the skills community members needed to challenge sometimes harmful traditions. With this in mind, CRWRC staff adopted several principles that they’d put into use as they worked in communities around the world.
First, CRWRC would not do any projects in a community until the community members asked for it.
“Of course we let those in need know that we were prepared to work with them,” said Schuld. “But then we waited for them to take the initiative and request our aid. Because of this, our work was very welcome and was looked upon as belonging to the villagers.”
Second, CRWRC adhered to the local community’s sense of what was fair and equitable.
“In the Philippines in the 1970’s, community members thought that all people of a similar social and economic standing should be treated similarly in a program of economic assistance. CRWRC attempted to accommodate this principle. In our pig distribution we offered all needy persons residing in the village a chance to participate. Fifteen names were chosen by lot to receive the initial fifteen pigs. Each recipient then had to return two offspring. These were distributed to another thirty families, and those offspring to another sixty families, and so on, until all qualified persons received their allotment,” recalled Schuld. “In the same way, we allowed all mothers to bring their children to a village feeding program. The children were then screened by an objective weight standard and only those who were deemed ‘severely malnourished’ were enrolled. In addition, the mothers had to attend classes on health and nutrition and a family was disqualified if there were too many absences.”
Third, CRWRC would work with all people in a community regardless of their church affiliation.
“We found that in the Philippines, working with people regardless of church membership was a better testimony to the church's concern, and did more for the quality and quantity of church membership than working only with church members,” Schuld explained.
Fourth, nothing was given away without asking the recipient to do something in return.
“Local custom dictated that if a person received without giving back, they were a beggar and their honor was violated. Therefore, we imposed requirements. If someone received a pig, she had to repay two offspring. If people brought their children to the feeding program, they had to plant and grow a garden, and they had to practice in their homes what we taught them about health and sanitation,” said Schuld.
Fifth, CRWRC limited assistance to keep incomes manageable.
“Early in our work we attempted some projects that would give a person enough income to meet all their needs rather than just enough to improve their lot a bit. We found that growing incomes incrementally avoids several problems. If a poor person who is not used to managing large lump sums is required to change his values and his way of life too rapidly, he may find he does not like the vastly increased responsibility and will long for the old ways of day-to-day living, or he may only increase the number of his relatives who depend on him, and benefit very little himself from his increased income.
“Also, increasing income incrementally preserves people’s honor and integrity. They can recognize that part of their improved status was due to their own efforts, and will continue to apply effort in the same direction. Finally, for CRWRC, limiting assistance provided to each person allows us to help more people and to run a low cost program,” explained Schuld.
These key values of working with people in poverty have evolved as CRWRC has gained experience and expertise, but they continue to be at the center of CRWRC’s work with 84 church-based and independent Christian community organizations in nearly 30 countries around the world.
They have also played a key role in CRWRC’s success–not only helping people in poverty improve their lives in lasting ways, but also strengthening the witness of the CRC and the Christian church around the world.
“The best possible result of CRWRC's work is that it increases the number of people who believe that Jesus Christ is their Savior and who come to church,” said Schuld. “Our witness of Christian concern in the Philippines brought Filipinos to the Christian Reformed churches, and more important, to our Lord. Some missionaries have been amazed at how CRWRC is able to penetrate into areas closed to the missionaries and to churches. I think this is due, in part, because our efforts are aimed at Christian and non-Christian alike and because we look at change from a values perspective.”
~ by Kristen de Roo Vanderberg, CRWRC Communications