Few of us think of violence. But beneath the surface of the poorest communities in the developing world is a hidden epidemic of everyday violence-of rape, forced labor, illegal detention, land theft, police abuse, and more- that is undermining our best efforts to assist the poor. Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros's The Locust Effect offers a searing account of the way pervasive violence blocks the road out of poverty, undermines economic development, and reduces the effectiveness of international public health efforts. As corrupt and dysfunctional justice systems allow the locusts of predatory violence to descend upon the poor, the ravaging plague lays waste to programs of income generation, disease prevention, education for girls and other assistance to the poor. And tragically, none of these aid programs can stop the violence. In graphic real-world stories-set in locales ranging from Peru to India to Nigeria- The Locust Effect offers a gripping journey into the vast, hidden underworld of everyday violence where justice is only available to those with money. But the book holds out hope, recalling that justice systems in developed countries were once just as corrupt and brutal; and explores a practical path for throwing off antiquated colonial justice systems and re-engineering the administration of justice to protect the poorest. Sweeping in scope and filled with unforgettable stories, The Locust Effect will force us to rethink everything we know about the causes of poverty and what it will take make the poor safe enough to prosper.

    After an encounter with a father whose little girl was dying from a heart defect, they began to investigate options for helping and learned that untold thousands of children across Iraq were in similar need, waiting in line for heart surgery in a country without a qualified heart surgeon. With the help of their closest friends, they dived in to save the lives of as many as they could, but sending children abroad proved to be expensive and cumbersome, and it failed to make an impact on the systemic needs of Iraqi hospitals—the place where these children really should be saved. Despite fatwas, death threats, bombings, imprisonments, and intense living conditions, Jeremy and his team persevered to overcome years of hostilities and distrust in an effort to eradicate the backlog of thousands upon thousands of Iraqi children waiting in line for much-needed heart surgery. “This true story of people coming together to live the doctrine of 'love first, ask questions later' by building bridges and saving lives is powerfully inspiring, touching, and, unfortunately, urgently relevant” (Publishers Weekly). “Courtney’s moving story gives us some of the best news to come out of Iraq in ages” (Los Angeles Times).

    Baraka and eight cousins live with their grandmother. She gives them boundless love, but there is never enough money or food, and life is hard --love doesn't feed hungry stomachs or clothe growing bodies, or school keen minds. Baraka is too young, and, with his disability, needs too much, and she is too old. A difficult choice must be made, and grandmother and grandchild set off on a journey to see if there is a place at the orphanage for Baraka. The story begins by looking at Baraka's physical disability as a misfortune, but ends by looking beyond the disability, to his great heart and spirit, and the blessings he brings.

    Rich and Reneé Stearns show us why. We often separate ourselves from people who are different from us, sometimes even intentionally. This book is a great reminder of all the things we share in common—hopes, dreams, heartaches—and most important of all, it reminds us that He walks among us. All of us. This book offers great perspective from our brothers and sisters around the world. Rich and Reneé Stearns have traveled the world visiting the most poverty-stricken habitations imaginable, and they’ve discovered an amazing and common occurrence among the people who live there: joy can be found no matter how dire your circumstances. He Walks Among Us is a 90-day devotional giving readers an up-close and personal view of Christ in the lives of mothers, fathers, and children who have so little, yet are so rich in His spirit and love. Christians who are interested in or committed to missionary outreach will encounter the transforming power and courage needed to make a difference in someone else’s life. Spiritual lessons include: The Choice to Believe—No Matter What; Our True Identity Is in Christ; Discovering Joy in Unexpected Places; Having Unshakable Hope in the Power of God; Our Circumstances Don’t Define Who We Are; We Become Transformed When We Invest in Others; and Remaining Faithful to Your Calling No Matter the Obstacles. He Walks Among Us features the award-winning photography of World Vision® photographer Jon Warren.

    It's time to set the bar higher. Until we make school the best part of every student's day, we will struggle with attendance, achievement, and graduation rates. This timely resource will help you take immediate action to revitalize and enrich your practice so that all your students may thrive in school and beyond.

    Instead of offering a doorway to opportunity, the college process presented endless obstacles for students who already battled poverty, violence, and low expectations. It caused Steckel to reexamine his assumptions about college.Every single one of the graduating seniors he has worked with in urban public high school has been accepted to college. To Steckel’s surprise, that turned out to be the easy part. Getting In, Getting Out follows ten of his students through the application process and college experience. At a time when the idea of “college for all” is both embraced and challenged, their stories defy all of the traditional assumptions about the meaning and value of higher education. This important book gives human faces to statistics about low college attendance and graduation rates among low-income students of color, and shows how a counselor’s belief in the potential of every student can transform futures.

    And so the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) was born, with Wayne Gordon an immediate and enthusiastic participant. Nearly thirty years later CCDA's eight key components of community development still set the bar for how churches, parachurches and nonprofits engage cities with the whole gospel.Relocation Reconciliation Redistribution Leadership Development Listening to the Community Church-Based Development A Wholistic Approach to Ministry Empowerment In Making Neighborhoods Whole Perkins and Gordon revisit these eight commitments and how they've played out in real communities, even as they scan the horizon of urban ministry to set a new tone. With profiles of longstanding and emerging community development ministries, they guide a new conversation and empower disciples of Jesus to seek the welfare of their cities to the glory of God.

    A story of Hope and Sadness is written by Nicola Davies.

    To do this, it provides practical examples and guidelines for team members, and it creates interaction and reflection opportunities through questions and journaling.With eight units, six of which are built around free online video content, this book equips teams to avoid harming materially poor communities and to translate their experience into lasting and mutual engagement with missions and poverty alleviation. In conjunction with the separately available Leader’s Guide, it is an ideal resource for churches, Christian colleges, mission agencies, and missionaries.

    In Purging the Poorest, Lawrence J. Vale offers a new narrative of the seventy-five-year struggle to house the “deserving poor.”In the 1930s, two iconic American cities, Atlanta and Chicago, demolished their slums and established some of this country’s first public housing. Six decades later, these same cities also led the way in clearing public housing itself. Vale’s groundbreaking history of these “twice-cleared” communities provides unprecedented detail about the development, decline, and redevelopment of two of America’s most famous housing projects: Chicago’s Cabrini-Green and Atlanta’s Techwood /Clark Howell Homes. Vale offers the novel concept of design politics to show how issues of architecture and urbanism are intimately bound up in thinking about policy. Drawing from extensive archival research and in-depth interviews, Vale recalibrates the larger cultural role of public housing, revalues the contributions of public housing residents, and reconsiders the role of design and designers.

    She wants to go to schooland become a doctorwith her best friend, Julie Marie.But in their rural villageoutside Port-au-Prince, Haiti,many obstaclesstand in Serafina’s way--little money,never-ending chores,and Manman’s worries.More powerful eventhan all of theseare the heavy rainsand the shaking earththat test Serafina’s resolvein ways she never dreamed.At once heartbreaking and hopeful,this exquisitely crafted storywill leave a lasting impressionon your heart.

    But in the hospital she sees a frightened, lonely old man and realises with a shock that he seems to regret his earlier actions.During her vigil, she is joined by Charlie, her beloved little brother, then the ma and some of her other siblings. All of them have suffered greatly and it is clear that no one connected to Jackser has escaped unscathed.But as she sits with him during his dying days, other memories of Jackser come back to Martha - fleeting moments of concern and kindness, and a sense of closeness as he recalled his own tormented past in one of Ireland's industrial schools. It is a vicious cycle of cruelty and loss that has played out, from which only her own tenacity and wit has provided an escape.Poignant, ribald, poetic and defiant, with its resolution of many unanswered questions about her life this is Martha at her best.

    In the face of overwhelming adversity, Mary Elizabeth Bullock makes her name as an experienced trial litigator, a respected business law professor, and a federal civil rights judge. She finds brilliant success in spite of being blind, and being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus, and despite having enduring a childhood poisoned by unspeakable abuse. Her book offers hope and motivation to others who have been cruelly betrayed by those who should have been their protectors. It holds knowledge that can help heal adults damaged by sexually abusive childhoods, and it offers understanding and support to those who love them. When she was a helpless child, Bullock's father sexually abused her for ten plus years, She was beaten, tortured, sold into sex slavery and molested in physically and psychologically unbearable ways. Perhaps worst of all, he taught her to believe that the evil he did to her was her own fault. Bullock chose to finally tell her story in the hope that others might see that they are not alone, that their stories of abuse do not have the last word. Child sexual abuse is frighteningly common. Nevertheless, the realities of child abuse are often denied by people who cannot bear to believe that it exists. Some of those abused as children grow up to disbelieve their own stories, or to minimize the damage their brutal past has done them. As a child, Bullock suffered horrific abuse, alone and without support. As a young woman, she was drive to succeed, in spite of what was done to her. She invented a different public personality for herself, once she was able to escape. Outwardly, she donned the armor of achievement and success by garnering high academic honors and rising to a position of power and influence. Taking full advantage of the scholarships she won, in spite of her chaotic home life, she earned the necessary education to advance her out of the degrading life she grew up in. As an adult, she began a legal career that allowed her to help the disenfranchised, disillusioned and dispossessed. But even after achieving a life that would make anyone proud, under her polished and professional exterior, Bullock was always uncertain, and aware of the past that relentlessly pursued her. Time after time she found herself in negative relationships, never understanding why she was continuously drawn to shattered men, childishly selfish men, and men who hated women as they tried to love them. Through years of seeking, she gained understanding of herself and of others like her. At last, finding her own peace, she made truce with her unforgotten past and gained the necessary self-esteem needed to build genuine relationships. Mary Elizabeth Bullock thanks God for saving her from a life of despair. She hopes, with this heartfelt memoir, to share her experience and hard-won knowledge that healing is possible, and that a life worth living is attainable. In this memoir, she proves that the human spirit can triumph over the longest odds.

    A dynamic table of contents allows you to jump directly to the work selected.Table of Contents:Labor and FreedomPolitical Appeal to American WorkersPoliticians and PreachersSpeech of SeditionStatement to the CourtThe Common LaborerThe Crimson Standard

    Yet the era of corporate globalisation has been defined by unprecedented levels of inequality and environmental degradation. A return to capitalist growth threatens to exacerbate these problems, not solve them.In The Poverty of Capitalism, John Hilary reveals the true face of transnational capital in its insatiable drive for expansion and accumulation. He exposes the myth of ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR), and highlights key areas of conflict over natural resources, labour rights and food sovereignty.Hilary also describes the growing popular resistance to corporate power, as well as the new social movements seeking to develop alternatives to capitalism itself. This book will be essential reading for all those concerned with global justice, human rights and equity in the world order.

    

    Differences in income have grown faster than in most other developed countries.New Zealand society is being reshaped, stretching to accommodate new distance between those who ‘have’ and those who ‘have not’. Income inequality is a crisis that affects us all.A diverse gathering of New Zealand scholars, journalists, researchers, business leaders, workers, students and parents share these pages. Their voices speak to the complex shape of income inequality, and its effects on the communities of these Pacific islands.

    

    In 1978, rainforest covered the region. Today, cattle pastures stretch to the horizon, their unshaded grass rippling with heatwaves. Ranches of tens of thousands of acres benefit single families who have no title to the land. Nearby, scores of families camp in ramshackle huts, awaiting the land they are entitled to. but may not get until the land is dead.With Brazil’s federal government all but nonexistent there, the “Lawof the .38” rules. Wealthy squatters do not hesitate to use violence to defend their illegal holdings. Slavery is so common that the enslaved accept it as part of life. Distant forest fires turn the sky pink, and local brush fires threaten towns and encampments. Courts are unreliable, and police are often pistoleiros available for hire.Sr. Leonora has received innumerable death threats, and pistoleiros have hounded her, broken into her home, and murdered people she works with. She does not believe that God will stop the bullets when they come for her. God has given us a perfect world, she says, and that’s all he’s going to do for any- body. It’s up to us to take care of the world he gave us.This book is based on an article by Glenn Alan Cheney published in Harper’s Magazine. That article appears here in Portuguese translation.

    But why has gang activity become endemic in the region? Photojournalist Donna De Cesare began covering Central America during the civil wars of the 1980s, focusing especially on the disrupted lives of children and youths, and continued her photography project in Central American refugee communities in the United States in the 1990s and postwar Central America in the 2000s. She documents a history of repression, violence, and trauma, in which gangs are as much a symptom as a cause of trauma, trapped as they are by social neglect. With profound empathy for a reality that is too easily defined and dismissed as repugnant, Unsettled/Desasosiego takes us on a visual journey into the lives of children deeply affected by civil war and gang violence. De Cesare’s photographs and bilingual personal narrative trace the evolution and expansion of the notorious 18th Street and Mara Salvatrucha gangs from the barrios of Los Angeles to the shanties of Central America. They show how decades of war and violence—as well as the illegal drug trade—have created a culture that allows gangs to flourish. At the same time, her photographs portray the humanity of gang members and their families, encouraging us to understand the lives of youths at the margins and to take responsibility for the consequences of political and social actions that have ruptured Central American society for generations.