I want to tell you a story about a man named Bob. It is not strictly a true story, but like my Dad says, never let the facts get in the way of a perfectly good story.
A Parable
Bob Draker is a good man. He gets up at 4:30 AM every day to go to work as a transportation coordinator for the school district. He’s at the bus barn before the first bus leaves, and he’s there to make sure every bus returns safely. He worries about the kids who ride his buses, but no more than he worries about his own kids. This job, which pays barely more than minimum wage was not his life’s dream. But he and his wife Noreen had their first child, Sherri when they were beginning their days at college. Sherri was soon followed by Stephen.
Noreen dropped out of college to do temp work so that Bob could continue his education, but with the cost of childcare, her income barely covered her expenses. Sherri had medical problems when she was eighteen months old, and Bob and Noreen did not have insurance. The bills were intense and, despite his academic promise; Bob had to drop out of college to make ends meet. Now they both were lacking in education with tremendous bills. And so they work every day, but every day they seem to be falling farther and farther behind.
Bob has a very well-off uncle who took pity on him. The uncle knew Bob was behind on the rent and several bills, and so the uncle loaned him some money to help him through the hard time. Bob was temporarily relieved, but with the debt payment to his uncle, his troubles just multiplied. About the time that Bob was making headway on his medical debts, his landlord raised the rent. The uncle again took pity on Bob and loaned him more money. After a few years of this, Bob was paying 25% of his income to his uncle to service his debt.
As time went on, Bob received some decent raises, and Noreen’s temp job became a permanent job with a good employer. She is making her way up in the ranks at the company and making more money. So, Bob and Noreen have been able to make headway on their medical bills and, besides the money they owe the uncle, they are in pretty good shape. Bob and Noreen both dream of finishing their education and moving up in life, but much of their life is spent making money to pay their debt to Bob’s uncle.
Bob does not want to offend his uncle. The children love the uncle, who often brings them gifts or buys them school supplies. Just a few weeks ago Stephen went with the uncle to the store and came back with a desperately-needed new pair of shoes. Bob and Noreen are in a very difficult position.
As I confessed at the beginning of this story, Bob, Noreen, Sherri, Stephan and the uncle are fictional characters, but they might not represent who you think they do.
Bob and his family are the poorest nations.
And you are his uncle.
Some countries spend as much as 25-30% of their annual budgets servicing their debt. For every dollar poor countries receive in aid, they still pay out $2.30 in debt service. Because their resources are going to debt payments, they don’t have resources left to provide access to clean water, education and basic healthcare.
But you can change this.
A Hope
There is a way out for the poorest nations. There is a very old idea that can work. It is called
Jubilee. The idea is found in the book of Leviticus.
"It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan."
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Leviticus 25: 10As the children of Israel were getting ready to go into the Promised Land, God gave them instructions on how to handle debt. The idea is that families, would own property. They could “sell” it to a neighbor, but for a period no longer than 49 (7 times 7) years. In the 50th year, the Jubilee year, the property would return to the original owner. The selling price of property was based on the use the buyer might get for using the property for whatever time was left until the Jubilee year.
Imagine the power of this debt forgiveness. People could lose their property (and with it their livelihood), be sold into indentured servitude, but they would always have hope because eventually the year of Jubilee would come and everything would be set right again.
We Have the Power of Forgiveness
If you hear about a 79-year-old man who is fasting for 40 days, will that make you curious? Would you wonder what was so important?
David Duncombe began a water-only fast on Sept. 1, 2007 and plans to maintain the fast for over 40 days. And he’s not alone. Zambia's first president, Kenneth Kaunda is on a fast. Four members of Congress are going to fast for one day. Thousands of people around the world are joining in the fast. Why? What is so important?
They are fasting in support of upcoming legislation before Congress, the Jubilee Act, which is a bill that would dissolve the debts of many of the world’s poorest nations.
The bill,
H.R. 2634, is co-sponsored by Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California, and Spencer Bachus, a Republican from Alabama.
Debt cancellation would allow funds to be used for poverty reduction instead of debt reduction. This would decrease poor countries’ dependence on foreign aid.
We have some recent success stories to prove that this works. In the recent past the U.S. and other industrialized countries have forgiven debt through two initiatives: the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI). The countries that have taken advantage of this opportunity for debt forgiveness have seen vast improvements. Here are some examples:
- Mozambique used its debt service savings to vaccinate children against tetanus, whooping cough and diphtheria, as well as build and electrify schools.
- Nigeria is using the $750 million in debt service savings from 2006 to train and recruit new teachers.
- Cameroon used its debt savings to launch a national HIV/AIDS plan for prevention, education, testing and mother-to-child transmission abatement.
However, HIPC and MDRI did not work for everyone. Only 21 of 40 countries that are eligible for the HIPC program have obtained 100% cancellation. The majority of the 19 remaining countries have been delayed by the requirement that they comply with harmful economic reforms, including moves to privatize water or restrict spending on health care workers.
That’s where the Jubilee Act comes in. The Jubilee Act contains the following provisions:
- Calls on the U.S. Treasury to support 100% cancellation of bilateral and multilateral debts
- Calls for an audit of other outstanding debt claims, to determine the odious and illegitimate origins of impoverished country debts
- Prohibits specific structural adjustment conditions including the imposition of user fees on health and education and mandated privatization of water
- Contains a provision that governments should allocate 20% of their budgets on social services and development, including education and health care
- Debt cancellation would be financed through the IMF and World Bank's existing resources to the extent possible
Here’s What You can DoYou can get involved right away. Here are three simple acts you can take to forgive the debt of the poorest countries in the world.
- Ask your Member of Congress to cosponsor the Jubilee Act (HR 2634) - sponsored by Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Spencer Bachus (R-AL) - which will extend debt cancellation without imposing harmful economic conditions on all impoverished countries that are required to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). One.org has made it easy by providing all of the tools. Click Here to take action.
- Log on to http://www.jubileeusa.org/ to learn more about how you can become involved with the Jubilee Act.
- Join One.org in the campaign to make poverty history.
Please take a few minutes and get involved today.
Labels: Africa, Debt Cancellation, debt relief, HR 2634, IMF, Jublee, Millennium Development Goals, One.org, poverty, World Bank
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