So why do we treat third-world mothers as though they are any different than us? Do they love their children less than we do? Are they less motivated to see their children’s lives flourish? Are they less capable of self-sacrifice, affection, empathy, or compassion than we are? We apparently take our parenting very seriously here in the United States, so I imagine we’d find such questions insulting if the tables were turned.
This thinking about the nature of women, and of mothers in particular, has gripped me as I have heard the message of SowHope. Helping women is the right approach to alleviating severe poverty because it is so closely aligned with what we can observe in ourselves: women who are mothers are innately motivated to better the lives of their families and in the vast majority of cases they are well-equipped to do so capably.
This is an interesting set of questions to discuss at the playground or in the preschool parking lot. Admittedly, it opens a whole host of gnarly issues surrounding our beliefs about the nature of poverty, the role of government, the merits of individual efforts, and so on. But at this time of year when we honor mothers, I encourage you to think about the nature of women as mothers and think about how best to lift the burden of severe poverty around the world. Thinking about this in our own context here in the West and our personal experience of motherhood makes the mission of SowHope easily understood. After all, if it were you struggling to meet the needs of your own family, don’t you believe you would do it better than anyone given the right opportunities?
This past week we honored Mothers whom we know work hard to elevate the health, happiness, and opportunities of their children all over the world. And we work hard, every day, at SowHope to help those mother’s in need.
We hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day.
Source: Sow Hope
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