Nearly half the world’s population, approximately 2.7 billion people, live in poverty struggling to survive on less than $2 a day. These people struggle to afford even the most basic of needs like food, clean water, clothing and shelter. They often go without medical attention and their children miss out on an education which leads to a future filled with uncertainty. Microfinance is a significant way in which poverty can be alleviated in developing countries. This is done principally by giving small loans to the poor that helps them establish or expand a business, create jobs and provide for their families. Examples of businesses that Mercy Aid has assisted include:
Purchase of sewing machines to commence a tailoring business
Purchase of a grinding machine for local grain growers
Purchase of a commercial cement mixer to be available for hire
Purchase of stock to establish a small shop
Purchase of equipment for a mobile food vendor
Some facts about Poverty
Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished.
2.6 billion people around the world do not have access to toilets, latrines or basic sanitation, causing fatal illnesses that could easily be prevented.
1.1 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water.
Every 3.6 seconds, someone in the world dies from starvation. The majority are children under five years old.
Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
Justice
Today, millions of lives around the world are in the grip of injustice. They toil in bondage, where their bodies are not their own but that of somebody who owns them and it is the poor who bear the burden of these abuses.
Human trafficking generates enormous profits for those who sell people into slavery and sexual bondage. The land rights of women and orphans are violated on a massive scale worldwide, and women suffer the double indignity of rape and seeing their perpetrators face no consequences for crimes of sexual violence.
Mercy Aid partners with a Christian human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.