- ATD Fourth World

ATD Fourth World Movement members prepared for the “It Takes a Child to Raise a Village” assembly and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on October 17 for many months. Members and friends had solicited and received letters of support from their members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to encourage President Obama and his administration to receive the delegation. Through this process, one of the long-term members of ATD Fourth World in New York who has lived in poverty met with her local Representative and his staff. After years of working with ATD Fourth World and in her neighborhood, she was finally able to say that she’s a “community organizer.”

On Friday, October 15, Congresswoman Donna Edwards visited us at our national center in Landover, Maryland. She had written a letter of support for the event and told us, “I’ve introduced a resolution in Congress to recognize October 17th as a day to bring a voice to the faces of poverty.  Every day we have to talk about poverty, to engage creative strategies to end it, and most importantly to elevate the voices of children and young people who don’t want to live in poverty and don’t believe that others should. 
The children here may think an international day is about missing school, and it’s true that you are learning things here together that you don’t learn in school…We have a special obligation to eliminate poverty, not because it makes us feel good, but because people want to be able to take care of their families and be successful.  The poorest family wants the same thing as the wealthiest.”

The delegates also brought their efforts to take care of their families and be successful to Ms. Otero, the Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, who welcomed them to the State Department on October 15. The discussion centered on the lives of people living in poverty everywhere and the United States’ efforts to reinforce anti-poverty initiatives abroad. Yvenson, from Haiti, said, “I’ve been part of ATD Fourth World since I was very young. ATD Fourth World is the only movement I know that really works with the poorest to help to eliminate poverty. We accompany families and their children so they can have medical attention, an education, and social programs…This is a way of living out the slogan that I created for the Tapori movement: ’Who can change the world without me?’ ”
Christopher Webster, Deputy Chief of Mission at the State Department, said, “A lot of us don’t know personally what living in poverty is like,” and went on to explain how important it is for him and his colleagues to hear the personal experiences and efforts of people living in poverty around the world. The representatives of the State Department assured us that they would like to get to know ATD Fourth World and its members more and support us in any way that they can. Ms. Otero promised to bring the delegates’ message to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The “It Takes a Child to Raise a Village” assembly and these political meetings showed that if we can sit around the table with others who live in poverty, if we can build friendships and partnerships with them, then we cannot ignore their suffering and hardships. We also cannot ignore their hopes and projects, which must become our own as well if we want to eradicate poverty.