The Marginalized
those denied the kind and quality of life deserved by every person as a child of God

Jesus was notorious for paying attention to those at the margins of society — the poor, women, children, those stereotyped by race or religion or behavior or politics. He made space for them in his life, he found his way into their lives, he fought to assure a place for them in religious and societal circles. Other people through history have taken on this calling—Francis of Assisi, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., Oscar Romero — along with people you know who've taken a risk to secure equality and opportunity for everyone.

This is our work too. Seeking out those at the margins, living with and learning from them, working with them to give them the space they need to live happy, healthy lives — and realizing how difficult it must be to face the things they may be facing. 

Read below to find out more about people at the margins — and how we can walk with them. Read Emily and the Movie to hear one young woman's poignant reflection on the struggles of our neighbors.

On this page:

• Groups at Special Risk
  • Children
  • Indigenous
  • Victims of war
  • Women
  • The poor
• Avenues for action

NCP is committed to working with those are the margins of society. The groups below are some we consider at special risk-they often lack a voice to raise a cry of pain or protest. These are also groups and people with whom we can show our solidarity-and for whom we can raise a voice for justice.

Groups at special risk:

Children

The world has 250 million child workers. Not after-school jobs, but slaving in fields and mines and brothels and on battlefields. Millions more are malnourished and disrespected by their societies. What's needed: better jobs for their parents, encouraging respect for children in societies that don't give this respect, education for all. At left: children from Las Mercedes , Honduras.

"My daughter has gone to work at the maquila (sweatshop) in San Pedro Sula ." Digna Leinez, of Los Amates, Honduras, speaking of the job her daughter took upon graduation from high school-the only child she had been able to send past the sixth grade.

Indigenous

Millions of the world's native peoples live at the margins of areas they once ruled. Their ecosystems are under threat from mining, logging, oil drilling; their knowledge of the land is being lost; their cultures and languages are slipping away. What's needed: protecting their land (including not consuming things that destroy it); respecting their knowledge; building relationships with their communities. At left: Delio, the Siona shaman who guides our Amazon trip.

"I think our lives will be shorter." Response by Delio to a question posed by a member of NCP's 2006 Learning Tour asking what he thought the future will be like.

Victims of War

90 percent of the casualties and all the refugees in conflicts today are women and children and other civilians; in addition, 300,000 children are in the world's armies and militias. Those whom war doesn't injure or send fleeing are traumatized and impoverished-there are twice as many malnourished children in Iraq today as pre-2003. What's needed: redirecting war money to better purposes; reminding our world that war is not the answer (Iraq as case-in-point); empowering the United Nations. At left, children from Mosul , Iraq.

"Yes, can you tell me what it feels like to be free." Question posed by a Palestinian sixth-grader when asked if there were questions her class might have for a visitor from the United States .

Women

"To be born a daughter is a lost life "- Nepali proverb. Hard time for girls and women in this world. Last in line for school and nutrition, first in line for abuse and commercialization, not in line for respect in many societies. One number: 1 of 25 of the world's women who should be alive, aren't-simply because they were conceived a female (gender-based abortion, infanticide, neglect.) What's needed: empowering women; ensuring girls' education; raising our own awareness of these realities. At left: Zeinab and Jokomine, Blessed Bakhita School, Sudan.

"These girls just need a chance." Prajani Shah, Ministry of Women, Nepal, on the situation of females in her country, where girls only comprise 20 percent of students in elementary school.

The poor

Poverty brings lack of food, water, education, shelter, health care-and more-for billions of the world's people, with the poorest billion living on less than $1 a day. In this same world, the richest 2 percent of the people possess half the world's wealth. Poverty leads young women to sell their bodies, parents to surrender their children to bonded labor as young as four years of age, workers to sacrifice their dignity for any job they can find. What's needed: Education of US Christians and others of the demands of justice; changing global economic policies; supporting the work of grassroots international partners. At left: Makomali and 13 year-old daughter Puja of Nepal together earning 75 cents for their day's work carrying bricks up a hill.

"They treated us like dogs." Noe Urbina of Suchitoto, El Salvador, speaking of his experience in a sweatshop in San Salvador . He'd had to resort to this work after international economic policies had pulled the rug from under prices for coffee and corn-tradition crops in his country.

Avenues for Action

Human Rights organizations

• United Nations http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2006/
• Amnesty International www.amnesty.org
• Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org

Children

• UNICEF ( http://www.unicef.org ) Among other resources, this site features State of the World's Children -a great resource!
• NCP's Give a Girl a Chance program gives children the chance of a lifetime-an education!
• Matthew 19:13-15 Jesus welcoming the children-still a revolutionary act in many societies

Indigenous

• NCP Learning Tours will meet up with indigenous communities in Sudan (January), Guatemala (March), Honduras (July), Alaska (August), Nepal (January '08) - Let's go!
• Amazon Watch provides updates of issues related to the Amazon and native people who live there: www.amazonwatch.org
• Support forest preservation in the Ecuadorian Amazon ($200 an acre!)
• Join the Band -get the wristband and show your solidarity with native people while providing income from sustainable rainforest harvesting!
• Luke 4:16-30 Jesus noting that a woman from outside the Jewish community had been used by God for good-a reference that almost got Jesus killed

Victims of War

• Institute for Policy Studies Alternatives to war and globalization-gone-wrong from a progressive organization
• Women for Women International This group connects women up with women who have been impacted by war
• Genocide in Darfur
• background http://www.churchworldservice.org/news/Sudan/index.html
• action options http://www.ourpledge.org/

Women

• Grassroots group like NCP partner Women Empowerment are working for fair treatment for women all around the world:
• Support women's groups in Nepal and Sudan and help young women get an education in Sudan , Nepal and Central America : (basic info, alternative gift page)
• Film night anyone? Show the documentary China Blue. This film traces one girl's life in a Chinese sweatshop making jeans for export, but earning only 6 cents an hour. Have a discussion afterwards. Invite participants to write their Senators to encourage them to support legislation to penalize companies using sweatshop labor (it helps to have a short sample letter for others to look at as they write their letters). Charge a small admission and donate it to NCP's girls' education program.
• Educate on the Fair Trade movement, which guarantees that workers are treated respectfully and paid fairly. Do a leafletting at the entrance to the school dining hall or other public place giving stats about sweatshops and info about Fair Trade. May 12 is Fair Trade Day-here's a resource link
• Set up a mock sweatshop in a campus common area, showing how young adults (especially young women) around the world have to slave in factories producing our jeans and sneakers. Be sure to add a mean supervisor. Hand out the NCP flyer Spending Money to passersby.
• Invite people to give up a meal one day and contribute the money saved to a girls-related cause like our Give a Girl a Chance program.  If done in the campus setting, have students sign up in advance, and coordinate it with campus dining services so the money from meals not eaten can be given to your organization to send to NCP or whatever program you choose. Promote the event with flyers (available from NCP) and remind participants that many girls in the world get their only good meal every day at school feeding programs, since they are often last in line to be fed at home.
• John 8:1-11 Jesus stopping the stoning of a woman at the hands of the religious authorities

The Poor

• Thought slavery was a thing of the past? Think again! Find out how many million people are still slaves--and why.
• Malaria is one more hurdle facing the 500 million people who contract it every year. Those it doesn't kill outright (3000 per day) it weakens, sapping strength and income from millions of already-poor families. A mosquito net is one of the best defenses, but often people cannot afford to purchase one. Help them get one
• The National Labor Committee shines a light of truth on sweatshops and other troubling conditions for the world's workers: www.nlcnet.org; www.responsibleshopper.org rates popular companies by the way they treat their workers; Equal Exchange helps you drink your morning coffee, tea or cocoa with a clear conscience-they promote Fair Trade products: www.equalexchange.com
• Sacrifice-a strange but useful word, especially in a world where US teenagers spend more on themselves every week ($100) than five billion people have to live on every week. That's more than enough to keep a child in Sudan in school for a year.
• Check out NCP's Follow the Money, tracking how we spend our money and what effect it can have-for better or for worse.
• Matthew 25:31ff Jesus reminds us that as we encounter the poor, we meet him
• Excerpt from 2006 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech by Grameen Bank founder Mohammed Yunus (Grameen pioneered the micro-credit concept-small loans to poor women): "Poverty is Denial of All Human Rights. Peace should be understood in a human way 3/4 in a broad social, political and economic way. Peace is threatened by unjust economic, social and political order, absence of democracy, environmental degradation and absence of human rights. Poverty is the absence of all human rights. The frustrations, hostility and anger generated by abject poverty cannot sustain peace in any society. For building stable peace we must find ways to provide opportunities for people to live decent lives. The creation of opportunities for the majority of people - the poor - is at the heart of the work that we have dedicated ourselves to during the past 30 years."