25% of Statistics are Made up on the spot.
Is that statement true? Maybe, I could be part of the 25% I guess.
Numbers are great. They are logical and clinical.
They also lie, oversimplify and distract.
For example:
- 1 in 10 people are colour blind
- 90% of people can see colour just fine
Two messages from the same set of numbers which read very differently. (Neither of which is true by the way.)
We use numbers to draw attention to the significant issues in our world, and even if they are factually correct, it isn’t working. By themselves, numbers don’t work.
I could tell you that Opportunity International Australia is helping over 6.7 million families to work their way out of poverty through the power of a small loan, or I could tell you about Shoba…
Shoba, a wife and mother in India, was already living in poverty when her husband got sick.
They were unable to afford the medicine for her husband’s condition, so she borrowed from a money lender to get her husband the help he needed.
Sadly, he died.
In time, the money lender came to get what they were owed – which was now significantly more than the amount borrowed. Shoba did not have the money to pay.
The lender took both of her young sons to work off the debt by manual labour at a quarry.
Nobody should have to live like that, facing an impossible decision between critical healthcare and losing children to slave labour.
Shoba heard about the small loans available through Opportunity. She borrowed USD50 and bought some carving tools and supplies. Shoba hand carved wood into elephants which she sold by the roadside.
Using the money she earned to redeem her sons, Shoba was also able repay her Opportunity loan and build a better life for her family.
Breaking the cycle of poverty takes a lot of courage.
Making a donation is the easy part!
Opportunity has 6.7 million other stories like that. Stories that say more than statistics ever could, even if they aren’t made up.
Stories with true statistics will tell the whole story.
The Generosity Guy 