Jubilee - <H2><CENTER>THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST in Abington</H2><text="red"><center>No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here.

Our Missions Board has long supported the program called Jubilee USA, which asks local church people to become involved in the campaign to end some of the crippling foreign debts of poor countries that keep people in poverty all over the world. Below is a description of what that program is and why you should be involved.

Why Drop the Debt?

Debt costs lives:
In the world’s most impoverished nations, the majority of the populations do not have access to clean water, adequate housing or basic health care. These countries are paying debt service to wealthy nations and institutions at the expense of providing these basic services to their citizens. The lives of 19,000 children could be saved every day if the debt of these countries was cancelled and savings put to good use.

"Must we starve our children to pay our debts?" Julius Nyerere, former President of Tanzania

Debt sucks:
Debt sucks the natural resources out of a country, forcing countries to become dependent on international creditors for more aid and new loans.

"Debt is tearing down schools, clinics and hospitals and the effects are no less devastating than war." Dr. Adabayo Adedeji from the African Center for Development Strategy

Strings attached:
The conditions that come with new loans and debt relief hurt the poor. Debt relief under the current program takes essential human services, like primary health and education and access to safe water, out of reach of the impoverished majority.

FACT: Even interim debt relief is conditioned on the requirement that countries sign a new loan.

They already paid:
These nations have already paid back their debts time and again. The debt crisis set in when interest rates skyrocketed and compound interest made repayment impossible.

FACT: Nigeria borrowed $5 billion, paid $16 billion to date and still owes $32 billion.

Don’t owe:
Much of the debt is a result of "bad faith" lending including:

the practice of pushing loans on developing nations because banks had too much money and had to lend it;

knowingly lending to corrupt governments for political purposes;

lending with conditions that ensured that profits return to the creditors.

Some debt also resulted from stolen wealth, or loans that were used to serve the purposes of the elite and not the people. Other debt resulted from irresponsible projects that failed to serve a greater purpose, or caused harm to the people or the environment.

This is why debt campaigns from around the world say "Don’t Owe, Won’t Pay!"

The Bible tells us so:
Texts in both the Hebrew Scriptures and throughout the New Testament call for debt cancellation and the righting of relationships every 7 years with a super Jubilee every 50^th year. The practice of debt cancellation can also be found in history among early Pagan kings. The Koran also challenges debt by harshly criticizing usury.

"Proclaim liberty throughout the lands and to all the inhabitants thereof, it shall be a jubilee for you." Leviticus 25:10

Debt cancellation is adding by subtracting:
Debt cancellation allows countries to access their own resources for poverty reduction. Savings from debt service can now be allocated for health care, education, fighting HIV/AIDS and more.

FACT: Experts estimate it would take an annual commitment of $10-15 billion a year to turn around the AIDS crisis in Africa that claims 7,000 lives a day. Sub-Saharan Africa pays almost $15 billion in debt service to the wealthy nations and institutions every year. Just do the math.

Debt is a new kind of slavery:
International debt slavery means that countries are caught in a debt trap that they can’t get out of. The debt trap is made up by economic conditions that take away their sovereignty and freedom. When countries are enslaved by debt they can’t improve the lives of their citizens nor have control over their own futures.

"Every child in Africa is born with a financial burden which a lifetime’s work cannot repay. The debt is a new from of slavery as vicious as the slave trade." -All Africa Council of Churches

Makes our foreign aid work better:
Currently our foreign aid frees up money for countries to pay back their debts to other wealthy nations and international banks. Debt cancellation would help ensure that new funds can be used effectively for poverty reduction, ultimately lessening countries dependence on aid.

FACT: In the "boom" years of 1990-1997 developing countries paid more in debt service than they received in new assistance.

Debt cancellation gets results:
The small amount of debt relief given so far has achieved startling results, including more than doubling school enrollment in Uganda, vaccinating five hundred thousand children in Mozambique and adding three more years of schooling for Honduran children.

FACT: After debt relief and the elimination of school fees, 1.5 million children returned to school in Tanzania almost overnight.

You have the power:
Ordinary Americans, working with partners around the world, can generate the political will needed to drop the debt. The United States has the most influence of any nation over creditors and international banks. Our Congress could leverage full debt cancellation for impoverished countries. However, they won’t act unless they think you care.

FACT: The progress Jubilee has made so far towards debt cancellation could never have happened without the concern and action of people like you. You have the power to make freedom from debt a reality. Join us today!