History is replete with examples where those in power used their privileged position to oppress others. But this injustice isn’t just for the textbooks—it’s woven into present-day reality, too.
The Roma are a large, diverse minority group spread throughout eastern Europe. Originally migrating to Europe from India, the Roma have been targeted for slavery, abuse, and genocide. Today, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights reports that 90% live below the poverty line and face ongoing marginalization and discrimination. Many in the Roma community have little access to education, employment, healthcare, or a pathway to escape.
Over the past several years, HOPE International has expanded services into Roma communities—first in Ukraine and now in Romania, Hungary, and Moldova. As families join savings groups, they are not just saving together; they are investing in entrepreneurial activities, improving literacy, deepening relationships, and growing their God-given capacity.
And they are a model of generosity.
On a trip to Ukraine, a HOPE team visited one Roma savings group. The group had recently experienced a share-out where their savings were disbursed.
Instead of purchasing something for themselves, however, this savings group donated their share-out funds to a different Roma community facing more extreme poverty. Inclined toward generosity, this group gave of what little they had to support their neighbors.
At HOPE, it’s easy to measure the generosity of our supporters, especially as we race toward the end of the year. Too often, we can think of our supporters as the “givers” and of the people we serve as the “receivers.”
But that just doesn’t match reality.
The families involved in savings groups and microfinance institutions are extraordinarily generous. I’ve never come close to giving as sacrificially as the families we serve. Interacting with communities like the Roma around the world teach us what generosity truly looks like.
This kind of openhanded generosity reminds me of the story recorded in Luke 21: “As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others.’ All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’”
In this Christmas season, we’re reminded of a God who so loved the world that he gave. And from Ukraine to Zimbabwe to Haiti, men and women around the world reflect God’s example of sacrificial love and inspire us to greater generosity. This Christmas and this next year, I’m eager to become more like the families we serve. Let’s all keep growing in extraordinary generosity.
