Mark Koehler

“Poverty has many roots, but the tap root is ignorance.” “Poverty should not be a barrier to learning, and learning must offer a way out of poverty.” – Lyndon B. Johnson Poverty is often associated with limited access to knowledge beyond the classroom. During Soviet times all education was free, and everyone had to work…

In 1975, I was studying Criminology as my college major. I wrote a term paper entitled “Crime Prevention Through Education” for one of my courses. I received a top grade from my teacher, but the students, many of whom were police officers, saw things differently. In the 1970s, new approaches of preventing crime were being…

What is the cycle of poverty? How does it begin? It can begin with financial crisis or it may be the person’s physical or mental abilities that limit them. There are other possibilities. However it begins, the cycle will pass from generation to generation, unless there is a desire for change. The desire for change…

In 2003, I began to participate daily in the Emmaus Food Program in Illichevsk, Ukraine. Operated by a local church, this organization reached out to children from difficult homes with one hot meal a day, Bible study, a sewing club, craft activities, and lots of love. In this city of 65,000, there were 300 families…