Invisible Scars: Deep Poverty Challenges delves into the multifaceted and often hidden dimensions of poverty, exploring its profound impact on individuals, families, and communities. This book is a comprehensive examination of poverty, drawing on extensive research and real-life experiences to shed light on the emotional, cognitive, and social toll it takes on those affected. The chapters cover a wide range of topics, including the emotional toll of poverty on children and parents, the correlation between poverty and educational attainment, the multidimensional nature of poverty beyond income, and the complex and interconnected causes of poverty. The book also examines global trends in poverty reduction, the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable populations, and the debate over the minimum wage and its impact on poverty. Through a combination of research, real-life stories, and policy analysis, Invisible Scars: Deep Poverty Challenges offers a nuanced understanding of poverty’s causes, effects, and potential solutions. The book highlights the importance of social support networks, early intervention, and targeted interventions to address the unique needs of those in deep poverty. It also emphasizes the role of data collection and analysis in poverty reduction efforts and the need for evidence-based approaches to poverty alleviation. By shedding light on the invisible scars left by poverty, this book aims to inspire action towards a more equitable and just society.

All of us, at times, encounter heartache, death, challenges, failures, disappointments, and other trials. How do you overcome these difficulties? Do you hold onto your hidden and silent issues? At what moment will you no longer internalize your doubts and fears, your failures and unforgiveness, your pain and brokenness? Holding onto painful problems indefinitely will not add value or meaning to your life. In Encouragement for Those Who Suffer in Silence, author Rev. Dr. LaRuth E. Lockhart addresses common issues often held in secret by many, challenges that can cause you to become broken and to suffer in silence. She communicates that you can’t receive comfort until you face and admit what ails you. You must let go and let God have control of every aspect of your life. He’s the God of all healing, comfort, and restoration. Using her personal experience of suffering silently, and with the word of God as her source, Dr. LaRuth encourages you to give voice to the silent issues that bind you and to graciously receive healing for your pain and restoration through Jesus Christ the savior.

Like the best of memoir writing, My Invisible Scars is alternately brutally honest, sad, triumphant, tense, motivating, uncomfortable, and unforgettable. Relying on journals that she has kept since childhood, Canadian author Willa-Mae E. Scot articulately recounts in (mostly) chronological order the highs and lows of her long life, beginning with her early childhood in a small Saskatchewan town. Willa-Mae writes candidly about terrible disappointments, life-threatening ordeals, and her incredible and unwavering determination to put aside countless negative experiences, and live, embrace, and enjoy life to the fullest. This memoir is a must-read book for anyone whose life has been derailed by the unexpected loss of a loved one, violence, family break-up, infidelity, addictions, abandonment, or by poor, sometimes non-existent, choices. Those who have suffered through trauma and struggled to put that trauma behind them will see their journey reflected in these pages and be reassured that, even when down at rock bottom, they can find a way to be happy again. My Invisible Scars is instructive and inspiring, enlightening and engaging, and a great testament to its author’s tremendous courage and forthrightness. Most of all it is a testament to her enviable ability to offer forgiveness to the many people who have hurt her, and then gracefully move forward in life.

The editors of this volume highlight the fact that although the Church often stands up for other public issues such as human rights, democratic political rights, economic justice, etc., sexual and gender-based violence do not receive the attention they deserve. There are no theological or cultural arguments that can justify such a position. Sexual and gender-based violence are a scourge that defies our Christian understanding of human dignity ? and challenges the Church in all its formations to respond. ÿAlthough most of the case studies are from Zimbabwe, they challenge us regardless of which country we are living in ? or the tradition of our specific denomination.ÿ In the context of Southern Africa, where the HIV and AIDS burden is among the highest in the world, sexual and gender-based violence are a major contributor to the spread of the disease. This will only change if the Church challenges this practice as part of its educational and public work ? in theological institutions, in congregations, but also in its pastoral work within families.ÿ

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) therapy has been successfully used for the past thirty years for those who have suffered PTSD in the military. Recently it has been recognized as a useful therapy for other forms of trauma. For the author of this book, it was a lifesaving means of reprocessing painful experiences from her upbringing that continued to affect her life. Because “hurt people hurt people,” Marie Pflugrad tells her story of pain and relief through EMDR to demonstrate how the past can be the past and not a shadow darkening the present.

It is so easy to use our Gift than to use our Purpose according to God’s plan for our lives. See we can use our gift of song to singing what we are feeling to the masses of people. We can record and land a major record deal it is easy to recognize by millions. But what if the very gift leads us to our purpose for our lives? See Sole Purpose is something that is deep within all of us. My hope that we pray continually and listen to that spirit within us all to live according to that purpose that God has given us all. No one is here by chance we are all here by blessings. When we live our Sole Purpose it makes all things around us better. Sometimes living our Sole Purpose is to reach people that seem to be forgotten or lost but it may be something that is required by a particular person I call it Sole Purpose. I hope that the information I shared in this book help someone find their Sole Purpose in their life. When we are traveling places share a smile with others and activate Gods power everywhere we go it is required of all of us. I don’t know who need encouraging on a particular day it may not be for us but it just might be for someone else. Always remember to treat others how we want to be treated. No one want to be treated badly. When we go to the store hold the door open. Let someone behind us go ahead of us if, they have fewer items than we do. It is the little things that one doesn’t anticipate but happens because of our kindness. When we show others kindness we show others how to show kindness to others too. If we see human being as beings first instead of race, male or female we learn to see clearer with a better understanding that Jesus died on the cross for all of us. Let us not have so much pride we lose our Sole Purpose. Because living our Sole Purpose makes a better quality of life for all of us. God is trying to reveal to you to find your Sole Purpose and live life to the fullest that only he can fulfill in all our lives. He equips us with what is needed to do his will. If we are doing things that doesn’t seem like it is for us to do; remember if we are not equipped maybe that is not what we are called to do at that given time. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”. Romans 8:28 KJV

After You Have Suffered a While . . . is designed to reach an audience of women that have suffered abuse and/or trauma. It discusses the various emotions that victims of abuse are faced with. In this book, you will find the tools the author used to deal with the emotional aftermath of being abused. She is a victim of physical abuse. It is written so they do not feel they have to suffer in silence.

This edited volume comprises an insightful collection of international autoethnographies from doctoral candidates in the field of applied linguistics, narrating and analyzing their student experiences to problematize and challenge the dominant and oppressive cultures of academia. Through 12 select contributions, the book examines the intersection of identity work and emotional labor in the doctoral student journey, sharing insights into the potential of autoethnography for self-reflection, community building, and healing in doctoral studies. Contributors examine their doctoral journeys through personal narratives and testimonials to understand their own experiences, agency, identity, and emotions, encouraging current or former doctoral students to engage in the critical reflection of their own experiences. Chapters are divided into four themes: interrelating multiple identities, navigating and negotiating in-betweenness, engaging emotions and wellbeing, and establishing support systems. Offering unique perspectives from a global spread of Ph.D. candidates, this book will be highly relevant reading for researchers and prospective or current doctoral students of applied linguistics, language education, TESOL, and LOTE. It will also be of interest to those interested in higher education, dissertation research, and autoethnography as a method.

Arianna Chiusano was born and raised in an upper-class family on Long Island. She was the youngest of the family and had always admired the fact that her parents were still married and still in love, while most of her friends had divorced parents. Arianna had always dreamed that one day she would marry and have the ideal marriage like her parents, a marriage filled with respect and adoration. After graduating college, she married the man of her dreams but quickly realized he would soon become her worst nightmare. After years of enduring abuse at the hands of her so-called "prince," somehow she found the strength to leave. This is her story about reclaiming her life and moving forward.