This past month has been quite different than the previous
one. I went from sleeping in hammocks and bathing in rivers to staying on the
top floor of a high-rise apartment in the wealthiest neighborhood of Cartagena.
As I have encountered and experienced many different standards of living, I
have often pondered the concept of poverty. This is a topic I have given much
thought to and even studied quite a bit. I have taken a series of different
actions and held different views as my ideas about what it means and how to
respond to it have changed over the years. Here are some of my latest thoughts
regarding the subject:
1)
Poverty alleviation is not a
cure all
First of all I want to challenge the scope in which poverty
is thought of and help define some of the obscure terms that are thrown about.
Who are these
“poor” that people often speak of? That is a very general term that is seldom
well defined. What does it mean to be poor? What is the goal of helping someone
who is poor?
A lot of global organizations define extreme poverty as
living on less than one dollar a day. In the U.S.A. the poverty level is
somewhere around $15,000 a year. The world bank says: A person is considered poor if his or her
income level falls below some minimum level necessary to meet basic needs.
Based on the rates and context of their surroundings.
So… is poverty not having enough to meet ones needs?
If we constrict poverty to only the physical realm, the
basic needs (food, water, shelter, clothing) what happens?
I think we can all agree that everyone needs these things in
life, and without them life will be short-lived. So lets imagine for a second
that every person on earth has these basic needs. Everyone has the ability to
continually achieve his or her daily necessities.
No hunger
No thirst
Ever.
Would that cure our world problems? Would we still have
suicide, rape, and war? There may be less of these things but they certainly
would not go away.
If we could eliminate poverty where would it end? Would
everyone be happy?
I believe this quote from “When Helping Hurts” helps to put things into perspective:
“The goal is not to make the materially poor all over the
world into middle-to upper-class North Americans, a group characterized by high
rates of divorce, sexual addiction, substance abuse, and mental illness. Nor is
the goal to make sure that the materially poor have enough money.” (Corbett
& Fikkert, 78).
Although poverty is the root of many problems, as the above
quote reveals there are obviously other sources of problems in the world. This
may seem obvious to some, however, in the world of poverty alleviation, many “experts”
address the issue as the root of all evil. When we further explore the question
of what is wrong with the world? We discover that poverty is only a piece of
the puzzle.
2) Poverty is more social
than material.
Apparently there is more to poverty than simply the material,
lets continue to expand the definition of what poverty means.
When those who are living without physical necessities
describe their situations they often talk more about the social and structural
implications rather than a lack of goods. Many describe feelings of frustration
toward the systems and entities that are working against them. They express feeling of embarrassment
amongst their peers because they are unable to provide. But most commonly the
feeling described by those in poverty is a sense of powerlessness. They
describe being powerless against the social and structural powers that be. These
structures keep people without options or opportunity. Options and
opportunities for things, which not only include income development but also,
access to education, legal assistance, healthcare etc.
For example:
I have had
times in the states where I was living from paycheck to paycheck. I would make
minimum payments on my student loans. I would worry because I knew a car problem
or a doctor’s visit would leave me unable to pay my bills. This is a terrible
place to be, mainly because of the limited options. There is no opportunity to change the situation because there
is no chance to miss work. This example describes a similar spiral of
helplessness and being stuck. However if you were to compare my lifestyle to a rural
peasant farmer in Colombia for example they would never say I was poor. I have
always had clothes, food, and a place to live. I still owned plenty of luxuries
like a car, computer, I-pod, snowboards, surfboards etc. Compared to someone who
has not much more than the clothes on their back and a shack for a house, I certainly
look quite wealthy. It is true our standards of living are a world apart,
however both of us describe the same feelings of being stuck and unable to get
ahead.
I am certainly not stating that we were experiencing the
same hardship, absolutely not. I am saying there is more to poverty than simply
lacking things. If money alone could fix the issue, then poverty would be a
thing of the past. For these reasons poverty is social and structural.
3) Poverty is perceptual
Yes there is a standard of living that is more dangerous and
life threatening, however, someone’s
standard of living and their level of poverty are not the same thing. This may seem like an abstract concept
to get our minds around however, it is true. Poverty is also perceptual. This
is important to understand because especially as westerners we can easily label
people as “poor” simply because we have a different lens in which we understand
what that looks like. We perceive a certain standard of living as essential,
however that lens may be irrelevant in another context.
We perceive what is poor through comparison. This is
dangerous because people may perceive themselves as poor based on a comparison
to those around them. This comparison may be detrimental because someone who is
provided for and living securely may begin to perceive themselves as poor.
Entering the mentality of poverty is crippling
That is why I propose a change
I want to challenge the labels we (myself included) use.
Doesn’t a label of “poor” only further dis-empower and feed
the identity of helplessness?
I am not suggesting that the word poor is destructive I am
suggesting that labeling someone as poor only pushes them further into that
mind frame. We have discovered that poverty is more a social identity and a sense
of powerlessness than simply a lack of material resources. If it is true then,
why do we still label people as poor? That only further enforces the idea that
someone is incapable.
If people are always being told how they are poor, they
begin to identify with that. This mentality in my opinion is as influential and
disenabling as the option-less environment around them.
The problem is that this label creates a lack of self-esteem.
It creates an identity. Just like an addict or someone who is homeless, once
people think of themselves with a certain label it is hard to achieve anything
bigger than that identity. In
transition houses for kids coming off of the street, one of the most important
lessons that the child can gain is that their identity is not “a street kid”.
They are not defined by where they have been or what they have done. Who they
are is much greater and they have the opportunity to change their future.
This is where poverty alleviation is most effective. Sure resources
and infrastructure are important and necessary but the real crippling
atmosphere is the mentality. A change in physical environment can change that
mentality. Likewise a change in mentality can be the push needed to change the
environment. Both encourage the other.
There are also certainly larger factors at play such as poor
infrastructure, environmental factors, political corruption, history, war and power
struggles to name a few. However, despite some of these larger issues each
community or town has resources. What is missing is collaboration and
utilization of those resources where the needs are. As well as a focus on the
strengths instead of enabling the poverty identity by focusing on what is
missing.
Bryant Myers, author of walking with the poor describes
poverty as; “The result of relationships that do not work, that are not harmonious
or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all it’s meaning.”
This does not
mean that material poverty does not exist nor does it mean that there is nothing
to be done about indifference and people living without material needs. This
simply gives a bit of a bigger picture of how to address poverty. There is much
more that could be said, and these observations only scratch the surface.
However, understanding how poverty is social and perceptual gives more clarity
when approaching the other discussion of what can be done about it.
Cheers,
-Chad