Incomplete thoughts on poverty, part 2
Everyone has a lens for poverty. It depends on where you are born and what your own exposure is. I would like to pause in sharing my own experiences in Uganda, to share what was my lens. It remains an amateur observation.
For whatever reason, I was always interested in the poor and attacking the causes of poverty. I was raised going to a church where they had a robust interest in hunger and helping the homeless and hungry. I grew up in Houston where poverty is around, to say the least. I also grew up struggling with enough resources some years. I would say we were lower middle class to upper lower class, but my parents had middle class and education values, which meant I was expected to do better and go to university. My mom was very private, but I wasn’t. One year, we did not have enough to eat at times and I asked her why were we delivering food to people when we could use some of that food pantry? She just pursed her lips, “Because” I imagined it was because she grew up in rural Kansas with a mom who had lived in the great depression. She was the youngest of six and I remember my Uncle Duane always saying, “We were poor, but we never knew it because Mother loved us so much.”
I did a social studies project on the homeless while I was in high school and through that research I was exposed to the complexity of homelessness and shocked to find out 60% of the homeless are mentally ill. That about drove me crazy to learn that some people couldn’t help it, and I think I always felt the same way about developing countries. It did not seem fair to punish common people because of bad and selfish leadership. So, it was my own background and desire to get out of my “poor” situation and to make things better for everyone that sustained me for many years. I went on many work trips to other countries and I noticed there were different kinds of poverty. Some folks seemed to be poor because they were in a cycle of bad choices and with the wrong people and in the wrong places. I never felt comfortable in those situations. Then I began to notice in Mexico or Haiti, there were people who were poor, but I didn’t feel sorry for them in that they had so much dignity. I learned so much from them about being resourceful and content. I loved those people! I found both situations in Uganda. Poverty is chaotic and complex, and of course I am limited in understanding and experience!
So, with that background here are the questions I had and have that never seem to get answered.
What exactly defines poverty? For example, many of America's poor would be considered wealthy by world wide standards. Is it physical, emotional, spiritual?
As an outsider, do I only choose and value people to "help" that I can relate to? What if those people are an anomaly in their culture and we do more "damage" than good....
Why don't people want to be "empowered?"
What does an indigenous movement look like?
How do you keep from exporting values and ideas that won't translate?
How do you avoid unintended consequences, like western imports to a country that doesn’t have a waste disposal or recycling system?
If Africa has potential for providing food, systems of education and medical care, what is keeping it from developing? People are intelligent and many of the resources in theory are there...where is their version of education and infrastructure? Does the western model fit or should it?
How much does it matter if people have formal education if they have informal education and are content?
What is truly helpful?
