What is poverty?
Before going on The World Race, these were some things I’d associate with poverty: shanty towns, soup kitchens, children begging, homelessness. As a teacher in the public school system in North St. Paul I also associated poverty with hungry students who couldn’t afford school supplies. I defined poverty as the lack of material things that one needs to thrive as a human being.
Two things happened last month in Cambodia that forever changed the way I view poverty.
#1. I lived in a village among people who are materially poor. Over the course of generations of income poverty, the people learned how to survive on just enough to stay alive. For many families in the area, the average income was $60/month or less. The rare occasion that a family had extra income was difficult to see as an outsider, because the money was spent on the immediate gratifications of beer, gambling, etc. Some women expressed that it was better not to have extra money because so much evil could come from it (drunk men beating their wives, losing homes and property to gambling). I had to face the confusing fact that there was little initiative among the people to attain “more” for themselves. I realized that the addition of money (or even education) to the equation wasn’t solving their housing problems, water problems, or lack of nutritional food problems.
#2. I read a book about poverty called When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. It presented poverty in a new light. I thought poverty was a lack of stuff: food, shelter, clothes, money. But speaking with the people in the village, and in reading this book, I discovered that this is only one of poverty’s faces. In the book, the materially poor are inverviewed and asked what it means to be poor. The authors summarize the responses like this:
“Poor people typically talk of poverty in terms of shame, inferiority, powerlessness, humiliation, fear, hopelessness, depression, social isolation, and voicelessness.”
In essence, poverty is felt emotionally and psychologically more than physically. I noticed this in the village. People were experiencing the poverty of self efficacy and self-worth. The belief in the village could best be described as “I am destined for this. Nothing I do can change my situation.” They felt like they had one lot in life, and this took away their dignity. They didn’t see themselves as people with unique gifts and abilities with so much they could contribute to their community. More than money, food, or shelter, the villagers needed healing in their relationship with themselves. They needed to see themselves as valuable. They needed hope and vision for their future.
In When Helping Hurts, it talks about how poverty is- at its essence – a broken relationship. This can be manifest in a broken relationship with others, with one’s self, with the environment, with God, or a combination of all of these. I no longer define poverty as a lack of material things. To me, to be poor is to be maintaining a relationship (with self/others/the world/God) that is broken, unjust, skewed, or is not life giving.
How should I react to poverty?
To put it plainly, I don’t think there is any concise answer that would be appropriate. I know that poverty is complex and involves not only individuals, but also social systems. I have little knowledge about what to do about the social systems perpetuating poverty. However, I do have four things I hope to do when dealing with my own poverty and in talking with others about their poverty. I will try to…
-
Realize that poverty is a human condition capable of being felt by all, not just the materially poor.
-
Understand that poverty is felt in peoples’ hearts and minds. See past the exterior poverty and find out what’s going on inside. Work from the inside out rather than the outside in to alleviate that poverty.
-
Empower people by giving them the opportunity to make meaningful choices and by giving them the opportunity to show generosity in whatever way they are able.
-
Pray that broken relationships can be healed, vision restored, and hope be made manifest.
What kind of poverty are you facing?
Like I mentioned above, I don’t believe that “poor people” are the only poor people. I had this idea that America was wealthy and had an obligation to help others. I left Cambodia wishing that the Cambodians could come minister to America. We may be rich in money, but often we are poor in spirit. We neglect relationships with others over our desire for wealth. We isolate ourselves and have an insatiable need for control. We sometimes destroy the earth for our own agendas. We reject God because we can find fulfillment in so many other places. I left the village aware of my own poverty and need for redemption in many areas of my life.
After a while, material poverty became the norm for the villagers in Cambodia. We look at that and think, “How tragic.” After a while, I think relational poverty becomes the norm for Americans. I believe that the Cambodians would look at us and think, “How tragic.”
My question is “What kind of poverty are you facing?” Is your relationship with yourself broken? Do you see yourself as worthless? Do you invest so much in others that you have nothing left for yourself? Do you speak lies and negativity into your own life? Or, are your relationships with others holding on by a thread? Do you interact with the world around you in a way that gives life or that takes life away? What about your relationship with God?
I encourage you to examine the poverty in your life. What relationships need healing for you? The good news is that you are not alone in working to restore those relationships. Jesus is the master healer of relationships. There is a richness in life- down to the deepest parts of our souls-when we allow Christ to work on our hearts. I echo the words of Corbett and Fikkert:
“I am not okay, and you are not okay; but Jesus can fix us both.”
…for in him you have been enriched in every way… (1 Corinthians 1:5)
