What is Poverty?

When someone says "poverty", what is the first thing that comes into your mind?

Maybe it's images projected from advertising campaigns for charities who work in third world countries. Possibly an emaciated child, drinking dirty water. The charity is likely to be asking for money or for you to sponsor a child, to provide them with food, a water pump, or an education.

I'd like to make it clear that this isn't me criticising these charities in any way, shape or form. I think the work that they do is incredible, and it is important to donate what you can to help. Rather, what I will say, is that the images portrayed in the advert isn't always the whole story.

Yes, direct help is needed, in the form of financial investment, or food. However, these immediate problems stem from an astounding number of other factors which, if we're going to solve the problem of poverty, need to be addressed. Not only that, but the immediate problems often lead to a series of other issues, many of which link back to the core factors. If you're still following me, you can see that poverty is a complicated and often inescapable cycle.

For example, in communities lacking clean water, it may be that young girls have to travel miles to the nearest water source in order to provide for their families. This can take hours at a time, there and back, often more than once a day.

As a result of this, that young girl has not had the time to be in school; she hasn't had the opportunity to learn skills which could later make her a living. As a result, she is likely to remain in the same poverty as she is in currently.

On her journey, it is possible that she is in danger of being injured. It is likely that she does not have access to medical facilities, making recovery more difficult. She is going to find it hard to collect clean water if she is unable to walk, making her and the rest of her family more likely to contract disease from contaminated water sources, or go without. It is also possible that she is at risk of attack or even rape. This is both physically and psychologically damaging, and leaves her at risk of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.

Furthermore, whilst she spends her time walking for water, she doesn't have the opportunity to do what we often overlook and take for granted. She doesn't have time to just be a child. She doesn't have time to socialise and play, and just be with other children.

So, where does this situation arise from? Her ancestors were probably in the same situation as her; unable to get an education and open to all of the factors mentioned above, the cycle continues. In a wider sense, stigma attached to poverty, and the diseases that accompany it may have stopped people from intervening. It may be the result of unfair trading or government corruption.

One thing that I have realised is the enormous influence that global warming has on people in these countries. They generally have the lowest carbon emissions, and yet they are the ones affected by drought and heatwaves, making it extremely difficult to grow crops. I feel that, often, emphasis is placed on the damage of carbon emissions to the environment. It can be overlooked that there are people, just like you and I, who are suffering the consequences.

The definition we devised on my tearfund orientation weekend was something along the lines of:

Poverty: A lack of anything that God originally intended for us.

This covers physical, emotional, social and spiritual factors. I could go on all day about the different elements that have an influence. In my next post, I will continue on this same theme. But for now, all I will say is that it is food for thought.

Poverty is a much deeper problem than it initially might seem to be.
Consequently, the solution must be deeper also.