Tuesday, November 21, 2006

reflections.................



"We create institutions and policies on the basis of the way we make assumptions about us and others. We accept the fact that we will always have poor people around us. So we have had poor people around us. If we had believed that poverty is unacceptable to us, and that it should not belong to a civilized society, we would have created appropriate institutions and policies to create a poverty-free world."
Muhammad Yunus.

Time and again I listen to clients say............"I just need a break. I don't want to be on welfare."

Stuck in the welfare system. The longer they're stuck, the harder it is to get a break. Once a person is in receipt of social assistance longer than 6 months, the chances of that breakout becomes more and more bleak. Policies and the lack of any integrated approach by government and community based services perpetuate the downward spiral. Our systems have produced a culture of poverty that has become acceptable................if not acceptable than ignored.

There are many wonderful people working in the frontlines who, more often than not are mired within their own siloed policy driven systems. Networking does occur, but real sharing and real commitment to helping a person out of the ghetto that can only happen if the commitment includes working from the same philosophy is sadly and blatantly missing.

I realize that the issue of poverty it isn't so clearcut. The clientele I work with are fighting a barrage of barriers, which range from illiteracy to dilaudid addiction. Mental illness, abuse, chronic health issues, poor coping skills, learning disabilities, family dysfunction feed the poverty cycle. Recent Canadian studies have shown that clearly over 70% of clients living on social assistance are clinically depressed. Disenfranchised and disconnected from their surrounding communities, individuals living in poverty remain stuck. This is no different than any other community.

I strongly believe that finding oneself on social assistance is a symptom of an individual's life situation. There is a cause and effect to the end result of finding yourself in crisis sitting in an office having some government worker assess your financial eligibility..........to see if you qualify for social assistance.

There has to be a way out. There has to be a more positively enabling approach to fighting this hideous demon. What is the role of government? What should it be? What are the roles of community based organizations? Of business? Of the Church? Of community members? Of the individual? What should they be?

How do we start finding our way to establish a successful gameplan?

Quite simply, we humanize it. We take poverty out of the abstract sphere that it encircles, and begin to see it as a person just like you and I.


If poverty has a face, it becomes real. If it is real, our compassion will embrace it. We can then make a connection.


Muhammad Yunus began his microcredit approach to helping the poor in Bangladesh by connecting with a small group of villagers who needed a meagre couple of dollars to move out of a life of poverty. They were the faces that opened his eyes. His experience since that first transaction has offered him proof that poverty is not an option. Next month, he will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with the Grameen Bank.............the microcredit institution he founded. His theory and practical approach to eradicating poverty is working.

One individual at a time..................all they need is a helping compassionate hand, and a break. Living a life stuck in poverty is totally unacceptable.

11 comments:

paris parfait said...

Thank you for this timely, powerful post. I hope you don't mind but I have to link - your words are so important.

Ellen said...

I've always held a "democratic" approach to the people who just can't catch a break. As part of a community of people, we are responsible in taking care of their needs.... to a point. The problem with this is that many folks learn to depend on the funds, and never get past the point of holding their hands out. We make it far too easy for them not to get past that point.

It may not be everyone, but there sure are enough cons out there that know how to beat the system. So, that said... we need to work on the system. It needs to be tweeked so that all agencies work together: the welfare system needs to marry up with the unemployment agencies in order to build up a stronger community putting people to work, and giving folks a chance to become responsible contributing citizens. Why should people learn rely on the welfare system... it should only be in place as a safety net. We have far too many people in our country that consider welfare as an entitlement, and only because they have no real will to work. That's what gets my (very little) "republican" blood boiling.

Show me a will to contribute, and I will feel for you.... show me entitlement, and I have already exhausted my sympathy. All along the lines of: give a man a fish, he will eat for a day.... teach him to fish, he will eat for a lifetime.

And for goodness sake.... fix the government systems. It's obvious they aren't working as effectively as they should.

paris parfait said...

I was still writing when you read those posts. Please go back and read this one, which quotes you and links to your piece:

http://parisparfait.typepad.com/paris_parfait/2006/11/dandy.html

The Harbour of Ourselves said...

whilst in Ghana a few years ago with Christian Aid, a lady who had been helped by the partnerships and projects said this, "Please don't leave us. We do not wish to remain cripples. We wish to get up and walk."

How the IMF and World Bank sleep at night when someone dies of stupid poverty every 3 seconds is beyond me

The Harbour of Ourselves said...

sorry, i thought i had put my last comment on your blog earlier - turns out i put it on mine as a response to your comment - fuck my heads not straight, sorry

JP (mom) said...

What a wonderfully powerful piece ... I came here by way of Paris Parfait & grateful that I did. I am in a similar line of work here in the States and believe that until we have a shift in public will, until we no longer tolerate the institution of poverty, and until there are systemic changes that truly are designed to move people UP the economic ladder, we have little hope of bridging gaps between that haves and have nots. In addition, issues of affordable housing, substance abuse and domestic violence need to be addressed in a way that provides everyone an opportunity to meet their basic needs and live healthy lives, free from violence.
much peace, JP

awareness said...

Tara. Thank you for the link and your comments. I appreciate it.

Ellen. Were we separated at birth or something? :)
It's a fine balance one has to use when working within the system. I can honestly say that the vast vast majority of clients I work with DO want to be financially self-sufficient, but their barriers are debilitating them. The dependency increases right along with the feelings of inadequacy.
Here.....it is difficult to become eligible for social assistance...all other avenues have to have been exhausted. It's brutal and demoralizing. When an applicant does qualify, the next step is to start working with them right away on a gameplan. This is where the "balance" has to happen......the client is in the lead, and must be considered on equal footing.....expectations and a "my role/your role" discussion happens, so that both parties are clear about what is expected and what can be done. Does that make sense?

I am really struggling with what the role of government should be. Where do all the other agencies fit in the scheme of things?

Hi Paul.......no worries..... :) Your comment fit your blog too.

The level of poverty you experienced seeing and feeling in Ghana is tragically 100 times worse than the poverty I see here. Having said that I can empathize, as I have seen some extreme situations in this province during my travels that have left me sick to my stomach with anger and rage. One particular little girl who was quite disabled came to mind when I read your comment. Her little face has never left my heart.

awareness said...

Hi Jane. Welcome to my little corner of the blogworld. Your points reflect my own thinking. How does this happen? The fact that people like Yunus are recognized through awards and articles (did you see the article recently in the New Yorker....very interesting) does bring these issues and the need to alter our thinking and approaches to a more public consciousness......but there a HUGE hump we as a global community have to get over.

I just don't know how that can happen and it saddens me.

urbanmonk said...

I was on welfare for about four years in my early twenties.. It is a terrible cycle to get stuck in.

awareness said...

Hi Monk. It truly is a struggle. Some of my colleagues have also experienced it as well......either when they were young or as young single moms. Most of them have a deep compassion for the clients they work with because of shared experiences. It is why they gravitated to this field of helping.

I truly believe that we are all just one paycheck away from being on the other side of the desk so to speak. I often tell my clients this.....life is so precarious that one never knows.........

Thank you for sharing.......

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking very fuzzily through a cold, but can't help thinking that so much comes down to having, being given, choices, that enable people to change their situation with the relevant support.
Noone can make someone choose one path or another, but we can help provide opportunities and give them the same chances we have - some holes are deeper than others to scramble out of.
I like Harbour's quote from the lady who had been helped - I thihk there are ways people can be helped but it has to be relevant to them as an individual, properly addressing their situation