Kristi's Ongoing Conversations with Herself (Yes! It's back!): Images and Perceptions of Poverty--a year in

2-15-12

What do you think poverty look like? When I was home visiting, I talked to several high school classes about Peace Corps and the kind of work I was doing in Ghana. I showed them pictures of the projects I had finished, pictures of people, and pictures of life in the village. Not just once, but several times, a different student would reflect and comment on the feeling of thankfulness my presentation evoked, gratitude over the comforts they enjoy and the lives they lead and the things they take for granted. I was a little thrown by such statements because, while I don't want to discourage a feeling of thankfulness for blessings, that sentiment was not what I was trying to evoke at all. First, I was trying to show them another, equally rich world, a different way of life, a challenge, an adventure. Second, behind this statement is a feeling of pity--”Oh those poor Africans. They don't even have running water and the women have to work so hard (by pounding) to make food everyday.” Pity is one of the motivations that is at the root of Africa's troubles. Out of feelings of guilt and charity, the West is mostly responsible for the continued poverty of Africa. For so long, the aid that came to Africa was about trying to fix Africa's problems without teaching or helping Africa fix its problems itself.

This, of course, is the lens of a high school student, who can't imagine life without a hot shower everyday and easy access to computerized entertainment. I remember what those feelings felt like. But it's funny. As I sit on my perch and watch people walk to and from the market, I have to actually remind myself that what I am seeing is what the rest of the world (including the same people I am watching) considers poor. I am so used to these scenes now, I forget that what I look at is supposed to be “poor” and instead, it just looks like regular old life. The fact that things are always carried on heads rather than vehicles and people walk long distances—life. The fact that everyone's feet are covered in dust and many are barefoot—life. The fact that people are not invisible in their houses watching TV—life. The fact that people have to carry and keep water in bowls and barrels—life. Even naked children seem a highly practical part of life and not as evidence that their parents are too poor to afford clothes. (How many clothes do your babies go through? Who wants to keep buying clothes when kids continually get dirty and tear holes in them? It's quite economical, really. Plus, it's hot here.) It's funny how in America, running water is such an intrinsic part of life, that we think people must really suffer without it. But it is so not true. The suffering comes when people have no access to clean water, not that it doesn't come at a moment's notice with the turn of the faucet or the flush of the toilet. In a place where no one has it, you don't miss it. And you don't miss it because no one expects you to live like you have it. I can actually count on one hand the number of times I've said to myself “I wish I had running water.” So what are the indicators of poverty if it is not these saturating images of dirty children and overworked women? Of course the governmental organizations and NGOs working to alleviate poverty have all kind of measurements like life span, child mortality rates, income levels, accesses to opportunity, etc and I cannot argue much with those. It is the judgments made by the heartstrings of laymen and potential donors that are hard to swallow.

Ghanaians have an unhealthy sense of their own poverty which frustrates me and makes me sad. Because they see themselves as poor, they don't value a lot about their everyday lives. Everything about wealthy countries and cultures is better than what they have, to their mind. If we're looking on a national scale, meaning wealth country by country, to me real poverty is starving people, no access to medicines for preventable or curable diseases, no protection for women's rights, no freedom to advance your status. These are problems faced by many countries on the verge of or recovering from civil war. Ghana has these problems, but on a much much smaller scale. It is hard for me to think about what is happening in Somalia and think that Ghana is poor. To me, the citizens of Somalia, the Sudan, the eastern Congo, and Haiti are truly poor. Conversely, it is hard for Ghanaians to see images of Europe and America and NOT think they are poor.