Robert *, a young accountant, moves his family from Zimbabwe to escape a declining economic and political climate. he cannot find a job in his field so he works installing security alarms...
David*, a psychology major, teaches himself to sew because there are no jobs for psychologists in Kinshasa. he is kidnapped and marked for execution because of a political comment he made on the radio. he narrowly escapes execution and travels all the way to johannesburg to start over...
these are the people i get to meet each day as part of my job. i suppose they are whom we'd call "the poor", but i have a hard time using this descriptor. meeting them, they are anything but. and there's something about hearing their stories and their determination to "make it despite a bad situation…" that always puts me to shame.
David*, a psychology major, teaches himself to sew because there are no jobs for psychologists in Kinshasa. he is kidnapped and marked for execution because of a political comment he made on the radio. he narrowly escapes execution and travels all the way to johannesburg to start over...
these are the people i get to meet each day as part of my job. i suppose they are whom we'd call "the poor", but i have a hard time using this descriptor. meeting them, they are anything but. and there's something about hearing their stories and their determination to "make it despite a bad situation…" that always puts me to shame.
it's dawned on me that i haven't actually shared what i do. i'd like to say i'm a professional story-teller. my actual job title is "project writer" but more and more i feel like a story-teller. i work for an organization called paradigm shift. paradigm shift works with churches in communities throughout south africa to reach the economically marginalized (this is a term i prefer to use) and break the cycle of poverty. paradigm shift feels very strongly about the ineffectiveness of handouts and charity, and so we train and equip churches to give microloans and business training so that the economically marginalized can either start or develop a small business and become self-sufficient. our entrepreneurs learn how to manage a business and their finances. many of them learn to open bank accounts and save for the first time.
we have a tendency to believe that people are poor because they don't work hard enough, or they are lazy, or they didn't pay attention in school. when we think things like that we are trying to do one of two things:
1) find a way to make it the person's fault so that we feel less compelled to give
2) applaud our own selves for "making it" while somehow believing that everyone was given the exact same chances as we were. "the poor" simply squandered their chance, but we (who deserve hearty congratulations) didn't.
c'mon!
there's more to it than that. the reason why people are economically marginalized is because of a lack of opportunity and a lack of access: access to markets, access to capital etc. please don't get me wrong, i know that multiple factors come to play in a discussion on poverty, but my only intent is to draw your attention to the complexity of a situation that we treat with triviality and arrogance.
i think about the two men i interviewed this week. i think about how someone might have seen David* sleeping in the bus station his first three nights in johannesburg (because he had no where to go) and deemed him a "homeless nuisance probably on drugs". not knowing that he has a degree in psychology but comes from a country in the middle of civil war with no opportunity. our problem is we think we know. my challenge to you is get to the story.
and this is what i do. i tell the stories. when Robert* and David* come to our programme and become business owners, holders of bank accounts, and family-providers, i get to meet them. i get to listen to them talk about how their lives have turned around simply because someone loaned them $200. and i feel honoured that i get to tell their stories. their stories are sacred to me, and with each one i write i am so careful to treat them with the respect that they deserve. i labour over these stories because my words don't seem adequate enough to put on paper the courage, determination and strength that is "the poor".
i also get to tell the story of paradigm shift, and raise awareness so that we can have more support etc. it's a good model and people need to learn about it - www.shiftingparadigms.org (shameless plug).
the best part about what i do is the happy endings. and because of paradigm shift these stories do end happily. Robert* now has a business making and selling products out of recycled paper. David* now has an industrial sewing business making uniforms for companies. most importantly, they both have a dignity and a respect because they are taking care of themselves and their families.
i want to challenge you to get to know someone without, and find out why they are without. and then give.
and this is what i do. i tell the stories. when Robert* and David* come to our programme and become business owners, holders of bank accounts, and family-providers, i get to meet them. i get to listen to them talk about how their lives have turned around simply because someone loaned them $200. and i feel honoured that i get to tell their stories. their stories are sacred to me, and with each one i write i am so careful to treat them with the respect that they deserve. i labour over these stories because my words don't seem adequate enough to put on paper the courage, determination and strength that is "the poor".
i also get to tell the story of paradigm shift, and raise awareness so that we can have more support etc. it's a good model and people need to learn about it - www.shiftingparadigms.org (shameless plug).
the best part about what i do is the happy endings. and because of paradigm shift these stories do end happily. Robert* now has a business making and selling products out of recycled paper. David* now has an industrial sewing business making uniforms for companies. most importantly, they both have a dignity and a respect because they are taking care of themselves and their families.
i want to challenge you to get to know someone without, and find out why they are without. and then give.
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*names have been changed
My heart weeps as I read this...Thank you Corinne for sharing with us. Keep on sharing to awaken that which is within EVERYONE!
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