FranCollier

At the beginning of my challenge if you asked what me what I knew about poverty and what it meant to me, I would probably have recited the statistic that 1.4 billion people are today living in poverty. I have since realised, as a result of the challenge, this in itself means very little. Poverty isn’t a statistic nor is its pervasiveness adequately captured by monetary measures alone.  It’s an individual, human experience that has multiple dimensions.

In my opinion, statistics whilst useful and potentially hard-hitting, depersonalise poverty. They also often make poverty seem insurmountable; an ill that is too great to possibly overcome. This being said, two questions need answering: 1) What does poverty mean to me now? 2) If poverty is not insurmountable, what can be done?

What does poverty mean to me now? What is poverty?

• Aches and pains in the back and cuts to head (from banging into bedside tables)
• A slight cold
• An inability to climb into bed, pull the duvet over my head and pretend problems don’t exist

On a more serious note, it is:

-          An individual, human experience

-          A set of emotions and feelings

-          A lack of/limit on opportunities

-          A daily struggle 365 days a year for everyday survival

-           An inability to adequately express ones’ needs, wishes and desires

-          A mentally and physically draining experience

So, to the second question: what can be done?

When poverty is broken down and seen as a human experience as opposed to a statistic it becomes clear that there are many ways in which we can all contribute to the alleviation of it. For example, even by engaging with a conversation with a homeless person, and in doing so acknowledging their existence, on the street, is, in my opinion, a contribution. Poverty is not just a lack of money so whilst it’s important we continue to campaign for increases in development aid and pay our direct debits to Oxfam,  CAFOD, Shelter, etc, it is also important that we more recognise that there are many other things that can, and must, also be done.   

Anyone reading my blog will know I’ve been spectacularly rubbish at updating it, particularly compared to the prolific blogging of some amazing others. I apologise for this.

Yet, whilst I do not in any way wish to attempt to justify my rubbishness, I do wish to discuss it in order to make a point. This week has not been the best week for me; I have had to hand in the first two pieces of assessed work for my Masters, I have been experiencing some personal problems and someone I went to school with was tragically killed in a car crash. There have been numerous times I have wanted nothing more than to climb into bed, whack up the heating and pretend that nothing beyond the parameters of my bed existed. The floor, in all honesty, just wasn’t providing me with the comfort I was desperately craving.

Such circumstances led some to suggest that I do the challenge some other time. The ‘Poverty Challenge’ is, however, as is suggested by the word ‘challenge’, not supposed to be easy.  Poverty is inherently inconvenient and uncompromising. The majority of the world’s 1.4 billion people who are living in poverty as I write this don’t just experience poverty when they are at their mental and physical best but for 365 days a year for the totality of their lives. That’s more weeks of no bed, no heating, no proper health care, no tap water, etc than my small brain can possibly comprehend.  

This is an incredibly depressing reality yet a reality that can, and must, change. I believe some relatively famous man once (or maybe more than once...) proclaimed ‘Yes we can’ and indeed, through the work of organisations such as Oxfam and other great organisations, change can happen. Stories such as ‘Seeds and Tools for a 1,000 women’ <http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blogs/pressoffice/2010/11/03/seeds-and-tools-for-1000-women-in-southern-sudan/?v=media> are testament to this.

Yet these organisations are ultimately nothing more than a group of people who are committed to working to achieve justice who rely on further more people, like me and you (yes, you), to help them. In light of this, I urge you to do whatever you can - be it donating money, writing a letter to your MP to ask them what they are doing to alleviate global poverty, volunteering at a local shelter for the homeless, reducing your carbon footprint – to help achieve potentially the most significant moral imperative: the ELIMINATION OF POVERTY. 

So, how am I coping without the comfort of heating and the luxury of a bed? Until now, I thought ok. The floor isn’t THAT uncomfortable and fortunately the weather’s not too bad. After a 13 hour stint in the library, however, the thought of lying on the floor really isn’t that appealing. The fact that I cannot for the life of me work out how to add to my blog would also seem to suggest that the lack of sleep is obviously getting to me, or I have experienced some kind of freezing of the brain. I’ve been thinking about it for a good 15 minutes and there has still been no Eureka moment. Oh dear.

What would I be like if I had to work a 14-16 hour day of hard graft as many women in the developing world do? How would I cope if I the lives of my family literally rested on my ability to perform my daily tasks to a high standard on such little rest? I’ll leave you to decide....

P.S. After a further 10 minutes of trying to figure it out, I have now noticed the rather large, obvious ‘Login’ button in the corner. I’ll say no more.  

My challenge for the week is no heating and I shall sleep on the floor!

Whilst sitting at a computer writing an essay on the impact of global inequality on human welfare, I received an email about the poverty challenge. I suddenly realised what I was writing about seemed so abstract and surreal to me; little more than words. I can, and frequently do, regurgitate numerous statistics about poverty and inequality but I have absolutely no idea what they mean in reality. Whilst I am in no way suggesting the poverty challenge will constitute some form of great enlightenment, I am hoping it will give me a personal insight into what it means to experience some aspects of poverty.

I'm going to ask my MP Marsha Singh what she thinks about my challenge ... what do you think about my challenge?