POVERTY

I am really interested in our classes for this next week on poverty because to be honest it is not a topic I have spent much time before discussing or involving myself with. I was happy with our trip to Bread for the City and I think it was a good illustration of Akthor’s explanation of various levels of poverty, which did strike me as an odd concept at first. We didn’t visit a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen on Wednesday, which is what I expected; instead we visited what seemed to me to be a support and supply center. I was surprised when Bread for the City said they do not operate for the homeless. But rather they work towards helping those living below the poverty line.

One of the things I liked about Bread for the City was the feeling of community and interaction in what I heard and saw. It was great to see action taking place, people being helped and utilizing what was being offered. Matt, I believe, mentioned how their location in Anacostia had taken years to build up trust in the community. Trust, I guess, in the organization’s reliability, commitment, and capability. And of course trust is only one of the necessary indicators for success. How can you help the people who need it without their faith in you? They won’t come to you unless they have some belief in you.

The more I learn about poverty and those who seek to fight it, the more I realize how complex the problem is and how difficult a struggle poverty presents. At the same time though visiting places such as Bread for the City gives me hope, both idealistically in finally overcoming poverty and realistically in seeing poverty greatly diminished.