my thoughts on unlearning poverty
I will preface this entry with the fact that I am extremely new to Jacob's Well, but hope that my family and I can find a home here.
I thought the Urban Hub was awesome! Great message about the many faces of poverty. It really made me think about my own experiences.
Last year I did a home building mission trip to Guatemala. It was probably the best thing I have ever done, totally got me out of my elements and really opened me up to really see how God works in the World. Staying with the families and living their everyday life was a challenge for me, for them it is how they live. There was no refrigerator, no inside cooking or bathrooms and we couldn't drink the water. We were just visitors helping build houses so the poorest people could have a shelter and a place to call home. Everyday we worked and played with the kids around the houses, the people shared what little food they had with us, we couldn't say no because that may have been disrespectful. We blessed the 4 houses on the last day and the families each told us how much it meant to have a home of their own. Proud men broke down in tears and the children gathered around for hugs, we all cried and prayed, it was a great moment for all of us and God was beaming with pride, he was proud of us as human beings, sharing our lives with one another and lending a hand when people are in need.
Urban Hub is a whole different element, the inner city type of poverty is so different. I don't know if I really know how to deal with that because I don't see what these kids see everyday. I see things as pretty black and white, if you want to change something about yourself or your surroundings, you work really hard at doing that and it will happen. I know it is all about determination, I have had to work hard to get where I am, but many people have helped me along the way. It isn't all about "I have this job and make this much money" it is about knowing who I am and how I can grow as a person. When he talked about the "hurts" yesterday, it was a lightenbolt moment for me but I know about hurts, I know some of what these girls have gone through, the ones that have been forced to do things that no child should be forced to do and I know the concequence of those actions. I have lived it and now that I am a healthy adult and I can see the behaviors that came out of those experiences, how it shaped my life and how my determination to live really saved my life. I also know that as a teenager if anyone would have talked to me about it or tried to get me to "open up" I would have flown into a rage and probably pushed them as far away as possible. That being said, I want to do something to help young women and girls that are victims of rape I just don't know how to go about it. Probably a little scared about doing it, seeing myself in some others but I know what they have gone through I know the hurt, the behavior, and most of all the shame so maybe this is my calling. Who knows!
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thank you for your
thank you for your acknowledgement and support, it is greatly accepted. switching gears here, I have been thinking about it more and I guess I never realized that the face of poverty could also be abuse and hurt, I always saw it as what I encountered in Guatemala, which is more poverty by government responsibility or social class systems. Some may argue that our impoverished people in America are there by government responsibility as well. I don't know if I agree, simply because here we have opportunity, we have government run schools where you can get a free education and if you want to and have the will there is a way to suceed. However, with our nation being one of "I want this, I want that" we have created a place where poverty isn't simply not having shelter and food but a place where children are killed for their designer shoes. We may not look like a third world nation where our children are sold into slavery or prostitution but don't for one second think that it doesn't happen here. Children are desperately exploted and most of those exploted children come from homes where the parents are poor, don't work, can't work, are addicted to drugs etc... the kind of stuff that you find in any inner city. Those kids grow up, their bodies, their spirit, their brains hurt by what others have done to them for their own gains. So yes, it is an innocence lost, something that I nor anyone else can get back. If I had not had people in my life to show me the way, I wouldn't be here. I agree with the statement " it takes a village", that is all encompassing, it takes a village to fix anything and everything. Changing a mindset is so hard but the next time you hear of a kid killing another or a child raping another think about what the kid who committed these crimes must have gone through themselves and how they shut it up and locked it away because they had noone to guide them and then you will see the cycle of poverty and how it leads to violence.
Monica
good thoughts...
I agree with Dawn's comment. The fact that you want to share your own experiences and hurts with others, so that they don't have to experience it themselves - is a key unlearning. I'm sure that most people would not want to do that for fear of their own hurt.
I appreciate your willingness to put yourself "out there" all for the good of helping others - it's just like Jesus would do - a good way for all of us to Unlearn some things.
Prayers of blessings and peace to you! Thanks for sharing!
Steph
wow
Wow! Your Guatemala experience sounds incredible. But what really amazed me...you said hearing about the kids' 'hurts' was really a lightning bolt moment for you during worship on Sunday. I immediately thougt, "That's not surprising...this woman has probably never experienced hurts like these kids." But then you go on to explain that you know way too much about these hurts and what it's like to live in fear and shame because you've been there yourself. Here you are, coming from the very heart of the hurt, and yet you admittedly are unlearning poverty, and unlearning what it might mean for you to become a part of the solution. In other words, it looks like a person not only has to unlearn the biases and misconceptions that he or she may have never experienced first hand, but a person must even unlearn what he or she knows all too well. In short, we all have A LOT of unlearning to do!
Mostly, though, thanks for sharing so much of yourself and being willing to talk about what I'm sure has long been a gaping wound in your heart, a wound that you have spent years trying to mend. And now you are daring to risk opening up that wound even a little bit in order to mend someone else's. You are extremely courageous and we can all LEARN from you! Dawn F