Yesterday, I talked about a comment someone had written called “The Uncultured Project is totally useless!”. If you haven’t read it – check it out. Just to be clear – this wasn’t a hater comment. The points raised by the author are actually common points raised in the discussion about global poverty.
That’s why I want to talk about this.
And I want to bring someone else into this discussion – his name is Sharief:
Meet Sharief
I’ll keep the guilt-trip to a minimum – you can read more after the jump.
Sharief is ten years old and he’s a fishermen. Taking the old phrase “feed a man a fish you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish you feed him for life”, Sharief learned how to become a fishermen at a very early age. Every night he, using the same equipment and putting in the same hours as adults, fishes in his village. His income? 30 cents (on a good day).
Teach a Man to Fish? Cliches Oversimplify the Problem.
So, with the knowledge of fishing not being enough to survive, Sharief decided to put his entrepreneurial and hardworking spirit to even further use by investing in a rickshaw. Most days he rides the rickshaw himself and earns a fare from passengers. On other days, he rents out the rickshaw and earns money from rental fees. With these two jobs, do you know how much he earns? About 50 cents (or 60 cents on a really good day).
He's Ten Years Old & Holds Two Jobs & Earns about 50 cents a Day
It’s stories like this – and a reality that breaks all our tired old cliches – which is why I to work on this project.
To be clear: I don’t do this project for a sense of self-satisfaction. Indeed, I was more self-satisfied sponsoring children from afar when I didn’t have to be confronted in the immense reality on the ground. Nor is it to fill some void in my life – as more skeptical people have claimed. Indeed, if I wanted to fill a void, should I really have removed myself from my friends, my family, and all the hobbies and interests that I had?
The reason I do this project is because there is a reality on the ground most of us cannot fully comprehend until we see it with our own eyes. There is a discussion about global poverty that needs to change before we can end it. Even if you spend your whole life reading every academic piece there is on this issue (as I have spent much of my life doing), there are still stories and viewpoints left untold and unshared.
What this project has taught me is that those that who say “unless you do _______ what you are doing is totally useless” are always wrong. It doesn’t matter if that person is in favor of direct aid, spurring entrepreneurship, or is an extremist advocating some sort of Che Guevara-style world revolution. There is no one path to ending extreme poverty. Anyone who says otherwise is simply trying to marginalize perspectives they disagree with.
More importantly, reducing the fight against global poverty to a cliche is insulting not just those trying to help, but its also insulting to those in need. The people I have met in Bangladesh are some of the most industrious, hardworking, and intelligent people I’ve ever met. They don’t need to be taught how to fish – instead, they need an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty.
A mosquito net may only protect a family for as long as it lasts (and if it’s a PermaNet that means a min of 5 years). But everyday they sleep under that net, they have the opportunity of living a life free from malaria. Everyday a villager drinks from a Pond Sand Filter, is a day with the opportunity of not having to take a loan (or waste their meager savings) buying medication to get rid of the newest water-borne illness they could have otherwise contracted.
What some see as “hand outs” or “totally useless things” I see as opportunities. Opportunities people can then use to further improve their circumstances on their own.
For example,when I gave the son of a young rickshaw driver the books needed for him to stay in school and enter the ninth grade, I helped him ensure he gets the literacy skills needed to command a high paying job. Even if he drops out the very next year, he’d be more educated than 60-70% of the entire country. But, by buying him brand spanking new textbooks, I put him in a position where he could resell those books after grade nine and use the proceeds to buy used textbooks (by himself) in grade ten.
My job, a charity’s job, or any concerned citizen’s job isn’t to provide a top-to-bottom solution for the poor. We aren’t suppose to hold their hands and build their life for those we help. Hell – I think we’d be resented by all if we even tried! Our obligation is to do enough to break them out of the cycle of poverty. We do that by creating opportunities. This includes the opportunity to live free from malaria, free from water borne illnesses, and in a position for them to better their own lives… by themselves.
Hi Shawn!
I admired you. I folow you in youtube and twitter, i buy the book “then of ppoverty” that i am reading now. I don´t speak english well but I think that what you are doing its big, very big; not only for the poor of Bangladesh, for us tha folow you it very important too, and very inspirational. I dream with the day that my daughters speak to her friends that her father done some usefull (like you)to “break out of the cycle of poverty” from a lot of people.
Best regards
Keny, from Carcabuey (spain)
Please, you must continue with this project.
I will very happy to meet you in person. Perhaps some day!!
Gracias por las amables palabras Keny!
Hi Shawn!
Too late in life, I’ve started following world events more closely — which isn’t to say that I’m an expert on any particular thing, or even knowledgeable enough about any particular thing to be terribly helpful. But what you’ve addressed here is one of the two responses I tend to hear when the campaigning I do in my spare time comes up, sometimes from close friends and family.
To paraphrase, the other is, “You’re American. Why don’t you worry about the plight of Americans? We’re suffering here, too!”
I’ve never been able to respond to their — or my — satisfaction. Partly it’s the knowledge that we’re fairly well taken care of here, and that the suffering caused by poverty and natural distasters in other places is more widespread, but it’s something else on top of that, I think: In my studies and at the few events I’ve participated in, I’ve come across frustration with the idea that distance, whether physical, cultural, or philosophical, lessens the importance of suffering. I believe that isn’t true, but… but. It’s hard to explain that feeling to people who have other things on their mind and other constraints on their time, especially when the person moralizing at them is a little-traveled college student.
I’m not sure where to go from here yet, but I firmly believe that you’re doing the right thing.
Love and best wishes,
Anna
Hey thanks for the kind words Anna! Also, your livejournal name made me hungry for waffles
Shawn,
Thank you for doing what you’re doing. It’s courageous, innovative, and absolutely inspiring. I hope to meet you in Bangladesh next time I’m there.
All the best,
Christina
I got the impression from your discussion of the options when you asked people to vote on which of the various projects to support that you actually had a very clear idea of the difference between emergency relief and empowerment for a sustainable future. The point is that both perspectives are needed, the question is how – or even whether – to integrate them.
Hi Owen – first, good to see you are still around keeping an eye on this project
Second, while there is a distinction between the two terms, the line can often get blurred when dealing with such extreme poverty.
For example, if you couldn’t get access to clean & clear water – you’d consider that an emergency. But, the people in Sharief’s community (in the absence of any disaster) do not have access to that kind of water. Do we label this an emergency?
Also, to be frank, “empowerment for a sustainable future” sounds like a fancier phrase for “teach a man to fish”. What does that mean? Does it mean fostering skills?. Does it mean fostering entrepreneurship? Sharief is already more skilled & more entrepreneurial than many Fortune 500 CEOs.
Hey Owen,
If you havent come across the Teach a Man to Fish Foundation…maybe they can be of assistance in your endeavors. Thanks for your advocacy on behalf of the Bangladeshi people.
Also, if you are looking for some translation work…I can connect you with a top notch one based out of Mirpur Dhaka.
Best wishes.
Jon Rodrigues
please: how to suscribe to your blog ?