Poverty

Today I got an email from the ONE campaign, working to raise awareness of and alleviate global poverty. Sometimes I look at their emails. Sometimes I don’t. Today the campaign is focusing on communicating to G8 leaders the growing worldwide hunger crisis. In just three years, according to them, the price of staple foods, like wheat, corn and rice has almost doubled. In Bangladesh, not far from us here, the price of rice is half the average daily wage. In Madya Pradesh, where we were last week, there has been a drought for the last five years. The ground is cracked and few crops grow. People have had to leave and try to find a way to eat here in jam-packed Delhi, where they will be lucky to find a corner in which to sleep, under a tarp and 4 bamboo poles with 10 other people.

As you know we had a fabulous visit to Madya Pradesh, and I have hesitated to say much about the poverty that we regularly saw—especially along the road between the small towns we stayed in—and what we see here in Delhi the moment we leave the campus. My instinct is to present the attractive side of this country and inspire others to want to come to this magical place. But the fact is that it is gorgeous and it’s grim—and that’s a much harder sell. But it may be irresponsible not to at least spend a little time reflecting on this vexing reality.

Here is one of our recent experiences learning about life for the “average” person in India. We had a chance one evening to get to know one of the hotel employees in that palace we stayed in, and he offered some bits about his life and then seemed very willing to answer our questions about his own living conditions. He feels lucky to have this job (he’s also one of the lucky ones who somehow learned English well), but it means that he has had to leave his wife and four children, ages 6, 10, 16, and 18 back at home, a five hour bus ride that he gets to make just once a month. He rents out a tiny room in Orchha, with no plumbing or electricity, so he has a place to sleep. The hotel feeds him his meals. Most striking to me was his gratitude, since he is able to get water at the hotel. Because of the drought, water has to be brought to that town by truck, and it is always rationed. Unlike in the US, where poverty is mostly hidden and we don’t see those who struggle everyday to eat a balanced meal, and feed one to their kids; here poverty lives shoulder to shoulder with great wealth. There’s no denying it.

So I decided to sign the ONE campaign petition that will be sent to President Bush. They are working toward 50,000 signatures on a petition that will ask first that global poverty make the G8 agenda and second that commitments be secured for “additional resources for all types of food assistance and increased agricultural productivity in developing countries.” It’s likely naïve on my part to think that this would matter at all. Maybe my guilt at having so much has taken over a bit. But then I also figure, well, what can one do? Maybe it’s better than nothing. Maybe it is nothing. But it can’t hurt. Anyway, I decided to attach the link in case you wanted to look into it. Being here certainly etches the trap of poverty in your mind for life, and it’s an image that I, in fact, don’t want to forget.

http://www.one.org/blog/2008/04/16/the-hunger-crisis-take-action/

And then by accident, later, I noticed that The New York Times online has a story on the front page about the world hunger crisis. Thailand, where we were in January, and India are discussed.
www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/world/americas/18food.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp