When I read about the Live Below the Line challenge, I
thought about my time living in poverty in the US and in South Africa. Three
years ago I joined AmeriCorps VISTA, a program created by the Kennedy
administration to combat poverty in the US. As a VISTA member you are required
to live at the poverty level while working with impoverished groups. During my
two years I lived on a food stamp program receiving a monthly allowance for groceries
and I also purchased food parcels. Prior to living in poverty I believed it was
easy to gain access to government programs. I would half-heartedly listen to
people tell me how tough it was to make ends meet or to escape from poverty. I
would privately say if you don’t want to be poor just work harder. I learned
being poor IS a full time job. Endless trips to turn in paperwork, waiting
outside for an hour in the summer in Arizona to be allowed to go inside and
wait another hour to hand in one sheet of paper. Constant phone calls
explaining what AmeriCorps is and why I qualify for assistance. Making
appointments, arriving on time to be told I had the wrong date and time and
that I would have to wait a week to apply again for rental assistance. The
looks of disgust I would receive from cashiers at the grocery store when I used
my food stamp card to purchase food. Or the incredible conversation I had with
two friends who own their house and have every electronic device known to man
telling me it was ridiculous I received government assistance when they
couldn’t. It was an experience that I will never regret but it is an experience
that I can leave at any time which isn’t true for millions of people.
In impoverished communities in America and South Africa
there often aren’t grocery stores nearby. In America you have small shops or a
99 Cent store that sell rice, beans, canned fruits and vegetables and a lot of
junk food. In South Africa we have tuck shops that sell Mealy Meal, rice,
pasta, canned beans, canned pilchards and very fatty sausages (I cooked them
and drained a cup of fat out of the skillet) and chicken in the best case
scenarios. Normally it’s chicken heads/feet, mealy meal and soya mince and
again a lot of junk food. No where have I yet to see fresh vegetables in the
shops. Children are offered meals at school and drop in centers where they eat
large amounts of pap (a very thick porridge), soup (a powdered mix) with soya
mince (dehydrated soy with a meat flavoring) and sometimes vegetables. In the
US we have food boxes that you can purchase or receive for free; it all depends
on the organization and your income level. In the food box I would find rice,
beans, often moldy vegetables, potato chips, soda, some meat, peanut butter,
bread and possibly frozen dinners. For the families or individuals that can
travel to the grocery store the plan is to purchase convenience items the
children can prepare quickly until an adult can return home. On top of a lack
of nutrition, families and individuals in poverty have to search for or go
without medical care. In South Africa my host mother had to leave the house at
6am and wait for 7 hours to see a doctor for her high blood pressure while
caring for her 1 yr old granddaughter. In the US in two years I had 4 different
doctors at two different clinics that were not close to me. We have witnessed
school closings in economically depressed communities in America or schools in
South Africa that don’t have enough books for the children. The combination of all
of this creates a poverty cycle that is difficult to escape from and becomes an
unfortunate legacy each generation passes to the next. I’m glad that such a
challenge exists to highlight the struggle people in poverty face every day and
am pleased so many people and organizations have decided to take a stand and
search for solutions.
