The Chaos Within
‘There is a lot of money in poverty.’
Provocative paradox?
No, fact. There is billions and billions and billions… and billions of pounds, dollars, and for us, rupees, in poverty.
We are creatures of poverty. Remember poverty is an entity, and it is our creator. Social workers, NGOs, empowerment project after empowerment project have been conjured up by poverty. We live because poverty lives. Sadly, some of us are so dependent on the existence of poverty that we do little to end it. We pretend instead. We enter into an unholy alliance with poverty. We let it thrive and we feed in its wake.
To end poverty is an ideal. Its visceral grip on humanity is perennial.
‘There will always be poor.’ That is another middle and upper class comfort. Why try? We can achieve little, and so we often achieve nothing. ‘You can’t help these people. They must want to be helped.’ The randomness of life decreed that some of us be born on the right side of the poverty line. (Whatever determines that poverty line… in India it is the ‘little’ things - Little food, little shelter and little dignity.) Some of us look at the ‘underprivileged’, the ‘socio-economically deprived’ - the poor! Always read ‘the poor’ - and we feel pity, disgust and anger. Yes anger, why can’t they work, earn, find jobs? ‘There is always work if they want it.’ Yet another comfort of the middle and upper classes.
But it is not the eyebrow-plucked-highlights-in-the-hair-expensive-cologne-behind-the-ears heads buried in the sand of comfort that concern me. It is those who purport to be the champions of the poor and marginalized - the veterans of social reform, the generals and foot soldiers in the battle against poverty. (I heard recently that anyone who refers to him/herself as a ‘veteran of social reform’ is a failure, i.e., social reform has failed. Another provocative paradox?) It is those of us that feed in the wake of poverty that concerns me. And sadly this sickness is rife in the Indian NGO sector, rife in Pune, and saddest of all, present at Deep Griha Society.
There is a pay dispute that has threatened to threaten, but done little so far. Communist party labour unions have formed, members of staff have been cajoled into joining and Deep Griha finds itself 30 years on in a place that is alien, disturbing and sad. Some of us have forgotten why we do what we do... or maybe some of us do what we do because we can do little else. It is always the little things. It is an undeniable fact that many in the NGO sector have failed to find employment and so settle for the meagre earnings that organisations like Deep Griha struggle to provide.
It is tempting to dwell long and brutally upon this dispute. It is but a reminder of humanity’s forgetfulness. (Another paradox?) We have forgotten those we serve. If work is disrupted at Deep Griha, it is not the management that suffers sitting comfortably in their homes. It is the community that loses. The young mothers who need the crèches so that they can go out and find and keep those elusive jobs (that some people think sit thickly scattered about like toads in the monsoon and only need to be stumbled/squished upon), because they do want to work, they do want to earn, they do want to provide for their children. People living with HIV/AIDS do not stop being HIV+ because a handful of Deep Griha’s members of staff (approximately twenty from a total team strength of one hundred and thirty) feel under-appreciated. PLWHA will continue to need nutritional, medical and emotional support.
The door at Deep Griha is open. Those who want to earn more money are welcome to fuck off and do so! Working at Deep Griha is a choice. Yet, sadly, those involved in the dispute have ‘little’ choice. They, like the community, are beneficiaries of Deep Griha. They are misinformed and misguided by those who should know better… those who have fed on poverty. Their teeth and lips and chins are stained. Their tongues hunger for more. They think they can smell the money that poverty has promised.
The days ahead are uncertain. Poverty’s unholy alliance with humanity’s greed is.
Provocative paradox?
No, fact. There is billions and billions and billions… and billions of pounds, dollars, and for us, rupees, in poverty.
We are creatures of poverty. Remember poverty is an entity, and it is our creator. Social workers, NGOs, empowerment project after empowerment project have been conjured up by poverty. We live because poverty lives. Sadly, some of us are so dependent on the existence of poverty that we do little to end it. We pretend instead. We enter into an unholy alliance with poverty. We let it thrive and we feed in its wake.
To end poverty is an ideal. Its visceral grip on humanity is perennial.
‘There will always be poor.’ That is another middle and upper class comfort. Why try? We can achieve little, and so we often achieve nothing. ‘You can’t help these people. They must want to be helped.’ The randomness of life decreed that some of us be born on the right side of the poverty line. (Whatever determines that poverty line… in India it is the ‘little’ things - Little food, little shelter and little dignity.) Some of us look at the ‘underprivileged’, the ‘socio-economically deprived’ - the poor! Always read ‘the poor’ - and we feel pity, disgust and anger. Yes anger, why can’t they work, earn, find jobs? ‘There is always work if they want it.’ Yet another comfort of the middle and upper classes.
But it is not the eyebrow-plucked-highlights-in-the-hair-expensive-cologne-behind-the-ears heads buried in the sand of comfort that concern me. It is those who purport to be the champions of the poor and marginalized - the veterans of social reform, the generals and foot soldiers in the battle against poverty. (I heard recently that anyone who refers to him/herself as a ‘veteran of social reform’ is a failure, i.e., social reform has failed. Another provocative paradox?) It is those of us that feed in the wake of poverty that concerns me. And sadly this sickness is rife in the Indian NGO sector, rife in Pune, and saddest of all, present at Deep Griha Society.
There is a pay dispute that has threatened to threaten, but done little so far. Communist party labour unions have formed, members of staff have been cajoled into joining and Deep Griha finds itself 30 years on in a place that is alien, disturbing and sad. Some of us have forgotten why we do what we do... or maybe some of us do what we do because we can do little else. It is always the little things. It is an undeniable fact that many in the NGO sector have failed to find employment and so settle for the meagre earnings that organisations like Deep Griha struggle to provide.
It is tempting to dwell long and brutally upon this dispute. It is but a reminder of humanity’s forgetfulness. (Another paradox?) We have forgotten those we serve. If work is disrupted at Deep Griha, it is not the management that suffers sitting comfortably in their homes. It is the community that loses. The young mothers who need the crèches so that they can go out and find and keep those elusive jobs (that some people think sit thickly scattered about like toads in the monsoon and only need to be stumbled/squished upon), because they do want to work, they do want to earn, they do want to provide for their children. People living with HIV/AIDS do not stop being HIV+ because a handful of Deep Griha’s members of staff (approximately twenty from a total team strength of one hundred and thirty) feel under-appreciated. PLWHA will continue to need nutritional, medical and emotional support.
The door at Deep Griha is open. Those who want to earn more money are welcome to fuck off and do so! Working at Deep Griha is a choice. Yet, sadly, those involved in the dispute have ‘little’ choice. They, like the community, are beneficiaries of Deep Griha. They are misinformed and misguided by those who should know better… those who have fed on poverty. Their teeth and lips and chins are stained. Their tongues hunger for more. They think they can smell the money that poverty has promised.
The days ahead are uncertain. Poverty’s unholy alliance with humanity’s greed is.
posted by Deep Griha at 9:47 am
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