Feature: THE SPECTER OF POVERTY By Rene F. Antiga “When I gave food to the poor they called me God but when I asked them why they’re hungry, they called me a communist.” - Archbishop Oscar Romero El Salvador Hunger is the most concrete manifestation of poverty. It often drives man to desperation. Much more if the root cause of poverty carries with it the element of injustice. In an agricultural country like ours, it is at the height of irony that the country cannot feed its own people. To top it all, there are many people going hungry while a few lived in luxury and splendor. There is indeed a great disparity in the distribution of the country’s wealth. The system that operates in our society is not only defective but it is also rotten to the core. Thus, there is a need to overhaul the whole system in order to address the problem of poverty among the vast majority of the people. The specter of a hungry man reminds me of a ragged “man in grease” or taong grasa who exemplifies the image of extreme poverty. While dining on a sidewalk restaurant in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija a few years back, I noticed a “man in grease” hiding himself on a lamp post. I just ignored him as if he didn’t exist. While eating, there was a lump on my throat so I stood up and went to the water dispenser a few meters away from my table. All of a sudden the “man in grease” made his move. He swooped down on my table, grabbed the half-consumed grilled catfish on a barbecue stick and ran away. A slight commotion ensued. The boy food attendant attempted to give chase but I blocked his way telling him to leave him alone. The owner, a fat charming lady, offered to replace the grilled catfish but I refused saying I was already full anyway. All eyes of the customers were on me so I picked up my backpack and left without turning back. On my way to the bus terminal, I saw the “man in grease” nibbling the stick of catfish behind a cargo truck. I broke a smile and shook my head. As a student living in a boarding house, I’d also experienced hunger especially when my allowance didn’t arrive on time. But I and my classmate who was also a board mate were resourceful enough to banish our hunger without any sweat. In the middle of the night we took a few cupfuls of rice from a plastic container owned by a teacher who also happened to live in the same dormitory. We cooked the rice on a kerosene-fed stove inside our room. Then, as if it was a manna from heaven, there was glass bottle filled with salted fish displayed on the table. We took some spoonfuls to match with rice. At least it is much better than to have salt for viand. After our sumptuous dinner of rice and salted fish, we dig the can of biscuit for butts of cigarette for smoke. In the window, we blew smoke rings and laughed at each other for our resourcefulness to fill our stomach so that it wouldn’t growl with hunger. We could even afford the luxury of smoking by keeping the cigarette butts in a tin can and saved them for the coming rainy days. We learned the art of survival at this early stage of our lives which was never taught in school. To banish hunger and chronic poverty, there is now a paradigm shift among the civil society organizations (CSOs) from the traditional handing out of grants to the poor sectors of society into giving them the opportunity to start a business or livelihood projects of their own through soft loans. This concept of social enterprise is similar to the business sector’s corporate social responsibility (CSR). Social enterprise is anchored on the project’s commercial viability and sustainability, its ownership is shared by its stakeholders and net profit is plowed back to the organization and its members. Unlike in the corporate world where profit only goes to the pockets of greedy capitalists. In a seminar on social enterprise I attended recently in Ateneo De Manila University in Quezon City, I learned that some civil society groups are now polling their resources together and give emphasis on social enterprise as a means of empowering their clients, the poor and underprivileged sectors of society. Some give out loans of up a maximum of P10 million payable within five years with a minimal interest from three to 11 percent. Other CSOs still extend grants and guarantees to qualified projects from their partner people’s organizations. Some CSOs have imposed more stringent rules in the aftermath of the Napoles’ pork barrel scam where fake NGOs with bogus projects had been the recipients of pork barrel funds. The biggest obstacle for the poor to start a business or livelihood project is the lack of working capital. Unlike the traditional businessmen who can easily access to credits from banks and other financial institutions because they can put up the required collateral or guarantee, the poor can only fend for himself in case he ventures into the world of business. Besides, the poor lacks the technical expertise in project management and marketing strategy. In most cases, the poor man’s venture often results in failure. One of the most common causes of failure in business is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat or loss. They lack persistence and resources to bounce back from a series of failures. Before success comes in anyone’s life, it is inevitable that he will meet with temporary defeat and frustration, and perhaps, some failures. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. The lack of education is also a contributory factor that hinders the poor to undertake a business. But education is not a hindrance for the poor man to succeed in life. There are rich and famous men who lack formal education and yet made it big in his chosen field. Thomas Alba Edison had only three months of schooling during his entire life. Henry Ford had less than a sixth grade schooling but he managed to do pretty well himself financially. Abraham Lincoln was a failure at everything he tried until he was well past the age of forty. In modern times, there are college dropouts who stood tall among their peers. Bill gates quit college to build the Microsoft. Steve Jobs was a college drop out who invented the iPad. Another young man who didn’t finish college but who made himself famous by creating the popular social network, Facebook. These rich and famous individuals have one thing in common – they chose a definite goal and placed all their energy into it. All great works require passion. We didn’t need to look far to see the face of poverty staring right before our eyes, In our neighborhood, there is this young boy who makes a daily round around the neighborhood soliciting food or money every day. The neighbors would rather spare a dime or give food rather than to encourage this boy from stealing. At ten years old, the boy looks older than his age. He is the second child of a family of eight. The father is jobless and the mother is plain housewife. They’re living in a makeshift inside a watershed area and eking out a living by planting vegetables. Hunger is what drives the young boy to solicit food from the neighbors. The specter of poverty will continue to haunt us unless we completely overhaul the unjust structures of society. ### 07 October 2013
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 06:10:39 +0000
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