NO END TO POVERTY
February 26, 2007
catesbool
Sometime in November 2005, our 2101 class in the ISS were asked by Wil Hout to post our comments and critiques on Jeffrey Sach’s The End of Poverty. This was part of the discipline of trying to make us think critically through the use of development theories.
I went over the sorry-looking 494 words of essay I wrote at that time and even felt sorrier for having been too constrained by the requirement of thinking within 500 words to express what I really think about The End of Poverty. There was so much to say about ending poverty that 500 words will not be able to capture, I felt at that time.
I had conveniently forgotten about this until this morning. I was on my way to the office, trying not to be late. With much haste, I sped past through throngs of people along Arlegui Street on the way down to the underground pass that will take me to the sides of Quiapo Church where I can catch the jeepney going inside the walled city of Intramuros .
As I hurriedly went downstairs, a very striking image which nearly made me cry struck me so strongly I could not get it out of my mind. Down the stairs, a grubby little girl lies on the lap of her mother. Her whole lower body is exposed to onlookers, including her genitalia as she sucked on her mother’s breast for milk. The girl is about 3 years old by now. I have seen her being left unattended by her mother within the same underground pass years back when she was a baby. I have seen her stunted growth before I conveniently went to The Netherlands to study. Beyond myself, I could do nothing for her to save her from the harshness of street life of Manila.
Today, like a ghost that keeps haunting me every morning on my way to work, I saw her again in her sorry state. She lies there as her mother sits waiting for alms. She continues to try to suck milk from her mother’s thin breasts and it suddenly struck me how hungry she must be. I had began to wonder whether she could still manage to suck out anything from that same breast which have been feeding her the past few years. And I was trying to stop tears from coming out of my eyes.
Is there an end to poverty for these people? For Jeffrey Sachs, the end to poverty comes in the form of these key elements: increasing aid from Western countries, reallocating funding priorities in developing countries themselves by focusing on the basics and on the poorest of the poor in Africa, using proven technologies to solve practical problems, and holding the developed world accountable on their commitments.
During the 80’s, the Philippines had seen a surge in aid from Western countries but the debt crisis that followed brought only catastrophe to its economy and to the lives of its people who continues to be mired in debt for generations to come. Aid and debt, I know, are not synonymous. But for a little grubby girl who simply wants to suck milk to satisfy her hunger, what do these things mean? Sachs believes that by focusing on the poorest of the poor in Africa, there can be an end to poverty. What about the non-African people who are not privy to these funding from the Western countries, let alone from any help from the local government? The little girl has much strength in her, considering the years she has spent out in the streets. How many meals can she eat in a day just to satisfy her hunger while many of those in the Western world and even those in Manila are worried about cosmetic surgeries for wont of better things to do with their money? How can proven technology solve practical problems when even the simple problem of trying to find food that she can put in her stomach is beyond this little girl?
By all rights, we must hold the developed world accountable to their commitments in the same way that we must hold our leaders accountable to their commitments towards the poorest of the people who are part of the public they are supposed to serve. Living in Manila, seeing poverty everyday, is not an easy task. In your head, you see clearly how policies are meant to help the poorest of the poor help themselves. Confronted with poverty head on, I can only try to be philosophical and critical about it. But there are days when I simply cannot turn a blind eye and I feel powerless to do anything about it.I feel more than ever how difficult it is to end poverty.
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