NORBERTO V. CASABAL
If poverty were a battlefield, then, I must have been one of the valiant warriors who fought the greatest fight. If poverty were a story, then, I must have been one of its toughest characters. If poverty were a teacher, then, I must have been one of its bravest students.
If there is one heart-breaking period of my life, it is poverty. If there is one experience that shaped me into who I am today, it is poverty. And, if there is one tale about my life that I will continue to narrate and share with others, it is poverty.
Ironically, though, that poverty is an arc of rainbow above the horizon, with its pot of gold at its end as consolation. It offers glaring colors of beauty after the storm and rays of sun after the rain. Yet, it takes persistence and inner strength to defeat it. After all, “ang kahirapan ay hindi niyayakap, ito ay nilalabanan.”
Growing up in a downtrodden community in the 80’s, my childhood life was an amalgamation of painful past – countless days of empty stomach, countless nights of burning the midnight oil by the kerosene lamp, and countless hours of selling camote Q, banana Q, lumpia, vegetables, and a lot more. My nanay was a “labandera” and my tatay was a “kubrador ng jueteng.” I was a boy on the street deprived of convenience, stripped of comfort, and robbed of consolation.
At a young age, I realized that the opposite of poverty was not abundance, but apathy. It was not simply the lack of employment but the lack of possibilities for empowerment. It was not caused by the absence of opportunity, but the presence of indifference. It’s not a choice, but the lack of choices. Poverty was an endowment of social divisiveness brought about by apathy, indifference, and lack of opportunity. And the best weapon to liberate myself from the bondage of poverty was my intrinsic motivation that one day, I’d be in control of my own future. And so every night, I would sleep embracing my dream, and would wake-up every morning chasing that dream.
I remember when I was preparing for college admission after I graduated from high school, my father approached me and said, “Paano ba ‘yan anak, hindi ka na naming kayang pag-aralin.” Then, I responded in resolute firmness, “Hindi ‘tay, basta, mag-aaral ako.”
I left our home with high hopes that I would break the silos of poverty within our family. I was like Santiago in the novel, “The Alchemist” who, at the age of 17 had embarked on a journey and chased his “personal legend.” Sublimation was my powerful defense against my own situation, coupled by my inner strength and conviction to change the course of my own destiny. As Eleonor Roosevelt said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the power of their dreams.” Deep inside, it was between me and my dreams, but in between was hard work.
Like all others, the poor long for higher purpose of life, more than just mere survival. They just need opportunities, which accord them with cudgels of propensity for self-reliance. They need opportunities that will empower their thoughts, their voices, and their actions. They’re not helpless and hopeless people, but are living creatures constantly in search for that one great chance that will emancipate them from the “hand to mouth” and “a matter of survival” situation. However, where have all our sensibilities and sensitivities gone? Are we willing to extend a hand, go out of our enclaved homes, and share our time and resources, mature talent, good fortune? This is a call that we must heed and a challenge that we must respond to, now.
There is no easy way out of poverty, so to speak. It requires determination, perseverance, and vigor to fight it, fight against it, and win over it. All those years, when the flame of my courage dwindles, I would take a rest, reconnect with my inner core, and rekindle my desire to escape poverty. Education is both empowering and emancipating – the best antidote to poverty. I may have had my education the hardest way, but true enough, that at the end of the rainbow is a pot of gold; there’s silver lining after every storm.
Poverty, according to many reports is caused by several reasons, such as slow economic growth, growing number of population, weak employment generation, to name a few. However, Shaffer (2008) argues that poverty isn’t just about deprivation of physiological needs, but a reflection of lack of social recognition coupled with issues of vulnerability, inequality, and human rights. I believe, these are just fragments and anecdotal incidents of poverty trying to encapsulate the persisting social, economic, and political disparity at present, so we may be able to understand the rhetoric of poverty. But behind these reasons are the untold stories of their fragile, yet fractured future, permeated by a society that has gone apathetic, lukewarm, and lethargic of the situations of the poor.
Who do we listen to when we talk about poverty? Our elected officials who despise statistics but adept in romanticizing their “pro-poor” anecdotes during campaign period to appeal to the poor? Aren’t they just taking advantage of the poor’s vulnerability to their own advantage? Have we tried to listen to the poor? May be we need micro-approach or “inside-out” approach to address the issue of poverty. May be, we need a paradigm shift in the way we respond to the problem. May be, we have to focus our attention centering to the poor – just that!
Awareness may not necessary lead to action. And this is how I feel about the issue of poverty in the country. While the educated and the “haves” may have a better grasp of poverty as a state of powerlessness, only by challenging our own mental model to understand the problem, to act on the problem, and to collaborate with the poor in solving the problem can we truly break the silos of poverty. Or else, it’ll continue to perpetuate. Worse, it may be passed on and bequeathed to the next generation.
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