Poverty

[mirrorshard]

I'm interested in what you think poverty means. Because of who I am (and, frankly, who you are) this is mostly about poverty in the context of rich countries. Warning: may be triggering for some.


[Poll #1355903]

Comments

[webcowgirl.livejournal.com]

I remember "foraging" behind restaurants when I was out of college and not able to get work, but since I never went without food, I didn't consider myself poor. Probably I should have, but I managed my rent and I wasn't hungry, and since I found work (finally) in restaurants, I ultimately never had to go without food. I was without a car (and rode a bike), without any heating or cooling in my house (bit of a problem in Arizona), without healthcare, but I had a roof and food and no debts. One mis-step on the health thing though (like the bad PAP smear I didn't have the money to follow up, if it had gone really bad while I was doing nothing about it) and it could have been a lot different.

I also didn't qualify for government assistance, not even for food stamps, once I got my minimum wage job.

Good on you for the rabbit hunting! You sound so amazingly resourceful.

In America, I think ultimately poor is not able to afford a car (or even a motorcycle). It really spirals down your economic situation if you're living someplace without a good public transportation system.

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

And there we have a big difference between countries, a lot of it depending on the proportion of people in urban vs. rural areas. I grew up in London and moved to Edinburgh as an adult, and you can do absolutely fine in both without a car. So I tend to forget that in some parts of the world you absolutely need a car if you want to get, oh, I don't know, food, healthcare, or to your place of employment.

[webcowgirl.livejournal.com]

When you have to have someone "do you a favor" to get you to the doctor or, worse yet, get you to work, you find you start running out of friends really quickly.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Yes - in Hertfordshire and London, there are excellent transport links so I've never needed a car - the most I had was a bicycle. However in rural Wales where my eldest two lived until recently, if you don't have a car then you are very much disadvantaged.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Good on you for the rabbit hunting! You sound so amazingly resourceful.

I did what I had to, really; I was just lucky that my father grew up in rural Scotland and learned a lot of woodcraft and hunting, and he passed those skills onto me. He taught me how to tickle trout, too. He also showed me how to knap flint to make knives and arrowheads, but thankfully that's a skill I've never had to rely on for tools! :-)