Comments on: Thoughts on poverty

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:58:00 +0000

Thanks for the tip, I’ve been meaning to read that book! I’ll have to put it on my Christmas list. It’s very difficult to get books to read in Bolivia. And yes, I think that’s what I’m starting to understand is that ‘emotional poverty’ is often tragically overlooked amongst all the focus on material goods.

By: Alice Riley

Alice Riley — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 04:01:23 +0000

The recent book “The Help” and movie currently in theaters demonstrates the futility of giving cast offs to the help or taking donations of clothing for “the poor children of Africa.” Of course, the irony was they had poor children nearby that needed empathy and so much more.

By: Mark Z

Mark Z — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:44:38 +0000

“A day without handouts is a day without dignity.” Either I’m misunderstanding that line, or that is not what they meant to say, since they had previously said that handouts deprive people of dignity. Anyway…

Laura, I agree with you. I think that that video’s concern is an important one. It is very important to consider how donations of certain kinds affect local economy. Not sure I believe all the statistics. But I do think we need to carefully consider what we think of as “helping”. It might not always actually be helping.

Thanks for sharing.