Beverley Rannow: Read the lessons of a Peace Corp volunteer

EDITOR'S NOTE: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not of Ottawa News Network.

Sierra Leone changed my life. There, I saw people who lived in what Americans would consider abject poverty and yet their generosity of spirit defied their poor circumstances.

Being a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone heightened my sensitivity to those living in poverty both overseas and in the United States.

Shortly after coming to Holland and becoming a member of Third Reformed Church, I was introduced to Bread for the World (BFW), a nonpartisan Christian organization lobbying in Washington, D.C., on behalf of those who are food insecure and living in poverty. I became a BFW member and, for 46 years, have been advocating for changes in the policies our legislators pass that keep people in the cycle of poverty.

Giving food to feed the hungry, while necessary in this world, both globally and locally, does not solve poverty. It only provides short-term relief and assuages the consciences of people doing the giving. There are structures in place that keep many people poor no matter how hard they work, and these are the root causes of hunger and poverty.

The well-off and the ultra-rich see themselves as deserving of the money they have and the “things” they can buy, be that items, services, friendship, or favors. Those living in poverty are lazy and ne’er do wells in the minds of many Americans.

Perhaps this is why government assistance programs are flawed and keep people living in poverty and destroy hope. They demand people jump through hoops that the rest of us would not tolerate. They pretend to encourage earning raises and promotions, but when those receiving benefits do so, the raises and promotions are seldom enough to replace the benefits that are then taken away.

Let’s take the case of “Daniel.” He is a single dad of two children working full time as a hotel maintenance worker earning $16 an hour. He receives $300 a month in SNAP, $775 a month in childcare assistance, an income-based housing subsidy of $625 a month and health coverage for the family. This would have left $75 at the end of the month.

However, this small amount does not leave him much to save or cover emergency repairs, birthdays/holiday expenses, large medical bills or any other significant unexpected expenses, any one of which puts him in the position of having to decide what regular bills to pay.

Now suppose Daniel is promoted to maintenance manager and moves up to $18 an hour. Surely a win, but wait, this $ 2-an-hour increase drops his SNAP benefits to $150 a month, his childcare assistance to $200, and his housing assistance to $575, leaving him with a monthly shortfall of $370 after he has paid his bills. If he had refused the promotion, he would not have had a shortfall. This is the benefits cliff! Every day, this cruel dilemma is faced by those living in poverty. We need a more humane method of easing people off government assistance as they make progress through raises and promotions.

Globally, the consensus of dependency theorists and world-systems analysts is that the United States, along with other “western” countries, exploits the resources of developing nations in unequal exchanges. Many developing nations are dependent on exporting cheap raw materials while importing expensive finished products from the West. The West benefits from the low wages earned in developing countries. Western multinational corporations operate in resource-rich but economically vulnerable nations, negotiating extremely favorable terms that leave developing nations with minimal tax revenue, degraded environments and depleted resources.

I saw this in Sierra Leone while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer. We owe it to these countries to invest in global health programs to improve health. We owe it to these countries to improve global nutrition. We owe it to these countries to support the vaccine alliance and the reduction of HIV/AIDS. We owe it to these countries to help secure global food security. We owe it to these countries to provide humanitarian and disaster assistance. We owe it to these countries to help improve agricultural productivity. And as a country of faith, we owe these actions to the God of justice and mercy.

In a world where the rich take advantage of the poor, we need to level the playing field and insist on fairness and not exploitation in both developing countries and Western countries.

— Beverley Rannow resides in Holland.

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