Why I am Doing This

Some years ago, I decided to go with a group from Rotary International to Nicaragua in order to see what I might be able to do to help with the poverty there. I did this because having grown up in Peru, I had been exposed to poverty at an early age, and decided at that time that if I ever had the resources to help alleviate it, I would try. I chose Nicaragua over other possibilities for my first attempt because 1) I speak Spanish; 2) it is a relatively short trip from anywhere in the U.S., and; 3) It is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere.

It didn't take long before I found numerous ways to help, and for several years I was very proud of my accomplishments. Today, I am proud of less of them, and I am overwhelmed by the unintended consequences of all of them.

What I didn't understand starting out is that what we up here in our luxury homes call "poverty" when we see it in the third world, is a way of life wrapped up in a culture with roots going back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. To attack the "poverty", you first have to convince people living in it that they are suffering. They don't see themselves through first world eyes. They see themselves as simply living the lives God gave them, in the same way that their ancestors did. For the most part they are as happy or happier than most of the people I know here in the U.S.

If suicide rates are any indication of people's comfort and satisfaction with life, take a look at this table, which although I'm sure has flaws, indicates to me that, in general, the richer a country is (except apparently in the former Soviet states), the more of its citizens choose to take their own lives. In addition to suicide rates, check out the life expectancies for various countries around the world. Many "poor" countries, except for those suffering outright famine and/or civil war (the two usually seem to go together), or the AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa, are only 5 or 6 years shy of the good old U.S.ofA. How can Nicaragua have 80% of its 5.5 million people living below the the official World Bank poverty line of $2 per day, and still have a national life expectancy of almost 68 years? While that number is 10 years less than the U.S., I find it surprisingly high; and it is skewed way downward by a high infant mortality rate (28.11 per thousand live births in Nicaragua, versus 6.43 for the U.S.)

In my experience, the answer is that within their own country, they don't need $2 per day to survive, as long as they make it past the first year. I have helped a lot of infants do that (survive) with $5 worth of antibiotics, generally talking the mother into having her tubes tied (another $150) at the same time. Is that right? I don't think the Pope would think so.

I know lots of people in Nicaragua who live on less than $0 per day and most of them are doing just fine. They raise corn, chickens, & goats; they collect rainwater when it rains; they catch fish in the lake. On Sunday afternoons they all gather under a tree, drink Guaro (the local hooch made out of sugarcane) watch their kids and grand kids play, and in general have a rockin' good time.

The unfortunate quandry I have found myself in is that most of the people I have tried to help are no longer satisfied with this lifestyle, and although some will eventually move beyond it, many will not; and will live out their lives less satisfied than they might have otherwise been.

Who am I to do that to them?