Poverty Symposium heightens awareness

Author: Angelica Towne

Six months ago, six diverse students came together with some questions - Why is there poverty? What is being done to eliminate poverty? How can one get involved in the fight against poverty? Perplexed, intrigued and enthused by these inquiries, Olivia Kenna '07, Sarah Lauing '07, Gruia Badescu '07, Kelly Dennis '07, Sarah Calvert '08,and Natalie Guarin '05, in collaboration with Middlebury's Alliance for Civic Engagement, designed and deliberated proposal after proposal in search of the most effective manner to share these concerns with the entire Middlebury community. The deliberations resulted in the formation of the symposium scheduled this week entitled "The Many Faces of Poverty." The symposium utilizes lectures, screenings, service-learning, simulation and panel discussions to explore the implications of extreme global poverty, local poverty and often disregarded national poverty.

With the current establishment of an interdisciplinary minor in poverty studies at Middlebury College, a comprehensive and thoughtful initial dialogue about poverty could not be more necessary. "It's about addressing more than one aspect or effect of poverty," explained Lauing. "We wanted to address all the layers and sides of the problem of poverty to better address the system itself." The six collaborators organized events to offer diverse perspectives on poverty including firsthand recounts, economic speculations and artistic representation.

The symposium committee chose to approach poverty with different innovative techniques as well as different perspectives. For example, this Friday, March 11, Ross dining hall is closing its doors in order to accommodate the Oxfam Hunger Banquet. The Banquet is a fundraiser for Heifer International, an organization dedicated to hunger relief. Participants will be given personas of different statuses to feel the effects of the plight of poverty so as to engender a better understanding of those afflicted.

An emphasis on significant facts and the academic mechanics of poverty were equally investigated. Economics Professor Stephen Smith of George Washington University astounded audience members with his in-depth presentation of statistics and projections on the dire state of the globe. "We have a child tsunami everyday," he stressed after announcing that 3,000 children die a day in Africa just from malaria. "Two and three times the U.S. population is in extreme poverty to the point where they cannot participate in society. There are 100 million children who, as of today, will never set foot into a classroom. Eight hundred seventy five million illiterate adults are trapped in vicious cycles of poverty."

The idea of poverty traps or inescapable cycles of poverty that undermine the efforts of the poor was the main focus of Smith's lecture and book, "Ending Global Poverty - A Guide to What Works," which is being published this May. Smith urged all students interested in getting involved in poverty awareness initiatives or organizations that work to eradicate poverty to read his innovative book. The text is divided into three sections - what are poverty traps, what initiatives work in the effort to break these traps and what anyone can do to start getting involved. Among the 13 types of traps Smith discussed were Illiteracy Traps, Debt Bondage Traps, Child Labor Traps and, most surprisingly, Powerlessness Traps. Powerlessness Traps is the idea that the poor cannot improve their own situation if poverty deteriorates their mental health to the extremes of suicide and chronic depression. With regards to those countless millions who suffer from such afflictions, Smith declared, "Without a dream of a better future it is very hard to achieve a better future. They need basic education, health care, access to credit, a stable environment, along with community and personal empowerment." Kenna found the emphasis on empowering individuals to be "a different, important and humane way of approaching poverty." In light of the overwhelming plight of millions, Smith believed it was important for every person to bear in mind that "huge progress has been made in extreme poverty reduction. Appreciating how far we have to go and how far we have already come is crucial. Ending poverty is possible. The compelling moral reason to act is that there remains so much to be done."

Smith introduced various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that a Middlebury student or faculty member can get involved in to break some of these poverty traps. An ideal springboard is the easily navigated Web site Interaction.org which posts lists of large U.S. based NGOs. He also stressed the importance of involvement through organizations of which one is already a part. Smith admitted, "Although I deal with cases of extreme poverty outside of the US, I applaud local efforts to mitigate the effects of poverty."

Arguably, the most amazing aspect of the symposium resides in its popularity and success as an event that had no specific backing from student organizations. Six students had to look no further than Middlebury's staff and faculty for support. Badescu expressed his appreciation, saying, "We found so much more than an advisor in Americorp VISTA employee Sarah Johnson. She was our backbone."

All of the symposium's events culminate in prearranged student community service projects that are to take place on Saturday, March 12 in Middlebury, Burlington and Barre, Vt. Students can choose between helping to sort donated clothing, cooking meals for the homeless and painting a mural for an after school program. The underlying theme is on translating inactive information into informed action. The hope is that students will be better able to identify community needs due to poverty and learn of effective measures to refurbish those deficiencies. Cicely Ott '08 agreed, "There are so many things that need to be done, too many things to focus on. But, these events offer you a way to focus on specific effectual change in the context of the big system at work."

So, why is there poverty? What can be done to rid the world of extreme poverty? Maybe these questions cannot be immediately answered, but now they are at the forefront of Middlebury's conversations.