..thoughts on poverty...

Its been more than 7 years since I moved back to Canada. As some of you know I spent most of my childhood in Pakistan. Growing up in a third world country meant that one could see poverty all around one, even in an insulated place like the capital city-Islamabad. However, growing up in a place like that also desensitizes one to poverty.

Like most upper middle class families in Pakistan, we used to have maids come to our house to clean up. A lot of these maids would have 5 to 10 children and barely enough money to get by for the next few days. Most of the time, they would be forced to make their children work as well which would mean that the children would not be educated-hence continuing the cycle of poverty. However, having said that, its not a given that education does lead to employment in Pakistan. Who a person know can not only help one get a job, it can also help one keep one's job even while underperforming, Further, the quality of education that most poor people can afford is not enough for them to come out with skills to earn an employment which would help them move up the economic ladder. So while poverty makes it difficult for children to get education, the attainment of education doesn't guarantee freedom from poverty either.Its a vicious cycle to be stuck in. I would say that developed countries offer better opportunities to move up the economic ladder-however, no place is perfect.

Part of the problem with poverty is that it is only a symptom of other root systemic problems i.e. corruption, famine, drought, natural disasters, war, economic colonialism, etc. These issues are too complex to come up with a "one solution for all." An African person I know told me recently that the problem with a lot of foreign aid is that the people giving the aid do not understand the local conditions and do not understand that these conditions can vary even within a few hundred kilometres in the same country.

Another interesting spin on poverty is that it is actually something we constantly ask Allah to save us from. Why? Well if you have no money to sustain yourself, it really becomes hard not to focus on the worldly pursuits. Your entire focus becomes your livelihood on a day to day basis and that can potentially be very (spiritually) harmful. Muslims are obligated to give 2.5 % of our savings to poor Muslims on a annual basis.

Further we are constantly encouraged to spend on those less fortunate then us. In spending on these people, we don't only help them in this world , we also help ourselves focus on what really matters ( i.e. the reality after death). Further, Muslims are also encouraged to look at people who have less then us when it comes to wealth in this world and not look at people who have more. We thank Allah for not having put us in a smilar situation and part of that thankfulness is that we give to the poor, make dua for them and also find other ways to help them because there are many ( some are listed by Sister Aminah on her web page).