POVERTY

 

CONCERNING POVERTY

A few days ago the British Government asked Susan Jones to write an article on poverty for one of their educational magazines. They wanted her to describe poverty and explain what causes it and how people can escape from it. They asked Susan because she was a good journalist. She had, moreover, been writing about social issues in various parts of the world for over twenty years.

Susan herself was neither rich nor poor. She had, however, seen people who had been living in poverty all their lives and she had been shocked by what she had seen. So when she was asked to write about poverty, she felt she had something to say and welcomed the opportunity to share her experience. She also felt that the article would help her to sort out the complex thoughts and mixed feelings that she had about poverty.


Susan first saw poverty in West Bengal during the 1970s. She remembered returning home from India after her first trip and telling her husband, George, about the scenes of poverty she had retained in her memory ever since her time in Calcutta. The people she had met there had no money and no hope of ever having an income. They didn't have enough to eat and lived in conditions that were really horrible, but they themselves did not appear to be miserable. Although they had nothing, they had welcomed Susan with gentle smiles and had seemed happy to share their experience with her. Susan wanted to help these brave people, but didn't know where to begin. They needed food, medicines and a clean environment, but more than these things, she felt that they needed to be able to help themselves and not have to depend on people like herself. She came to the conclusion that education might be the key to their problems.