How Poor is the Poor?

How Poor is the Poor?

By Kymberli Whittaker

Data from  the Statistical Institute of Jamaica in 2011, estimates that around 20% of the Jamaican populace is living below the poverty line. Poverty may be defined as having little or no access to necessities and not having a proper means to sustain themselves. Necessities. What really defines necessities?

On the world stage, poverty is seen as inadequate access to food, shelter, clothing, clean water, or health care. To sum it up it refers to a person having a poor standard of living and being deprived of the basics. Images of children for example with protruding bellies, bulging eyes, bones pressing against the skin comes to mind.  Poverty may also be judged on the income received in US dollars, with receiving a small amount being associated with persons living in poverty. The correlation being that a smaller income means that one is not able to purchase the necessities. Necessities.

In Jamaica, the ones without what is deemed a legitimate steady income; the ones who wake up and have no jobs to go, can they for the most part be deemed all poor? Extreme poverty does exist in our nation as some cannot under any circumstances take care of themselves or their children and end up homeless or dependent solely on family, strangers and other organisations such as the government,  church and welfare organisations to survive,  however separate and aside from these cases which is unfortunately too many, I believe many persons hide under the umbrella of poverty to avoid responsibilities.

The category of persons whom I am referring to pay no light bill, yet have light. They do not pay for water, yet have water, whether in their pipes or at the neighbourhood standpipe. They pay no rent yet live or squat somewhere without hassle from any government agencies. They have no jobs, yet they do not die of hunger. In the “allegedly” poor communities whether in the rural or urban areas, no one with working mental faculties walks naked. They eat and live, and everyday has a rhythm. A rhythm of hustling to achieve their “necessities”.

Necessities differ based on background and goals. What is necessary for one man may not be necessary for the other. Food and shelter is a must, but when we look at persons who do not work or do menial informal tasks as a method of hustling and see them as automatically poor, we err and err seriously.

The cost of living is high I’m sure we have all come to accept that some persons will have more amenities at their disposal than others. We should however strive to be able to live at an acceptable standard, which means that we will need money. Times are hard yes, as who feels it definitely knows it, but for many who use the “I’m poor” excuse I do not buy it.

How many poor persons do you know who religiously gamble daily, playing games such as Cash Pot and Lotto, when they say they have no money to buy one board or zinc at a time to fix their failing housing structures? How many poor persons do you see “immaculately” dressed from head to toe, but are unable to pay for one (1) cxc subject to try to slowly take the steps to lift themselves from “poverty”. Most cook shops are in poor areas, who buys the food? Street Dances are kept weekly, do these people not buy drinks at each event? How many poor persons say they have no clothes to go to church or a job interview, yet they are covered in tattoos or their skin has been lightened systematically to a different hue, both of which takes money?

We need to stop facilitating excuses from this category of the “poor” and they need to be held accountable. Many are comfortable in their state of “poverty” and as a nation we cannot accept “being poor” as a limitation, for anyone who chooses this path. Sometimes we have to accept that poverty is a choice for some and in analysing the state of Jamaica and where we have reached, compared to where we should be, we have to adopt a no tolerance attitude towards this category.   Really, how poor are they?

September 2013

Twitter: kymroxi