I just finished watching Living on One Dollar, a 2013 American documentary about understanding extreme poverty via experience, as opposed to assessment from philosophy…

 

It’s not the first documentary I ever watched, and it won’t be the last. It’s not the greatest thing I’ve ever seen but it’s far removed from the worst.

 

There’s something about a documentary that sticks longer than film, probably because it’s because it’s real and unscripted.

 

It follows four young American guys as they journey to Guatemala, uncovering stark daily realities that you and I would shake our heads at.

 

In the comfort of my London flat my surrounds and myself suddenly offend me.

 

What I thought was ‘humble’ has been obliterated by the images on my screen.

 

It’s not the first time this has happened. It happened when I volunteered for World Vision (a charity), when I was in certain part of Thailand, when I drove around Fiji and in the ‘bad parts’ of Dubai.

 

I soothe my sensibilities by making commitments to myself, to sponsor a child again soon or do a stability & sustainment project with my husband some day.

 

In the documentary there’s a boy called Chino, who really wants to learn. He’s twelve years old, out of school and working fulltime as a farmer.

 

He watches the Americans struggle with his reality, without judgment, critique or farce.

 

Over the course of the recording, we see his ravenous thirst for knowledge, paired with a very charming and disarming genuine personality…

 

Midway through, it’s clear the men have no idea the impact he’ll have on them back home, but there’s a beautiful poignancy about how his urgency for interaction develops into candle-lit lessons with day-time recitation. Proof how powerful teachers, schools and education have the capacity to be, even amidst abject poverty.

 

At one point, as the two main guys discuss and analyse poverty as an equation, Chino wanders in (having finished work for the day) smiling, ready for lesson two;

 

‘Hello!’ he smiles.

“Hello” they reply, disarmed and disconnected from their very serious discussion.

 

The men attempt to reconnect their conversation, but Chino chimes in again:

 

‘How are you?’ he grins, proving practice.

 

And, the production may as well end there, ‘cause that’s when I think one of the guys realises that big-picture discussions are important, but not half as relevant as just being there, now, providing what’s needed, as opposed to what they think they should give.

 

It’s clear that as humans, we’re often focused on big-picture concepts that comprise the immediate possibility before us.

 

We miss intricate complexities that contain the present.

 

We miss the brilliance of the moment by fixating on concepts instead of realities.

 

But real solutions (like lasting friendships) are slow burning - built out of intent, slowly, surely, inevitably and warmly…

 

Chino doesn’t know the men are busy trying to solve world problems – he just wants to learn as much as he can before they go so he can try to get a job that pays.

 

We have to acknowledge that often the help we want for others, isn’t the help they need.

 

And when help is needed in any case, are we really in a position to insist otherwise?

 

Maybe the answer to poverty isn’t a blanket statement of disillusion, structure or blame.

 

Maybe it starts by letting Chino get his needs met, so he can show us the way to help him best.

 

Through the piece we see that Chino, his family and the Guatemalan community are no different to the four American guys. When everyone is on the same budget with the same persisting limitations and undeniable impossibilities, they all feel the same pain, crave the same wants and dream of getting the same basic needs met. Only from there can continuity come, only from there can a different kind of ‘humble’ life, be defined…

 

The question isn’t how do we solve poverty, its what am I going to do with the stuff that sticks?

 

The bright eyes of Chino.

 

The tears of a woman who just wanted to go to school.

 

The dangerous, hungry silence of a little girl in her fathers arms.

 

If we know they somehow manage to live (just), on one dollar a day, why do we catalyse creating a two dollar a day local economy?

 

Why does it have to be black or white – all or nothing? When the reality is, something is better than nothing and just another few cents make the difference between life and death, food or no food, a stove or a fire.

 

Just because people are ‘acustomed’ to living in poverty, doesn’t make it okay.

The truth is they want the very same as you and I, it’s just hard for us to face this – ‘cause it hurts us to know they're hurting...  

 

Instead of being hard on ourselves let's be a little more balanced. Something really is better than nothing.

 

Let’s give the poor what they actually need, not what we want in order to feel we solved the entire problem.

 

Just a few cents or a few dollars, here and there, now and then, can and would honestly make a world of difference in a real persons life. To someone like Chino, it's lesson three in language...

 

This isn't an advertisement, or sponsored post, it’s not an argument or an answer. It's just one person saying what they see might be a better way. 

 

If there’s even the tiniest voice inside you that is prompted to move from a place of compassion and care - listen to it. Do something you won’t regret.

 

Give a little donation to a charity, sponsor a child or volunteer. 

 

Do something for someone, not your way, but the way that really helps them.

Charity links where you can donate or sign-up online:

 

 

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/

http://www.worldvision.org.uk/

https://www.mayanfamilies.org/

 

 

 

 

Written by Abby Kempe for AK Services LTD.