Kristin:

 

To me, poverty is not just being “poor” like what most people think of. Poverty is also being insufficient in something specific. Here in Louisiana, I think there is poverty amoungst government aid – there was an insufficient amount of aid from the government when the hurricane hit and the past flood in Baton Rouge. There wasn’t enough help to get things back together. The people here relied on the aid and help from non-profits. I think as a community, we are all in poverty, but it just takes on different roles. Being here in the south and comparing it to the Pacific Northwest, I think we are insufficient in hospitality and being friendly. Just being exposed to the southern hospitality makes that very apparent. So, I think that is how I feel impoverished.

 

Fred:

 

Poverty, to me, extends beyond today’s normal means of poverty. To be in poverty to me means that you lack or are deficient in the more important values of your own life. For example, if you value family and you don’t have a family, then you are poor. If you value money and don’t have any, then you are poor, and so on. My definition is not society’s definition, which is solely dependent on items necessary for our survival that are tangible such as: housing, clothing, etc.

 

I am impoverished because of my lack of, or insufficiency of not having a close relationship with God. It is a “poor” relationship and that is something I highly value.

 

Leni:

 

Poverty is when a person or group of people don’t have enough funds or resources to help their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Poverty is the lack of resources necessary to sustain comfortable living. Poverty can also be a lack of spirituality. If a person were to say, “You are poor in spirit”, this means that they lack spirituality.

 

I am personally impoverished in trust for big businesses and our government. I lack the trust necessary to see any good coming from big businesses and the government because of what I have witnessed in Louisiana. Our government is involved all over the world, in almost every foreign issue, yet the government won’t lend a helping hand to hurricane Katrina victims. I am impoverished in trust.

 

Jackson:

 

Poverty to me is when someone has no one to take care of them. I feel that poverty still exists even when people are provided with a helping hand, but the effects of poverty are not as severe. I would assume that all of the people who had their homes destroyed would be distraught and poverty ridden. However, all of the spirits were high because they had community support around them.

Me and a lot of my peers are impoverished because all of the hate that surrounds us in the world. Lately, our unemployment rate has been going down, but that does not mean our poverty level is going down. Would it not be great to live in a world where everyone supported one another? I believe my peers and I will always be impoverished by this issue, but we can lessen the burden felt from poverty by working together.

 

Bryan:

 

I see poverty as a state of being in which an individual is incapable of improving their own lives. Much of the time this is related to person’s monetary income, but it does not have to be such. An individual can be rich and still live an impoverished lifestyle in one way or another. They can still be absent of happiness or loved ones to experience and share their lives with. So while poverty is often related to money, I do not believe them to be exactly the same thing.

 

In my own life, I feel that this is the very aspect of poverty that I experience as well. Monetarily, I’m more comfortable than I have been for the majority of my life. A fact that is, in and of itself, ironic because I don’t exactly make a lot right now. So that puts things into an interesting perspective. But as I said, my form of poverty comes from my lack of being in a solid relationship. My family is fantastic, and I get along well the all of them, but I’ve always seen myself having a family someday. So, I guess, until I reach this phase in my life, I will always feel somewhat impoverished.

 

Jennifer:

 

In my opinion I think poverty is barely able to make ends meet and struggling to provide for their own self and their family. The ways we are impoverished is by not having enough help or not getting help at all. By the government not wanting to provide help or support, they are slowly ruining those who are already considered poor along with the area they live in.

 

Madai:

 

I would say that poverty is when one lacks basic needs. This would be water, food, clothing, or shelter. In this sense, I would not consider myself impoverished because I have always had food to eat, water to drink, clothes on my back, and a place to eat. While we’ve been down here in Louisiana, I’ve talked to people who were homeless after hurricane Katrina. They had no place to stay after their homes were destroyed. Some stayed with friends and family, but others didn’t have anyone near that they could stay with. This was also the case in Baton Rouge after it was flooded in August. We spoke to a resident from Baton Rouge, and she told us that her house flooded the day after her parent’s and sister’s houses flooded. She told us that they all stayed with her sister’s in-law. She also couch surfed between friends. We also had the opportunity to talk with Reverend Brazley. He was affected by hurricane Katrina and then his home was recently hit by a tornado, leaving him and his family without a home. I truly can’t imagine what it’s like to not have a place to go home to every night. I feel very fortunate to not know what that is like. Hearing these stories made me reflect on something that I heard last quarter. I heard that there are students at Central who are considered homeless. It made me think about ways that I could help. We were able to help the Brazleys down here, and I wish that we could help more families down here, but since we’ll be leaving soon, I hope that I can help some of the homeless students back home. I think that is important for all of us to lend a hand to our neighbor.

 

 

Justin:

 

For me poverty is an old friend. My family in the Philippines lived in poverty and how the pay on job is terrible for those in the working class. My Mom’s brave decision to move to America ended the cycle of poverty in our family, and created a new hope for our future with prosperity coming into realization.

 

Poverty here and in the Philippines is really different. I was able to see what poverty means through frequent power outages, eviction notices, or having to pump water out of the ground or wells. Unlike here in America, we did not have insurance or improved health care or any other aid that I know of. In the Philippines, if you are born in poverty it means that you are stuck in that socioeconomic level.

 

There was a time where I almost died from a curable virus but could not afford treatment. My cousin’s body was held in a warm room because we could not afford to pay the hospital bills. This is the reality that I used to live in, and that constantly stuck with me. The experience made me more thankful of what I have here in America.

 

It really does open up a new level of resilience and being able to start a new perspective of how fortunate we are as individuals. To me, I feel that I’m impoverished of self-affirmation. I spend so much of my life knowing how I am not good enough or that I’m a failure. My experience in life had trained me to be quiet and feel worthless. It’s a journey that I am striving every year to take advantage of the love and support I have in my family and friends.

 

Coming from having nothing to having everything I want, I understand that being rich is not about the object, but more of the emotional support you have and how content and happy you are in life.