Poverty Touches Us All…
(continued)

How do these families loosen the grip of poverty? Often, there's little they can do by themselves, according to Wright, as they measure their days along the yardstick of survival.

"We have to get away from this notion of rugged individualism," says Wright, "that everything is their fault and that the solution lies solely on the back of the individual.

"Poor families must gain awareness of the resources available to them; they have to bring to bear human capital. Families must gain control over their own futures, an understanding that they have capital to build, that there are assets out there where people can go for help."

Many have done as much, and living standards have risen in recent decades. Still, as population growth explodes throughout the world, many

To loosen the grip of poverty, individuals need a hand-up, not a handout. In turn, they work hard to improve life for themselves and their families. The Habitat homeowner pictured here is investing her own sweat equity in Paraiba do Sul, Brazil.

newborns' first glimpse is not of a bassinette and teddy bears, but of dirt floors and bugs in their blankets. The cycle continues.

While poverty levels are measured in terms of income (or lack thereof), poverty itself paints a much larger picture, colored in the oils of hunger and inadequate shelter, sickness and illiteracy.

No matter a person's politics, religious doctrine or skin color; whether he or she lives in a village of 100 or a city of 10 million, poverty curls its bony fingers around families everywhere. Somehow they get by. They are sustained by what meager means they can muster and, ironically, they uncover a tie that binds them in a common experience.

They have faith, according to Wright, not always a faith in God, but a faith nonetheless-in family, in tomorrow, in hard work, in themselves.

"Poverty is hopelessness in many ways," Wright says. "But in some ways that hopelessness brings poor families together. They know others share the same problem, and this becomes a bond among them. Faith is what gets them through, and it's not just a faith in God. A person may be an atheist or agnostic and still have faith in other people, faith that things will improve, that luck will change. There's a real spiritual element to this, not always religious, but spiritual nevertheless."

Poverty casts families in a downward spiral, leaving no one untouched. Yet, with sufficient support, families can trigger a positive spiral of promise, hope and achievement where an interconnectedness becomes their ally. A decent place to live, according to Wright, is not the least of such circumstances.

"I have many times seen decent housing make a positive difference in the lives of poor families," Wright says. "Once housing is there, families can address other issues-value in family, in community."

A safe, decent, affordable place to live provides a foundation, he says, where families can launch new plans, reach their full potential and short-circuit the poverty cycle that so long conspired against them. Wright's experience has been that such support works best when it's offered in partnership with those who need it.

Brown says decent housing is especially important. "If there's no base from which to operate, it's very difficult to move beyond a poverty situation," he says. "People in poverty must have a baseline of support in the form of friends and family and social service agencies."

Always a close family, the Critchfields have enjoyed such a network from the outset. After years of substandard living conditions, they found the boost they needed in 1992 when they partnered with Habitat for Humanity. After hundreds of "sweat-equity" hours and prayers, they moved into a renovated home which, unlike the barn of Judy's youth, was clean, adequate and affordable. And that's made all the difference, she says.

"Before Habitat," she says, "every place we lived was a hardship. Habitat has been a blessing. It's the whole attitude. Habitat doesn't go in saying, 'Poor, pitiful you, we're going to give you what you need.' They say, 'You can pull yourself out of this, and we will help.' Most poor families don't want charity. They just want a little help. Then they can do the rest."

While Habitat for Humanity doesn't hold the single key to unlock all of poverty's restraints, changed lives like the Critchfields' prove that its approach fits agreeably with families in search of a better home-no matter its location.

—Shawn Reeves is managing editor of Habitat World


(Return to beginning of story)