In the documentary Poverty Inc., we see the effects from a short-term natural disaster turn into long-term effects of an unnatural disaster. This documentary shares the potential negative effects from acts of kindness from people who have only the best of intentions. While donations and free supplies can be helpful for a time it can eventually lead to dependency and loss of job opportunities for local entrepreneurs and business owners.
Issues with NGOs
Solutions for poverty should come from the people in the local towns and communities. While outside resources can be beneficial, people are creative and capable of getting a society back on their feet after something goes wrong. The people of Haiti for example struggled after the large earthquake that caused destruction to a lot of their city. While the earthquake was a definite setback and created multiple needs for the people, the constant free supplies sent from donors has created an even larger setback for the people of Haiti. NGOs have provided some help but even after honest conversation from the people of Haiti reel back the number of free supplies they continue to do so almost leaving an impression that they don’t want the people of Haiti to stand up for themselves. NGOs could be considered Haiti’s biggest competitor. In the documentary we hear from people part of an entrepreneurial company called Enersa. This company started off with the intention to make a difference. Two men in a garage started with their creative ideas and were able to turn into a small beneficial company for the people of Haiti. The employment opportunities being the most beneficial. When NGOs come in insisting to provide free solar panels it is very hard for these entrepreneurial companies to sell/compete.
What it means to be poor
Being poor now and days does not always mean living paycheck to paycheck. It means being cut off from networking opportunities and exchange possibilities. In any way that world is advancing, those who are poor do not have access to it so that they can develop at the fast pace much of the world is. People have the abilities to be efficient, but they do not always have the access or government that allows them to advance. A term brought up in the documentary was New Colonist which is something that refers to current trends economically and globally that are similar to past trends in colonial times. The trends of this are far more subtle now but still greatly effective. These new colonists can take natural resources and labor from towns and cities that are still developing. They do this with no regard to their prosperity and compensation needed for further development.
The social fact
The social fact is something that puts limits on how we think and act. We start taking things for granted and it becomes just the way things are done. The social facts make poor people the “others” and the “objects” rather than subjects in their personal story of development. Humans all have the ability to rise out of poverty and difficulties. Especially when we have the access to things such as legal protection, justice in court, entitlement to one’s own land, freedom to start a business aka the freedom of entrepreneurship, and opportunities to circles of exchange. Those key traits are missing in many parts of our world, however. The video further shares that poor people are now victim to being clients of a global poverty system and if they climb out of this poverty, they lose the benefits of help.
Conclusion
Humanitarian relief cannot become a way of life, this creates issues for our society. We should not be dependent on constant need for free help, we should be independent and use the skills within our communities to continue successful development. Aid leads to more aid, and those who have money feel good for providing this aid. Ultimately this aid should only be to help the people get back on their feet, not to coddle them. In this documentary we get to hear from multiple entrepreneurs located in places such as Hati and Kenya. While many Americans may have an idea that people from this area are completely lost or helpless those being interviewed show how strong and capable they are and that their people would benefit much more from aid to get back on their feet not long-term aid. I think that those who have the intention to help could benefit from seeing not only the benefits of their help but also identify the potential risks for business owners, local entrepreneurs, and people’s independent abilities.
