Everybody needs good neighbours...

Right I’ve figured out how to solve poverty in the first world, I don’t know what to do about the third world, I’m still working on that but I think this theory is pretty good for one morning’s work.

So, poverty does exist in England but in a different way to Kenya, in England it’s mostly called relative poverty as opposed to absolute poverty. According to ‘The Poverty Site’ in 2006/2007 about one fifth of the population in the UK were living below the low-income threshold which is about £112 per week for a single adult with no dependent children or £189 per week for a single adult with two dependent children under 14. So, one in five people are struggling with money, which means there are four people to every one person struggling. That’s just income, this doesn’t say much about health or education or social exclusion.

The thing about relative poverty is that you probably aren’t starving but you probably will be marginalized, pushed to the side, not included in the good stuff of community in the same way as your rich neighbours are. You might be called a chav and told you’re not allowed to wear jumpers with hoods. Or people just might not notice you and the struggles you’re having. You might be having a really hard time at home but not have the social networks to find people to help you deal with those things. I have been so surprised by how much poverty there is in Woking, I just thought there were a few homeless people here and there but when you visit a few families that are having a hard time you realize there are loads of people who could do with some friends to come alongside them.

I think the biggest thing about relative poverty is the social exclusion that comes along with it, who you know is just as important as what you know. Jesus said ‘the poor will always be with you and you can help them any time you want.’ The poor should be with you so you can help them whenever they need it or whenever you can. I think with the relative poverty in the west where social exclusion is such a big part of it, making sure we are with the poor will go a long way to solving these problems. I think that means making friends, proper friends who spend time together, who are a part of each other’s lives. We can keep the poor at a distance and give money to charities or we can befriend a family and love them, maybe you’ll get to help them with money if you become close enough friends but love is better than money any day. It would be very cool if ‘the poor’ where no longer some abstract category of people but were George and Gladis who live down the road.

The reason I mention the stats at the beginning is because in England we have the awesome fact that the poor are way outnumbered by the rich so it should be so possible for all ‘poor’ people to be included and lifted up by the people around them. It’s a bit harder in places like Kenya where flippin everyone is struggling. So if everyone in England reads my blog and goes and makes a couple of new friends then poverty in the UK could be eradicated in maybe a year or so. Sweet.