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The Poverty Merry-Go-Round


I have been living in Central for nearly five years now and, while I have been here, I have attempted to spend time with and understand the local people. It has been a crazy journey that has taken me to places as far off the grid as I think it is possible to get.

In the process, I have come to believe that we, as Western people, need to re-define poverty. I will write more about that later, but lets just say that things are not always what they seem.
Right now, I just want to highlight the poverty I am seeing in Bocas Del Toro, Panama.

This is home to the Ngboe Indians. They live on the out islands here and are very good at living an off-the-grid, holistic lifestyle. However, they recently have been exposed to TV, cell phones, and the internet with, I think, devastating effects.



Exposure to what I would like to call bling bling, has created a drive to leave their old way of life and try to embrace a much more materialistic way of living. Most of these people grew up on fincas, or farms, in these islands. They know how to fish and garden and raise animals and forage in the forest, which is filled with fresh fruits and medicinal plants here. BUT they are leaving the farms.

When they get into town, they have to find jobs to support themselves, and jobs are few and far between. Consequently, they live on very little, or zero, money and end up living in unbelievable squalor.

I had an interesting conversation with some new friends yesterday about this problem. One girl suggested that a solution would be to make farming "cool" again. I think she was absolutely right. There is a big movement in the states to go back to a more simple, grounded way of living. Organic gardens are springing up everywhere and people are trying to figure out how to live off the grid.

So the first world is moving to the third and the third to the first.

And here, we though we had everything. Our cars, our big houses, our multiple TVs and computers and our fancy clothes have not brought us the peace of mind we are looking for. And round the circle goes.

Is it possible for us to get off this crazy merry-go-round and find a more authentic, settled way of living?

I think so.....

Getting out of my comfort zone...
laura


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