Poverty?

A few days ago, I was sitting with my host family, visiting with some extended relatives, when my host uncle proudly declared, “There’s no poverty here.”

I nearly choked on my Pepsi.

No poverty? If there was no poverty, then what was Peace Corps doing here?

The question plagued me for days. I had thought I had been living poverty. But really, was I?
We have running water and electricity. Everyone can read and write. The children don’t suffer from malnutrition, and many people have the opportunity to study beyond high school. Relatively speaking, the people of Pampas aren’t impoverished compared to their Andean counterparts in the depths of rural Peru.

But even so, many houses are built with bamboo poles and have dirt floors. The running water is from the river, which people drink without hesitation. Children who get enough meat and beans have high rates of anemia due to ubiquitous parasites. There are alarming rates of teen pregnancies, single mothers and HIV. And even those who do have the opportunity to study have difficulty finding work.

The people might not be desperate, but they are poor.

Until now, I had never realized the incredibly subjective and relative nature of poverty. By American standards, there’s no question. But families here live in unbelievable wealth compared to those of, say, Sub-Sahara Africa.

Was my host uncle right? Or are we living in simply a different kind of poverty?

I don’t know … what do you all think?