CINCINNATI -- Thousands of people across the U.S. and throughout the world have opened their hearts and wallets to help people in poverty here and abroad.
The problem is, a lot of them are doing it wrong.
That's what I learned from watching a movie called "Poverty Inc." The film takes a close look at how fighting poverty has become big business, and it asks who is profiting the most.
But for me, it wasn't only who was profiting. The movie also forced me to think about who is getting hurt as a result of efforts to help the poor.
Some examples:
• Haitian rice farmers have been put out of business because of the tons of free rice that the U.S. continues to send there in an effort to help feed the poor people of Haiti. (U.S. rice farmers are the big beneficiaries, the movie points out.)
• TOMS Shoes — the company that gives away a pair of shoes for every pair that is purchased — has given away more than 35 million pairs of shoes to children in need, according to its website. But "Poverty Inc." interviews cobblers who could no longer earn a living in the African villages where the donations come sporadically.
• Even a church in Atlanta that sent eggs to a poor village did inadvertent harm. A farmer nearby had purchased chickens for an egg business but had to sell the birds and give up on the business when the eggs kept arriving for free. When the church finally stopped sending the eggs, the villagers had no place nearby to buy them.
One African entrepreneur interviewed in the film put it this way: "It's having a mind for the poor instead of just a heart for the poor."
"Poverty Inc." makes clear that there are no silver bullet solutions to the complex problem of poverty, said Mark Weber, and people who truly want to help need to talk about the issue in different ways. Weber is one of the film's co-producers and spoke after a local screening of the movie Sept. 10. (I was one of the several dozen people who attended.)
POVERTY, INC. | Official Trailer from POVERTY, INC. | The Movie on Vimeo.
The overarching problem, he said, is paternalism. This notion that people on the outside — whether it's an outside government, a business, a church group or an individual — know what's best for the poor people they want to help. And often they decide on those "solutions" without ever talking to the people with the problems.
'Embedded Paternalism Hit Me In The Face'
Weber had his breakthrough moment when he was a student at the University of Notre Dame. He was captain of the university's boxing team, which raised money to send to charities in Bangladesh. The team's motto was "Strong bodies fight so that weak bodies may be nourished."
Nobody from Notre Dame had ever visited Bangladesh to see the team's donations in action. So Weber organized a trip overseas, he said.
The young men arrived at a school that the team's donations had been helping to fund for years, and a Bengali priest took them into a classroom to introduce them to a roomful of young girls.
The priest explained the team's motto. Then he pointed to the boxers and said, "they are the strong bodies," before looking back at the girls to say, "and you are the weak bodies."
In that moment, Weber said, "my embedded paternalism hit me in the face." It was the first time he had heard his team's slogan in that way, and he felt shame instead of pride.
Similar feelings washed through the audience during the movie screening in a way that was almost palpable. Rows and rows of people who have an interest in fighting poverty had just watched this movie. What had we all been doing wrong? Or, more importantly, what could we all be doing better?
Bobbie Sparks, a vice president at the local leadership development firm Time and Eternity, organized the screening and invited everyone who attended the movie and others who had expressed interest to get together and try to figure that out.
Ten of us met at the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber's offices for a couple of hours on Sept. 23.
Read WCPO's ongoing poverty coverage here or at www.wcpo.com/poverty.
I can't report that the small group came up with a new way to tackle Greater Cincinnati's persistent poverty problem.
But I can say that everyone who was there that day wants to work to find that way and invite more people to be part of the effort.
For starters, the group is trying to bring as many as two more screenings of "Poverty Inc." to the region. I'll let you know as soon as times and dates are confirmed.
And I'm looking forward to following this new group's work, too.
I don't think anybody there wants to reinvent the wheel. There was a lot of discussion at the chamber about good work that already is under way here locally.
But the fact is that Greater Cincinnati has had far too many people living in poverty — far too many poor kids — for far too many years.
There has to be a better way. If we can combine our region's good intentions with smart thinking in partnership with our neighbors living in poverty, odds are we can get closer to finding it.
A mom in Haiti who is featured in "Poverty, Inc." She helped herself and her family thanks to a job.
Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and also shine a spotlight on issues we need to address. Childhood poverty is an important focus for her and for WCPO this year.
To read more stories by Lucy, go to www.wcpo.com/may. To reach her, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.
