The Raised-Poor Leaders’ Workshop
The Raised-Poor Leaders’ Workshop in August 2020 was led, on Zoom, by Gwen Brown (International Liberation Reference Person for Raised-Poor People) and Tim Jackins (International Reference Person for the RC Communities).
I was on the technical team. It was an opportunity to appreciate what goes on behind the scene to make a workshop successful. I also appreciate the connections I made.
The workshop gave me the opportunity to have an interesting reflection on being poor—I saw the positive side of it. I can now connect with care for the environment and using resources sparingly.
Where my father used to work, the workers were given two dust coats made of heavy khaki material. The dust coats would wear out by the end of the year, and in the beginning of each year the workers would be issued new ones. My mother would take the two old dust coats and make skirts for me and my two sisters. Then she would make shirts for two of my brothers. She had a way of putting on some binding so that the result looked like a decorated designer outfit. She did the same with her old clothes, making them into dresses for the three girls. Everyone in the village admired our clothes. She used the remainder of the material for washing cloths.
We fetched water from a river that was far from home. Water was scarce, so once the water arrived home it was precious. It had to be used with extreme care. It was first used to wash and rinse the dishes. Then we washed our feet in it before we went to bed (we ran around barefoot all day). Some of the water was used in outdoor trenches where we grew sugarcane plants and arrowroot.
Being raised poor gave me the opportunity to be careful about resources and ensure that they were used well and appropriately. My siblings and I have carried these experiences forward into our adult lives, which also impacts our children’s lives.
Below are comments from other workshop participants.
K—, from Kenya: Reflecting and discharging on political leaders, how they manipulate me and do things that benefit only themselves, was important for me. We raised-poor people are brilliant, lovable, powerful, beautiful, highly capable people who have always done our best to resist the oppressive messages that have landed on our great minds. Although class oppression hurt and confused us in many ways, we who grew up at or near the bottom of the economic scale often held on to strengths that are not widely seen or recognized by the larger society. These strengths include great generosity; a feet-on-the-ground type of intelligence; a creativity that shows itself not only in everyday life but in poetry, music, art, and dance; a great love for our children and a willingness to help one another in raising them; a great sense of compassion for the oppressed; and an ability to love and connect deeply, figure out ways to make things work with few resources, keep material goods in perspective, show our true feelings and be real, and clearly see, in a bottom-up way, that things are not fine in our society and that injustices exist and need to be fixed. While we carry many distress recordings and reactive attitudes and behaviors, under these our full humanness is completely intact. In spite of the many ways our early experiences told us we were “less than” and less deserving than others, we have always fought to have good lives and to help others have good lives.
C—, from Congo: The daily-living challenges faced by poor people make it extremely difficult for them to organize against their oppression. Poor children’s confidence in their intelligence and leadership ability is undermined in their schools and neighborhoods. Difficult living conditions force adults to keep so busy just surviving that they have little time to think about and organize for societal change. I became more aware of raised-poor patterns and how they affect me. I appreciate that I need to discharge them so that I can re-emerge and be free of them. I appreciate the opportunity to know that raised-poor people are intelligent, happy, zestful, and loving.
G—, from Kenya: I loved connecting with wonderful people from all over the world and seeing friends I hadn’t seen for a long time. My highlight was being encouraged to build a community around myself and help build a world in which everyone would be taken care of and have a life that moves on. It felt good to share my feelings about this. As Tim said, changing the world will take a long time, but starting where I am is what matters. I looked back at my earliest memories of being raised poor and being raised by parents who were raised by poor parents. I was able to discharge about my growing up. I recalled how my parents had tried hard to beat all the odds, just so I could be happy. The hurts that my parents passed on to me because of poverty were restimulated, and talking about it helped me discharge.
Nairobi, Kenya
(Present Time 202, January 2021)