"Well, if you just work harder, you can get out"

After re-watching the TED Talk by Jacqueline Novogratz on poverty featured in Week 9, I decided to explore the realms of Youtube and see what really I could find on peoples' ideas of poverty, and even perhaps, some extreme examples of poverty. 

As a fairly competent Youtube navigator, I found myself watching a video produced by Poverty Resolutions which is a non-profit organization dedicated to the eradication of dollar-a-day poverty. It was founded by two American brothers Matt and Andrew, when they and two friends made the commitment to live on a dollar a day each for food and water in Port-au-Prince following the events of the 2010 earthquake shaking Haiti and crushing the capital.

The film itself, twenty-eight minutes in length, is a well put together documentary about the culture shock, living conditions and realizations fuelled in these four twenty-something men while living amongst the hardworking Haitians rocked by the natural disaster. While watching, the major 'GHP' (Global-Health-Promotion) moment, as I like the call it, came at 15:05. The men are commenting on how difficult it is to live in the rainy, humid, hot and under-developed conditions of Port-au-Prince after another night of downpour. At 15:55, Matt makes the comment that in the past, his thinking was always that people in developing countries can make a better life for themselves and get out of the situations they are in just by working hard. After his experience in Port-au-Prince, watching how hard the Haitians work and in the conditions that are all too common in developing countries, he begins to doubt that philosophy.

To me this is a prime example of a paradigm shift from a Behavioural-dominant perspective of health promotion to a Socio-political view. Matt clearly sees the validity in health promotion from a Socio-political level after recognizing that the behaviour or work ethic of the individuals in Haiti was not enough to pull them out of the situations they found themselves in post-earthquake. 

From this experience, the brothers have worked to spread awareness of the causes and consequences of poverty. They do mention in their mission statement that they aim to "empower individuals to meet the needs of their communities", however I believe that this is likely a statement directed toward those who are disproportionately favoured by socio-political factors at play. 

What I was left thinking after watching this video was if experiences and first hand interaction in impoverished contexts are what single-handedly changed the perspectives of these young men, what differences do internships, volunteer and mission trips have on the individual as well as the community visited? Maybe this could be a tip off to organizations or money-holders/change-directors that providing an methods of reflection and resources for impact and engagement beyond the experience itself can be a way for everyday people to make a difference and to act on their own volition in providing remedies to poverty.