Poverty defined

When we look at the people we are serving, it is important to understand the characteristics of Poverty. The folks at Enterprise Development International do a great job on defining poverty here where they define 6 keys: 1)Material Poverty 2) Physical Weakness 3) Isolation 4) Vulnerability 5) Powerlessness 6) Spiritual Poverty.

We probably each have our own definition of why the rich are rich and why the poor are poor, but any one of these 6 factors by themselves can lend itself to a life with physical, mental and social deficiencies. So what can J2S actually effect with these people, and specifically the people of Madagascar? Well there are some predisposed factors we cannot control.

3) Isolation and 4) Vulnerability are both things that no human can control. An island country off the coast with limited resources and lots of hurricanes, so J2S can’t influence that 5) Powerlessness - the ability to influence your suroundings and circumstances is more cause and effect and we will focus on that with another post. 6) Spiritual Poverty is something we are not yet focused on due to diversity to the Island of Madagascar, the Board and our supporters. This is something that we will address in the future, but not today.

So that leaves 1) Material poverty and 2) Physical Weakness as factors we can influence. 1) Material Poverty is in reference to providing infrastructure as well as resources such as money. This is something that J2S has identified as a longer term sustainable project. Things like providing animal husbandry buildings, toursim training departments, schools for children and agricultural development programs. This will require me to be on the ground though to really identify the issues. So until then the big issue that we know we can tackle head on right NOW is 2) Physical weakness.

Chiropractic is concerned with relieving the nervous system of interference and allowing the body to work at optimal potential. There has been short term relief to the region due to the presence of Palmer College and the clinic abroad program, but what these people need are continued, documented, and specific care. That is what I am going to bring to the region and how we are initially going to break the poverty cycle in Northern Madagascar.

Tags: Chiropractic, Madagascar, Service, Solidarity