Poverty
On both my trips, from Ghana to even Cuba, I have witnessed the poverty that exists in our world. Because I have come to face with it twice, I think I should address it, and my place within it all.
Before travelling abroad, I had only witnessed the poverty of the United States. I grew up in urban Northwest Indiana near towns like Gary and witnessing rougher neighborhoods in the Chicago area. My family status falls on the lower middle class line here in the United States. I never saw myself as wealthy or rich. I never had immediately what other kids had. I was raised with the mentality that you have to earn everything you got. We didn't have money to just throw away on luxuries. All of the money earned went to providing food on the table and a roof over our heads. When everyone got cars, I didn't. When everyone got cellphones, I didn't. It took time and hard work to eventually obtain such luxuries. Growing up in the United States too, being Hispanic/Latina, I have always felt like a second class citizen. I'm not saying that my life was bad, I'm just trying to insinuate that I never felt privileged growing up.
Now what I've come to realize when travelling, is that everything I explained above doesn't matter. I'll explain to you how. So I mentioned growing up I felt second class in America by being from a single parent household with one lower middle class income and being Hispanic/Latina. In the context of the greater world, my mother's lower middle class income is way more than someone else's in a developing country. In Cuba, most make an average salary equivalent to $20 per month. Yes, they can pay for all their bills with that amount because the price of things amounts different there, but $20 per month in the greater world will get you nowhere. With $20 per month it is nearly impossible to afford big luxuries. I was able to eventually save up and by a used car despite the fact of having classmates receive their cars right away. But a car costs the same all around the world. It would take them a lifetime, making $20 per month to ever afford even a used vehicle. When speaking to my dear Cuban friend Omar, who is our tour bus driver for our trip, who has spent his life's career as being a driver, he tells me "the story of saving up to buy a car sounds like a fairy tale to us Cubans." Thoughts like this make me realize my privilege. I'm privileged enough to even have the thought that if I save up and work hard, I can earn something. In other places around the world, sometimes despite how hard you work, you won't ever obtain such a desire. The idea of getting rewarded for working hard is part of the American dream. "Dream," as in most people in the developing world see America as a heaven where anything is possible. Such as even me being able to achieve by working hard is possible. Having hope and working hard isn't fruitless in the United States.
Also with traveling abroad, me being Hispanic/Latina doesn't matter either. In the U.S. we use our family's origins and ethnicity to divide us. In the U.S. part of what makes up my identity is me being Hispanic/Latina. In other places, all people see me as is an American. My nationality defines me instead of my ethnicity or family background. When I was in Ghana for instance, many of my classmates who were African American, were considered by Ghanaians as white. I'm a fair skinned Hispanic/Latina and a lot of the time people just assume I am some sort of European American. In Ghana, I had people, even children at times shout at me in their language "white person!" I'm assumed to have it easy because I am whiter skinned than they are. Although in the U.S. my family is on the lower end of the scale, that simply doesn't matter anywhere else. It's hard when you are confronted with people asking you for money or for other things. It's hard to react. Initially, you want to be like "Leave me alone." It can be frustrating and it could ruin the experience of cultural immersion in another country. But as I mentioned, although I am second class in America, I'm first class worldwide. In Cuba, I have people begging me for soap, for pens/pencil, chewing gum, etc. To me, it has never been an issue of not affording such items. I have plenty. I have taken that for granted majority of my life. Being asked for such things makes you realize your place within the world. Knowing this is what helps me to maintain my cool and deal with the initial reaction of frustration. I have the pencil to give, the soap to give, the gum to give, etc. So why not? It doesn't hurt me at all. Although my money I have only gets me so far in the United States, it is still leaps and bounds more than what others have in our world.
Travelling abroad is a great experience because it makes you learn so much about yourself, such as instances like these. I have learned that my "American" identity really makes me standout in the world. We have poverty in our nation, but we must think of the poverty in the rest of the world too. In the U.S. we take a lot of the luxuries we have for granted. It's an assumed right to have certain things. We can't just think of ourselves and what we want. We have already so much that we must give back, in my personal opinion. It is not right that we have excess in everything and in other nations there is not enough for all their people. Although experiences I described can be initially frustrating, it helps me to become a better world citizen. Because I have been exposed to such a worldwide issue, I care about it. I will think of my country's place in the world in comparison to other countries when I politically participate in our nation's relations with other countries. We can't continue to be close minded about only our perspective in America, there is a greater world perspective that needs to be addressed, such as that of poverty.
