Shock Poverty

My Experience in Shock Poverty

When I started the Shock Poverty course at Ambrose University run by the Canadian Poverty Institute, I expected to learn what was provided in the Syllabus given to us. 

Which was to learn the global and personal lenses of poverty, what leads to each, and how they impact each other. To understand poverty as both a justice and economic issue, and to discover a Christian response to poverty, among many others.

Our class was unique, for the first time ever I learned at the end of class, as it was made up of people in the social work sector field, students, and people with lived experience of poverty.

What I did NOT expect to learn, was how poverty has affected me, in so many more ways, other than just financial burdens on every day life.

I learned that poverty itself, is a stressor. The more I live in poverty, the more it stresses me out and it effects my social, spiritual, economic, and health. All aspects for a good well-being to life.

I learned that I have a different language, than people who live in middle-class society. This makes it more difficult for me to associate with people who live in middle-class, and to feel comfortable making friends and walking up to people in middle-class.

In the textbook Bridges out of Poverty by Ruby K. Payne, PhD, Philip E. DeVol, and Terie Dreussi Smith, Chapter three we learn there are hidden rules among classes of people. These include:

1. Money
2. Personality
3. Social Emphasis
4. Food
5. Clothing
6. Time
7. Education
8. Destiny
9. Language
10. Family Structure
11. World View
12. Love
13. Driving Forces
14. Humor

It also helped me in my community work profoundly on poverty reduction in Calgary. I know now, the steps to take, to build trust, which will in turn build resiliency, which will lead to an abundant community, Derek Cook put the acronym beautifully, which means ART.

I want to thank Derek profusely, for being a fantastic instructor. My biggest fear in beginning this class was that the terminology would be all academic, which would lead to me not understanding the material, feeling stupid, getting frustrated, and walking out. Instead, it was both academically lead while using plain language so that I did not feel those emotions to get frustrated and quit.

I also want to thank Ambrose University for having me on the campus. All of the faculty and staff were open, welcoming, and kind.

As well as the funders, who allowed me the opportunity to take this course. Without the funding for this, I would never have the chance to take part in this. A very heartfelt Thank You.

I am also, proud to say, that I have the fortunate opportunity to carry on next week, on learning about Dignity and Poverty.