We are in Poverty?

The beauties of Cape Town; glorious Table Mountain in the South, developed urban city in the middle, dream world at the North Harbour, and the Lion Head, a mountain next to Table Mountain, looking over us. And we, South Africans and non-South Africans, enjoy the privilege of living in the one of the most beautiful landscape in the world.
 
In the middle of the beautiful city, there is an apartment facing to Table Mountain and Lion Head. I have lived there for about one month so far. Every day and night, I enjoy the view through the window. There, I share a room with my new friends, which makes my life much more fun and fruitful.
 
And those are the stories that I experienced in this great city, Cape Town.
 
Story 1
The other day, we were enjoying our pizza for our supper. With the good smell and taste, our conversation went on and on and on. And we started to talk about the poverty in South Africa and in the United State of America. My roommate, who is an American, told me that the gap between the rich and the poor in the State grew because of the recession. She said; I am from a middle class family, but the recession pushed us down to the poverty. I have to loan to pay my university tuition fee because my family cannot afford it at all. I am in poverty.
 
Next day, we went to Harbour for dinner.
We ate dinner at a nice restaurant, which cost me R120 (about CAD$20). After the dinner, we went shopping to a huge mole nearby Harbour. And my friend got a nice top and a browse, which cost her R600 (about CAD$100).
 
Is she in poverty?
 
Story 2
One day, I was in a township which is 1.5 hours drive away from Cape Town Central City. We had a financial literacy workshop and talked about needs and wants. One participant told us that he got his mobile phone at a shop for R300. The phone is a new version with camera, internet, memory card, music player, and so many other functions that I do not even remember. The participant said that he does not use some of the functions but he likes the phone.
 
Honestly, I was so astonished that he spent R300 for a phone because I have never spend any cents to get a mobile phone: when I was in Australia I got a second-hand phone from my friend for free, in Japan I got a zero yen phone at shop (a couple of years after companies release a version, they sell them for free), and I did not have a phone when I was in Canada. So, many of my friends tease me that I must come from stone-age since I do not use a phone, MSN, and Facebook (I DO use them one in a while, though!).
Anyway, I was pretty surprised that he spends a lot of money on the phone while he could have bought it as good as R0.50 through the Internet.
 
Often, people associate Township to poverty automatically. But are people in Township in poverty?
 
Story 3
Another day, a lady came to a centre to ask for financial support. She said that she does not have money even R10 to buy food. She looked desperate, and she burst out crying when the centre told her that it does not provide direct financial support.
 
But the worker at the centre eventually found out that she use a very nice product to maintain her skin beautiful. She spends R60 in one week just for her skin. And she is telling that she does not have even R10 to buy food.
 
Is she in poverty?
 
Stories of Poverty and Consumerism
First, I have to say that poverty is a controversial term. "Poverty" itself is a relatively new measure to divide the world so that we can see "progress" in economical development. So even though "poverty" seems a term to define easily, it is not as simple as it may look.
 
Second, we have to think of relative poverty and absolute poverty. Other than drawing a line at US$1-2 for a day spending, poverty is a matter of "feeling." So if we have a relatively wealthy neighbourhood and we are not as rich as they are, then we will feel that we are poor. If we live in a rich country, we are in relative poverty provided that we earn less than majority of people even if we have sufficient money to spend for food, water, accommodation, healthcare, education, entertainment, and so forth.
 
Third, society does not allow us to cut certain spending: we have to spend money for cell phone and accommodation to find a job. Indeed, even when we are unemployed and struggling to make a living, we have to have a mobile phone because some companies require having a phone/they contact us for recruitment on the phone. Also, we have to have an address to submit CV and get a job. And when we live in a house, we have to pay for electricity and water etc.
 
Fourth, being poor does not necessarily mean being good at controlling desires. Commercial advertisements are like magic. They mentally control us to believe that "we have to buy this and this." Thus, we tend to spend money for luxury stuffs, rather than to save, without noticing that we actually do not need them.
 
That is why Financial Literacy Education is so important for us. Even though we often hear NGO projects to increase income, I feel that desire control is not so much taken care of. But even a small thing, such as keeping a record of our spending, can be a good educational tip to notice the flow of money. Of course, we need entertainment once in a while, but we should cut off unnecessary spending before claiming for free food, donation, or financial support. And by realizing how naughty advertisements and consumerism are, I believe that we can go one step further to get out from "poverty. "

S.M.