Poverty & Washington DC

I wouldn’t be a social worker if I didn’t comment on the poverty in and around Bogota. On Monday, Daniel’s uncle drove us through the south of the city to a small town called Fusagasuga (isn’t that a fun name!) to visit Daniel’s great aunt. On the way to the town, we had to drive through the slums of the south of Bogota called Suacha (See photo 1). The slums consist of squatters who have been displaced from other parts of the country and came to Bogota for work. They build their shack-like homes out of brick, cardboard, and plastic and whatever else they can find. They don’t legally have water but they have managed to create a network of hoses to take water from other parts of the city. Daniel’s uncle describes the poverty in Suacha as a microcosm of the poverty in the country. According to Daniel’ uncle, all of the families displaced due to the war come here and recreate the violence that they experienced in the countryside. And like many Latin American cities, there are too many people and too few jobs.

Naturally, the level of poverty that exists in Suacha and in parts of Bogota, affects crime and creates a culture sympathetic to poverty in the city at large. Robbery seems to be the most talked about here amongst Daniel’s family and crimes of violence aren’t as much of a concern. In an effort to rise above crime and poverty, the streets of Bogota are inundated with people trying to make a living and selling anything you could imagine. On any given day, I pass by people selling copies of movies, mothers with babies selling gum and lollypops, and numerous people selling arepas, and other Colombian foods. Buses will stop for ANYONE, ANYWHERE to get an extra fare and there are thousands and thousands of taxis. I don’t really know how the bus drivers and taxi drivers survive since gas is almost the same as in San Francisco at $2.50 per gallon. Other modes of transportation that highlight the conditions of poverty are the horse drawn carts. Every half hour or so, I can hear a horse drawn cart trot by the house. Most of the horse drawn carts are driven by people who recycle various things such as metal, cardboard and cans that they can sell for money. On garbage day, homeless people walk through the streets and rip open garbage bags in an effort to find recyclable objects that they can get money for. The poor garbage truck workers have to pick up the scraps that then lay about the curb and on street.

On a positive note, I read in the paper just yesterday that Bogota’s homicide rate has drastically decreased over the past year and the city has a lower homicide rate than Washington D.C. per capita. And although Colombia’s standard of living is the third lowest in South America, Colombians spend more of their money at restaurants than most other South American countries. Finally, a study just came out that Colombians are the second happiest people in the world by country. But how do you measure your happiness? Doesn’t one measure there own happiness in contrast to the suffering of others?