Gordon's Reflection on helping with the Dundee Drop In (DDI) Research: "When does poverty become destitution?"

Members of the FiCD team helped earlier this year to co-ordinate research done by Dundee Drop In in partnership with Dundee University. The research has been collated (see our previous blog post for more information) and our co-ordinator Gordon wrote this article for the St Paul's Cathedral Autumn Newsletter reflecting on his engagement with people at Drop In's during the research process.

When does poverty become destitution?:-

As part of my commitment to working with the Dundee Drop In group of church based projects, including Graham’s Kitchen, I helped co-ordinate research across the projects earlier this year with Dundee University.  This has been collated, but actually getting alongside many of those who use the drop ins was the first shock to my system.  The questionnaire took about half an hour to complete and the first two guys I interviewed had not had any electricity for ages. The cost of reconnection was prohibitive so trying to cook anything or wash themselves was impossible, let alone heat their homes.  These first two would become typical of many who had fallen on hard times.  Yes, some were drug addicts and coping with the damage that drugs had inflicted seemed impossible.  There was one guy who had not had any electricity for a whole year and was entirely dependent for his survival on the various drop ins across the city.  As well as no electricity he had no benefits apart from getting his council rent paid. His benefits had been sanctioned (stopped for some reason or another) but he didn’t know how to get them re-instated, so for a whole year had been totally dependent upon handouts for his survival. The parish nurse who interviewed him and the council worker who was then involved managed to get his benefits re-instated - (£72.00 pw).  However, he subsequently found himself sanctioned again as he has poor literacy and finds it difficult to apply for the number  of jobs required.  Then there was the former joiner who was determined  not to be sanctioned, but he was as he applied for a job by email and not through the right website.  He was surviving on about £50 pw prior to being sanctioned as there had to be a contribution to his rent as Housing Benefit only paid so much as he was in private accommodation. Those who are sanctioned can apply for a hardship payment, but it takes a couple of weeks and is a small  proportion of benefits. Sanctions start for four weeks, but can escalate to six months, which I’ve come across. 

Anyway, just some of the people I met, laughed with – yes laugh!  Their openness and welcome was second to none and it made me think of Jesus. Of how he was there to help the lepers, the outcasts, the prostitutes.  He challenged the establishment because he thought differently.  He didn’t speak about a fair world or a just world, but a generous grace that subverts the norms of society. So, such an experience changed my perception.  It wasn’t just being there, but listening and learning  and getting to know and trust other human beings who were hungry in our city.

We completed 106 questionnaires across the drop in projects and they show that no electricity, benefit sanctions, loneliness, poor mental health and lack of clothes are key problems for people and when people have  a number of these problems then along with low self-esteem they are really up against it. But, why use the drop ins? Well, it isn’t rocket science, but the main reason for using the drop ins was hunger!  I think being hungry is when poverty becomes destitution and I never thought that I would ever use that word for Dundee, but this research has changed me forever. I now recognise some people begging and some people selling the Big Issue.   Of course some people are rogues, but most guys and girls have fallen on hard times for all sorts of reasons and become isolated and excluded.  What Graham’s Kitchen does is fill a gap in the sharing of food, company and help. This is not the answer, but it is “not passing by”, “ going the extra mile” and it is leading  to other action. St. Mary’s in Lochee and Eagles Wings are looking at the provision of clothes – not just handouts, but trying to give people a choice, because they can’t afford charity shops.  Others like the Friary and Gilfillan are looking at helping with IT access and Job Search to help people avoid sanctions.   And yes, this is being doing in partnership with the council, but often churches are best placed to make that simple response that the Cathedral does through Graham’s Kitchen. It is so important and many people are grateful – believe me, I’ve heard and written down many comments expressing sincere gratitude.

Reflection

                                Maureen Riddel, Member, Justice and Peace/SCIAF Group

The Justice and Peace/SCIAF group at St Joseph’s in the West End of Dundee was set up more than 25 years ago. In that time it has undertaken a wide range of projects - but two strands have been consistent.

One strand is the weekly soup run that the group has done for most of those years to a unit for homeless people. Even during the economic uptimes the soup was much appreciated.

The other strand has been fairly continuous fund-raising for the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF). SCIAF and her sister organisations work with local communities across Africa, Asia, and Latin America to fight against injustice and to help people of all religious backgrounds to free themselves of poverty. The St Joseph’s group made contributions to SCIAF’s emergency relief funds for Haiti and the Horn of Africa. In

Scotland SCIAF campaigns with other organisations to tackle the root causes of poverty and injustice as in the IF campaign - “Enough food for everyone in the world IF . . .”

SCIAF works very closely with the communities it supports and from time to time its supporters get the opportunity to visit the projects. One such visit was made by Nick Marra of the St Joseph’s group.

“I remember we did a variety of fundraisers for a project in Asia - supplying livestock and fruit trees for indigenous people who were being pushed off their ancestral lands by multinational banana companies.” There was a real risk not just of hardship but that the indigenous people would lose their land, their culture and lifestyle - their very existence.

A visit left a deep and lasting impression on Nick. He visited a women’s co-operative - “The pride in their achievement, of opening a village store, shone in the women’s faces. Scottish people had made this possible.

“Shortly before coming home, we stayed with tribal people in the highlands of Mindinao. I slept on the floor of a hut, just above the pigs. The hospitality and generosity of the people was humbling. As we ate our evening meal the village leader told how his people were tired of moving from place to place losing their land to foreign people - and then his face brightened as he said that other people had come and given the village livestock and fruit trees to help them settle where they were.”

With both these strands of work a small contribution is being made to sustain individuals and communities - and from time to time a glimpse of how we as a society are part of the problem as well as a necessary part of the solution.

Reflection

 

For this edition, Hot Chocolate Trust has shared with us the story of Stewart* (19), who has been with them for over five years. The Trust is a Christian youth work organisation, born from the Steeple Church in Dundee City Centre. They work with around 300 young people who gather in the city centre, many of whom are variously vulnerable, and many living risky lifestyles.

The Story of Stewart

When he first appeared, Stewart’s behaviour was of real concern. He drank lots, and would even appear heavily under the influence in the morning. He was involved in a lot of risk taking behaviour - violent incidents weren’t unusual, he was banned from some public places for inappropriate conduct, the police were often at his door, and he soon ended up with an ASBO and threat of eviction. His mental health was also beginning to suffer.

During this time he lost access to his young child, then shortly after this he also lost a close friend to suicide and he hit rock bottom, with very little belief in himself or his future. He had lost much of his childhood.

As the Hot Chocolate team got to know him however, they saw a very caring and loyal person struggling to overcome major obstacles in life. They offered support and positive opportunities whenever they could, but initially these were limited in success. A work experience placement that Hot Chocolate arranged broke down, as did a referral to a Lifeskills programme. Regardless, the door remained open, and team kept offering support.

Early in 2012, one of Stewart’s friends found a steady job and began to thrive. Since then, Stewart has become increasingly focused on finding employment for himself and greater stability for his child... but he doesn’t want any old job, he wants a career.

The Hot Chocolate team has worked closely with him in the past year to help him achieve his long term goal of becoming a joiner. He has met a team member frequently for individual support, got involved in regular group work, he’s volunteered whenever asked, he’s been successfully referred to specialist training programmes (and completed them), he’s been supported in writing job applications, he’s asked for references, and he’s even been part of Hot Chocolate’s selection process for recruiting new staff members. He’s trying to establish more frequent contact with his child. And he’s been to start a college course which starts on Monday...

Life is still not straightforward for Stewart. He still faces real challenges. But with his newly found hope for what lies ahead, clear plans to achieve his goals, and ongoing support from his Hot Chocolate family... He’s finding his future.

* Details have been changed to protect his anonymity

Reflection

‘If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you’ Leviticus 25:35

Poverty is in Africa – Yes/No?

Poverty is in Japan – Yes/No?

Poverty is in Scotland - Yes/No?

If you answered Yes to all three of these questions you got it right. We often link poverty with poor children dying in Africa but even in a technologically advanced and wealthy country like Japan, poverty exists.

 

Satomi Sato, a 51-year-old widow, knew it was tough, working two jobs and raising a teenage daughter on less than $17,000 a year. Still, she was surprised last autumn when the government announced for the first time an official poverty line — and she was below it. “I don’t want to use the word poverty, but I’m definitely poor,” said Ms. Sato, who works mornings making boxed lunches and afternoons delivering newspapers. “Poverty is still a very unfamiliar word in Japan.”

After years of economic stagnation and widening income disparities, this once proudly egalitarian nation is belatedly waking up to the fact that it has a large and growing number of poor people. Poverty in Scotland is on the increase not just in the beggars we see on the city streets but in all neighbourhoods rich and poor. Let us hear from Brian in Glasgow.

I had left school without many qualifications mainly because of things like bullying. There is only so much you can take, and when I had started to fight back I was excluded from school time and again. LATER… I had to leave college early because my mum was struggling and I was doing bits and pieces of work as I could, but it wasn't enough. I had to give her a hand, I had to work. I got a job in MacDonalds. They say you shouldn't have any regrets in your life, but I think that is one of my regrets, that I didn't finish that college course.

LATER in my life I met Diane, my partner. We made a little bit of money and so managed to get a one bed roomed flat together. We worked hard to make it our home. But the mortgage was one of those things that we started to fall behind on. We ended up in a situation where we were robbing Peter to pay Paul, and then the mortgage company were threatening to re-possess as well. So we put the house up for sale. It wasn't easy, it really wasn't easy, we loved that house and had put a lot of work into it. We walked away with nothing, but we got all those people off our back. Sometimes it's about more than the money. So we had to try to get a council house. I was still working constantly on the buses trying to bring money in to pay for everything.

The week after we moved in we had drug dealers move in next door to us, and then there were needles all over the close. People banging the door at all hours of the night, at the wrong door, looking for drugs. Diane answered the door at 4 one morning in desperation as she was trying to get the baby to sleep. She was dragged out by the hair. I was going out to work not knowing what I was going to come back to, knowing my family didn't feel safe there. It was unbearable. I nearly cracked in two with the stress of it all.

It gets to the stage where you can't eat, you can't sleep, you're just so stressed out. It's constant there's nothing you can do about it We eventually got a move to where we are now, and it's so much nicer and we know we can rely on our neighbours. There's still hassle but not like before - we're safe. We were lucky to have a roof over our heads, but at the same time, how much do you have to put up with and be grateful for? Now I work on average 70 hours a week. Me and my partner are just like two ships passing in the night sometimes.

That is just to survive, and put a bit away for the future. I don't know how much longer 'll have a job for - people are losing their jobs left right and centre.

The biggest change for me was becoming a Dad. I felt inspired to make a difference in other people's lives and to make the world a better place for my daughter's future. And the past is my motivation to get out of bed in the morning. I can't change the past, but as for the future I want to make a difference.  I'm not stopping until things change.

Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:9

I think it's fair to say that there are two attitudes to poverty that abound at  this Christmas season, One of peace and goodwill towards all which makes people more charitable and aware of others needs and a self-centred disdain and fear or even suspicion that poverty is peoples’ own fault, that they're simply lazy or inferior. Often we prefer not to look at the poor too closely; it's depressing, and they're surely not fun people to be with. These attitudes are a world away from God's attitudes. Neediness arouses compassion in God and action.

We may think: "Of course God loves the poor; he loves everybody." But it's not as simple as that; God's character is presented as a model for our own.  If God values the poor, we have to think about what that means for us.

Fay Lamont, Priest-In-Charge at St. Ninian's Scottish Episcopal Church, Dundee

(Brian’s story has been taken from Poverty Truth Commission, part of Faith in Community Scotland