Upon returning form our Nicaragua study trip, students divided up into their classes, based on the concentration of their choice: International Business, Advanced Language and Literature, and Latin American Studies. This a reflection shared from one of our business students, Vanessa Herrera, from Northwest University. Students will leave on Monday for their Community Immersion Experiences.
Wrestling with the
issue of poverty is a very new practice for me. I grew up in a small-town of
1,000 people in eastern Oregon. My family did not start out middle-class, but
they worked their way up long enough to have what we have now. I’ve seen so many people, including my parents,
increase their quality of life by working hard. I assumed everyone could do the
same. Then, to also think that the processes and systems I am studying are the
causes of so much poverty around the world is another thing to wrestle with, as
well. The readings in the International Business Concentration have brought me out of the ignorance I was in before, which
is always uncomfortable. This was no exception. However, I have learned to take
these kinds of experiences as opportunities to think differently about the
world and my impact on it.
I used to romanticize the idea
of ending poverty as just giving them a few key resources and letting them take
care of the rest. People have all these theories on why these countries are as
poor as they are, without any admittance that some of them just are not, or
were not, as lucky. Some of these people are simply facing the negative
consequences of their country’s history and living in
areas that are perfect for a lot of bad things. One article that I read gave the example of
some sub-Saharan African countries suffering for malaria because they are the
perfect environment for malaria-infested mosquitoes. They do not have the
resources to fight against the bad luck they were born with.
I am the consequence of some
luck too. I am living with the consequences of my country’s history, which came at the expense of these
other countries' suffering. I got a hand
of good luck, just like most of the poor got their hand of bad luck. As a
Christian, I do not think this is for nothing. I cannot help that I was born
where I was, when I was; but, I can help people who cannot help themselves just
because they were born where they were, at the time that they were. I especially
believe that business can play such a vital role in this effect.
Business sustains. Business
brings people to people. Business can play the role of networking people with
resources, like me, to people with a lack of resources in a practical manner. The
reality for most people is that the more distance there is between people and
social issues, the less they care. The reason I never gave a second thought to
poverty was because I had never seen the reality of it, and it did not pertain
to me directly. I am thinking of poverty
and development differently, and I can bring these new ways of thinking of
success into whatever career I choose. People get so caught up in their career
and being successful in the way the market defines success that they lose who
they are in the process. They lose their sense of humanity. It’s important to be people of character, through
our words and actions. I am going to be that person in all aspects of my
personal and professional life- business, school, church- with this new
perspective in hopes of bringing other people to re-evaluate these so-called
truths we have been taught.
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