Commitment to Poverty

I have accepted a position with Americorps VISTA which will last one year (August 2009 – August 2010). The position will entail seeking out service opportunities for USM students within the greater Portland Non-Profit community, with special emphasis on the Multicultural organizations in the community. Americorps is at its base a poverty reduction program seeking to give the volunteers, as we are called, first had experience with the struggles of poverty. They achieve this by putting the volunteers into poverty; we are paid less than $800 per month, not allowed additional income, given access to some of the welfare benefits (such as food stamps and health care), and we are expected to see out this commitment for a full year.

I have accepted the job, or position, because I believe in the type of work I will be doing. I think it will be building on some of what I did in Serbia: capacity building within civil society, project development, and working with minority / multicultural communities. These things I am very excited about, and I do believe this work will be challenging and provoke personal and professional growth. Where I have issue, is with the treatment of volunteers and the forced reduction to poverty, and we shall have to wait and see where I end up, if I can indeed manage everything on less than $800 a month. I can continue to live rent free for the next two months, which will help me save a bit of money (provided I get a bit of work between now and August, when I start my year of service).

I think the aspect that is hardest for me is that I will be 30 next April, and I will still be living pay-check to pay-check, relying on handouts and the kindness of others. I have spent all of my 20s in this system, and I hoped after I worked for the OSCE I would find opportunity that was professionally satisfying and financially rewarding. But I have found it much harder than expected, with the VISTA position being the only interview and job offer in over a year. In some sense I still depend on others for survival, which dents my pride and challenges my masculinity (see the previous two entries...). But I must also recognize that my work will be contributing to the development of a more vibrant and open community in Maine. I think that we are at a critical juncture, particularly in places like Portland and Lewiston, and there is a great need for us to give time and resources towards fostering the connections between institutions, such as the University, and the poor and immigrant / refugee community.

I have begun to get to know this community over the last few years, and thus it makes sense that I will spend a year working closely with them. I feel that is important and I want that, but I would love to have about 200 – 300 more dollars a month. Technically that would still make me poor (by both Maine and Federal standards), but would be enough to survive, make a few savings, and perhaps take a trip to Italy, or England, or France, or home to Germany. Well, it isn’t to be this year. I will have time to work on building the PUSL, and I may even find a way to bring that into the VISTA position, which would be great. For that and the other positives I mentioned above, I think it is worth it.