I have had some experience with poor people and being poor and this was a touching film.
You don’t know what it is like being poor unless you have been there yourself. There were times in my life when I didn’t have money for food, and no one to turn to. So you just endure and hope that better times come soon.
This film Living on One Dollar took place in a poor village where people were below the poverty line. It was clear that the people were suffering. You could see their weak and too-skinny bodies and the low energy level they had. You couldn’t help but feel compassion for them, and anger at the policies that made them suffer.
At one point, we learn that a woman had to quit school in 6th grade so she could work in the fields to help feed her family. Then we learn a decade later she heard about Grameen Bank and took a loan for $200. That enabled her to start a weaving business which she used the profits of to enroll in school! I had to cry at that point because even though she was faced with a tough reality, she found a way to make her dreams come true. Her hard work and determination made it possible.
What more can we ask of people than the willingness to try? When someone wants to improve their life it is our responsibility and gift to help others. To someone who has the desire to improve their life, financial limitations should never be a limit. Isn’t it silly as a society that we put a cost on education? What is the cost of ignorance? The cost of ignorance is so heavy, and it weighs on all of us.
The poor don’t want something for nothing. They just want an opportunity to improve their lives. Why is it so hard to give them a helping hand?