The Unnoticed Robber And The Poverty Cycle

Today, my intention is to expose one of society’s greatest unseen tyrants; I call it ‘the unnoticed robber.’ It’s very cruel and has oppressed, and continues to tyrannise many families but yet, it remains unnoticed and over the years managed to escape the spotlights of even Anas and his Tiger-Eye team. Perhaps, the reason it’s celebrated in spite of the woes it has caused our dear nation Ghana, and Mama-Africa is: it seems the honourable thing to do.

Afterall, has not all the religious groupings teach their members to support others when they are in the position to? This wise ancient-tyrant hides behind this belief and carries out its gruesome attacks on our society and continues to perpetuate poverty in many families. Enough of the suspense right?

This ‘unnoticed robber’ is simply the haste of our families to start benefiting especially financially; from the youths immediately they are out of school or apprenticeship and begin their infant careers. This act is tantamount to harvesting underdeveloped fruits from a premature tree. You can’t enjoy the fruit the way you could have, had it been fully developed and ultimately, the tree might wither and die because you have consistently interfered with its growing process.

What do we notice in our society today? Many families have consistently interfered with the fundamental financial development process of their youthful members. There is a time to sow and a time to reap but there is a waiting period between when a tree begins to bear a fruit and when the fruit is fully matured to be edible. But most families blatantly and ‘wickedly’ ignore this waiting period.

Immediately a youth has begun his career, many hands are stretched to him to be fed and many mouths, opened to him to be filled. Am I promoting selfishness in anyway? Of course not! Even my past will certainly strike me if I try to, because I’m what I am today because of the numerous people who in one way or the other supported and still supporting me. My point is, if the family for that matter the society wants to optimally benefit from the youth in whom they have invested their resources; then they need to give them a period to fully grow financially and for their fruits to be fully matured before they begin to climb or throw stones into them to harvests their fruits. If the foundation of their finances is not well grounded before the family starts laying financial burdens on them, at the presence of the slightest storm; the life of these youths will collapse.

Let’s say Mawuli and Akosua have just begun their careers. Let’s assume the family of Mawuli gives him a period to build his career and establish himself financially. Because Mawuli has less financial pressure on him, I believe he can educate himself further to advance on his skills which can make him more productive and competitive at his work. He can invest in his dreams and other income generating ventures. This young man will soon enough be financially stabilised with multiple source of income coming in. Now, let’s also assume Akosua on the hand, suffers immediate financial demands from her families. What will happen is Akosua will be handicapped in many ways.

She will end up using all her meager income satisfying the demands of her families. Because their demands are always almost higher than her income and she has her personal needs to attend to, Akosua is likely to borrow to support herself. Now, as young Akosua receives her salary the next month, she needs to pay her debts, meet her needs and attend to the demands of her family and friends. By the mid of that month, Akosua is financially drained and she goes for another loan to support herself and this cycle continues from month to month and from year to year.

Because Akosua always does not have any more money to invest into any other venture, her income is limited to only her salary. She can’t educate herself further and she becomes less productive and efficient and ultimately she can’t get promoted. She remains at the same level she was when she started her career while others overtake her. And this is certainly not the kind of life Akosua envisioned growing up, so she becomes depressed and suffers other psychological complications. Akosua will soon marry and have her own children. Remember, she lives from hand to month so she can’t send her children to the best school and give them the best parenting they deserve. This children ends up having the wrong perception about themselves and life in genral; they develop the wrong mindset, have low self-worth and remain timid. And they end up walking in the shoes of their mother. What’s the long term effect? The cycle of poverty in that family continues.

Mawuli on the other hand has his ‘financial tree’ well rooted so he’s in a better position to support his family and meet his personal needs without feeling any serious toll on his finances. Mawuli will keep advancing his skills and keep increasing his income. He is able to send his children, siblings and support other members of his family to the best schools and give them the best parenting and mentorship they deserve. These young ones are ultimately equipped with the right mindset and attitude to become successful in the future. And this cycle continues in this particular family. I seriously wish this is not true, but Akosua represents majority of the African youth. Unless, you receive them from the devil, your children have a sense of responsibility towards the family and if they are allowed to have their finances working well, they will be in a far better position to support the family.

Our culture of the strong supporting the weak is very splendid. But if the seemingly strong ones are not allowed much time to get strong enough, the weak who are always in the majority might end up pulling them to their level. We need to kick this ‘unnoticed robber’ which has been a serious societal canker and has kept many families in total penury out of our society. As a parent, family or friend, we need to give our youths an ample time as they start their careers for their fruits to be fully matured before we begin climbing or throwing stones into them to harvest their fruits.

When their ‘financial trees’ are fully grown and their fruits well matured, their seeds will also be well developed for planting. In which case, we will end up having several fruit-bearing trees in our communities and hunger, lack and ultimately poverty will be flushed out of our families and the society at large. The poor will continue to grow poorer until we both decide to wait a little longer and allow the youth to be financially rooted before we start laying our financial burdens on them.

Author: Elorm Apediavu Hermann
[email protected]
+233249177007