As you can see from my cell phone, I am not poor

First, let me give credit for this blog's title, which I shamelessly ripped off from the following fabulous Onion article: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33490 (For another awesome article that both pertains to the topic of this entry and depicts what will likely be me following grad school, read on: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38879)

I loved this article when it first came out a few years ago, and looked it up again recently when I found myself thinking of it with regard to our local young people. I'd been talking with other volunteers about the "hood rich" phenomenon in the US, and how there is a version of it here and undoubtably in other poor, developing countries.

So what is this "hood rich" I speak of? Well, maybe the Big Tymer's hit of a couple summers ago, Still Fly, sums it up best:

Gator boots, with the pimped out Gucci suits
Ain't got no job, but I stay fly
Can't pay my rent, cause all my money's spent
But that's okay, cause I'm Still Fly

Got a quarter tank of gas - in my new E class (In my E-Class Benz)
But that's alright, cause I'm gon' ride
Got everythang, in my momma name (in my momma name)
But I'm Hood Rich - da da-da da da-da da-da da-da

This phenomenon can seem humorous or ridiculous or any number of other adjectives, but at its core you have the issue of poor people directing their energies and limited funds toward pursuing conspicuous evidence of their not-poverty. As I've mentioned in previous blogs, the cell phones toted around town by seemingly everyone over the age of 12 leave me wondering about MD's "poorest country in Europe" status, its shadow economy from all those undeclared dollars earned abroad and sent home, and about what role advertising plays in, well, keepin po' folks down.

I by no means am saying that the people here are wealthy. Medical care, dental care, prenatal care...these all seem to be of questionable quality and availability. There is little access to information and resources, and corruption at multiple levels (legal, political, educational) is a major issue. My host mom's doctor, for instance, following her recent checkup, openly requested a bribe of cash or chocolates. What I'm saying is that I wonder if many MDs have resources that, better-directed or pooled together, could be doing things to improve their lives and communities, rather than just the stock portfolios of Motorola, Samsung et al or the bank accounts of whoever makes all those knock-off Dolce and Gabbana items people here like so much.

[If you are interested in reading more about the issue of corruption in MD, including a study on peoples' "corruption perception index" in numerous countries and its correlation with those countries' wealth or poverty, check out the website of Transparency International, an international anti-corruption organization: http://www.transparency.md/documents.htm
When TI spoke to us volunteers in the capital a while back, they discussed the common belief "I wouldn't be corrupt if I weren't poor". They counter this statement with "You wouldn't be poor if you weren't corrupt." I'm not sure where I stand on that one, but it's an interesting topic to ponder.]