What Poverty Talks Means to Me (by Amber)

Today's article comes from Amber, a member of our steering committee and advisory group, about what being a member of Poverty Talks means to her. Read more after the page break.

Being a member of Poverty Talks means that I get a voice. A voice to challenge peoples views on poverty and also make changes to municipal and Provincial government keeps us in poverty. It allows me to learn how to effectively give my voice to people who have never listened to me before, to show my face and voice to agencies who have always put me down and treated me as an unequal.

I get to show others how to use their voice to speak out on injustices that have been done to them, allow them the opportunity to speak out against laws and rules that have kept them degraded and afraid to speak out for themselves.

I get to connect with peers who understand me, who value me, who see me as I am and do not judge me for it, yet encourage the skills they see in me, and vice-versa. I have connected with more people in Calgary due to being a part of this group. I no longer feel alone in this fight, I no longer feel that my voice does not matter and that people can and have the right to step on me and put me down.

I have never felt more empowered as a citizen, a voter, a resident in my community, or a part of my community or a part of Calgary for that matter, until becoming a Poverty Talks member.

I am now proud to call Calgary home, and that I matter.

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Amber is a member of the Poverty Talks Steering Committee and has been active in poverty activism for a number of years. You can read more of her views as a person living in poverty at her personal blog A Simple Calgarian.