Tamar pictured on the far left.
Tamar Gasko, a rising junior at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School participated in Yachad’s Ramp it Up! Summer Program for teens where she built an accessibility ramp along side nine other local teens, for a low-income DC resident in need. As part of an essay contest, she answered the question, “What did I learn from Ramp it Up?” Here’s what she said…
Though one may think that Ramp It Up! is solely an opportunity to build a ramp for an underprivileged family or community, it was so much more for me. True, I learned how to cut a mean 180 degree line with a circle saw and crazy lines with the jigsaw. I learned how to use a hammer correctly and to notch wood, how to change a drill battery and measure the length of something. I learned all these carpentry terms that were very satisfying when finally understood; level, flush, plumb, circle saw, jigsaw, sawhorse, “chalk it,” and ratchet. That was fun.
But I also really started to understand what the lower class goes through. I began to be able to fathom how someone who works full time and gets paid minimum wage might not be able to do something that I take for granted, like going to a museum or movie. It’s hard to not have money to spare. I get that now.
We had a discussion about the cycle of poverty during lunch one day, and it completely blew my mind. A simple thing such as your parents not having gone to college can put you at the bottom of the food chain, and, though you yourself haven’t done anything- heck, you were just born- you can’t have a life like everyone else. And you can’t change it, because your parents don’t have the money to go to school, which means a better job and more money. They can’t even send you to a good school, so when you grow up, it’s all going to cycle back and the same thing is going to happen to you. This is what blew my mind. I imagined myself in this scenario, and felt utterly helpless. I couldn’t do anything for myself. It was as if I was in a runaway train with no brakes. Then someone else mentioned that mental stress and depression is an outcome of being in this low-income situation, and being treated costs even more. That freaked me out even more, before I realized that thankfully, I’m not in that position.
But there are people in those positions who need help. After learning about the cycle of poverty, I learned that giving people on the street money occasionally won’t help them that much. It’ll buy food for the day, but it’ll leave them wondering, “Will I get food tomorrow?” If anything, this might stress them more. Handouts of money don’t lift them out of the cycle of poverty and put them on a new track. That’s where we come in. By building a ramp, we’re changing part of the cycle of poverty, and therefore changing somebody’s life. Someone out there will now have more independence, a job maybe, and be less stressed.
On the second to last day of ramp camp, I was riding home on the Metro with some other rampers, and one of them mentioned an article in the Times about the Somali pirates who’ve been hijacking boats. He said that, obviously, the pirates’ lack of money doesn’t justify what they’ve been doing, but it makes sense that unlawful actions are the only way they feel that they can improve their situation. They don’t have a way of improving other aspects of their life that would raise them out of the cycle. This insightful comment put what we’ve been talking about and working on all of ramp camp into a greater, if not a worldly context.
The only thing that still makes me frustrated is that it seems like there is no way for an impoverished person to help himself. I feel that if I was in a financial crisis, I’d want help, but I’d want to be capable of taking care of myself, and to not being able would bring me down. It must feel embarrassing or belittling to ask others to help you, either physically or financially. I still have not come to peace in regards to this predicament.
I realize that building a ramp and doing other such projects for the less fortunate is not the answer to our problems, but it is an indescribably important step forward, and I greatly appreciate that, and the opportunity to be a part of it.
