At Untold, our clients often experience a forced separation from others because of the stigma associated with HIV. This of course negatively impacts their ability to find fulfilling work, but it also over time impacts their view of themselves. Many of our clients experience devastating internalized stigma because of the years of community stigma and discrimination (see how all of these relationships are so intertwined!).

This week, we will dig into one of the most complex of the four key relationships: relationship with self. To understand the origin of our relational poverty in this area, we must go back to Genesis. As the story goes, Eve listens to the serpent and falls prey to his temptation. She and Adam eat the fruit and this sets in motion a series of events culminating in their exile from Eden. 

The framework of relational poverty begins in the creation story. In Genesis, God establishes four key relationships when he creates mankind: human's relationship to God, human's relationship to self, human's relationship to others, and human's relationship to the rest of creation. In the beginning, these relationships were all perfectly balanced, which allowed for human flourishing.   

As a poverty alleviation organization, you might think that an obvious goal for all of our clients would be financial wealth, but we don't believe that economic wealth in itself is the opposite of poverty. The opposite of poverty is holistic flourishing.