Reducing Poverty in the World
World Poverty is a huge issue today and is an issue that I am very passionate about ending. 3 billion people worldwide survive on $2.50 a day or less. 80% of the world lives on $10 a day or less. Poverty isnt a simple fix because theres so many issues that stem from poverty that we have to focus on. Many parents are unable to care for their children which leads them to abandon them. There are 153 million orphans because of this globally. With India ranking #1 as the most orphans in the world. In many places like Thailand it is common for parents to sell their children off into sex trafficking because of their desperate need of any sort of income for their family. In many places like Uganda the parents will marry their children off and in return receive a piece of land or cattle to support their family. According to UNICEF 22 thousand children die each day due to poverty. In South Korea there is a baby drop box with hundreds of babies being dropped into this box yearly due to the parents being in poverty and not being able to take care of their babies. Poverty also causes lack of education. More than 900 million people cannot read or write due to living in poverty stricken areas. They don’t have access to schools or are unable to afford education. Poverty causes malnutrition, hunger, deaths, reduced rate of growth and development, no treatment for sicknesses, and little to no access of clean drinking water. 805 million people worldwide do not have enough food to eat.
More than 750 million people lack adequate access to clean drinking water. When I was in Uganda, Africa they had no access to clean water, they traveled 6 hours or more to fetch dirty river water. It caused sickness to the people in the village by drinking it or cooking with it, it caused their stomaches to bloat and have pesticides. The workers at the orphanage I volunteered with used the same bucket of water to wash dirty clothes, wash the children’s hands before supper and wash soiled clothing in. You can imagine the illnesses they got from this bacteria infested water which then meant they couldn’t afford a doctor visit to treat their illnesses and in some cases could lead to death. 842,000 people die every year globally from inadequate drinking water, sanitation, and lack of hand hygiene. As you can see poverty affects so many people and is a huge problem worldwide. With experience in volunteering in some of the most poverty stricken places in the world, I have come up with a few ideas of how to reduce poverty and how to help while it is still an ongoing problem.
The goal is to empower people, educate and help them be self-sustainable. I have three solutions to reducing poverty.
1. Education. Raising awareness to poverty and finding people who want to help donate their time or money into rebuilding poverty stricken areas or serving their time to build up these communities meeting with local leaders to meet the needs of their area. Like we learned instead of giving a man a fish teaching a man to fish is more beneficial. It is so important to help people not just find work but find their gifts of what they are supposed to give back to this world. Donating several sewing machines and cloth to a village in Ethiopia would help them have purpose and get started to where they could start sewing making clothes and selling for a small profit. In Belize I visited a spanish family of 12 people who had absolutely nothing living in a landfill. We cleared the trash and built them a house. Instead of just giving them food, shelter and love, it was important we teach them how to not just survive but earn a profit. We gave them 2 cows and several chickens. With that they were able to have unlimited milk and eggs. We planted fruit trees and taught them about agriculture so when we left they could start being self sustainable. In Africa we planted acres and acres of corn so that they can make a profit once they grew. Poverty in America is a bit different than poverty in a third world country. With poverty in America a lot of times comes with mental illness or drug addiction.
My #2 solution is to provide housing with programs to help these people. I believe in having increased shelters with not just housing but programs that provide mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, job opportunity, counseling, and a mentor to help each person stay on the right path. In Los Angeles there is Skid Row a 54 block area with poverty and homelessness. There is one particular program called TRUST that provide these people to live stable lives in wellness. 90% of their residents have been housed for over a year. I believe in rehabilitating people rather than just providing meals.
My #3 solution is service. Giving your time to help rebuild a community, or volunteer at a soup kitchen, donating at a local food drive, or even traveling to orphanages all helps make the world a better place. If you can provide service with your money a little goes a long way. It is only $5 to feed a child in Africa for a month. If you can donate canned food or volunteer at a local shelter. The most important gift you can give is servicing people with your time and love. If you show up to a small village in India and teach them how to cook, teach them about agriculture, teach them about having a business or giving them that boost of confidence it can motivate them to take action to do better for themselves and their families. Sometimes all you need is that push or that person to believe in you to help you find your purpose in life and with that they can turn out to be extremely successful hardworking people.
