Poverty



Do you know that half the world- nearly 3 billion people, live on a mere US$2 a day? Poverty is currently a huge and important issue in this world. It happens in many parts of the world, even in Europe, where most of the wealthiest countries are located. As you can infer, poverty knows no boundaries. Anyone could be hit. Anyone could be driven into bankruptcy and thus, into the state of poverty.

What comes to your mind when the word poverty rings in your ear? In my case, I would picture those little sad faces of starving kids in Africa, beggars on the street of Jakarta and even homeless people in Europe, digging for food in a trashcan. Then, I would picture the daily lives of these human beings. To be honest, I am not even certain if I could last a day without food or water! All these made me realize how much I have taken food, water and other necessities for granted. Forget about money and proper housing. Those are nothing compared to the basic necessities of life. We need food and water to survive and clothes to keep us warm. What happens when we are deprived of all these necessities of life? We are plunged into the deep, dark and hollow world of poverty.

Poverty happens for numerous amounts of reasons. One of them is the lack of materials or resources in the area. For example, the lack of forest resources or water sources may result in the state of poverty, as the people living in the area will find difficulties satisfying their needs. In developing countries, around 1.1 billion people have limited access to water. The climate is also a huge factor. If an area is infertile or too dry, the people will not be able to grow crops on the land or herd animals, thus resulting in the lack of food resources. Another huge factor that leads to the state of poverty is the mismanagement of a nation. When the government of a nation is corrupted, the people will often find their needs unmet and thus, fall into the state of poverty. For example, in the late 1990s, there was a crisis in Indonesia’s economy as a result of the government being corrupted. Indonesia’s economy fell drastically. Prices of oil and other essential materials rose and apparently many people were unhappy with the situation.


Now we will take a look at the state of poverty in the United States of America. The state of poverty in the United States of America differs from the others. The people there have not actually reached the crisis level. The government actually set up a poverty line to single out the people who are falling under the poverty category. Poverty in the United States of America refers to whose annual family income is less than “the poverty line”. The percentage of the population positioned below the poverty line is currently 12%. However, there have been arguments about America’s “Poverty Line”. It is said that the “Poverty Line” is set too high. This might be true. How do we know? Most of the people living in poverty in the United States could still afford to buy food or clothing. Only some of them are actually homeless. Even then, these homeless people could find their way to survive on their own. They could sleep in parks and get their food from leftovers in restaurants or cafes. You will often find these people digging through the trashcans in public places. Overall, the state of poverty in the United States of America is very light compared to the state of poverty in many developing nations.


Now we will take a look at the state of poverty in Africa. Have you ever been to the African Continent? I myself have never been there but based on what I have learnt, most of the people there are living in a harsh condition. More specifically, they are living in poverty. According to statistics, 34 out of 50 nations in the UN list of least developed countries are located in the African continent though currently, the poorest nation in the world is Timor Leste. In most nations in Africa, the per capita income is less than US$200 per year. That means most of the people there earns no more than US$0.50 a day. Do you think that amount could get you through the day? What about parents with huge families? Do you think their earnings would be enough to feed their children? Absolutely not. Forget about their future and think about the present. If they cannot get through the present, there will be no future.

Why do nations in Africa experience poverty? There are many factors that lead to poverty in Africa. One of them is the loss of traditional way of obtaining food. Before the Europeans came to Africa, the people there had their own way of obtaining food. These methods include foraging, hunting, herding ad subsistence farming. When the Europeans came, a new set of policies and constitutions followed. These policies greatly modified the Africans’ method of obtaining food. This shows that the Europeans played a part in Africa’s current condition.

Another factor that led to Africa’s current condition is the misuse of money. Over the years, the world has lent a helping hand to Africa in many ways. The most important way is of course, financially. Over US$500 billion has been sent to Africa as direct aid. However this money were not put into good use. For example, some developing nations made use of these money to purchase guns to protect themselves instead of providing the young with education, build new shelters, houses and creating more jobs for the people. Another good example is how Ghana used the money to build the Akosomo Dam to provide electricity for the extraction of aluminium from bauxite. The project was a huge one and the result turned out to be disappointing. The grade of the Ghanaian ores proved to be too low and now, the dam is only used to process ores imported from other nations. This was apparently a big and devastating blow to Ghana’s economy.

What does poverty leads to? It would lead to starvation, diseases, deaths,child labour and the lack of education. This is a fact but most of us have forgotten that people in the state of poverty are also in a state of desperation. They would do anything just to gain what they need. Even crime. For example in the United States of America, poverty is commonly linked to the rising crime rates over the past few years. While the state of poverty in America is not so bad, some people in Africa are forced into executing criminal acts in order to survive. Some of these people joined secret societies that “promise” to aid them financially. Others would consider prostitution as a solution to their financial problems. For example, In Thailand, many poor peasants actually entered the prostitution industry to support their families back in their villages or hometowns. Some would even go overseas just to “strive” in the prostitution industry. In most countries however, prostitution is illegal. Moreover, poverty also leads to diseases and illnesses. The environment in a poverty-hit area is far from clean. Hence, the spread of diseases. Some of the common diseases or illnesses are malaria, Cholera, HIV, Gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted diseases. Although some of these diseases are curable, most people in developing nations cannot afford the high cost of treatment. In the Sub-Saharan African, around 24.5 million people were living with Aids by the end 2005. In that year alone, around 2.7 million people have been infected with HIV. How do these people contract HIV? You have to remember that most of the people in Africa are uneducated. Hence, they are oblivious to the current issue- HIV/Aids. The antiretroviral drug is used to delay the progression of HIV to Aids. However, as I have pointed out before, most people in Africa are too poor to afford this treatment. Hence, they would not be able to live a normal live once they are contracted with the virus. Another huge impact of poverty is none other than starvation. This is because starvation itself will eventually lead to death. According to UNICEF, 30000 children die each day due to poverty. 16000 of these children die of starvation. This means that for every 5 seconds that pass by, a child will die of hunger-related issues. The rate of education on young children has also gone down the hill as more children each year are out of education due to poverty. Currently, 121 million children worldwide are out of education. Poverty also leads to the child-labouring industry. Each year, around 200,000 child slaves are sold in Africa alone. Why are these children forced to work? They do not really have a choice. They are either sold by their parents or simply taken away as their parents are unable to pay their debts. Child labour is a persistent issue in this world. Although child labour has been banned in almost all countries, it still goes on secretly in some rural areas. As you can see, poverty leads to many things. Some huge issues that we are currently facing are actually associated with poverty. On the whole, the effects of poverty are absolutely devastating.

Poverty takes place in many parts of the world. In this world, it is utterly impossible for each and every one of us to be a millionaire. The idea of being equal has commonly been brought up by great thinkers. An example of such great thinkers is Karl Marx. He was the man who brought up the idea of Communist Government in Russia in the early 20th century. This would then lead to a Russian Revolution. Firstly, what is the idea of communism? Communism is the practice of being absolutely equal. Did Karl Marx’s idea worked? Many people think that it was a failure though the lives of farmers and other peasants became better. Why is this so? Let us look at it this way. In a communist nation, a farmer will earn as much money as a businessman or a politician. A minor worker gets the same pay as a major and important worker. Do you think that the system really showed equality? What makes you think that there would not be a corruption of power and money? So, on the whole, Karl’s idea was a failure. The topic ‘communism’ strongly relates to poverty because the purpose of communism is to better the lives of people living under harsh conditions. It is to bring them up to the same level as the rest of the world.

If it is impossible to make this world equal, then how do we solve Poverty? Although it is impossible to wipe out poverty from this world in an instant, we could work gradually to improve the lives of the people living in agonizing conditions and at the same time, reducing poverty. Poverty would only be reduced if all of us living put or hearts together and help the poor break through the state of poverty. Through charities and non-profit organizations, we could lend a helping hand to those in need. Examples of such organizations are the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign and Global Solidatory Network. Moreover, many countries are actually providing African nations with direct aid. The government themselves are the most important parties in this case. They have to take the initiative to do something in order to improve the people’s lives. For example, with the direct aid given, they could subsidize housings, education, healthcare and create more jobs for the people. The government should also built a shelter to accommodate the homeless people roaming on the streets or rural areas. They cannot afford to make the wrong decisions for their people who are in desperate need of help.

Fighting poverty is not an easy task. However, we have learnt that poverty has devastating impacts. Hence, we have to help each other in order to gradually eradicate poverty so as to improve the lives of our brothers and sisters living in this world.