|
 Blog Action Day - Poverty
Honestly speaking, it took me longer than expected to finally state what I wanted to say. I believe this is because of the complexity of the causes of poverty that strikes all around the world. Therefore I hope to get involved in the discussion about this “Phantom of the Universe” to help me open my mind to finally act wisely ( not just being kind.) I think “Poverty” should be treated with different approaches; depending on the kind of poverty whether it is absolute poverty or relative one. Hover over to read the descriptions of each kind of poverty: Absolute Poverty According to a UN declaration that resulted from the World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995, absolute poverty is "a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services."[2] Relative PovertyThe term relative poverty can also be used in a different sense to mean "moderate poverty" –- for example, a standard of living or level of income that is high enough to satisfy basic needs (like water, food, clothing, shelter, and basic health care), but still significantly lower than that of the majority of the population under considerationIn the case of “Absolute Poverty” ,giving money to the poor might not be that wise as they probably use the money for food only and possibly ONLY for that day, then the next days they may once again starve and suffer; and they will have to beg all over again.
Will they go on living like this; depending their lives on others without having the urge to improve their own lives?
Will people let them depend on us for good?
Is that something good or bad?
( I personally think that isn’t something wise at least for the long term effect.)
Often on my way home from work, I pass by the traffic lights where bunches of young children in their shabby shirts bumping and jumping approaching people who wait for the green light, asking for money while saying ;
‘Please, give us money. We want to eat- we haven’t eaten for days.”
Some people here give some coins and some don’t. This isn’t being kind to them, but this is about trying to help them be independent, so that they will improve their standard of living at least with their own efforts. I am not against donating money to the poor, instead I support donating money DIRECTLY to the poor, yet one needs to have long-term purpose with the donated money; for instance- giving them money and asking them to buy shoe polishes to start their own work to earn a living.
I’ve seen many homeless elderly sleeping along the busy streets; do they need money to earn a living? I don’t think so, they need home, comfortable shelters-so donating money to them may give little effect.
Most of the poor don’t have enough money for food, let alone education therefore they may not be able to apply for a job as they might not be qualified, yet they can be trained to be manual workers; to open their own small business. What I’ve seen here in Indonesia, some of non-profit organizations hold some kind of “Free school” events for the poor children, who live under the bridges of Jakarta, or along the busy streets of Surabaya ( East Java). Those people in the organizations gather children to read and learn together instead of letting them beg for some money on the streets in whatever season it is.
I do think education is a significant sector in the process of reducing poverty, as I believe in this saying I once heard on a local TV, it says something like this ;
"Read more, learn more and educate yourself then you’ll know lots of things as being ignorant and read less are close to poverty.”
The bottom line of the saying – ‘Read Read and Read- to educate yourself.”
Poverty happens everywhere, not to mention Indonesia. There are five biggest cities in Indonesia; Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Medan and Bandung- those big cities (metropolitan cities are often seductive to villagers.) They think cities may offer them a better-off living. They think they’ll be much better off living in the cities than in their own villages, which only offer them natural resources. Being rich and having a great sum of money instantly are often the cause of massive exodus. What happens later is beyond their expectations; they become jobless, homeless, and the worse impact is that they are unable to return to their villages for they don’t even have money to return.
Speaking of “the solution” each country has different approach Below are some points I can think of to reduce Poverty ( some have been applied here). Some points may need the help from the local government.
- Gathering university students to open “free school” for homeless children on certain days. This is to meet the Education need to reduce absolute poverty.( this point has been done here already, but the existence of this event isn’t mushrooming yet.)
- Arise their spiritual spirits as they may be in a such stressful condition that they don't even think of improving their lives.Their being in a stressful condition will affect them emotionally and mentally.
- Educating farmers to maximize natural resources for better livelihood.
- Non profit organizations approach talented buskers to be brought into music industry.
- Gathering educators, teachers, lecturers to compile books to read for homeless children. I think this is better than just using the printed books already, which are not suitable for them. They need to know they can’t live by begging to people along the traffic light for good, they need to know they can reach their dreams therefore “special” books may be designed for them.
- Save 2,5 % of your salary ( if your salary is above “National Minimum Income”) Note : Some of the people here are paid under National Minimum Income, which will be Rp. 2,000.0000.by January 2009, in this case they may donate voluntarily, not necessarily 2,5 % as those people are categorized as relative poverty people.)
- Providing shelters for elderly; they should not be sleeping everywhere on the streets. They are our “parents”. Bring them to local senior citizen house. But one thing that I am not sure yet; and that’s about the budgets of building the shelters ( no corruption whatsoever, please!)
- Donate your old clothes that you don’t wear any longer, but still in perfectly well condition, to homeless kids. ( this has been applied by many universities, schools, and non profit organizations or charitable organizations here.)
- ( This point is actually my suggestion to SBY- our president! – please give more attention to farmers, skilled artists in remote areas to improve their lives.)
- If you are rich enough to adopt at least one kid from the street. I think I should salute The Brangelina ( Mr. and Mrs Pitt) who adopt two children from the countries suffer from hunger and poverty. Apart from whatever reasons they have; they’ve done a great thing.
- Scholarship programs for ; talented and smart students from poor family, and for homeless talented kids.
- Fun Fair Educational Events ( especially for homeless kids.) I think this is to stimulate their sense of awareness of how important it is to be independent, to love school, and read instead of loving to beg and depend on others. Note : Some beggars along the streets here ( kids) they admit loving to beg more than to read. They prefer waiting for people to help them- This is bad, and this kind of spirit should be stopped.
- Raise the quality of food for pregnant women from poor family
Wish all the best to the world Lu2Ar Hover over here for Poverty Indicators David Gordon's paper, "Indicators of Poverty & Hunger", for the United Nations, further explains that absolute poverty is the absence of any two of the following eight basic needs:[2] Food: Body Mass Index must be above 16.Safe drinking water: Water must not come from solely rivers and ponds, and must be available nearby (less than 15 minutes' walk each way).Sanitation facilities: Toilets or latrines must be accessible in or near the home.Health: Treatment must be received for serious illnesses and pregnancy.Shelter: Homes must have fewer than four people living in each room. Floors must not be made of dirt, mud, or clay.Education: Everyone must attend school or otherwise learn to read.Information: Everyone must have access to newspapers, radios, televisions, computers, or telephones at home.Access to services: This item is undefined by Gordon, but normally is used to indicate the complete panoply of education, health, legal, social, and financial (credit) services.   I f any of the readers of my post who are not Multiply members, you may share the comments or whatever you wish to say about my post on my twitter
Click Lingua to tweet me  | djdx wrote on Oct 15, '08 Very good entry, Lulone.
I think it is good to give a certain amount to beggars; it helps develop a generous spirit and to detach from one's money. This is something I am working on personally. Other projects, more long-term are also necessary, and we can donate to them also, again, setting a certain level or sum that is reasonable for one's own budget. |
 | Thanks DJ,
I just realized all of these solutions people on B.A.D have mentioned should be continuously done Every day, every week, every month, every year to see the improvement of their lives.
|
 | Hi Lulu.............said I would come back to read......so i did, this is a really well thought out blog and you have come up with so many practical strategies for dealing with poverty on a local level, you must have spent ages thinking it all out, I'm impressed. I'm interested to know how you think the world should respond to the absolute poverty we see in so many underdeveloped countries that are ravished by famine and often war. When children die every day and there is no means in their own country to deal with the enormity of the problem what should the world do?? It is so difficult to know what to do for best................but this is a really good blog, thanks, here is mine http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/183/Blog_Action_Day_Poverty_ |
 | It's about action instead of just talking about it. The scale can be as big as the entire world and as small as the people we have in our families. Great post, Lulu!
I think you can find the link to mine. ;-) |
| luluone wrote on Oct 15, '08, edited on Oct 15, '08  Hi Lulu.............said I would come back to read......so i did, this is a really well thought out blog and you have come up with so many practical strategies for dealing with poverty on a local level, you must have spent ages thinking it all out, I'm impressed. I'm interested to know how you think the world should respond to the absolute poverty we see in so many underdeveloped countries that are ravished by famine and often war. When children die every day and there is no means in their own country to deal with the enormity of the problem what should the world do?? It is so difficult to know what to do for best................but this is a really good blog, thanks, here is mine
http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/183/Blog_Action_Day_Poverty_  absolute poverty in underdeveloped countries- yes this has been in my thought as well, and money and love seem to be only way out I can think of. I read in one of the bloggers participated on B.A.D he mentioned of billionaires- nice thought of him. I think that isn't that simple. Even the government in those underdeveloped countries might not have their power to overcome the problem. But I hope this BAD bring something good- arise actions to reduce poverty especially absolute poverty either local level or international level- we are all big family- we should be able to find a way out- Act for real!
Thanks Loretta, I know you've been busy like you told me. Have a great day |
 | I commented on this topic on another friends site at this link http://vickiecollins.multiply.com/journal/item/502?mark_read=vickiecollins:journal:502&replies_read=2&goto=2#reply2 but you do address it more on an international level, rather than a US level which is what I addressed there. I have to agree with you that handouts are only for the moment, there needs to be more. There is a saying here that says it well - give a man a fish, he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime. What I've seen as a problem in our country is that often the educational assistance is available, but either had requirements that the poor can't meet (such as being able to go to school full-time, something many poor can't do as they are already working at low-paying jobs they can't just quit) or the paperwork to even get into them is much more complicated than the average under-educated person can even begin to complete. Assistance needs to be more flexible and more easily available so they are more accessible to those who need them. By the way, this is a very well-thought-out blog. You really made me think and gave me a new perspective on some of the issues. Thanks! |
| I love the saying you mentioned " Give a man a fish, he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish, he wull eat for lifetime." Poverty isn't as easy as we thought - It's a team work. Sometimes citizen blame the government for not being able to reduce poverty, but the citizen themselves don't want to improve their lives.
Now having read your comment, I thought of the government that sometimes make the access to the educational sector complicated especially for the poor; because of the school fees etc. Here schools aren't free- we even have to pay for the maintenance fee ( for the building). Education is not the ONLY key to reduce poverty, but education is the path to change the lives of the poor- to give them access to get proper job.
Whenever I state my opinions about poverty, I can't separate the two kinds of poverty; Absolute and relative. I guess the absolute one is really complicated to solve- this needs the help of all nations- stop war!! be peace! let's think of the poor. |
 | Hi Lulu! Finally I get to tell you what a great post this is! It's actually the best one I've read and the most complete. I tend to think education is at the root and probably the most important aspect of solving this problem. The problem of poverty varies widely throughout the world. To be honest, people in America should never be impoverished as anyone can earn their own food, but many simply take advantage of welfare and so forth - and that's the problem in my country - the people getting welfare learn to live only on it and don't try to improve in many cases. Other countries have it far worse, and need more help than anyone else. By the way, I love your poem "Sunset Secret"! It is beautiful:) |
| Hi Bob! nice to see you here:-)) I know I know multiply is a bit limited to members only, and I do appreciate your willing to open an account just to comment on my blog(s).
"the people getting welfare learn to live only on it and don't try to improve in many cases." - then by education hopefully this will be solved. There is a movie here about a poor boy who is struggling to improve his life by getting education, and he managed to succeed, and now he's helping poor people.
Oh thanks! I am happy you enjoyed my poem- I guess I write poems when I am depressed?:D all of sudden I remember your post related to happiness and depression. |
|
