Peace

I know I've talked a lot about getting involved, but I find this so important that I'm going to stress it again. Right now I'll discuss the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps is an organization that takes volunteers around the world to help on issues such as technology, AIDS, and environmental preservation. They can educate people in different countries about the dangers of poor water sanitation and malnutrition (both causes of poverty, and both of which lead to disease and death if untreated). They may dig water wells or build sanitary bathrooms, and then they teach the local people about how to safely maintain these structures. Volunteers can also teach farmers how to increase their yield while protecting the land, and therefore allowing the farmers to reuse the land for a longer period of time. Nearly half of all volunteers will also support food security through various projects. Such projects include building gardens and educating locals on good nutrition. These are just a few ways in which volunteers help out, there are many other categories that are involved in community development and business. In my previous post I discussed how America is far behind in the goal to help end world poverty, however the peace corps is a way in which America gives back. If you are interested in volunteering for the Peace Corps, which I definitely am, I suggest you do some research and talk to a Peace Corps recruiter. The different programs require specific skills or background knowledge, so it's helpful to talk to a recruiter to determine what program you're qualified for.

Problems of Poverty

This morning I found this poverty website that shows the number of people that die every minute due to a problem caused by poverty. The problems that the website discusses are hunger, diarrhea, AIDS, Pneumonia, Tuberculosis, Malaria, and Measles. For hunger alone, the death count per day is 25,000. They discuss programs that help people get food for working or get food while they're at school. Providing food for children that go to school gives them more motivation to get their education which will eventually lead to good jobs and staying out of an impoverished life. Other problems linked to poverty have lower death tolls than hunger, but the lives claimed are still outrageous. Diarrhea, due to unclean water and unsafe sanitation kills around 1.6 million people, while AIDS kills about 240 people every hour, which equals about 5760 people a day. Diarrhea is a simple problem to solve and Oral Rehydration Therapy has greatly reduced the deaths caused by diarrhea in the past few years. Obviously there is no known cure for AIDS, but it can be prevented. However, it is a preventable disease. The number one preventative measure is education! The website also shows how much aid countries gave in 2008. Sweden has gave the most with $0.98 for every $100 the country earned. The United States came in last place with $0.18 for every $100 our country earned. This may make us look like a selfish country because we are one of the richest countries. I understand our lack of giving because there is so much poverty here in America that we still have to take care of. However, the United States did sign an agreement in 2002 saying that we would eventually be giving $0.70 for every $100 our country earns. Since we signed this agreement, we definitely need to follow through. To find out how you can help, or to just explore the website, visit www.poverty.com

The Habit

One topic that I have yet to discuss is how drug use relates to poverty. The other day I watched a special on television about a young woman's struggle with her addiction to heroine...later accompanied by an addiction to cocaine. She lived with her boyfriend who was a drug dealer and had a part time job. This young woman could not keep a job for more than a week because her drug use got in the way. She used about $20 worth of heroine a day while her boyfriend used about $150 a day. This obviously put great financial strain on their relationship. She eventually kicked her out of their apartment because she could not find, or keep a job. Her parents had already put her through 6 detox and rehab programs, so at this point they were unwilling to help her. She lived on the streets and in jails for almost a year because any money she could scrape up was used for her drug addiction. She was in an ugly cycle for years: having nowhere to live and no money because she couldn't get a job, couldn't get a job because the drugs were impairing her mental ability. She eventually got the help she needed and has been sober and gotten her life back on track. I know that this type of life is often seen with drug addicts because their money goes to support their habit. However, the addicts are not always young adults. Sometimes children grow up in households with parents that are addicts, and they must suffer the consequences of the drug abuse. I watched a movie on Lifetime a few years ago in a Health class called "Homeless to Harvard". I don't remember everything about the movie, but basically a girl grew up in a household with parents that were addicted to various substances. She was malnourished and lived in filthy circumstances, eventually becoming homeless. She took her life and changed it around by getting accepted into Harvard. I'm not sure what she does now (this is a true story) but I know that she is well off now. Drug abuse is a very scary thing and it can be so damaging...in many ways, including poverty. However, it's been proven that people can overcome either drug abuse or the effects of drug abuse, and not have to live the rest of their lives in poverty.

Helping Out

Previously in my blog I've discussed ways in which you can help out locally in fighting poverty. However, there are ways in which you can help out on a larger scale, if you're interested. If you're interested in speaking out against poverty, I recommend you look into Stand Against Poverty. They have a website that features stories of people who have been in poverty or fought against it. The website also features videos of people that have spoken up against poverty through the television or even through hosting events. If you're interested, visit the website www.standagainstpoverty.org
If you would like to help individual children in impoverished households, there are many organizations in which you can become involved. There are far too many to list, but The internet is a great way to find the child that you wish to help. There are also ways in which you can help fight hunger, both nationally and internationally. One organization I've recently become interested in is Share our Strength. They help feed the hungry children in America. I found out about them through the food network channel because they sponsor and advertise the "Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale". This is a nationwide bake sale that raised over a million dollars last year, all of which went to fight child hunger. A bake sale is fun, easy, and a great way to spread the word about Share Our Strength. However if baking is not your thing, or you simply are pressed for time, there are ways you can just make a monetary donation. If this is something you're interested in, just visit www.strength.org

No More Peas and Potatoes

The economy world wide has suffered over the past year, and the majority of countries have had to cut back on some spending. Cuba, since 1962, has had a ration book that it provides to needy people in order to help them buy essential food items each month. The government has recently considered doing away with these ration books in order to save money and "encourage more productivity". They have already done away with "nearly free lunches" and some state cafeterias. A list of some of the things these books help provide are rice, chicken, beans, and sugar. In November the government took peas and potatoes off the list in order to save a little more money. The Communist Party in Cuba says that these books were once a necessity to the country, but that over time they have become an impediment. President Castro is about to destroy the lives of many of his citizens. He wants to completely eliminate free services and "unnecessary subsidies". I understand that money has become very tight for all the countries, but it has also become tight for the citizens of those countries. I'm sure the citizens have already had to cut back and with the elimination of these services they will have to cut back even more. Some families rely on these books as their sole source of money for food. Without these books they will either go hungry or have to give up other things in their lives (possibly their home or electricity). Although I don't know the whole situation in Cuba, I think that the government should not try to completely eliminate these services, just cut back on them in some way. The country and its citizens would be better off with this option. If you would like to read this article in its entirety, click on this link. www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/11/30/cuba.ration.book.threat/index.html

Also, here is another article about the ration books that states that the government of Cuba believes that the books hinder equality and growth in the nation. If you would like to read this article, click this link www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42430

Homeless for the Holidays

Ok, i know I've done a lot of posts about homelessness, so this will be one of the last ones...I promise! I read a very short article about the homeless shelters running out of beds very quickly in Santa Cruz California. As the weather turns colder, more homeless people will be looking toward shelters in order to stay out of the cold. Santa Cruz County says that it only has 800 beds for the 2,200 homeless people that will need somewhere to stay. Due to the lack of beds, obviously many people will remain on the streets in the cold. The shelters say they have programs in place that will aid people in finding jobs and permanent places of residence before the weather gets too cold. I'm not sure how cold it gets in Santa Cruz, but I know that I would never be able to tough out many nights, let alone one night, in the cold weather of College Station. I fear that this problem in California is also a rising problem all over the nation. I couldn't imagine having to spend the night out on the streets during the winter in a place such as Boston or New York. It's so good that these shelters are trying to help people find places to live, therefore opening up beds for those who are unable to find other places. Hopefully other shelters around the nation are implementing programs like this. Cold weather is here, these people need a solution now because the weather will only get colder. If you'd like to read the full article, click on this link. www.ksbw.com/news/21827758/detail.html

'The kids were eating ketchup packets'

Share our strength did a recent survey of the United States and discovered that over 17 million children are at risk of going hungry this year. Whitney Elementary, in Las Vegas, Nevada, is being proactive in order to not allow their students to become part of this statistic. Whitney Elementary is in one of the poorest parts of Las Vegas and nearly 75% of the children attending the school have already experienced homelessness. The school offers several aids to these children including lunches for needy kids, and both a food bank and a clothing pantry run by the school itself. These children can take home food and clothes for their whole family. Having both food in their stomachs and warm clothes on their back has led to a difference in the classroom. The principal announced that during her time at the school the students have doubled their scores on standardized testing. The principal owes this success to the services provided her students and the love they see from the people that help provide these services. I'd never heard of anything like this happening at schools, but apparently it's become more popular over the years and especially during this recession. If you'd like to read the entire article (which you should since it touched my heart), then click on the link below. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/25/nevada.homeless.school/index.html