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Poverty. When you see that word, what comes to mind? Do you see thousands upon thousands of children in Sub-Saharan Africa making their 10-mile trek to find food, any food? Do you see hundreds of AIDS orphans, working in a corn field, earning less than a $1 a day to feed their younger siblings? All these things seem far away, in another land perhaps? Maybe somewhere in North Africa, or is it deep in Central Asia? But the sad truth is that this is happening to people like you and me everyday. We try to help though, don’t we, I mean come on, all of us have dropped a penny or two into a Save the Children money-can. But do we really know what poverty is about? Do you really know what it is to wake up everyday with your most urgent matter not being what to wear for school, but whether you will live to see tomorrow? What are the problems these people face day after inexorably tough day? Wow, those are a lot of questions; let’s see if we can answer some of them.
In a way, we can link most of the problems that affect us as the earth today back to poverty. Corruption, I think, would have to be the foremost problem that comes to mind. Corruption is defined as the abuse of power or misuse of office for private ends or personal gain. But forget about the definition for a minute, imagine a place where anything can happen as long as you have money, simply because the government cannot afford to pay its civil servants. In order to provide shelter, food and education for their families, many of these civil servants feel inclined to accept bribes and be corrupt for financial gain. Drugs have easy access into these countries when bribes are taken at borders. Crimes are committed and the police files incriminating the criminal are ‘lost’ when a few hands are greased. But debatably the most frightening effect is that unethical leaders come into power without majority votes, leaving the country un-democratic. As if that isn’t bad enough though when corruption occurs where importation taxes are placed, the government obtains less revenue and therefore is less able to pay its civil servants. Consequently, these civil servants once again in an effort to sustain themselves indulge in corruption leaving their countries poorer still. And thus continues the cycle of poverty.
Arguably the most heartbreaking effect of poverty though is the AIDS scourge which is not only raping our world of great professionals but leaving more AIDS orphans thus adding to the number of children whose dreams are shattered before they can even make them. Despite relentless efforts to educate people on AIDS, its causes, effects and prevention, the number of people who die daily has continued to steadily rise in many places. The worst hit however is undeniably Sub-Saharan Africa, where we have seen the effects on our news and documentaries. This is a place where we have literally seen a whole generation wiped out by this deadly killer. A place where grandparents taking care of grandchildren is the norm rather than the exception. The majority of these casualties are between the ages of 15 and 35, the most productive time in ones life. This is the stage where people are able to contribute most to our world. They are the youth, they are energetic, they are budding with information and new ideas, sadly, we lose thousands of potential presidents, doctors, lawyers, environmentalists, and thousands of other professionals daily … to AIDS. Where do we draw the line?
We are all aware that due to poverty, the number of people with access to school in the Sub-Saharan Africa region has decreased greatly over the last 5 years and without education there is no development. There are more and more dropouts with education costs fees on a constant horizontal gradient. Most of the youth without education or employment are left idle and turn to drugs and alcohol as a way of passing time. The effects of drugs and alcohol are deadly. They range from teenage pregnancies to automobile accidents. A large number of the youth develop an addiction and in order to finance these habits, they turn to violence and crime, thus further ravaging their countries. All youth are then labelled as hooligans and misfits, and so the lack of appreciation of their rights as children goes on. After all, do most of us really believe that misfits and hooligans should have rights?
This brings me to the next point. The appreciating of children’s rights as a international issue in poorer countries was, until recently, utterly ignored. With the popularisation of the ‘Say Yes for Children Campaign’ and other similar campaigns, we are finally taking proper steps forward. Until recently though child labour, child prostitution and child abuse were not even talked about. Even now, although we have become a lot more aware of these problems, they are far from being eradicated. I am sad to say that often poverty is at the root of this. Some adults actually condone their children being exploited so violently because they feel that this is the only way to survive. Thus, since the children are not educated, they will never increase their incomes and their children will participate in the same child exploitation they experienced. Once again, the epic cycle of poverty continues.
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Thomas Igeme
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