|
|
1st Place Winner of the Millennium Development Goals writing contest
My country Uganda, is one of the poorest on the planet. And in my view, needs to focus on raising household incomes to draw itself from the poverty tsunami. With eyes fixed on bringing individual families out of poverty, we can ensure better, education, health, security, housing, employment, etc., empowering wealth creation in Uganda before the year 2015. I believe that poverty is a more family than a national or individual bondage. A family feels more poverty than an individual could...
I was brought up in a very humble family household. My late father was an office assistant. He left us with a mother who is small-scale shopkeeper. What followed in the family of only three children was myself being the only one to make it through high school and on to college. My eldest sister dropped out upon finishing elementary school, and my other is a single mother who got pregnant in her second year of high school.
I have many family responsibilities on my shoulders. I have to check on mom's finances, pay for my tuition and the daily necessities of my poor siblings, in addition to planning my future not to mention the people I see around me who think I'm “less unfortunate”. I wake up each day to ensure that tomorrows may never be like yesterdays. My drive is to see the next generation doesn't have to struggle like us to survive in this country.
Once one is born in poverty, poverty becomes the synonym to that household; poverty is its clan, tribe, and nationality. This ring of poverty characterizes many of my fellow countrymen. But we can wake up against poverty - though deep rooted, it is curable. We can throw its causes into the dustbin by ensuring preventive measures in each household.
My thesis is "My nation's poverty does not start from the statehouse. On the contrary, it stops at its entrance gate. Poverty starts with an individual, who resides in a given household in a village like mine. In my or your very house." Therefore, to dig it out, we have to start from the bottom to reach the top.
The root cause of poverty is the unskilled, ill family. With poverty stinking in a household, the children won't go to good schools. I emphasize school because an uneducated nation is a poor nation. To create a wealthy nation, developing the intellectual pursuits of its people is mandatory. However, when it comes to poor homes, they can't afford costs of being in school, that is; "a healthy mind in a healthy body."
School is almost impossible with an empty stomach, rugged uniforms, worn-out shoes, no textbooks, lack of self-confidence, ambition, role models, ...the list is endless. The result? "As the poor grandfather was, so will the grandson." That is why around you and me there are sickly, weak, begging, dirty, hungry millions, whose only desire in life is to earn enough coins for their daily bread. Nothing more, nothing less. None of them care about saving money, let alone not knowing the benefits or meaning of banking and savings.
Governments - especially in our third world countries - come with promises of milk and honey, while seeking votes. Once in office, they throw crumbs to the voters in the likes of free Christmas gifts. Poverty seems to be a tool for simple manipulation of the common person. It becomes easy to buy votes with the common persson believing the promises of each election. People sacrifice their time to attend the nonsensical speeches. They are humble and clap their hands when a politician donates a bag of cement to bury a dead neighbor. Yet, the same people are blind to the HIV/AIDS infected single father or mother, the job cuts, the malnourished children, the unskilled bread winner, over-taxation, inflation of prices on home care products like soap, oil, and toothpaste.
Household’s Own Millennium Development Goals
My strategy to end poverty is not to beg governments to cut taxes or give welfare benefits - such mechanisms encourage laziness if not intense corruption. My approach is to bring the MDGs to the grassroots. So households can understand, work, own and live them.
Let MDG talks come out from the conference halls and into the village councils. Let them enter the family circles. Then children will integrate the MDGs into their lives. Let us equip each household with skills that enter it into the sphere of wealth creation. We should ensure wealth creation start at the grassroots level and that each household has access to consultant services in their chosen fields of household development.
Start with the Breadwinner
What does it help a poor government like ours to spend millions of dollars on military bases and equipment as though we had anything worthy of protecting? We can't afford a job for the household breadwinner, let alone the graduates walking the streets each day because their training taught them to seek jobs not create them!
|
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
Mike
Mike Ssegawa
ssegy2001@yahoo.com
A Journalist with Daily Monitor, Uganda. I have a passion for development, especially for the youth.
|
Comments
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
