April 16, 2021

Respected Sir,

Below i will try to answer all your questions according to my knowledge and my situation :

1) Q:- What are you guys doing for food ?

Ans:- For food now we depend on our parents. because cab work is reduced due o covid-19 and i have to sit at home even if i do not want to. Due to the income of Honey, some personal expenses were coming out. But the School has been closed until month of july. Due to work from home, she is getting half salary only 2500/- Rs. and now you tell me how anyone can run his home only with 2500/- Rupees. How he can take care of his children. In the period of covid -19, we are taking all goods on loan from outside to meet the needs of the children and the home. it is just a feeling that life has become borrowed!. we can not put so much burden on our parents. because there are so many types of household expenses. I am thankful to god if our parents do not help us for food. I would probably have to live on the road at this covid -19 time.

2) Q:- What are other people doing for food?

Ans:- if some do not have jobs and work then Some people will be like me who are taking help from their parents, Friends or relatives. There will be some people living with money taken from outside. some people are finishing their savings. All i can say is at this pedmic time, everyone is trying to run their home in some way or the other way.

3) Q:- Where do people get money for food in the slum?

Ans:- According to my knowledge, slum people don't have any food issues, Because every city has  NGOs  Society they help them.they provide the grocery to needy poor peoples and also rich people, politicians donate food in slum areas to show the public. The second thing is that they have work. because they mostly do labour jobs, drive rickshaws and other small work . so in slum areas no food problem. even in lockdown period.

4) Q:- Do the kids have any lessons online?

Ans:- Yes, due to covid-19 school has been closed until the next govt order, so school starts online classes for next session. But some children and their families, who can not afford smart mobile phones. It is very difficult for them to attend online classes.I have 3 kids even though we can not afford a smartphone phone for kids to attend online classes.Very difficult to manage and this is an extra burden on parents.

5) Q:- What happens when a student cannot afford the internet ?

Ans:- There are some students whose parents have no smartphones, some who come to school for two hours to complete their work. 

6) Q:- The School fees you paid for your kids, will you be able to continue next school year without further fees after the lockdown?

Ans:- We paid last session pending fees to school. Now the next session is starting but we have not yet admitted our children because we have no funds for admission, books,or uniforms and other expenses.���

7) Q:- How do people make payments on rent and mortgages?

Ans:- God knows how people survive in this time. Because not a single help from the government. Neither the rich man has made any difference and nor has the poor man. only middle class men are in the worst condition. Because the middle man can neither become rich nor can live like a poor man. The middle man  always keeps ringing like a bell in the middle.

8) Q:- is the farmers strike still taking place?

Ans:- Yes, Still farmers on strike. 

9) Q:- What are you eating?

Ans:-  we eating only food & Medicines ( problems, our depression, mentaly stress,internal hatred and our tears).

--

With Regards

Amandeep Singh

Appeals for donations to help the poor are so abundant that the poor and destitute images become overly graphic and prevalent. Every person who has seen these images can quickly bring them forward to consciousness. Often, one must promptly dismiss the images to reduce the impact of the suffering may have on the day. It is preferable only to acknowledge the poverty and hope that one can make some active act of charitable donation when convenient. We maintain a shadow outline of the images to avoid excessive emotions of despair and hopelessness. If we dwell on these images, they may produce feelings of guilt, and since we cannot actively do something to help, one begins to resent the appeals for help to sideline the guilt feelings that may well up. Guilt is uncomfortable but results at times from a failure to act. If you have a charitable heart, then compassionate feelings can be overwhelming.

One cannot entirely dismiss mass media appeals. Ignoring them goes against a compassionate nature. Ignoring the prompts of compassion is highly uncomfortable, especially when an adequate response is not possible. We tend to relegate the tragedy of poverty to a passing image or cursory glance. Like the one my confessor unconsciously gave my abdomen while explaining how some forms of gluttony could be less serious than others, momentary intemperance in eating, for instance.

Perhaps Chesterton saw some deal with the pain of poverty. Rather than seeing the images with a clear, sharp lens, we prefer to see the images in vague outlines or a complex, impenetrable maze without seeing the pain. Chesterton states, “There are two ways of dealing with the dignity, the pain, the prejudice or the rooted humour of the poor; especially of the rural poor. One of them is to see in their tragedy only a stark simplicity, like the outline of a rock; the other is to see in it an unfathomable though a savage complexity."

There might be a particular splendour in poverty that reflects on the pessimist as bravery in the face of poverty. But at this point, the pessimist abruptly stops. They see poverty as a nebulous maze that resembles a forest entangling an unwary person who ventures into it. The pessimist believes the entire problem is beyond the ability of a few people to solve and relegates the issue as a whole to the grinding wheels of the bureaucracy of political channels and government studies and committees.

Meanwhile, in India, we have recently been told the middle-class suffers from lockdowns and social unrest and strikes. Food and fuel prices are soaring while businesses close and salaries are reduced in half. One example is a family who considered themselves “middle-class” in the past. We have helped them with school fees, but now other expenses are mounting. They now must live on 2500 rupees a month and are struggling to provide for their three children on that income.

Please commit to helping. Remember, Charity is the highest, most eminent virtue. You express that virtue with your donation. We struggle daily to help, but we can do nothing without your support.

Having a disability is never a choice, but sadly it is a trait which can prematurely determine the success of the individual. This is visible in North America, with the subminimum wage legally given to individuals with downs syndrome (National Down Syndrome Society). In other cases, we see the recent integration of sign language training for health care professionals to accurately assist patients with hearing loss (Eldridge v. British Columbia, 1997). All of this being understood, we must strive to acknowledge how disability discrimination can be amplified in countries like India.

Poverty is kind of like an overruling theme in India, with roughly 300 million people living below the poverty line, it definitely finds its ways to seep through every single infrastructure in the country, damaging and hindering progress of the entire population. This is evident when we look at education rates, which are directly indicative to employment opportunities later on. India has made attempts to improve inclusivity for disabled children in the past, passing the Integrated Education of Disabled Children (IEDC) act in 1975, which worked towards integrating those with mild to moderate disabilities into regular classes with financial aid (Sharma, 2005). However, this initial attempt like the many which followed were unsuccessful, as the UN reported that 75% of children with disabilities have never attended school a day in their lives in 2019 (UNESCO Office New Delhi).

To help combat this, Dr. Bickert went to one of the only 388 hearing impaired schools in India. This is where he met a Jyoti, who at the time was in the eleventh grade, she is almost completely deaf. At the school, Dr. Bickert stood in front of every student, and asked “what do you want to do when you grow up?” with a mixture of recently learnt sign language, and some help from the teachers. Notably, only Jyoti replied, “a tailor” she said, a trade which India is famously known for with an array of designs and patterns being visibly splattered across the streets of every large city in the country. The industry is vast and has a lot of room for more to begin working in it. However, with the added of difficulty of communicating with someone who has an hearing impairment combined with the fact that many women who are buying the clothing are often not educated enough to read, many are unwilling to put up with the extra inconvenience to provide them with any real business.

Looking back, it is understandable that the other kids didn’t have an answer for many reasons which had been drilled into their minds from a young age. All children have a dream, but sadly these were minimized with reoccurring comments made to them from those who surround them on a daily basis. In an impoverished area, such as the one the school was in, in Lucknow, it can be devastating to the family if the child is born with a disability, turning them into more if a liability instead of a source of hope. While parents always want best for their child, it can be incredibly difficult to assist your own son or daughter that needs special attention to reach their goals when you can barely afford to put food on the table.  Those who wanted to become astronauts, surgeons, lawyers, are automatically written off, as there is no one like them in those positions publicly, little to no help getting an education, and a general sense of inferiority. This leads them to accept the idea that they will be limited to small odd jobs, or work on farms, just as their families have been, further continuing unable to break out of poverty.

This makes Jyoti a rare case, her bravery in her comment in front of the other students led CFTW to provide her with her own sewing machine, some tools, cloths, and some educational books to help her get started. We hope with her courage to be vocal and work towards her goals, the other students in the school can become inspired and realize they too have a chance, despite what the general public may say. The connection between poverty and disability remains strongly correlated in the country, with poverty often leading to an increased amount of disability, and in return disability continuing poverty in a cyclical manner (Rao, 2009). We here at CFTW believe that children such as Jyoti, are the cure for this issue.

Introduction

As an 18-year-old starting a new job, knowing my largest strength was that I simply had a strong pull to simply help people, I was shockingly superficial to problems I saw all around me. With my problem-solving experience being largely based off of high school mathematics, I understood how to identify an issue, and work towards fixing it, but never stopped to realize, that perhaps I should be considering the root cause. This was a skill I would gradually come to learn and apply in my 16 months after that first day. In this blog I will highlight how my perspective was altered by this change in mindset.

At the Clinic 

It seemed as if pain was everywhere, being a college student with horrible posture, everyone I knew had back pain, my parents dealt with neck pain from driving, the cashier I met at shoppers had lower back pain, and lastly even my bus driver had Sciatica. I began thinking constant pain was the norm, everyone dealt with it, I had to just put it in the back of your mind and try to forget about it.

At this heightened time of acceptance, I conveniently got a job with a Chiropractor, how ironic I know. Something I realized right away was these patients were improving gradually, some quickly, others took longer.  Although this rivaled against what I had thought to be true, I was fascinated.

Chiropractic works on identifying the cause of the pain, rather than treating it. For example, many patients don’t realize that the pain they get shooting down the back of their thigh might have come from their Sacro-iliac joints or even the lower lumbar vertebrae.  After treating the patient at the source, you see relief, as the pain radiating away from the back subsides. This can work for other areas of the body too, such as shoulder pain, which is extremely common, especially if you’re an avid driver or writer, can be coming from a vertebra in the neck. Lastly there are many subluxations (a slight misalignment) that the patient hasn’t even realized yet, but for sure would have built up and caused discomfort later on.

Chiropractic for the World 

Obviously, I had heard about global issues, I had seen ads on TV, or learnt through social studies class that some countries were still considered as “developing”, these nations had an array of struggles, from healthcare, to education, even starvation. As much as I wished I could change this, it felt hopeless as an individual to create a lasting impactful change, when the issues can look so overwhelmingly large. Sadly, a part of me believed, there was no way that the people living in these impoverished states could receive the assistance they deserve.

Similarly, to the Clinic story, I began working with a charitable foundation to raise money and directly assist those in need overseas. I saw how a little bit of assistance can go a long way, when treating a bigger issue.

 Helping small portion of the larger problem, such as an paying an individual’s way through school, or assisting a family with funds to buy dinner, up until purchasing an ambulance for a leprosarium, diminish the radiating consequences. 

The Plan

Radiating pain or discomfort has always been the first symptom, whether it’s a common case of Sciatica or the 78% of India who don’t have access to healthcare.  Although the situation, the presence of back pain, or poverty may appear to be gigantic and unsolvable, even small action, as simple as a chiropractic adjustment, or a donation towards a child receiving a hearing aid can drastically cut down radiating effects. After repeated efforts these small actions can add up to big solutions, getting the required amount of chiropractic adjustments can cure your back pain, in the same way small contributions can provide a mobile health care unit which can provide aid to millions.

So, what is the treatment plan for poverty?

Small actions over time, which allow for big unachievable goals to be reached.

What action are you willing to take?

We are amid worldwide changes. 2020 was a great challenge, and we hope that in 2021 we can surmount all the rigours life throws at us.

My 8-year-old grandchild, Joaquin, was interviewed today for a chance to move to a new school in Potomac, MD. He seemed to grasp the importance of the interview. 

The Principal, Mr. M, explained to Joaquin that there would be a lot of freedom at this new school. The Principle went on to ask, “What does this new freedom mean to you, Joaquin?”   

Joaquin is an avid reader and didn’t hesitate to quote from a book[1] he had just completed reading, “Well you know Mr. M, you can’t have freedom without self-discipline. Freedom comes from making good choices.” 

Mr. M., following the interview, reported to my delighted daughter what Joaquin had told him. 

Freedom truly is the freedom from slavery to bad choices and reactions to false pride and egoism. To make good choices is about seeing the need that exists around you and to open yourself to the Love of God, and respond to the impulse he gives us to be genuinely free.

Working in our clinic, a woman named Fozia told me she wanted to do something great, something extraordinary with her life. She is a Muslim woman recently married and waiting for her husband’s immigration to Canada.

“Precisely, that is what it does. It just hangs out in the sky and gives light for us in the dark. That is what you must do to be great. You must reflect God’s Love. You must be a light in the darkness.” I continued to say, “You are Muslim. You have devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. What did she do special? Was she the leader of a country? Was she a corporate leader, an engineer, doctor, great scientist?”

Fozia smiled, “No.”

Mary said 2020 years ago, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices I God my Savior for he has regarded the humility of his handmaid. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. Because he that is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name…”[2]

“So Fozia,” I continued, “to be great in your life, you must reflect God’s Love and become like to moon, a light in the darkness like the moon reflects the light of the sun.”

We all have a choice to make 2021 better than in 2020. We have a choice of freedom to choose good or to remain slaves to capricious whims and passions.

Thank you for your donations to CFTW in 2020.  Please continue to be a light in the darkness and reflect God’s Love. 

Our projects desperately require your continued generosity.

“Well you know Mr. Ross, you can’t have true freedom without self-discipline.”

Please help us help those in need.

John Bickert, B.Ed., D.C.

President,

CFTW

 [1] The Way of the Warrior: An Ancient Path to Inner Peace © 2019 McManus, Erwin Raphael. The Fedd Agency, Inc. Austin TX

 [2]Luke 1:46-49Luke 1:46-49

The country of India is known for its bright festivals and unique architecture. Since its rise as a global power, many people have assumed that the wealth of the country has boosted the livelihoods of the people living there. Unfortunately, more than 80% of people live on less than $3 per day, and the top 1% own more than half of the country’s wealth. For perspective, 16 people in India are as wealthy as 600 million people—and that means that for many, opportunities as basic as learning to read and right are far out of their reach.

Why Children In India Need Your Help To Get Education 

India is well on its way to becoming the country with the largest, youngest workforce ever seen; half of its population is under the age of 25. If these young people are not able to complete an education, that’s half of India that will be unable to perform entire sectors of jobs. An educated population is good for a country—and for the people who were able to attend school.

But why do children withdraw from schools after only a few years? Why don’t they simply stay in school? To understand how we can help, first, we must understand why schooling is such a challenge.

Here are the reasons why children in India have been dragged out of school. 

The Gender Bias  

One of the main drivers of dropouts is gender. Daughters are expected to help in the kitchen and at home, while sons can go to school. In addition, lack of access and affordability to feminine products mean that girls who make it past the first year or two or schooling drop out once they reach menstruation (at a rate as high as 57%). Young arranged married to older men has the same effect.

Uninteresting Methods of Teaching  

India continues to struggle with the methods its teachers use—likely a result of those teachers themselves not receiving sufficient education or income to improve the classroom. Blackboards and chalk are still the standard method, and without engaging and comprehensive teaching tools, many students don’t learn as much as they could. This leads to the feeling that their time would be better spent earning some income for their family in poverty, and so they drop out to do labor jobs. And despite the country’s booming growth over the last 15 years, the majority of it has been jobless creation of further wealth for the rich, which never improves the lives of those in the slums who do not have access to that private money.

Unavailability of Resources 

Because the 1% control so much of the nation’s wealth, very little is sent to schools. This means that government schools in the slums are in disrepair, and teachers do not have access to critical tools such as multiple copies of textbooks and workbooks. And with some schools being too far for many low-income families to reach on foot, education is out of the question for a large number of households.

What Can We Do to Bring a Child to School 

As a charity, CFTW is working hard to ensure that underprivileged children in third-world countries receive the education they need to pull their families out of poverty and have a chance at the life they deserve. We pay school fees, build schools, and more to spread education across every corner of the world. 

Ajitha, one young woman that we have sponsored for three years, is closer to graduation than the vast majority of her female peers due to our support—and we hope to see her graduate and find success. Her success directly impacts the wellbeing of her family and her country of India.

Just $25 can help to educate the children of India who do not have the access to schooling that they deserve. You likely can’t go to India, Africa, and other struggling areas to teach children yourself, so let CFTW do it on your behalf. For the cost of a couple cups of coffee, you can help us to sponsor more children and build more schools. Donate to give the lifelong gift of education.

Christmastime is here, and with it, the world shifts toward thoughts of gift, the joy of the season, and happiness. The sharing and caring, the demonstrations of love—these are what characterize Christmas and the jolly old man in red himself. For most people, the joy of the season is giving gifts that light up the faces of their loved ones and friends. Maybe it’s time to think outside your circle and consider what a very small gift could do for others?

COVID-19, lockdowns, wars, disasters, poverty—the world is full of suffering and sorrow. Hope is dying, and more and more people are struggling to find joy and peace in their lives. This Christmas season, you can be the light of hope that many people have given up on finding.

Be Generous, Be the Light of Hope 

You don’t need to be an army general, a famous politician, or a celebrity in order to inspire people—in fact, people don’t need to know who you are at all. You don’t have to be rich to make a difference. What you can do is your best.

Go to Old Age Homes to Celebrate Christmas 

One easy and fun option to be generous this Christmas season is with your time. Visit nursing homes and other long-term care facilities to spend time with the residents. You may bring simple gifts like socks if you wish; they’re easy to afford and can make a big difference in the comfort of the people who live there.

If you don’t have a few dollars to spare, your time alone is your generosity. Listen to these folks, some of whom have no family that comes to visit. They have amazing stories to tell, and they rarely get to tell them. Sit down and have a warm conversation this holiday season.

Give Gifts to Orphans in Orphanages 

Children who live in orphanages do not get to celebrate Christmas the way that most kids do. They might have a community Christmas where everyone receives a bar of candy, but there’s something special about getting a gift that’s given just to you.

Children in orphanages might appreciate books or small toys. You don’t have to break the bank, and these young ones can experience the joy of receiving a present wrapped just for them. Consider fun options like games that you can show them how to play so that they can spend some time with folks on Christmas!

Give Gifts to Special Children 

Not all children experience Christmas the same way. For some with processing disorders and other challenges, the season full of lights, glitter, and admittedly sometimes blaring music can cause stress, fear, and discomfort. This is not how Christmas should feel!

Consider offering different gifts to these children, even if they may be a bit more challenging to buy for. Excellent options include weighted blankets, noise-cancelling earbuds, or engaging puzzle toys that they can solve with their hands. If you’re not sure what to get, a donation to a worthwhile charity can make that decision in your place based on what they know the child likes!

Visit a Slum Area and Spread Joy 

Due to economic opportunity and other factors, many people who struggle to afford the traditional trappings of Christmas live in the same area. Consider spending time visiting a slum area and spreading joy to the families there. Many of them have likely given up on Christmas entirely, or they may be feeling inadequate that they can’t provide the Christmas they’d like.

Simple tasks like handing out canned goods or clothes can go a long way toward making these families’ Christmas bright. Consider providing necessities, and if you have some resources left over, throw in a treat or two. You will bring light and hope to dozens of people this way.

Donate to CFTW for Education or Health Welfare 

Charities play a big part in the Christmas season, and CFTW is no exception. We strive to give children and families around the world access to the education and healthcare resources that they need to thrive.

Many folks have never learned to read or write, and if they fall ill, medical care is too far away or too expensive. For these families, CFTW relies on the power of donations to fund the care and treatment that they deserve. CFTW builds schools and mobile health units to improve access worldwide.

Donate to build a better world. Your small contribution could forever change the life of a child or family, and there is no greater generosity than being someone’s light of hope in a dark time.

The Christmas season is fast approaching, and for many people, it’s their favorite time of the year. There’s something irreplaceable about watching someone receive something they desperately wanted and the joy that lights up their face. Christmas is about giving and sharing—but for many around the world, Christmas is a reminder that they don’t have what they need. While millions across the globe tear into new toys, some sit at home fearing for their health, safety, and future. But with a little Christmas generosity, you can give them the best gifts they’ve ever received.

The Best Christmas Gifts You Can Give 

The real spirit of Christmas isn’t about getting things; it’s about making others happy and ensuring they have what they need. This is why many people appreciate getting money instead of physical objects—they can use that money to purchase what they desperately need. The same is true for charities, and giving even a few dollars can make a dramatic change in someone’s life.

Heading 3: Give Child A Gift Of Education 

If you’re reading this article, you have already received the gift of education. Unfortunately, a huge percentage of children across the world are desperately trying to attend school to better their lives, but instead, they must spend their time collecting garbage for money for their families. Imagine where you would be if you had never been given the gift of going to school and instead had to work hard labor when you were just a small child.

Unable to read or write, what jobs or tasks could you perform? Children who don’t get an education struggle to support themselves and break out of poverty. If you donate to charities that offer educational access to children, you’re giving them the best gift they could ask for: opportunity. A chance to be and do what they want.

And just maybe, the cure for cancer can be found in the mind of a child who just needs an opportunity.

Give A Gift Of Health 

Few things hold more value than life; after all, you wouldn’t be here without it. Many people in the slums of India and Africa fear that they may not even make it to tomorrow because of the dangerous pandemic currently ravaging the world.

Even a small donation can literally save the life of a human being—and what greater gift could you offer than someone’s life? Their life may be filled with opportunity, joy, and love, but they need to stay healthy and safe in order to enjoy these things.

Donate to save someone’s life. It’s the biggest blessing you can offer.

Give A Gift Of Winter Warmer And Socks  

Climate change continues to impact all parts of the globe, and never before seen cold weather has hit the slums of India hard. Simple gifts like hand warmers, hats, and socks can mean the difference between freezing and suffering injury or staying safe and warm.

Simple items like socks and mittens are only a few dollars. For less than the price of a cup of coffee, you can save a human being from suffering, injury, or even death in the cold. A donation to help those in need is a simple and powerful Christmas gift.

Feed A Hungry Person  

As you contemplate what side dishes to prepare for your Christmas dinner, remember that hundreds of thousands around the world haven’t eaten in days. In Africa, thousands of children are unable to even walk because they don’t receive the calories and nutrients they need.

Instead of leaving cookies out for Santa, partner with a charity like UNICEF to offer therapeutic milk, which contains energy, fat, and minerals needed by starving children to make a recovery. If you can afford to leave milk and cookies for the imaginary symbol of ultimate generosity, why not put that to good use and feed a real child? 

Conclusion 

You may not bat an eye at snagging the $500 PlayStation 5 that just launched, or the $700 purse, or even the $50 toy. But just a fraction of that money combined with the efforts of a charity can make a lifetime’s difference in the lives of children and families around the world. Christmas is the season of giving and sharing—and for those who have more, what seems small to them can be monumental to those who have less. Remember the spirit of generosity this Christmas and donate to charities that offer people across the globe opportunities, education, and even life itself.

From the Pandemic to Poverty

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the majority of the world, it is typically developing countries and those with a high ratio of low-income individuals who are impacted the most. The World Bank, which often leads discussions on the anticipated changes or increases in the world’s poor population, estimated that between 40 and 60 million people would fall into poverty in 2020—and this estimation was largely correct. Overall, the world’s low-income population has increased to 690 million, up from 640 million in 2019.

Many of these households operate on no more than $1.90 per person per day, and even then, not all of that money is physically available; rather, the value may be assumed in part from the value of property, which does not put food on the table or provide other critical services such as healthcare. In the wake of global disasters like COVID-19, areas with high levels of poverty are often the hardest hit. Understand why is a different matter.

Why ALWAYS the Slums?

People who live in their country’s slums are generally the most at risk during global health crises, and the coronavirus is no exception. The lack of access to a reliable or sufficient income means that most individuals are already in ill health for a number of reasons: inadequate access to clean or healthy food or water, no financial or physical ability to see a healthcare provider, and more. 

This means that when a pandemic hits this community, there is little or no containment. People who are already less resilient due to an inadequate diet and a lack of basic necessities are almost guaranteed to fall victim to illness, and their inability to stay home—and in so doing fail to acquire necessities like food—quickly turns slums into breeding grounds for any virus or disease. 

Many people in better-off countries take for granted their access to benefits such as sick leave that do not exist in the slums. And without disposable cash, families cannot stockpile the food that they need to remain socially distant. This is not their fault, but rather a product of their uncontrolled circumstance.

How Poverty is a Multi-Fold Phenomenon

As poverty continues to rise throughout 2020, one cannot help but examine how the coronavirus had a multifaceted impact on not only the living situations of people globally but also on the manner in which their poverty affects them. This phenomenon spreads across an individual’s entire life, from finances to emotional health, and this is more visible now than ever before.

COVID-19 has highlighted poverty as opportunity deprivation more strongly than any other time in recent history. People become imprisoned by their own low income, unable to create better opportunities for themselves. As unemployment and the face of the workforce changes drastically in response to the pandemic, all opportunities are harder to come by and are being taken more quickly be more advantaged groups.

However, poverty also presents as stigma and discrimination. The us/them issue is highlighted in countries with competing factions over personal protective equipment like masks—some wear them, some don’t. Similarly, the idea that “they” (which typically refers to the poor or the elderly) have a responsibility to protect themselves when such individuals may not have the resources has been growing exponentially.

Poverty has begun to manifest as violence; as some governments elect to keep the economy running at the cost of lives, it is largely the less fortunate who are impacted. Those living on a low income must solve their own problems, and this constitutes a form of structural violence.

Eradicating the World’s Poverty

As residents of the world, we all have a responsibility to play our own roles in eradicating poverty around the globe. We can fight for sustainable development and the alleviation of poverty by donating to NGOs for the cause if we have the financial means. Volunteering for organizations like Save the Children is another option that uses time rather than money to make a difference.

Charities and NGOs around the world are stepping up to end the cycle of poverty, even after the pandemic is conquered. But COVID-19 has made clearer than ever the vast divides in social and financial health that the world’s poorest nations endure, and organizations like CFTW continue to fund schools, build healthcare facilities, and support communities to become self-sufficient. When education and access to necessities is finally provided to poor nations, the people will be able to achieve their full potential and become acting citizens in the world in which they live.

Introduction

Africa has generally been known as a continent where poverty is common and subsisting on a low income is the norm. However, the impoverished communities of this beautiful continent are growing, and by 2030, it is anticipated that as many as 90% of the world’s total poor population will be located in this area.

The data can be difficult to decipher at first, and it may even appear on the surface to indicate that poverty in the African region is on a decline from 54% in 1990 to 41% in 2015. However, due to the population growth that occurred at the same time, the total number of people who are living in extreme poverty has actually increased substantially, from 278 million to 413 million in the same time period.

Some countries are making strides toward ending poverty, with Ethiopia and Kenya the closest and Ghana close behind. However, Zambia and Mali have struggled to achieve the same international assistance seen by some other countries.

Why No Improvement?

The reasons why poverty continues to dominate talk in Africa are many, and not all are easy to solve. In total, 27 of the 28 poorest countries in the world are in Sub-Saharan Africa, with poverty rates over 30%. But poverty is not just a measure of financial wellness or the ability to acquire income; rather, it is a holistic examination of quality of life that considers hunger, shelter, access to healthcare, education access (both in terms of distance and society), being able to read or have a job, losing children to curable illnesses, and even the attitude of living one day at a time.

The most common factors by which poverty is measured are:

• Availability of shelter

• Access to clean food and water

• Ability to use healthcare services

• Government corruption

• Poor infrastructure

• Consumption of natural resources

However, in addition to these external criteria, individuals must also be assessed for emotional and spiritual poverty. These can have just as important an impact on the world—an emotionally and spiritually fatigued individual may not have the aspiration to continue their education, and the world has lost a valuable mind who may have made breakthroughs and contributions to others.

Why Address Poverty?

Our humanity often moves us to commiserate about the state of poverty in Africa, but sympathy alone is not the only reason to address poverty around the world. Because the insecure lifestyle generated by inadequate provisional needs makes people vulnerable, a number of issues can arise that have a global impact.

Imagine, for example, the change that would occur to unrest in the region if more people had access to food, healthcare, and job opportunities. Inept leadership may be replaced with highly educated individuals who are suited to lead wisely, and a country with strong leadership can become an integral player on the international stage. Similarly, countries that do not have inadequate healthcare help to keep global travel robust and safe despite outbreaks of dangerous diseases like Ebola and COVID-19.

US vs. THEM

African countries continue to fall behind in their goals to eradicate poverty. In September 2015, nations around the world joined in the Sustainable Development Goals agreement that was intended to eradicate poverty; however, many African countries are not on track to meet their promised poverty levels. 

Part of the reason for falling short is due to a lack of international funding. Communities already stricken by poverty cannot just pull themselves up by their bootstraps; they need international aid from NGOs and other charitable organizations. If you have the financial means, you too can help pull people out of poverty by donating to these worthwhile causes.

Organizations like CFTW make it their mission to rehabilitate poverty stricken communities and heal the whole person—not just by providing financial means. Instead, CFTW and other charities work with underprivileged communities to educate them both academically and spiritually so that they can move on as fully realized individuals.

You can help CFTW and other charitable organizations by donating as you are financially able. Your contributions, even in the amount of a few dollars, go a long way in communities where a single dollar is more than some people earn for an entire day’s work. You can also contribute your time via volunteer hours at the in-person or online organizations that you are most passionate about. We have a global responsibility to help our fellow humans in need, especially when they are unable to help themselves.