Anita Hummel – Project Sprouts

Human poverty is one of those things that can be quite difficult for us to understand. Many groups are trying to eradicate poverty from the face of the earth, but it is not as easy as it sounds. Many things can cause human poverty. One, of course, is by the lack of money to have a reasonable standard of living. Another is denial or lack of access to opportunities or education. Literacy or the lack of literacy can cause poverty. Also, the lack of job opportunities and proper medical care and the lack of other necessities as proper sanitation. Here are 6 reasons that can help us to understand better about human poverty. Human Poverty Is Not Just About Lack Of Income Many people think that poverty is just about the lack of income. For example, a person could have an excellent income; still, they could end up living in a costly country or city, which could put them at the poverty level as they cannot afford a lot of necessities. On the other hand, another person could have very little income, but their living expenses could be meager, so they may not be at the poverty level. Poverty is just not about the amount of income you earned. Poverty is about many things, including your cost of living, access to healthcare, clean water, education, and other basics necessities as electricity. Poverty Be A Denial of Opportunities Human poverty can also go beyond just the concept of a lack of income and refer to a denial of opportunities. This means that someone could be considered to be in poverty if they are being denied political, social, and economic opportunities that do not allow them to maintain a reasonable standard of living. In other words, human poverty can also be attributed to a basic lack or denial of opportunities. The lack or the denial of these opportunities will continue the poverty cycle. One of the things that the COVID-19 has shown the world is how those families and places with a good Internet connection could continue their children's education even during a pandemic. In those countries, communities, or homes where the children did not have an Internet connection, computers, or other necessities, most children also fell behind in their schooling. Some of these students may never be able to recover fully from these lost years. This shows us the poverty is also, in many ways, opportunity-based and access-based. Literacy Can Contribute to Poverty A person's literacy, or illiteracy, can contribute to poverty. If someone cannot read or write, it can affect what jobs, education, or opportunities they will have in life. It also makes it much harder for them to be able to get ahead and get the education they need to be able to get ahead in life. This is also why literacy is one of the statistics that many government agencies look at to see what direction the poverty rate is going in a particular country. Those countries with a higher literacy rate are usually the ones that are also getting out of the poverty cycle. Lack Of Job Opportunities Can Contribute to Poverty Lack of job opportunities can also contribute to someone's poverty level. This means that someone could be living in a country or a place where there are simply no viable opportunities for them to find employment. This means they cannot earn any income to be able to survive with their necessities. This could be due to many things. Either the economics of where they live or, in some extreme cases, even the country where they live. If it is the country where they live, it may be challenging for them to solve this unless they try to find a way to leave their home country. Lack Of Proper Healthcare And Sanitation Can Cause Poverty Lack of proper healthcare and sanitation can also cause poverty issues. Simply if you don't have good sanitation, this could lead to bad health or being sick and not working. Sometimes poverty is a matter of the location of where you live. A friend was recently telling me about some friends that her son knew in Zimbabwe, African; this low-income family lived in a village at the bottom of a hill. All the sewage from the villages at the top of the hill will wash down into their village. Their location at the bottom of the hill caused poverty issues due to the lack of proper sanitation, which affected the health of the village residences. In America, due to lack of insurance or the cost of medical care, many people are living on the borderline of poverty as they cannot afford the medical care they need. Poverty can be caused by outside factors like lack of adequate or affordable health care or proper sanitary conditions. Caste and Gender Inequality Can Contribute to Poverty Caste and gender inequality can also contribute to poverty. This is especially true in areas where families or societies may not believe in educating their daughters. In some extreme cases, their daughters may be illiterate. This lack of literacy also gives these girls very few choices in their life as to what they can do. In many cases, these same girls who are lacking education also marry at a very young age. We have seen some of these poverty issues with some of the hill tribes we work with in north Vietnam for Project Sprouts. A family may require young girls to stop their primary education as the parents need her at home to help take care of younger siblings. In other cases, the parents purposely choose to education a son and not a daughter. These uneducated same girls have minimal opportunities in life; we have seen how many of them marry very young or, in some extreme cases, are sold into sex or human slavery. The lack of education has hurt them and their choices in life for these girls and almost guarantees them a life of poverty. At Project Sprouts, we realize that we can not solve all the problems of poverty in a situation like this. But we can seek to make a difference in the lives of needy children by giving them school supplies and encouraging them to continue their education; we can give them winter coats, boots, and blankets to help them stay warm during the cold winter months. Project Sprouts would love to have you be a part of our community and help us to help worthy children in North Vietnam. We cannot solve all the world’s problems, but we can do our part to help poor kids grow by giving school supplies, winter coats, boots, and other supplies. You can find out more about Project Sprouts by clicking here or go to our give now page to donate by clicking here. As we are a grassroots organization, all funds go to help those in need. Related Content Opium Drugs and Poverty In The Hill Tribes Of North Vietnam Opium is a highly addictive drug that is produced from the poppy plant. What makes it so dangerous is that opium can be smoked, injected, or taken in pill form. In North Vietnam, Hmong hill tribe families suffer from extreme poverty as one or both parents are addicted to opium and other drugs. This addiction affects the lives of their children. You can find out more by reading Opium Drugs and Poverty In The Hill Tribes Of North Vietnam by clicking here. Does Vietnam Have A Good Education System? Vietnam has a good education system, but some things need to be changed or adjusted. Sometimes, too much theory without practical knowledge or experience in learning in our education system has led to some mistakes during teaching and training students in Vietnam. You can learn more by reading Does Vietnam Have A Good Education System? by clicking here.