Poverty, a strange word that now does not exist in many people’s lives even mine, actually appears everywhere in this world, in every country and city. As a high school student, “poverty” only exists in social media or newspapers. However, everything has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic appeared in Vietnam.

From this June to now, many big cities in Vietnam have had a lockdown to prevent the pandemic from breaking out and spreading at an extremely high speed. Nevertheless, this decision also led to another serious problem – unemployment.

A large number of people, especially in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, have lost their jobs or could not go to work. Many companies cut down on the number of their employees because of having capital loss.

Last month, accidentally, I read a post on Facebook from one of the most famous fan pages of Ho Chi Minh City. That post told a story about a poor couple who lived in Ho Chi Minh City, they were homeless and wandered at every corner of the city.

Although when they did not even have anything to eat, they still stayed together. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic that they could not earn a living, the husband passed away. He died, with some food from his wife in his hand.

That was the moment I realized that there are thousands of similar stories that exist in Vietnam, especially at this difficult time. Even when I do not see them, they are still there, somewhere in this world. “So, how can we end this situation?”, the question appeared in my head.

Not only does a child like me ask this question but it is also a crux to the government and scientists from all over the world.

Let’s take a look at the history, where did poverty first appear? Based on New Internationalist, “Poverty” on a global scale was discovered after the Second World War when the reports from one of the first World Bank talked about the statistics of average income per head in the United States and another 14 countries from the UN Bureau of Statistics appeared.

“In 1963 – 1964, the poverty thresholds were developed by Mollie Orshansky of the Social Security Administration. She published an analysis of the poverty population using these thresholds in a January 1965 Social Security Bulletin article.”

We can see that it is undeniable that poverty comes from wars, political instability, discrimination, inequality, and illiteracy. These are all other serious problems in the world, so how can we solve them?

Poverty cannot be improved by the effort of a person, it needs everyone in the world to try. There are 4 ways I think the government can use to improve this situation:

First, reducing illiteracy. Education plays the most important role in improving poverty, it is a tool for people to escape from poverty and have a job with a stable salary to earn enough money to live. Having a high education level, people can get a good job and improve their lives. Similarly, if they do not go to school, they cannot have a good job.

Second, preventing all the wars. Wars, which sound so strange in our daily lives, are still happening somewhere in this world. Wars just lead to death, loss of money, and poverty to the citizens. The government should try to stop all the wars which are happening and are going to happen in the world. While there are millions of people who do not even have enough food to eat and a home to live in, a large number of countries and people still spend money on arms races, nuclear weapons, and invading other countries. We live for everyone, and everyone lives for us.

Third, decreasing discrimination. In this 21st century, unfortunately, there are still many people who look down on other people because of their sex, skin color, and sexual orientation. Every people in this world have the same right, no one is in a higher position than the others. Because of the discrimination, many people do not have a chance to receive a good education or get a job. The government should educate all the people in their countries that they need to pay respect to everyone they meet, from a girl, a person from the LGBT community to a black man. They all deserve the same rights as us.

Last but not least, creating more and more non-profit organizations and projects so that we can save more people from poverty. Luckily, there is a huge amount of NPOs and NGOs appear nowadays, these organizations have helped a large number of people in many poor countries. The debut of these organizations has contributed a big part to the improvement of poverty. The government should encourage companies and individuals to open more similar non-profit organizations.

Similarly, Project Sprouts was also born with the mission of helping poor children and people in Vietnam. We are trying to help people who cannot earn money and receive a good education. It is time for you to help these poor people together with us!

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. 

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.

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