Blog Action Day 2008- Blog Against Poverty

October 15^th has been dubbed blog action day by the internet community. The topic about which to blog varies by year, and ASAP decided to get involved when we found out we’d be writing against poverty in 2008.

It’s not that posting a paragraph defining poverty and pitying the developing world will change anything overnight; it’s the inspiration that will be presented in reaction to millions speaking out against social issues most of us cannot comprehend. It is the fact that we are using the technology many take for granted to inform or educate the masses and perhaps open minds to a world they’ve never seen.

Living on $2 or less a day is not the beginning or end to poverty. One must ask why so many people are indeed living this frivolously, and then decide how to change it. Looking at statistics, 3.8 billion people out of the 6.5 billion in the world are surviving in moderate to extreme poverty. This is a reality that many look at and decide is too large to overcome. In short, however, poverty cannot be characterized as the lack of funds, only as the lack of access to funds and necessities to life such as water, shelter, and health care. For the developed world to act and problem solve we need to first recognize that poverty can not be fixed by giving money to those in need. We must help others help themselves through education, inform those of simple business practices, teach them to protect themselves against disease, and make sure that the developed half of the world has not written off the half that is full of opportunity and untapped success. Once single mothers previously uninformed of how to even go about making and saving money are taught to use their intrinsic skills to start small businesses, one family is lifted out of poverty. Her children are now able to drink clean water, eat healthy meals, even attend schools to develop their own minds and never be forced to live on $2 a day again.

Simply stated, this blog did not solve poverty, but there are organizations working to educate men, women and children and assist in acquiring sustainability. Thanks to blog action day, the word is getting out and it will not be long until the figure of 3.8 billion has rapidly shrunk.