Let’s help the children who live in poverty

Poverty is, undoubtedly, today's most maintained problem. It's very serious because it comprise children too.Many young and smart people are forced to refuse education because they just don't have opportunity to have it.

It includes a lack of access to services like education, markets, health care, lack of decision making ability, and lack of communal facilities like water, sanitation, roads, transportation, and communications. Furthermore, it is a "poverty of spirit," that allows members of that community to believe in and share despair, hopelessness, apathy, and timidity. Poverty, especially the factors that contribute to it, is a social problem, and its solution is social.

Poverty on a world scale has many historical causes: colonialism, slavery, war and conquest.

While we all live a proper and luxury life, a lot of our brothers and sisters are hungry, left on the street, with ruined health and impossibility for education. We all should give a hand to poor people, only when we are all kind to help them, the poverty will be reduced.

I strongly believe that, with the help of all organizations including United Nations and all human people, the poverty will be eradicated and the next generation of children will know this problem just as a history.

‘The future belongs to the youth. We are the youths. And we are the future!’

‘Let’s help the children who live in poverty!’

Cause for poverty - Crime???

Oops, Not exactly.

There is crime related with both the rich and poor sectors. It depends from person to person whether poverty is a cause for crime. Sometimes it may be, sometimes it may be not. What decides the answer for above question is society and culture. Though people suffer from poverty their moral can be in a higher standard. They may know crime is not accepted by the society and it is non-virtuous to engage in criminal acts. In the mean time some other sufferers from poverty may think, rich always make us worry. They show off to us. In good or bad means they earn but we do not. etc... So some may be compelled from their hearts to engage in crime. 

There are certain theories related with poverty and crime. But all of these depend on the mentality, morality of the people. For a moment think of you as poor man. You may see a very rich man with a luxurious house, nice wife, expensive vehicle, quality clothes and so on. Some may feel "if I also can attain such things" and think that the only way for me to do that is being a criminal. On the other hand someone else may think "Useless thinking of those. I can not have such things". The way the person thinks, the way their lives are drawn to.

You may have witnessed some people done crimes using their poverty as the excuse. But all the same there are many noble people who have achieved success in their lives ignoring their poverty. We come across both the types of people in our everyday life. There are many internationally reputed people also who have selected the correct paths in their lives. For an example; Abraham Lincoln. He is a marvelous personality. He was able to have a grade 1 education only. But disregarding all those he made his life good. Mentality affects the way of a persons behavior. But it is the society and culture which affects the mentality.  

The fact which I am going to present next is a globally accepted issue; Children develop their values and social culture from the environment within which they are raised. Their emotional intelligence is shaped by the quality of care and attention they receive from a baby to approximately ten years of age. So if we really need to avoid crimes occurring in the interface of poverty, what we have to do is to raise out the people from Psychological Poverty. An absence of strong family values and morals usually lead people to become ruthless.

So what I was in need of mentioning is, in my point of view poverty is not a direct cause for crimes neither an excuse.

Let's talk about our Country

Poverty in Sri Lanka continues to be a growing problem despite Sri Lanka being an exceptional country with its life expectancy, literacy rate and other social indicators nearly on par with those of developed countries,

and even topping the rankings for the South Asia region. While all these indicate that Sri Lanka should be experiencing a high standard of living, it is only ranked in the medium category of the Human Development Index.

Head Count Index (HCI) - commonly used to measure poverty incidence in Sri Lanka . The proportion of poor population to total population is defined as Head Count Index and it is generally represented as a percentage.

• Poverty map of Sri Lanka

• Unemployment and poverty in Sri Lanka

Even though Sri Lanka is experiencing a high Unemployment rate of 14.4 per cent, according to the World Bank assessment, it is interesting to note that there is lower unemployment rate in the rural sector compared with the urban unemployment rate that has prevailed throughout the past two decades.The survey conducted in the first quarter of 1996 by the Department of Census and Statistics estimated the unemployed population in Sri Lanka (excluding the Northern and Eastern provinces) at 0.71 million, of whom 0.33 million were males and 0.31 million were females. Of the unemployed, 0.11 million resided in the urban sector and 0.6 million resided in the rural sector. The estimated unemployment rates in Sri Lanka by age group also confirm the low incidence of unemployment in the rural sector of Sri Lanka.

• Reviewing the income of the poor and the non-poor

The mean household income for poor households in Sri Lanka is reported as Rs.11534 per month and at sectoral level the lowest mean income for poor households is reported from estate sector (Rs. 10640). At district level, the mean income for poor households in Kurunegala district is reported as Rs. 9431 which is the lowest mean income for poor households among districts. Table 9.1 also shows that the median household income per month for poor households in Sri Lanka is Rs. 9539, which means half of the poor households in Sri Lanka received less than Rs 9539 per month per household in the year 2006/07. The lowest median income for poor households is reported from Moneragala district among districts. Any income received by all the members of the household from various sources, either in cash or in kind was collected from all sample households. The main income sources used in this survey were wages and salaries, income from agricultural activities(seasonal and non seasonal crops), income from non agricultural activities, other cash income, windfall income, income in kind ( consumed quantities of home grown fruit and vegetables, firewood etc.) and estimated rental value of owner occupied housing units.

• Educational status of poor

reference- http://www.statistics.gov.lk(Department of Census and Statistics Sri Lanka)

poverty cartoons and comics

Did you feel the same?

Almost all of us have witnessed people living with poverty. Most often the clothes they wear would be torn or old. Most probably they may have pathetic complexions. Less food and every time nearly suffering from hunger. In the mean time, we may feel that how sorrowful to live like that. Oh! if we had to live like that and go begging everywhere, and so on.

But. there is something really we do not see. It is the aspect which causes the most serious damage and pain to those people. It is their mentality.
 
What is their mentality? What are their emotions? How terrible is it to feel useless and to feel that they are isolated by most of the ones in the society. Feeling that no one cares about them. Innocence felt when a tinted shutter rolls down and give them a coin or two. Feeling that no one is there to weep on them when they are gone. Also no funeral rituals to them rather than buried underneath the ground by the government. There will be none to visit their graves (or no graves) and place flowers there. To feel completely alone, and not only that but forsaken even.  

Most of we, people do not feel the same about them. Our ears are closed, eyes are closed, hearts are forbidden access to the outer environment. Most of us make excuses, "it is there fault to happen like that" But in my opinion it is not an admirable excuse. Some others may think "they spend uselessly the money we give" Such things happen. But all the time don't stick to the same idea. Because, all are not the same; actually one is different from another.

Our life is short. We are not needed to act as dumb, deaf or blind in that short period. So, drink a glass of water, take a deep breath. Then memorize, "is it correct the way I live?" If not you've got time to correct it. Start caring the poor.  

Sometimes you also may be not able to do it financial-wise. But don't worry. Still you have many ways to help them. I will give some ways and means. What you can do is help them spiritually. Let me tell you. You may be a teacher, for an example. So you can give some children free education. You may be a bank worker. You can organize a long term loan for them to start a self vocational mean of income. You may be a rehabilitation officer. So you can draw the attention of the government for them. So it means there are various ways. Think practically, then you will definitely find some solutions.

Let’s start doing it today, because it might be late tomorrow.
OK, now go on...

Reference: PersonalityCafe.com  

Number of Poverty And Poverty rate (1959-2009)

Two graphs regarding poverty

From :

GFBRANDENBURG'S BLOG