Cabral 1

Alan Cabral

Dr. Santosh Khadka

English 113B

3 November 2019

Envisioning a Future without Global Poverty

Living without a consistent source of food, safe drinking water, and sanitation facilities

is to live in absolute poverty. While this level of extreme poverty is difficult to imagine for many

people, even in America, the world’s wealthiest nation, millions of people experience this level

of deprivation on a daily basis. The reality is, without a social safety net, people suffer and

sometimes die. While many nations around the world provide generous social safety nets and

anti-poverty programs, the World Health Organization reports that global hunger continues to

increase. According to its July 2019 news release, the World Health Organization asserts that

“An estimated 820 million people did not have enough to eat in 2018, up from 811 million in the

previous year, which is the third year of increase in a row” (WHO). Poverty is a social issue that

no country on Earth has yet to successfully combat. Furthermore, poverty is a highly

controversial issue that is constantly connected with a number of peculiarities and intricacies, as

being poor is perceived differently in different parts of the world. In many of the severely

impoverished countries of Africa, for example, poverty means having no home, food, and

clothing on a daily basis. In other countries of the world, living in poverty means to live below

the poverty line and to require public assistance to stay afloat. Although poverty is variable in

nature, it remains a global crisis of epic proportions that must be addressed immediately by the
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global community so that no person on Earth will have to live in shame and suffering due to their

lack of shelter, sustenance, clothing, and income.

---What is poverty you may question? Most people would define it as being poor or

having no money. The technical definition of poverty is as follows: “The state or condition of

having little or no money, goods or means of support; condition of being poor” ​(Collins 2012)​.

Surprisingly,​ most Americans believe poverty is not a crisis in the United States. Recently, I

interviewed Mary Jones, a student at California State University, Northridge, and when asked

about poverty in the U.S., Miss Jones asserted, "I don't believe poverty is a serious problem in

America because many families have the ability to receive welfare and other state-funded

subsidies. While many people are part of the working class, it seems to me they live above the

poverty line" (Jones). Miss Jones' statement is very important and revealing in that it reinforces

the need for the general public to become more aware of the severity of poverty in America.

Many people live under the misconception that if they do not personally witness poverty, then it

must not exist. Mass media networks in the United States have a responsibility to use their

platforms to spread awareness of this global crisis that is currently plaguing the world. “​The

official poverty rate in America is 12.3 percent, based on the U.S. Census Bureau's 2017

estimates. That year, an estimated 39.7 million Americans lived in poverty according to the

official measure. According to the supplemental poverty measure, the poverty rate was 13.9

percent.”(Semega 2018) As for the other countries such as China and Africa, “Africa stands at

about 41 percent, and of the world's 28 poorest countries, 27 are in sub-Saharan Africa all with a

poverty rate above 30 percent”(Patel 2018) and “China lifted 12.89 million rural people from

poverty which put the poverty rate at 3.1 percent compared to its 4.5 percent the previous year.
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Around 500 million people, or 40 percent of the population within China, survive on $5.50 per

day or less.”(Borgen 2015)​.----

---China is the land of inventions and despite the recent news with President Trump

increasing taxes with the ongoing Trade Wars with China, China is also suffering from

overpopulation and landing the Chinese citizens in poverty leaving the Third Plenum of the 18th

Central Committee having the policy of having one-child in which later removed in 5 April 2017

and having it renewed with two-child policy, as recent under study some chinese families would

divorce on purpose to have more than one child in the family but still live under the same roof.

The overpopulation in China is so severe that

the elderly are often abandoned, or if the elders

are not feeling normal and are under critical

conditions the medical professionals offer to

perform assisted-suicide also know as

euthanasia. A center city over a hill-side in

China secretary of Shuangwen asserts that the people of Hunan Province will have their own

private cars by the year of 2020, and far more hill-sides the village of Youma is the same case

the citizen’s dreams are having new paved roads to make their development easier “The biggest

wish of the people here is for paved roads’...’ if we fix the roads, all of the rest of our

development will be easier” (Freedman 2017). The residents are having doubts and having little

hope of this project of having a new road because of not gathering enough money to repair the

roads. These are relatively affected because of the income they receive the high income a day is

nearly equivalent as the US dollar what they receive is one dollar or two dollars per day so it
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would be frustrated working 997 for one or two dollars a day from nine am to nine pm, seven

days a week and that is the average working hours of a Chinese citizen.----

----The top 5 Organization that helps fighting poverty In America is Food Pantries,

Children’s Hunger Alliance, Oxfam America, The Hunger Project, and Society of St Andrews

and other Organizations that is helping decrease the numbers of poverty around the world is

Oxfam, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Children’s Fund

(UNICEF), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA),

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). In their

support they are supplying the poor with food

packaging and having an online fundraiser and

asking to donate money for a simple change for

any amount of money and there is other

organizations helping the world not dying of

hunger their methods of advocating their

programs are such as commercials, online ads, billboards, websites, and Etc. Organizations such

that are listed are raising awareness and have been reducing the percent down by 50 since 1950.

Some of the success of the world's poverty is some people are getting out of poverty and some

are making it beyond the conflicts of their childhood trauma and 1 in 10 people are living and

escaping poverty.----

-----The U.S is known for is freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and also for a better

life and future in this country but one thing that is a stereotype or most common phrase is fake it

til you make it, well it is not all completely true, majority are working far away from home just
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to support their children and their partner plus the other supplies as the prices or the rent is

increasing just to live near the city homes away from the city is nearly ⅔ less than the homes

near a liquor store in the busy streets. Although many suffer or struggle to pay the rent or for

clothing, people rarely spend on fancy restaurants and barely have money for food. The average

number of people going broke and landing into poverty is 11.08 percent in the year 2018 the

number from the 2017 report was 0.5 percent higher than the report recent report.-----

----The solution towards ending poverty is stopping the war crisis and stop investing so

many nuclear warheads and invest how to make this world a better place we may have plans and

desire to build a future and how to avoid vast obstacles but if poverty being in the way we should

help one another instead of being envious and greed of what you have, so next time before you

throw away half of your food think about how others do not have and be grateful and serve

yourself until you have a satisfied stomach and not eating as if it’s your last meal of opportunity.

Poverty is a huge dilemma that is nearly in the way for nearly every large or small family and

low-income employees that is draining their time and money, but the ways to save money and

have food for the table is applied for low-income programs in America such as the water and

power and food stamps these two programs are rarely promoted to people it nearly in the back so

no one can see or have attention to it. So instead of following the life daily routine work, eat,

sleep and Etc, chase your light, enjoyment, and

happiness because working is apart of your life so

make it the better and fun job you select.

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If you know someone in dire help of food or anything help what is most possible and

make a difference in your own community and it may not be much but a dollar can make a whole

difference. Poverty is more common in rural areas than it is in the city because the farther the

home the lower the rent. A person did not believe in poverty due to the many offers that citizens

have but it just the matter of finding the right one. China’s overpopulation was increasing rapidly

the committee was in favor of having one child per family and only one child but as a side note,

they removed the policy. Poverty shouldn’t define who you are its the matter of what is inside so

no matter how poor you are that should not be embarrassed of it.----

Work Cited
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