Ending Poverty

Jeffrey D. Sachs, the author of The End of Poverty was on The Colbert Report last night, also featured in TIME magazine in March 2005 and a strong supporter of the UN Millenium Project to end poverty. He made some very interesting, thought-provoking observations about us all;

• The US has devoted the same amount of money for the cure of Malaria for the next five years as one day of the military budget spending. The rest of the world is dedicating small amounts too. Just 15 cents for every $100 of national income is all that is required to end poverty but we are too greedy and selfish to do that. However, we spend 32 times more on defence spending to protect us against dangers that arise because of this overwhelming poverty.
• More than 1 million and as many as 3 million children die from Malaria in Africa alone. If we buy a cheaper iPod or a smaller car, we can help because a bed netting can save these lives and the cost of one is less than $3.
• More than 8 million people die each year because they are too poor to survive; that's 21 thousand people per day and 456 people every half hour. Imagine 456 diseased dead bodies in your room by the time you are done reading this article, some of them children not even a year old.
• More than 1.1 billion people, thats 1,100,000,000 people, live in extreme poverty wordwide, one-sixth of the world population, one in six human beings. Asia has the most but Africa has a higher percentage. Extreme poverty means living on less than a dollar a day, $27 a month and $324 a year. They are chronically hungry, unable to get health care, lack safe drinking water and sanitation, cannot afford education for their children and perhaps lack rudimentary shelter(a roof to keep rain out of the hut) and basic articles of clothing, like shoes.
• Widespread corruption is not the cause of this poverty because well-governed countries like Senegal, Ghana, Malawi and Mali failed to prosper while corrupt countries like Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan continue to see rapid economic growth. Every case of poverty is as unique as snow flakes, and must be diagnosed and treated accordingly.

The end of poverty will require a global network of cooperation among people who have never met and who do not necessarily trust one another. We are talking about you and me. Is it possible, that we join forces and help people live and step back from our self-involved lives? This week work overtime but not to buy something new, but to send that money to the UN Millenium Project or the other charities (see links on the main page). The aim of the project is to cut world poverty in half by 2015 using very little money from the rest of us.

No matter what your religion, or what you call your God, at some point you will be asked by your God, what did you do to help these dying people, your fellow human beings? Even animals help each other, how are we better? Just remember that the next time you spend on something you do not need, you are killing a human being because that money is not going to help the dying but it could have.

Society is like a ship with two levels, the upper and the lower deck. If those in the upper deck stop providing water to those in the lower deck, then the occupants of the lower deck will need to drill a hole to get their water said Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him). Stop and think about that for a moment! Don't let your action be inaction, react to this ongoing catastrophe and help improve their lives.