Poverty 💔

More than 800 million people fall asleep starving every day, and 300 million of those 800 are only children. Poverty is a global crisis, something that affects many in a horrible way. “Poverty is going empty, with no hope for the future. Poverty is like watching your mother father, brothers and sisters die in pain and in sorrow just because they couldn’t get something to eat.” Poverty has been around for ages, and will always be around. It is always there and will always be a problem. It could have been avoided. Poverty affects many children in Africa According to the World Data Lab, 42 African countries are in poverty, and in 16 of those countries, the poverty rate is rising. Twenty-seven of the world’s 28 poorest countries are in Sub-saharan Africa. Each of these countries has a poverty rate of over 30 percent. Poverty in Africa, like elsewhere, is typically measured in economic terms. The standard measure is the World Bank's definition of living on less than $1.90 per day. But as we've mentioned, economics cannot be the sole measure and determinant of poverty. The World Bank recognizes that poverty is hunger, lack of shelter, being sick and not being able to see a doctor, not having access to school, not knowing how to read, not having a job, fearing for the future, losing a child to a curable illness, and living one day at a time. It also understands that poverty is powerlessness and lack of representation and freedom. Because this broader measure of poverty expands upon the economic definition of poverty, the World Bank developed indicators to assess the non-income dimensions of poverty. The indicators include education, health, access to social services, vulnerability, social exclusion, and access to social capital. What are the Causes of Poverty in Africa? One in three Africans live below the global poverty line. They make up 70 percent of the global poor, and their numbers are rising.Despite the overwhelming number of extremely poor people in Africa, the causes of poverty on the continent are no different than the causes of poverty around the world. They can be grouped into two primary categories—external or cultural factors and internal elements. External factors include, but are not limited to: Lack of shelter Limited access to clean water resources Food insecurity Lack of access to health care Government corruption Poor infrastructure Limited or dwindling natural resources The internal elements that contribute to poverty are intangible and can include, among many possibilities, deficiencies in: Knowledge Aspiration Diligence Values Self-confidence Self-esteem When you’ve never seen someone escape a life of poverty, you have no reason to believe that escape is possible. Poverty becomes your lot in life and part of your identity. You can’t imagine a better future because you’ve never seen one, or if you have, it’s a future for other people, not a future for someone like you. This lack of hope keeps people in poverty even when an opportunity that could change their lives presents itself.