After watching the video on Mary's meals and the poverty of children all over the world it almost opened my eyes to problems i've never noticed before. First of all, I realized that my life is great and that everything that I have is amazing and I should cherish every minute because people have it much worse than me. Next I came to a realization that poverty is much worse than what I ever could expect. For example this one girl was only 12 years of age and both of her parents had died. This meant that she had to take care of her both her younger brothers with no job and no money. The only way that they could get food was through the power of Mary’s meals with supplies about ½ a million meals every to school children and orphans with no food.
Nelson Mandela once said, “Poverty is not natural it 's man-made.” This quote states that a person can overcome poverty if one has the desire to live a better life. In a novel called Poor People written by William T. Vollmann, the author travels around different countries and places to learn about poor people and to get a global perspective view. While interviewing different kinds of people, Vollmann would ask them one question: why are you poor? Looking at people 's answers Vollmann noticed that some of the people gave quite interesting answers. Vollmann went through a lot of situations where he just couldn 't imagine what life would be if he was ever to live like that. Another novel that has a similar poverty situation is called Let The Water Hold Me Down, written by Michael Spurgeon. Hank, the main character of the novel, experiences a tragic moment in his life. Losing his wife and daughter while drowning, this tragedy left him feeling like it’s all due to his miscarrying about them. His life becomes full of sorrow, and the only way out it was to go to Mexico to his friend’s place and restart his life over. In a new country of Mexico, this story takes place. Even though he had money, a house, and friends’ support, he still experienced lots of pressure trying to survive in Mexico. Poverty has different meanings in everyone 's lives but by reading these two novels, there are three similarities that can be made about people living in poverty.
In my travels of the world I have found myself immersed in many cultures and varieties of ethnicity; I have been very fortunate to live in a day and age where such communication and experience is possible in one lifetime. I have seen La Cathedral de Notre Dame, the Statue of Liberty, the home of Da Vinci, and so many more wonderfully spiritual and historic monuments. Yet still I can say with the utmost certainty that no location has left such a lasting impact on my soul as the quaint, simple country of Costa Rica. Although many places have penetrated me with a sense of what the majestic earth and her inhabitants are capable of and have forced me to question whether or not anything is beyond the grasp of human ingenuity, none have brought
Seeing a kid who will hold a gun before they hold their first book. Seeing a teenager my age injecting himself with heroin instead of injecting himself with knowledge. Seeing an elderly person who, when looking back at their life, will remember nothing but memories of misery. These things can't be read in a book or seen on a television. The truth is, you will never understand what people are truly going through until the day you look at them in the eyes. With members of my team, I worked tirelessly to build a home for a man named Serafin who no longer had a roof to live under in the slum. It was both the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, and the most rewarding. Serafin now had a home where he and his family could live in, and I had a new set of eyes to look at the world through. Later that day, I experienced what life was on the other side of the spectrum. Ironically enough, hours after being in Ciudad Bolivar, I found myself at a family wedding in one of Colombia's most luxurious country clubs. Most people were wearing articles of clothing and accessories that individually were worth more than everything a person in Ciudad Bolivar would own in their
Going to Haiti is an incredible adventure and it really puts in perspective how much I take for granted everyday. Most Haitians my age have no bed to sleep on, a small shack which they call home and share with their extensive families, and not a clue what they are going to do that day when they wake up. In a way, which may sound selfish, I wish to live like them to feel what it’s like to always be happy and full of spirit regardless of the food they eat or the clothes on their backs. I have many memories and experiences similar to the ones shared and I had moments like those spent with Kata and the man during village ministry every day with various Haitians. The Haitians impact my life more and more every second I am there, and even though Haiti may seem like the poorest country in the world and the mosquitos are horrible, and the heat could drive one mad, I will always choose Haiti over any other place in the world as my happy place, and there is not a place I’d rather be than
It was May 1st, 2014. Time for our family’s annual vacation we were getting packed up for the night and our drive down to Florida. We’ve had been to Destin once before.
My parents were raised in the third-world country of India, lucky to escape extreme poverty, but living in poverty nonetheless. They grew up on the principal that literacy was their only escape from the life they lived. They understood what it was to have nothing and realised that millions of other people around the world would never get the same chance to escape - like the boy with the book. This is why we were taken overseas; to be shown how lucky we are, even to have the simple things.
When I was eight years of age, I started to realize that there was an entire word outside of the town, state, and country that I lived in. I became concerned about the lives of others, even those that I didn’t know personally. I often thought “There are people in other countries that don’t even have enough water to live, and I am living an amazing life here in America”. Not only was I concerned for those people, but I took action to help them. It was then that I started a fundraiser to raise money for people that can’t afford the basic necessities to live in third world countries. To this day, I have been saving every penny I could afford to make sure other people can live a better life.
Growing up in Haiti has strengthen my survival instinct at an early age. With barely enough to eat, we was dying one by one. Medicine and treatment was very rare for us. Imagine dying from a simple cold due to the fact that aspirin and cough medicine was foreign to us. I recall walking around wishing for better days or looking for ways to help. And I remember being told I was coming to America. America, the place where even the most impossible dreams come true. America, where education is free and very beneficial. Regardless of how young I was, I knew with every fiber in my little body that I would try my hardest to be successful in America. Unable to speak english, school become a challenge. But to all my teachers surprise it took me less
Forty-six million people living in poverty in America today. America is the most wealthiest country in the world. America is called the “Land of Opportunity”, yet we have families who go to bed hungry each night. Poverty is defined as the state of being extremely poor. Lacking the most basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter. Their is a young girl living in a one room shack scooping the remaining beans from the stove onto a plate for herself. She is walking towards her corner of the room, while her mother does without anything to eat yet again for a second night. This is not in a third world country where this girl lives, but it is right here in America. Although people who live in poverty
The social adversity that plagues millions seems to be a far cry from the hospitality of late summertime Helena and not a day passes by when Edens doesn’t appreciate his blessings. “I don’t have to wake up in the morning and worry about getting food or if my drink of water with breakfast is going to kill me.” Unfortunately, for so many around the world, survival is a daily struggle. To so many, there is no assurance of tomorrow. There is no promise of food, clean water, shelter or basic medical care. Ryan Edens and the Carroll Outreach Team seek to change these problems one human being at a
I saw kids of all ages living with a burden pinned to their backs. However, they did not show it. They were just like me, a normal kid. Yet everyday they had to live in a sort of jail. Following a strict schedule when to eat, play, sleep, and go to school. They couldn’t hop in the car with their mom and go to the mall. The things I take for granted were what they were praying for. While here my fellow life teen members and I came together as a sort of beacon of light to play with and be a friend to these kids. We all came together to achieve a common goal and help those in need. This experience really hit home with me as I underappreciate all the little things in life that I should be grateful for. Trying to live a selfless life can be hard, but I will continue to help my community and those in need throughout my
Haiti is not know for much but it is known for being poor. This might dissuade people from visiting, but for me it was exactly what I needed. We got to Haiti and even in the airport saw the people desperate for money to feed themselves and their families. We took a ten passenger plane up the mountain and as we flew we were able to see the poverty in the towns below. There were houses made up of four corner poles with a tin roofs. The destruction from the earthquake still had not been recovered from. In this moment I realized how fortunate I was to have not been in the earthquake as well as for simple things like four walls. We also flew over a sports complex that had been built for the Haitians after the earthquake as part of the
One night, I asked my dad and mom what their lives were like. Both my parents came from poor families and left their homes in Trinidad and China because of rough times. My mom left China because of its communist state, and my dad left Trinidad because of revolts and riots. When they came to Hawaii, they lacked resources, English language skills, and money.
Within the last 60 years, Third World development has been a global priority, at the top of virtually every Western agenda. And with the rise of the global population and poverty levels continuing to rise along with it, it is very easy to see why human development is becoming such a topic of focus and discussion among members of the academia. But one question that everyone wants the answer too is, how does Third World development fit into Globalization? Despite apparent compatibility, when closely examined it is clear to see that Globalization actually contradicts Third World development due to the conflict of agendas. Both Globalization and Development hold views concerning market reform, social structure and regulation, which are