The problem of poverty

” Poverty is like heat; you cannot see it; so to know poverty you have to go through it.” Adaboya, Ghana Poverty is a relative perception used to describe the people in a society that cannot afford the essentials that others take for granted. And whilst many Australians deal with payments of bills, people living in poverty have to make intricate choices, such as skipping a meal to pay for their child’s clothing, text books ECT. People living in poverty not only have low levels of income; they also miss out on opportunities and resources that most take for granted, such as sufficient health and dental care, housing, education, employment opportunities, food and recreational activities. Around the world, in rich or poor nations, poverty has always been present. In most nations today, the gap between the rich and the poor is quite high and often widening. The causes for poverty are numerous, including lack of individual responsibility, bad government policy, bad development by people and businesses with power and influence, or some combination of these and other causes. High levels of this inequality may also affect social structure and lead to problems such as increasing crime and violence. However, inequality is just a measure of relative poverty. Absolute poverty, however, is also a concern. World figures for world poverty reveal a higher number of people live in poverty than previously thought. For example, absolute poverty is defined as living on the equivalent of $1. 25 a day. 1. 4 billion people today are living on this. Furthermore, over three billion people live on less than $2. 50 a day and at least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. As a result of poverty, Around 21, 000 children die every day around the world, because they don’t have access to clean water, food or adequate health care. That is equivalent to: 1 child dying every 4 seconds, 14 children dying every minute, just under 7. 6 million children dying every year and 92 million children dying between the years 2000 and 2010. However, the reasons behind these deaths are easily preventable diseases, illnesses, and other related preventable causes. Despite the scale of this daily catastrophe, it rarely manages to achieve headline coverage. “ Imagine a game of Snakes and Ladders between two children where one player can make the rules. That player, no doubt, would make sure that they could go up the snakes as well as the ladders. They would make the other player go down the ladders as well as the snakes. This of course is not fair. So that the children’s parents do not get suspicious and intervene, the rule maker occasionally lets the other player go up a ladder, especially when the parents might be watching. In this way the unfair rules can be maintained without challenge. The rule maker may even be praised for their generosity. The “ game” of international trade is played in much the same way with the rich countries setting the rules. They say that they are in favour of free trade and then do the opposite especially when it comes to agricultural products. They set the rules to “ free trade” then pay their own farmers billions of dollars every year to give them an advantage over the producers in the developing countries. “ from http://www. catholicaustralia. com. au ” Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you to drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome, lacking clothes and clothe you? When did we find you sick or in prison and go to see you?” Matthew 25: 37-38 ” Its [the Church’s] desire is that the poor should rise above poverty and wretchedness, and should better their condition in life; and for this it strives.” Rerum Novarum, #23