Term 3 Week 8 Task 4

Can poverty ever be eradicated?
Write a response of at least 300 words and 2 content paragraphs, and include materials from both articles as well as your own knowledge and experience.



Affluence creates poverty. The world is unbalance, there are about a billion people in the world who don't have reliable access to drinking water or enough food and health care; at least another two billion people live in slums or rural areas and have the basic means of life, but almost nothing beyond that; many certainly meet their basic needs, but are not part of mainstream society - they can't participate in cultural or educational life, and have little job security. Despites that, I think that poverty can ultimately be eradicated if the rich countries are willing to lend a helping hand to the poor ones.

Like what Eli Khamarov, says, “ Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit.” We cannot blame the poor nations for being poor; they themselves do not ask for it too. We should and ought to help them out of poverty by giving humanitarian aids. Since Gandhi had said, “To a man with empty stomach food is God”, we can help the destitute by providing food and clothes for them. If everyone cares to spare a thought for them and help by donation or by voluntary work, poor countries will be able to tackle on the help they receive and work on to improve their standard of living. If this is achieved, poor countries will be soon out of poverty, if not, for a betterment.

Kamala Sarup mentioned in the commentary that, “Geography is important in determining whether a country has any prospects of becoming richer.” I beg to defer. A nation does not depend solely on its geographical location for its wealth status. Take for example, Switzerland has too many mountains and too few navigable waterways but is rich; Singapore does not sit above any precious natural resource but is considered a rich developed country too. I think that for a country to be rich, it must first have a pool of robust citizens who are willing to work for their own benefit. If the people are blessed with natural resources but are not hardworking, they may abuse the usage of the resources and find them to be depleted one day. On contrary, if a country has a pool of diligent workers working for its economy to increase its per capita incomes, the nation would be able to climb out of poverty. Since no man would like to be poor, I am sure they would be motivated to work hard if the rich countries are willing to lend them the “seed money” for them to start the fundamental development. If this were to be done, poorer countries would then be able to boost their economy and become rich, if not, merely out of poverty. Thus, I believe that problem of poverty can be solved one day.

Furthermore, Kristina Tom has suggested ways of improving the poor people’s lives. You can't get rid of poverty by giving people money as there are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread. But, not only do we can donate food to them, daily materials like clothes and mosquito nets would be enough to save many lives. In nations where malaria has been a pandemic, like in Africa, a mosquito net would be essential to keep the destitute from diagnosing with the fatal malaria. Financial markets and businesses are not going to solve poverty on their own. If the public understands that the poor are poor because they're afflicted with diseases, drought and environmental difficulties that they can't face on their own, then people are much more ready to support the things that will make a difference. Hence, poverty would be removed with the warmth help from the people around the world.

"From the moment you wake up to the time you turn in today, 20,000 people would have died of hunger," says American thinker Jeffrey Sachs. “And at least 20,000 more will die tomorrow, and the day after, and in the days after that - just because they are poor.” To solve the problems resulted from poverty, the United Nations has been working very hard in the Millennium Project which makes it possible for people to donate US$6 for a mosquito net that will be sent directly to Africa. Such citizens' involvement may provoke our politicians to act. One day they may be ready to stand up and contribute more tax revenues' so that there's big money available to really make this fight. This, I firmly believe, would eradicate poverty sooner or later.

In conclusion, we must treat the world as our nucleus family where different nations are different families and the people are cousins. We must help one another whenever there is a problem. By donating money alone is not enough, we must give humanitarian and health aids. Every man has a right to be poor. If everyone does a little to help the poor countries, we will see a big difference in someone else’s live – climb out of poverty. Thus, I find it possible and hopeful for poor countries to become richer, but it is a mater of time.