So Why Should We Care??
Here are Ten Good Reasons Why You Should be Involved in Eliminating Extreme Poverty in this World.
By
James B. Mayfield, PhD
Co-Founder of CHOICE Humanitarian.org
Poverty is a disgraceful and unjust condition that has always haunted mankind. Most
people see the problem as insoluble. They see previous solutions that have failed. Some
even think that previous remedies have worsened the condition of the poor. They claim
that assisting the poor increases dependency and produces a “culture of poverty” that
persists from generation to generation. Some go further and blame the poor for their
problems. They think many of the poor are shiftless, lazy, unintelligent, or even parasitic.
All that said, there is widespread pessimism about mankind’s ability to reduce the world’s
level of poverty and wasted lives. The time has come to focus, with optimism, that the
scourge of extreme poverty needs to be eliminated and can be eliminated
1. The Waste of Human Potential
First, poverty leads to a terrible waste of human potential. Imagine the millions of wasted lives denied an
opportunity to achieve their full potential because they lived in societies with no health care, no meaningful
employment or educational opportunities. How many could have become doctors, scientists, professionals,
teachers, merchants, engineers and entrepreneurs willing and able to improve the well-being of their
families, neighborhoods, villages and towns, their countries and even the world. The very poor are not able
to develop these skills, abilities and capacities because they are totally preoccupied with subsistence,
remaining illiterate, malnourished, sickly, exploited, and excluded. This is one of the major tragedies in
human history, and now is the time to remove the scourge of extreme poverty
2. The tragedy of Desperation, Crime and Violence
We are living in a dangerous world. In the 1970s and early 1980s, American tourists and business
people were accustomed to visiting most areas in Africa, Asia or Latin America with little or no
concern. Today, most of us would think long and hard before venturing outside the boundaries of the
United States. International terrorism has changed our world and most of us wonder what has caused this
change and is there anything that we can do about this situation. What many people do not understand is
that terrorism is a symptom, and not the cause of this problem.
With the advent of television and western movies, the “have-nots of this world,” see what we have and
how we live, and they ask why is this? For people who have no schools, no health facilities, no electricity,
no potable water and no opportunities to improve themselves, their perceived unfairness of the situation
can only stimulate frustration, resentment and anger. This poverty breeds a kind of desperation which
often leads the poor and the destitute people into crime and terrorism, prostitution, and drug
running. The hopelessness felt by the poor motivates many of them to follow any
demagogue who promises them food, health care and a job. Too many dictators and fanatics
are quick to stimulate these feelings of resentment, and from this pool of discontentment, are quick to recruit
and train those who would cause us harm. We can end up fighting them or helping them to find a better
life.
3. The Challenge of Spreading Disease and Pestilence in this world.
The poor are much more prone to illnesses and health problems, many that are now resistant to antibiotics.
Consider that in today’s fast-moving world, deadly diseases can travel across continents very quickly.
Although it took decades for AIDS to spread into the USA, many new diseases like the bird flu or Ebola
showed signs of doing that in months. Primary health care is a key to keeping dreaded diseases in check.
We can ignore this problem and face the consequences in the future. It is our choice
4. The Denial of People’s Right to Pursue a Good Education and to Achieve Self Actualization.
Nearly two billion people are today unable to read a newspaper, do basic math calculations or even sign
their name. Ignorance breeds unemployment, extreme poverty, social instability. Over 100 million children
of elementary school do not attend school, because their parents need them to work for their basic
necessities. Education is the key to poverty alleviation, helping people to gain the knowledge, the skills,
and competencies to meet their basic needs. They do not want a handout they want a hand up
5. The Lack of Economic Opportunity for those at the Bottom of the Pyramid of Social Existence.
The poor represent far more than a group that
deserves our sympathy and charity. Helping the poor escape from poverty will also help
raise the incomes of the whole world. Ending hunger and poverty in poor countries creates new
markets for our products and provides more employment opportunities in western countries. The poor
constitute a major untapped market opportunity for businesses that can imagine new ways to bring down
the cost of products and services to the poor. C. K. Prahalad, in his book The Fortune at the Bottom of the
Pyramid, makes a compelling case for adapting products for the poor to make them affordable. Using
Prahalad’s math, the extreme and moderate poor have buying power equal to $8 billion per day
6. The Opportunity to Encourage Peace and Tranquility Among All Nations to help poor nations reduce their numbers in poverty
One major reason that more advanced nations should worry about nations filled with poor people is
because such nations often collapse into “failed states” that fall into conflicts and violence that necessitate
military intervention by U.S. or NATO or UN forces. This happened with Honduras, Lebanon, Somalia,
Iraq, Nigeria, and Syria—each violent outbreak within or between countries posing a threat to U.S. and
European national security and cost taxpayers in America, millions if not billions of dollars. More dramatic
is the cost of keeping illegal immigrants out, when all they need are jobs, health services, schools and access
to economic opportunities in their own countries
7. The Need to Protect Children From Hunger and Disease
Every year 10 million children die from malnutrition before their 5th birthday. Nearly 12 million children
die each year (30,000 per day) from preventable causes like malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia as a result of
poor sanitation and hygiene. Many people assume children are starving because there are too many children
to feed. In reality, reducing hunger actually reduces population. When people know that their children will
survive, they choose to have fewer children. Poverty does not cause more children. They have more
children because they are poor.
8. The Necessity to Protect the Earth’s Environment for Future Generations
Ending hunger and poverty is good for the environment. While the greatest environmental damage is
created by the industrialized world, it is also true that hunger creates environmental degradation in the rural
communities where the majority of hunger exists. There really is no choice for parents between cutting
down trees and feeding their starving children. The relationship between poverty and the environment has
been well studied. Put simply, the wealthy can afford to preserve the environment, whereas the poor cannot.
The poor, particularly in developing nations, are primarily concerned with subsistence, so cutting down
rainforest for firewood or killing endangered species for food are viewed as necessities of life, not
environmental exploitation. Soil loss, species loss, deforestation, and air and water pollution are all more
severe in poor countries than in industrialized countries.
9. The Promotion of Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, both because it is right socially and morally and because it makes economic sense.
According to the U.N., the majority of people in poverty are women, who globally earn roughly half as
much as men. The United Nations often cites the statistic that women do two-thirds of the world’s work,
receive 10 percent of the world’s income and own 1 percent of the means of production. According to the
World Health Organization, one woman dies in childbirth every minute of every day. That’s more than
500,000 deaths every year, many of which could have been prevented if the woman had been allowed to
leave her home to receive treatment, or if she’d had a skilled attendant by her side. Women make up more
than two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults. Girls may be kept out of school to help with household chores,
they may be pulled from school if their father deems it’s time for them to marry, or there may only be
enough money to educate one child from the family — and the boy is almost always chosen. Numerous
studies show that educating girls is a key factor in eliminating poverty and aiding development. Girls who
complete school are less likely to marry young, more likely to have smaller families and exhibit better
health. These women also go on to earn higher salaries, which they then invest in their own families, thus
ensuring that future generations of girls get to go on to school. If you really want to eliminate poverty in
rural areas give your money to NGOs who emphasize adult literacy among women and keeping girls in
school beyond grade school.
10. The Elimination of Poverty on Ethical Grounds, Ensuring the Core Values of Freedom, Equity, and Love for Mankind Shall Prevail on this Earth.
Allowing two billion people to remain in debilitating poverty is simply morally wrong,
unacceptable, and counter to the core values of civilized people. Above are some nine
reasons why you should be concerned about the problem of world poverty and why you
should be outraged over the tragedy of extreme poverty
Dr. James B. Mayfield, cofounder of CHOICE Humanitarian, who is now 89 years old has recently written a book, Extreme Poverty Eliminated: A Successful Program in Nepal (2019) and is now committed in the next three years to help implement a program that will eliminate extreme poverty in some of the poorest areas of Guatemala, and thereby reduce the mass migration up into the United States. If you are interested in how this can be accomplished, go to choicehumanitarian.org. Read about how this can be done within a decade and how you can help make this happen. Poverty that must be eliminated, can be eliminated, but only if people stand up and demand that something be done. We should care about ending extreme poverty because solutions are known and available, because organizations exist with the skills, the experience and the commitment to make this fundamental problem a thing of the past. One such organization is CHOICE Humanitarian and we invite you to join us in an amazing process that has eliminated extreme poverty in many villages and is committed to eliminate poverty in seven countries where we are presently working, and with this provide a strategy to be replicated throughout the world Most people talk about eliminating poverty in this world, waiting for others to do it. Some people are trying to do something about world poverty, but with limited success. A few seek to link the world to the poor and in this way will help the poor bring themselves out of poverty. James B Mayfield, PhD