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October 15th, 2008 was Blog Action Day which focusing the topic of Poverty. Nowadays, millions of people out there still live in poverty. According to Wiki,

Poverty (also called penury) is deprivation of common necessities that determine the quality of life, including food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, and may also include the deprivation of opportunities to learn, to obtain better employment to escape poverty, and/or to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens.

Poverty may affect individuals or groups, and is not confined to the developing nations, most of the nations have problem on poverty.

About 1/2 of the human population suffers from poverty. Poverty can be measured in terms of absolute or relative poverty. Absolute poverty refers to a set standard which is consistent over time and between countries. An example of an absolute measurement would be the percentage of the population eating less food than is required to sustain the human body (approximately 2000-2500 calories per day for an adult male).

The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US$ (PPP) 1 per day, and moderate poverty as less than $2 a day.

Today, nearly half the world’s 6 billion people lives on less than $2 a day. However, poverty is a reality affecting both rich and poor countries. In developed countries it is estimated that 1 in 10 children live below the poverty line.The situation in developing countries is much worse. In the year 2000 alone, 1.7 million children were needlessly lost because countries around the world failed to reduce poverty levels.

I’d like to share some links which do a real effort to reduce poverty level in this world:

1. The East Bali Poverty Project

The East Bali Poverty Project (EBPP) is a non-profit organization established in 1998 by a British resident of Bali after an appeal for help by an isolated 7,200Ha mountain village, forgotten by time and progress. Participatory community surveys in 1998 with 1,056 of the 3,000 families in 19 sub-villages revealed thousands of people living in abject poverty without water, sanitation, roads, schools, health facilities and electricity. Illiteracy was up to 100%. Malnutrition and iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) were endemic, iodine being the essential nutrient for healthy child births, brain and body development.  With the philosophy of “helping people to help themselves”, all programmes are designed as models that can be replicated, and executed by local people who directly transfer knowledge and appropriate technology within their communities.

PLEASE HELP US TO HELP THEM HELP THEMSELVES!

David J Booth
East Bali Poverty Project
PO BOX 3850 Denpasar
Bali – Indonesia
Tel : 62 – 361- 410071; Fax: 62 – 0361 430785
E-mail : info@eastbalipovertyproject.org

2. Free The Children

Free The Children is the world’s largest network of children helping children through education, with more than one million youth involved in our innovative education and development programs in 45 countries. Founded in 1995 by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children has a proven track record of success.

For more information contact:

Victor Li
Chief Financial Director
E-mail: accounting@freethechildren.com
Phone: 1.416.925.5894 ext. 102

“Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn’t commit.” – Eli Khamarov

Poverty is problem for all of us. So, let’s join together to solve it and make the world as better place for all human kind.

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