What is Poverty?

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In life, as we live, we see that some get everything they want and wish for, some get their basic needs in life even as they tend and strive to get their wants, then some can barely avoid a meal a day, not to talk of their basic amenities in the name of poverty.

What is Poverty

We can say poverty is a situation where one cannot avoid the basic essential needs of the family such as food, shelter, clothing, and education. It doesn't necessarily have to do with lack of money, as our early fathers were known to be very wealthy for having large hectares of farmlands since they can provide for the essential needs of the family via their farm products either as a way of trade by barter or sales.

_{a man sleeping on open space source; Pexels}

Therefore, I would say poverty is the lack of the basic things a human needs such as food, clothes, shelter, education, and other vital ingredients for a better life.

List and explain 5 causes of poverty.

Several situations lead to poverty in any society but like the African Icon Nelson Mandela once said “Poverty is not natural, it is manmade”, this is true as the causes of poverty are generally man-made even as Natural disasters can lead to poverty in a society. Causes of poverty include;

• Population Growth
• Natural Disaster
• Epidemic Diseases
• War
• Lack of Employment

This is the increase in the number of people in a population or a particular area. That is the increase in the number of people in a given area and the world at large. When a population increases, it puts more burden on the resources and budgets of the area, state or country. Hence, making it hard for Governments to provide food, shelter and employment to the increasing population.

Natural tragedies such as floods, and earthquakes can also cause poverty. In such cases, the production of goods and people's shelters gets destroyed. Thus, leading to a scarcity of food and hardship. Prices of goods, services and accommodations that are not affected tend to skyrocket at these events.

The spread of epidemic diseases also causes poverty. This is because such diseases lead to a total or partial shutdown of a nation, and also give the lesser class no avenue to get appropriate medical aid or survival means. Thus, exposing them to these diseases and unclean and unhealthy foods.

War spreads poverty across the board, this is because all resources and money will be spent on war and items for war neglecting public welfare. This also leads to the destruction of farmlands, hospitals, industries and human life.

Lack of employment chances renders people jobless and when someone is jobless, he/she cannot earn enough to provide all the essentials for their family. This tends to make living difficult even if they try manual labour to survive.

Explain at least five consequences of poverty.

The consequences of poverty are so ambiguous, as poverty can lead to several diverse effects on society such as;

• High crime rates
• Illiteracy
• Poor Health
• Living in an Unhygienic environment
• Malnutrition

Poverty can get people involved in theft, kidnapping, fraud etc. This is because they don't have and are looking for ways to survive and provide basic amenities for their family hence, leading to getting involved in crimes such as theft, kidnapping, fraud, murder, robbery, etc

Poverty boosts illiteracy as people cannot gain access to proper education or get learning aids due to a lack of funds. This renders them uneducated and/or with minimal education.

People suffering from poverty lack access to good health care as they cannot afford the bills, hence tend to make do with what they have resulting in poor health or unhealthy situations, eventually leading to death.

Poverty brings about social strain due to inequality in revenue between the rich and the poor. Therefore creating more problems for people as they have to stay out of their residences to live in unhygienic conditions such as slums, open spaces, roadways, under bridges, and without any shelter with no proper sanitation and drinking water.

Poverty also brings about malnutrition as someone poor is unable to afford a proper meal or a nourishing diet to stay healthy. Therefore, leading to increased illnesses and diseases such as kwashiorkor, an ulcer etc, that will remain uncured because of the lack of funds to access good medical aid.

What are the poverty alleviation strategies you know and how can they help reduce poverty?

Looking back the causes of poverty which are numerous, can be handled since most of them are man-made. To alleviate or reduce poverty in our society, there are some specific measures that we can take to ensure a promising future. Such measures include;

• Obtaining formal and necessary access to facilities for adequate agriculture by Farmers.

• Adequate access to education and training for a better life by Illiterates. Every child obtains a certain level of education needed for life survival.

• Training individuals on family planning and sex education to control the great rise in population.

• Provision of employment opportunities for all kinds of persons.

What can you personally do to alleviate poverty in your locality?

_{a lady attending to kids in need source; Pexels}

Borrowing from my previous answers, I think I can help to reduce the rate of poverty in my area by grooming the young ones in educational and vocational skills. Like impacting the skills they would need to put food on their table when necessary, such as social media blogging as I do with Steemit and teaching skills such as Graphic design and computer appreciation. This way, when they grow, they will have educational and vocational skills to back them up till job opportunities spring up.

Can Steemit help alleviate poverty? Explain.

I would say yes, and they are already doing that. Steemit is a platform where users create content and get empowered by doing so. This is likened to getting paid for doing what you like to do.

It may not necessarily take away poverty (if the Government of this world cannot, how much more Steemit?). But I know Steemit as a platform has touched many lives through different projects through channels like @Project.hope and @Smilenigeria to relieve people of poverty through the construction of educational centres, health centres and provision of portable water which are some of the basic needs of everyone.

CONCLUSION

Poverty is not an individual-level problem, but an issue for the entire planet. It is considered a social evil, but it is up to us to at least try and reduce it. We can contribute our old clothing to people who don't have clothes, we can also use our free time to teach those around us. From today, before you waste any food, remember someone is sleeping with a hungry stomach. I invite @yakspeace, @Gesikeme and @petface

THANK YOU!

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NOTE: Always have a smile on your face, as you are never fully dressed without one.