Poverty

By Carter Walsh

"A work of art that can only be displayed in Carter's writing. No doubt
5/5 stars." Max Bengsston

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Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1:Poverty in America
Chapter 2:Poverty in the World
Chapter 3:Poverty Causes
Chapter 4:How you can help
Conclusion
Sources
Glossary

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Introduction
Imagine living on a dollar a day like 1.1 billion people do.
Imagine not being able to eat, go to school and get running water.
Billions of people live on these terms. What if you did?

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Poverty in America
America, one of the most powerful and richest nation in the
world, also home to some of the poorest people and one of the highest
child poverty rates of the industrialized world. In this chapter I will
talk about American poverty and child poverty in America.
Poverty (the state of one who lacks a certain amount of
material possessions or money) is everywhere in the U.S, you might not
realize it but if you look hard enough the family that you thought was
doing perfectly fine could be being consumed by poverty and debt.

According to Cnn Money 48 million

Americans live in poverty. That is about 6x the
population of New York. But most Americans can
get a job if they have an education. What
happens when you're a kid? In the next
paragraph, I will be talking about child poverty
in America.
In America, one in five US children live in
poverty according to The Guardian. In a city
where their is 1 million kids, 200,000 kids are in
poverty. Child poverty is a growing concern in
America because a lack of education can lead to
underdeveloped job skills. Therefore, the
unemployment (the state of being unemployed,
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This graph shows people in

poverty in the U.S

especially involuntarily) rate will go up and future generations will

complete the same cycle. Child Poverty=No Education=No Job and so
on.

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Poverty in the World

Poverty is an increasingly alarming factor for many poor
countries. According to Global Issues , over 3 billion people live on
$2.50 a daythat is $912.50 per year. The average American spends
more on their cats every year. In the
richest nation in the world-Qatar
1/3 kids are in poverty according to
Washington Post.
LA times Says that 25% of
children dont have enough food to
eat and 7 million kids still dont
have health insurance (coverage by
contract in which one party agrees
to indemnify or reimburse another
for loss that occurs under the terms of the contract.). This adds up to
475 million kids with out food each day. Also according to Global Issues
1 child dies every 4 seconds. This is mostly from poverty. The lack of
food and care these children receive cause them to die from
malnutrition (lack of proper nutrition; inadequate or unbalanced
nutrition) and easily prevented illnesses.

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Poverty Causes
Poverty is caused by many factors. Some of the main reasons are
Gender Discrimination, Countries History and War.
One of the main reasons of poverty is gender discrimination. In
Middle Eastern county's ex: Pakistan, India, Iraq etc. Only boys and
men get a education. That leads to many families where only one
parent can make money. Then their family falls into poverty. Also many
political groups only allow boys to have an education because they are
more likely to get a paid job.
Another reason for poverty is a country history. In 1789, the
French owned the island of Haiti. Haiti made more money than any
slave colony during that time. It made more money than England's 13
original colonies. To get the most money out of it, France sent mass
imports of slaves. The slaves outnumbered their masters by 15:1. In
1798 the slaves revolted. The slaves destroyed everything. Houses,
Fields, and killed hundreds of slave owners. In 1802 Napoleon (French
general born in Corsica: emperor of France 180415.) sent 50,000
troops and the killed 150,000 slaves. Haiti is now riddled with poverty.
This shows how a countries history can take impact. This is Haiti today.

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France had built shops, farms and houses now Haiti had to rebuild this

all with only a couple 1000 people and no money.

Another reason for poverty is war. Ancient Carthage (founded by
the Phoenicians in the middle of the 9th century b.c.; destroyed in 146
b.c. in the last of the Punic Wars) was a huge power before Rome.
Rome, being a small power, could not destroy Carthage. When
Carthage invaded Sicily in 264 B.C.E., the Romans, knowing nothing
about sea warfare, built 330 ships and defeated Carthage. This was the
start of the first Punic War (A Series of wars between Ancient Rome
and Carthage). Rome won the war and Carthage had to pay a huge war
payment. At the end of the war, Carthage also owned their
mercenaries (hired to serve in a foreign army, guerrilla organization) a
lot of money. Now Carthage owed money to Rome and its own hired
mercenaries. Carthage gave their Spanish provinces to Rome and killed
their mercenaries as to not have extra debt. Rome did not allow

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Carthage to trade, thus merchants who supplied goods to the people

had nothing to give. This left people starving and not able to make
money. Many citizens had to pay higher taxes when at war to raise the
army this can cause a family to fall into poverty. Carthage tried one
last time to destroy Rome with Hannibal Barca (a general), but after
destroying 8 roman legions (a division of the Roman army, usually
comprising 3000 to 6000 soldiers), he was defeated. For 50 years
Carthage was in huge debt. The people that used to own the ancient
world were now in one city littered with poverty and disease. In 149
B.C.E., Rome burned down the city of Carthage. This shows how a war
can take affect on people.

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How you can help

Their are many ways to help limit poverty. Donations to global and
local groups go a long way and can change someone's life.
There Is many organizations in the world that are helping to fight
poverty. Here are a few.
1. CARE is a humanitarian organization providing disaster relief and
fighting poverty around the world.
2. Oxfam International is a group of non-governmental organizations
from three continents working worldwide to fight poverty and
injustice.
3. Heifer International is a world hunger organization working to feed
families around the world through sustainable solutions.

This is the Oxfam international logo

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Conclusion
Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are
fought to map change. -Muhammad Ali
I'm sure when anyone living life in the streets would give anything for
food, new clothes or somebody to just say hi. When you pass by a
homeless person, give them your attention because they are humans
just like you.

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Sources
1. http://borgenproject.org/what-causes-global-poverty/
2. http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-childpoverty-20141021-story.html
3. http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2015/jan/
17/public-school-students-poverty-report
4. http://povertyinamerica.mit.edu
5. http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/16/news/economy/48-millionamericans-poverty-census-bureau/
6. http://borgenproject.org/what-causes-global-poverty
7. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/
2014/10/29/child-poverty-in-the-u-s-is-among-the-worst-in-thedeveloped-world/
8.

For Definations http://dictionary.reference.com

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Glossary

Haiti: An island country in the Atlantic Ocean.

Health insurance: coverage by contract in which one party agrees to
indemnify or reimburse another for loss that occurs under the terms of
the contract.
malnutrition: lack of proper nutrition; inadequate or unbalanced
nutrition.
Poverty: the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material
possessions or money.
Unemployment: the state of being unemployed, especially
involuntarily

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