Inisght on Poverty- and why you should appreciate more by Katie Groome

Growing up, I've been able to eat whatever I want. I've been able to go to sleep in my own bed, wake up and get dressed in my own clothes I picked out from a store. I've been able to go on family vacations, and play on a soccer team. These are things that have just become part of my life, things I see as routine, or normal. What I don't realize nearly enough, or keep in mind, is that these attributes to my "normal" life are things many people don't have. And on top of not realizing other people don't have these things, I also tend to take what I have for granted too often.

Instead of simply writing this in a basic paragraph format, for this blog post I decided to share some shocking statistics and pictures related to global poverty. For those of you reading, I'm sure some do realize how fortunate you are to have money to live off of. There are probably others, though, like me who commonly forget to acknowledge just how grateful we should be for what we have.

In Ethiopia, Niger and South Sudan, greater than
90 percent of kids live in poverty

More than 3 billion people live off of $2.50 a day

1/3 of the food in the world is wasted

~ Around 2 million children die each year due to preventable diseases, like diarrhea and pnemonia, because they cannot afford treatment
~ 80% of the global population lives on less than $10 a day (includes meals, vehicle gas, etc.)
~ 25% of the global population lives without electricity

~ Around 22,000 children die each day because of poverty (disease, malnutrition, etc.)
~ Of the 2.3 billion children in the world, 301 million live on less than $1.90 a day
~This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEwIHNNJZvo) highlights a specific area in the world that experiences extreme poverty, and is trying to fight it

This information shouldn't make anyone feel guilty for being fortunate and having enough money to live off of. Rather, as it did for me, being exposed to the harsh realities of other humans around the world should allow you to feel thankful for what you have and appreciate things a little bit more.

A lot of people continue to talk about how the economy is thriving, and that there are many more people employed now than years ago. While this is true, poverty cannot be disregarded and ignored. Yes, more people have been able to get jobs in the past few years, but there are still so many suffering from poverty nonetheless. Especially with our president constantly acknowleding the thriving employment rates in our nation, I feel like some people may become blind sided to an issue that is still prevelant all over the world.  

While doing research I came across some charitable organization websites that take donations to fight poverty, and I decided to donate. If you would also like to donate, here is the link of the organization I used: https://secure2.oxfamamerica.org/page/contribute/donate

I wrote this blog post about poverty insight of providing myself, and others, with a new appreciation for some things we commonly take for granted in life. In terms of wealth, compared to a lot of the world, we have be given so much. We are so often surrounded by what can sometimes appear as an abyss of wealth that many of us don't realize how much more opportunity and economic stability we have in comparison to people living around us.