'BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD' ~gandhi

Poverty. Any human that cannot meet the basics it needs to survive. Needs. These are things that we have to have in order to survive like food, water, and shelter. Wants. These are excess items or things that are not necessities for us to have. It’s amazing how here I am in Canada, good education, with clean water, 3 meals a day, a house to live in and a bed to rest my head. Right now in some other country a child the same age drinks dirty water from a polluted pond, goes to bed hungry, let alone have a bed, and no shelter to keep warm. This child doesn’t go to a school like I do, because she can’t afford it. Her parents died from AIDS and she only has her very old grandmother left to take care of her and her brother. Everyday she walks barefooted to get water from the shared pond where people also wash clothes. This really makes me consider how we have been in the world for the same amount of time, that our lives could be so different. I don’t know who this child is. She lives in my imagination but carries traits of many of the people that go through the same, horrible thing. Poverty.

Out of all the problems in our world, poverty is a big one, or at least I think so. People die from poverty everyday or are suffering from struggling to survive. In fact, according to UNICEF 25, 000 children die a day from poverty. Every year, eleven million children die, most under the age of five. Every second child lives in poverty. It’s even found in our own country, 1 in 6 children lives below the poverty line. When you read those facts what do you think? The big thing that comes to my mind is how can we change it? How can we help? Well to tell the truth, I have no idea. I do know that there are people out there who have made a difference and probably know the answer, or at least part of it. Craig Keilburger has made a huge difference in the world by fighting against child labour, building schools, and speaking to people across the world. He created an organization when he was only twelve called free the children.

If we all just give a little we could get a 1 step closer perfect world back. Whether it’s something as big as going to Kenya to help children, or as simple as sparing some change to someone you see living on the street. Change. I want to be the change, the difference to a better planet. Difference. How can I make a difference to help poverty, to decrease it? I am only one person, with one opinion, and one voice sharing it with the world as soon as I hit publish then anyone can see it. Although I doubt many people will stumble across my page at least it’s something. Something. Nothing. Poverty.