Improving Poverty

Improving poverty was one of the main criteria I looked at when initially trying to find a loan candidate. Many people take for granted the fact that we are able to receive an education without any questions asked, and in most cases a general education is in no way something we can't afford because it's free. Another thing I think many people in America take for granted is the fact that no matter what kind of unimportant job we hold, we are paid minimum wage. An hour of minimum wage work in America is often more money than many of these people make in a single day. I personally can't imagine trying to raise a family on that amount of money. So, with these things in mind, I decided to do some research in hopes of finding some facts related to these concerns. This first website I came across explained about children living in poverty in areas such as Nepal and India. One of the loan candidates I picked, Jashoda and her husband Dinesh are from India. They are currently seeking a loan in order to be able to send their son to college so he will not have to face the poverty situations that they have had to live their lives in. Another website was about women making up 70% of the poverty in the world. To me, that is really sad. Gender should not cause discrimination. Women deserve equal rights. The third website I found was about education. 70 million children in third world countries are going without an education. I think that every child deserves to be able to read and write. I can't imagine trying to survive without knowing these things. It really makes you stop and think what the world would be like. And, I think it explains why these countries are living in poverty. How are people supposed to be able to get a job or work at all for that matter without being able to read?
http://practicalaction.org/children-who-live-in-poverty?utm_source=S000&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=C10105&gclid=CNX3r-Tw0bwCFecRMwodjgkAPw

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2013/mar/26/empower-women-end-poverty-developing-world

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/sep/20/70m-get-no-education

Top 3 Kiva Loan Candidates

http://www.kiva.org/lend/666208
Nancy is a 43 year old woman from Liberia. She currently runs a business selling cold water and gasoline. However, she only is busy around traditional holidays and Christmas. Nancy is a 6th grade drop out. She's married and is raising their five children which range from age 7 to 14. She is seeking a loan in order to expand the range of items she can sell in the store which will improve income and help her raise her family. I think that Nancy meets the loam criteria because she is raising a family of five children and helping to improve her community by expanding her business.

http://www.kiva.org/lend/666192
Jashoda and Dinesh are a married couple from India. Jashoda is illiterate and can only sign her name while Dinesh is an uneducated farmer. Together, they are raising their only son who is currently enrolled in school and reading at a grade 12 level. However, Dinesh's earnings as a farmer are hardly sufficient to cover the essentials without the cost of education expenses for their son. Jashoda is seeking a loan in order to pay for their son to continue to receive his education. I think that Jashoda and Dinesh meet the the loan criteria because everyone deserves to be educated and they want their son to be able to have an education unlike they did.

http://www.kiva.org/lend/666164
Vincent is a 40 year old man from Uganda. He is married and has two children who are both enrolled in school. Vincent has been running a drug shop for the past three years, which operates in clinics and sells drugs. Vincent is seeking a loan in order to expand the variety of drugs in which he currently carries in order to meet the need of his community. I think that Vincent meets the loan criteria because many people are going without health care and with Vincent expanding his drug shop, not only will he be meeting the needs of his family and community but also he will be providing his community with health care needs that they may otherwise not be able to have.

Education

Education is one of the most important things that we, as parents, can provide for our children. Unfortunately in many third-world countries, education is often not an option. According to a website, www.dosomething.org, girls are less likely to start school at all, while boys tend to drop out or have to repeat a grade. In developing low-income countries, every additional year of education can increase a person's income by an average of 10 percent. Children who are born to educated mothers are less likely to be stunted or malnourished and each additional year of maternal education reduces the child's mortality rate by 2 percent. We as Americans don't often have to deal with facts like that. However, many of these children even get the privilege of going to school or even being able to write or read their own names, especially girls. In fact, 53 percent of the worlds out-of-school children are girls and two-thirds of the illiterate people in the world are women. That's so sad. Education empowers women to make healthier decisions regarding their life. For example, women in Mali with a secondary level education or higher have an average of three children, while those with no education have an average of seven. That goes to show you exactly how important an education actually is. My point here is that giving children an education should interest those who want to improve poverty levels around the world. Beyond this limited audience, however, my point should speak to anyone who cares about the large issue of uneducated children in the world.