Poverty is not having money or material possessions or to provide or get basic commodities.
Poverty is something we are seeing more and more of in the world due to the way our economy has became and the way people are losing their jobs on a daily basis.

Poverty is everywhere you turn but when you turn and look at it starting at you and seeing how it can affect someone you know makes you take a different look at it. You see it as something real and it can happen to any of us. There is a family that lives down the road from me and I have know them for about 7 years. The family is a mother, child and grandmother and grandfather. The family has always struggled but the past 6 months have been down to the extreme. They have lived without electricity for the past 7 months. They have a drop cord ran from their home to the uncles to provide them with a light at night. The go to the uncles to cook and take bath. They have little or no income at times to pay the bills. The grandfather did have a job but his employer gotten took over by the IRS and this left him without anything to do. The grandmother and grandfather have very limited education skills. They have a car but no gas to put in it. They do get a few food stamps to help provide with food but other basic commodities they have to do without. It is a sad situation to watch people you know suffer like this. The child in the long run suffers from this stessor the worst and I know the adults do also for not being able to provide child with things in life that every child should have. I do have to say they have lived like this for the past 7 months and hopefully they will be able to put this behind them and move forward due to the fact the grandmother will start getting a disability check in February. The grandfather continues to look for odd jobs and does a few when he can find work. It is sad. The child goes weeks without having snack money at school and really don't undertand why he can't have a sunny d and chips like his friends everyday. He don't have the joys of going places such as McDonalds like some kids do. On top of all of this during this 7 months struggle of living in the conditions they have lived in the mother got a little out of mind trying to get money and now has ended up in jail for a while. I guess you can say proverty can turn you into a monster you never knew you were. It affects our every waking moment and is sad to see more and more families each and everyday is being affected by poverty. Sometimes it looks as if our world is getting worse and worse. I pray each and everyday that things will get better for everyone.

Watching poverty affect someone closeby and seeing what it can do to a family is sad. Being the person I am though and knowing this family I try to help out with the child when possible. I make sure he has snack money for the week and money for field trip when needed. I try to find and buy him clothes when I can. I just bought him a pair of camo shoes this weekend and he couldn't wait to wear them Monday to school to show his friendss. Poverty is all around us and so bad in other parts of the world. We can only continue to pray that things will get better for those around us.

Ethiopiais one of the World's poorest countries. Out of a population of around 80 million (2008) people, 35 million people are living in abject poverty.



In one of the world's poorest countries, where about 44 per cent of the population lives under the poverty line, more than 12 million people are chronically or at least periodically food insecure. Most of them live in rural areas with agriculture as their main occupation.

With 80% of Ethiopians dependent on agriculture as their main livelihood, severe arid conditions due to persistent lack of rainfall coupled with civil disputes have worsened Ethiopian poverty. All efforts have been made to improve conditions in Ethiopia but things have hardly changed. The extremely poor people comprise of the small and marginal farmers.

Areas where poverty in Ethiopia is pronounced:
Poverty in Ethiopia is more pronounced in the rural areas as compared to the urban areas. The situation worsened recently because of sharp increases in the prices of food and fertilizers on world markets, which made it more difficult for poor households in Ethiopia, as elsewhere, to secure adequate food supplies. Rural areas have uniform distribution of poverty, Oromiya, being an exception. Oromiya cultivates enset, which acts as a buffer storage at the time of drought and dearth.

Climate Changes Increasing Ethiopia Poverty
Increased poverty, water scarcity, and food insecurity are just some of the negative impacts set to hit small-scale farmers and pastoralists in Ethiopia as a result of climate change in the region. While Ethiopia is no stranger to climatic variability, having suffered droughts that have contributed to hunger and even famine in the past, climate changes is set to make the lives of the poorest even harder. The persistent lack of rainfall is a major factor in rural poverty. Recurring droughts leave poor farming families without food crops, causing periodic famines. People lack coping mechanisms for facing drought-induced famines, and contingency planning is inadequate.

Causes of poverty in Ethiopia:

Some of the causes of poverty in Ethiopia are:

Arid conditions leading to irregular production in the agriculture sector.
Improper marketing strategies of agricultural products.
Degrading ecology
Technological know how being poorly developed.
Transportation facilities are poorly developed.
Failure of the rural people in participating in awareness programs meant for them
Absence of sufficient rainfall
Shortage of food products owing to several conditions.
Absence of proper socio economic infrastructure. This includes lack of potable water, proper education and health programs.
Unstable political scenario.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is driving poor people even deeper into poverty, depriving families of the young adults who are their most productive members. It is estimated that about 6 per cent of Ethiopia's adult population is HIV-positive. Together, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and malaria seriously affect the health of large numbers of Ethiopians, many of them in rural areas.

Probable remedies for poverty in Ethiopia:
Some remedies that are suggested for bringing about a reduction in the Ethiopian poverty level are the reduction in the growth of population and macro economic stability. Families, which are run by the womenfolk, are especially susceptible to poverty in Ethiopia. The womenfolk do not participate in awareness programs. This results in innumerable deaths of infants, malnutrition, and illiteracy in the poor families. Efforts should be made to influence women and other less privileged people to participate in various awareness programs pertaining to family planning, education and health benefits. http://finance.mapsofworld.com/economy/ethiopia/poverty.html


References:
http://finance.mapsofworld.com/economy/ethiopia/poverty.html