Cape Town, South Africa’s legislative capital, has a population of about four million, which is nearly 8% of the entire South African population. South Africa has been successful in cultivating a democratic country, but it has a persistent inequity issue. In 2015, the bottom 60% of the country only held 7% of South Africa’s net wealth. Although more than 55% of South Africans live below the poverty line, 93% of black South Africans live in poverty. Cape Town, although not exempt from issues of inequity, is a thriving metropolis to South Africa. When the Cape Town water crisis rose to a peak in 2017, it became imperative for the city to make some serious changes before they ran out of water completely. Here is how Cape Town recovered from its devastating water shortage and a look at where the city is today.
How the Crisis Began
Cape Town has long been praised for its award-winning water management achievements and efficient use of the city’s six largest reservoirs, which can hold up to 230 billion gallons of water. The city was well aware of the impending climate changes and took measures to decrease overall water consumption.
Despite their efforts, Cape Town neglected to factor in the steady decreases in annual rainfall. This oversight was minor at the time and the city’s reservoirs were full in 2014. However, a sudden three-year-long drought drained the reservoirs to only 26% capacity by 2017. The city declared they would shut municipal water taps off when they reached 13.5% capacity.
City Measures
The term “Day Zero” became the name for the day that water taps would be shut off city-wide, essentially the day Cape Town would officially run out of water. With Day Zero looming and reservoirs draining, the city and its residents sprung into action to avoid the ultimate Cape Town water crisis.
At the beginning of 2017, the average city resident used 600 liters per day. City officials lowered that daily limit to 50 liters per day. To put that number into perspective, the average Californian used 321 liters of water per day during the 2016 drought. If a household went above that 50 liter limit, it faced hefty fines and a meter installation to shut off the water automatically once it exceeded the daily limit. The city also implemented severe quotas for agricultural and commercial institutions.
Residents Doing Their Part
The Cape Town water crisis could not have been averted if not for innovative action from the residents themselves. People began to recycle shower and washing machine water as well as limit toilet flushes to once a day. Farmers diverted their water supply away from their own farms for the city to use. Swimming pools and lawns were no longer essentials and residents no longer used water for such amenities. Social media played a key role as well by being a platform to share advice with a large audience. Local restaurants and bars started competitions to see who could refrain from washing their clothes the longest. The combination of these efforts is what saved the 4 million people from ever having to experience Day Zero.
The Role of Poverty
Although the Cape Town water crisis affected the entire city, it hit some residents much harder than others. South Africa is already a country known for its inequity issues, and the water crisis exacerbated that fact. Wealthy residents found ways to get around the restrictions by hiring companies to dig $6,000 wells for them, buying large amounts of drinkable water at inflated prices, and even installing filtration systems to make groundwater drinkable. Poor residents, on the other hand, were at the mercy of the city and had to sacrifice buying food to be able to buy water.
Where is Cape Town Today?
Cape Town finally experienced an average rainy season in January 2018, allowing the city to postpone the arrival of Day Zero indefinitely. After the immediate crisis had been averted, the city began planning for ocean water desalination and groundwater extraction as backup water sources. These are more long-term solutions, but they present issues of their own such as the affordability of such intense installations and the impact on local ecosystems.
Limits on water usage have been loosened slightly; however, they still exist and are strictly enforced. This continues to negatively impact the city’s poorest residents. Perhaps the most helpful action taken since the crisis has been the weekly reports on dam capacities. As of July 2020, all the dams are holding steady at around 80% capacity.
Although the Cape Town water crisis never fully culminated in a citywide water shutoff, the impact of the event still resonates with the poor. Moving forward, efforts need to be made to ensure equal water access for all residents.
– Natalie Tarbox
Photo: Flickr
How Hair Trade is Not Fair Trade
Poverty comes in various forms: lack of education, malnutrition, preventable diseases, and, in some cases, loss of hair. Hair, like poverty, comes in different appearances: long, wavy, short, brown, curly, red, mid-length or white. Some people covet certain styles, particularly those whose hair cannot naturally conform to the latest trend. Therefore, alternatives such as natural or synthetic hair stand in as solutions. For years, India was the primary provider of natural hair to African American women in the United States. However, in recent years, Cambodia, a Southeast Asian country riddled with poverty, took the spotlight, sending hundreds of locks of hair to America, Europe, South Africa and Nigeria, with the American market accounting for 80% of sales in the hair trade industry. Eyes dote upon these pristine locks, which fall into consumers’ hands at a reasonable price, but the hair trade rarely comes at a fair price to the proprietor.
Injustice in the Industry
In Cambodia, women’s hair typically sells for $8 to $30, depending on the length of the lock. Companies then clean, sew and sell it for an average of an outstanding $500 in the United States. The hair that sells online and in American shops generally come from the heads of poor Khmer women. These women often experience coercion to sell their hair for an unfair price. These women are unaware of the value of their hair and do not know how to barter. In return, the women end up with split ends, bald spots, jagged edges and low self-esteem.
Poverty in Cambodia
Poverty forces unwanted decisions. It includes numerous losses, such as the loss of hair, which signifies beauty and strength. However, the blazing light of poverty is beginning to fade in Cambodia. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, Cambodia had one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. In fact, over the course of the past 20 years, Cambodia has reduced its poverty level by half. Infant mortality rates have decreased and primary education enrollment has increased. Statistically speaking, Cambodia is on the rise.
NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) have played an instrumental role in the economic climb. One NGO, Open Arms, provides vocational training through various methods, including hairdressing and salon maintenance. Through Open Arms, women, who once had to sell their hair to make financial ends meet, now have the privilege of empowering other women through the simplicity of a haircut.
The shift in the country’s economy has shed light not only on Cambodia’s best but also on her worst, which includes the hair trade industry. With the injustice of the hair trade industry making the pages of prominent news outlets, such as NBC, there is potential for change. After all, awareness is the building block for action. While Cambodia is on an uphill climb, she still has a long way to go. However, she is moving in a positive direction, gaining prominence with each step she takes.
– Chatham Rayne Kennedy
Photo: Pixabay
5 Celebrities Who Advocate For Yemen
5 Celebrities Who Advocate For Yemen
When celebrities advocate on behalf of countries in need of aid, such as Yemen, they are bringing awareness to millions of their social media followers who were possibly unaware of foreign issues. By informing fans and making generous donations, the celebrities who advocate for Yemen can change and improve the living conditions of the country’s citizens.
– Megan Ha
Photo: Flickr
What to Know About Period Poverty in Venezuela
Having access to menstrual products is essential to a woman’s life. Lacking these products can interrupt women’s daily schedules, including their education and work. As Venezuela’s economy declines, many Venezuelan women are unable to afford feminine products. Period poverty in Venezuela is now a challenge that women must overcome by creating alternative menstrual products.
Venezuela’s Inflation Crisis
Two decades ago, Venezuela took pride in being Latin America’s richest economy, boasting the world’s largest oil reserves. However, the past two governments’ corruption, mismanagement and debts have led Venezuela’s economy to fall apart, causing many companies to stop working and leading to hyperinflation and shortages of many products and basic services.
Feminine hygiene products did not escape this economic crisis. Today, these products are so expensive that many women cannot afford them. Two packs of pads can consume up to a third of a women’s minimum salary, according to a 2018 source. Plafam, an association for family planning in Venezuela, stated that 90% of medicine and healthcare products are in shortage. Many women cannot afford to spend their salary on menstrual products when they also need to buy other essentials. Forced to choose between food or tampons, many women are looking for other affordable options.
Creative Solutions to Period Poverty
In an interview with Voice of America, a young woman named Desiree Rodriguez said that instead of pads, she uses pieces cut from old sheets of cotton and plastic bags. Other women are using similar methods to tackle period poverty in Venezuela. Raquel Pérez said that she can buy either pads for herself or diapers for her children; she chooses to buy diapers and handcraft her own pads.
VICE interviewed women in Venezuela who invented similar ways to deal with menstruation. America Villegas, a past vice-chancellor of the National Experimental University of the Arts, is making her own pads. In 2016, Villegas decided to quit using the low-quality pads that were — and still are — flowing on the market. “They gave me horrible irritation and allergies,” Villegas said.
With her teenage daughter and mother, Villegas began creating ecological pads made of fabric, cotton and plastic, which she sells through MercadoLibre, an online marketplace. Her pads are washable and reusable. Despite a myth that reusable pads are bad for women’s health, according to Women’s Health Magazine, they are safe if cleaned correctly. However, many Venezuelan families lack access to clean water, soap or detergent.
Lahaie Luna Lezama
Three young women decided to tackle period poverty in Venezuela in another way. In 2018, Marianne Lahaie Luna, Véronique Lahaie Luna and Rosana Lezama founded Lahaie Luna Lezama, an NGO dedicated to improving access to menstrual products and rights in Venezuela.
These women partnered with Plafam to distribute an alternative to pads: the menstrual cup. Because of taboo and myths around menstruation in Venezuela, most women are disinclined to use tampons or products like a menstrual cup. But with proper education about women’s health and the sustainable use of menstrual cups — which women can use for up to seven years — women in Venezuela are now using these products as another solution to period poverty.
In 2019, Lahaie Luna Lezama started collaborating with a Colombian organization called CEPAZ, reaching out to Venezuelan women who migrated to Colombia. Because of their uncertain legal status, these women are prone to sexual exploitation and solicitation, lower-wage jobs and poverty. Lahaie Luna Lezama distributed around 400 menstrual and sexual kits to these women, as well as many women in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.
Conclusion
Period Poverty in Venezuela causes a great deal of distress. The government has not adequately addressed the importance of menstrual and sexual products. The lack of these products obstructs Venezuelan women’s education and work. Innovative women are introducing creative, handcrafted and sustainable solutions to period poverty in Venezuela, but widespread change is necessary to improve the lives of women who cannot afford traditional menstrual products.
– Alannys Milano
Photo: Flickr
WASH in Serbia: The Good News
Water pollution in Serbia is primarily caused by the inadequate discharge of wastewater. Unequal practices of waste removal disproportionately impact rural and Roma communities, as these groups tend to rely on wells and local waterways that are often exposed to industrial contamination. In fact, 22% of the Roma population does not have access to improved water sources, making them especially susceptible to waterborne diseases. Although there is still much work needed to ensure that everyone in Serbia has access to adequate Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), the situation is far from stagnant. Here are nine facts about how WASH in Serbia is improving.
9 Facts About WASH in Serbia
Although there is still much progress to be made, the initiatives and improvements implemented over the past years demonstrate that there is hope for improved WASH in Serbia. Moving forward, these organizations must continue to make water and sanitation in the nation a priority.
– Kira Lucas
Photo: Flickr
How the Cape Town Water Crisis Was Averted
Cape Town, South Africa’s legislative capital, has a population of about four million, which is nearly 8% of the entire South African population. South Africa has been successful in cultivating a democratic country, but it has a persistent inequity issue. In 2015, the bottom 60% of the country only held 7% of South Africa’s net wealth. Although more than 55% of South Africans live below the poverty line, 93% of black South Africans live in poverty. Cape Town, although not exempt from issues of inequity, is a thriving metropolis to South Africa. When the Cape Town water crisis rose to a peak in 2017, it became imperative for the city to make some serious changes before they ran out of water completely. Here is how Cape Town recovered from its devastating water shortage and a look at where the city is today.
How the Crisis Began
Cape Town has long been praised for its award-winning water management achievements and efficient use of the city’s six largest reservoirs, which can hold up to 230 billion gallons of water. The city was well aware of the impending climate changes and took measures to decrease overall water consumption.
Despite their efforts, Cape Town neglected to factor in the steady decreases in annual rainfall. This oversight was minor at the time and the city’s reservoirs were full in 2014. However, a sudden three-year-long drought drained the reservoirs to only 26% capacity by 2017. The city declared they would shut municipal water taps off when they reached 13.5% capacity.
City Measures
The term “Day Zero” became the name for the day that water taps would be shut off city-wide, essentially the day Cape Town would officially run out of water. With Day Zero looming and reservoirs draining, the city and its residents sprung into action to avoid the ultimate Cape Town water crisis.
At the beginning of 2017, the average city resident used 600 liters per day. City officials lowered that daily limit to 50 liters per day. To put that number into perspective, the average Californian used 321 liters of water per day during the 2016 drought. If a household went above that 50 liter limit, it faced hefty fines and a meter installation to shut off the water automatically once it exceeded the daily limit. The city also implemented severe quotas for agricultural and commercial institutions.
Residents Doing Their Part
The Cape Town water crisis could not have been averted if not for innovative action from the residents themselves. People began to recycle shower and washing machine water as well as limit toilet flushes to once a day. Farmers diverted their water supply away from their own farms for the city to use. Swimming pools and lawns were no longer essentials and residents no longer used water for such amenities. Social media played a key role as well by being a platform to share advice with a large audience. Local restaurants and bars started competitions to see who could refrain from washing their clothes the longest. The combination of these efforts is what saved the 4 million people from ever having to experience Day Zero.
The Role of Poverty
Although the Cape Town water crisis affected the entire city, it hit some residents much harder than others. South Africa is already a country known for its inequity issues, and the water crisis exacerbated that fact. Wealthy residents found ways to get around the restrictions by hiring companies to dig $6,000 wells for them, buying large amounts of drinkable water at inflated prices, and even installing filtration systems to make groundwater drinkable. Poor residents, on the other hand, were at the mercy of the city and had to sacrifice buying food to be able to buy water.
Where is Cape Town Today?
Cape Town finally experienced an average rainy season in January 2018, allowing the city to postpone the arrival of Day Zero indefinitely. After the immediate crisis had been averted, the city began planning for ocean water desalination and groundwater extraction as backup water sources. These are more long-term solutions, but they present issues of their own such as the affordability of such intense installations and the impact on local ecosystems.
Limits on water usage have been loosened slightly; however, they still exist and are strictly enforced. This continues to negatively impact the city’s poorest residents. Perhaps the most helpful action taken since the crisis has been the weekly reports on dam capacities. As of July 2020, all the dams are holding steady at around 80% capacity.
Although the Cape Town water crisis never fully culminated in a citywide water shutoff, the impact of the event still resonates with the poor. Moving forward, efforts need to be made to ensure equal water access for all residents.
– Natalie Tarbox
Photo: Flickr
5 Facts About School Fees In Africa
5 Facts About School Fees in Africa
Moving Forward
The exclusionary education caused by school fees in Africa is a complicated, multifaceted issue that does not have a single, clear solution. Nonetheless, it is a pressing issue that affects children across all of Africa. Knowing some key facts about the situation is essential if interventions are to be effective in opening up educational opportunities to impoverished children. Such knowledge is also key to making changes that are sustainable in the uncertain post-COVID-19 era.
– Sophia Gardner
Photo: Flickr
5 Facts About Poverty in Comoros
Comoros continues to struggle today with extreme poverty, unemployment and a severe wealth gap. The country has undergone more than 20 successful or attempted coups, as well as facing a devastating cyclone. Poverty in Comoros continues to require immediate attention. Here are five facts about poverty in Comoros.
5 Facts About Poverty in Comoros
Looking Ahead
Comoros is still recovering from the effects of its deeply-rooted poverty and of Cyclone Kenneth. The country faces poverty-related challenges in rural areas as well as in the education sector. Cyclone Kenneth exacerbated existing conditions. However, organizations like UNICEF and CERF are stepping in to help address the impacts of the cyclone. Increases in tourism also appear to be an untapped economic sector that could lead to positive changes in Comoros.
– Will Sikich
Photo: Flickr
How Urban Gardening Is Helping to Fight Poverty
If one walks around major world cities today, they might see that an underutilized parking lot or sidewalk has become a lush, green garden. In dense, overcrowded cities around the world, local citizens are taking control of their nutrition and choosing urban gardening over the grocery store.
What is Urban Gardening?
Urban gardening, or alternatively “urban agriculture” or “urban farming,” is an umbrella term for “the process of growing plants of all types and varieties in an urban environment.” In this niche agricultural field, a variety of techniques, such as container gardening, indoor gardening, community gardening and even “guerilla gardening” — a term for the process of taking over abandoned city structures or roads and creating gardens in their place — have arisen. Now, with 32 of the world’s cities hosting populations over 10 million, urban agriculture is a widespread trend across the globe.
Urban gardening is not a new concept, however. Even though the world’s population continues to grow at a rate higher than at any previous point in history, one can find evidence of urban farming in the world’s first big “city,” Mesopotamia, in 3500 B.C. Farmers in this ancient civilization “set aside plots in their growing cities,” laying the foundation for today’s urban agriculture.
The Reason Urban Agriculture is Important
So, why is urban gardening an attractive idea? To put it simply, it has a ton of benefits. In addition, life in the big city is not always as promising as some sometimes make out to be, especially in developing countries. In fact, “rapid urbanization is increasingly shifting the impacts of malnutrition from rural to urban areas” in low-income countries.
However, many migrants in developing countries are choosing cities due to “persistently high levels of rural poverty.” This creates a paradox in that “much urban poverty is created by the rural poor’s efforts to get out of poverty by moving to cities.” For example, in the case of sub-Saharan Africa, rapid urbanization and an annual 4% urban population increase are toppling governments’ abilities to sustain the urban populations. This has created a massive housing backlog of 51 million units in Africa and widespread urban poverty due to overcrowding and a lack of resources. In many developing cities, the demand far outweighs the supply.
Many factors contribute to why people in low-income nations are moving, including “distorted government policies, such as penalizing the agriculture sector and neglecting rural (social and physical) infrastructure.” In addition, many rural areas are simply uninhabitable. For example, 95% of the population in Egypt lives in a lush area around the Nile River that represents only 5% of the country’s total land. The rest of the country is desert.
Just as this overpopulation strains developmental resources in big cities, it also strains food and agriculture. Because 96% of the population growth through 2030 will occur in urban areas, this expansion is likely to seriously harm many of the world’s farmlands. Many low-income nations will likely bear the brunt of this agricultural depletion as well, as projections have determined that more than 80% of global cropland loss will come from Africa and Asia.
How Urban Gardening is Helping Big Cities in the Developing World
Urban gardening reduces the strain on natural resources in cities that overpopulation and crowding have hurt. Doubling as a mechanism of empowerment, urban gardening can involve anybody who wants to take their livelihood into their own hands. The benefits to impoverished communities are plentiful:
In a 2013 TED Talk, Ron Finley, founder of the Green Grounds urban gardening organization in South Central LA, said, “Food is the problem and food is the solution.” Urbanization in the developing world is not going to stop anytime soon. However, urban farming is a hopeful and promising contender as the next best solution to poverty around the world.
– Grace Ganz
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
5 Facts About Healthcare In Spain
5 Facts About Healthcare in Spain
Spain is a country that is home to beautiful landscapes, exquisite cuisine, wonderful people and an amazing healthcare system! It truly earns its spot as one of the best healthcare systems in the world. Spain is a great place to live if someone is looking for a free healthcare system that fully covers all aspects of the medical field.
– Kate Estevez
Photo: Flickr
5 B Corporations You Should Know
B Corporations are businesses that give back to the community by following a set of guidelines for transparency, accountability and that pledge a certain amount of profits for a greater purpose.
Five B Corporations You Should Know
B Impact Score: 118.4/200
Salt Spring Coffee is a fair-trade organic coffee company that works with the Nicaraguan farmers to sustainably farm, sell and serve the highest grade of coffee beans on the market. Salt Spring hopes to pave the way for the coffee industry in producing eco-friendly packaging and contributing meaningful donations. The company does this by donating to innovative, eco-conscious projects through their 1% for the Planet fund. These donations have allowed the company to co-found a Canadian waste-reduction initiative, help install solar panels for isolated Nicaraguan farmers and assist a women-run Ugandan farming co-op.
B Impact Score: 117.8/200
Hora Salud is a simple user-friendly app for the rural Chilean populace that allows individuals to schedule and cancel appointments and check-ups online without wasting time. The app uses SMS to schedule and cancel doctors appointments. This allows already-sick individuals to avoid the burden of traveling to a Health Center and waiting in line for hours to book an appointment. Hora Salud may also be used in tandem with other markets to spread relevant information including weather, national emergencies and public policies. Their mission is to “Improve the quality of people’s lives, optimize service delivery and decision making with reliable and quality data.” As one of many B Corporations, Hora Salud promotes healthy business practices and opportunities for rural Chilean people.
B Impact Score: 177.3/200
BioCarbon Partners (BCP) operates in and outside of Zambia to offset carbon emissions in the atmosphere by sponsoring payment for eco-friendly business operations. BCP is an African leader in the reforestation carbon offset program. With a mission to “Make conservation of wildlife habitat valuable to people,” BCP is cultivating an ecosystem that protects one of Africa’s largest migration sanctuaries. The company prioritizes community engagement and partnership to incentivize forest protection through long-term habitat protection agreements. BCP calculates the amount of carbon that is not released into the atmosphere due to its project and generates sales of these forest carbon offsets through independent external auditors. BCP then reinvests this revenue into conservation and development projects in local communities that rely on wildlife habitat for income. BCP has created 87 jobs for Zambians and continues to create opportunities for wildlife and humanity alike.
B Impact Score: 136.1/200
Avante is the largest benefactor of small businesses in Brazil with more than $200 million invested to serve “micro-companies” that are typically pushed out of the financial industry. Avante functions as a non-conventional financial technology service that uniquely combines credit, insurance and payments. It is currently the largest MFI in Brazil. Avante’s mission is to “humanize financial services,” through a combination of empowerment, ethical business practices and acknowledgment that small businesses are the foundation of a strong economy.
B Impact Score: 153.8/200
Alma Natura established B Corporation status in 2013 to give back to the Sierra de Huelva community of Spain. The first institution of the business began as a nonprofit. It eventually evolved into a limited partnership as Alma Natura continued to invest in rural businesses, guiding them towards a more sustainable and ethical future. With their increased profits, Alma Natura gave back by funding education, technological development and sanitation, ensuring financial equality and sustainable practices in towns with less government funding. Not only has Alma Natura functioned as a business consultant to guide rural communities towards a more equitable economic future, but their commitment to preserving the planet and providing care and education to disadvantaged agricultural centers places their ranking high among businesses that take responsibility for the betterment of humanity.
– Natalie Williams
Photo: Pixabay
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