Around the world, a record number of people have become forcibly displaced due to violence, natural disasters or a variety of other reasons. According to the U.N. Human Rights Council, 70.8 million people are forcibly displaced, and 25.9 million of those are considered refugees. At the same time, millions of people lacked food security around the world. The Peace Corps defines food security as “when families are able to afford and obtain enough nutritious food.” In 2018, more than 700 million people faced severe food insecurity.
Food security and refugee issues are deeply intertwined, as refugees are particularly vulnerable to becoming food-insecure. Worldwide, millions of refugees face food insecurity. Thankfully, many organizations are using their resources to create innovative solutions to provide healthy food to refugees who are not able to afford or access it. Here are three organizations that are improving food security for refugees:
African Women Rising
The Palabek refugee camp in northern Uganda hosts more than 38,000 refugees who have fled the brutal civil war in South Sudan. Humanitarian organizations have been struggling to find a long-term solution to food insecurity in the camp. While the Ugandan government allocates plots of land for refugees to farm on, these plots of land are usually too small for traditional farming techniques to work. However, the NGO African Women Rising (AWR) thinks it has found an innovative solution to malnutrition among refugees. In 2017, AWR introduced the camp to 30 by 30-meter plots of land known as “permagardens”.
AWR’s permagardens are specially cultivated in a way that allows them to maximize the number of crops, trees and plants that can be grown in them. It can take anywhere from a few months to a year to teach someone permagarden farming techniques. The total cost of developing, training and supporting a permagarden is just $85. The gardens primarily grow various fruits and vegetables, which provide vital micronutrients and vitamins that are not present in their monthly World Food Programme portions. Many other organizations are already starting to replicate the microgarden approach in refugee settings, including the U.N., the Danish Refugee Council and USAID.
Sunrise-USA
Sunrise-USA was founded in 2011 by a group of Syrian-American professionals and claims to be one of the world’s leading humanitarian aid organizations focused on victims of war inside Syria and in refugee camps in neighboring countries. In addition, to providing food security for refugees, Sunrise-USA provides refugees with healthcare, orphan sponsoring services, education, water and sanitation. The organization also helps Syrian refugees, who are mostly Muslim, observe Islamic religious traditions such as Ramadan, Udhiya and Zakat.
Within Syria, Sunrise-USA works to deliver badly needed food baskets to besieged cities. These baskets typically contain chicken, eggs, dates, oils, margarine, tuna cans, sugar and powdered milk, and only cost $45 to produce. While the city of Aleppo was under siege, the organization delivered over 5,000 food baskets, as well as two containers of jackets, sweaters and mattresses. Sunrise-USA’s “Feed Them” campaign has delivered food aid to 30,000 families in need and has provided milk and baby formula to 20,000 vulnerable families with children.
Action Contre La Faim (Action Against Hunger)
Action Contre La Faim (ACF) is a French organization that works in more than 45 countries to treat and prevent malnutrition. For more than 40 years, it has provided various forms of food aid where it is needed most. Its 7,500-member staff currently assists 21 million people worldwide. The organization has responded to various humanitarian crises that have generated large numbers of refugees, including the civil wars that have taken place in South Sudan and Syria, as well as the genocide of the Rohingya people in Myanmar.
In Bangladesh, ACF works to increase food security for refugees who have escaped into the country from Myanmar. Every day, the organization provides 83,000 hot meals and 551,497 liters of water to Rohingya refugees. The organization has also conducted malnutrition screenings for 100,000 Rohingya children and has diagnosed over 11,000 malnourished children. These malnourished children were then referred to ACF’s emergency nutrition programs for treatment through mobile clinics.
As the global refugee crisis continues to intensify, more and more organizations will need to come together to provide both short-term and long-term solutions to food security for refugees. These organizations have shown they are more than willing to rise to this task and have each made a measurable impact on the wellbeing of refugees around the world.
– Andrew Bryant
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About Life Expectancy in Argentina
Between 2010 and 2014, mortality from HIV/AIDS rose from 3.2 deaths per 100,000 people to 3.4 deaths per 100,000. Some people in Argentina also face water scarcity, a lack of basic services and supplies, low wages and limited access to food markets. These 10 facts about life expectancy in Argentina display the quality of life and health of Argentinians.
10 Facts About Life Expectancy in Argentina
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay created a joint initiative to study the socio-economic conditions of the more rural regions to discover why diseases plague certain parts of their countries and not others. With an increasing life expectancy, Argentina’s has one of the largest labor forces in the world. Universal access to health care is Argentina’s end goal and some of the information in these 10 facts about life expectancy in Argentina demonstrate that things are looking positive for the future.
– Adam Townsend
Photo: Flickr
The Good News About South Korea’s $8 Million Aid
North Korea has since become a nation of poverty. The greatest threats to North Korea are its water pollution, waterborne diseases, deforestation, soil erosion and degradation. In 2017, one in five North Koreans did not have access to clean water and 41 percent of people were undernourished. Since the country’s poverty level has been increasing, North Korea has been reliant on international aid. Recently, South Korea has announced it will be sending $8 million in food aid to North Korea.
The good news about South Korea’s $8 million aid is that it expected to begin reducing tension between the opposing governments while reducing poverty levels in the North. North Korea previously chose not to accept aid from the South. The Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un, is now open to receiving the aid due to the current harvest being the worst in the past decade and the current drought problem, which is currently the worst it has been in over three decades.
Expected Benefits
Taking a Stand
Tensions between North and South Korea have been high since the end of World War II. In a press release, the South Korea Unification Ministry made it clear to the public that its tension with North Korea was not a reason to deny the country humanitarian aid. South Korea’s aid will begin to lessen those tensions. It will also provide food and medical aid to the suffering population and begin to reduce the poverty levels.
Most countries have been hesitant to send international aid to North Korea due to their involvement in missile and nuclear weapons developments. South Korea is taking a stand and using compassion to state that political issues do not affect the fact that almost half of the North Korean population is starving and in need of help.
– Chelsea Wolfe
Photo: Pixabay
Current Developments in the Samoan Fishing Industry
Samoa is a small island that relies heavily on two main exports, coconut products and fish. Although the Samoan economy grew significantly from diverse agriculture products such as taro, its current focus shifted to fishing industry development. Since the majority of poor Samoans work within the fishing and agriculture industries, improving the fishing industry can help the livelihoods of poor Samoans. The Samoan government and the World Bank are seeing progress in the growing Samoan fishing industry. The poverty rate decreased from 26.9 percent in 2008 to 18.8 percent in 2013, in part due to investment in underappreciated industries, such as the fishing industry.
Current Aquaculture Status
The Strategy for Development of Samoa (SDS) views aquaculture as an important pre-requisite to effective fish farming. Since 2007, Tilapia culture in earthen ponds has been successful but there are several constraints to further development in the Samoan fishing industry. A lack of feeds, technology, skills and limited access to markets impedes faster development. Despite the low technology, aquaculture is viewed as a practical means of increasing fisheries production, providing an additional source of food to those in poverty and generating income to local communities.
Four Initiatives
The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt, created four main goals in 2017 to boost the fisheries sector. The four initiatives are Samoa’s Tuna Management and Development Plan 2017-2021, the revival of the Fish Aggregating Devices (F.A.Ds) Project, repair work on research vessel F.V. Ulimasao and delivery of 20 tablets to monitor deployed F.A.Ds. The 20 tablets are used to observe and assess the impact of the F.A.Ds on food security and the livelihoods of Samoans.
The F.V. Ulimasou research vessel was repaired through financial assistance from the World Bank. The vessel is used to train fishery personnel and test new technology and fishing gear. About 30 percent of exports derive from the fishing sector and over 90 percent of exported fish is tuna. For this reason, the minister targets the growing industry in order to further develop the economy and the Samoan fishing industry.
Assistance from the World Bank
Thousands of Samoan families and local producers plan to benefit from a $20 million grant from the World Bank. The Samoa Agriculture and Fisheries Productivity and Marketing Project was created in 2019 and will include construction and rehabilitation of infrastructure, such as cold storage at fish markets. Samoa is frequently affected by hurricanes and part of the grant is directed towards constructing disaster-resilient fishery buildings.
The grant will also help grow Samoa’s capacity to export fish and fish products. Hon. Lopao’o Natanielu Mua, Samoa’s Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries said, “We look forward to working with the World Bank to achieve our goal of increased food, improved nutrition and more secure incomes for Samoans.” At least 30 percent of matching grants will go towards female farmers and fishers.
Future Outlooks
The poverty rate has continually declined thanks to efforts by the Samoan government, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank and various organizations. The Asian Development Bank supported Samoa since 1966 and committed $190 million in loans, $134 million in grants and $33 million in technical assistance in the small island country. ADB’s future assistance to Samoa will focus on energy investment, disaster-resilient roads, upgraded port facilities and job creation. With continued efforts from external organizations, the livelihood of Samoans will improve.
– Lucas Schmidt
Photo: Flickr
Violence Against Indigenous Women
Recently, activist groups in the U.S. have brought attention to a staggering problem: the increasing number of missing or murdered indigenous women and girls. Violence against indigenous women and girls does not only occur in the U.S. Native women all around the world also find themselves trapped in the margins of justice, vulnerable to various forms of violence. This article will consider three common threads that perpetuate these patterns and the initiatives taken to stop them.
Economic Exploitation
Due to centuries of displacement and disenfranchisement that nation-state expansion caused, many indigenous communities around the world have limited access to economic opportunity. As a result, indigenous women must often work in highly exploitative labor, which can take the form of slavery and/or human trafficking.
In Nepal, girls of Tharu origin or Kamlaris frequently find themselves in a coordinated system of bondage. While the Nepal government prohibited this system in 2000, the economic scarcity that some Tharu families face allows for this exploitation to survive, according to the Asian Indigenous Women’s Network.
Violence against indigenous women takes the form of debt bondage in several other Asian countries. Cases have popped up in China, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and other countries in the region. In Latin America, economic exploitation is a detriment to the well-being of indigenous women and girls, with life-threatening child labor forced upon many native communities.
Encroachment onto Indigenous Land
Land-grabbing for economic or political reasons threatens many indigenous communities around the world. In many cases, this weakens the solidarity instrumental in ensuring the well-being of community members, leaving women and girls more vulnerable. Seventy-six percent of people living on tribal land and 96 percent of perpetrators of sexual violence against indigenous women in the U.S., for example, are of non-native identity.
In Asia-Pacific countries, the appropriation of land for private or public use met with resistance and has led to the increased terrorization of indigenous communities, according to the U.N. The military forces of the Philippines, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea and Fiji have all used rape and murder of women and girls as a war tactic.
Governmental Negligence
Combating the multifaceted forms of violence against indigenous women and girls is a tall task; political negligence of the problem makes it even harder.
Consider one particularly harmful U.S. policy which states that tribes do not have legal jurisdiction over criminal acts that nonmembers commit. In 2013, this law changed to allow prosecution in cases of domestic violence, but sexual assault and trafficking crimes still lie outside tribes’ legal power. Of course, the federal level could try these crimes, but law enforcement often fails to respond in an adequate or timely manner. Even in urban settings, nearly a third of perpetrators of violence against indigenous women do not receive justice in the U.S., according to the Urban Indian Health Institute.
There is a similar dynamic playing out in New Zealand, where Maori women often face discrimination. If they bring a complaint to the government, it may not be fruitful, as “[t]he government has a poor record of recognizing and protecting Maori rights and interests generally,” says indigenous legal scholar Kerensa Johnston.
Confronting the Challenge
To address violence against indigenous women and girls, two different types of solutions are necessary. First, governments must implement immediate-relief policies: the U.N. notes that many countries have invested in support services for women and girls affected by violence and in awareness campaigns to prevent violence from even occurring. Policies can also work to improve data collection to ensure that fewer cases go unaddressed; Washington state just passed a bill with this aim.
As the U.N. warns, however, solving this problem will require more than tinkering around the edges. Histories of inequities make justice elusive, putting native women and girls at a higher risk for gender-based violence. The U.N. report suggests that communities and countries will find a path forward only once they recognize this history.
– James Delegal
Photo: Flickr
Abiy Ahmed’s Political Accomplishments
On April 2, 2018, Abiy Ahmed became the prime minister of Ethiopia. Ahmed has a history of being in the military, formerly serving as an army intelligence officer. He also has a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and a master of arts degree in transformational leadership. Yet, these facts do not even compare to Abiy Ahmed’s political accomplishments thus far.
Abiy Ahmed as Prime Minister
At 42 years old, Ahmed is the youngest African leader to have a leadership position. In his first 12 months of office, Ahmed has already enacted political reforms that will privatize state-owned sugar plants, railways and industrial parks. He also intends to partially privatize Ethiopian airlines, telecom, electric power corporation and shipping & logistics services enterprises. These four industries are the most crucial for Ethiopia since Ethiopia considers them “the four crown jewels of the economy.” Ahmed’s privatization process has already garnered international support, gaining $1.2 billion dollars for Ethiopia from the World Bank. This is the largest loan a Sub-Saharan country in Africa has ever received. Ahmed is not only implementing reforms that are leading to global outreach, but he is also bringing in more money for Ethiopia’s economy in doing so.
Repression in Ethiopia
Many consider Ethiopia to be one of the most politically repressive countries. Historically, leaders would lock journalists for doing their jobs or torture inhabitants of detention centers. The political repression has not completely improved, but Ahmed is making sure to take steps in that direction. He has already admitted to the repression that exists and even to the government using torture. Ahmed is attempting to undo Ethiopia’s brutal history of repression by admitting to it and releasing the prisoners. This will not fix Ethiopia’s problems overnight, but it is a small step that should bring the country to a better place for itself and its citizens.
Despite the fact that Ahmed has committed some very important actions that could ultimately impact Ethiopia’s economy, the results have not always been positive. Communal violence has broken out since Ahmed has been in office, resulting in messy and confusing times for many of Ethiopia’s citizens. Ethiopia has an incredibly big, diverse population, which makes it one of the more difficult ones to govern. Many of its citizens still live in poverty and the literacy rates reach only half the population. While Ahmed’s new policies and reforms will be beneficial, that does not mean they will have overall positive effects. However, there is some hope amidst the chaos. It means that the citizens care and that they are looking for something to believe in. Abiy Ahmed’s political accomplishments could be that hope.
Ethiopia still has a long way to go. Abiy Ahmed’s political accomplishments are already paving the way to Ethiopia gaining a more benign government and country. The small steps he is taking will be significant in enacting big change.
– Haley Saffren
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About Life Expectancy in Estonia
Estonia, a beautiful, Baltic country with a historically turbulent background, is a striking model of a nation that refuses to let adversities stand in the way of its mission for improvement. Despite Estonia’s many challenges over the last two decades, it continues to prove that positive change is possible, no matter how small. These 10 facts about life expectancy in Estonia demonstrate the most notable progress the country has made in pursuit of a longer and higher quality of life for its people.
10 Facts About Life Expectancy in Estonia
Despite its turbulent past, Estonia has proven over the last two decades that it is capable of great improvement. These improvements come in the form of technological advancement, transparent and efficient health care and government initiatives focused on accessing all citizens and ensuring they receive the care they need.
– Ashlyn Jensen
Photo: Flickr
Top 10 Facts About Living Conditions in the Pitcairn Islands
Pitcairn Islands are British Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 3,000 miles away from anywhere or anyone except its 50 or so inhabitants. Crystal-clear blue water surrounds its only settlement, the village of Adamstown, which is free of air pollution. However, a lack of space and accessibility makes for tight quarters and close relationships. Here are the top 10 facts about living conditions on the Pitcairn Islands:
Pitcairn Islands faces real challenges, but most are due to a dwindling population rather than the extreme levels of poverty that exist elsewhere globally. As long as the island continues to receive financial aid from the British Government at the same rate as inflation, it should be able to stay afloat financially as long as its inhabitants and future immigrants are able to sustain a population.
– Helen Schwie
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Updated: May 27, 2024
3 Organizations Improving Food Security for Refugees
Food security and refugee issues are deeply intertwined, as refugees are particularly vulnerable to becoming food-insecure. Worldwide, millions of refugees face food insecurity. Thankfully, many organizations are using their resources to create innovative solutions to provide healthy food to refugees who are not able to afford or access it. Here are three organizations that are improving food security for refugees:
African Women Rising
The Palabek refugee camp in northern Uganda hosts more than 38,000 refugees who have fled the brutal civil war in South Sudan. Humanitarian organizations have been struggling to find a long-term solution to food insecurity in the camp. While the Ugandan government allocates plots of land for refugees to farm on, these plots of land are usually too small for traditional farming techniques to work. However, the NGO African Women Rising (AWR) thinks it has found an innovative solution to malnutrition among refugees. In 2017, AWR introduced the camp to 30 by 30-meter plots of land known as “permagardens”.
AWR’s permagardens are specially cultivated in a way that allows them to maximize the number of crops, trees and plants that can be grown in them. It can take anywhere from a few months to a year to teach someone permagarden farming techniques. The total cost of developing, training and supporting a permagarden is just $85. The gardens primarily grow various fruits and vegetables, which provide vital micronutrients and vitamins that are not present in their monthly World Food Programme portions. Many other organizations are already starting to replicate the microgarden approach in refugee settings, including the U.N., the Danish Refugee Council and USAID.
Sunrise-USA
Sunrise-USA was founded in 2011 by a group of Syrian-American professionals and claims to be one of the world’s leading humanitarian aid organizations focused on victims of war inside Syria and in refugee camps in neighboring countries. In addition, to providing food security for refugees, Sunrise-USA provides refugees with healthcare, orphan sponsoring services, education, water and sanitation. The organization also helps Syrian refugees, who are mostly Muslim, observe Islamic religious traditions such as Ramadan, Udhiya and Zakat.
Within Syria, Sunrise-USA works to deliver badly needed food baskets to besieged cities. These baskets typically contain chicken, eggs, dates, oils, margarine, tuna cans, sugar and powdered milk, and only cost $45 to produce. While the city of Aleppo was under siege, the organization delivered over 5,000 food baskets, as well as two containers of jackets, sweaters and mattresses. Sunrise-USA’s “Feed Them” campaign has delivered food aid to 30,000 families in need and has provided milk and baby formula to 20,000 vulnerable families with children.
Action Contre La Faim (Action Against Hunger)
Action Contre La Faim (ACF) is a French organization that works in more than 45 countries to treat and prevent malnutrition. For more than 40 years, it has provided various forms of food aid where it is needed most. Its 7,500-member staff currently assists 21 million people worldwide. The organization has responded to various humanitarian crises that have generated large numbers of refugees, including the civil wars that have taken place in South Sudan and Syria, as well as the genocide of the Rohingya people in Myanmar.
In Bangladesh, ACF works to increase food security for refugees who have escaped into the country from Myanmar. Every day, the organization provides 83,000 hot meals and 551,497 liters of water to Rohingya refugees. The organization has also conducted malnutrition screenings for 100,000 Rohingya children and has diagnosed over 11,000 malnourished children. These malnourished children were then referred to ACF’s emergency nutrition programs for treatment through mobile clinics.
As the global refugee crisis continues to intensify, more and more organizations will need to come together to provide both short-term and long-term solutions to food security for refugees. These organizations have shown they are more than willing to rise to this task and have each made a measurable impact on the wellbeing of refugees around the world.
– Andrew Bryant
Photo: Flickr
App Helps Job Seekers in South Africa
Recently, a new and innovative app helps job seekers and employers in South Africa. The app makes finding a new employee or job less stressful and a little more fun. A group of employers that were frustrated with the traditional job application process created “Mr. Employ,” an app that helps job seekers find the right position and company that best suits them and their needs. Additionally, Mr. Employ is helping employers find the right people for their company.
An App For Employees
“Mr. Employ” is free to use. The app helps job seekers view potential job postings quickly and easily. On the app, there is a dashboard that summarizes all the jobs one matches with. Mr. Employ’s matching criteria is unique and weighted in that it allows job seekers to choose the best jobs out there.
Candidates are able to read a quick summary about which prospective employers match with their wants and qualifications. From there, candidates can see whether they would like to give them a “thumbs-up.” Regardless of whether a person may not like the job posted, no job postings are ever left out of the dashboard. Candidates may just match less with one job over another based on their personality, wants and professional goals.
This app helps job seekers as they can “like” up to five jobs on the app. To create a profile on the app, candidates upload a standardized micro CV, a photograph and a 15 second video.
An App For Employers
On the app, employers can quickly be matched with a growing pool of candidates through its easy and navigable sites.
First, employers must create their job postings and then enter as many job specifications as they would like to that upload. Then, employers choose whether they would like to keep their job posting open to all potential matches, or simply only to those the company specifically likes themselves. After the company’s profile is complete, companies can then see all current dashboards for all potential candidates they matched with. The can also view their match in a percentage regarding the candidate’s qualifications for the specifications posted for the specific jobs.
The 15-second video is very important to employers since it serves as a candidate’s first impression. It gives companies a real sense of whether a candidate will be a right fit for the culture and nature of their business. From a first impression, companies can gather whether they would like to spend the time to get to know the candidate in person or not.
This saves companies time and energy as opposed to the traditional ways where employers would previously try to get to know someone from pieces of paper. This method prevents employers from finding out if a candidate would be a good fit for their company until they meet them face-to-face. The videos on this new app helps job seekers and saves employers time and energy. For employers to partake in the app, they must pay a fee for every job posting that they upload.
Connecting Employers with the Best Candidates
Mr. Employ is designed to help match employers and potential candidates across varying disciplines such as food, retail, sales and entertainment. The app takes into consideration scenarios like transport, gender, language, salary and location. It then assigns an applicability score to candidates. Both the employer and the applicant must “thumbs up” one another to get a match. If that connection is solidified with a hire, that applicant is automatically removed from the app.
Mr. Employ Can Help Unemployment in South Africa
South’s Africa’s unemployment rate increased to 27.6 percent in the first quarter of 2019 from the previous reported number of 27. It is the highest unemployment rate since the third quarter of 2017. Since then, the number of people that were without a job rose from 62,000 to 6.20 million.
With these daunting statistics looming over South Africa, a silver lining is seen within this new app that helps get people jobs. There are about 70 different employers currently searching for people to fulfill numerous jobs across all fields to accompany the approximate 1,200 applicants looking to succeed in those jobs for years to come.
– Jillian Rose
Photo: Flickr
V Unbeatable: From India’s Slums to America’s Biggest Stage
V Unbeatable appeared on the debut episode of the 14th season of “America’s Got Talent.” The episode kicked off a summer full of heated potential, as acts competed for a $1 million prize.
The premiere episode of the season aired on May 28, 2019. It featured one of the most talented dance groups in the show’s history with an incredible backstory. V Unbeatable is an acrobatic dance group from Mumbai, India. The group consists of 28 dancers between the ages of 12 and 27. Although the group collectively shares unique talent, its members also all fight for their lives every day in the slums in India.
A slum is a squalid and overcrowded urban street or district that very poor people inhabit. The members of V Unbeatable, like many others who live in these conditions, occupy a very crowded space, very dirty and lacks proper electricity. The lead dancer of the group said that seven to 10 people often live in one room. He explained how challenging it is to live in the slums as they lack proper sanitation and clean water.
V Unbeatable Performing on America’s Got Talent
The group stumbled across “America’s Got Talent” via YouTube. Since then, the group members dreamed about making it to America in order to audition in front of the judges in the hopes of changing their lives.
“When we dance, we forget all of the tensions in our mind and we feel free,” the lead dancer informed the crowd. He continued saying, “This opportunity can change our lives, and everyone wants to succeed to give back to their families.”
The acrobatic dance group performed a routine in which the members performed flips, tossed other members into the air and performed acrobatic feats using bamboo sticks. Their performance captivated a roaring audience and ended with a standing ovation from all four of the judges.
Upon completing their dance, Gabrielle Union, an American actress, told the group, “You blew us all away.” Julianne Hough, a dancer herself, told the team she was impressed with the trust the team had in one another — a true characteristic of a family. Simon Cowell, a top tier music producer, claimed the group was one of the best dance groups in the history of the show.
Advancing to the Judge Cuts with four yeses, V Unbeatable advanced in the competition. The group said that if it was fortunate enough to win, it would use the $1 million prize toward improving the conditions in the slums back at home.
Condition of India’s Slums
While V Unbeatable succeeded in “America’s Got Talent,” many back at home would continue to struggle for survival. About 6.5 million people or 55 percent of the population of Mumbai, India live in slums. Half of the slums are non-government notified. This means the people have no security of land tenure and cannot access city services such as clean water and sanitation.
Most slums do not have toilets despite housing seven to 10 people. Residents have to use the little money they have in order to pay to use community toilets. Seventy-eight percent of the toilets lack water supply, and 58 percent do not have electricity. Seven people have died from attempting to use the toilets and contracting a disease from the insanitation or becoming injured from the ground collapsing around the area.
The population of Mumbai, India also has 50,000 people living without any form of permanent shelter and would prefer the conditions of living in slums despite the horrendous conditions.
The Keep India Beautiful (KIB) nonprofit team spent a day exploring the conditions of the slums. The organization found garbage and filth everywhere. Toilets and showers had little if any water supply with zero privacy and schools had no water or electricity. People were using the public park as a dump yard while many people caused cramped conditions in the houses.
The people of Mumbai, India will be praying as V Unbeatable continues on “America’s Got Talent.” Despite living difficult lives, the dance group has provided hope and a potential support system for people struggling for survival.
– Aaron Templin
Photo: Flickr