Teresa Ramirez Murillo was born in the Mexican state of Guanajuato in the 1960s. Ramirez grew up on a farm where she helped her family grow and harvest corn and beans. Most of the farm produce was used to feed the family of nine and the little that was left over was sold for minimal profit. Ramirez says life in the countryside was hard and the land “gave you very little for all you put in.”
One Woman’s Quest for Education
Given the lack of opportunity and the preponderance of low-paying jobs in rural Mexico, Ramirez left her hometown when she was 11 to go work in Mexico City as a domestic worker. Ramirez claims this was a very good decision, as it allowed her to send remittances back to her parents that helped them pay for much needed medical services, medicines, clothes and food.
Furthermore, Ramirez believes she would be lost in the world if she had not gotten out of rural Guanajuato, since she would never have attained the standard of living and the skills she has today.
Through her job as a domestic worker, Ramirez was allowed to continue her elementary school education as an adult. During the time she worked for an American family in Mexico City, she was not only allowed but encouraged to go back to school after work. Ramirez was able to complete elementary school up to the third grade before the night school for adults she attended closed. After this, she did not return to school and as time went by, she began to feel that the opportunity had passed.
Ramirez’s deep love of school and passion for mathematics inspired her determination to give her children a full education. She used the money she earned as a domestic worker to give her three sons an education that would let them “do something with their lives.”
Today, Ramirez’ three sons are very accomplished young men. Ricardo Ramirez, the oldest, finished his university degree in accounting and is currently completing his masters in business administration.
Her youngest son follows in Ricardo’s footsteps and the middle son prepares to enter university to become a defense attorney. Ramirez’s sons have accomplished what she could never have dreamed of as a child in Guanajuato, and she is very proud that her domestic worker job could provide and finance her children’s education.
For Ramirez, working as a domestic worker allowed her family to make the transition from poverty to lower middle class and created the groundwork for future generations to begin life in a higher rung of society. As such, every subsequent generation of her family can continue to rise as their parents are given better and better opportunities.
Ramirez was very lucky that the families she worked for were respectful, fair and always paid for the work Ramirez did accordingly. This is not the case for many domestic workers in Mexico.
The Domestic Worker’s Plight
According to Mexico’s national statistics, there are 2.3 million paid domestic workers in Mexico, of which a vast 95% are women. There is also an unknown number of women working as domestic workers in the informal sector.
Whether working in the informal sector or not, many domestic workers in Mexico face sexual and physical abuse and unfair work conditions. The Guardian reports there are usually no employment contracts so domestic workers have no guaranteed fair pay and their employers take advantage by paying very low wages.
For a long time, no domestic workers’ union existed so women had no one to defend their rights or pursue cases of abuse; domestic workers in Mexico were entirely alone.
At the end of 2015 domestic workers decided they were fed up being treated as less than human and formed the first National Union of Domestic Workers (Sinactraho). General secretary of the Union, Marta Leal-Morales, told the BBC, “this union would be to defend the rights of domestic workers, so they could have a better quality of life.” The purpose of the union is to ensure that Ramirez’ positive experience as a domestic worker becomes the rule rather than the exception. Most domestic workers in Mexico want it to be a right, not a matter of luck, to benefit from their work.
Hopefully, the Union will bring the shift to domestic work becoming a transition job that allows families to cross the bridge out of poverty and move forward toward a better life for themselves and future generations.
– Christina Egerstrom
Photo: New Statesman
Rwanda’s New Town Library Goes Digital with WorldReader
Rwinkwavu, a community of 30,000 people in Rwanda, is significantly economically disadvantaged. The town is mostly made up of farmers and lacks basic modern resources such as running water and power.
Despite these conditions, the non-profit Ready for Reading built a town library in 2012 that Worldreader, a Barcelona-based charity, then filled with e-readers, smartphones, Wi-Fi and a broad range of digital books for locals to explore.
Books not only provide entertainment, but their educational value is paramount. This access to knowledge helps to improve language skills and literacy while explaining new and different information in an enjoyable way. More specifically, reading has helped adults in Rwinkwavu master various skills including applying for new jobs, opening bank accounts and even running their own businesses.
Accessing knowledge through reading has also helped children develop interests in topics they most likely would not have explored otherwise. Each night, people of all ages now gather at Rwinkwavu’s town library to read after long days of laboring in their fields. As they continue to learn new information, new doors continue to open for them.
More than one in three adults in sub-Saharan Africa, a total of 182 million, are unable to read and write. In Rwanda, 48 million of the youths are illiterate. The population’s lack of education has led to 44 percent of people living below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day. However, new town libraries like the one in Rwinkwavu could potentially change the status quo.
Worldreader has already used its digital books to fill multiple schools and libraries across 14 different countries in sub-Saharan Africa, helping to educate over 100,000 children and adults. The charity hopes to continue its expansion, with plans to fill another two libraries by the end of the year.
“There is massive inequality in the world. Africa needs education at scale to start closing the gaps,” said Worldreader Co-Founder Colin McElwee.
– Alice Gottesman
Photo: Worldreader
China’s Free Technical Training to Reduce Poverty
Although China has experienced an annual GDP growth rate of 10 percent since the 1970s and lifted 800 million citizens out of poverty, 82 million of its rural poor continue to live on less than $1 a day. In an effort to combat poverty, the Chinese government has launched a free technical training program for the rural poor.
According to ONE, a poverty campaign organization, millions of people fail to escape the cycle of poverty because they do not have access to quality education. More specifically, currently, 59 million children of primary school age do not attend school. Though governments provide free public education programs, many families living in poverty send their children to work or have them help out at home.
In China, only 40 percent of rural students attend high school because they cannot afford the tuition, uniforms and other costs. Many students also drop out in middle school to work and help support their struggling families. By the time they are of college age, only five percent of rural students remain in the education system.
There are resource disparities between rural and urban students that have contributed to these statistics. Urban students have access to newer technology and well-qualified educators who teach them English, reading, math and sciences in state-of-the-art classrooms. Meanwhile, the rural poor learn from under-resourced teachers in crowded rooms.
Uneducated individuals living below the poverty line mostly participate in non-formal economies as self-employed entrepreneurs. Two-thirds of the Chinese rural population work in the farming, forestry and fishing industries, which make up 40 percent of all employment in China.
Providing technical and vocational education to the rural poor through China’s free program provides the necessary skills to access better career opportunities.
An estimated 1,000 Chinese schools will provide free technical training to impoverished rural communities over the next four years. Project participants will also receive a yearly subsidy of $450 from the government poverty relief fund.
“Anyone who is able to work from a poverty-stricken area can receive training,” the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development announced. The two institutions urge local governments to implement subsidies, provide fee exemptions and implement other policies to encourage students to pursue education.
– Ashley Leon
Photo: Flickr
Buffett Donates $2.2 Billion to Gates Foundation
This year, as part of his annual pledge to eventually contribute 500 million shares of the Berkshire Hathaway Inc to the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, Warren Buffett recently donated nearly $2.2 billion worth of class B stocks in support of improving global health and embarking on a new challenge to assist U.S. education.
In 2010, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett created the Giving Pledge, which rallied the world’s billionaires to donate at least half of their fortunes to charity. Since the pledge has been put into place, 154 affluent individuals have made the oath.
Gates acknowledges the possibility of failure in some projects, but remains optimistic, stating “we not only accept that [projects will fail] we expect it—because we think an essential role of philanthropy is to make bets on promising solutions that governments and businesses can’t afford to make.”
Bill and Melinda Gates are both optimistic about the future of the Foundation, which is aimed at alleviating extreme poverty and poor health in developing countries in addition to improving the failure of America’s education system.
According to a SEC document filed on Thursday, July 13, 2015, Buffett donated 14,968,423 shares of Class B Common Stock valued at $145.93 per share to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett also donated 1,047,785 shares of Class B Common Stock to foundations owned by his three children: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.
Warren Buffett believes philanthropy is associated with taking risks and remains steadfast and patient whenever Berkshire investments bear no fruit. “If you succeed in everything you’re doing in charity, you’re attempting things that are too easy,” Warren Buffett declared in 2011.
The philanthropist also donated $215 million worth of stocks to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which is named after his late wife. The main objective of the Susan Thompson Buffett foundation is to provide scholarships for eligible recipients within the Nebraska region on a competitive basis.
Buffett has vowed to give away 99 percent of his wealth in support of charitable causes and innovative solutions to end global poverty. After over 10 years of donating to the Gates foundation as well as other nonprofit organizations, Buffett’s fortune is now estimated at approximately $65.6 billion.
Buffett’s recent donation to the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, when added to the other donations made over his lifetime, brings his total donations to more than $28.5 billion.
– Shanique Wright
Photo: Finance Buzz
Domestic Workers in Mexico: Accessing Education
Teresa Ramirez Murillo was born in the Mexican state of Guanajuato in the 1960s. Ramirez grew up on a farm where she helped her family grow and harvest corn and beans. Most of the farm produce was used to feed the family of nine and the little that was left over was sold for minimal profit. Ramirez says life in the countryside was hard and the land “gave you very little for all you put in.”
One Woman’s Quest for Education
Given the lack of opportunity and the preponderance of low-paying jobs in rural Mexico, Ramirez left her hometown when she was 11 to go work in Mexico City as a domestic worker. Ramirez claims this was a very good decision, as it allowed her to send remittances back to her parents that helped them pay for much needed medical services, medicines, clothes and food.
Furthermore, Ramirez believes she would be lost in the world if she had not gotten out of rural Guanajuato, since she would never have attained the standard of living and the skills she has today.
Through her job as a domestic worker, Ramirez was allowed to continue her elementary school education as an adult. During the time she worked for an American family in Mexico City, she was not only allowed but encouraged to go back to school after work. Ramirez was able to complete elementary school up to the third grade before the night school for adults she attended closed. After this, she did not return to school and as time went by, she began to feel that the opportunity had passed.
Ramirez’s deep love of school and passion for mathematics inspired her determination to give her children a full education. She used the money she earned as a domestic worker to give her three sons an education that would let them “do something with their lives.”
Today, Ramirez’ three sons are very accomplished young men. Ricardo Ramirez, the oldest, finished his university degree in accounting and is currently completing his masters in business administration.
Her youngest son follows in Ricardo’s footsteps and the middle son prepares to enter university to become a defense attorney. Ramirez’s sons have accomplished what she could never have dreamed of as a child in Guanajuato, and she is very proud that her domestic worker job could provide and finance her children’s education.
For Ramirez, working as a domestic worker allowed her family to make the transition from poverty to lower middle class and created the groundwork for future generations to begin life in a higher rung of society. As such, every subsequent generation of her family can continue to rise as their parents are given better and better opportunities.
Ramirez was very lucky that the families she worked for were respectful, fair and always paid for the work Ramirez did accordingly. This is not the case for many domestic workers in Mexico.
The Domestic Worker’s Plight
According to Mexico’s national statistics, there are 2.3 million paid domestic workers in Mexico, of which a vast 95% are women. There is also an unknown number of women working as domestic workers in the informal sector.
Whether working in the informal sector or not, many domestic workers in Mexico face sexual and physical abuse and unfair work conditions. The Guardian reports there are usually no employment contracts so domestic workers have no guaranteed fair pay and their employers take advantage by paying very low wages.
For a long time, no domestic workers’ union existed so women had no one to defend their rights or pursue cases of abuse; domestic workers in Mexico were entirely alone.
At the end of 2015 domestic workers decided they were fed up being treated as less than human and formed the first National Union of Domestic Workers (Sinactraho). General secretary of the Union, Marta Leal-Morales, told the BBC, “this union would be to defend the rights of domestic workers, so they could have a better quality of life.” The purpose of the union is to ensure that Ramirez’ positive experience as a domestic worker becomes the rule rather than the exception. Most domestic workers in Mexico want it to be a right, not a matter of luck, to benefit from their work.
Hopefully, the Union will bring the shift to domestic work becoming a transition job that allows families to cross the bridge out of poverty and move forward toward a better life for themselves and future generations.
– Christina Egerstrom
Photo: New Statesman
Six Facts About Poverty in Serbia
In recent years, poverty in Serbia affected astounding rates of unemployment despite reasonably high levels of development. The country faces unique geographic and economic difficulties that make poverty reduction especially difficult.
Top Six Facts about Poverty in Serbia:
These six facts about poverty in Serbia are not exhaustive, nor are they a tell-all of the conditions within the Balkan country. Even with relatively little aid from international groups and extremely costly natural disasters, Serbia has shown some real progress in recent political and economic development. Joining the E.U. may give the Serbian government the resources it needs to adequately address issues of poverty and unemployment.
– John English
Photo: Flickr
Call Records Can Predict Outbreaks of Deadly Dengue Fever
Dengue fever is a rapidly spreading viral disease in the developing world. Thankfully, though, a new method of analyzing cell phone call records to health clinics is proving successful at predicting the next outbreak locations of the disease.
This disease is mosquito-borne and results in flu-like symptoms that can persist until a fatality occurs, especially in children or others who do not have access to swift and proper medical care.
Dengue fever infects 390 million people worldwide every year, and many more are at risk. The illness is found mostly in tropical and sub-tropical climates and acts a leading cause of serious illness and death among children in Asian and Latin American countries.
In the United States, information on the spread of diseases is gathered by looking at road usage and other travel patterns. However, this kind of information proves often unavailable and unreliable in developing countries. Furthermore, dengue fever is the fastest-spreading mosquito-borne disease in the world, and many places are exposed to this disease for the first time and unprepared to effectively deal with such a health crisis.
According to a study published in Science Advances journal, researchers found that by studying cell phone call records in the Punjab region of Pakistan, they were able to pinpoint where dengue fever cases occurred and predict where they might occur next.
This new method looks at the patterns of calls to a local health hotline in conjunction with weather information. This combination provides real-time data of when and where the disease is likely to spread geographically.
The phone records are collected on a large-scale and anonymous basis to protect the personal privacy of the callers.
Dengue fever is often seen in areas of rapid urbanization, which commonly occurs in developing countries. This method of monitoring the disease is particularly useful in these developing countries because it is a low-cost method. Call pattern statistics provide an effective low-cost alternative in many nations that lack the resources to closely monitor the spread of disease.
Additionally, there is no specific globally-recognized treatment for dengue fever. Early detection has proven critical in helping those afflicted with the disease. Receiving medical care early on reduced mortality for this disease from more than 20 percent to less than one percent. Since call analysis can predict where outbreaks may occur in the future, it is an effective way to stop a disease that is particularly difficult to treat.
While the examination of call patterns does not currently account for international travel, which does play a role in the transmission of dengue fever, this transport avenue could certainly be in the future for statistical call analysis. Even the current iterations of this method provide important real-time data that can help reduce the spread of a dangerous disease, especially in developing countries.
– Nathaniel Siegel
Photo: Flickr
The World Bank: Alleviating Poverty in Cameroon
Cameroon is a low-middle income country located in Central Africa. Although the country’s GDP growth has accelerated to 6.2%, poverty in Cameroon has hardly decreased since 2001. Complications with fiscal debt and fragile political conditions have put Cameroon in an immensely difficult position.
Growing regional disparities have also created challenges for Cameroon. Northern regions of Cameroon are often characterized by high poverty rates, malnutrition and food insecurity. These areas also have limited access to healthcare, education and clean water. Rural poverty in Cameroon is up to 72% and 55.8% of poor households are located in rural, northern areas.
Over the past decade, the World Bank has implemented various programs to improve conditions and poverty in Cameroon. Listed below are the results of World Bank projects that have increased GDP, provided safer health care and improved the lives of thousands of Cameroonians.
The Programs
Agricultural Competitiveness Project
The project was launched in 2010 to increase agricultural productivity. Focuses were placed on the development of rural infrastructure, investment in value chains, as well as production of broiler and pork meat.
Cameroon Health Project
The ongoing project focuses on maternal and child health, in addition to the prevention of transmissible diseases. The project covers six million people in 44 health districts.
Community Development Program Support Project II
The project, launched in 2009, aimed to improve the delivery of basic services in target communes and support decentralization.
A Brighter Future
As Cameroon moves forward, a developmental focus will be placed on achieving GDP growth in a fiscally responsible way and to equitably translate that growth into poverty reduction. By reducing poverty, particularly in the rural regions of northern Cameroon, the country will be able to improve conditions and promote positive domestic growth.
In order to directly combat rural poverty, the World Bank is implementing the Social Safety Nets Project. The fund program will reach 65,000 households in five of the poorest regions of Cameroon. Over a two-year period, participating households will receive $1,400 every two months and partial public works employment. Additionally, participants will receive training to improve their health, nutrition, education and skills.
With the help of the World Bank, poverty in Cameroon will be cut faster and some of the poorest families in the country will have the capability to invest in a brighter future for their children.
– Kristyn Rohrer
Photo: Doculab
Economic Stability Would Reduce Poverty In Seychelles
Since gaining its independence from Great Britain in 1976, the Republic of Seychelles has made tremendous strides in its social, political and economic sectors. However, poverty in Seychelles still remains a major concern.
The Republic of Seychelles is an archipelago located in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa. The country consists of a total of 115 islands, with only ten currently inhabited.
Of the country’s 86,000 inhabitants, 39.3 percent of the citizens are estimated to live below the poverty line. Data gathered by both Rural Poverty Portal and CNN report that economic issues have directly resulted in perpetuating poverty in Seychelles.
Seychelles’ economy is described as being rather unpredictable as it heavily relies on two major industries: tourism and fishing. While both industries provided sustainable income in the past, geographical obstacles and recent climate change threaten future sustainability.
The geography of Seychelles makes trade and export particularly difficult since all products must be either shipped or flown to and from the island. Additionally, the distance that Seychelles has from markets in Asia and the Pacific forces the country to pay high insurance and tariff fees for goods imported into the island. This disadvantage resulted in an increase in fuel and food prices, leaving many citizens at an economic disadvantage.
Likewise, geographic location makes it susceptible to piracy, which often results in financial blows to tourism and fishing. For instance, CNN states that piracy damages the fishing industry by forcing the government of Seychelles to restrict fishermen from sailing beyond specific perimeters off the coast. These governmental restrictions have lead to overfishing and competition between local fishermen.
In addition, recent climate change negatively affected the economic stability of Seychelles. Climate change has made weather patterns increasingly unpredictable — a lack of foresight that disrupts the productivity of Seychelles local farmers.
In regards to climate change, the Ambassador for Climate Change and Small Island Developing State Issues of the Republic of Seychelles, Ronald Jumeau, states that “[Climate change] affects the rains. The drought is getting longer. The rainy season is getting shorter. We’re getting the same amount of rain in less time, which creates landslides in the hills, and that sort of thing.”
Additionally, there is hope for those who are suffering from poverty in Seychelles. The country’s government has taken small steps in reducing poverty by tackling climate change and improving economic flaws.
In recent years, government officials in Seychelles have taken major efforts to combat climate change by legally protecting half of the country’s land area from further human development. In addition, Seychelles committed itself to ending piracy through the signing of anti-piracy laws with the EU, as well as tax exchange agreements with The Isle of Man. Both decisions shall benefit Seychelles and improve the country’s economic relations.
Regardless of these improvements, the government still has a plethora of work to do to completely eradicate poverty in Seychelles.
Teamwork is essential to positive change, and this small country could experience a massive decline in poverty if those dedicated to eradicating global poverty and significant figures in the government of Seychelles collaborated with one another to combat economic and environmental issues.
– Shannon N. Warren
Photo: Flickr
5 Facts About Hunger in Burundi
A decade of social and political conflict has left Burundi, a landlocked country in east-central Africa, facing increasing levels of food insecurity. With a dense population of 11.8 million people, many citizens are facing poverty and malnutrition: Burundi is considered to be in the ninth-worst food security crisis in the world. Here are 5 facts regarding the situation of hunger in Burundi.
5 Facts About Hunger in Burundi
Burundian citizens suffering from poverty and hunger are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Organizations such as the World Food Program and the Terintambwe ‘Take a Step Forward’ program are working to reduce hunger in Burundi, and both seek out voluntary donations to fund their programs. Support of governmental institutions in Burundi such as the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of National Solidarity and the Ministry of Gender are also essential to reducing hunger in Burundi. With these steps in place, the work to improve the lives of Burundian citizens can begin.
– Ayesha Asad
Photo: FreeImages
Talking About Poverty: What is the Definition of Global Poverty?
How does one define global poverty? The term is often used in news programs detailing hunger and disease in third-world countries, but what exactly does living in poverty mean?
Merriam-Webster defines poverty as, “The state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions.” Based on this definition, the true definition of poverty actually varies from country to country, from city to city, and from town to town based on socially constructed benchmarks for wealth.
Statisticians in the United States and India describe living on less than $1.90 a day (which approximately 702 million people worldwide do) as “extreme poverty.”
Other statisticians prefer to also factor access to health care, education, clean water, and food when assessing global poverty rates. In particular, lack of access to clean water and food are seen as primary symptoms of poverty in developing countries.
Again, this lack of access is seen as a symptom of poverty in relation to the United States and other first-world countries, where access to freshwater and food is a comprehensive widespread system across the nation.
Current State of Global Poverty
Currently, 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to clean drinking water. The population of the United States was 319 million people in 2014, where a family of four has the ability to use up to 400 gallons of water each day.
Furthermore, around 27 percent of all children in developing countries are classified as underweight or stunted as a result of living in poverty. Being underweight and stunted growth is particularly prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.
Global poverty still proves to be difficult to quantify without comparing living standards between countries. However, it’s important to note that poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa can look vastly different from extreme poverty in the United States. Developed countries typically have more safety nets and welfare structures in place to assist their poor while developing countries continue to struggle to support large quantities of impoverished citizens. Thus, while it’s important to prioritize domestic poverty in the U.S., it’s equally important to prioritize the world’s poor who live in worse living conditions.
– Bayley McComb
Photo: Flickr