A hundred million people are estimated to be homeless in the world and the number is only growing bigger with the rise and fall of economies. It is estimated that there are another 100 million “hidden homeless” worldwide, a number which takes into account those living in abandoned houses, cars, or houses and apartments with little to no furnishings.
Dr. Mark Bergel, now deemed a CNN Hero, founded his organization after noticing the very few furnishings in the houses of those struggling to make ends meet.
Bergel started his journey as a professor at American University and eventually took on his vision to help others as a full time job. He founded an organization called A Wider Circle in 2001, a nonprofit devoted to furnishing the homes of families living in poverty, free of charge.
Since it’s founding, A Wider Circle has furnished the houses of over 125,000 people, but Bergel’s mission does not stop there. He is also committed to providing an education for those who have asked for one.
Managers from the Greater Washington Area’s homeless shelters mentioned to Bergel that an education in “life skills” and how to cope with stress would be highly beneficial for the shelters’ frequenters.
So that is just what Bergel did.
He incorporated educational programs into A Wider Circle’s mission to help lift adults and children out of poverty by communicating the importance of life skills and helping to adjust the “whole person.”
“I want to help create the change that will enable people to rise out of poverty and enjoy the freedom and independence afforded to others. Poverty is a human problem, and human beings will solve it,” Bergel explained.
After many community service trips, Bergel came face to face with the truth that many people living below the poverty line often lived without beds, tables and couches. Bergel stated that “most apartments had nothing but a chair… There was nothing that would give these people a sense of hope, [or] a sense of dignity.”
With new furnishings and one less issue to worry about Bergel hopes to give families room to breathe and the ability to start fresh.
Currently, A Wider Circle has two full warehouses complete with donated furniture, toys, clothes and clean sheets. Families are able to stop in and choose what they need from the selection.
Since donating his own bed in 2008, Bergel has been sleeping on his floor or couch. He says he intends to do so until every family in the United States has enough beds for each family member.
Bergel’s foundation is not only helping people in the U.S. to live easier lives, but he is also bringing attention to a global issue — the “hidden homeless.” By helping the lives of the “hidden homeless” in the U.S. Bergel is one step closer to addressing this issue on a global scale, and by publicizing his work, we are one step closer to inspiring others to follow his lead.
– Becka Felcon
Sources: CNN, A Wider Circle
Photo: Brown University
A Wider Circle: Good News from D.C.
A hundred million people are estimated to be homeless in the world and the number is only growing bigger with the rise and fall of economies. It is estimated that there are another 100 million “hidden homeless” worldwide, a number which takes into account those living in abandoned houses, cars, or houses and apartments with little to no furnishings.
Dr. Mark Bergel, now deemed a CNN Hero, founded his organization after noticing the very few furnishings in the houses of those struggling to make ends meet.
Bergel started his journey as a professor at American University and eventually took on his vision to help others as a full time job. He founded an organization called A Wider Circle in 2001, a nonprofit devoted to furnishing the homes of families living in poverty, free of charge.
Since it’s founding, A Wider Circle has furnished the houses of over 125,000 people, but Bergel’s mission does not stop there. He is also committed to providing an education for those who have asked for one.
Managers from the Greater Washington Area’s homeless shelters mentioned to Bergel that an education in “life skills” and how to cope with stress would be highly beneficial for the shelters’ frequenters.
So that is just what Bergel did.
He incorporated educational programs into A Wider Circle’s mission to help lift adults and children out of poverty by communicating the importance of life skills and helping to adjust the “whole person.”
“I want to help create the change that will enable people to rise out of poverty and enjoy the freedom and independence afforded to others. Poverty is a human problem, and human beings will solve it,” Bergel explained.
After many community service trips, Bergel came face to face with the truth that many people living below the poverty line often lived without beds, tables and couches. Bergel stated that “most apartments had nothing but a chair… There was nothing that would give these people a sense of hope, [or] a sense of dignity.”
With new furnishings and one less issue to worry about Bergel hopes to give families room to breathe and the ability to start fresh.
Currently, A Wider Circle has two full warehouses complete with donated furniture, toys, clothes and clean sheets. Families are able to stop in and choose what they need from the selection.
Since donating his own bed in 2008, Bergel has been sleeping on his floor or couch. He says he intends to do so until every family in the United States has enough beds for each family member.
Bergel’s foundation is not only helping people in the U.S. to live easier lives, but he is also bringing attention to a global issue — the “hidden homeless.” By helping the lives of the “hidden homeless” in the U.S. Bergel is one step closer to addressing this issue on a global scale, and by publicizing his work, we are one step closer to inspiring others to follow his lead.
– Becka Felcon
Sources: CNN, A Wider Circle
Photo: Brown University
Eradication of Polio: Hope for World Health Fight
In a region of the world that has such a large portion of the world’s population (25 percent), health issues in Southeast Asia can reflect many general health concerns. Recent disease scares like the Avian Flu, Swine Flu and the SARS outbreak all had origins and outbreaks in Southeast Asia. Thus, the recent declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) that polio has been eliminated in the region can be considered a great victory in the fight against global poverty.
The declaration was the culmination of an intensive effort that involved 2.4 million volunteers in India, which had accounted for half the world’s polio cases in 2009. Despite that prevalence just a few years ago, the country has had no reported cases of polio since 2011.
The project cost a billion dollars, largely funded by the Indian government. Former U.S. ambassador John E. Lange said about the announcement, “This is… a proof of concept that polio can be eradicated in some of the most difficult places to work in.” Thanks to the encouragement of the WHO and the collaboration by the Indian government, Southeast Asia looks to have set a model for future regions to follow.
With the official polio-free announcement for Southeast Asia, it can be said that 80 percent of the world’s population lives in polio-free regions. The only two world regions that are still plagued by polio are the Eastern Mediterranean and Africa. Those regions will need time as there is significant resistance in those regions.
Pakistan in particular has been an area resistant to polio eradication. While it would seem that the elimination of polio is a movement that anyone could get behind, the movement has become closely associated to United States intelligence efforts in the region. The Taliban in Pakistan has acted out against polio workers and citizens helping the polio effort. Closely following the news of eradication in Southeast Asia were reports of the kidnapping and murder of a polio worker in Pakistan. With entrenched resistance groups there and in Nigeria, the further eradication of polio might prove difficult going forward.
Also, the Syrian civil war will keep health worries going in that region. Syria had one of the best health care systems in the region prior to the crisis, but the massive displacement of the Syrian population helps spread these dangerous diseases. A spokesman from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said, “The current polio outbreak in Syria… is arguably the most challenging outbreak in the history of polio eradication.”
Despite the difficulties in the remaining areas, the eradication of polio in Southeast Asia proves that no matter the circumstances in the present, a dedicated effort can make real progress. The work that the Indian government and WHO have done in the last five years could prove to be successful in other regions. Organizations like The Borgen Project encourage this type of work to continue, and for the United States to step up their support in regions that are dealing with these difficulties.
-Eric Gustafsson
Sources: LA Times, NPR, WHO, The Guardian
Photo: NPR
Latin America and Mobile Banking
Mobile banking technology may be the latest in services to improve social inclusion in Latin America. Due to the extensive penetration of mobile phones in Latin America, a region where there are more phones than people, mobile banking can be used to promote financial transactions.
Approximately 65 percent of Latin Americans lack access to a banking service, and many are hoping that the ubiquity of cellphones will permit the unbanked to open up a bank account remotely and to send and receive payments and utilize other financial services.
The idea of using a phone as a “mobile wallet” ensures the safety of the money compared to a traditional physical transfer of cash. It also helps the government reduce corruption and waste and improves efficiency and transparency. All governments in Latin America offer citizens Conditional Cash Transfers, a concept that rewards citizens with cash upon the completion of a certain condition, like sending their kids to school or getting vaccinated.
Many countries in South America could reap the benefits of mobile banking technology. In Uruguay, for example, mobile phone penetration is at 132 percent while only 16.9 percent of the population uses a banking service. In Argentina, mobile phone penetration is 142 percent while only 24.4 percent of the population is banked.
Bolivia is leading the trend in mobile banking technology, with 6.8 percent of its population using mobile phones for a banking service, compared to 3.1 percent in Mexico and 1.8 percent in Peru.
The mobile banking service has great opportunity to grow, with just 1.8 percent of the total population using a mobile phone for banking purposes. Mobile phones can be used for more than banking purposes to promote social inclusion, however.
Local businesses can advertise through the use of mobile phones, bringing in more customers and generating more income for the region. Product promotion by businesses could also increase, giving consumers greater access to products. Paying bills would also become more simplified, cutting through red tape that exists in the system and allowing for a more timely delivery and payment of a bill. Moreover, electronic identification removes the necessity of carrying physical identification.
Mobile phone banking in Latin America is a powerful trend that could bring in greater social inclusion if it is harnessed properly. Its convenience allows it to be the catalyst for significantly reducing poverty on the regional level.
– Jeff Meyer
Sources: BN Americas, Banking Technology, WorldBank, Forbes
Photo: Into Mobile
Good News for Haiti’s Earthquake Survivors
The January earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010 killed over 230,000 people and displaced 1.5 million. Soon after, the country suffered a mass outbreak of cholera; squalid camps were set up for refugees and Haiti sent out a call for help. Three years later the cholera epidemic has been stifled and the number of people living in these camps has dropped by 91 percent.
This is all due to the aid of foreign communities such as USAID and the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) who sent a cumulative total of $450 million to “build it back better”.
The U.S. led the way in cleaning out Haiti’s coastal waters; Oxfam provided clean water to half a million people living in camps and supported the creation of work programs that put cash into the hands of refugees; the United Nation’s Population Fund (UNFPA) distributed safe birthing kits to expectant mothers; Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders opened a round-the-clock free clinic; UNICEF vaccinated more than three million children while integrating cholera-prevention into school curriculums; and the local government used funding to move those who had lost their homes out of refugee camps and into permanent structures.
There are those who would say the U.S. could have acted faster, and that we spent more than was needed. However the fact that Haiti, a small and deeply impoverished fixture of the developing world, could be re-stabilized and rebuilt greater than its former state in just over three years after such a disastrous setback is nothing short of miraculous.
Clément Bélizaire, director of the government’s camp relocation and rehabilitation program, says, “Since 1986, this the first time I’ve seen so many projects being implemented, and in many ways, a lot of neighborhoods today are in much better shape than before the quake due to significant investments made in infrastructures.”
Today there are 137,533 registered earthquake survivors in 243 camps sites, a monumental drop from the thousands of slum-like camps that used to clog the country. More Haitian children are in school than ever before, and the overall population of undernourished children has dropped. It can be hard to believe, but Haiti is now on the forefront of countries revolutionized by foreign aid, and countries like India and the Philippines are hoping to follow in its footsteps.
-Lydia Caswell
Photo: Washington Post
Sources: CNN, Miami Herald, Time, Oxfam, Huffington Post, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF
Black Gold: Film Summary
The coffee farmers of Ethiopia are told that their coffee is gold. “If our coffee is gold,” the farmers ask, “then why do we get nothing?” Two billion cups of coffee are consumed every day around the world. Coffee beans are grown in poorer, developing nations and then shipped off to the West for consumption. The price of a cup of coffee is $0.12 in Ethiopia, while a cup in a Western country costs up to $2.90.
Four major multinational corporations dominate the world market: Kraft, Nestle, Proctor & Gamble and Sara Lee. Until 1989, an International Coffee Agreement regulated the supply of coffee on the world market. Now, the international price of coffee is established in the New York and London Stock Exchange, where coffee is the second most actively traded commodity.
Black Gold is a documentary about Ethiopian coffee farmers’ struggle to seek higher prices for their coffee beans. Ethiopia is the largest producer of coffee in Africa, with over 15 million individuals depending upon coffee farming and production for survival. Coffee makes up 67 percent of export revenue in Ethiopia.
Tadesse Meskela manages the Oromia Coffee Farmer’s Co-operative Union, which represents 74,000 coffee farmers. Through their union, they are cutting out the middlemen in the chain of coffee production. Not only do the farmers grow the coffee beans, they also roast the beans themselves.
These farmers and their families depend on the coffee beans to survive. These people are born into coffee-growing families and communities and they have little chance to escape. They are forced to become coffee farmers and to remain stuck in poverty.
The coffee beans create a single production economy, making the economy extremely dependent upon Western companies and consumers. These coffee farmers in Ethiopia do not receive subsidies from their governments. Slight fluctuations in price will greatly affect the local farmers.
There are many various interlinked factors that have created these unequal global trade relations. Many of them have links to colonial and post-colonial relationships. Through social, economic and political policies Western nations have forced developing nations to remain dependent upon them for survival.
In international organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) developing nations are not able to have their voices and problems heard. The WTO sets rules of global trade, but is dominated by the larger, richer developed countries. These negotiations take place behind closed doors and the smaller delegations have been losing.
Consumer awareness of the farmers’ conditions is vital. While large multinational corporations and middlemen are benefiting from coffee production, the farmers themselves get almost nothing. Consumers need to be aware and ask for fair trade products. Fair trade coffee beans are labeled and available at most grocery stores.
In this age of increased globalization, it is important to be aware of how we are impacting the lives of other people, and how we are impacting the planet. When we go to Starbucks, and buy that cup of steaming coffee, we do not see the human lives that have been put into that cup. We do not see the coffee bean farmers praying for the weather to be kind. We do not see the women who pick the coffee beans for less than 50 cents a day. We do not see their children who go hungry. We only see the coffee in our cup and we are satisfied.
– Sarah Yan
Sources: Black Gold Film,The New York Times
Photo: Universal Cargo
The Internet’s Role in Sex Trafficking
Sex trafficking exists in the United States. Sex traffickers target women and children with histories of addiction, abuse and even issues with debt and use manipulation to keep these victims trapped in the sex trafficking industry. The leaders in sex trafficking use violence and threats against the victims loved ones as means to force these victims to work against their own will. Accordingly, 83% of sex traffic victims are United States citizens. This issue is larger than most people realize and exists in the form of strip clubs, fake massage businesses, hostess clubs and even online escort services.
The internet is the number one center for sex trafficking in the United States. For example, pimps use websites like Backpage.com and even Craigslist.org disguised as massage services to escort victims for services. Thus, these women are forced into sex trafficking at a young age mostly by older men. Most of the services that are offered on Craigslist are in the form of recruiting. Women post pictures of themselves and answer customer’s calls referencing the ads placed on Craigslist. These women are not willingly posting these pictures, but are in constant fear of their own lives. In addition, these pimps use not only force but the false promise of a better life and threats to harm the victims’ loved ones. Victims are coerced into trafficking by pimps posing as model scouts, or nannies and house maids being recruited and then captured by these sex traffickers.
Because trafficking is unique when based in the internet it has become extremely profitable and it is easier to reach a larger audience. Anyone can post ads on these sites and these ads can be seen by thousands of people in addition to being unnoticed by the police. The average age range these victims enter the sex trafficking industry is 11-15 and due to the vague description of age with words like “young,” these operations slip by unnoticed by authorities.
In addition, many women in places like Nigeria, Thailand, and other places suffering from global poverty are involuntarily forced into sex trafficking. The geological approach to sex trafficking shows high numbers of victims in areas stricken with poverty, as well as remote areas where women are more likely taken from to an area of global capitalization and tourism. These high traffic areas are promoted through the use of the internet and smartphones. Because of the accessibility to these websites, where a brothel can be located in under a minute generates high revenue for the owner.
Accordingly, President Barack Obama released a statement saying “We’re turning the tables on the traffickers. Just as they are now using technology and the Internet to exploit their victims, we’re going to harness technology to stop them.”
To illustrate the alarming statistics of this issue the US Department of Health and Human Services show that 90% of runaways end up in the commercial sex trade industry and in Tennessee 94 children are trafficked every month. Human Trafficking has become a larger issue than most realize and will be addressed accordingly to the advancement of technology.
– Rachel Cannon
Photo: CNN
Sources: End Slavery Tennessee, Polar is Project
Nigeria on the Brink of a Food Crisis
Continued sectarian violence in Nigeria resulted in the widespread abandonment of farms. Conflict spreads throughout the country, affecting the agricultural season in rural and often isolated regions. This led to dramatic decline in household food stocks. In addition to farming, the conflict limits “off-season livelihood activities” such as fishing.
This coupled with a predicted shortened growing season to create a potentially devastating food crisis. Consequently, Nigerian government reported as many as one million people facing food shortages in the coming months.
The Islamist insurgency in northern Nigeria, which began in 2009, has forced more than 365,000 people to flee their homes and farms. Agriculture generally serves as the primary means of support. Moreover, as refugees, these families have little opportunity to independently replenish their food supplies. According to The Guardian, “violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency has caused 60 percent of farmers to leave the fertile region.”
In addition to low production, this conflict led to disruption in trade routes. Those managing the trade fear security, for the products and their lives. As production declines, the prices for staple food rise. These prices rose an estimated 10 percent from last year and more than 30 percent from the five-year average.
Alone, this lack of production has led to serious food shortages. Now, the strain of drought-induced food shortage threatens a full-scale crisis. According to The Nigerian Meteorological Agency, the national agricultural sector depends heavily on rain, “with the bulk of its produce cultivated in the north and central regions.” Weather forecasters predict the rainy season to begin in June, though it typically starts in May. In addition, the rain season may end before September. The result: a severely shortened growing season. With a population of 160 million to feed, Nigeria prepares this looming food crisis.
Refugees and farmers affected by the drought cannot afford the drastic rise in prices. Without an independent stock of food, though, these individuals must rely on the market.
In response, farmers are encouraged to use early maturing seeds to help generate a shorter planting season.
However, as Ibrahim Mota of the Dawanau Grain Traders Union shared recently, “Seeds, no matter how sophisticated, have to be planted by humans to germinate.” The Famine Early Warning Systems Network continues to monitor the food supply in this region, encouraging the Nigerian government to alleviate the burden of this conflict on farmers. Without details on the exact tactics to mitigate conflict, families live in constant risk of acute food security.
– Ellery Spahr
Sources: The Guardian
Photo: India Times
UNESCO Pushes for Millennial Education Goals
Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been a major proponent for global education since his tenure ended. He has made a number of announcements and proclamations in favor of increasing global literacy, yet recently his proposals have gained more steam. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has agreed to follow through with Brown’s mission statement to put 57 million children in school worldwide by next year. This falls short of the Millennium Goals that were meant to be reached by 2015.
A report from January of 2014 brought on this concern towards the Millennial Education Goals. The UNESCO report said that the goals would not be met until 2086 under current projections. While striving towards these goals 70 years in advance may seem a little optimistic, the statistics used from 2011 showed a 50% drop in out-of-school children since the beginning of the new millennium. This gives hope for a renewed commitment to make an immediate impact.
The most recent statistics on the issue come from that 2011 study, but those numbers showed 123 million young adults (15-24) lacked basic reading and writing skills. The most progress for universal primary education has been in Southeast Asia, in South Korea, India and Vietnam. Afghanistan shows the most immediate promise for the future, even with troops potentially leaving the nation at the end of the year.
The nations struggling the most to achieve universal primary education are those of Western Africa. Senegal, Mauritania, Nigeria and a number of other sub-Saharan countries still lag behind most of the developed world. Particularly for women, there remain few options and little hope for advancement. West Africa will likely be where UNESCO efforts have to focus.
Gordon Brown, as the United Nation’s Special envoy for global education, called these struggles unacceptable. He said in a recent interview, “the inequality of opportunity that they face is unfair… we have seen the makings of a civil rights struggle amongst young people.” Brown hopes that drawing on grassroots campaigns for education around the world will help bring the world closer to universal primary education.
The fight to achieve universal primary education will take on multiple fronts and be supported by different leaders. Malala Yousafzai has become a global celebrity thanks to her courage in the face of opponents of this mission. Yousafzai and Brown have begun work in Lebanon to educate the thousands of school-age children living in Syrian refugee camps. Given the ongoing Syrian conflict it is unknown how long those kids will be living in the camps, and the need is there for education to prevent a “lost generation” of kids.
The Millennium education efforts may have missed their goals by a long shot. However, the emphasis that people like Brown and Yousafzai have placed on primary education brings hope for the near future. Organizations like The Borgen Project support this passion and hope it will be shared by more people around the world. The first step toward ending global poverty will be reaching children as early as possible, and universal primary education is a key method of doing so.
– Eric Gustafsson
Photo: Globalization101
Sources: United Nations, PBS, BBC
Smoking: A Survival Method?
According to a study by The Population Health Metrics, people living in poor neighborhoods are more prone to smoke at higher rates than those living in wealthier communities. An estimated 25% of adults with less than 12 years of education smoke cigarettes.
One survey shows that most people living in poverty want to quit smoking, but unfortunately it’s not as simple as “just quitting”.
Tobacco companies have been proven to promote smoking in lower income communities by lowering the price of cigarettes and flooding the neighborhoods with cigarette advertisements. In some cities, like Philadelphia, one can buy cigarettes for about $5 without tax.
The director of policy and planning for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Giridhar Mallya, stated that those living in poverty smoke to comfort his or her depression and stress.
For some, smoking is not just a coping method, but also a survival method. Lindell Harvey of Crum Lynne, Delaware smokes when he has run out of food.
Smoking enables the body to fend off the feeling of hunger. In Camden, New Jersey, 51-year-old Elaine Styles, a day-care worker who was laid-off, smokes so she doesn’t feel like she has to eat, “I make sure my family eats, then I have a loosie and go to bed.” A loosie is a single cigarette sold for about 50 cents.
Many wonder though, how do people living in poverty afford such an expensive habit? Buying cigarettes in low-income neighborhoods costs an estimated $1,000 a year with approximately 14% of income spent on cigarettes a year.
Nicotine triggers the part of the brain stem that causes one to feel comfort and safety. There are reasons behind the addiction that make sense once the dynamics of poverty are taken into account: the hopelessness of feeling trapped and the “limited sense of having a future,” says Elijah Anders, a Yale University sociologist.
There is hope for the future, though. Rates of smoking have dropped about seven percent between 2004 and 2012, with lower rates of teen smoking and a decline in adult smoking.
With more focus on poverty issues, the numbers are expected to steadily drop within the next few years.
– Becka Felcon
Sources: CNN, CDC, Philly
Photo: Blogspot
Zhengzhou Residents Desperate for Fresh Air
Zhengzhou, China is one of the highest polluted cities in the world. In fact, the air pollution density has earned them the position of number 10 on the Greenpeace list of cities with the most pollution in 2013. The rankings were built by using information from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Furthermore, the Air Quality Index (AQI) gave Zhengzhou 175 on the scale of “Good to Hazardous” levels of pollution. Their number falls within the “unhealthy” group, meaning that “everyone may begin to experience health effects, and members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.”
The city has also surpassed the capital, Beijing by 102 points on the AQI, with Beijing at 55, which is considered to have “moderate” levels of pollution.
During the last week of March, China revealed a series of pictures featuring Chinese citizens inhaling fresh mountain air from sealed bags. These pictures were part of the campaign for fresh air, issued by Laojun Mountain Natural Reserve Development Company, a travel agency.
Though mainly a publicity stunt to bring people to the resort on the Loajun Mountain, in a city filled with smog and unhealthy air, it was a hit. Thousands of people lined up to take turns inhaling the fresh air from 20 bags, which traveled over 120 miles to the city. Each person was given a few minutes to breathe in the air.
It certainly made a statement about the city’s lack of breathable air, which the World Health Organization has deemed a health crisis.
One pregnant woman mentioned to a TV reporter that she “felt [her] baby move right when [she] breathed in” the fresh mountain air.
Khurram Zhang, the sales and marketing chief of the Laojun Mountain Natural Reserve, stated that in another promotion they gathered 2,000 cans of air from the mountain and distributed them to the public.
They were all given away after 20 minutes.
– Becka Felcon
Sources: CNN, PolicyMic, UPI, The Wall Street Journal
Photo: The Wall Street Journal