Close the gap

I meet someone last night who works with a certain department that addresses social issues here. His primary focus has been on helping the poor get out of poverty. He acknowledges that poverty does exist here contrary to what some people had said before of not seeing it. Ignorance is definitely bliss for some people. Anyway he gave me a rough statistic of the number of people that are categorized as living under poverty line. There are about 500 or so people/families that have been identified. His department are targeting about 45-50 cases to be addressed and solve each year. This includes improving their living conditions, income, sourcing job and education of their children. But the most vital, according to him is their living conditions and stable income. In order for the children to focus on their study, their living condition must improve. Their surrounding must at least be pleasant, conducive of wholesome family environment. At the very least they wouldn’t be depress seeing and constantly reminded of the bad state of the lives. Having clean and proper housing can do wonders to one enthusiasm towards life. Next would be having a stable income. Some cases in the past, he said, the government offered training and providing basic facilities in making traditional biscuit and delicacies to be sold to the public. But I said there is another problem in that solution. Even though the family now has to means to make those products, they lack the proper avenue to properly sell them. They also lack the marketing skills to turn it into a successful business. That resorted them to use their kids to go into shops and restaurant to sell their product. We the customers of these outlets see these kids dressing unfashionably could only feel sorry for them. Therefore some of us only buy them out off feeling sorry or out of guilt. But this will only resolve short term money woes as there would not be any repeat customer to facilitate growth of their business. The packaging is also not very attractive. Customers will not be confident of their cleanliness. I must admit I bought a few of them myself but donate it away to family members and friends not knowing where I got if from. My friends and family only assume that I bought it off some trusted or legitimate place. This would also have a reverse affect on their children educations as they would need to stay up all day and all night selling them thus forgoing their educations. Not making ends meet will then curb the motivation and enthusiasm. Soon they will be back to square one.

As the festive months are fast approaching I implore every one to not waste their money with meaningless materialistic things. Don’t just buy new things for the sake of buying. Be grateful for what you have, don’t simply follow the masses. Resist the temptation. Maybe even donate to those in needs. They are government agencies out there that seek out people that are in need and needs our help and support. The government can’t alone bear the responsibility of rescuing our people, we the people must also do our part, owned up to our share of the responsibility. I offered to join them in any capacities deem fit. I'm also helping him researching an adequate program that will yield sustainable growth for each family. Make a difference in someone’s life. Let’s close the poverty gap.