Poverty perspective

Poverty, poverty everywhere, and not enough being done to help those suffering from it – or so say the politicians seeking our vote to enable them to provide more governmental intervention.
And yet the poor in the U.S. have so much more than the poor in third world countries. While poor children in America have access to dentists, doctors and medication under Medicaid, Medicare or ARKids, poor children in India and Brazil lack even basic medical tools such as wheelchairs. If they are fortunate, the disabled in those countries may benefit from a charitable organization such as Joni and Friends and its Wheels for the World program. J&F collects wheelchairs which are refurbished by prison inmates and then donated to developing nations and fitted to a needy disabled child or adult.
Any child born with a cleft palate in the United States or most European countries will have surgery within their first year – whether their family is poor, rich or in-between. Children in developing countries may never have the simple operation – unless they encounter visiting organizations such as Smile Train, which places the cost for the surgery at $250. By that time many have endured years of shame and physical discomfort from this common birth disorder.
According to the 2011 U.S. Census Bureau, 13.2 percent of Americans live in relative poverty. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines poverty for a family of four as one with a yearly income of $22,350.
A tight budget, yes, and yet a budget that typically affords said family a refrigerator, an oven and stove, clothes washer, clothes dryer, ceiling fans, a cordless phone, a coffee maker, a microwave, a car, air conditioning, at least one color television, cable or satellite TV, a DVD player and a VCR. If there are children, especially boys, in the home, the family has an electronic game system, according to the 2005 U.S. Department of Energy, Residential Energy Expenditure Survey.

 
Yes, the USA has families who earn less than others, but with the availability of shelters and soup kitchens open across the nation, even the homeless in this country have access to better housing than the millions who live in mud huts with dirt floors and thatched roofs such as those found in Haiti, India and many countries in Africa. These families survive on less than $1.25 per day (or less then $500 per year) and they prepare their meals over an open pit. In Brazil, their children sort through the city’s rubbish for food, clothing and sellable items.
The next time you are asked to weigh in on the needs of the poor in America, consider the following points for measuring absolute poverty as written by David Gordon in his paper for the United Nations on “Indicators of Poverty & Hunger.” The paper defines absolute poverty as the absence of any two of the following eight basic needs:
• Food: Body Mass Index must be above 16.
• Safe drinking water: Water must not come solely from rivers and ponds, and must be available nearby (less than 15 minutes’ walk each way).
• Sanitation facilities: Toilets or latrines must be accessible in or near the home.
• Health: Treatment must be received for serious illnesses and pregnancy.
• Shelter: Homes must have fewer than four people living in each room. Floors must not be made of dirt, mud or clay.
• Education: Everyone must attend school or otherwise learn to read.
• Information: Everyone must have access to newspapers, radios, televisions, computers or telephones at home.
• Access to services: This item is undefined by Gordon, but normally is used to indicate the complete panoply of education, health, legal, social, and financial (credit) services.
Yes, there are poor in the US, but we need to stop and reconsider their real needs when the poorest of the poor is in this country looks so rich compared to so many around the world.