Blog Action Day

Poverty affects millions of people in all areas of the world. What we, who live in a wealthy country with a high standard of living, consider poverty is different from the extreme poverty seen in "third-world countries" (although no less a serious problem) Poverty can lead to disease spread, homelessness, poor sanitation, hunger, and conflict. Poverty is a great conundrum. Especially for people with skills like basketweaving or jewelry making who dont have the money they need to pay for the fixed costs of business. And then can never make the money that they would earn from that business. Donations given to charity are great. But after a family has eaten the food that theyre given from some NGO, theyre still hungry, lacking clean water, or poor. A great way to help those in need is through microcredit. Microcredit gives small loans (of less than $1000 US) to people living in developing countries so that they can jumpstart their own business. The loans are almost always paid back and my favorite aspect of the idea of microcredit is that a lot of the loans are given to women. Women are often not given the opportunities of education or a steady career but at the same time are given all the responsibilities of raising and caring for a family. Microcredit is a great way to help people in the short term and long term, because the businesses they start can provide for themselves and others for years to come. The businesses themselves can be passed on to other people, stopping poverty from continuing its vicious cycle. To lend money, or to simply learn more about microcredit, visit www.opportunity.org or www.microcreditsummit.org