What is Poverty?

If I were to ask you "What is poverty?", how would you respond? This post is meant to be interactive...think about what poverty is to you, and leave a comment. Don't worry about saying the "wrong" thing; I'm not looking for any specific answer. I want to know what YOU think when you hear the word poverty. It can be a word or two, a sentence, a paragraph, whatever you feel. Your answers will help me in a future blog post that will be based on your answers, my experience here in Nicaragua, and a book I am reading called When Helping Hurts. If you'd rather your comments be anonymous when I use them later, please don't hesitate to send me your ideas in an email or Facebook message and indicate that you'd like them to remain anonymous.

Y para mis amigos que sólo hablan español...porque quiero que ustedes participen en esto tambien! Si te preguntara "¿Qué es la pobreza?", ¿cómo me responderías? El propósito de este post es que sea interactivo...piensa en lo que es la pobreza para ti, y deja un comentario. No te preoucupes por equivocarte en la respuesta; no busco una respuesta específica. Quiero saber lo que TU piensas cuando escuchas la palabra pobreza. Puede ser una o dos palabras, una frase, un párrafo, lo que tú quieras. Tus respuestas me van a ayudar en el futuro para hacer otro post que estará basado en tus respuestas, mi experiencia aquí en Nicaragua, y un libro que estoy leyendo que se llama When Helping Hurts. Si prefieres que tus comentarios se mantengan anónimos cuando los utilizo después, por favor mándame tus ideas por medio de un mensaje por correo electrónico o por Facebook e indica que prefieres que tus comentarios sean anónimos.

Thank you y gracias!

email: asullivan531@gmail.com

Food for Thought

"We (North Americans) are the richest people ever to walk the face of the earth. Period. Yet, most of us live as though there is nothing terribly wrong in the world. We attend our kids' soccer games, pursue our careers, and take beach vacations while 40 percent of the world's inhabitants struggle just to eat every day. And in our own backyards, the homeless, those residing in ghettos, and a wave of immigrants live in a world outside the economic and social mainstream of North America. We do not necessarily need to feel guilty about our wealth. But we do need to get up every morning with a deep sense that something is terribly wrong with the world and yearn and strive to do something about it. There is simply not enough yearning and striving going on."*

THIS is why I'm in Nicaragua.

*taken from the book When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor...And Yourself by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert, pg 28