Introduction

Hello, my name is Umuhawa and this is my second inquire project. My question is...

Why are Millions of people suffering from poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa?

I chose this question because poverty is a global issue that has been affecting millions of people since time began. Yet, I feel that there's still a lot of people not properly educated on this topic. I feel that most people have a basic understanding of poverty but not a deep enough understanding to know the severity of the situation. I choose to focus on Sub-Saharan Africa because I was born in Sierra Leone, which is a country mainly in West Africa but is still part of Sub- Saharan Africa. I felt by just focusing on the Sub-Saharan I could possible relate to this issue and have a better grasp on the topic. Plus, I could ask my mom and other family members on their struggle with poverty because most of my family did live in poverty at one point. Hopefully by doing this, it will give me actual answers and hearing peoples real issues will help to confirm the information I'm reading. This might also help show just how common of a problem poverty is.

  

I know that poverty is a huge problem all across the world and that millions of people are affected by this issue. However, I also know that it's almost a more sever problem in the developing world, like Africa for example. Along with that, I feel that I have a basic summary of what poverty is. From what I've come to understand before doing thorough research. To me, poverty is when someone doesn't have/has a lack of the basic needs, like food, water, shelter, etc. because they are extremely poor and aren't able to afford those things. I'm aware that, that's a very basic description of poverty and that there's more to it but that's why I'm also doing this, so I can learn more. I acquired all my information from school, the news, tv, movies, and stories family members have told me about back home and living in poverty.

I feel that poverty hits both economical and social sustainability but is also affected by environmental sustainability.

Firstly, there's environmental sustainability and that's, the preservation of all practices and components that assist in the quality and quantity of the environment for a long-term period. Even though poverty doesn't exactly cause a significant amount of damage to the environment it's still greatly affected by those who do. For example, countries in Africa that are having droughts because the planet is too hot, which is caused by other factors like pollution. A lack of water means no water to drink, bathe with, and grow crops with. This causes people to starve and become dehydrated. Now even if they have the money to afford these things they don't have the resources for these things making them suffer a life of poverty. Also because most poverty riven countries are extremely polluted because of the lack of knowledge and unavailable resources to properly recycle and throw out garbage. Plus, the lack of bathroom access and proper pluming makes there be more toilet related pollution.

Secondly, there's economical sustainability and that's the ability to use all available resources effectively. This level of sustainability is to promote the efficient and responsible use of resources through a long-period of time. Poverty is a cause and affect to economical sustainability or lack thereof. Since people who live in poverty they don't have a good enough amount of income to sustain a good life, that means they are not putting in much money to the system(government) to help them pay for things like health care. However, maybe if the government helped people with low income in low income countries more often then their might not be as much people living in poverty. Living is very expensive and their isn't that many jobs in the developing world, let alone jobs that pay well. Its a really bad cycle, the people in poverty don't have money, probably because of the circumstances they live in. But because of the circumstances they live in, there's barely any opportunity to gain money and help develop their poverty affected area.

Lastly, there's social sustainability. Social sustainability is the capability of a social system to operate at a defined level of social well being and a defined level of peace and harmony for an unlimited time period. For example, schools, communities, families, and countries need to be socially sustainable to operate smoothly. Poverty is a good example of their being a lack of social sustainability. To put it into perspective, a young girl in Zambia may not be able to go to school because she cant afford it because her family's poor because their community is poor. Then there's, a young girl in Toronto who's parents give her the option to go to the best 3 schools in their area, she chooses to do online school instead. She got that option because her parents are wealthy and she lives in a wealthy neighborhood. I know that there's more to it then that and it's not that easy but that's just an example. So there you have two people who are both deserving of the opportunity like school but because of the circumstance they were born in, one of them won't get that opportunity. That's a lack of social sustainability. We are all equal, and deserve the same opportunities.ran Africa?

I chose this question because poverty is a global issue that has been affecting millions of people since time began. Yet, I feel that there's still a lot of people not properly educated on this topic. I feel that most people have a basic understanding of poverty but not a deep enough understanding to know the severity of the situation. I choose to focus on Sub-Saharan Africa because I was born in Sierra Leone, which is a country mainly in West Africa but is still part of Sub- Saharan Africa. I felt by just focusing on the Sub-Saharan I could possible relate to this issue and have a better grasp on the topic. Plus, I could ask my mom and other family members on their struggle with poverty because most of my family did live in poverty at one point. Hopefully by doing this, it will give me actual answers and hearing peoples real issues will help to confirm the information I'm reading. This might also help show just how common of a problem poverty is