Real Poverty

Poverty is not just about a lack of money. It’s about the absence of the resources the poor need to realize their potential.-Bill and Melinda Gates

The above quotation from an Article by the Gates got me thinking. I have fully come to appreciate that not having money is lack. Not having money is lack of money. Not having money is lack of power to transact. Not having money is lack of power to purchase. That is a form of poverty. It is poverty manifest as lack of a real power in society.

The poverty manifest as lack is mainly reliant on donations. There is a difference between a donation and an investment. A donation is an extension of charity. You may have to do it continually. An investment is placement of resource in the possession of one that needs them so that they gain self sufficiency.  Africa has lived a lot on donations. They do not have things and they are given things because they do not have those things.

Africans do not have food, so they are given food. Africans do not have clothes, so they are given second hand clothes by well-wishers. But Africans have land to farm and rivers with water that is flowing to the sea all year round. No-one is building dams and ensuring irrigation is done properly. Africa farms a lot of cotton but no-one is making clothing factories and developing Clothing Designers so that we also create world renowned Clothing labels and fashion trends. To me that is poverty.

Someone said, "don't give fish, teach to fish and give fishing rods; every serious Fisherman will smell out the pool of water." I tweaked that a bit. If people just don't have something, that is sad; but if they have a dam full of fish and know that fish are edible and sleep on empty stomaches because they had no boats and fishing nets and rods, that form of poverty brings tears to the eyes.

What am I talking about? I am talking about Africa's way out of poverty. Africa should know something and then look for the resources to actualize. Don't look for hand-outs. Those create Donor fatigue. Sooner or later, the Donor tires. Have ideas that need financing rather. That way, when the finance comes, the Donor feels really happy and purposeful. Why? they will go around saying, " I birthed that guy. God used me to achieve all that." They have something to talk about.

Once upon a time I helped two people. They both were street living people. I gave them both a similar amount. The one kept coming back for more. The other became a Vendor. After some time, one day I was broke. I bumped into that Vendor now well dressed and with a big good looking stall. He gave me money to go home.

Bill and Melinda said, poverty is " ...the absence of the resources the poor need to realize their potential." A poor person with potential is not poor. Poverty is absence of potential. What is your potential? Quantify that and your journey to wealth has begun. Why? You know what the resources you are looking for are for.

Bill and Melinda said it like God's angels. poverty is absence of resources to bring out potential. It is the poverty of the world. Why? When the one dies with their potential unrealized, the world is the ultimate loser and it is the poorer. Someone said, " the richest place on earth is the grave yard." Too many people died without leaving what they contained on earth and robbed humanity of it. Did they rob humanity or humanity did not tap into them?

Why do African nations stay in poverty? Some IMFish, World Bankish Institution is creating that type of poverty of not releasing the potential of Africa. God bless you. Catch up later.