Whom do you think of when you hear the words "extreme poverty"? The homeless, war refugees, inhabitants of a failed state like Somalia, or squatters on refuse dumps in some of the world's megalopolises? These are just two of the stories I came across this weekend, and both are extremely sobering. Is the eradication of such poverty simply a utopian idea?
In rural Alaska, villagers suffer in near silence
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Desperate Children Flee Zimbabwe, for Lives Just as Desolate
In rural Alaska, villagers suffer in near silence
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Bush residents struggle to balance the need for food with the need for fuel -- the building blocks of survival in a frigid winter that has months to go. Some call for massive airlifts of aid.
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| With their nation in a prolonged sequence of crises, more unaccompanied children and women than ever are joining the rush of desperate Zimbabweans illegally crossing the frontier at the Limpopo River, according to the police, local officials and aid workers. What they are escaping is a broken country where half the people are going hungry, most schools and hospitals are closed or dysfunctional and a cholera epidemic has taken a toll in the thousands. Yet they are arriving in a place where they are unwelcome and are resented as rivals for jobs. Last year, Zimbabweans were part of the quarry in a spate of mob attacks against foreigners....The South African government issues temporary asylum papers to about 250 of these refugees a day, entitling them to six months without worry of deportation. Unaccompanied minors are ineligible for this status, though, leaving them in an odd limbo, with no specified place in the bureaucratic shuffle. |
