Thursday, December 30, 2021
Articles on Poverty
Supplemental Articles
Topic of Poverty & Homelessness
What is “Boots Theory?” This theory was taken from a novel by Terry Pratchett wherein it discusses that the rich are rich, simply because they spend less money, but the manner in which they achieve that feat is done by making items that are cheap enough for the poor to purchase so much less durable that they actually end up having to spend more money for similar items over time.
Poverty in the U.S. increased in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic hammered the economy and unemployment soared. Those at the bottom of the economic ladder were hit hardest, new figures confirm, suggesting that the recession may have widened the gap between the rich and the poor.
Pandemic-era benefits may have helped drive poverty in 2021 lower than in 2020.
Where and when a person was born, their race, their education level and that of their parents, their age and health, the composition of their family, and the status of their relationship are all variables determining poverty status in the United States.
Although the country has made several improvements since the end of the war, 20 years later, Bosnia still struggles with poverty.
Twenty years since the Dayton Accords brought peace, Bosnia and Herzegovina still suffers from high poverty.
During the Bosnian War, a bloody conflict centered in the Bosnian capital city of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1995 and thousands of citizens experienced immense hunger in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since the conflict, recovery has been thwarted by low income and employment availability.
736 million people live in extreme poverty. About half of the world’s poor, around 368 million, live in just five countries: India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Bangladesh. In developing regions, one in 10 people live on less than $1.90 a day. An estimated 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation (more than 35 percent of the world’s population). One billion people live without electricity and hundreds of millions more live with unreliable or expensive power. Poverty reduction rates are expected to slow down over the next decade.
My descent into homelessness felt as though it happened in the blink of an eye. It was as if one moment I was standing in a meadow next to my horses, stroking their manes, and the next I was lying inside a plastic garbage bag on a park bench, wrapping clothes around my shivering body.
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Welcome!
We invite you to come and join us!
Questions:
"Do I need to read the book to engage in Book Club?'
- NO!
- But, I would encourage you to either read the book chosen or another from that particular topic. If you don't want to read a book, at least engage in some form of media on the subject beforehand. We want you to engage in the conversation. Your voice MATTERS!
"How do I participate?'
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"What are we reading in 2022?"
- Here is the list of our subjects, dates, times, and books for you.
- These titles were chosen via a voting form open to everyone for several months.
- Email Ruth Merkley at ruthmerkley@gmail.com.
The Diversity & Inclusion Book Club here at the U.S. Mission Bosnia and Herzegovina was established in January 2020 by Sha Martine-Crick and Ruth Merkley.
We are now heading into our second year.
The book club was established so that we as a community would have the opportunity to read books on the topics of diversity.
Diversity within our cultures comes in various shapes, forms, and colors. It is our goal to touch on each topic.
We are not subject matter experts.
We are not judges.
It is up to each and every one of us to continue our education on these topics.
We encourage all members of the community to contribute various other multimedia items on the subjects we touch on in order to expand our knowledge on these subjects and to help each of us to go forward into a future where everyone belongs.
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