Final Blog before Cambodia

Hello all,

Poverty is one of the biggest issues our country and especially our world faces constantly. In 2013 there were 3 billion people living in poverty and 1.5 billion people living in extreme poverty around the world. A person living in poverty today makes less than 1.40 international dollars every day. In the U.S there is a 14.8% poverty rate which is low, however that is equal to 45,950 people. If you have ever been to a major city you see people living in poverty throughout the city, everywhere. Now think about all the cities in the U.S with all the people living in poverty only adding up to 14.9%. Nicaragua a country we travel too, has a 46% poverty rate 2nd highest in Latin America only to Haiti. Imagine all the people you would see in poverty there, not just everywhere in the cities, everywhere in the country. In Cambodia many children are working in garment factories for very low wages and harsh conditions and long hours to bring home money for their parents. Parents in Cambodia are relying on their children's miniscule earnings to provide income and help support their family. There is not been any major developments to end poverty however I think if people can work together to perform a couple of ideas made into one it could seriously impact poverty throughout our world. In my eyes the ending to poverty is the spread of knowledge.

Poverty could diminished and eventually disappear if people pay it forward in the spread of knowledge. I think that if a group of people teach another group of people about a certain job or educational ideas. Then those people who learn can perform their new job earn money to support themselves and then pay it forward. What I mean is that if the people with the newly acquired skill could pass the skill on the next generation of even to a group of friends than it starts a massive cycle. Eventually skills of many different things will be spread to people living in poverty throughout countries giving them a chance to live a life with food, shelter and many things of everyday life. I will contribute in helping this battle against poverty by bringing my knowledge to the kids of Cambodia. This summer from the beginning to the middle of July I will be in Cambodia teaching kids at Cooperation Peace Organization Orphanage about English and the environment around them. My job, as a teacher to these children living with nothing, is to inspire them to strive for more than they were given and show them that learning English will help them to better their situation as they grow older. Sharing my  knowledge with them to pass along to other children in the slums, or maybe even go deeper into their schooling which, like I said above, will help them prosper into adulthood. Another way I would like to contribute to fighting against poverty in the future is bring awareness throughout our country and hopefully someday worldwide. I could create an organization that would help people living in poverty and maybe if we got big enough some countries would look at our ideas and possibly refer to them. My organization would be worldwide having bases for people living in poverty all around the world providing them with an opportunity at an successful life. If these ideas were put into action I seriously think that it would help decrease poverty rates globally.

My friend from New York was adopted from Cambodia. His mom Ms. Johnson and another Cambodian man Mr. Arun who went through the Khmer Rouge at age 5 started an orphanage or a community in Phnom Phen called Sovann Komar Golden Children. What prompted Ms. Johnson and Mr. Arun to start this was the devastation and poverty people of Cambodia especially kids faced after the Khmer Rouge takeover. In Sovann Komar they have four pillars in which they focus on every day Family, Education, Health Care, and Outreach. In Family, foster parents interview to become parents of 4-6 kids in Sovann Komar as well as putting their own kids into the program. The kids have the benefit of having a full time doctor to check up on them and keep them healthy. Also in Education they start school 3 years sooner than the government and prep them for the world teaching them languages, math, life skills as well as issues in their community. This fully equips the kids to survive as well as thrive in the outside world by themselves.  In the outreach program Sovann Komar helps kids find schools to continue their education and find jobs to support themselves in the future. Another important part about the outreach program is they teach the kids about helping people around them. Sovann Komar often visits poorer communities around them to help out as well as build them playgrounds. These teaches them community responsibility and awareness of others. Sovann Komar is extremely successful and helps up to 56 kids every year, plus the community itself. They help bring global readiness to kids of Cambodia which is something they can pass on and eventually have a major impact on the people of Cambodia.

This is my final blog before I travel to Cambodia with CGA this summer. I am so excited and I know it will be here and gone before I realize it. Lately I have been working on my community service hours as well thinking about ideas to help the environment against pollution in the countries we travel to across the world. Thank you to everyone who has aided me along the way so far.

Thanks,

Karsen