Ever wonder what its like to live in the third world ?

Recently I discovered an article written by economist Robert Heilbroner which certainly made me consider the great differences between life in the affluent West and the third world. I include the whole quotation here since to leave any part of it out would lessen its impact.

It explains exactly what an average American family would have to surrender if they lived among the one billion hungry people in the third world.

We begin by invading the house of our imaginary American family to strip it of its furniture. Everything goes: beds, chairs, tables, television sets, lamps. We will leave the family with a few old blankets, a kitchen table, a wooden chair. Along with the bureaus go the clothes. Each member of the family may keep in his �wardrobe� his oldest suit or dress, a shirt or blouse. We will permit a pair of shoes for the head of the family, but none for the wife or children.

We move to the kitchen. The appliances have already been taken out, so we turn to the cupboards the box of matches may stay, a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt. A few moldy potatoes, already in the garbage can, must be rescued, for they will provide much of tonight�s meal. We will leave a handful of onions and a dish of dried beans. All the rest we take away: the meat, the fresh vegetables, the canned goods, the crackers, the candy.

Now we have stripped the house: the bathroom has been dismantled, the running water shut off, the electric wires taken out. Next we take away the house. The family can move to the tool shed. Communications must go next. No more newspapers, magazines, books, not that they are missed, since we must take away our family�s literacy as well. Instead, in our shantytown we will allow one radio.

Now government services must go next. No more postmen, no more firemen. There is a school, but it is three miles away and consists of two classrooms. There are, of course, no hospitals or doctors nearby. The nearest clinic is ten miles away and is tended by a midwife. It can be reached by bicycle, provided the family has a bicycle, which is unlikely.

Finally, money. We will allow our family a cash hoard of five dollars. This will prevent our breadwinner from experiencing the tragedy of an Iranian peasant who went blind because he could not raise the $3.94 which he mistakenly thought he needed to receive admission to a hospital where he could have been cured.

www.witandwisdom.org...

That actually seems warm and fuzzy compared to the conditions my wife survived under Pol Pot in Cambodia.

Originally posted by FredT
That actually seems warm and fuzzy compared to the conditions my wife survived under Pol Pot in Cambodia.

I've read an awful lot about that regime and I still cannot fathom the horrors endured. Too bad he died in his sleep.

Be thankful we live in such privilidged societies...

But it makes you wonder how some people can sit on large hoards of wealth and let people live like this

See that's the problem with money. The more you get, the more you want. I know Micro$oft donate millions to organisations worldwide, and Bill Gates does actually give quite a bit to charity, but imagine the difference someone like him could make if they "sponsored" an entire third world town, say $1million/year, or even if EVERYONE in developed worlds gave $5 a week to charity, and ALL of that $5 went to helping these people

Originally posted by LordGoofus
See that's the problem with money. The more you get, the more you want. I know Micro$oft donate millions to organisations worldwide, and Bill Gates does actually give quite a bit to charity, but imagine the difference someone like him could make if they "sponsored" an entire third world town, say $1million/year, or even if EVERYONE in developed worlds gave $5 a week to charity, and ALL of that $5 went to helping these people

How do you 'sponsor' a town, give them all money so that they can buy some nice things and then get robbed from the banditos from the next town?

It's not that simple.

Also, in most third world countries there's an extremely strong economic caste system. That's where you get to see rich children in perfectly clean white outfits stand on a dock and throw rocks at the children who earn their living by diving for change thrown off the docks by passers-by.

Then again I've seen kids living in the jungle with absolutely nothing but a straw hut for a house who are happier, fitter, and more innocent by far than kids in America, and their parents are more generous and kind to strangers than anyone I've met in a Western country, despite the fact they don't have anything at all.

Sad but you can find 3rd world condition right here in good old U.S.A. I can name at lest 2 place like that. Cabbage town right in the middle of Atlanta , Ga.Lake of the Ozarks. Not the tourist end near Branson. The top end where there are not country western singers helping with jobs for the locals. Lets not forget the American Indians. Most live in 3rd world conditions. Not all tribes have casino's. So you see you don't have to look elsewhere for this. Its right here at home.

Originally posted by Sistinas
Most live in 3rd world conditions. Not all tribes have casino's. So you see you don't have to look elsewhere for this. Its right here at home.

A lot of it has to do with culture, also. People seem to think it's a myth, but when you essentially break a culture it can take centuries for that culture to repair itself economically, culturally, and socially. The American Indian tribes that were on either valuable land or fought back were completely wiped out until you had only kids and women left. The tribes that lived in 'useless' areas of the time faired much better. If you look at cities in the Philippines, you'll be hard pressed not to vomit. The conditions are absolutely pitiful with zero, zilch, not a penny's worth of value where people live on the garbage and in the garbage of the upper class. Literally, communities existing in landfills. Then you go to the deep rural areas and the people are comparitively as poor as the city people, however they own tiny bits of land and have decency. Then there's the Sea Gypsies (who are Muslim, btw) who have lived autonomously since before history could record them. For them, only the dead set foot on land! They have never been controlled by any foreign government because they have nothing any government could ever need. They are very poor as we would understand poor, but they have integral social and economic system that is self-sustaining.

I grew up pretty much like that here in America.

We had no running water, electricty, etc

Buying food consisted of buying 25-50 pound sacks of beans, rice, and corn meal. We grew our own potatos, corn, squash, etc.

Although we had chickens they were for eggs and rarely ate, meat was usualy rabbit or squrril, forget about beef or fruit.

We only wore shoes to school and church, etc

At least in America you have the oppurtunity to make something of yourself. If you do very well in school you get into college for a lot less. You have to work hard or you won't get anywhere. Opportunity, that is the difference.

Originally posted by verfed
At least in America you have the oppurtunity to make something of yourself. If you do very well in school you get into college for a lot less. You have to work hard or you won't get anywhere. Opportunity, that is the difference.

Opportunity is the big difference. Of course it can be argued that there's opportunity wherever you look, and as we know for example many people have risen against absolutely ridiculously bad odds. The thing is, the propensity for succesful individuals rises with the lifting of overall standards of living. Having a middle class and available jobs is very important to a society.

Amuk I remember growing also in the conditions above, my father bought his first modern house with everything included when I was only nine years old so I remember the first time we used the bathroom inside the house and the water was warm and we had a bathtub.

our old house was of wood with tin roof Kerosene lamps, and stove, out house and out shower, food was cleaner because it came from the vegetable garden and meat came from my grandfather house he supplied the family from pork to beef, goat and lamb from his farm we had chickens and other small animals in the house.

Milk was brought by the milk man but it had to be boiled because it was directly from the cow my mother will have the cream separated for cheese.

Everythign was sold by pounds, the sugar, salt and other items.

Even after we moved to our first home with a room for every one of us, my mother still got her vegetables fresh and the meat still came from grandpa farm now the milk was delivered but already pasteurized.

When I came to US, It took a while to get used to the taste of the food here, it did not taste the same I still do all my cooking as natural as I can, meaning not frozen vegetables or can goods if I can avoid them.

Life was a lot more simple back then, and more fun. My children will never know that kind of life my father now said that we had grown fat from the abundance that we have today.

it just makes you think how some people aren't just willing to give away some of their money towards these people. Something needs to be done, no-one should have to live like this...

drfunk

How do you 'sponsor' a town, give them all money so that they can buy some nice things and then get robbed from the banditos from the next town?

It not that simple.

I know it's not that simple & the "adopt a town" thing was and idea...I didn't really sit down with a planning & funding body and plan out how it would work hehe

I was just making a general statement about how if you look at the wealth / asset / food distribution on a global scale, there is more than enough to bring these third world countries into a modern age.

And by bringing them into the modern age, I don't mean making them live the same way as we live, as they have their own cultures & beliefs and that should be respected.

I mean providing appropriate housing, running clean water, flushing toilets, proper, clean hospitals, electricity, clothes, work out what the country is best at then using that to help it develop it's own industries, thus creating jobs, improving the economy, creating expendable income thus improving the quality of life. Of course all this would need to be moulded around the existing culture, social structure/beliefs etc to encourage the country to keep it's identity and not become a mini-america

It's a utopian ideal but it is possible to a fairly large extent if the proper effort, time and resources were devoted...but of course this is assuming the population in these countries DO want to change, is willing to do so and WILL put in the hard yards required to get these countries on their feet.


ps: There's a growing poverty trend in alot of developed countries so that needs to be seriously adressed as well....as a few of you have said, you don't need to goto a third world country to see people living in conditions like this, or worse.

[edit on 2-10-2004 by LordGoofus]