| u ever thought of living in a plastic storage box? Or a | | | | pneumonia and other fearsome threats are easily |
| steel cargo crate? Millions of unfortunate people | | | | shared in a large informal settlement. When your |
| around the world suffer the indignity of living not only | | | | kitchen storage cabinets are rife with mites and |
| below the poverty line, but lack a decent standard of | | | | cockroaches, your neighbours share the same vermin |
| accommodation as well. Poverty [also known as | | | | that you do. The poorest of communities are huddled |
| penury] has existed since the beginning of time and | | | | together, where heavy rains can effectively |
| has forced countless billions into impossible situations, | | | | devastate a settlement the size of a small town. The |
| existing without clean drinking water, food, clothing | | | | list of issues is endless for both its citizens and the |
| and shelter. These worldly possessions which we | | | | government trying to keep the situation under |
| take for granted are the building blocks of any | | | | control. |
| society and a boon for the downtrodden. Armed | | | | There are no instant or easy solutions. It is said that |
| with a full understanding of the situation and a | | | | in order to improve the issue of informal settlements, |
| detailed account of the current state of affairs, | | | | the entire infrastructure of job development, skills |
| anyone can affect a truly beneficial change. | | | | creation and general growth in all sectors must be |
| Poverty is not only confined to third-world nations. | | | | affected over the generations. Change of this |
| Those who live out their lives in plastic storage or tin | | | | magnitude will take decades of work. Most |
| roofed shacks can be found in even the richest of | | | | countries’ governments, if you can believe |
| suburbs, quietly nestled away between the mansions. | | | | this, will persistently maintain a two-to-ten percent |
| Home is supposed to be a safe refuge for us. Yet | | | | unemployment rate which acts as a replacement |
| for those who are forced to live in makeshift homes, | | | | threat’ to unskilled private workers. A buffer, |
| a house can be a disaster area. When a squatter | | | | if you will, for cheap labour. |
| camp [informal settlement] is formed, it is usually | | | | Poverty is a cycle, it operates on multiple levels and |
| created with very little thought with regards to | | | | affects individuals both nationally and globally. This |
| plumbing, electricity and stable foundation. In South | | | | cycle perpetuates a high level of crime, as the poorer |
| Africa, Jamaica and Brazil, where the largest squatter | | | | you are, the more likely it is that you will turn to a |
| camps in the world exist, the citizens of these | | | | life of crime in order to finance even the simplest of |
| faceless, shapeless homes must share a single toilet | | | | needs. This cycle causes violence, death and rape. |
| amongst hundreds, even thousands on occasion. | | | | When you have nothing there is nothing to lose. The |
| Electricity is unlawfully routed from highway street | | | | poor are the oppressed, the terrorised and |
| lamps or dug up from the ground itself. Access to | | | | sometimes, the terrorists. A study has shown that |
| water, the most precious of all commodities, can | | | | over seventy percent of all radical middle-eastern |
| consist of a single tap, where the wait can be up to | | | | terrorists develop from a background of great |
| an hour for a bucket of this vital liquid. | | | | poverty. We must not stuff our communities into |
| Space is also a major concern. When people are | | | | these little plastic storage homes. |
| crammed together, diseases like tuberculosis, HIV, | | | | |