Global Village

If we look at the world as if it were a village, with a population of one thousand people, the following interesting facts emerge: 140 come from Europe, 86 from Africa, and 565 from Asia; 700 people would have skins of other shades and 300 would have white skins. Of the thousand people in the village, only 300 would be Christians. Half of the total income of the people in the village would be in the hands of 60 people; over 700 would not be able to read. Over 500 would not have enough to eat or would be eating food which would make them weak and ill. Over 600 would live in sub­standard houses.

• In pairs, answer these questions:

1. In what part of the world do most people live?

2. A minority of the world’s population are Christians. What are the other major religions of the world?

3. Comment on the statements:

   • Tolerance is one of the most important values in our society.

   • Most people are prejudiced as they are afraid of what they don’t know and don’t understand.

   • We are liberal as long as things do not affect us and our immediate environment.

4. How is the total income distributed in the world? Do you justify it?

5. Can you predict the consequences of such a confrontation between rich and poor nations?

6. What conclusions would you draw from the text?

3.2.  Read the text and answer the questions offered at the end. The Child: Key To The Poverty Problem

One out of every five children in the world dies before the age of five. Over 2,000,000 children suffer from malnutrition. Nineteen out of every twenty have no medical care at all. At least 100,000,000 children get no education. Half the population in slum areas are children. 810,000,000 children live in rural areas far from any basic services.

The above facts illustrate not only the extent of poverty in the world at the moment but also the enormity of the task of eradicating it. The problems of malnutrition and starvation can only be solved in the long term by making people self-supporting. This means providing children with a basic general and vocational education so they can support themselves in the future. As things stand at the moment, however, life for thousands of communities is getting worse rather than better. Without enough food, normal mental development cannot take place. Hunger causes brain damage, which makes the sufferer even less capable of providing himself with food. Vitamin deficiency causes blindness, which causes more vitamin deficiency. Even those who escape the obvious tragedies of brain damage and blindness live out their days without the energy necessary to sustain themselves in basic human conditions. Insufficient food means low energy levels, which means less work, which means less food, which means even lower energy levels.

This vicious circle would be tragic enough if nothing could be done but the real tragedy lies in the fact that all this suffering is needless. Although the world's resources are finite, one thing is certain: we could produce enough to meet the basic needs of everyone. All that stands between the present tragic imbalance and a fairer world is the will to achieve it. Development aid on a national level is indeed valuable, but the involvement of the public, for example through the sponsorship of a child through his or her schooling for a few pounds a month, attacks the problem at its roots.

Aid is necessary on humane grounds, but there are also egoistic reasons for turning our attention to the Third World. A failure to act now could have disastrous economic and political consequences in the future. When it comes to a confrontation between rich and poor, the poor have nothing to lose.

• Answer the questions:

1. What is the devastating statistics about poverty in the world?

2. What do you understand by "basic services"?

3. Explain the difference between "malnutrition" and "starvation".

4. What are the root causes to famine? Can they be reduced by short-term development projects?

5. What do you understand by the expression “to make people self-supporting”?

6. What programmes are more efficient when it comes to dealing with the problem at its root: development aid on a national level or individual sponsorship?

7. Explain why malnutrition causes a "vicious circle".

8. How can we break this vicious circle?

9. What "economic and political consequences" could a confrontation between rich and poor nations have in the future, do you think?

10. Speak on why children are the key to the poverty problem?