Being dead doesn't help.

I just got back from seeing an awesome production of Carmen at the Kennedy Center and I am STILL putting up a blog post. That's right, commitment. And Toblerone = slight sugar rush.

Anywho.

People might say I am ridiculously naive when it comes to international development. I don't know who, but if you search long enough you can find someone who'll say anything about you. However, I'm not. Impoverished nations, regardless if they are in Africa, Asia, Europe or Latin America, are screwed. Whether new economic systems are given, free aid is doled out, subsidized aid is passed around or Barack Obama is president, countries where the majority of the population is labeled as "living in extreme poverty" are up shitake mushroom creek.

So what do we do, what do we address, when even if we do everything we can't guarantee an eradication of poverty and all the symptoms and causes (which may be the same thing, creating a cycle-o-vicious) of it? As much as I realize the need for structural stability, for roads and such...I remain firm in my statement that we must address basic needs of humanity first and foremost. A strong infrastructure in a nation means nothing if there are not people to utlitze it or even build it. Infrastructure, as important as it is, doesn't matter when people are too sick and too weak to use these services and structures.

A majority of people in extreme poverty live in rural areas (because it is pretty difficult to build up when you have nothing to build up upon). Within the broad affirmation that basic needs are the base of aid, perhaps it is easier to look at those in rural poverty. Afterall, even on a minimum level, urban dwellers have some sort of, at least, physical infrastructure. Ok, now that we've gotten all of that Lake Titicaca out of the way, what are basic needs?

....What do people need to survive?
Water, food, basic health care, shelter.

In order to make this blog not a KAJILLION bytes long, I'll just talk about water: Perhaps more than anything, water is the most basic of needs and one of the hardest needs to satisfy. Despite most of this planet being covered in the big blue wet thing, getting clean water for most of the human race isn't as simple as turning on the tap. Water-related illnesses are numerous (short list: cholera, malaria, ringworm, anaemia) and untold numbers of people die each year because they didn't have access to clean water, whether it was for drinking or sanitation. As the WHO tells us: In 2002, 1.1 billion people lacked access to improved water sources, which represented 17% of the global population (and just so ya know, 2/3 of that are people in southeast Asia). If wells, or as I mentioned in class, LifeStraws that filter water are provided, then, not only is the ability to get clean drinking water increased, the likelihood of getting water-related diseases decrased, but the time spent going to a water source (which could be 11 miles away in some regions) is drastically reduced.

Water = essential. No water = not really healthy. Not really healthy = DALY (not you Bovice.) is drastically decreased (or is it increased...whatever, you're gonna die sooner). Dead = not really useful to anyone. Not productive = kinda hard to build an infrastructure outta dead people. Yeah, they did it for the Great Wall, but how great was it, really? Didn't stop anyone from climbing it.

And I'm done. Opera high has worn off.