As part of the Spring Into Action campaign running from April 16 – May 1, we will be posting daily about topics related to extreme poverty and how anyone and everyone can join the movement to end it.

Though almost everyone has complained at some point in their life about school, it’s hard to deny the benefits that our education provided to our lives.

Why does education matter? When people are able to get a quality education they can break the cycle of poverty by getting better jobs that can result in a better life. Education, therefore, helps to reduce inequalities and empowers people to live more healthy and sustainable lives.

As part of the Spring Into Action campaign running from April 16 – May 1, we will be posting daily about topics related to extreme poverty and how anyone and everyone can join the movement to end it. 

Between 2000 and 2012, 2.3 million square kilometers (890,000 sq. mi) of forests around the world were cut down. Because of deforestation, only 6.2 million square kilometers (2.4 million square miles) remain of the original 16 million square kilometers (6 million square miles) of forest that formerly covered the earth.

As part of the Spring Into Action campaign running from April 16 – May 1, we will be posting daily about topics related to extreme poverty and how anyone and everyone can join the movement to end it. 

More people have a mobile phone than a toilet. Think about that. Which one would you rather have?

As part of the Spring Into Action campaign running from April 16 – May 1, we will be posting daily about topics related to extreme poverty and how anyone and everyone can join the movement to end it. Imagine yourself sitting around a fire pit with your closest friends on a weekend camping trip. S’mores are being made, Starburst are being roasted, and laughter abounds. Life couldn’t be better. And then it happens. 

As part of the Spring Into Action campaign running from April 16 – May 1, we will be posting daily about topics related to extreme poverty and how anyone and everyone can join the movement to end it.

What if a group of people made some big audacious goals to make the world a better place for everyone and the whole world agreed to do their part to make those goals a reality? Well you'd have the Sustainable Development Goals.

As part of the Spring Into Action campaign running from April 16 – May 1, we will be posting daily about topics related to extreme poverty and how anyone and everyone can join the movement to end it.

According to UNICEF, nearly half of all deaths in children under the age of 5 are a result of undernutrition -- which means approximately 3 million young lives lost each year. That’s like the entire population of Buenos Aires, Argentina, being wiped out in one short year. Additionally, poor nutrition in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life can cause stunted growth, which is closely connected to reduced school and work performance, as well as impaired cognitive ability.

As part of the Spring Into Action campaign running from April 16 – May 1, we will be posting daily about topics related to extreme poverty and how anyone and everyone can join the movement to end it.

Your Morning Latte Can Tip the Scales

What was your morning like? Did you stop on your way to the office and buy a latte or go through a drive-through and grab a quick breakfast? If so, then before mid-day you spent more money than someone who lives in extreme poverty has to spend in an entire day.

Resham Khadka lives in rural Nepal with his wife and three children. Like many young people in this area, when he turned 18 he went to the Gulf countries as a migrant laborer working in different countries and sending money home for his family. The money helped them survive, but there was not enough to save. He was discouraged because, in spite of his hard work in the Gulf, there was no change in his family’s economic situation. It helped them cope with poverty, but didn’t help them come out of poverty. Also, it was very hard for his wife to raise small children and live alone.  

Teresa has gone to Guatemala several times on humanitarian expeditions with Smiles for Life. Before her latest trip, she saw a TV segment that showed people working in a developing country and they had brought reusable feminine hygiene products. That sparked an instant awareness. She realized that, though she travels frequently, she has never thought about menstruation while traveling before.

There are people in this world that do crazy, unthinkable things to make the world a better place. Elijah is one of those people doing crazy things. He lives in the Silaloni area of Kenya - outside of Mombasa. Kenya is one of the countries where many people live on less than $1.90 a day. Extreme poverty is defined by the World Bank as living on an average of US $1.90 a day or less. Families in these conditions represent well over a billion people on the planet, with nearly double that amount living on less than just $2.50. But, poverty is more than a lack of income. Extreme poverty is multidimensional.