Today is Blog Action Day 2008.  According to the site, “Today thousands of bloggers will unite to discuss a single issue – poverty.   The day aims to raise awareness, initiate action and to shake the web!” 

Since many bloggers will likely be posting on the topic of poverty from an outsider’s perspective, I thought it would be interesting to supplement their coverage with the views of people, like Mama Lucy and Baba Gidori (the father of Gideon, one of the students at Mama Lucy’s school), who have been directly impacted by poverty and have lived their entire lives in one of the poorest countries in the world.  I’ve also included a link to a previous post that explores some of my own perspectives on poverty, which happens to be about Baba Gidori’s son, Gideon. Check out our diverse perspectives on the topic of poverty by clicking on the links below:

• From Mama Lucy: “I don’t consider myself as a poor person. I’ve no good sources of income but I’ve the ability to think and utilise the little I’m having so as to bring change to my community…”  Read more.

• From Baba Gidori: “Life could be better and simpler for me and my children if poverty were not an issue…”  Read more.

• From Me: “All too often, our portrayals of African children focus on their lack, and implicitly convey that their poverty is somehow their core attribute, their essence. Not only is our portrait radically incomplete, it is, perhaps worst of all, self-perpetuating…”  Read more.

I invite you to comment and share your own views on the topic of poverty, and to visit the Blog Action Day 2008 site to further explore this important topic.

Of course, if you’d like to take real action, we’re still looking for a few more people (just 5 more $25 donors!) to donate to receive the $5000 challenge grant that expires this Friday.  Donate Now.