India Slums

I'm glad Oprah brings these situations to the awareness of the many clueless among us! Sometimes, it's too easy and convenient for us to adopt an "out of sight/out of mind" mentality.

Poverty, even here in US Appalachia poverty is certainly not just simply a matter of choice. To reduce the issue of poverty to that statement is an affront to anyone with any iota of intelligence. And a ginormous example of being obtuse.

Oh--Oprah received awards en masse for her "Poor in America/Dirty Little Secret series...all you have to do is BE AWARE and not live in a bubble.

http://www.oprah.com/world/Invisible-Lives

http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/Oprah-Special-Report-Inside...

I think we can compare/contrast the tidy, small O. room apartment void of excess with the McMansions here filled with ever-growing stacks of stuff and excess and really stop and think!

whats the question? poverty is everywhere? In a land with 5 billion people you havent seen anything yet! Oprah only visited the upper class slums. Wait till you see an entire family living under tarps. That happens only in the biggest cities there, Delhi, Mumbai, Kalcutta. India is a country that is divided by castes, if you are not in the top two, its very hard to become successful or even fight for limited housing even if you had money. My husband was born and raised in India. Most of the time the smaller cities and villages do not let people live like this, however they are steeped in old culture and belief systems. The government there just can NOT help the poor, they dont have the money. Though honestly their system works. If you really looked down deep enough you would see we have the same here, and if you were to watch anything about South Africa, Brazil, and Sub-Sahara countries (there are so many) you would see worse. Its every where.

Addition: I hate to see anyone live in poverty. I often help and contribute to organizations geared to helping those people who want to change that, get on their feet. However, I really dislike Oprah's attempt here. She is visiting a "privileged" (if you can call it that, cause poverty is poverty) poor family... this family is only the TIP of whats in India. As far as fixing the issue and bringing awareness to it, there is far too many to people to even begin to help. The problem is religious, ethnic, and caste related. Cut through those 3 walls, then you will be able to touch the garbage heaped on these people. In this I am talking about India only. Not any where else in the world. I visited a slum in Morocco and was brought to tears every turn in the winding maze of cardboard, tarps, open air toliets, dying kids, dead animals, and blazing hot metal. I made the biggest mistake in my life there as well. I handed a starving child an Euro. 1 Euro. He brought the entire slum after me. It was a quick get away.

Want to see true suffering in a country? Watch Lisa Ling's "Inside North Korea" Makes me glad every single day I live here.

Oh my god Cheryl O. I am speechless. FYI Oprah DID do a segment on poverty in the US - has done MANY. She did one on some slums in Illinois, not far from where her show was taped, showing people in horrible abject poverty - and let me tell you it was heartbreaking.

Sorry Cheryl, but your post ticked me off. Do you know anything at all about poverty in other countries? I do. I have travelled the world and not on business or for pleasure. I went to places that you would never know existed to help people who have nothing. They truly don't have a "way" no matter how strong their will is. Millions of people die and watch their children die because there is no way out at all. Many people THINK that they find a way out and are lured into human trafficking rings where they cease to exist except for other people's depravity. And when they are all used up, they die.

S. G, thank you for bringing this up! People need to know this! MartyMomma, thank you for bringing up North Korea! I absolutely agree.

There are so many ways to help! It doesn't take much for us to make a big impact on people's lives. We help in every way that we can on an international level as well as a local level.

Added - Thank you, Suz - well said.

It's nice that you are interested in world affairs and what happens outside of our own backyard. There is a lot to learn by paying attention to other cultures. Good for you, S.!

Dawn

i'm always a little taken aback by people who think that the abjectly destitute 'choose' to be so. there is a vanishingly tiny segment of the population who do indeed choose to stay off the grid, fly under the radar, forage and live off the land. but to pretend that they constitute the majority is just nuts. there's a much larger segment who are milking the system and *could* do something about it but don't. they make me nut up too, but while they are represented in THIS country there is no 'system' in many other countries to milk. the people who live in the slums of mumbai don't. the people who live in darfur don't. it's a very entitled person who can dismiss those who are raising their children on captured mosquito-infested rainwater to jolly well pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
khairete
S.

Have you seen the movie "Slumdog Millionaire"? Also covers those neighborhoods.

Read 'Behind the Beautiful Forevers' by Katherine Boo, which takes place in a Mumbai slum.

In India, your money will never get to the right people - the country is severely corrupt, sorry.

I wonder if Oprah would do a segment on the people who live in poverty here in the United States?

What about the "hillbillies" in West Virginia and Kentucky? We have people in our own country living under highway embankments....why is it that it's ONLY important to show OTHER countries poverty?

You will find poverty EVERY WHERE!! Some people CHOOSE this life. I don't know why - although some have said they wanted to "stay off the grid". When I was commuting in DC every day - there was a "homeless" man that I gave to...he SUPPOSEDLY was a Vietnam Vet and I gave him money, food, blankets....then he disappeared for a few weeks - I asked the guys he hung around with and he had taken off to his FLORIDA home...see - he wasn't homeless. he didn't want to pay taxes on income and panhandling - well - you don't pay taxes on that...so this guy was making a good $100 to $200 A DAY panhandling on people's sympathies...and yes - I chewed him out when he got back from his "vacation".

We had a mother here in DC do that as well...she got her kids "dirty" and sat by one of the metro stops (Dupont Circle and Rosslyn) and had signs that her children were starving...of course people donated money...then at the end of the day the W. got into a Mercedes Benz and drove off...our local news station caught wind of it and followed her....she had received THOUSANDS from people in several weeks and lived in Bethesda (which is a nice zip code).

So really - what's the point here? We should feel sorry for these people? I do. they have choices. EVERYONE has choices. Maybe they don't feel like they have choices. But every day people make decisions about THEIR LIFE....get up to go to work, get up and go to school...it might be possible for them to escape their poverty. I've never lived in India so I don't know. But I do know where there is a will - there is a way.

Some go to other countries for schooling/education and decide to stay. They made choices to improve their life.

Americans are, generally, very giving, they will give money to ANY good cause all over the world. You guys are the first to intervene (as a Country) when disasters strike other countries, you give the biggest chunk of money etc..While it's to help, I think it's key to understand that it should be Goverments' job to help themselves (in case of poor countries) and to determine HOW to help others (in case of rich countries). In Europe if you give money to the gypsy beggar on the street, you THINK you are helping him, but in reality you are keeping up a huge, big-revenue criminal system which exploits its own people: children are kept out of public school so they can go and beg (or steal), crippled people are used to get money, you name it, they do it. I think we should help in higher manner, which is politically or with official organizations. Just my 2 cents.