Spring Break
eSolutions for Global Poverty
Benjamin Lyon
Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: Opinion
In an age defined by both instant gratification and increasing global awareness, an incredible demand has risen for convenient, non-taxing services that can quickly connect assets and individuals around the world. Not surprisingly, of all the potential avenues for those services, the internet has proven to be among the most effective. Blending altruism with the path of least resistance, it has enabled concerned citizens worldwide to affect the lives of the global poor (and vice versa) with just the click of a mouse.
Whether it is with a one-minute PayPal transfer, or a ten-minute vocabulary session at FreeRice.com, computer users can now instantaneously transfer significant assets across the globe. And by taking advantage of sites like GlobalGiving.com or ManosDeMadres.org, an activist in New York can give seed capital directly to a micro-entrepreneur in the middle of the Sahara Desert or the Andean Mountains. Further, if that same individual wants to save money while simultaneously helping the poor, they can give a no-interest loan to almost anyone in the world through Kiva.org.
Of course, the transfer of money and food alone will not put poverty into a museum; knowledge, too, has to be dispersed. With ever-expanding archives of (sometimes questionable) knowledge available through websites like Wikipedia.org, even the poorest slum dweller can have the world at their fingertips. For example, teachers in the remotest low-income countries can go to LessonWriter.com and make comprehensive ESL lessons in five minutes or less.
And then there is the Blogosphere. Through websites like Sokwanele.com and FreeBurma.org, the ideas of free press are beginning to take hold in despotically ruled countries. By visiting these websites and learning from the up-to-the-minute reports of citizen-journalists around the world, activists in Salt Lake City or Chicago can petition against dictators like Robert Mugabe or fund (arguably) democratic opposition movements like the SPLM.
Despite the seemingly endless potential of the internet, however, it is not a panacea. Global poverty is and will always remain both multifaceted and complex. Consequently, there will never be a silver bullet. Countries like China, aware of the fact that knowledge is power, will continue to censor Google.com, and countries with tightly controlled state banks will unerringly refuse to accept PayPal transfers. The internet means nothing to people who have no reasonable access to a computer, or who are trapped by natural disaster or political turmoil.
For all its wondrous potential, the information superhighway is still full of potholes, and there will always be detours and proverbial car wrecks to prevent the smooth flow of global traffic. Nonetheless, the promises made possible by the internet are nothing less than remarkable. And, with time, it can only get better.
Whether it is with a one-minute PayPal transfer, or a ten-minute vocabulary session at FreeRice.com, computer users can now instantaneously transfer significant assets across the globe. And by taking advantage of sites like GlobalGiving.com or ManosDeMadres.org, an activist in New York can give seed capital directly to a micro-entrepreneur in the middle of the Sahara Desert or the Andean Mountains. Further, if that same individual wants to save money while simultaneously helping the poor, they can give a no-interest loan to almost anyone in the world through Kiva.org.
Of course, the transfer of money and food alone will not put poverty into a museum; knowledge, too, has to be dispersed. With ever-expanding archives of (sometimes questionable) knowledge available through websites like Wikipedia.org, even the poorest slum dweller can have the world at their fingertips. For example, teachers in the remotest low-income countries can go to LessonWriter.com and make comprehensive ESL lessons in five minutes or less.
And then there is the Blogosphere. Through websites like Sokwanele.com and FreeBurma.org, the ideas of free press are beginning to take hold in despotically ruled countries. By visiting these websites and learning from the up-to-the-minute reports of citizen-journalists around the world, activists in Salt Lake City or Chicago can petition against dictators like Robert Mugabe or fund (arguably) democratic opposition movements like the SPLM.
Despite the seemingly endless potential of the internet, however, it is not a panacea. Global poverty is and will always remain both multifaceted and complex. Consequently, there will never be a silver bullet. Countries like China, aware of the fact that knowledge is power, will continue to censor Google.com, and countries with tightly controlled state banks will unerringly refuse to accept PayPal transfers. The internet means nothing to people who have no reasonable access to a computer, or who are trapped by natural disaster or political turmoil.
For all its wondrous potential, the information superhighway is still full of potholes, and there will always be detours and proverbial car wrecks to prevent the smooth flow of global traffic. Nonetheless, the promises made possible by the internet are nothing less than remarkable. And, with time, it can only get better.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Cheryl Mahoney
posted 2/11/09 @ 12:48 PM CST
Thank you for an informative article about how the internet can be used to help others, even others who are very far away. You provide a lot of excellent resources, and I wanted to share one more. (Continued…)
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