How can I help the cause? In what ways can I chip in?

You can easily chip in with the help of non-profit organizations such as Save the children. The website online makes it easy to send a donation to Mali. Also, you have the right to choose how much money you would like to donate. It is your choice to donate but remember, it is for a definite need and a good cause.

SAVE THE CHILDREN:

savethechildren.org

What is being done around us to fight this problem in Mali?

DIRT POOR

A major non-govermental organization (NGO) known as Save the Children is doing great work in Mali fighting poverty, disease, and other occuring terrors. Since 1987, Save the Children has been working in Mali creating education programs to strengthen the people, and have created programs helping nutrition and incomes.  

Educational help: Save the Children has created schools and have supplied materials needed for an education.  Since the Malians do not have the needed money, these things are built for them 

Poverty and Hunger: They have helped with the poverty situation by building many homes and teaching new agriculture methods to the people, agriculture being the major part of the country's economy. 

Another major organization is USAID who is using funds from the American people to increase  the incomes of the Malians. 

Malaria: A New Problem

Malaria is a deadly disease finding its way through parts of southern Mali where the population is the most dense. Malaria is a vector-borne disease caused by parasites. The parasites' hosts are normally female mosquitoes.

This disease accounts for 13% of deaths in Mali.

The Natinonal Malaria Control Program associates with using mosquito nets as a key strategy for malaria control.

In early 2001, tarrifs were deleted from imported and produced nets to reduce costs and make them available to all people so death rates would decrease. But, of course, people still cannot pay for these nets.

Another organization that helps the NMCP is NetMark which also involves malaria prevention.

The NGO in this video is the Red Cross of Canada:

Impact on the People of Mali- What would you do??

What would you do in a country where the availability, actual availability, of medicine is not reality?  In Mali, people have so little money that they cannot afford medicine for themselves or for their loved ones.  They have to sit and watch.  Watch them die. 

The total life expectancy at birth for Malians is 49.94 years old. Think of your parents right now.  If you lived in Mali from your birth, they would be gone in about 5 years.  It's sad, but its true. 

Vaccinations are scarce and unaffordable so the degree of risk for major infectious diseases is very high. There are also about 140,000 people in Mali living with HIV-AIDS. The death that results from this are astronomical.  

A major impact of poverty in Mali is that more than half of the population cannot read or write.  This is means that any potential they had to change their lives is completely gone. 

The final major impact of this Malian lifestyle is the lack of nationalism.  People in Mali have lost confidence and hope.  They realize that their life cannot get any better because of their background and work. 

"Dirt Poor"

What does it exactly mean to be "dirt poor?" We have all heard this phrase in the news or have seen it on the computer. We might have even said it a couple of times when talking about a family nearby.  Well, to actually be dirt poor is something unimaginable.  This is to be so poor where it is a struggle to keep not only a roof over the heads of a family but a dirt floor as well.  For some people of Mali, this isn't a problem.  But for the majority it is.

Thirty-six percent of the population of Mali make a dollar a day. That is, for 36%, $365 a year is a decent salary. Some of us these days, waste this much a day. Imagine needing this much a year.  

Right now, Mali is ranked as one of the ten poorest countries in the world. The world. Agriculture occupies 70% of labor in this country, working conditions being tough.  Since Mali is close to the Sahara, resources such as water and fertile soil are scarce, and the air is extremely dry. 

The population of Mali below the national poverty line is 64%.  Also, Mali is in a multi-billion dollar debt that is a struggle to pay. 

These aspects of course are a threat to the nation of Mali and its survival. Foriegn aid is heavily present to combat this problem. 

Where it all starts... and seems to never end.

Subsidence farming, cash crops, a dollar a day- all ideas we associate with earlier times, when there were no technological advances in sight. Well, way after the Industrial Revolution thorougly changed surrounding countries, Mali seems to hold on to its old roots.

Industrialization could never hold onto Mali like it did to many other countries in recent decades. Therefore, Mali has developed one of the strongest needs on agriculture in the world. Days are rough for normal Malian people as they struggle to get by.

During 1992-1995, Mali put an economic support program into effect. This helped the people a little by stabilizing the economy and decreasing inflation numbers. But of course, this could only do so much.

Because of the vast Sahara covering almost all of northern Mali, human activity is mainly associated with southern Mali. Along with agriculture, pastoralism( the practice of herding as a primary economic base) is highly present. Agriculture and herding both cause troubles because of change in seasons and weather. This results in being unable to make predictions which definitely decreases the salaries of the Malians.

Three types of poverty plague Mali:

1. Poverty of living conditions and not having the ability to get needed resources for an adequate lifestyle.
2. Monetary poverty, meaning the lack of a suffient income or salary.
3. Poverty of the potential, or little access to land, empolyment, and credit.

Other economic assets involve mining for minerals and gold. The quantity of these substances are extensive yet the government does not have enough money to back up all of these workers. A major gold mining area of Kalana isn't being used to its fullest potential because of lack of workers and money.

Before the Country of Mali...

During a time of empires and flourishment, Mali rose to the top. The Mali Empire, part of the ingenius Saharan trade route of the early years, skillifully grew until it became a major power.  It advanced in trade with gold and salt and became an economic powerhouse of that African area. Then, many years later, Mali(then known as the Sudanese republic)  and Senegal combined to form the Mali Federation. Senegal then withdrew, leaving the newely independent country of Mali to itself.

Dictatorship ceased in 1991 as a result of a military coup, led by the present president Amadou Toure, allowing for Mali's emergence as one of the strongest democracies in Africa. President Alpha Konare then won Mali's first democratic presidential election in 1992 and was reelected in 1997. Konare stepped down from presidency in 2002 and was succeeded by Amadou Toure, who was now in his second term. 

From here, Poverty becomes a major aspect and challenge of everyday Malian life.