Is it worth the risk to sacrifice your old life, in hopes of a brighter future for your family?

Social classes in India are divided into groups known as a caste system. This is normally divided by the rich, the middle-class, and the lower classes in varying degrees of poverty. While poverty is an international issue, India’s poorer class lives in a significantly more devastating definition of poor than the lower class of the United States. Bavoo and Mary Kuruppacherry were born in Kerala, India in the late 1930’s. Mary’s father was a farmer and Bavoo’s father was a fisherman. Even after marrying and coming to the United States in the mid 70’s, they continued to live in poverty until they were able to grow in their professions.

Bavoo would go on to earn his PhD and become a professor and later on become the director of administration for Job Core. Although Bavoo and his eleven other siblings never went hungry, there was never a surplus of food. Nevertheless, when any homeless person or beggar came to their door, Bavoo’s parents would share what little food they had. Bavoo remembers his mother giving her only food for the day to the homeless that came to the door. This frugal yet generous childhood left a profound impression on him to help the poor.

Mary became a registered nurse (RN) as a young adult. The eldest of twelve children, she grew up in an even more rural area than Bavoo. The financial situation, however, was not the only difference. The difference in the environment meant that the attitudes and characteristics of the locals also differed. Unlike the relaxed, social nature of the islanders, the farmers in rural areas tended to be quite aggressive and stern. Mary became aware of her family’s poverty at an early age. “We couldn’t have some of the necessary things like people have here,” she explained.  Most of them had two pairs of clothes: one for school and the other for church. Items such as toys were mostly foreign concepts to Mary and her siblings. As a child, the lifestyle of her impoverished community seemed to be “a kind of norm.” At that time, she knew nothing of America and the opportunities there. Even so Mary maintained, “We were better off than them,” in reference to the people in her community that had less than her family did.  Her chores after school included fetching water from the well and bringing it back up to her house, cooking, and helping her mother to clean. Like Bavoo’s family, they never went hungry, but they certainly did not have luxurious food or any excess. “My father could not afford meat or fish everyday so we had it once a week normally on Sunday,” she said. In response to the question of what lessons she took from her childhood, Mary spoke first of the homeless in America. “If at all possible, in any way, I won’t pass them without giving anything.” In regards to frugality, she stated, “you don’t need the best food of the world to live, you need food… we can live with less also.”

With the help of the World Poverty Clock, we can now see the number of people coming in and out of poverty and build an estimate up to the year 2030. Kristofer Hamel, Chief Operating Officer at World Data Lab, helped create the World Poverty Clock and has been researching how to end poverty around the world. Regarding Hamel’s findings he said, “the region climbing out of poverty the quickest is India. With a population of 1.5 billion people, it has had a 7 to 8 percent growth rate over the last 10 to 15 years.”

On the World Poverty Clock, there is a map showing the highest concentration of poverty is in Africa. Presently and over the next 10 years, Africa will be the focal point of alleviation when discussing world poverty. Anyone wishing to focus on lending aid to the extremely impoverished, Hamel says, would most certainly have the greatest impact if they chose to focus their intention to countries in Africa.

As for Mary it became apparent in the interview that she had no doubts as to how she achieved her present position. “…With all that, you can beat the odds if you just try harder, work hard,” she emphasized. “You have to live. Don’t ever give up. You cannot just sit in a corner and say… [you] don’t have anything… [you are] just going to sit here. Get up find something to do and work real hard; then you will make it. You will get your dream in America.”

What were the most relatable events in this story? What is the main message you took away? If you want to learn more check out this presentation on Global Poverty!