Great definition of Poverty

Andy Hobo has done it again. As part of his non stop travels throughout the world he is now in Africa again and he ponders on the meaning of poverty in Telling people what to do

The universal sign of no poverty, sweeping is maybe to me the sign where people are pushing away poverty. When a person stops sweeping or does not use a tree branch, a leaf, something to clear their home of clutter, they probably are poor.

This is so true, the funny thing is that once you get rich and decadent the importance of cleanliness and neatness is one of the first things to go as well.

I like to say that Danish people think that people are poor if they can’t afford Ikea, and according to Danish priorities that may very well be true. But according to those same “poor” people the priorities are very different. A African, Caribbean, Latin or Asian persons unspoken definition of poverty is probably much closer to Andy’s.

I’ve written before about Andy’s experiences in Niger.