Sustainable Agriculture and Food: Four volume set (Earthscan Reference Collections)

172 Poverty and Hunger

Material well-being: having enough

But at least for each child to have a bed, a pair of shoes, a canopy over their

heads, two sheets – not to sleep like we do on the ground.

Ana Maria, a poor woman, Esmeraldas, Ecuador

A poor person is a person who does not own anything that provides him with a

permanent source of living. If a person has a permanent source of income, he

will not ask for other people’s assistance.

A poor woman from Sidkia, Egypt

Three aspects of material well-being that are repeatedly mentioned are food, assets
and work.

Food
Adequate food is a universal need. In Malawi hunger is ranked as the number one
problem by nearly every discussion group in the three urban and seven rural com-
munities participating in the study. Elsewhere – across the range of countries –
enough to eat every day is again and again stressed as a feature of well-being. In

Box 7.1 The good life, caring for children

To be well is when you have money, and you have a family and children. You need to

have savings in order to be able to support your children till later on in life.

A young man, Bulgaria

A good life is to have enough food and clothing for my children. To educate them to

be self-reliant when we get retired.

A man, Mitti Kolo, Ethiopia

The rich manage to send their children to school and also ... to take their children to

the clinic.

A man, Musanya, Zambia

To be well means to see your grandchildren happy, well-dressed and to know that

your children have settled down; to be able to give them food and money when-ever

they come to see you, and not to ask them for help and money.

An old woman from rural Bulgaria