Bridges Out Of Poverty Essay

Bridges out of Poverty provided valuable insight on how to better understand the constructs of poverty, as well as offering strategies for how to help those living in poverty transition to middle class. The book was designed to help readers recognize and address issues contributing to poverty. There are many different hidden rules that exist within each socioeconomic class. Using the resources available in this book can help those living in poverty gain insight on what is trapping them in the poverty cycle. In addition, it can help those of us who are already living within the middle-class identify the reoccurring patterns of poverty and what we can do to assist in the development from poverty to middle-class. As someone who grew up in a

I do think many of them are specific to poverty within developed nations, but I still found some stark similarities between the issues discussed in the book and the stories of Kenyan farmers from The Last Hunger Season. Just like a family living in poverty in the United States, the farmers in Kenya followed the hidden rule that fortunes are to be shared with the everyone. In Bridges out of Poverty, the case study surrounding Oprah feeling pressured to share her $400 Christmas bonus with members of her community was an extremely similar situation to the farmers in Kenya who always shared their maize and offered money to those in need, even when they were struggling themselves. In addition, the farmers also had to develop their planning and impulse control skills, just as anyone else living in poverty would. The One Acre Fund provided them with the planning resources to know when to plant, how much to plant and how far apart to plant their crops. They had to implement impulse control when the annual rains did not come in time. Although they were anxious to plant, they were able to stick to the plan they developed with the One Acre Fund and wait until the rains finally came to plant their