Passage for comprehension

 

Passage for comprehension

Exercise D Poverty, deprivation and degradation seem to be synonymous with Africa. In fact, studies have revealed that over seventy percent of the inhabitants of most African countries live below the poverty line put at one dollar per day by the United Nations. This is contrary to the typical experience in any developed country of the world where a citizen cannot be too poor to afford 16 three decent meals per day. The phenomenal poverty rate in African countries is not without identified causes and consequences. The unprecedented greed of most politicians contributes in no small measure to the impoverisation of their fellow Africans. The wealth accruing from the vast natural resources is shared by few dare-devil politicians that distinguish themselves in all imaginable and even unimaginable atrocities, and have thus instilled the fear of their names in the hearts and minds of other politicians as well as supposed electorate. Such hardened criminals in the garb of wellmeaning politicians embezzle and siphon their countries’ money with impunity. Over eighty percent of the citizenry is thus left to struggle for and manage with the left-over of the devilish opportunistic “politricksters”. A book of faith says that whoever refuses to work should not expect to be fed. All religions, to which Africans subscribe, whether indigenous or indigenized, preach the law of sowing and reaping. Yet most Africans, in spite of their religiosity, are taken up in the get-richquick and come-easy syndrome that has bedeviled the land. Laziness, therefore, subjects a lot of Africans to avoidable abject poverty at the micro level. Many people, on the other hand, work their fingers to the bones, sweating profusely daily, getting home tired and rendered completely useless. Such people are so fagged out at the end of the day that they even legitimately doubt that they would be able to wake up the following morning. This is their daily routine, their vicious cycle and unfortunate lot. Yet they live from hand to mouth. Why? They are unskilled labourers and are consequently poorly paid. Among the natural fall-outs from the widespread poverty is malnutrition. Since most families cannot afford nutritious meals, both young and old ones eat poorly and sparingly. This makes them weak and sickly. Diseases thus abound in the unfortunate countries unlike in their fortunate developed counterparts. Timely medical intervention can rescue a sick person from the claws of untimely death. But this is not the case in most third world countries of the black continent. Many people die daily in preventable circumstances because the impoverished economy prevents their hospitals from being adequately equipped. This has reached so alarming a rate that individuals and organisations from developed economies of the world are rising to the rescue of Africans

1. In three sentences, one for each, state why may people are poor.

 2. In two sentences, one sentence for each, state the consequences of poverty in Africa.