Poverty in the Dominican Republic

Usually we focus on researching about poverty in different parts of the world but we forget about the large population who faces this difficulty in our own country. "More than a third of the Dominican Republic lives on less than $1.25 a day and over 20% of the country lives in extreme poverty". We see young, old, and elderly people begging for money on the streets and working as shoe shiners, cleaning car windows or selling all types of typical food. They live from the money they earn while they are working on the streets. Since there is no money or resources available, they are unable to receive a good education and later leads to being incapable of finding a more successful job. Growing up this way, as adults they are still facing the same challenges and have not yet escaped poverty. We usually see the people begging for money on the streets but we are unaware of the other majority of the population who lives in the same conditions or even worse. A third of the population lives on houses that are falling down, with no place to sleep, no food to eat, no water no drink, no education to learn, and other negative aspects that are seriously impacting their future. Usually these people live in the rural areas. They mostly depend on farming and the government does not contribute to solve the low agricultural productivity. The government does not provide more than 4% of GDP spending on education so only 30% of children finish primary school. The public schools which the government provides have a low education and students do not learn as much as they should. At home, at school, at work, and everywhere we go we are surrounded by the lower class of our country. We should contribute on helping our own people before trying to help other countries who are also facing poverty. We can not give away money to them because we will be creating a bad habit but we must guide them to a better life. This is a serious problem in the Dominican Republic and must be solved immediately for a more successful country.