Poverty is the state of having no enough money or lack of it.Poverty however goes beyond lack of money. The World Bank defines poverty this way; “poverty is hunger, poverty is lack of shelter, poverty is being sick and being unable to see the doctor, poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read, poverty is not having a job, it is the fear of the future and living one day at a time.” An expansion of definition of poverty like this makes a majority of us very poor even if we look self sufficient.
The dictionary also defines poverty as the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount. In this case lack of imagination and creativity can also be defined as poverty. Sometimes people may lack money but may have a wealth of creativity and sufficient in imaginations; believe you me; this is all anyone needs in order to beat poverty.
Poverty is an ugly monster that stands in our way
of success. Thousand of many young people will not live their dreams because
they were born in poor families. I refuse to believe that poverty should stand
in the way of a person’s realization of dreams. Poverty is just like a
mountain, a river or a hurdle in our way, it must not stop us from moving
forward. We must be able to find a way of climbing it or crossing it or jumping
over it. This calls for creativity and good imagination. Creativity and
imagination are reasons why not everyone born poor dies poor. Therefore poverty
is not lack of money; it is the lack of the will power, imagination, creativity
and dreams. Only those of us who give up and surrender in the cruel face of
poverty will remain poor. Those who fight back will get out of it.
Lack of exposure goes hand in hand with poverty. Poverty
is about not being able to participate in recreational activities, not being
able to send children on a school trip with their schoolmates; it is the state
of not being included within the society. Sometimes all it takes for someone to
generate a brilliant idea is a leisure trip or a school trip. For example, a
trip to the air port and a conversation with a pilot may become the reason why
a child strongly resolves to become a pilot. Lack of exposure is ignorance.
Ignorance is the fuel that keeps the fire of poverty burning. If you want to
end the cycle of poverty, you need to be exposed
I am a typical village boy; I grew up in a small
village. I attended a village primary school and after my KCPE exam, my parents
did not have enough money to take me to a provincial boarding school to which I
was called. I therefore ended up in the neighbouring village day secondary
school. I worked so hard and ended up with grade A in the final KCSE examination. I had never left the village, and
when I left the village for the first time, I was going to the university. I
did not know the cause I was going to do very well. I had never bothered to
ask. I had no clue that students had to revise their causes so that they could
pursue causes of their choice at the university; the news had long passed me
while I was hidden in the village. It was later while I was at the university
that I learned; since I had not revised my causes, I had been called to pursue
a degree leading to bachelor of education. I wanted to be a lawyer and I
actually qualified to pursue law but my ignorance couldn't let me do that. I
ended up as a teacher and don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. Ignorance
made it hard for me to pursue the course of my choice then and I wouldn't like
it if a young man or woman were to settle for anything less than what they
deserve just because they were born poor. This is one of the reasons why I write.
Get exposed. 
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