I answer this with difficulty when my friends ask and I wonder how you answer it.

Having seen poverty abroad what I recall is what a friend of my S-I-L in India told me once. Simply some things you have to not pay too much attention to. If you don't it becomes all you see. Then all is yellow to the jaundiced eye. Yet there is so much more.

Ask your friends "What are YOU doing about it?"

I assume you mean this question is asked in the context of "doesn't it bother you".

I asked myself this question when it was time to go to Cambodia. I have traveled many places and seen the devestating toll extreme poverty takes on the people who suffer under the daily grind of it, and it always really gets under my skin.

I find that if, while in a developing country, it's possible to make some type of donation, whether it's in time, talent, cash or all three, then it takes the edge off a bit. You get an opportunity to actually get to know the people and soon you find they are no different from anyone and they are often happier than you'd think they would be. Often times I have found that people who lack material wealth have a spiritual wealth we cannot imagine.

So in short, I guess my answer to this is "do something about it, appreciate the people & look deeper."

Like jacketwatch said <Yet there is so much more>. Well put.

I suppose that I myself deal with poverty overseas the same way I deal with it here at home in the U.S. Perhaps in this regard I am like your friends.

Poverty is simply an unfortunate condition that is out of the control of the individual.

Moreover, poverty is relative: what qualifies as poor in the U.S. is probably lower middle class is other countries. Similarly, what we see as poor overseas is perhaps merely lower middle class in that country.

People are not poor except when they are surrounded by the well off.

Sleep easy; life indeed goes on!

Really well put, Lori: "I have found that people who lack material wealth have a spiritual wealth we cannot imagine."
My first trip to Asia was to Cambodia. I was astounded by the genuine joy revealed in smiles from the poorest people I had ever seen, and I'd travelled extensively in Mexico, done volunteer work in NE US inner cities. It prompted me to start studying Buddhism, seek a form of wealth no one can steal, one that doesn't wear out, break down, grow too small to wear.
Lori's work is a living answer to "what about the poverty." She's empowered so many other people to join her in trying to actively help -- giving education as a gift that can keep giving, ripple out, change lives.
Poverty is a huge word -- so large it seems insurmountable. But what one person can do for one other, that is at once a small and huge thing. So in answer to "What about the poverty?" I would say, I try to take a few baby steps to help one, two, three people.

"What about the poverty".

Best not to expose yourself to it, I guess. We won't go there because we will see poor people living in conditions we would find impossible.

I would say - go - learn - remove yourselves from that cocoon.

Ask why the poverty is there.

Ask if your government, the World Bank, etc. etc. have anything to do with it.

Ask if there is anything you can do to change it.

Ask if you care.

Some people, of course, prefer to stay in front of the TV watching mindless reality shows.

Thank you everyone. It was good to hear your perspectives.

I also make sure to remind that person (if they are in the U.S.) that kids go to be starving every single day here in the States.

Which of course doesn't make it OK. Giving to helpful organizations is great, just don't patronize people and look down on them.

<kids go to be starving every single day here in the States.>

With at least 180 programs of benefits for the poor in the US, I find this hard to believe.

Please provide evidence for your statement.

first of all, I meant to type <go to BED starving>

that being corrected of course the United States has tons of programs, which doesn't mean everyone takes advantage of them.

I have not done a comprehensive study on this subject, but just by googling "hunger United States", a ton of sites came back.

For instance this one: results.org/website/article.asp?id=350

I know nothing about this site or its political affiliations.

While there are some different issues between hunger & poverty here and that in Cambodia for instance, there is no denying that the United States has serious problems too.

So when I told friends that I was goign to India and they said they could not go to a place like that because of the poverty. I feel quite accurate is saying there is plenty of poverty here in the United States for them to ALSO be concerned about.

Jed, the term "starving" may be what is making you doubtful. But there are plenty of kids (and adults) going hungry in the US.

The US has the fastest growing gap between the rich and the poor of any developed country.

In the US, rich people are slimmer than poor ones.

Last weekend, I found a supermarket that sells huge bags of bagels for $1. And that supermarket is right in front of a major intersection.

Panhandle for 2 minutes, and one will get enough to get enough food for a day.

Hunger in the US? It's not poverty, it's child abuse.

My 2-cents worth of opinion ...

When we see poverties while we travel, and even if we don't do anything like donation to help out, the least we can do is to take into heart the experience, and not take things for granted, and be grateful that it's only by fate/chance or karma that we were born in "rich countries".

A woman mourns when she loses her child to hunger or disease; another woman may also cry when she loses her fur coats. the tears are both real because the emotions are both genuine. But we can also see that what we sometimes percieve as "mishaps" or "sufferings" here may not be so bad afterall if we look at how others lead their lives. This does not have to be a third-wprld country. As another Fodorite pointed out, this exists in our own backyard.

I suspect that there is a significant difference between 'starving ' and 'hungry'.

There may be plenty of kids going hungry in America, but too much food and obesity is more prevalent in the lower economic classes.
http://tinyurl.com/26y6zj

Can we really blame 'hunger' on low incomes?

Should we immediately tie "poverty" to "starvation"?

There are plenty of folks who may not be starving to death but who do lack access to everything; clean drinking water, basic health care, education, etc.

I see this lack of access as being what poverty really is. It doesn't go away because everyone has a bowl of rice.

The issue is very very complex, more than we can ever fully analyze here.

America is a complex society, there is an incredible obesity problem and malnourishment.

yes at the risk of making sweeping generalizations ...it is often among the poor, eating cheap Big Macs and other fast food easily available in their neighborhoods.
Know what, I could start on a long diatribe which won't deal with travel at all and will just skip it....