Poverty is not only the lack of money. It is also the lack of education, infrastructure, social connections and much more. Like a disease, poverty has many side effects and is hard to cure. It requires more than hardwork from a poor to fight poverty.

Being poor is expensive. They live in conditions that make them more prone to disease. But they can’t afford good medical treatment. Their income doesn’t allow them to buy good quality products which are cheaper in the long run. Poor don’t have enough savings to invest for compound interest to work its magic.

One of the best ways to climb the social ladder is through education. But the poor don’t get a good education from childhood and lacks the soft skills needed to succeed. The poor don’t have access to the valuable social network of the rich. Many things become easier for the rich because they know the right person.

Living below poverty affects the choices a poor makes in life. This raises the question will a poor pass the famous marshmallow test? How can a child who has seen scarcity and uncertainty waits to get 2 marshmallows? It’s hard. We see these characteristics in real life too. Many times poor give in to temptation not because they lack will but because they lack stability.

Being poor is hard and getting out of it is even harder. To break the vicious cycle of poverty requires the support of the society. The government alone is not enough. Understanding their perspective and rationale behind many of their decision is a good start. Helping a single poor can uplift whole generations.