It’s the P word (not the one you’re thinking of ) – Poverty. When I think of poverty, I think of the poorest countries of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America:

And yes, that’s true. Some of these countries are in massive debt and their citizens can’t afford the things many of us take for granted, like running water and blogs. But poverty also exists in developed nations, in the streets of your cities, in the suburbs, even in the country:

With the current financial crisis, poverty could become a whole lot more real. So what can you do about it? Can you give the guy on the street corner some change? Work in a soup kitchen? Donate to Oxfam? It’s up to you. We can’t just let it go, and that’s the aim of Blog Action Day ‘08 – to raise awareness, and take action.

If you don’t have spare change (like me), try spending a little time on charitable websites which donate advertising revenue to the poor. Ripple is a great example of this: use their search engine (based on Google), or simply click on where you want your money to go, then consider the advertiser’s message, and it’s done! The advertiser donates money with every click.

Another excellent site is FreeRice: a quiz in which for every question you answer correctly, 20 grains of rice is donated to the UN World Food Program.

So please, consider these great causes which not only help the less fortunate, but make you feel great in yourself.