Patience, vision must to eradicate poverty: TBHF

Alya Obaid Al Musaiebi, Director of The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF), on the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty wrote, “every October, the world pauses to revisit numbers that have become painfully familiar. More than 800 million people live on less than three dollars a day, and by 2030, nearly sixty percent of the world’s poorest are expected to live in fragile or conflict-affected regions.”

“These figures return year after year, losing their weight with repetition, yet behind each one there is a human story, a face, a dream interrupted before it had the chance to unfold.”

“I remember a young girl I met in a refugee camp. She held onto a torn book as if it were her only bridge to the life she imagined for herself. She had survived the noise of war and the silence of displacement, but poverty remained her most unrelenting obstacle.”

“It was not hunger that defeated her, but the absence of a school, a teacher, a chance to learn. Her poverty was not simply a lack of money. It was the deprivation of possibility itself.”

“That girl, and millions like her, remind us that poverty cannot be confronted by temporary solutions. It is a long and complex struggle that demands patience, continuity, and vision. Emergency relief saves lives and provides comfort, but it cannot be the end of the story.”

“True humanitarianism begins where charity ends, when giving evolves into empowerment and generosity becomes the foundation of independence. Sustainable humanitarian work is the bridge between compassion and change. It transforms aid from a fleeting act of kindness into a long-term investment in human dignity.”

“When we help a person earn a living, we do more than meet their immediate needs; we restore their confidence, their sense of purpose, and their rightful place as contributors to their community.”

“Around the world, we have seen how sustainable programs can reshape lives. Small workshops have grown into local industries. Agricultural cooperatives have turned barren lands into sources of food and stability.”

“Training centres have opened doors for women and youth to rediscover their strength and take part in shaping their future. These stories are living proof that when giving is tied to productivity, it becomes a force of renewal rather than dependency.”

“Among the greatest forms of sustainable aid is education, the path through which every dream begins.”