Americas: Bloggers Participate in Blog Action Day – Part I · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

October 15 marked the annual event of Blog Action Day.  On this date, bloggers from all around the world pledge to publish a blog post aboug a particular topic.  This year the chosen subject is poverty.  This campaign hopes “to change the conversation that day day, to raise awareness, start a global discussion and add momentum to an important cause.”
Here is part one of a collection of Latin American bloggers who participated in the campaign:
Osval wonders why his country is consistently ranked as one of the world's poorest countries:
Paraguay is a country full of resources and opportunities, we have three hydroelectric power plants, including the world's biggest one Itaipú, we have plenty of land for agriculture, the best and most fertile soil, a lot of water everywhere, cement and steel factories, so…. why are we considered one of the poorest countries in Latin America? I really don't know.
(…)
We would like to see in the coming years and with the help of the new government, a change in all this. We just need good people, good administrators, people who really cares about the benefit of the whole country and not only their own pockets. Why we use gas stoves when we have three hydroelectric power plants!!
Sandel provides links to other Colombian bloggers [es] that are participating in Blog Action Day, including DianaCats.  She writes that many are too attached to material things [es] and that we should look through our stuff for the things that we don't need in order to share with others. Juliana Rincón of Medea Material [es] shares an email from Andrea, one of the members of Hiperbarrio, the citizen media project in Medellín, who is once again organizing a toy collection campaign for children of the community of Choco.
Jorge Landa thinks that Blog Action Day is not meant for policymakers, but rather for inner reflection [es]:
Hoy no pensé jamás en acabar con la pobreza del mundo, esperar ese cambio de la realidad resultaría ingenuo cuando menos, pero espero que continuemos cambiando la forma en que nos acercamos a esta realidad.
Today I never thought in ending world poverty, waiting for that change in reality would end up being naive, but I hope that we continue to change the way that draw closer to that reality.
For Blog Action Day, Menos Canas [es] thinks it is difficult to talk about poverty, not because it does not exist, rather that one does not know where to start. El Útero de Marita [es]  knows where to start and thinks that one cannot talk about poverty without linking it to the ever present problem of corruption.
Samuel Bran reflects on poverty [es] in his country:
La pobreza el nuestro país El Salvador es una realidad que vemos día tras día, todos los días vemos cuadros tan difíciles, tan dolorosos y muchas veces como leí hace un tiempo en Andando a Pie no tengo reacciones a este a ellos, realmente cuando te pones a pensar detenidamente a meditar un poco, cuando de tu cabeza salen por un solo minuto la Disco, el vacil, el mascón e inviertes ese pequeño minuto en pensar que de aquellos que no tienen una casa, o del que esta buscando comida entre la basura… que hacemos por ellos son nuestros hermanos salvadoreños y aunque no podemos ir por la vida levantando a todos nuestros hermanos por lo menos ayudar a uno cada cierto tiempo nos ayudará a nosotros a mejorar algo de nuestro país.
Poverty in our country of El Salvador is a reality that we see day after day, every day we see very difficult and painful scenes and many times as I read in Andando a Pie (a blog), I don't have a reaction, when you really start to think and meditate a bit and invest a minute in thinking of those that don't have a house or those that are searching for food among the garbage … what we do for those who are our Salvadoran brothers and although we cannot go through life picking up all our brothers, we can at least help one every once in awhile, will help us improve our country.
In countries of stark contrasts, Hugo Chinchilla recalls visiting the small town of Marale and encountering starving and desperate people.  In turn, he wonders how much money politicians spend on luxuries knowing that fellow countrymen and women are in this dire situation. Aaron Ortiz of Pensieve finds out where he ranks on a Global Rich list, and Laurie comments relating a story of a father struggling to buy baby formula.
Special thanks to Juliana Rincón for providing links for this article.