The irony of it all is that, when you look at the causes of 3rd world poverty, a lot of it will be because the US state is subsidizing the US agriculture. The US crops are then "competitive" and exported to 3rd world nations, destroying the 3rd world agriculture, and enriching the middlemen in the process. Then the good people like Hollywood Housewife need to go to third world countries to try to fix the situation. When the root cause lies in the US itself. More specifically, in the US government agricultural subsidies. I encourage Hollywood Housewife to study these subsidies, and blog about it. Then, she could study the causes of the US poverty, and perhaps come to the same root cause? ... Don't know, just seems like it. Check this out for instance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vlyZLHL00g