This is a series of 8 academic-style essays about poverty's influence on different areas of people's lives. Each essay is inspired by the author's experience of living and volunteering in a small rural community in southern Belize. Each of the 8 topics is thoroughly researched and expanded to include the examples from all over the (developing) world. The topics are: gender, reproductive health, education, religion, trash management, tourism, food and volunteering itself.