Life Below the Line: the World Poverty Crisis

Hosted by Bryant Gumbel

This consciousness raising television special examines the hardships endured by the millions of people around the world who have to struggle every day just to survive. It is an unflinching look at poverty, including some places right here in the US.

But even though the problem looks insurmountable, ultimately this is a program about hope. You'll see stories of courage and love featuring individuals and organizations that are working to help solve the world poverty crisis.
  • Visit with the May family - a husband and wife and two small daughters who live out of their automobile. Both parents are disabled and must eke a living out collecting scrap metal.
  • Meet a beauty pageant winner who now lives in a halfway house after losing her business.
  • We'll travel to Nairobi where over 60% of the population of the city live in the slums which amount to no more than rusting metal shacks. AIDS, malnutrition and crime are rampart and many children are growing up with only a grandmother to raise them.
  • But even in a place where babies are left to die in the trash heaps there is hope. Organizations like Feed the Children are making a difference with special programs aimed to feed and educate.
  • In Honduras the government is unable to help the poor and hungry and it is left to groups like UNICEF, the World Food Program and Feed the Children to make a difference however they can.
  • Also in interviews with celebrities we see what they are doing to try and help. Either through their own organizations or as spokespeople, these well-known personalities are using their fame to make a difference.

    • Della Reese, Actress, touched by an Angel
    • Benu Mabhena, Actress, Blood Diamond
    • Chad Allen, Actor, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
    • John Densmore, Grammy Award Winning Drummer, the Doors
    • Kirk Franklin, Grammy Award Winning gospel Singer
    • John Paul DeJoria, CEO/Co-Founder, John Paul Mitchell Systems
    • Eva LaRue, Actress, CSI: Miami
    • Ed Begley, Actor, Six Feet Under
    • Steve Guttenberg, Actor, Police Academy
    • Jewel, Multiple Award Winning Recording Artist
    • Sir Roger Moore, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador

This one hour special is a socially conscious show that aims to both inform and provide help for those in need. Although sometimes hard to watch, it brings home the plight of the hungry and the poor around the world.

It not only graphically illustrates the problem, but offers a solution of which you can become a part. Take the Generosity Test and see how caring you can be.

Associated Television International © 2007