Poverty: At Home and In Rwanda
As a child living in a rural farm community, I didn’t realize how “low-income” most of us were. There were several families who were noticeably poorer than the average family I knew. One in particular comes to mind when thinking about poverty and its effect on development of young children. This was a family of twelve children, living in a small house with a kitchen, a living room, one bathroom and three bedrooms. The father did have a job at a lumber mill and the mother stayed at home. The atmosphere there was not conducive to learning and development. Children were left in the care of their older siblings often (the mother just didn’t have the skills to keep an eye on all of them at the same time). They did rely on government assistance for help with buying food. At least half of the children dropped out of school when they got to high school and eight of the twelve became parents in their teens, some of them continuing to live at the same house with their children. This atmosphere was not conducive to building a good sense of self, and I am sure that the socio-emotional development of these children suffered greatly.
I am interested in poverty-stricken Rwanda. I am learning about what is being done there to help the people who are poor and suffering from malnutrition and AIDS. Surely the children of poverty there lack education, and are not given the opportunities necessary for optimal cognitive, physical, or socio-emotional development. There is some good news, though. As a result of programs like the World Bank Poverty Reduction Support Grant, which continues to give money ($115.6 million in 2010 and $104.4 million in 2011) in support of Rwanda, over one million people there have risen from poverty in the last five years(MENA report, 2011). This money is used to focus on development of agriculture productivity, improvement of rural roadways, jobs, exports and governance. Also, one project in the United States, Goats for Life, has been supporting these people with funds for purchasing goats for villages, schools, orphanages and families. Goats, at about $30-45 each, are a source of milk for families, can be bred easily, are inexpensive to feed, and can eventually be used for meat (Rodgers, 2011).
Anonymous, (2011 March 17). Rwanda: Poverty rate reduced by 11.8 pc in Rwanda. MENA Report.
Rodgers, A. (2011, December 24). Stocking lives with livestock former Pittsburgh pair fighting poverty in Rwanda with goats. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p. A1.
Poverty can be hard with everyone, child, and parent. It's some what sad to think that everyone do not have food or clothes on a daily basis. We live in a land with so much weath but yet children are going hurger or with bare things you would need for guidence to develop into a teacher, farmer, police preson, firefighter, or doctor because you didn't have enough or no one to guide your development or no support to grow. As educater we have to be reacherable to all. I think with all of those resouces we can touch poverty and make a difference in children lives , so they can make a difference in their own lives, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to poverty as I experienced going without basic needs in my childhood. Hunger can affect how children learn and test. We I read statistics about under achievers on test scores, I always wonder what their home environment is like.
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