Childhood Poverty
Unfortunately,
I have not yet received any responses and most of my emails came back as
failure to delivery and using the Childhood Poverty Research Policy Centre’s
page as an alternative was not a success either being that the website would
come up as not available. Luckily I was a able to find an interesting article
on childhood poverty Senegal.
First, the author compares the
definition of poverty between the United Nations and Dakar, Senegal. In the
article he states that in the United Nations poverty is defined as a denial of
choices and opportunities or as being a violation of human dignity. On the
other hand in Dakar it is defined as the lack of basic needs and not being able
to participate in society such as not having enough to feed and clothe a
family, no access to schools or health clinics, and not having enough land to
grow food or a job for a living, or having no access to credit. In return this
leads to susceptibility to violence, having to live in marginal and fragile
environments, and also having no access to clean water or sanitation. (Otoo 2012).
Secondly, poverty in Senegal
sometimes forces children to be separated from their families. They have to
sometimes be supported by their extended family but children being mostly girls are failed by this
support and usually become victims to sexual and physical abuse by family member,
guardians, or institutions that they rely on to take care of them. As a result,
these children tend to run away to escape these horrors but end up on the
streets and them become vulnerable to alcohol, drugs, crime, or sexual and
physical violence. (Otoo 2012).
Thirdly,
many of the poor children are not able to get an education because they are
forced to take care of themselves or have to help their households and work for
extra income. Others become victims to forms of exploitation such as child
trafficking. Children turn to stealing and street begging because they
sometimes become orphans and head of the household. Others just have to do what
they can to survive on the streets. This cycle of poverty then continues on to
the next generation. (Otoo 2012).
In conclusion, The Global Fund for Children is supporting programs
in Senegal that work with families, communities, government agencies, and the
children themselves in order to fight against children having to beg and to
destroy the root causes. (Otoo 2012). In my opinion, I think that poverty is
defined based on where you live. In America, poverty does lead to violence,
bullying, children dropping out of school, and it creates a cycle but you
rarely hear about children actually being exposed to child trafficking for
extra money or having to survive on the streets the best they can. This story
has really touched my heart because it goes out to those children that have to
suffer from this on a daily basis.
Reference
Otoo, E. (2012, May 31). Caring for street children means tackling
poverty at its roots. Retrived from https://www.globalfundforchildren.org/caring-for-street-children-means-tackling-poverty-at-its-roots/
Hello Erika,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to hear that I am not the only one who is having trouble with my contacts getting back with me and I could not get the link to open that was given to us either. I also went into a website in order to research poverty elsewhere. I chose India and it’s sad to know that there are so many countries around us that are living in so much need and help from others in order to better themselves.
I found your research of Senegal and poverty to be interesting. I can’t image having to send part of my family elsewhere, just because I have too many mouths to feed. I would feel that in this case, if you can’t feed one or maybe two, then why keep having children. This is completely confusing to me. If I was struggling at one I would not have had the second child little along with more than that.
It’s sad that these children are being abused in many ways other than just having to live in a home where you don’t have enough food on your table and no education. Then these children have to face the fact that others are using them for their own bad reasons. These incent children turn to the only thing that they know and that is to do what they can to make their lives better and that is turn to drugs and alcohol in order to deal with the abuse that they are being given due to their parents having too many children to begin with. The cycle will never change if someone does not help these countries help themselves.
I read through the post and these aspects stood out. First, poverty is defined as the denial of choices. Second, poverty forces children to be separated from their families. Third, many poor children are not able to obtain an equal education because they have to maintain the household chores. If we look at all three of these events one might say that we live in poverty here in USA more than we realize it.
ReplyDeleteErika,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. I love how you mentioned the impact that poverty has on girls in particular. I have been familiarizing myself with a number of nonprofit organizations that work on creating better opportunities for girls around the world. Unfortunately, in many nations girls are not as highly prized as boys and suffer a great deal of maltreatment. As women, we know our potential and know what an empowered female is capable of. It is my hope that more individuals and organizations come forward in the fight against global poverty issues and the fight for girls in particular.