I thought it would be great to share the email that my international wrote to me on my blog site for this assignment. Everything that was asked about poverty with children and their families was shared through this email. My international partner name is Prima. She was great in sharing what she knows and has experienced as it relates to poverty. The next thing you will read below is her email to me.
Hi Audrey,
I am an Indian and have lived in India most of my life. I am currently based in Hong Kong.
When I think of poverty I can associate poverty more with India compared to Hongkong. I have seen cases of extreme poverty as well as people barely managing to get through. I have lived in Bombay and Pune. Bombay or Mumbai is the financial hub of India and is a city where you see the ' filthy rich ' as well as beggars .
I am assuming your question is based on early childhood in relation to poverty ......
The poor in India are associated with having ' too many ' children. The mother is often on a poor diet before , during and after pregnancy, Once the child is born the mother either goes back to work as domestic help ,construction work etc and the baby is left with the grandmother/ relatives . Speaking kindly or gently is unheard of and the poor baby is often neglected . The only thing that draws the adult's attention is a big job or hunger wails. If the mother is at home she is often busy with the other kids .
Children are often seen wandering on roads , playing with mud / cement / pebbles , running around naked around slums .
Toys are very few and books as a source of entertainment are practically non existent in these homes.
Well every second house in most slums does have a television though which according to me does no good !!!
Well every second house in most slums does have a television though which according to me does no good !!!
Children often go to ' Balwadi' ( kindergarten ) at the age of 3 or 3.5 . The Quality of these schools and the teachers is another story and a sad one !
Since the houses are super small say 100 sq ft sometimes.... the older children are forced to study / read amidst loads of noise ( mostly consisting of fights ) . Most don;t make it beyond 8th grade .I firmly believe that the first 6 years are extremely crucial in a child's mental development and considering the fact the most of their crucial years are spent wandering aimlessly and barely been spoken to its no surprise that most of the children are not too bright.Its a sort of vicious circle as lack of education forces them to get into unskilled labour and earn less ..
Girls are often expected to do household chores and look after the children . Most of them today are sent to school but education amongst girls is not considered important.
Well all is not grim and we do have a few cases of poor children topping grades and doing well and getting out of the curse of poverty.
If you search online you will see the statistics of literacy rates in India rising but by and large poverty is rampant within the huge population of 2 billion.
We do have a few organisations that help in the field of education. They run day cares for infants and kindergartens for children. We have world vision which accepts sponsors for education children .
My heart goes out to the children who wander aimlessly or beg on streets when they should be in school. But I guess the stomach needs to be filled before the brain !
This is my perspective and how I see it. Hope it helps in a tiny way.
Take care
Regards
Prima
What I have learned by listening to my international partner Prima talk about her country is that children in her country are suffering in terms of every day basic needs. When you add education into the equation that is not very much room for such things. It seems like from what I have read that because of the resources provided by World Visions they are able to offer child care for children. This free up mothers to be able to go to work. One insight that I got after reading further was picturing children walking around the streets looking for food instead of being in school. I just can't understand how did a country get into a situation such as they are in. It makes you wonder about the United States with the trouble our economy is in, can this happen in our country as well?
What I have learned by listening to my international partner Prima talk about her country is that children in her country are suffering in terms of every day basic needs. When you add education into the equation that is not very much room for such things. It seems like from what I have read that because of the resources provided by World Visions they are able to offer child care for children. This free up mothers to be able to go to work. One insight that I got after reading further was picturing children walking around the streets looking for food instead of being in school. I just can't understand how did a country get into a situation such as they are in. It makes you wonder about the United States with the trouble our economy is in, can this happen in our country as well?
Audrey, I was really moved by reading Prima's email and feel like I got a real glimpse into the realities of countless children in India. This was a very valuable read. I am glad that the work of World Vision was mentioned as my husband and I have sponsored a child through World Vision for several years. We also sponsor a child through Compassion International, which is another organization helping to release children from poverty (http://www.compassion.com/default.htm).
ReplyDeleteHi Audrey. I found your blog very interesting. It is funny how the causes of poverty in differnt countries can be the same yet different. I was very suprised to find that having too many children may be the cause of poverty within the country. That is something that we just don't think about here. Thank you again for sharing this email.
ReplyDeleteHi Audrey, To hear what Prima had to say about poverty in India was interesting. I feel that if we do not change the direction America is going we might end in that situation ourselves.
ReplyDeleteAudrey,
ReplyDeleteI am very excited for you that you were able to connect with an early childhood educator in another country. It is obvious that her insights will prove invaluable! The information that she shared does raise the question about our own country and certainly instills a bit of fear as to what we may be headed for.
Thanks for Sharing!
Tammy