I had done the alternative assignment which was go to the CHIP web site which focuses on children and poverty. Reading the information saddens me because poverty is all over the world and how 1 in 4 live in poverty. It saddens me that young children who live in poverty can grow up to live in poverty as well, that it can pass on from one generation to another, and how it can affect long-term health.
The country I have selected was India. A close friend of mine is from India and her parents had moved to the United States one year after they had gotten married so their children could grow up having many opportunities that the parents could not have in India.
After reading about the poverty level in India I have found three things that have interested me. The first thing that had interested me is that 260.2 million people live in poverty. I had always thought that India was a richer country and when I had read about the number of people who live in poverty it had surprised me. I think it is sad that many people have to live in poverty and miss out on a lot of opportunities. The second thing that interested me was that in the last 5 decades there has been a lot of effort to alleviate poverty by increasing economic growth and provisions of basic skills so people can get out of poverty and make their lives better. The last thing that interested me is that children under the age of 5 suffer from malnutrition and are significantly underweight. According to the web site "Almost half of all children (about 62 million) under the age of five are malnourished and 34 percent of new-borns are significantly underweight.8 Important achievements have been made in health and education. Infant mortality fell from 80 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 69 in 2000.9 The enrolment of primary school-aged children rose from 68 percent in 1992/1993 to 82 percent at the end of the decade.10 But India still accounts for 20 per cent of the world's out-of-school children. It has the largest numbers of working children in the world, with nearly a third of children below 16 years working" (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/).
Source:
Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre’s page (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/),
Those statistics are so shocking to me. It is sad to think that 62 million children are malnourished. I now understand the need to get more organizations involved to relieve the symptoms of poverty.
ReplyDeleteI thought child labor was out, but I guess I was wrong. Children need a proper education not a job. But it sadness me that India population for poverty is so high. I always thought India was a rich country too.
ReplyDeleteI know it is sad to see that many young children need to work in order to help the family survive. I wish there were more programs that would raise money to help with poverty. I know one family in my immediate area who had lost their home due to a fire and the community pitched in to help. What was sad also was the fact that it happened two weeks before Christmas. My husband and I had gone out and bought a new sweater for the mother and the kids got a book and a new toy each. I also made extra food and brought it over. The kids wanted chocolate chip cookies and I made some and brought them ovr to the house they were temporily staying at.
ReplyDeleteI too chose India. I was shocked to read about how the girls' lives are so much different then how the boys' lives are. It is so sad to read that boys get treated better than the girls.
ReplyDeleteI spoke with a colleage in the early childhood field from India, and she said that the children who work, want to help out, and do not see it as child labor. She said that she used to help the maid as well as played with her because they were about the same age.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to read that when girls are born it is treated as a mourning time as opposed to boys. That is one reason why my colleage came to the U.S; she wanted to have more opportunities.