I'm disappointed that no one I contacted got back to me. Not even my friend from Dominica has returned my email. Maybe she will do so later on. Because of this, I had to do the alternative assignment.
I chose India because I just finished watching a show about child sex slaves with Lisa Ling. I thought it was horrific what was happening there and decided to learn more about the issue of poverty in this country.
1) One major issue in India is education. The country struggles with getting 33 million children living in poverty to get into an elementary school, then finish at least the primary grades. There is also gender discrimination for education. Only 66% of girls attend secondary schools. India has 20% of the world's out of school children.
2) Another major issue is health. The health of the poor is a major problem. There are many communicable diseases, malnutrition, and maternal and perinatal illnesses (www.childhoodpoverty.org/). Because of changes in modernization of their systems, urbanization, and economic conditions the issue of HIV/AIDS is becoming a fast problem. There is alot of malnutrition and children are born low-birth weight.
3) The country of India is trying to improve the conditions of the poor. As of late, they are trying to implement a Child Policy. It just seems that they are not doing enough. Maybe it is because there is just this pervasive attitude about poor people. They do have a caste system so maybe the majority of the people believe if you are poor that you are in that situation because of what you have done in your previous life. That is clearly my opinion.
I mentioned on my blog that poverty among children is shocking. It's really an atrosity when we have so much to offer in this country and around the world. There are so many organizations doing so much, but it doesn't seem like enough.
ReplyDeleteYou mention education and this is another shocking statistic when there is so much knowledge and we are living in the age of technology. It just doesn't seem right or fair, and children suffer the most.
I hope your contacts get back with you soon. I put the word out on facebook and got several responses.
Johan,
ReplyDeleteI was intersted in your information of India, especially about gender discrimination. I had a family from India a few years back. They had twins, a boy and a girl. They were in my school for 5 years. The family paid little attention to the daughter, but held very high standards for their son. The son struggled, but the parents refused assistance or accommodations for him. They expected him to be strong and do well. A lot of pressure for a child.
The "child sex business" is a horrifying and heartbreaking reality. In the military we know have mandatory training on human trafficking and similar issues because of the places we deploy to. We have had people return to try and adopt children from the countries we visit. it is heartbreaking to leave them behind when we return home.
ReplyDeleteJohan,
ReplyDeleteMy contact in Turkey also mentioned gender disparities and I was shocked. In doing research, I learned that the gender disparities do not stop just at work, but also cause exclusion from high education and that women in rural countries suffer more than those in cities. It is very sad. Like India, education is lacking, which ultimately leads to more poverty. The statistics you listed were very interesting, but I hope you hear from your contacts soon.
Sondi