 Anti-Poverty week |
Issue 90 |
The Face of Poverty
"I wasn't able to stay on at school because my parents couldn't afford the cost, because some days we only have enough to eat for one meal. I often go to the bar and wait for what's left over from the tourists' meals so that I can fill my stomach, even if it's no good. What's important is to fill my stomach, never mind anything else. In the future I'd like to become a mechanic, in order to earn my living and help those who haven't got enough. I know I'm not going to stay like this, if I do I'll have no dignity." Sanousi aged 10, Mali, West Africa.
"My mum makes about $200 a week and she's got four kids to feed on that. It just isn't enough. Last week the electricity bill came in. It just sent Mum over the top. We just couldn't afford to eat that night. Our fridge is really old and it looks as though it will pack it in at any moment. I don't know how we'll cope when it does. We had a school camp last week and it was going to cost $55. I didn't even bother asking if I could go. It would just upset Mum even more. She wants us to be able to do normal stuff but she just hasn't got the money ..." Sara, aged 12, outer suburbs of a capital city in Australia.
We know that these stories, or very similar ones, are the reality for millions of people all over the world.
Poverty around the world
"Poverty is like heat; you cannot see it; so to know poverty you have to go through it." Adaboya, Ghana
To be poor means that you can't always put food on the table for your family; it means that your child might suffer from a disease that is easily treated, but you cannot afford to go to the doctor; it means that you may not be able to afford to send your child to school so your child will not be able to read or to find a good job in the future; it means that you live in crowded conditions with limited access to clean water or sanitation.
Poverty in Australia
To be poor means that you are trying to scrape by on welfare payments as you cannot find a job; it means that you will find it hard to find housing as you will find it difficult to afford; it means that sometimes you won't be able to feed your children properly; it means that you won't be able to afford to go to the dentist or to the doctor; it means that new clothes or toys will often be a luxury that you can't afford.
How does it feel to be poor?
Whether you are poor in Australia or in another country, the feeling is the same. Life is a struggle; you feel isolated and excluded from mainstream society; you feel as though you have no control over your own life, no security; you lack choices and opportunities; you feel stressed; you often feel anxious or depressed; you feel as though you have no voice and no power.
How should we respond?
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint ... but when I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." Dom Helder Camara
This suggests that our response should have two parts:
- We must reach out to the poor in practical support and solidarity, to put ourselves in their place so that we can understand as fully as we can what it feels like to be poor.
- We must not simply accept that things have to be the way they are now. We have to question why the world allows poverty to continue to exist.
We need to act to support those in need and to struggle against the injustice that exists to keep people in poverty. A truly just response requires both these things. We need to look at the face of poverty and realise that the world can be different and we have a responsibility to use whatever means we have at our disposal to bring about change for the better.
Anti-Poverty Week is 17-22 October 2004
Religion/Social Sciences/Maths
In groups you are to address one of the focus questions. Your group will then present their findings to the whole class.
Focus question I: What does it mean to be poor?
Go to www.worldbank.org/globallinks/english/poverty.html to view the Voices of the Poor Video. For the woman in the video clip, what is poverty?
Go to www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/
globaled/go/pid/181 to gather poverty facts.
a) When is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty?
b) What does it mean to be poor in terms of nutrition and literacy?
c) How many are poor in developed countries? What proportion is this of the total number of poor?
d) How many are homeless in developed countries?
e) The three richest people in the world have greater wealth than how many of the poorest countries?
f) What improvements have occurred for the world's poor?
Go to devdata.worldbank.org/external/CPProfile.asp?
SelectedCountry=WLD&CCODE=WLD&CNAME=
World&PTYPE=CP and find out what proportion of the world's population has access to telephones and personal computers. Go to devdata.worldbank.org/external/CPProfile.asp?
SelectedCountry=SSA&CCODE=SSA&CNAME=
Sub-Saharan+Africa&PTYPE=CP to find out the same information for Sub Saharan Africa
Go to www.bsl.org.au/pdfs/poverty.pdf to find out what poverty is for the disadvantaged in our own country.
Brainstorm ideas as to what poverty means. Use single words or short phrases.
Create a mind map of poverty and what it means.
Focus question II: How many people are in poverty?
Go to www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/
globaled/go/pid/181 to find out the global figure
Go to www.bsl.org.au/pdfs/poverty.pdf to find out what proportion of the Australian population is poor. What is the actual number of poor people in Australia using the most cautious estimate?
Has there been a reduction in the last 10 years?
What proportion of Australia 's children is living in poverty?
How many children in the world are poor? Go to www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/
globaled/go/pid/181 and scroll down to "Children" to find out.
Go to www.cafod.org.uk/resources/schoolsteachers/
factsheets/poverty_ks3_ks4 to find out the proportion of people living in poverty in various regions of the world.
What parts of the world have low levels of poverty?
Where are the rates of poverty the highest?
Focus question III: What are the causes of poverty?
How is the unequal distribution of wealth related to poverty?
Gather facts about the distribution of wealth and income in the world from www.cafod.org.uk/resources/
schoolsteachers/factsheets/poverty_ks3_ks4
Make a list of all the causes of poverty in the developing world. Explain in detail ONE of the causes from your list using a flow chart showing cause and effect. Did your chart end up being a circle?
Make a mind map linking all the causes of poverty. Are some of the causes interlinked? For example, how are war and the lack of land to grow crops related?
Go to www.bsl.org.au/pdfs/unemployment
_and_poverty_Nov_03.pdf to look at the major cause of poverty in Australia.
a) How does unemployment relate to poverty?
b) Is Unemployment benefit enough to keep you out of poverty? Go to www.bsl.org.au/pdfs/income_
support_and_poverty.pdf to find out
c) Who are most likely to be unemployed and therefore in poverty?
d) How does the Australian Bureau of Statistics define an unemployed person?
e) How many hours per week do you have to work for you not to be counted as unemployed?
f) Why are so many people unemployed?
g) What is "hidden unemployment"? How does this contribute to poverty?
h) What percentage of the unemployed have been unemployed for 12 months or more?
i) Why would the length of time unemployed be an important factor in the causes of poverty?
Why are Indigenous people more likely to be poor in Australia? Go to www.bsl.org.au/pdfs/poverty.pdf to find out. Go to www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/
globaled/go/pid/181 and scroll down to "Marginalised groups" for more information.
Focus question IV: How can we attack the problem of poverty?
Go to www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/
globaled/go/pid/181 and scroll down to "How can poverty be alleviated?" to research some ways.
Go to www.bsl.org.au/ncapwebsite/no_child.pdf to research possible ways to address child poverty in Australia.
Write your own submission to the government advising them of how best to tackle the problem of poverty globally and in Australia.
Go to ozspirit.info/archives.html#pov for more teaching and learning activities on the topic of poverty.
A new Government has been recently elected. Now is the time to begin lobbying them on the issue of poverty. Go to www.bsl.org.au/ncapwebsite/poverty.htm to research the topic of poverty in Australia. Download the petition from www.bsl.org.au/ncapwebsite/petition.pdf to ask for a Royal Commission into the problem of poverty in Australia.
Write a letter to your newly elected local Member of Parliament on this issue using the outline to be found at www.bsl.org.au/ncapwebsite/letter.htm
Go to www.nomorepoverty.org.au/get_involved.php to get more ideas for campaigning against poverty
One of the causes of poverty in the world is the unfair international trade system. Go to www.maketradefair.com/en/index.htm to take part in an international campaign to change the rules so that poor countries will have a chance to trade themselves out of poverty.
Download powerpoint presentations on global poverty from www.antipovertyweek.org.au/info.html