The phrase child-poverty is without meaning for many people. There is no shivering associated with it for the ones who remotely know its meaning. Many think that all of it is the parents’ responsibility. And for sure, it is not part of the responsibilities of others. Yes, that is a good excuse.
“Why does one give birth if they can’t afford to raise a child?” or “Why would anyone care for someone else’s child?”
It is easy to say such arguments from the distance. Looking at the question from afar, one does not need to understand the complexities of the problem.
Looking from close by however, the walls raised by stereotypes fall down.
I remember the first time I entered the home of one of my students. They got their electricity from a neighbouring house through an extension cord, they brought water from a public well in 5 litre detergent cans and all their furniture was made up of undone beds, a fireplace used for both heating and cooking and a single shelf that held the populous family’s all clothing, dishes and toiletries next to the inevitable TV.
As I was standing there it came to my mind, what do we want from these kids in the school? What do we want with the Pythagorean theorem, coal production or industrial revolution?
How can we expect these kids to be excited and alert in school? How could homework be done here, where basic needs are not met?
How can a future different than the current situation be outlined?
Then, for years I have been trying to understand the “Why?”-s. I had to understand concepts such as the hereditary-poverty, learned-helplessness and this strange, 21st century poverty mixed with contradictions, where 19th century survival techniques and satellite TVs or mobile-phones - thanks to the consumerist society - can coexist. I experienced how can the positive effects of the school be wiped completely in the living environment and how the education, which is moving further and further away from being opportunity equalizing, is contributing to the children being stuck in those circumstance. I have been analyzing the system of causes affecting the children which today has very few elements that would help them move forward.
I am not sure whether we will ever have the power to break this viscous cycle which is continuously raising the number of people living in extreme poverty in the most disadvantaged micro-regions of the country. Will we ever be able to fight the determining powers of full-time-motherhood, “it-will-work-out-somehow situations”, working-off-the-book, criminalization and the foster-work-carrier?
Education reforms? Foster-work? Prevention? Screening-examinations? Catching-up? Settlement closures? Housing programs? And the list goes on of the attempts that never reach the ones who live in the deepest poverty.
We are running in circles, talking about them but, of course, without them. We come up with well-crafted slogans and campaigns, we use statistics to justify the positive change but one thing does not change, the lives of the ones living in extreme poverty.
The grandparents today left the school system with decreasing knowledge and insufficient knowledge which they passed on to their children. Then the knowledge decreased further in the parents’ generation.
We are here with the teenagers locked into poverty and under-education waiting at home to become adults.
And the ones who come after us will be in the similar situation. There is nothing to break the cycle. We have lost them.
Solution? At this point it is already a difficult question. I see it with certainty that for the future generations we have to work with the current one. We are late to change them because their socialization with this complicated system of problems is stronger than everything else. But it needs to be made up for what they did not get when they should have so their children will see a different path to follow. One with power, perseverance, respect for rules, motivation and responsibility. Everything that is missing but is necessary for the development of the children needs to be filled in.
Complex problem solving, unified effects, real job opportunities, tolerance, solidarity, community development. Nice words. It would be great if one day all of these would actually be present within the system.
For example, instead of the segregated education, the 16 years of obligatory schooling or the foster work program.
Then the report on the situation from me on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty would not be so bitter.
There is a photo I took a few years ago. A young girl with shining eyes and flowers on her face. At that time she was 8. She was happy because she won with her drawing on an international competition in Poland. This photo makes the viewer smile.
However, for me, it makes my stomach cramp. Because I know that she was 11 when she became a prostitute as a result of poverty and even when we took her out, it was too late. For me she is another victim of poverty. Someone whose life cannot be turned around from this path.
When one thinks about such a life story, one can find so many points of possible intervention, where this outcome could have been prevented. Many are responsible, who could have done that.
All of us are responsible for what we call child-poverty . The ones who look away, the ones who nod for everything, the ones who don’t care, the ones who make the decisions, the ones who push away the responsibility, the ones who bring the statistics or the news and the ones who manipulate.
In the meantime, all of us are dreaming about a liveable country, however we cannot initiate a real progress. Perhaps, the reason for it is that within us no change has started yet.
