Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support. I spoke with my mother about her childhood growing up and what she recalls her stressors to be and how they affected her. Poverty was the most prevalent stressor she endured. Below is a part of our dialogue she contributed:
As a child, I didn't understand what "poverty" was. By age of 6, I did understand about the times that I was hungry from no food to eat as well as the feeling of shame. I felt when my 1st grade teacher took me to a room and gave me a pair of shoes to wear. I remember having no indoor bathroom so we had an outhouse while everyone who lived around us had indoor facilities. We had no bathtub, so we had to bath in the kitchen sink. We lived in a house that consisted of 4 rooms: parent’s bedroom, living room, kitchen, another bedroom that us 5 girls shared and a small closet area where my brother slept. At the age of 9, found out there was no Santa Claus and that the gifts I had received was from a lady who lived down the road. At the age of 10, gifts from Santa came from a local church. Although thankful for the gifts, I felt shame in knowing that the gifts came from somewhere else other than home. Later, in life I came to the realization that most of my childhood years, the lady down the road supplied most of my needs such as haircuts, dresses and gifts. This lady, I called "Mama Walker". She was my mother's employer for 17 years but for me she was like a mother. She was the one that showed me love and affection. I am eternally grateful for her support.
Africa has many stressors that affect a child’s development. Some of those stressors include: extreme poverty, education, violence, gender equality, and diseases. These stressors are linked to behavioral and emotional problems as well as psychological well-being in African children (Barbarin & Richter, 2001). Due to many of these stressors, anxiety, depression, aggression and opposition develop in many children.
Similar to the poverty case that I stated above, children in Africa experience many of these same or similar experiences. Africa is taking many steps to improve the living conditions and toward adjusting support such as health, nutrition, education and child protections (http://www.unicef.org/).
References:
Barbarin, O., & Richter, L. (2001). Economic status, community danger and psychological problems among south african children. Childhood, 8(1), 115-133. doi: 10.1177/0907568201008001007
http://www.unicef.org/ (n.d.)
We still have a lot of poverty here in the U.S. Thanks for share this information.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to know what some people had to go through then and in today's society we are beginning to see more and more of the same thing again due to the way our economy has been. It is sad to know that the world everywhere is faced with something with some type of stressor. We can only pray that the future will get better for those around us. Thanks for sharing your story.
ReplyDeleteIt is a global issue. Poverty happens everywhere in every corner. It would make children suffer a lot. Children would not be able to go to the hospital to get the correct treatment, they would not be able to have enough nutrition to be healthy, and they do not have good access to education so that they can change their destiny in the future. We can not do a whole lot to help those children, but we always can do something for the people we know who are struggling with their living in our lives.
ReplyDeleteErika,
ReplyDeleteYes, thank you for sharing something so personal. It is a crying shame that in America - the land of plenty, families are forced to live under such conditions for one reason or another.
Globally, I understand the living conditions are much worse. My heart breaks for these precious children.
Children as young as three and four feel stress and shame of poverty. I once had a student (three years old) tell me, " he would get a wupping if he said he was hungry, when I asked him if they had food at home. This broke my heart. We had to figure out a way to help this family without causing the child more stress. The only way we were able to support this child was by making sure he had plenty of food at school.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. I had a hard time with this assignment because it did trigger personal memories of my own and of my family's background. It sounds that your mother may have some more profound experiences that had affected her childhood. My mother was exposed to far too much violence and abuse as a child and abandonement as an adolescent. I can see over time how this also affected her decision making as an adult.
ReplyDeleteTake Care.
Erika,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing! I understand where your Mom is coming from. I was laid off in August and I was the "Bread winner" in the house. I am currently on unemployment and my boyfriend makes under poverty level as a chef. There are so many state programs you can get in but the hoops you need to go through are unbelievable! We have always been employed but unfortunately we chose fields of employment that do not pay much.
It is wonderful to know that through all that you have been faced with you overcame them and continued your education. Poverty as you stated is a great stressor which often times leads to low self-esteem in children and low academic performance.
ReplyDeleteYes Erika poverty is still here today more than ever. Because the families that I work with on a day to day basis they are stress out on how they are going to make ends meet. And how they are going to keep their ligth or gas from being cut off. The ecomoniy is so terrible in this area, there is no job and no money.
ReplyDelete