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The main causes of poverty in South Africa
Poverty in third world countries
Poverty in third world countries
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The Alto do Cruzeiro people are slaves of a plantation economy. Sugar cane, the primary crop of Brazil, is harvested by the men of the family while the women primarily try to get meals together for the day. According to Scheper-Hughes (1992), the minimum wage that the workers make is not close to being sufficient enough to provide food for the family (p. 148). Not only do workers get payed poorly, they also have to work under conditions not suitable for their struggling health. Washerwomen “soak their infected legs or feet for many hours a day in the polluted waters” and the rural workers have to walk “many miles through the mata in open sandals” (Scheper-Hughes, 1992, p. 148). As one can imagine, operating in such harsh conditions for such …show more content…
A seven year old boy, Edilson, had a tumor on his neck that prevented him from being able to swallow. When his death came up in conversations he remarked that he was “not afraid” and “ready” (p. 142). Seu Tomas, a bedridden member of the population describes his home as being “a poor house but rich in children” (p. 182). This subtle joke or spin of optimism isn’t much, but maintains the value of family so prevalent in the Alto do Cruzeiro people. Their poverty is seen by outsiders as a destructive force, but after years of living in it their culture has learned to push through. Most of the community is illiterate because they feel that what they learn in school is inapplicable to their lives. Most kids can’t retain any information in class because of their conditions of nervoso (p. 156). Most outsiders would view their illiteracy as a sure sign of poverty, however the people of Alto feel that they can be of more use to their family through extra hands in the field or at home then trying to obtain unneeded knowledge at school. Essentially, by not going to school they are helping their
Enrique’s Journey is a book that I would never read for fun. It is completely different from most of the books I have read, and intrigued me because the story was about a boy. Most of the books I have read in school are about a girl who goes through many hardships, and difficulties but I felt I could relate more to this one because it is about a boy who struggles. While I may not have been left thousands of miles away by mother so she could send money back, it was great to see what life was like on the other side. In this paper I will be talking about the micro and macro cultures of Enrique’s town Tegucigalpa. The situation and context of the characters decision making and how they adapted.
Many people at one time or another will face some-sort of economic hardship; however it is safe to say that many people do not really know what extreme poverty is like. The Treviño family knows first hand what it is like to work in tedious, mind-numbing jobs for a very little paycheck. The life of a migrant worker is not anything to be desired. Simple things that most would take for granted like food variety, baths, clean clothes, and beds are things that Elva learned to live with. “We couldn’t have a bath every day, since it was such a big production. But [mom] made us wash our feet every night” (125). A simple task to any normal person is a large production for a migrant family that doesn’t have any indoor plumbing. People living in poverty do not often have a large wardrobe to speak of which means that the few clothes they own often remain dirty because washing clothes is a production too. “Ama scrubbed clothes on the washboard while the rest of us bathed. She took a bath last while the rest of us rinsed and hung up the clothes she had washed. This was the only oppor...
Having a family of low socioeconomic status inevitably leaves me to reside in a low-income neighborhood which makes it more likely for me to witness the tragedies, adversities and hardships that people go through [not excluding myself]. Being conscious of this kind of environment, and these kinds of events, creates a pressure on me for having the aim to achieve social mobility in order to escape the aforementioned environment so that my own children could witness one less abominable aspect of life. Moreover, my family’s low socioeconomic status does not authorize me the privilege of being raised with the concerted cultivation method that kids of high socioeconomic status are more prone to being raised in. My family did not have the financial resources that granted us access to extra classes or lessons of instrumental classes, swimming practices, karate practices, or any other extracurricular activities that people of high socioeconomic status would be able to afford. This invisible fence that prevents me from these extracurricular activities enables me to having more appreciation towards the hobbies and talents that other people have. Plus, the fact that my family’s low socioeconomic status acts as a barrier from enjoying expensive luxuries in life creates a yearning [in me] to enjoy them later on in my life, in addition to acting as the fuel to my wish of achieving social mobility in anticipation of providing my own children with the luxurious vacations, gadgets, beachhouse, new cars that I could not
This poem written by Francisco Alarcon describes the life of an illiterate man who finds himself signing away his freedom by placing his mark on a contract. He is unable to read the contract he is signing or even write his name. Being unable to read he leaves himself vulnerable to be taken advantage of and deceived. Alarcon, who was raised in a Hispanic community, was surrounded by illiteracy. Wanting to change the situation in which he was raised in he went to school to become a teacher and now focuses his efforts on eliminating illiteracy. This poem was written from the experience of watching those he cared about around him being taken advantage of because they were unable to read or write. "The X in My Name" shows the mistakes and ill consequences that illiteracy can bring upon those uneducated. It also sheds light onto how social structure and financial class play into illiteracy, and how detrimental illiteracy can be to those on the low end of the monetary spectrum. Though Alarcon only uses a few words it is easy to understand and see how the illiterate can be effortlessly be taken advantage of.
Mattoso, Katia M de Queiros: To be a slave in Brazil 1550-1888 (New Jersey, 1986)
Submerged in the impoverished urban border culture which they helped create, the maquiladoras draw young women north from all over Mexico’s interior. The women migrate with hopes of acquiring jobs in the booming foreign-owned factories and are plunged into a new border “country” that is far from a promised land. Maquiladoras are a financial endeavor for foreign industrialists who hope that by situating factories in Third World countries they will substantially cut production costs. The industrialists have been accused of taking advantage of Mexico’s cheaply accessible labor force and less restrictive health and safety codes in order to achieve these lower production costs. While preliminary surveys on the effects of maquiladora work on women’s physical health show little to no adverse side effects, researchers and advocates are not completely convinced that long term health effects will prove positive.
In the favela of São Paulo, Brazil, 1958, Carolina Maria de Jesus rewrote the words of a famous poet, “In this era it is necessary to say: ‘Cry, child. Life is bitter,’” (de Jesus 27). Her sentiments reflected the cruel truth of the favelas, the location where the city’s impoverished inhabited small shacks. Because of housing developments, poor families were pushed to the outskirts of the city into shanty towns. Within the favelas, the infant mortality rate was high, there was no indoor plumbing or electricity, drug lords were governing forces, drug addiction was rampant, and people were starving to death. Child of the Dark, a diary written by Carolina Maria de Jesus from 1955 to 1960, provides a unique view from inside Brazil’s favelas, discussing the perceptions of good
After reading The Violent Land by Jorge Amado it was clear to see that not only were the people of Bahia violent, but the land that they lived on was also violent as well. The land left not only the colonels with a different perspective on ethical reasoning, but created a new world of horrors. Aside from the unpredictable weather, as stated in our book the land was filled with poisonous snakes, jaguars, and other animals that scared any newcomers (Amado 36) that would come to the forest in hopes of money and a better life. In order for these men to get the plantation, they were going to be working on they had to go through thick virgin brushes to get to their designated work area. As stated by Amado “They have crossed rivers, made their way through all but impenetrable thickets, blazing trails, tramping through swamps; and one of them had been bitten by a snake and had buried at the side of the newly opened road (Amado 38). Upon completing the book, it was evident that many men that wondered to this land would belong to the forest even after they have passed.
Kozol argues that the lack of education not only inhibits the lives of illiterates, but greatly affects the lives of their children as well. He states, “Illiterates cannot read the letter the children bring home from their teachers. [...] they cannot help with homework. They cannot write letters to the teacher. They are afraid to visit in the classroom. They do not want to humiliate their children or themselves” (188). Ensuring that the next generation is literate and prepared with the knowledge to function out in the world is crucial to stopping the spread of illiteracy. As the references state, illiteracy complicates matters of education for the children of illiterates, making it more difficult for them to overcome the shortcomings of their parents. Illiterates themselves also face their own struggle with education. Kozol states that “Illiterate mothers, as we shall see, already have been cheated of the power to protect their progeny against the likelihood of demolition in deficient public schools and, as a result, against the verbal servitude within which they themselves exist” (189). His statement reinforces the difficulty that illiterates face when it comes to educating their own children, and how they are completely helpless to provide any meaningful help when it comes to ensuring a proper education for both themselves and their
In “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society”, Kozol writes how the illiterate people struggle in our society. Without having an education that works with the society a person lives in, English for example, it can cause multiple issues when they need to communicate with others. Kozol writes, “They cannot understand the written details on a health insurance form. They cannot read the waivers that they sign preceding surgical procedures” (189), which is just a few of the numerous examples of how these people can struggle in everyday life. With having the proper education of the society a person lives in, they will be able to be successful. It is heart wrenching to see some people are not able to communicate, especially in a dire situation. Getting an education that works with the society someone lives in will lead people being successful and feeling
Her argument for this theory is that “[the people] are such a large machine and each one of [them] is a cog. And if one cog is missing the machine cannot work. So [they have] to know how to assign each person his or her role and know how to value each one.” She justifies this need for unification because through her experience she noticed that the oppressive system (i.e the government and their political allies) use the differences between workers and peasants to keep these groups distracted and if they fight each other then there is less chance of opposition towards the group in power. Consequently, Domitila argues that education is a key element that is needed to unify the people of Bolivia. She points out that “education in Bolivia is still part of a capitalist system...[the educational system] never explains our poverty, our misery, our parents’ situation, their great sacrifices and their low wages, why a few children have everything and many others have nothing.” Through this observation, she emphasizes that educating the children, and the lower class adults, on the circumstances that lead to their current situation can lead to a greater political consciousness throughout the lower classes and the future middle class that can serve as a way to unify the masses against the enemy. Given these points, Domitila affirms that
Thinking about a little girl purposefully drinking out of stagnate water, shows how determined people from other countries were to have the benefits we have here in America today. The severity of a young child almost killing herself in a desperate attempt to go to school, makes one realize how fortunate they really are. The hardships Junot’s mother went through inspired him to keep going when he was struggling with his writing. Because his mother was fortunate enough to come to America, he was able to become an accomplished writer in a free country. Junot’s mother aspired to be a nurse. “When the field hands were hurt or fell ill, she was the one who cared for them.”(Diaz 1), but of course living as an uneducated girl, in a third world country, on a farm, did not give her the right requirements. When the law was passed forcing children under 15 to go to school, she was filled with excitement. However her mother, Junot’s grandmother, was not pleased with this, and beat her everyday she went to school. Junot’s story is similar to that of my great-grandmothers. She never even thought about attending a college. If she would not have left Hungary she would not have went to school at all; in fact she may even have died, ending our family line. My great-grandmother came over to America as a laborer’s child, but was able to attend school, unlike if she would have stayed in Hungary. She too would have toiled in the fields even at
When I was a young child my mom told me daily to be appreciative of what I had, because life could always be worse. As I continue to grow up and branch out on my own, this statement becomes more valid and apparent each day. The past couple years I’ve come to realize on my own the number of countries that vary greatly from the United States, such as Rio de Janeiro. “Flavio’s Home” is an essay written in 1961 before the World Cup in 1962. Flavio is 12 years old and he lives each day caring for his seven brothers and sisters, while living in a six foot by ten foot shack in the favelas of Rio. The favelas in Rio de Janeiro present various issues for their residents, which include health challenges, environmental challenges, and responsibilities,
In Ghana, many children end up in slave labor that includes the worst forms of child labor with most of them working in the agricultural or fishing industries. Many children are enslaved in Ghana’s Lake Volta Fishing Industry. Children as young as four, perform tasks such as deep sea fishing, lagoon fishing, and lake fishing and are expected to work for 17 hours a day, enduring constant physical and emotional abuse. Children are used as a cheap form of labor not only for saving money but also for being able to use tiny fingers and bodies for catching fish and keeping more on a fishing boat at a time. “The children work long hours for no pay; do not attend school, are often malnourished, sleep deprived, and treated abusively.” If a net gets snagged on something underwater, children are “forced to dive underwater to free the net” this exposes them to water-borne diseases and drowning.”
As an illustration, illiterates are afraid of the fact that, the humiliation they should face of being an illiterate. The world is not that easy, the judgments and criticizing is really hard to endure. As the country is progressing day by day, being an illiterate can cause an individual a lot. The ignorance in public and the verbal comments passed by people are really hard. The community is building up that way that it’s really hard to stop the criticism. As the progression happened the illiterates also disappeared, but the people who are still out there didn’t move with the progression are the ones who have to endure this. Similarly, Illiterates have the inability to travel, the fear of getting lost will always haunt them. Traveling is part of everyone’s daily life. Going to work, going to a restaurant or just going to a place to visit a family member. The fear of getting lost is terrific. Being an illiterate will make it harder to identify signs on the road and directions to get to the destination. This fear will always trouble an individual making it harder to travel. As the roads are all set up with signs and directions, but if a person can’t read, how can him or her deal with this. The humiliation is all they get as no one would waste time trying to help a person who can’t even read signs or follow directions. Moreover, illiterates have difficulty understanding medicines and