Browsing by Author "Kassaye, Antuan Petros"

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    The Effects of Poverty On Children's Education
    (Tangaza University College, 2004-04) Kassaye, Antuan Petros
    Our world has consistently and persistently suffered from the cry of the poor. Some human rights activists, church organizations and governments preach about the eradication of poverty to pave the way for all people to live better lives; however, poverty is still proudly walking on our doorsteps. What is poverty? Poverty is a persistent problem, which has presented political and moral challenges to all societies at all times. In its simplest definition, poverty is a lack of the basic means of survival. The poor are those who, in normal circumstances, are unable to feed and clothe themselves properly, and risk death as a consequence. Latria sees poverty as a humiliation and the sense of being dependent and of being forced to accept rudeness, insults and indifference when we seek help. This definition makes lots of sense in our society today, especially when one is to make any comparison between the so-called rich and poor, the poor man is always trampled upon. The poor has no mouth and has no rights where they matter. The poor suffer from the hands of the rich and the poor are at the mercy of the rich. Such are the conditions of the poor as one poet describes them: The issue of poverty, therefore, is commonplace, but more visible on our continent of Africa. So many people are ravaged by poverty and so many children cannot go to school, while others are not privileged to enjoy the sweet moments of childhood because their parents have no time for them, as they go in search of food for their young ones. Other children suffer abuses from frustrated parents who are alcoholic. Other children go through the hard experience of broken dysfunctional homes. Education, on the other hand, is seen as a tool for enlightenment and salvation for the human race. Education, both informally and formally, is vital for the growth and the proper development of an individual. Challenged by poverty, many families in Africa are not able to offer basic education that should be provided in the family; hence it is harder to provide children with formal education. Poverty adversely affects education and the consequences include prostitution, robbery, the increase in moral decadence among the youths, and so on. Hence, unwanted pregnancies and abortions are very prevalent among young people. In my opinion, the lack of education caused by poverty plays a major role in these social problems. During the fact-finding stage of this research, the writer was personally involved in the day-to-day activities of the Bosco Boys Kuwinda project, Nairobi. The project is a non-governmental project run by the Church congregation of the Salesians of Don Bosco. Bosco Boys Kuwinda deals with the poor youth. They pay special attention to street children. The activities of Bosco Boys Kuwinda include: rehabilitation programmes, tailoring training, carpentry workshop, garden/shamba, dairy cattle, computer courses, piggery, poultry and sports (scouting, football, basketball, volleyball). In this research, the pastoral circle method of See, Judge and Act is the guide post in this narrative. The "See" dimension is where information on the ground is analysed. The information on the ground has been gathered from the writer's experience of working among the youth in the Bosco Boys Kuwinda project. The writer has broader and in-depth experience of working with the poor in Kuwinda for five years (1998-2004). All these five years of experience have been a challenge and a time of reflection for the writer about the plight of the poor youth. Therefore, this research paper is a part of an action taken in order to deepen our understanding and raise awareness about the poor who bleed daily in our neighborhood. The primary and secondary information in this paper is largely obtained from Tangaza library materials and interviews conducted in Kuwinda slum.