The Effects of Poverty On Children's Education
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Date
2004-04
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
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.
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Keywords
Effects of Poverty, Children's Education