Last month, October 17, my Social Justice Group went to visit the United Nations. It was the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Many people talked about their experiences and struggles with poverty. One 14 year-old teenager talked about her life living in shelters and her experience being constantly teased and discriminated against. They assumed that her mother was a drug addict, but she kept her head held high and told people her mother was the one that taught her that drugs were bad and would eventually will kill you. Now, as a high schooler she hides her true identity.

We also heard a parent named Jose Nuñez talk about his challenge with being poor. Jose Nuñez says, “Imagine being dismissed repeatedly because of where you live, the only place you turn to for help, sets you out to fail! Imagine being expected to fail because of where you live. When you’ve been ill treated for so long, you begin to expect it. Poverty needs to become a word of the past.”   We also watched a video by International Movement ATD Fourth World. This video taught us that many people living in poverty do not have access to clean water and people living in poverty fear giving birth at hospitals in their communities because of what they’ve heard.

I cannot imagine living in the street and not having enough food to even survive. Just seeing people explaining what they go through everyday in poverty kills me. If I can barely hear about poverty, I can’t imagine ever living in it. When a child is born in poverty, they are less likely to succeed in life. Teens that live in shelters are constantly teased and discriminated against. I think I focused really well and took some really good notes, because we weren’t allowed to ask questions. One thing I will definitely do for the next field work is try to participate more and ask more questions. Poverty does really need to become a word from the past and I’m willing to do a lot to make that happen. This field work really did help impact our group and our education on poverty.