poverty
Every time I walk down the street I see people begging, charities harassing for a penny and a homeless person asking “have you got 50p for a cup of tea, love?” So, if Mahatma Ghandi said ‘A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members’ then how can this nation of ours live up to its name ‘Great Britain’.
What do you think poverty looks like? Is it starving, malnourished people in Africa or India living in shanti towns; Or is it the images shown to us by charities and films like ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. The reality is that poverty is closer to home than you would like to think…
Images of a perfect childhood, playing out with friends on careless summer days, being called in for a scrumptious meal, devouring every morsel and licking your plate clean only then to be given a warming piece of homemade apple pie. Tummies full, heads tired climbing the stairs thinking of the adventures to be had the next day. A goodnight kiss and a bed time story, to end this living utopia.
This is a reality far from the truth for the 1 in 6 children who live in extreme poverty in the UK*. Some miss out on regular meals and can only guess at when they will next be fed, some go to school tired because they don’t have a proper bed to sleep on. This devastating lifestyle reduces a child’s expectation for their own life resulting in an endless cycle of poverty being passed from generation to generation like a life limiting disease.
Poverty does not discriminate and affects all sections of society from the elderly, disabled and young.
What do you think poverty looks like? Is it starving, malnourished people in Africa or India living in shanti towns; Or is it the images shown to us by charities and films like ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. The reality is that poverty is closer to home than you would like to think…
Images of a perfect childhood, playing out with friends on careless summer days, being called in for a scrumptious meal, devouring every morsel and licking your plate clean only then to be given a warming piece of homemade apple pie. Tummies full, heads tired climbing the stairs thinking of the adventures to be had the next day. A goodnight kiss and a bed time story, to end this living utopia.
This is a reality far from the truth for the 1 in 6 children who live in extreme poverty in the UK*. Some miss out on regular meals and can only guess at when they will next be fed, some go to school tired because they don’t have a proper bed to sleep on. This devastating lifestyle reduces a child’s expectation for their own life resulting in an endless cycle of poverty being passed from generation to generation like a life limiting disease.
Poverty does not discriminate and affects all sections of society from the elderly, disabled and young.