Day 40 - February 15th

Today was both encouraging and challenging. Although sick, our time in community this morning was really special. I am really going to miss my Crossroad friends. This afternoon I got to participate in one of the life experiences. Crossroads has set up various life experiences and today I got a glimpse into what it is like to live in the slums. Today about one billion people live in the slums while over two billion people live on less than 2 US dollars per day. One website http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/rxforsurvival/glossary.html describes a slum as "As a household that lacks any one of the following five elements: access to sufficient amounts of water for family use at an affordable price, without being subject to extreme effort; access to improved sanitation, either in the form of a private toilet or a public toilet shared with a reasonable number of people; security of tenure (the rights of a tenant to hold property); housing in a permanent and adequate structure in a non-hazardous location; and, in most areas, a household requiring more than two people to share the same room. However, as housing in some cities lacks sufficient living space for middle-class households to fit this final requirement, the definition of a slum would be modified to require a lack of two of these conditions."

A group of Crossroads staff led us through an activity that showed a small window into the daily life and struggle of these people. We were all put in families - our family had four girls and myself. As a family we needed to make paper bags in groups of 10 and sell them to one of the shopkeepers. Each ten minute segment acted as a week in the life of our family. At the end of this time we stopped and hoped we had enough money to pay for our food, rent and sanitation. Over the three weeks our group managed to afford these three essentials, gain training and send someone to school. However, this came with a cost. I along with another girl sold the goods to the market. I was the main person to sell and go attend training (partially because I wasn't very quick at making paper bags.) As I brought my bags to the shopkeeper I was really helpless. I was on my knees begging, whatever they asked I did, any money was good, I had no choice but to take the little money offered. At one point one of the shopkeepers told me I could not receive the money until one of my sisters came and gave him a "massage" or "hug." He promised me that he would respect her but in reality my sister had no choice but to submit to the perverse and evil desires of the shopkeeper. There was also external pressure and motivation to make money. If we didn't have the needed money by the end of the week we could have visited a loan shark. If we had to resort to this, our lives would be chained to whatever they required or said until they deemed fit to let us leave. This is a brief summary of the game which is in fact a real life reality for many people around the world.

Follow Reflections

We really were at the mercy of the shopkeepers. We didn't have the luxury of dreaming but just hoped that we would not die today. There was no time to talk with our family, or enjoy life, enjoy a salary and stable income. Morality always was dependent on our need to survive. DJ a Crossroad staff told some insight that was shared with him by a beggar in the slums of India. For many people in poverty they feel as if they are looking through a clear -glass ceiling. They see the hope and future on the other side but cannot get out of this vicious cycle. He also shared the importance and hope that is expressed when someone in poverty can receive schooling. With that being said, can we strictly look at world events like terrorism and civil wars through one lens. If a terrorist organization provides a person with food, clothing and shelter that is a means of hope and a means to reduce some of the fear of survival.

What can we do

I agree with the statement that poverty is rooted in broken relationships not mere money. How can we support education in areas of poverty? How can we developed business loans and ways to encourage families sustainability. How can we challenged and lobby at the governmental and local levels? How can we help at ground zero? I have some ideas but I would love to hear from you.