Out of 100 children born in 2000, 30 will most likely suffer from malnutrition in their first five years of life, 26 will not be immunized against the basic childhood diseases, 19 will lack access to safe drinking water, 40 to adequate sanitation, and 17 will never go to school. (UNICEF)It is believed that uneducated children grow to be uneducated adults and parents and pass no real education to their children. And I have to agree with this. If you grow up without adequate knowledge you are an empty vessel passing on the same quality of "EMPTINESS" to your children. And I guess the same will have to hold true for poverty. If you have grown up in poverty and haven't educated yourself or seeked education on how to get out of poverty you can fail to break the cycles of poverty. Not saying that people growing up in poverty or miserable or even unhappy, because they can be some of the happiest people who appreciate the simplest things. All I'm saying is if you keep doing the same thing from generation to generation you're going to get the same results. And in Kyrgyzstan enrollment in schools is steadily dropping, and if the only hope to come out of poverty is education - the more children drop out of school the more it will help poverty to continue to grow.
The percentage of people living in poverty rose to over 60% when Kyrgyzstan broke free from the Soviet Union in 1991. Currently 55% of the children in Kyrgyzstan who are in the rural & urban areas of the country are living in poverty. Throughout the year about 14% of children will miss school. Some due to illness because they can not afford medicines to keep them well and others to go to work to help support their families. And this percentage can rist to 70 at peak season months in aricultural communities. Overall 11% of children both boys and girls, from 7 to 17 are involved in some form of work.
What I have found out from the website I was researching (Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre), due to the continue increase in poverty year after year and especially in the last 10 years, there are organizations and government groups that are trying to reduce poverty in Kyrgyzstan by implementing new economic plans. These plans include promoting economic growth and creating a fair society by giving these families assess to assets. Such as allowing those families that fit the criteria to claim land shares from the Land Redistribution Fund or providing seeds and fertilizers to those farmers who can not afford it.
This week in school, the information I've gained about poverty has reached an all time high. The insight I've gained is that poverty hits much more people of many different ethnic backgrounds and doesn't only affect minorities. I learned that even with higher educations and two parent households you can not always escape poverty - in some cases, it's just the hand your delt. But what I've learned mostly is that, poor or not, it's what you teach your children that matters. It's what valuable information you are passing on that can ultimately make the world of difference!
