The
first person I had a conversation with is my colleague; we discussed poverty in
Saudi Arabia. Even though we live in a
rather rich community in the city of Jeddah, we encounter many homeless women
with their children on the streets who came to the country illegally. It is very common here to see them walking
between cars begging for money, which creates a huge contrast considering the brands
of the cars in the streets. There has
always been a considerable gap between people living in poverty and the higher
class. Actually, these children do not
have access to any education. Saudi
children from low-income families have access to free health care and education;
however the schools they attend do not provide a decent education, so most of
those children do not attend college.
I also had a conversation with a former colleague who now lives in
Jordan. She explained that education is
free and compulsory for all Jordanian children (until the age of fifteen), and
that most Jordanians have health care.
However, poverty is still present in the country, mostly among Iraqi and
Syrian refugees who can rarely find jobs and who cannot afford education or
health care for their children.
Thank you for Sharing, Ghayna!
ReplyDeleteWe have homeless people begging at traffic lights here in Illinois as well; however, I have never seen a homeless person begging like this with children. There is a problem here with unequal preschool education as well. I have personally experienced the difference between the cheaper day care and the Lutheran or Catholic church preschools or the Head Start where I work. The cheaper day care education was of very low quality compared to Head Start or church preschools or even the Lutheran day care I was aware of.
Thanks again!
Liz Thomas
T
Hi Ghayna,
ReplyDeleteI too believe that children who do not have opportunities to attend high quality programs have fewer chances to attend or succeed in college. Unfortunately, poverty has undesirable consequences on many children. I think that governments and civil communities must put more efforts to create equal chances for all children to get high quality of education and health services.
Hi Ghayna,
ReplyDeleteDo you feel there is a way to include all children in free education and health care? Refugees are often in very difficult situations but they rarely have control over them. Can you see a way to help them?