Poverty in the First World. Cristina F.

Most of the time, when people think about poverty, they immediately think about the Third World, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Nevertheless, there is poverty in the First World, too.
Poverty in Europe or North America is less important than in other countries, but there is some. Sometimes, we see people living in the street, without any place to go and without enough money to survive. Fortunately, some people work in organizations, like “Les enfants de Don Quichotte”, to help these people. Yesterday, the television showed two streets of a big city in the United States. A lot of criminals and drug-dealers who live there, in the street, near a quiet area. Police said that one of each five murders was committed in these two streets. Although it is not as important as countries like Brazil or India, we can see differences between the rich and poor in some places in Europe. For example, big and rich buildings are built near poor houses. Moreover, some people try to go from poor countries like Rumania or Russia to countries that are considered better than others. Sometimes, these people don’t find any job and live in the street, asking for money. In the Champs-Elysées, for example, some women sit down near famous shops like Zara and Gap and ask people for money.
That’s why we can say that poverty exists all over the world and it is a big and difficult problem. Unfortunately, there are too many examples of poverty in the First World and, of course, in the Third World. In my opinion, everybody should think about it (and about so many other problems like ecology, for example) and maybe we will be able to find a solution.

POVERTY IN THE FIRST WORLD. Inés

It may seem that poverty is strictly related to the third world, but actually it hasn’t been solved even in the most developed countries. An example of this, is the recent phenomenon in France of the large group of people without a home known as “les enfants de Don Quijote.”

One of the causes of poverty is discrimination, which exists all over the world. In developped contries, education is free and obligatory for everyone under 17, but afterwards it is really hard for certain people to get a job, so they can’t improve their lives; and even if they manage to get a job, there is also “in-work poverty”, resulting from the difficulties to find a full time job or the low wages. This situation is more often in families of more than two dependers and only one earner.

As we can see, poverty is a problem all over the world. That makes me wonder whether it’s not a problem of the humankind itself, and so, impossible to solve.

Inés

Les restos du Cœur. Andrea

Moi, je file un rancard

A ceux qui n'ont plus rien

Sans idéologie, discours ou baratin
On vous promettra pas

Les toujours du grand soir

Mais juste pour l'hiver

A manger et à boire
A tous les recalés de l'âge et du chômage

Les privés du gâteau, les exclus du partage

Si nous pensons à vous, c'est en fait égoïste

Demain, nos noms, peut-être grossiront la liste
Aujourd'hui, on n'a plus le droit

Ni d'avoir faim, ni d'avoir froid

Dépassé le chacun pour soi

Quand je pense à toi, je pense à moi
Je te promets pas le grand soir

Mais juste à manger et à boire

Un peu de pain et de chaleur

Dans les restos, les restos du coeur
Autrefois on gardait toujours une place à table

Une soupe, une chaise, un coin sans l'étable

Aujourd'hui nos paupières et nos portes sont closes

Les autres sont toujours, toujours en overdose
J'ai pas mauvaise conscience

Ça m'empêche pas d'dormir

Mais pour tout dire, ça gâche un peu le goût d'mes plaisirs

C'est pas vraiment de ma faute si y'en a qui ont faim

Mais ça le deviendrait, si on n'y change rien
J'ai pas de solution pour te changer la vie

Mais si je peux t'aider quelques heures, allons-y

Y a bien d'autres misères, trop pour un inventaire

Mais ça se passe ici, ici et aujourd'hui

In France, there are associations to help the most in need. This song, named “Les restos du Coeur”, is the song which represents one of these associations which carries the same aim. This song has the goal of transmitting a message to us, that of poverty and inequality in the world. This song is addressed to the homeless (according to the three first couplets); moreover, it tries to make it comprehensible for us that it is necessary to know to share, that selfishness brings us nothing. It is just a question of devoting our time to people who are really in need and of knowing how to make a gift. Andrea

Abbe Pierre. Pedro

I would like to speak about l’abbé Pierre because he’s a man with a big heart, he lived
helping poor people. He always fought for them. His battle started in 1939, he saved Jewish in the Second World War, then, in 1949 he made a foundation “Compagnons d’ Emmaüs” to help the poor.
In 1954 he made a calling for the homeless people, he inspired other foundation: “Les restos du Coeur”, they are restaurants who give to eat to the poor people and “Les enfants de Dom quichotte” who give home to homeless.
He died in 2007 at the age of 98.

Poverty in the first world. Fruzsina

We always hear a lot about poverty in the Third World, but we rarely take notice of the presence of poverty in the First World. We apply the term to the people who are deprived of the basic needs for a minimum standard of living. I understand by it food, drinking water, shelter, education, health care…

The problem is always the same; they don’t have the minimum they need. The causes could be like: overpopulation, unemployment, diseases of poverty, like malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS, and also discrimination…

I have different opinions about the issue. I think that we are all guilty of the way they live; if everybody helped them, I’m almost sure that we could help out, and they wouldn’t have to live in the street. But on the other hand, they should make an effort as well. In my opinion if somebody really wants something, he gets it.

Poverty is always present in our lives, but if we wanted we should be able to overcome all obstacles and finish with it.

Poverty in the first world. Patricia

(El Emigrante: Celtas Cortos)

Esta es la vida del emigrante
del vagabundo del sueño errante.
Coge tu vida en tu pañuelo
con tu pobreza tira pa´lante.
Si encuentras un destino
si encuentras el camino
tendrás que irte a ese lugar
el polvo del camino
cubre tu rostro amigo
con tu miseria a ese lugar.
Un dios maldijo la vida del emigrante
serás mal visto por la gente en todas partes
serás odiado por racistas maleantes.
y la justicia te maltrata sin piedad.
Todos hermanos. Todos farsantes
hacen mentiras con las verdades
buscas trabajo y tienes hambre
pero no hay sitio pal emigrante.
Si encuentras un destino…
La tierra de occidente, ya no tiene vergüenza,
arrasa nuestra tierra, nos roba la riqueza
¡Qué bien se come de restaurante!
¡Cuánta miseria pal emigrante!
¡Qué bien se come de restaurante!
¡Cuánta miseria pal emigrante!
Nuestros hijos se mueren.
Estómago vacío. Tú lo ves por la tele
después de haber comido.
Nuestros hijos se mueren.
Estómago vacío. Tú lo ves por la tele
después de haber comido.
¡Qué bien se come de restaurante!...
Un dios maldijo la vida del emigrante…
Somos distintos, somos iguales.
Pero en la calle nadie lo sabe.
Pan para todos. Tenemos hambre.
Pero los ricos no lo comparten.
Somos distintos, somos iguales

This song talks about emigrants coming to this first world looking for better life conditions and find here no one to help them…no food, no job, no pity; instead of that, much racism. It also criticizes how rich countries take advantage of poor ones and, when people coming from those poor countries, come to the first world we treat them as if they didn’t deserve to be here. Some say they take advantage of the wealth in the first world, but don’t they see we are always taking advantage of poverty on the third world?

POVERTY IN THE FIRST WORLD. Alexis

Poverty is everywhere in the world, and the countries try to fight this. Now in the society of moment everybody can be a “SDF” (is how we call in French, the person that lives in the street) because one day or other we can lose our own job and we can’t afford have a home and moreover now that the housing is too expensive. It is the case of many people in France.

The parliament of France have passed a law on the right to have a home: it is the evidence that the government of France try to fight poverty.

Poverty in First World Countries. Ramiro

People usually relates the term “poverty” with third world countries but in this piece of work I will try to show that poverty is also present in first world countries. Of course the amounts of people living in poor conditions is higher in third world countries like in Latin American or African countries.

This poverty mostly happened in Central and Eastern Europe contries, considering European countries as first world ones. Of course, this is not the only place in which we can find very high poor population average, for example, in the United States (as many people say, the best example of a first world country) we can find very rich people and on the other hand people who does not have a thing to eat.

Ramiro

POVERTY IN THE FIRST WORLD. BRYAN

We are so self centered that sometimes we don’t even realize what surrounds us, we live in our nice trendy neighbourhoods, we take the car without even looking around us, go to work and then back home where kids, wife and a nice dinner await us. What if we step out of that bubble someday and take a quick ride to the suburbs? We’ll discover an entirely different world, no beautiful 19th century houses and buildings, no well-cared for pavement, no clean streets, no pretty, shiny cars riding around. It’s crazy how big the differences can be between the city and the suburbs, huh?

In the developed, first world, like Europe and the US, you have different types of poverty: Those who voluntarily choose to live on the streets and make the best of every day without having to work, support a family,etc.

And then those who are put in the position of poverty because they had no other choice.This might be because of educational reasons ( like not finishing high school), social reasons (family problems, teenage pregnancy) and economic reasons ( money problems, unemployement).

We also call this kind of poverty, silent poverty as we can’t see this physically. The people in these situations live in very bad conditions, they barely have enough money for normal food, putting their kids in good schools, the rent of their house, health facilities,etc. This causes a bad future for the young generation because this poverty is the main reason why young people resort to taking drugs, stealing and prostitution. It has also been proved that poor people live less than the rich one because those that are poor don’t have enough money to buy medicine, go to the hospital, have routine medical check ups or operations, etc. We live in a pretty tough world nowadays, if you don’t have enough money for good health care that’s your problem, you can die on the street, no one will care.

The question now is : Can we change this ?

Of course we can change it, but this isn’t something we can do from one day to the next, we need time, a lot of effort, cooperation and mutual solidarity.

Where do we begin ?

We have to search for the cause of this poverty. I personally think it’s the fault of the society we live in, it’s not equal, unfair, and it only benefits those that are rich. Although there are Human Rights and according to the law everybody is equal, there still is a lot of discrimination happening today. It’s more difficult for a coloured person to get a job than for a white one, the same happens with women, besides the fact that they are paid less than men. Because of this the people who suffer from discrimination have bad jobs, they work hard and they get paid the minimum wage. If we were to live in a society where everybody had the same rights and were treated the same way, maybe we could get past poverty. I’m not saying we should create a communist society, that might be too intense, but a society where people can get a good, free education that provides a decent set of ethics and values to all, and provides equal opportunities, then at least we would be off to a good start for the next generation.

Bryan

Poverty in the first world. Ana

Ciudad de los gitanos
Los caballos negros son.
Las herraduras son negras.
Sobre las capas relucen manchas de tinta y de cera.
Tienen, por eso no lloran, de plomo las calaveras.
Con el alma de charol vienen por la carretera.
¡Oh ciudad de los gitanos!
¿Quién te vio y no te recuerda?
Ciudad de dolor y almizcle con las torres de canela.
¡Oh ciudad de los gitanos!
¿Quién te vio y no te recuerda?
Apaga tus verdes luces que viene la benemérita.
La ciudad, libre de miedo, multiplicaba sus puertas.
Cuarenta guardias civiles entran a saco por ellas.
Los relojes se pararon y el coñac de las botellas se disfrazó de noviembre
para no infundir sospechas.
Por las calles de penumbra, huyen las gitanas viejas con los caballos dormidos
y las orzas de monedas.
Por las calles empinadas suben las capas siniestras,
dejando detrás, fugaces, remolinos de tijeras.
¡Oh ciudad de los gitanos!¿Quién te vio y no te recuerda?
Dejadla lejos del mar sin peines para sus crenchas.
¡Oh ciudad de los gitanos!¿Quién te vio y no te recuerda?
Que te busquen en mi frente.
Juego de luna y arena.
Rosa la de los Camborios, gime sentada en su puerta con sus dos pechos cortados
puestos en una bandeja.
Pero la Guardia Civil avanza sembrando hogueras,
donde joven y desnuda la imaginación se quema.
¡Oh ciudad de los gitanos!¿Quién te vio y no te recuerda?
Que te busquen en mi frente.
Juego de luna y arena.¡Oh ciudad de los gitanos!
La Guardia Civil se aleja por un túnel de silencio mientras las llamas te cercan.


I have chosen this song because I think that in the developed world or the first world the gypsies are people who are very discriminated simply by the race to which they belong. They often have to live in very isolated neighborhoods or suburbs, their houses are sometimes “chavolas” without light or water and we do not want to realize that they are like us, they are Spanish that also want an opportunity.
Most of the times we judge them without reason and look at them over our shoulder. Are the gypsies really worse than we are for having their own culture or often their proper way of judging?
They also do things badly, but so do we. Nobody can save himself in this world, nobody can say that we have done all right.
Who are we to discriminate anybody?

Poverty in the first world. Debbie

There comes a time
When we hear a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
And it's time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all
We can't go on pretending day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all a part of God's great big family
And the truth, you know love is all we need
We are the world We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me
Send them your heart
So they'll know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand
We are the world...
When you're down and out
There seems no hope at all
But if you just believe
There's no way we can fall
Well, well, well, well, let us realize
That a change will only come
When we stand together as one


We are the world is one of my favorite songs, not only for the music but for the lyrics: for its message against poverty. It claims the importance of the whole world being united against poverty, standing together as one and giving everything we can for those who suffer of hunger, not only in the third world but also in the "developed" or "first world" we live in. On the one hand, if we compare it with the third world it is rightly named first world but, on the other hand we can also observe poverty and hunger just by having a look around us and we will see it just a step away from us in the middle of selfish people worried only about the good things of life for themselves and that pretend not to see the big problem this means and all they could do to avoid it.

Debbie

POVERTY IN THE FIRST WORLD. SEBASTIAN

Do you recall seeing an ad to encourage solidarity towards the poor of a European country? We might not ever think about it, but in developed countries there are a lot of people that could be considered just as poor as those in developing countries.
We are not talking about the same type of poverty; it is not the same to be poor in India than to be poor in France, but it is not always clear which one is worse. In developed countries there is a substantial part of the population that lives in extreme poverty, and the gap between the rich and the poor gets bigger each year. Homelessness is an important issue that has lately seen an increase of attention in France, but this is not the only issue. There are people that have a really hard time to find a job, there have been cases of malnutrition of children in the UK.
Maybe we should also take a look at the people that are forgotten in these countries, we should remember that poverty doesn’t just mean not having any money. Alcoholism, depression, no self-esteem, these are also indicators of “developed” poverty, which deserve our attention.

Sebastián Monzón. 1º Bachto

POVERTY IN THE FIRST WORLD. TANIA

Nowadays, the word “poverty” REFERS immediately of the Third World but it isn’t that ONLY in the Third World where there exists poverty also in the First World, Europe. IT appears TO BE incredible that POVERTY EXISTS in rich countries but even people who live COMFORTABLY can change THEIR life. It’s what arrives at some people who one day OR other find themselves without a job then without a residence so they find themselves in the street. There exist special residences for homeless people but they lack places and some prefer to manage ALONE. There is homeless PEOPLE who die because it IS very cold WHILE others fight the cold WEATHER starting to drink alcohol. On the one hand, to avoid that, associations are created like “Les Resto du Coeur” or “Les Enfants de Don Quichotte” in France who help them donating tents, covers, food. Others help them to take again a normal life by helping them to seek a job, then an accommodation. However, all homeless people don’t find a normal life and pass their life wandering in the street.
That is a sort of poverty that exists in the First World.
Tania González 2Bach1

POVERTY IN THE FIRST WORLD. ANNA

Cuestión De Prioridades
Que las palabras sean más lentas que las balas
Que las baladas ya no sean para dos
Que tus latidos que antes eran de cualquiera
Ahora solamente suenan por amor.
Que el prisionero ya no pose con cadenas
Que las melenas no son sólo Rock and Roll
Que una moneda nunca compre un sentimiento
Pues si de algo me arrepiento
Es de haber comprao tu amor
Y que la falda sea tan corta como quieras
Que el problema es del que mira
Y no encuentra explicación.
A mi me preocupan más los niños que mueren de hambre
Pero si me apuras me dan más pena sus madres
Perdonen sus gobernantes esta mía ignorancia
No entiendo que en pleno año dos mil
A mil kilómetros de aquí
Se estan muriendo de hambre.
Que la metralla se convierta en chocolate
Para comerla o fumarla qué mas dá
Y que mi hijo sea del sexo que sea
Tenga una salud de hierro y se parezca a su mamá.
Y que en la vida no se pierdan las pateras
Que los desastres naturales se repartan
Que el perro flaco parece todo son pulgas
Nunca he visto un maremoto arrasar quinta aveniu
Y que las ropas esten sucias o esten rotas
Casi nunca estan reñidas con tener buen corazón.
A mi me preocupan más los niños que mueren de hambre ...
Se estan muriendo de hambre y no les damos de comer
Nos lo gastamos todo en tanques pa podernos defender
Los estais matando de hambre



This song is of the Spanish singer of pop Melendi. In this song the singer expresses that he does not understand WHY in some places of the world there can be children that are starving and meanwhile the government spends part of the money in weapons to MAKE war, that is ALSO something very negative for the population. He also expresses his sadness for the families that do not have resources to eat , nor to live in minimal conditions and on the other hand the money that could go to help these families, IS AIMED AT other things that make the world worse

ANNA MORENO 2º BCHTO

Human Rights: Article 26

“Everyone has the right to education,” according to Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Nevertheless according to UNESCO one out of three children never see the inside of a classroom. Is this a consequence or a cause of poverty? Is this a cause and a consequence?

In most cases, in developing countries poor families struggle to survive each day, there is poor birth control and their children are forced to start working as soon as they can, why? Due to gender discrimination, in countries where women find it hard to find a job, or they find themselves stuck at home having to take care of their children, men are the only sustain of the family, should this be this way?

Boys start working at a very early age and never go to their first school day. Do you remember the first day you went to school? I can barely remember things, but that day I started building my future. This is a topic that most students never stop to think about. We complain a lot about school, work, our teachers, and we don’t think, we don’t know that there are millions of children that can only dream about it. Children that are born poor cannot possibly change their situation without receiving education. Is this the cause or the consequence of poverty?

Education is the only way out of poverty for many people. How can developing nations progress with an illiterate population? One of the Millennium Development goals of the UN is to achieve universal primary education. It is the second of the eight goals of the UN, right after the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. This seems to be considered an extremely important subject by many nations of the world, so why is it that there are a hundred million children that don’t go to school? At the current rhythm there will still be forty seven million that don’t enjoy the privilege of education by 2015. This numbers are easy to say, but we should realize that they are more than just numbers. Those numbers mean that by 2015, there will still be 47 million lives condemned to poverty, 47 million faces that will rarely smile, 47 million children that won’t be able to say that they even had a childhood. According to data from the World Bank, while almost 95 per cent of European children have access to primary education, only 61 per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa access primary education. How can we hope for an equal world while this difference continues? How can we try to develop the economy of all this countries with such a difference? How will these children be able to access new technologies, how will they be able to fully develop themselves in a world that gets more competitive and knowledge-dependent each day?

Children need to be educated, by giving them education you are giving them the chance for a better life, for a healthy life, a life with hope, by giving them education you are giving them the happiness that they wouldn’t have otherwise. Primary education opens the doors of their future, a future in which hopefully some day ignorance, poverty, and hunger will disappear. These are important issues, and they are definitely worth fighting for.

Sebastian Monzón

1º Bachillerato

Human Rights: Article 22

Human rights were passed the 10th of December 1948. The authors of this declaration wanted o protect all the people of the world. One of the articles, article 22, says that everyone has the right to social security, economic, social and cultural rights. Many people can benefit from those rights. But not everybody.
Recently in a French newspaper, an article was published. In
France, and maybe in other countries too, some college students do not have enough money to pay for their studies and for basic needs as food, accommodation, clothes, etc., Many students live without enough money to survive. So they have to find a job. Finding a job is not as simple as everybody thinks. Having a job and studying at the same time is, most of the time, a problem. A lot of students have found out the solution: prostitution. In fact, some of them usually prostitute themselves. Although being illegal nowadays, prostitution helps a lot with economic problems. The French newspaper demonstrated that students who prostitute themselves work
at home or during parties. Finding and helping those people is difficult because of they work alone and do not have a proxenete.
Of course, prostitution is more important in many other
countries, but this news paper demonstrate that apart from being one of the richest nations in the world, France has economic problems and does not pay enough attention to students.
So, should we think that human rights are not always respected? If it happens, which are the consequences? Maybe everybody should think about that or not? And you, what do you think?

Cristina Fernandes

2º Bachillerato

Human Rights Declaration:Article 25

I ask myself if it's true what's expressed in the twenty-fifth Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

«(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack ok livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.»

«(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.»

Why should some people have to suffer bad diseases without like AIDS, cancer or any other kind of illness without being under medical supervision? They have to suffer horrible pains and the families have to see how a member dies and another and another. That's immoral and a violation of this right, because everyone has the right to have a medical care and social services. What's happened with people? Has society forgotten that they are human beings as well?

Health is a concept that includes a lot of activities. Some are being in charge of the attention and care of the different diseases that people suffer; others are in charge of the operations that they have to pass to make sure that they are going to survive and as well all of the treatments that they need to be sure that they are going to be healthy in the different ages of their lives. If we compare the possibilities that any human being has to live in adequate conditions of life, we know that the situation completely changes depending on the place they have been born, having many possibilities in some places and none of them in others. We could define that situation “the geography of the world’s health”. These situations can be found in places where they haven’t got many possibilities of surviving and still less for women and children, who most times are poorer and suffer worse diseases. A part from that, they are weaker than others and they have to do the hardest type of work and their life expectancy is lower. This reality can be defined “the injustice of the world’s family”. health and life expectancy shows us the dimension of the injustice and the distribution of the human rights.

There is more violation of the rights than what can be seen in the way of living of these poor people. There are many that don't have a house in good conditions. They live under walls of cardboard that can be blown up with a simple whistle. And what happens with their beds? It's very simple and sad, they haven't got any, and if they are a bit lucky they could have something similar, but still not so good for their backs. Children are sent to garbage dumps to see if they can find something to eat or to sell. It's very dangerous because of the rotten tins, food in decomposition, syringes, etc are all over the place. They are exposed to terrible infections that can end with their death. Again they haven't got any medical supervision and they can’t do anything against it. Most of these poor people that are condemned to live in poverty can't fight against it. They need our help and we have to know that it isn't an act of charity. It's an obligation. What will happen if we don't react quickly? It's something that every human being should have in mind and be conscious.

These circumstances that are seen in the third world can’t make us forget that the third world exist as well in the first world. In the big cities of the most developed nations, people that come from the poorest places of the world are living in situations that aren’t acceptable for the country’s citizens. Is it necessary to add to the actual «Declaration of Human Rights» some articles to make sure that the invisible human beings become visible?

Ana Delgado

1º Bachillerato

Human Rights Declaration; Art.26

Article 26 of the Human Rights declares that “everyone has the right to education”. This article is clearly violated in many underdeveloped countries. A great number of children are obliged to work many hours and in terrible conditions to support their families. These children suffer of hunger, skin cancer as a consequence of more than 12 hours working under the sun and many other illnesses.

In my opinion, the Government should seriously keep watch over this child abuse and make sure that they receive a proper education. Education should be free and accessible in every corner of the world and it should be promoted by building schools, contracting for teachers and organising activities to motivate the students. Due to the fact that children are the future, arranging exchanges with students of other countries and cultures as to exalt the relationships between nationalities and races would also be a good idea.

According to the United Nations, more than 250 million children under the age of 14 are forced to work all around the world, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

A future without children work is, at last, at our reach. It is an aspect of universal poverty: each day thousands of children die while they are working.

Deborah Martin

2º Bachillerato