Poverty

Poverty

It was the summer of year 1968 and my family and I were in route from Long Island New York to New York City. Our destination was 125^th Street in Harlem. This was my first time actually going into Harlem although I had heard so much about it. As we crossed the Tri-borough Bridge I can remember coming down 125^th Street and seeing people sleeping on the sidewalk and looking for food in trash cans. As a child this was overwhelming especially since I lived in a nice neighborhood on Long Island. I asked my mom about the people and she explained to me that these were homeless people who had nowhere to live.  I never thought about people living in New York and not having anywhere to stay. As a child I always heard about people and children in Africa not having food to eat or places to stay.

As years passed and I continued to travel to New York I learned that poverty was very much alive in New York City. Instead of poverty getting better it became worse. We often hear about poverty in other countries poverty is here in the United States and it hits close to home. For the past 30 years I have sacrificed my time every 4^th Wednesday Night of the month to feed the homeless in my home time. I feel it is the least that I can do for my community. It could be me one check away from being in the homeless shelter.

Basic Facts About Homelessness

 In New York City...

• Each night more than 45,000 people -- including 17,000 children -- experience homelessness.

• Currently 41,200 homeless men, women, and children bed down each night in municipal homeless shelters, and thousands more sleep rough on the streets or in other forms of shelter.

• Each year, more than 110,000 different homeless New Yorkers, including more than 40,000 children, sleep in the municipal shelter system.

• The number of homeless families has nearly doubled over the past decade.

 http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/pages/basic-facts

Nutrition and Malnutrition

Nutrition and Malnutrition 

When I think about nutrition and malnutrition I think about The Dare 2B Different Program. This program meets Monday – Friday from 2:30pm -5:30pm. The program was started 12 years ago to help at-risk kids in the community. When the program first started the program I began to feed the children. Over the years we have faithfully fed the children averaging over 800 meals a month. The children look forward daily to receiving their home cooked meal. One of the police officer told me 12 years ago that for some of the children in the program that was the only meal they received. Through a well-balanced meal the children have learned how to eat healthy. When most children will not eat their vegetables these children eat theirs and ask for more. I know that there are children right here in the United States who suffer from malnutrition. I have noticed that over the years sickness has been very low among the children who attend the class. The dinner setting allows the children to sit in a family style environment and eat dinner with someone they know. Some children are latch-key kids and go home to empty homes with no meals prepared.

Operation USA

Operation USA is located in Port-au-Prince Haiti. It is an after school program that serves a free hot meal to at-risk school age children. This is a long time commitment to the Ecole National JM Henriquez School. Looking at the children smiling faces as they received their meals reminded me of the Dare 2B Different Program. I was really happy to see that there are programs in other parts of the world that see the importance of feeding the children.

http://www.opusa.org/projects/haiti-feeding-program/

Home Birth Australia

In Australia many women opt to have their babies at home rather than go to a hospital. This has become a serious problem to expectant mothers. Over the past year the numbers for midwives have dropped 65 percent. This drop has cause the some expectant mothers to have their babies at home while others are being forced to go hospitals. Due to the drop in midwive the federal government has stepped in and implemented polices that could possible force expectantg mother into hiding to have their babies at home. If these laws come into effect many feel the outcome would not be good and woman would go into hiding to have their babies deliveded at home. 

Ditch Pond Georgia

     I chose to talk about my birth. I was born on May 4, 1954  in a place called Ditch Pond Georgia. There were no doctors present, no nurses, not even a hospital. I was born at the end of a dirt road in a little wooden house with no running water or bathrooms. Instead of a doctor I had a mid-wife. My mom was 18 years old and I was her first child. The stories that have been told to me about my birth are somewhat unbelievable.
     My mom told me that she was in labor for almost 3 days. There was no pain medecine, so she had to bare every pain. My mom explained to me that after being in labor for so long they finally were able to get my head out but were not able to get my shoulders out. It was at this point that my mom begged God to just take both of our lives and let us die because she was in so much pain. Finally with much struggles they were able to get me out.
   There was as much drama immediately following my birth as it was during the time of my birth. The man who was told he was my father was a military man. He married my mom because she was pregnant and men were told that was the right thing to do back in 1954. Although he married my mom he never really accepted me as his own. Following my birth he came to Ditch Pond which was about an hours ride from where he was stationed to confront my mom.
     The story that I was told by my mom will live with me for ever. This man who I was told was my dad approached my mom and asked her for the check that the military had sent her for my birth and her being married to him. My mom told him that he could not have the money because she needed it to purchase milk and clothes for me. He became angry and abusive, fighting my mom until she went inside the house and came to give him the money. After getting the money he left my mom and me with no milk or money for clothes.
     My mom tried her best to breast feed me but was not able to produce milk. She explained to me how she tore up a sheet to make me diapers and clothing to wrap up in. My mom told me that I began to loose weight and was literally dying. There was a family member who had just had a baby and she allowed me to breast feed from her. That was a blessing. My mom told me the next day that another family member came to Ditch Pond from New York and purchased me a case of Carnation Milk which provided me with milk to survive on.
      I've had struggles coming into this world, struggles after I arrived, and will have some type of struggles as long as I am here on this earth. Through it all "It Is Good To Be Here.