Reflective Piece

On 9th September 2013, Island school participated in a poverty simulation exercise run by Crossroads, an NGO based in Hong Kong. We were in groups of 10 and the aim for the simulation was to keep our "family" alive. The issue of being stuck in the cycle of poverty everyday really came clear to me during this simulation. During the simulation, we were all working really hard in order to make more paper bags to get money. But no matter how hard we worked, there was no guarantee that we could get enough money to pay for our necessities. Getting out of the cycle of poverty was so difficult, but I would do anything in order to get more money. I sold all my materialistic things to keep everyone alive. All I could think about is how are we going to survive today? Human Trafficking is a worldwide issue that has been around for a long time. Slavery was the first form of human trafficking. There are many forms of human trafficking like forced labour and organ removal. The most common human trafficking is sexual slavery, which involves selling young girls to men in order to fulfill their sexual pleasures. The causes of human sex trafficking include gender discrimination, poverty, and lack of information about the issue. Many girls believe that they are going to be brought up in a better environment but in reality they are actually being brought up to become sex slaves. If they had a little more information about this issue then they wouldn't have sold themselves to rich men. The many poor families have hoped for their girls to have a better life, but they would never know how they are treated or brought up. We can help raise awareness and inform people about Human Trafficking, the more people know about it the more prepared they are. So if they notice any signs of it, they will know how to fight back or steer clear. This solution to raise awareness will only reach the people who would see it; it doesn't guarantee that the affected people will get the message. Inequality is a serious issue for countries all around the world. Inequality is the wealth gap between people living in the same place. It is really shocking that in one place there could be prosperous people and people living in extreme poverty. The wealth is not distributed evenly within the population, which leads some extremely wealthy people and leaves some people stuck in poverty. Poor social mobility is one of the causes of inequality. Having poor social mobility is being born into a poor household will immediately mean that you will not get access to good education, because only the families that have money can go to school. If the children can't get access to education then they have no way to get themselves a job in order feed their families. A lot of the companies around the world now require employees that have special skills, because they are starting to de-industrialize. This means people that don't have high qualifications won't have a job because they didn't get a good education. The issue of inequality pressurizes the people in poverty to live in horrible conditions while watching other people live their materialistic lives. They are constantly worrying about if they will have money for food or water, all they care about is it they will survive the night without the essentials. The main cause of inequality is the lack of access to good education. One solution could be to offer free education, which all you need is a pencil and everything else is provided. A lot of people might have access to free education but can't even afford to get schoolbooks or a uniform. But then some people might not be able to go to the school because they live too far away. The school will only be able to help the slums in the area of the school. Transportation is also a factor that needs to be considered. I learned that we shouldn't take things for granted because there are people who don't have the things we do and the opportunities that we are given. I've learned to appreciate the things that we have and always give back and do more charity work to help others in need. I also learned that the cycle of poverty is really hard to get out of and most people are born into it and have no choice but to live in these hard conditions for the rest of their lives. This simulation also helped me understand more about the living conditions of a slum.