@Real_EstateInfo Hilarious, but so very wise!
In Bolvia
Concluding: helping young Bolivians
by Dayle Haddon
This is the final part of my Bolivia blog. While there, the problems I witnessed – abandonment of children and the brutal view on HIV/AIDS and it’s victims- are the outgrowth of the larger problem of extreme poverty. Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and has the largest gap between the rich and the poor. More than 45% of the children and 60% of the country live in on less than a dollar a day, which is defined as extreme poverty by the World Bank. One of the direct effects of extreme poverty is maternal health and child mortality. With more than 15,000 children dying each year under the age of one, 7,500 before they are one month old and 5% of mothers dying in childbirth, it only makes the need to help more urgent.
Through my ongoing work with UNICEF, I have learned about some of the global community’s efforts to quell extreme poverty. There is hope on that front. But how can we transfer some of the money in the developed world to little known places such as Bolivia? I look to the G8 Summit to be held in Canada in June of this year. The Millennium Goals will be under discussion at the summit and will address issues such as the eradication of poverty, provision of medical support and education to the poorest countries.
Remarkably, almost every Millennium Goal relates to what is happening in Bolivia today. If Bolivia can be lifted out of such endemic poverty, it would positively affect all of South America. We don’t have the luxury to turn our backs. We, as countries are inestimably intertwined. It behooves us all to help provide the opportunities to the poorer countries, giving them the chance to stabilize and create sustainable internal infrastructure to participate and realize their own potential. As they do, then we too will inevitably reap the benefits.
MILLENNIUM GOALS
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
(The last part of my ‘trip report’ appears on the next pages.)
UNICEF trip to Bolivia 2
Helping the young people of Bolivia
by Dayle Haddon
Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and has the largest gap between the rich and the poor. More than 45% of the children and 60% of the country live in on less than a dollar a day, which is defined as extreme poverty by the World Bank.
The staff of the local NGOs say that the biggest challenge in Bolivia is the protection of children. Abuse, violence and abandonment are commonplace. The borders are not strictly enforced and trafficking of children through Bolivia is easy. From there, I was told, they can simply be walked across to a neighboring country. In fact, recently, a group of children who were trafficked from Haiti during the confusion of the earthquake ended up in the city of le Sucre, enroute to Paraguay. The government was working to find their families in Haiti and send them back safely.
We visited Breeze of Hope, a center for children who are victims of abuse and violence. I asked the age range of the victims and was told from one month to seventeen years old. Few cases get to court. Trials take years and they are too expensive for most. I was told that the court often blames the child for what happened. There are so many cases of rape that there is a demand for the death penalty or castration for those found guilty. This makes it very difficult for a child to accuse an aggressor especially when it is a family member. As we left the center, I noticed the children’s drawings framed on the wall. One was a self- portrait in crayon of a young girl looking out at us with huge tears flowing down to the bottom edge of the picture. Another drawing said it all. It showed a bedroom with a large closed door in the foreground. On a bed, face down was a little girl crying. Above her head was the caption which said, “ ?Porque yo’ “Why me?” (more on next page)
