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Living On One Dollar Analysis

Good Essays

Book/Video Review

Nikhil Thokalath Nimesh
SOWK 200
Instructor: Erin Evan
Northern Lights College
Dawson Creek, BC
November, 15 201

Poverty has many faces in different regions of the world. Poverty is not just the lack of money to buy food or cloth but it is intervened to our life’s in different ways. The video “living on One Dollar” I watched recently has made me to think about different aspects of poverty among Guatemalan people. The video show us the experiences of four students who came to live in Pena Blanca as part of the research. This video clearly explains that poverty is such a complex social issue and it is multifaceted. Living in poverty in Pena Blanca is totally different from poverty in our societies. In today’s …show more content…

Even if we take the population we can see that a clear distinction between low income and high income. Moreover, there are differences associated with ethnic groups and geographic areas. Those who are in power they control more than half its wealth and rest of the people are living in utter poverty. The indigenous people of Guatemala living in poverty is higher than that of non-indigenous people. In the video, we can see that the people of Pena Blanca earns less than a dollar per day and they have no connections with the external world. One man in Pena Blanca explains to the students how he was suffered when his wife was sick. Due to poor educational system, even if they go to a city they don’t know how to mingle with ne people. The literacy rate in Guatemala is below average compared to other Latin American country, especially among woman poor and indigenous people. Due to poor latrine facilities, open space defecation causes many communicable disease and other infection. The video gives us a picture of one of the research student how terrible his condition was during the time his illness. The health care expenses are comparatively low but even the people find it difficult to afford …show more content…

As social workers to help the poor people we must makes certain policies that will eradicate the division of human based on wealth, colour, gender and race. It is the responsibility of social workers to advocate for the needy on their behalf to bring them in to the mainstream of society. To make sure that the economic growth is reaching the poor, social workers must develop social policies which will overcome the barriers. To fight against poverty, it is the responsibility of the government to provide necessary education to the kids. Ones the kids are educated and they have the needed life skill that will bring drastic changes to margined groups. In rural area, we have social barriers which hinder children from attending school especially girls. The research students were very positive about their experience with the poor community. They were successful in giving basic training to villagers. As a social worker, I believe that in discriminated sectors we must provide maximum help to the people to become independent and enjoy a better

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