Childhood Poverty is a Global Issue

Childhood Poverty in China- Nan Nan's story

 

Nan Nan is a fourteen year old girl in China who used to live with her family in a rural town in Schucheng, China.  Her family's farm was not flourishing as they had hoped and thought they should move their family to a bigger city.  Nan Nan's family decided to move to Hefei, China's Anhui province (CHIP, n.d.).  Since moving to the bigger city, Nan Nan's father was able to obtain work but Nan Nan is not adjusting to school well.  Her teachers and classmates tease and isolate her because she appears different from them coming from a rural area.  Nan Nan also helps her mom at home by cooking meals and helping to care for her younger brother when she is not at school.  Nan Nan's mom buys fruit at the local market and then sells it on the street.  Nan Nan's mom has also expressed that since they have moved to the bigger city that she does not get home until 8:00 at night and feels disconnected from her children (CHIP, n.d.).  Nan Nan's mom states that their reasoning for moving to the bigger city was to have better opportunities for their family but she often questions the sacrifice they are making outweighing the little time she gets to spend with her children (CHIP, n.d.).

 

 

It's a saddening story because this family is taking steps to help make a better life for their family but then feel ostricized by the community because they are not from the big city.  My family and I have experienced quite the opposite in that we came from a big city environment and moved to a rural area.  Although the rural area we moved to was my husband's hometown, it has changed drastically in the past 20 years since he left.  We made the decision to move because we had four children and my husband and I are both teachers and we were struggling to make ends meet in the suburbs of Chicago.  The cost of living and taxes are high there and we needed to move to a place where could make a living but also provide our children with the necessities.  When we first moved to the Burlington area, we had to live outside of town and rent a small house.  This got us started and although we struggled for the first two years here, we were able to find a bigger and nicer house to rent.  When we moved here, I worked part time as a substitute teacher so that I could help my children adjust to the move so we were living on basically one income which qualified our children for free and reduced school meals.  I didn't mind that so much because it took some financial burden off of us but those labels come with a stigma.  School districts assume that children that are on the free and reduced meal program are below grade level, which was not the case for our children.  If anything, our children ranked above their own grade levels and beyond.  After two years, I was able to get a full time teaching position with the public school district which has helped tremendously but our family is still considered below middle class because we are a family of six on two teacher incomes.  The other stigma we faced when we moved here was that we were coming from the Chicagoland area.  Apparently within the last 10 years, Burlington and other surrounding rural towns experienced an influx of people moving from Chicago.  Alot of these people were experiencing what we were and trying to move to a place that would provide more financial stability for them and their children.

 

The CHIP (Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre) strive to fill the information gaps about poverty all over the world in order to work with others to commit to action of eliminating and/or reducing poverty in countries around the world (CHIP, n.d.).  The site has a few country overviews and case studies, which is where I found Nan Nan's story.  CHIP has centered specific research in China, India, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia for now to understand the patterns of poverty in these countries and these countries have gone from planned economies to market economies which has contributed to decreased poverty levels in these countries.

 

CHIP also encourages research and information about poverty from other site partners in order to collectively notice trends and empower people to take action against poverty.

 

Note about my international contacts:

I have not heard from my contacts in Greece and Macedonia but I talked with the ELL (English Language Learner) teacher at my school about any contacts she might have internationally since I knew she had taught and traveled in other countries.  She was able to contact a friend via email in Korea who is an early childhood teacher in Korea and has also taught in China.  I was told that her friend would absolutely love to converse with me on global early childhood issues so I am excitedly looking forward to hearing from her soon!

References

Childhood Research and Policy Centre. (n.d.).  Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php