貧窮 - 可以改變嗎？Poverty – can it be changed?

你差這位小姑娘在愁甚麼呢？她在愁這個月所帶回家的工資能夠幫上忙嗎？

當我們去探訪這個家庭時，小姑娘的媽媽一見到我們便流著淚分享她的家庭狀況。她的丈夫是地盤工，一家五口便靠父親的工資過活，照片中的孩子便是大女兒，今年16歲，中間的女兒還在上小學，為了追多一名兒子，便生了老三，可惜老三卻得了一個心臟病。
大女兒原本是很喜歡讀書，而且更考獲全級第一名，但是因為家庭負擔不起學費，唯有選擇退學，待在家中兩年，終於今年找了份車衫工作，每個月有一千元工資。

當然大家會問國家不是有九年義務教育提供嗎？政策是這樣寫的，但卻不包括那些沒有戶籍的兒童。由於這些孩子都是跟著父母從農村跑到城市打工（簡稱：農民工子女），他們掛著的是農村戶籍，所以不能享用城市的福利，當中包括讀書和醫療等優惠，因此這些孩子每個月要交幾百元的學費，當然學費是不包括膳食費的，結果很多農民工子女都選擇不吃學校提供的午餐，他們會餓著肚子或走路回家吃飯。

部分父母更把孩子送回農村，這些孩子便成為留守兒童。他們在鄉下通常是由親人照顧，由於長期跟父母分開，可能是吃一餐，餓一餐，部分孩子一完成初中便離開家鄉，又跑到城市打工。

這個好像變成一個惡性循環，貧窮一直跟著他們，一代接一代！

探訪完畢後，我的拍檔問我怎樣幫助他們？
我便跟他說，先給這些孩子送上一頓熱飯吧！


Guess what this girl is worrying about?  Is she worrying about how much her monthly pay can be of help to the family?

The mother cried upon our visit, as she unfolded her story.  Her husband was a construction worker, who was also the sole breadwinner of the family of five.  The girl shown on the picture above was their eldest daughter, who was 16 years old.  The middle daughter was still attending elementary school.  The couple, hoping to have a son, gave birth to the third child.  Unfortunately, the boy was diagnosed with a heart disease.

The eldest daughter has always enjoyed studying, and she used to be the top of the class.  Yet the family could not afford the tuition fees, and she had to withdraw from school.  She has stayed at home for two years, and finally got a sewing job this year, with a monthly pay of RMB1,000.

Of course you would ask, “Doesn’t the Government provide a 9-year compulsory education?”  So is the policy stated, but it does not cover the unregistered children.  These children come to the city from villages with their parents to look for a job (i.e. migrant children).  Since they still bear a rural account, they are not entitled to the welfares for city dwellers, which include education and health care services.  Therefore, migrant children have to pay hundred dollars each month for their tuition fees, which does not include meal fees.  As a result, many of them have not joined the meal plan at school; they would rather starve themselves or walk back home for lunch.

Some parents would send their children back to the rural villages, and these children become the left-behind children, where they are being taken care of by their relatives.  Long separated from their parents, these children might eat a meal, and skip the next one.  Some would even leave home after completion of middle school, and go back to the city for work.

It becomes a vicious cycle: poverty haunts them – generation after generation!

After the visit, my colleague asked, “How can we help them?”

I replied, “Give these children a hot meal!”

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