I have
a big bummer to share with you all. I
haven’t heard back from my contact. L I’m hoping in
2 weeks time I will hear from my contact from England and another from Costa
Rica.
Since
I haven’t heard back from my England contact … which I suspect will happen
tomorrow! J … I decided to look up some information about
England and poverty and how does it compare to where I live in the U.S.? I came across the site Child Poverty Action Group. They state that 27% of children
in England (in 2010/11) live in poverty with higher concentrations in different
areas of the country. Which is similar
to U.S. statistics of 21.6% in 2010.
In the U.S.
the poverty level is a national level of income based on the size of the
family and the ages of the members and was originally developed in 1963 based
on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s designated food budgets and what
portion of their income was spent on food.
In 2011 that financial number was determined to be $23,018
for a family of four. Which is currently
equal to £14787.36.
So how
is poverty defined in England? Where do
they get their number? The Poverty Site
reports the poverty level to be determined to be “60% or less of the average household
income in that year.” In 2008 that equaled £288 a week or £14976
a year for a family of four.
While the years are off by 3 and the
means of determining our poverty thresholds are different, they numbers come
out fairly similarly. England reports
having more children living in poverty in the U.S. and through doing a simple
search I found numerous resources on how both countries are combatting poverty
similarly and the effects of a child growing up in poverty are the same.
My prayer is that one day our
upper-class citizens will find a way to live a simpler life and help out those
who are suffering so deeply. Just
yesterday I was reading with my daughter the passage in the Bible about giving
to the least of them was giving to Jesus found in Matthew
25:35-41. There really is no excuse
for the wealthiest countries to have this concern.
