Divorce, Natural Disaster, & Poverty
I've being blessed because I have
not experienced one of the most common stressors as a child. I have basically
all my needs and wants met. I have a beautiful childhood in general. The only
thing I could slightly remember is when my parents divorced. I was six years
old when I saw my dad packing all his clothes. At that moment I did not realized
what was going on at my house. Months later, I realized that my dad
was not coming back home so I felt quite sad. My dad divorced my mom but not from us. In the
beginning was very painful, but we had and have a great relationship with our
father, that it did not hurt much not having him living in the same house. I
can say that I have everything a child, a teenager, and young adult could ever
ask or have. 
In Puerto Rico we have some natural disaster that might have
caused stress in my life, and it was when I was in seventh grade that a
tropical storm hit the Islands and damaged the school I was attending. My home
did not have damages, but few of my friends did, and the school was severely
damaged that we almost had to repeat the school year. The most beautiful outcome
about this negative experience is that the whole town was cooperating, people
helping each other, my family all together trying to cope with the
situation. I felt in peace even in this
hard situation my family, and my friends were living. We got back to school (in a different
location) and soon after everything were back to normal.
Santo Domingo is a country that poverty hit many children
and their families. The following is a summary of the serious situation about poverty and children in this country.Street Kids – By the Numbers
• More than a quarter – 27.6 percent – of families lives in poverty Santo Domingo, according to government statistics.• The Dominican National Council for Children and Adolescents runs 58 centers and provides assistance to 18,800 children nationwide.
• More than 13 percent of all Dominican children ages 10 to14 works to help support their families, according to a 2006 government report.
• All of the children served by the Niños Del Camino shelter in Santa Domingo come from impoverished families and 77 percent have experienced domestic violence, according to 2009 data from the shelter.
• The Niños Del Camino shelter helped 74 street kids in 2009. Of those, 52 were Dominicans, 15 were Haitians and seven were Dominico-Haitians. Forty percent of them had been in the streets for four to 10 years, according to the 2009 Niños Del Camino annual report.
For more information please visit the following link:
http://cronkite.asu.edu/buffett/dr/street_kids.html
Rhonna,
ReplyDeleteMany times in a natural disaster, human kindness emerges and we see the power of helping others. I too have experienced many hurricanes in LA but not the disaster that New Orleans experienced with Katrina. You made a very good point about going back to school and then things went back to normal. One of the first things a town tries to do after a hurricane is get the schools back and running. If children can get back to school then life won't be so stressful for them. Their world centers around a routine and getting back to that routine helps them to cope with the situation.
You were a very lucky young girl to have had parents who loved you and didn't put their problems ahead of you. I am sure your development was not harmed because the love and support of your parents was still present despite their divorce.
Thank you Mary Jo for your kind words. Yes, I was lucky to have the parents I did, they are wonderful to me. I want to provide the same security and positive environment to my daughter, where she can live with minimum stress or better with NO stress at all.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your story. It is amazing the things we remember isn't it? Despite having limited memories of my childhood, I too remember my father leaving or more clearly when my mother got served with divorce papers and she flipped out which was so unlike her calm character that I think it scared my boots off! I think both the stories you shared highlight the power of people to overcome adversity and gives hope for all children that with the right tools and skills they can turn a "bad situation" into a powerful learning experience which can bring the best human traits out in them. I have alot of respect for the folks who create these programs to help children such as the Ninos del Camino, because they are truly making a difference in the lives of these children. They are inspiring and in the future I hope to be able to reach out to children to help them find a way to turn these experiences into something positive.
ReplyDelete