Poverty and Hunger

I personally never experienced being hungry and not able to eat.  I always had the things I needed and most of the things I wanted as a child.  Although my family wasn't rich, we had enough that I never experienced poverty.  I can recall the stories of my mother's child hood.  My mother's childhood was not as fortunate as mine. As a child, my mother had little to eat daily.  She grew up in a family of 8 brothers and sisters.  My grandmother was disabled and her husband left when she became ill.  My mother was the youngest of them all.  As a child, she can recall being teased when she tried to go to school because her clothes were always someone else's making them too big for her.  She can recall seeing her mother praying for a miracle to pay their rent.  As a young child, my mother decided that she had no other choice but to contribute.  She sold cakes, pies, baby sit, clean houses, and anything else she had to do.  My mother was a young entrepreneur by the age of 8 when most children are still playing with dolls.  My mother was too poor to ever own a doll.  Although she experienced a terrible childhood, her childhood is what made her into the great woman she is today.  She gain a passion for helping others, a passion for cooking, and a humble spirit.

In Southern Africa, children experience multiple stressors.  Hunger, poverty, HIV/AIDS and other diseases all effect the children in Southern Africa.  Due to the many stressors that affect this region, programmes and their government has failed to resolved the stressors that affect this country.  The children in Southern Africa are far more vulnerable to the stressors because they are all around them. Many intervention methods are needed to resolve the different issues. By increasing the resilience and range of options that families have, through services and safety nets, one can optimise the positive outcomes for children.