Spirituality Page

Children deserve to live decent lives; their rights should be respected.

Just last year I visited the countryside, in the province of Leyte, Central Philippines. It took me 45 minutes to travel by plane from Manila.

Feeling myself as a photographer, I brought my digital camera to peek into the daily lives of the villagers.

When I reached a village, I saw children working in the farms and in the quarries. They are supposed to be in school than working for the family's survival.

When I inquired how much they earned for a day, "40 pesos," an 8-year old boy replied. 40 pesos is equivalent to US$ 1.

"What is your name?"

"Raymond," he answered.

"Well, Raymond, why do you work like this? Look at you, you're supposed to be in school," I preached.

The boy looked at my eyes and answered me, "Mister, if I do not work, my mother will die. She is sick. I have a younger sister who is 6 years old. My father left us. She's with another woman. If I go to school, I will also die because in school, my brain works but my body is hungry and dying."

"Raymond, I'm sorry," I said. Thinking that I have something to offer I asked, "What can I do for you?"

The boy replied with pride, "No, mister. You can't do something unless you live with us in this village and you will understand how we are slowly eaten by poverty."

This conversation with Raymond, changed my perspective that the poor always need our charity. What they need is not actually charity but empowerment. They need respect. They need their dignity untouched.

Yes, the children of the poor families should be in school and they should be respected. But the poor are victims of the systemic evil of our society's political system. They are denied of their rights.

It is surprising if we look at the bigger picture of global poverty. There are nearly 3 billion of the world's population that live on less than US$2 a day, 1 billion are chronically malnourished, and 40 million die of starvation and illnesses annually including children which are the majority.

The world's 20% of the population living in developed economies consume 80% of the world's goods.

The richest 50 million persons in the first world have the same combined income as 2.7 billion poor in the Third World.

In 2001, 497 billionaires registered a combined income of US$1.54 trillion. The First world spend US$12 million on perfumes and US$17 million on pet food.

The Third World spends US$13 on debt repayment for every US$1 it receives in development grants.

What can we do about it? U2's Bono rallied throughout the world to help the victims of AIDS in Africa. As for me, as a post-graduate student in one of Southeast Asia's premier schools, I would advocate the alleviation of the poor from poverty.

But honestly, until now, I'm still struggling with the issue of living away from my comfort zone as an average middle class.