Charity Appeals 3rd World Children

paulofessex

(puts on fireproof clothing ready to be shot down in flames)

After watching last nights BBC Rich, Famous and living in a slum comic relief programme, again it made me question when is this issue ever going to end.

What annoys is how parents in these third world countries who live in such conditions and where a child's live expectancy is so low continue to bring children into this world.

Don't get me wrong l fully understand that every woman has the right to have a child, and that in some cultures and religions that contraceptives and other forms of birth control is not acceptable, however why oh why would a person choose to bring a child into the world when they cannot even feed themselves everyday.

They show the adverts of a dying child at the same time as asking for £5 to buy food etc, l find myself saying, hang on just how much education or birth control can that £5 buy. I do not recall ever hearing/seeing programmes about how they are educating the parents about birth control.

Religion may be a major factor for some people in the third world, l'm not religious myself, however l question as to how can any religion say that its ok to bring a child into the world in such circumstances.

trumpton

I can see what you mean as overpopulation is a huge problem. Poverty is one of the reasons they have so many children though. Lack of contraception, pressure to have a male child, high child mortality means they have more children than they can support. Also if they are living off the land they need kids to work the land, and no welfare state means they rely on children to support them when they are old.

As countries increase in prosperity, people tend to have fewer children. They know the ones they do have will live to adulthood and they have enough income to save for retirement or pay into a welfare state to support them later on.

I'm not sure what the answer is. I think the charities feel that if we can help with poverty in the developing world, the high birth rate will slow down. Personally, I think corruption is the biggest threat to the poor in developing countries. Their governments (elected or imposed) are on a gravy train whereby they can siphon off oil revenues and western aid money whilst their own people live in dire poverty.

The son of Equatorial Guinea plans to build a $380 million yacht with money taken by his dictator father from his countries oil wealth. Yet the people live in poverty with few schools and hospitals.

http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2011/03/01/african-leaders-son-planned-380-million-yacht/?mod=google_news_blog

I would like to see an end to UK aid to these countries altogether. Give the money to Oxfam, Christain aid etc and let them use them in small local projects that directly help the poor. Often UK aid is just a bung to corrupt dictators to keep them sweet.

Mupette

not sure if i read this somewhere but the contraceptive pill and condoms that are not up to standard in our own countries are sold to the 3rd world in a 'mask' of trying to help, but infact they are not fit for purpose and are failing.

RadoJo

paulofessex wrote: »

They show the adverts of a dying child at the same time as asking for £5 to buy food etc, l find myself saying, hang on just how much education or birth control can that £5 buy. I do not recall ever hearing/seeing programmes about how they are educating the parents about birth control.

They may not make programmes about it, but there is plenty of aid work going on to provide education about these matters. Part of the problem is that in developing countries, women's education is often very minimal, so the women aren't even necessarily aware of their chances of getting pregnant, let alone having the information and wherewithal to obtain contraception.
Here is some info about one such charity, but a quick google will reveal that a lot of work is being done albeit perhaps not as prevalently in the media. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camfed

heretolearn_2

It's hard to understand sometimes.

But you have to remember that these conditions are what is normal for them, they probably grew up in exactly the same way, and their parents and grandparents, so while we think 'how can you have a child if you live in a slum' - it's just how everyone lives as far as they are concerned and not something that stops them going for what is a normal family life there. You can't say to people you are poor so don't have children, they still fall in love, get married, want children etc. And in poor societies with no welfare system, if you don't have children to care for you, then you are going to have a terrible old age.

What makes me sick is when aid is tied into these stupid chastity/abstinence ideas - the US was particularly guilty of this. Bush witheld $244 of aid from the UNs family planning aid fund because it includes information on abortion, but Obama has overturned that and started supporting it again. Moral religious judgements like this have no place anywhere, but much less in the developing world where lack of funding means in simple terms less education, less condoms to help with both contraception and disease control and so on. Disgraceful. They are the ones who should be ashamed of themselves, not the poor people just trying to live their lives.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Ive been to a slum in Dehli once and i was surprised by how happy the people seemed there in the face of adversity and poverty. They all seemed to help each other too..It is harrowing to watch these sorts of things on TV though and wonder why nothing ever gets done after so many years of giving aid and the truth is - it will never really be eradicated. Its one of lifes unfortunate things i reckon.

xangeleyes

Some are raped. Certain religons, women have to respect and do as man says, which means if he wants sex, he's getting sex.

Plus, where are these women going to find the funds to have abortions? Or should more children be given up to a childrens home?

Perhaps some even have children as a means of sending them out to work one day?

This will never end

Oopsadaisy

They need the kids because lots die early and the parents need the kids to look after them when they get old.

paulofessex

Thank you for your responses so far and particularly for the links with relevant information, its good see that some work is being done albeit like some comments indicate, it is not an issue that will ever be solved.

Heretolearn - Your post makes so much sense also in relation to the issues being 'normal'

Thanks again for your views/comments and links l feel l will certainly be learning alot from this thread

barbiedoll

Many women in Third World countries are married off at a very young age. They have to have sex with their husband in order to be "kept" by him, it's not called "conjugal rights" for nothing. Therefore, they produce children from a young age and many women have a pregnancy almost every year, often less than half of their children survive childbirth or live past their first birthday.

Sadly, well-meaning Westerners have flooded these countries with advice, not all of it helpful. Possibly the biggest mistake was letting baby milk manufacturers peddle their products. By paying for childcare "nurses" to be trained to promote formula milk, they have decreased the natural breastfeeding rates. There have been many implications to children's health associated with these products used in Third World countries, not least the consequences of unsafe preparation techniques, (how many women in poor African countries own a steriliser?) but the decline of breastfeeding and the natural contraceptive protection it can provide, is reckoned to be one of the biggest factors in the rise of the birth rate in these countries. Women who would have had a pregnancy only every two or three years, are now getting pregnant yearly. The women end up old before their time, the strain on their bodies of continual pregnancy means that they are often unable to care for their children themselves. So the West sends more nurses, carers and provides more artificial food to feed all of these children, it's a vicious circle, Comic Relief and other aid agencies, despite their best efforts, simply do not address the root cause of the problem.