Education?

I was telling someone the other day about about what we'll be doing in the country we're moving to and how the children of the women at the business now are now not only out of the cycle of prostitution but that they are going to school as well. The person asked me to explain what kind of changes getting an education meant in practical terms for these kids. I thought it was an excellent question!

The cycle of poverty in a place like where we're moving is something that our western minds have trouble comprehending. And I'm probably not qualified to really explain except from the small bit that I've observed! But I'll try.

Not getting an education doesn't just mean that you have to take a lesser job, it literally means a lack of options altogether. There would be absolutely no jobs whatsoever available to you except something involving manual labor. And with millions of others like you around also wanting those jobs in an urban setting, they would be few an far between. Imagine some of the basic things you learn even in Kindergarten like cutting, pasting, and coloring. If you've grown up with almost nothing to your name and no education, you don't even know how to do that. You don't know how to add or subtract so when you do earn some cash or get some by begging, you don't know if the money you're getting back from the person you're buying food from in a market is correct. You also don't know how much the money in your hand is worth to start with!

Education opens a radically different world even if it doesn't lead to what we would consider a 'good' job in America or New Zealand. But I'll have to expand on this in years to come as I learn and understand better myself!