Empowerment, education and poverty

This trip has solidified my resolve to help those in poverty. It has reminded me that these problems have not gone away and the need for empowerment and empathy for others is at its greatest point. People are people. I think that living in first world country we tend to group people into categories and take an "us and them" attitude. We also close our eyes to poverty if we are not currently or know someone experiencing it. I am more determined now than ever to change the path that we are on. To be a voice for those that have none. JK Rowling gave a commencement speech to the Harvard Class of 2008.  In her speech, she spoke of failure and that it is the "stripping away of the inessential". There are some days that I am so overwhelmed with the enormity of the situations of this world. I feel it pressing down on me and the burden that I have been tasked with. Education is key to reversing these desperate situations. Education enlightens us, it makes us realize that there is always more to learn.  More important is that with higher education comes better paying jobs and an improved lifestyle for those families. Though this is not always so...Our guide Javier told me about situations where white collar workers are unable to find jobs due to the government keeping old 'traditions'. This bears further investigation.

Here is some info I got from Javier:

Signs of poverty are everywhere in Costa Rica. In the province of Limon, Fruit companies such Dole and Chiquita have hectares of Pineapple and banana fields.  If you live in these areas, you are working in those fields. There is little chance for you to improve your situation due to the need and stability of the work. This work is extremely hard and laborious. The conditions conducive to the growth of these fruits are very wet and very sunny. Many girls who are in university cannot afford tuition so prostitute themselves in order to get through school.  [ this seems to parallel the US somewhat.] Human trafficking is really bad here; is mainly in the tourist areas and those who participate are EXTREMELY discreet. [I will talk further with Javier about this] There has been difficulty in many fields of study with the lack of jobs. Javier gave the example of Engineers, Doctors and Lawyers who are not able to practice due to a lack of location and equipment. The government does not want to pay for the younger more up-to-date doctors because they would have to pay them more than what they can pay 'several old dinosaurs" [this means that the new innovative techniques are being lost]    These people/men are now having to turn to tourism to feed their families. There are doctors working as chauffeurs; lawyers working as souvenir shopkeepers and engineers running destination activities.