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The Stigma of Poverty.

lovethchizinum.blogspot.com
"Poverty is like a disease, you're not cured until you are cured". Poverty sure comes with a stigma on the long run. One can get poor to a point where they no longer think or believe they can ever be anything beyond being poor. There are lots of people out there with this stigma already gaining grounds in their psychological disposition. 
I had a conversation with one poor kid during my service year in the nysc and in the course of our conversation she told me she has dreams of going to america someday. As an average Nigerian kid such dreams are completely normal but the one thing wrong with this particular kid's dream is the fact that she thinks she can only achieve this dream when she dies. Now who achieves their dreams when they are dead? "Aunt, america is in heaven right when I die I will go to america", she said. Immediately a tear dropped from my eye and she was only 12 years old. Now her age was not the problem the problem was the fact that she has been so poor that a stigma has been created in her brain. Which is, anything beyond her state can only be found in heaven when she dies. I came to discover this stigma when I tried convincing her that the country she's always heard about is right here on Earth and that she can have all those dreams achieved right here in her country. But she disagrees. She said and I quote, "please stop lying to me, how can you tell me I can wear good clothes and eat delicious food on Earth" 
I tend to look beyond this young girl's choice of words and focus more on the meaning she was trying to create. 
And these are my honest findings: 

1. She has never worn nice clothing's or eaten delicious meal.

2. She has never seen anyone around her wear nice clothes or eat delicious food, not even her parents.

3. No 2 was only possible because she lives in a poverty stricken area. So it wasn't just her and her family, it was the entire neighbours around her who were poor. 

Arguably, in
the worst scenarios, it will take an abnormal 12 year old child in America to think Nigeria is heaven but it only takes a normal healthy poor 12 year old child in Nigeria to think a country like America is heaven.
Having this sickening stigma and mindset at such young age is quite dangerous to both the individual and the national development.

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