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The Impact Of Poverty On Education

THE IMPACT OF POVERTY ON EDUCATION.

INTRODUCTION

There are so many different tools that have been thought relevant in people’s developmental projects both at individual and societal levels. Education is one of such practical tools. Importantly to note, there are also various meanings that denote the broad term ‘education’. In this essay, however, we are mainly interested in defining formal education since our discussion will dwell much on it. According to Nwomonoh (1998) , formal education is the process of gaining knowledge, attitudes, information and skills during the course of life especially at school.

Though education is said to be so instrumental in human development but also in the revamping of world economies, it is very unfortunate that education systems, world wide, are being held to ransom all because of poverty at both governmental and household levels. According to Thibault (2009) , poverty means the shortage of common things such as food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, all of which determine our quality of life. It may also include lack of access to opportunities like education and employment which aid the escape of poverty.

Problems in our society are interconnected in one way or the other, just like poverty and personal family problems affect a student’s capability to learn. Improving education entails improving the living conditions of students. Having in mind that education is basically responsible for the development of many countries including Malawi, as the back ground suggests, we cannot afford to bypass such a vital element without a mention. Considering also the fact that poverty is one of the forces that come in the way; blocking the success of education, we feel it rational to look at how the two realities, education and poverty, affect each other both positively and negatively. That is also why we are convinced that this topic is worth studying. Our awareness of this source, poverty, and its impact on education will enable us devise some proper measures of intervention with the hope of minimizing the negative impact of poverty on education. This point, in short, explains the purpose of our investigation and why we are so passionate in getting into this research. During the whole discussion we are being guided by two questions thus, ‘does poverty really affect education? And if it does, what points do we have on the positive and negative impacts of poverty on education? ’

METHODOLOGY

The study was basically qualitative in approach because of the nature of the issue that was being addressed. This was the case because the issue of how poverty affects education, both positively and negatively is particularly very difficult to predict the conclusions without penetrating into the core of the issue. For instance, one may unreasonably rush into concluding that poverty affects education negatively only and we cannot even dare to speak of poverty affecting education positively. The study was conducted in three schools namely; Mulunguzi, Masongola and Chirunga Private Secondary schools in Zomba district between 24th April and 3rd May. In this research we used both government and private funded schools to have a more balanced result on how poverty affects formal education in these different institutions. The information required for the study was collected through group interviews of form three students and individual interviews with teachers using semi-structured interview schedules. We opted to use these interviews in the first place because we felt books are more theoretical whereas a field research is practical and it involves real life experiences. Nevertheless, we still used desk research as a supplementary source of information and for clarity in some areas.

RESULTS

Positive impacts of poverty on education
To begin with, poverty encourages one to get educated and of course work hard in class. This is because the problems faced due to poverty are very serious and therefore students who are from poverty stricken families strive to end the problems and one of the best solutions is through education. That is to say, if a person, for instance, due to poverty, is taking just a meal in a day instead of three meals, and again if he/she is sometimes sleeping on an empty stomach, he/she will resort to education bearing in mind that if he/she gets educated they will secure formal employment and eventually be able to make ends meet for themselves as well as fending for their families.

Not only does poverty encourage one to get educated, but also it helped in the introduction of free primary education. In Malawi, for instance, when Bakili Muluzi became president, he introduced free primary education and he had eliminated the requirements for school uniform forthwith (Kadzamira & Rose,2001) . This had increased the access to education dramatically as those pupils who were coming from less privileged families were also given access to this free primary education. It should also be noted that the free primary education system was not only implemented to fulfill an electoral pledge but also bearing in mind that some families were not able to send their children to school due to poverty. Free primary education was there to deal with illiteracy by reducing families’ direct costs of education. Again due to the influx in the number of pupils in primary schools; there was a lack of teachers. Sonani (2002) , testifies that the Ministry of Education re-employed all retired teachers below the age of 65. This also meant that the once retired teachers got back to their source of income which helped them support their families as well as hauling the economy of the country. The implementation of free primary education system in Malawi forced the government to provide infrastructures so as to accommodate the large number of pupils in these schools. Simply put, poverty had led to the introduction of free primary education which means that more children are going to school, and again more teachers are being trained and getting employed and finally the construction of school blocks culminating into infrastructural development, all these branching from poverty.

We may also look at poverty from a positive angle bearing in mind that when a country is poor more funds and donations come into it. These funds and donations are also given to the education sector to build new infrastructures and in the maintenance of already existing ones in the sector. These privileged countries also provide learning materials to schools that are poor as a result students in these less privileged schools perform well in accordance with the amount and quality of the learning materials that they have been provided with. For instance, a United States based non governmental organization known as “Water for People” handed over 44 water toilets they built to Chimwankhunda primary school. The school toilet facilities had been vandalized 11 years ago but because of poverty the school could not renovate them (Gausi,2007) .

In addition, these funds and donations help more people to get educated. This is so because people can use funds as school fees, pocket money and buy stationery. The donations may include library books, chairs and writing materials. These can make a conducive environment for one to learn since there will be enough facilities at the school. For instance, with funding from the “United States Agency for International Development” (USAID) ,3,300 needy Malawian primary school girls are being funded. They are being provided with food, clothing, school supplies and hygienic products like soap and body lotion (Muhaliwa,2005) . Likewise,500 pupils at Katoto primary school in Mzuzu no longer sit on the floors during lessons courtesy of Southern Bottlers Limited and Lions Club of Limbe. Before these funds and donations, pupils used to sit on the floor due to scarcity of desks. These donations improved the pupils’ school attendance in such a way that pupils have started going to school regularly.

In the same line, a needy student can be given a scholarship to go further with his/her education. In this case the scholarship is given to the person just because he/she cannot manage to pay school fees on her own. This in turn benefits the needy person and the community at large. In this situation poverty has assisted in the development of education in an area by beckoning funds and donations from rich countries and organisations.

Further more; in most cases poverty facilitates one’s ambitions to attain formal education. It becomes easier for a poor child to put much of his concentration on education as compared to a rich child. This is because a poverty stricken student will have less destructive materials for entertainment. He/she will also have less or no money to indulge him/herself in activities that require spending a lot of money for instance, drinking beer. Sometimes even if the child can find money he/she can buy basic needs and not just spending it anyhow. Contrast to this a rich child may obtain things like ipods, mp3s, games for entertainment. These things in most cases destruct the concentration of students in their studies. As a result, one’s class performance is negatively affected since most of his/her time is being spent on entertainment.

Negative impacts of poverty on education

Just as a coin has got two sides, a head and a tail, poverty also, apart from having positive impacts on education, it does have negative impacts on the same. We have talked much about the positive face of poverty on education. We shall surely do ourselves injustice if we do not look at the negative part. In spite of the fact that poverty has an impact on education that is worth complimenting, we cannot afford in this discussion to overlook the point that so many students have been forced to leave the corridors of learning institutions due to the same poverty. One of the reasons that force some students leave the learning institutions prematurely is pregnancy, which in most cases, come because of poverty. It is almost common knowledge that a good number of students who come from poor families wish they could be sailing in the same boat with those who come from well to do families as far as luxurious life is concerned. The poor students constantly feel that there is something missing at the core psychologically. With this feeling in their minds, they tend to regard themselves as incomplete and not accepted socially. Consequently, they envy the rich students and squarely want to posses the things that are associated with the rich students. Very unfortunate that the poor students’ parents cannot afford to fulfill their children’s desires like what the rich parents would provide. Because the pull towards recognition is too strong for the poor students to resist, they end up in indulging themselves into prostitution in their search for money. Pity indeed that instead of recreating, as anticipated, their promiscuous behavior sees most of them getting pregnant and for some very unfortunate ones get even HIV and other STIs. From this discussion, commonsense convinces us that this school dropp out due to pregnancy is one of the negative impacts of poverty on education.

Adding more flesh to this discussion, we can also appreciate that hunger has been so instrumental in bringing down the standards of education world wide, in general, and Malawi, in particular. Frankly speaking, there are very few students if not none, who concentrate on their studies on empty stomachs. Food is one of the basic needs that every person is obliged to have if he/she is to survive. It is not surprising, therefore, to see some students performing miserably in class simply because they have not taken enough food or they have taken none altogether. The question of hunger finds its way into the education system because the government has failed to provide adequate food in most of its boarding schools. This is poverty at governmental level. There are also some students who are not boarders but still endure the hostile reality of hunger right in their homes. This is due to poverty at household level. It is sad that poverty, both at governmental and household level, has helped in engineering the deteriorating of education standards in Malawi.

Bearing in mind that it is only the eagle that can tell us the real whisper of a cloud, we visited Masongola Secondary school with the hope of getting first hand information from the students and their teachers since they are the ones who mostly benefit or get destructed by poverty. The Masongola secondary school students and their teacher, Mr. Enock Abraham, testified to us during an interview that government’s inability to provide extra food, apart from the usual beans that the institution offers, has seen many students developing ulcers. It would sound bizarre to reason that one can attend classes whilst he/she is on a hospital bed battling with ulcers. The Masongola students further testified that most poor students who have ulcers just bow down out of the race of learning because they cannot afford to buy extra food whenever the institution is serving the students beans.

This pitiful development goes beyond the boundaries of Masongola secondary school. Mulunguzi secondary school as Mr……the head teacher at the institution testifies, has not been spared from the scourge of school dropp outs simply because the school has not been able to provide extra or adequate food to students who cannot take what their friends take on health grounds. Needless to say this leaves the education standards in Malawi vacillating. It is a pity that though we have wrestled with this question of poverty a dozen times, we have not been successful in the battle. At one point in time, the government attempted to minimize the chances of school dropout in primary schools through its provision of porridge to pupils in the junior section. This attempt was in itself a good gesture but the government has failed to implement the initiative further in other schools that up to now have not benefited from the program.

It may not sound an exaggeration if we may say poverty has also forced a good number of students to give up their hopes of getting educated simply because they find it so difficult traveling to and from their respective schools. Lack of transport means, in short, has pushed them well towards the blink of despair as far as attaining formal education is concerned. This point speaks for itself how poverty can sometimes work on the education’s disadvantage.

As we go further with this discussion, we also appreciate the fact that the problem that mostly hinders a student’s success is inadequate resources that include; few teachers and learning materials. It must be highlighted that these problems are not only in developing countries but they may also find their way in reasonably developed countries like South Africa. In a developing country like Malawi, the education system encounters these problems because of the government’s failure to look into problems of infrastructure, capacity and availability of teaching and learning materials (Nkawike,2005) . The Muluzi government did a little if any; in as far as infrastructure is concerned. Lack of school blocks facilitated by a large number of pupils due to the introduction of the free primary education in 1994, forced pupils to have lessons under trees. In 2003, for example, lack of school blocks resulted in a tragedy at Nkomachi in Lilongwe when a tree fell onto an outdoor class, resulting in injury and deaths of pupils (Mvula & Chanika,2004) . This problem of learning materials continues till date, in all levels of the education system. According to Abraham (2009) , the school has always had shortage of learning blocks to an extent that the Physical Science and Biology laboratories are used as classrooms. There is also great shortage of books in all departments, and some departments like the technical department needs new equipment and current books which are very expensive. With this unfortunate situation we cannot anticipate good performance from Masongola secondary school.

In order to deal with these issues, the Muluzi government thought it wise to disregard the provision of learning materials in schools. Instead the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) pass mark was reduced to ensure the success of students in their examinations. Even the director of Basic Education, Nelson Kaperemera admitted that funds intended for learning materials were servicing the debts of government at the expense of improving quality education. Instead of reducing the pass mark, the government and other stake holders should strive to improve quality of education, improve teacher salaries, and provide adequate materials and train teachers properly (Malawi News,2006) .

In developing countries like Malawi, the schools are understaffed (teaching personnel) and they tend to be handling a large number of students for long hours. Furthermore, the teachers are subjected to meager salaries, which are even made late. The government does not seem to have the welfare of teachers at heart, for instance the education Manager for Phalombe, Enoch Ali says the district is facing a dire shortage of teachers, a situation that is contributing to low education standards. The teacher pupil ratio in Phalombe is 1: 120, whilst the recommended ratio is 1: 60 (The Nation,2006) . Due to low pay teachers resort to organizing part time classes, which demand an extra amount of money on top of the normal fees. These changes clearly affect those students who come from very poor families, as they do not receive adequate studies because of lack of money.
This does not only occur in secondary schools, but it also happens in universities. As the academic staff of the Universities go on strike because of the government’s reluctance to increase their salaries. One considers how this is supposed to retain staff in the University. As a result lecturers spend more time doing consultancies; instead of preparing lectures and doing University mandated research. If we are serious about fighting poverty, formal education is the hub of ideas to fight these problems by improving its standards (Kapasula,2008) .
Child labour is one of the major problems that contribute to school dropp out. The majority of child labour victims are children who are living in poverty. This is so because they lack basic needs, for this reason they are forced even against their will to do any kind of work in order to gain financial wealth. This, therefore, affects school attendance. Evidence of school dropp out due to child labour is found in central region where most children are being employed in estates. This region has high tobacco production. Since this crop demands a lot of work, children are at high demand because they do not claim high wages compared to adults. Research, therefore, showed that the percentage of children attending schools is lower compared to that of northern and southern region (Nyirongo,2004) . We have the case of two brothers aged between 12 and 15 who were forced to work at a tobacco farm at Mpherembe in Kasungu district, where they were receiving 150 kwacha a day due to poverty (Namangale,2005) . We can see that child labour has a great impact on education because through it, a lot of children are being deprived of their right to education as they spend most of their time working.

In addition to that, Chirwa (2003) found out that child labour is also taking place in people’s houses. In this case children are forced to dropp out of school either by parents or on their own, to work in neighbouring homes. Here one of the victims is a 12 year old girl Elizabeth Chalimba, who left school when she was in standard six to work as a nanny in order to support her siblings. Children from low income families are at risk because though school is their only hope for a better future, they dropp out because their parents are failing to provide them with basic needs. Apart from child labour, psychological problems due to poverty is also another cause of school dropp outs. Research shows that the impact of poverty is greater on children as opposed to adults. Firstly, the problem arises due to the environment in which these children are raised. These environments being impoverished, they are intellectually unstimulating, and lack of stimulation results in impaired intellectual development of a child. This in turn contributes to failure in class which can later on lead to school dropp out.

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poem by Innocent Masina Nkhonyo
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An Old Man With His Hat

There Little Robbie found him in an old yellow album
A blurred picture of a half old man with his hat
Standing in front of the coffin
He smiles shy but wide with his teeth gone making a hole like Little Robbie when he lose his baby teeth
Little Robbie doesn’t recognize him and he wonder where he is now
Maybe he is one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
So he asks to his big sister
But his sister doesn’t recognize him and she wonder who he is
Maybe he is one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
So he asks to his mother
But his mother doesn’t recognize him and she wonder how he was there
Maybe he is one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
So he asks to his father
But his father doesn’t recognize him and he wonder what he did there
Maybe he is one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
So he asks to his uncle
But his uncle doesn’t recognize him and he wonder when the picture taken
Maybe he is one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
So he asks hopelessly to his grandfather
His grandfather takes a deep look to that picture and wonders why Little Robbie asks
Little Robbie says, “I want to meet him! I want to know about him! I want to play with him! ”
Maybe he is one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
But his grandfather shakes his head, “No, he is not.”
He is not one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
He is just an old man with his hat
“He accompanied your great grandfather when he sick until his death. This picture is taken in a burial of your great grandfather.”
His grandfather stares at little Robbie
“Now, are you disappointed? ”
He is not one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
He is just an old man with his hat
Little Robbie shakes his head, “No, I am not.”
Though he is not one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families
Though he is just an old man with his hat
“But I still want to meet him, I want to know about him, and I want to play with him! ”
And then he could be one of his grandfathers, one of his great uncles, one of his old families

poem by Maria Sudibyo
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The Clarion Call

O! My Motherland,
Respond! Speak!
Why are you so down cast?
Why have your beats of heart become still?
Why is your fate bound with negritude?
Why does silence prevails on your lips?
Where are the guardians of motherland?
Why are your cities so plight ridden?
O! My Motherland,
Respond! Speak!

Somewhere glimmer all lamps,
Somewhere dance enchanting scenes,
Somewhere toss starving children,
Somewhere wheezes miserable life,
Why is it difficult to enkindle the lamps?
This is the dilemma of my motherland
O! My Motherland,
Respond! Speak!

Why are illuminated their houses?
Why are dark our dwellings?
In front of them the Life dances,
And our fate is inscribed with adorations,
Who has devised all these divisions?
Who has enmeshed us all?
O! My Motherland,
Respond! Speak!

Death dances all around,
Life is enfolded with smokes,
Somewhere toss the injured human beings,
Somewhere lie dead-bodies coffinless,
Where are the sentinels of peace?
Why has decay overshadowed the garden?
O! My Motherland,
Respond! Speak!

We shall have to up lift the eyes,
We shall have to enkindle the extinguished lamps,
We shall have to wipe out contents hatred,
We shall have to revitalize this garden,
We shall have to hold up the flag of righteousness,
This is the last part of all oppressions.
O! My Motherland,
Respond! Speak!

The heads will never stoop henceforth
Tough they are cut off,
Those who are on the way will never stop,

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poem by Muhammad Shanazar
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Through the eyes of a Field Coronet (Epic)

Introduction

In the kaki coloured tent in Umbilo he writes
his life’s story while women, children and babies are dying,
slowly but surely are obliterated, he see how his nation is suffering
while the events are notched into his mind.

Lying even heavier on him is the treason
of some other Afrikaners who for own gain
have delivered him, to imprisonment in this place of hatred
and thoughts go through him to write a book.

Prologue

The Afrikaner nation sprouted
from Dutchmen,
who fought decades without defeat
against the super power Spain

mixed with French Huguenots
who left their homes and belongings,
with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Associate this then with the fact

that these people fought formidable
for seven generations
against every onslaught that they got
from savages en wild animals

becoming marksmen, riding
and taming wild horses
with one bullet per day
to hunt a wild antelope,

who migrated right across the country
over hills in mass protest
and then you have
the most formidable adversary
and then let them fight

in a natural wilderness
where the hunter,
the sniper and horseman excels
and any enemy is at a lost.

Let them then also be patriotic
into their souls,
believe in and read
out of the word of God

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poem by Gert Strydom
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Tom Zart's 52 Best Of The Rest America At War Poems

SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF WORLD WAR III

The White House
Washington
Tom Zart's Poems

March 16,2007
Ms. Lillian Cauldwell
President and Chief Executive Officer
Passionate Internet Voices Radio
Ann Arbor Michigan

Dear Lillian:
Number 41 passed on the CDs from Tom Zart. Thank you for thinking of me. I am thankful for your efforts to honor our brave military personnel and their families. America owes these courageous men and women a debt of gratitude, and I am honored to be the commander in chief of the greatest force for freedom in the history of the world.
Best Wishes.

Sincerely,

George W. Bush

SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF WORLD WAR III

Our sons and daughters serve in harm's way
To defend our way of life.
Some are students, some grandparents
Many a husband or wife.

They face great odds without complaint
Gambling life and limb for little pay.
So far away from all they love
Fight our soldiers for whom we pray.

The plotters and planners of America's doom
Pledge to murder and maim all they can.
From early childhood they are taught
To kill is to become a man.

They exploit their young as weapons of choice
Teaching in heaven, virgins will await.
Destroying lives along with their own
To learn of their falsehoods too late.

The fearful cry we must submit
And find a way to soothe them.
Where defenders worry if we stand down
The future for America is grim.

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poem by Tom Zart
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To they who survive on less than one dollar a day

Hobos who're denied a decent shelter
And stripped of all vestiges of human dignity,
And poverty stricken villagers and desperate refugees
Who're denied decent medical care and access to justice,
And children who must forage for food in the dustbins
The just of the world have not forgotten you

And the soldiers who wage the wars of extermination
Against their own people,
And those who're forced to be the sex slaves
Of the moneyed and the toddlers who become child soldiers
And the misguided and greedy drug mules who are raped and
And tortured and hanged and left to rot in foreign jails
Our children
We have not forgotten you

And the world demands a true and more humane
World order that stands up to demand justice
For the victims of state sponsored violence
And justice for the victims of ritual murder and female
Genital mutilation and the victims of AIDS
And the entire universe demands
Justice for the victims of racist attacks and the victims of mob violence
And from the bosoms of their hearts the children of the world stand
Stand up as one and they demand justice for the victims of mindless
Violence and they cry out for justice for the victims of genocide
And they want to see the perpetrators of ethnic cleansing
Brought to justice to answer for their evil deeds

poem by Ngaka Motaung
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Happy Families

Have you got miss fortune?
Shes the daughter of rich parents,
All she does is cry.
One four-letter word is all she wants,
But you cant buy love,
So theres no supply.
Will you take young master charge?
The boy whos living well,
Beyond his fathers means.
See his mother kill herself with work,
To keep her dandy,
In the latest jeans.
(happy families.)
Happy families is a kids game.
Happy families is your main aim.
It starts out with a dealing in the middle of the night,
And ends up with a full house if you play your cards out right.
Mum says dad is cheating,
You should see the grown-ups fight,
For...
Happy families,
The game thats sure to please.
Have you got young master race?
The bigot son who, like his dad,
Is fueled with fear.
Not so much a son more of a stormtrooper,
To burn the books,
When dads not here.
Happy families is a kids game.
Happy families is your main aim.
You start out with your first cub and you think that lifes a song.
Youll end up with a wolfpack if you lay your cards out wrong.
Dad says mom is cheating,
You can see the children long,
For...
Happy families,
The game thats sure to please.
Have you got miss carriage? ,
Shes the girl who wants a baby,
That she cannot find.
Strange, the ones who want to win the race are,
Usually the ones,
Who fall behind.

song performed by Xtc
Added by Lucian Velea
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The Golden Age

Long ere the Muse the strenuous chords had swept,
And the first lay as yet in silence slept,
A Time there was which since has stirred the lyre
To notes of wail and accents warm with fire;
Moved the soft Mantuan to his silvery strain,
And him who sobbed in pentametric pain;
To which the World, waxed desolate and old,
Fondly reverts, and calls the Age of Gold.

Then, without toil, by vale and mountain side,
Men found their few and simple wants supplied;
Plenty, like dew, dropped subtle from the air,
And Earth's fair gifts rose prodigal as prayer.
Love, with no charms except its own to lure,
Was swiftly answered by a love as pure.
No need for wealth; each glittering fruit and flower,
Each star, each streamlet, made the maiden's dower.
Far in the future lurked maternal throes,
And children blossomed painless as the rose.
No harrowing question `why,' no torturing `how,'
Bent the lithe frame or knit the youthful brow.
The growing mind had naught to seek or shun;
Like the plump fig it ripened in the sun.
From dawn to dark Man's life was steeped in joy,
And the gray sire was happy as the boy.
Nature with Man yet waged no troublous strife,
And Death was almost easier than Life.
Safe on its native mountains throve the oak,
Nor ever groaned 'neath greed's relentless stroke.
No fear of loss, no restlessness for more,
Drove the poor mariner from shore to shore.
No distant mines, by penury divined,
Made him the sport of fickle wave or wind.
Rich for secure, he checked each wish to roam,
And hugged the safe felicity of home.

Those days are long gone by; but who shall say
Why, like a dream, passed Saturn's Reign away?
Over its rise, its ruin, hangs a veil,
And naught remains except a Golden Tale.
Whether 'twas sin or hazard that dissolved
That happy scheme by kindly Gods evolved;
Whether Man fell by lucklessness or pride,-
Let jarring sects, and not the Muse, decide.
But when that cruel Fiat smote the earth,
Primeval Joy was poisoned at its birth.
In sorrow stole the infant from the womb,
The agëd crept in sorrow to the tomb.
The ground, so bounteous once, refused to bear
More than was wrung by sower, seed, and share.

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poem by Alfred Austin
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Victims Of Circumstance

They stand bewildered by all that goes around them,
living within their own little worlds,
which we cannot even understand.
These victims of circumstance stand.

We all look on and bow our heads,
when they bury victims of war,
but turn away whenever we see
these poor lost souls.

Some are there because of defects at birth,
others the aftermath of disease,
while others involved in accidents,
and left to suffer humiliation.

The brain is a wonderful thing,
when it functions properly,
functioning wrong its host
is charged with insanity.

There are those who are violent,
and in institutions are the only life they will ever see.
Others have strange ways, and act in a childlike manner be.
While others need constant attention, because of hardly any brain activity.

All are victims of circumstance,
beyond anyone’s control.
They would live a normal life,
if they had a choice to be.

They are victims shunned by society,
who say they are a blight, on our lives,
and locked away out of sight,
every one of them should be.

No one wants to associate with them;
their only friends are of their own kind.
They look out with pleading eyes,
for someone who may be kind.

The names they are called are hurtful,
yet they do not understand.
These poor lost souls
only ask for a helping hand.

Those who have worked with the mentally ill,
will tell you, not all of them are stupid.
They can feel just like us, love, hurt and pain.
Some can do what we call menial tasks
and others look after themselves.

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poem by David Harris
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Who Are the Victims of This Misguidance?

They were not aware they were being treated special?
Like one who waves,
From the backseat of a limousine.
Did it occur to them...
As they passed those homeless,
Hungry and poor.
Their very presence had been considered obscene?
And why was it necessary...
To careen through lost and vacant dreams?

Who are the victims of this misguidance?
Who are the victims of this scene?

They were not aware they were being treated special?
Even when hints were dropped...
They should continue and not stop.
They should not ask any questions,
But proceed to throw bread...
Out of the window instead.
And consider those who ran after crumbs...
As birds without wings.
Since they do not like to be called bums.

Who are the victims of this misguidance?
Who are the victims of this scene?

And they were not aware they were being treated special?
Those who rode inside by a driver.
Nor did they who chased collecting another's waste.
Believing their needs were being met.
By someone who accepted them...
And left them to forget.
As those electing to choose values of poor taste.
Something neither chose...
As they ran or rode,
To remember or regret!

Who are the victims of this misguidance?
Who are the victims of this scene?

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Causal Chains - Victims

Causal Chains - Victims

I

Crash victims are constrained to change of plan,
their karmic threads led to one time, one place,
who won nor great renown, nor state of grace,
no statement made, no grade, - trapped also-ran.

Smash victims: ordinary girl or man
whose function filled a causal void to trace
world's tipping point as joint between Earth, space,
catalyzing universal plan.

Dash victims subject to a searching scan,
still fill a fulcrum role on which to base
a change of pace for all the human race
tripping switch to hitch 'we wish', 'we can! '

Though victims' stars from headlines disappeared
flash accident safe guidelines pionneered...

II

Crash victim once was mother of fair five
who now mourn visage torn before its time
from hearth and home to starry dome - alive
remaining in hearts aching at that crime.

Smash victim, mother to statistic turned
by accident as luck and life ebbed out,
dust dust returned ignores love's merits earned
ensuring offspring should not do without.

Dash victim seem both she who saw hopes crushed
and he who rushed towards unwanted fate,
mirth into earth conveyed light laughter hushed -
two families impacted on that date.

Both mourning irresponsibility
can't put clocks back, derail eternity.

III

Crushed victim seemed an ordinary man
whose sojourn saw so few fond hopes come true,
who met forgetfulness out of the blue -
banns cancelled out by error all should ban.

Smash victim seemed an ordinary man

[...] Read more

poem by Jonathan Robin
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Dusty's Trail

Dusty's Trail is about…
Hiking up to Laban Rata at 11,000 feet,
Climbing up to Low's Peak at 4,095.2 meters,
Of majestic Mount Kinabalu.

Mount Kinabalu here we come,
Here we hike and we climb,
To explore and conquer
The beauty of the Mount Kinabalu.

Mount Kinabalu located in Sabah,
Land Below the Wind,
Mount Kinabalu, a World Heritage Site,
An oasis of calm and tranquility.

To discover true meaning of life,
Of a world in motion;
To create global awareness of Duchenne,
Let the trail Mount Kinabalu begins the journey.

Challenging climb yet achievable,
To help the Duchenne victims
In fulfilling their dreams,
Becoming healthy children.

This expedition will
build confidence and give hope
Among the Duchenne victims
Among victim's families.

Dusty's Trail is about…
Finding a cure one day,
Finding drugs to ease their sufferings,
Painful relieves among victims.

Let Mount Kinabalu expedition
To create Dusty trail,
To create unity and strength,
To create friendship among climbers from different countries.

Coalition Duchenne's spirit continues
To search funds for Research & Development of new drug,
To provide supports and ultimately find a cure,
For the victims and family members.

May this expedition
Bring hope, inspiration and aspiration.
May the victims continue
to live life to the fullest.

poem by Lawrence Hiung
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Jenny Greenteeth

There's a hag by the name of Jenny Greenteeth;
Of human life, she is a well-known thief.
She waits under the water of the Old Mill Pond,
For an unsuspecting victim to happen along.

She claims her victims at the dead of night,
When many folks' hearts are full of fright.
It is always under the light of the silvery moon
That her terrified victims meet their final doom.

The victim won't believe what they are seeing,
When, from the water, they spy a strange being.
The victim will think that it is all just a dream;
They will open their mouth and begin to scream.

She bursts forth from the water with staring eyes,
Filling her chosen victim with shocked surprise.
With her long, bony fingers, she grabs at limbs,
Then having taken a hold, she drags them on in.

Her skin is pale green, and her hair is long.
Her breath gives off the most dreadful pong.
Her teeth are pointed, like those of a shark.
Her eyes are large and, like coal, are dark.

Her reaching arms are as skinny as a rake,
But unwilling victims, these arms do take.
With hair like waterweed, and a very thin face,
Her appearance makes her victims' hearts race.

To the pond's edge, most will not venture near;
Of Jenny Greenteeth, there is a very great fear.
The young and the old should take special care
Not to venture too near to Jenny's watery lair.

With ferocity, like that of a mighty lion,
She grabs her victims with fists of iron.
Into the murky depths, she drags them down;
They breathe their last, and then they drown.

poem by Angela Wybrow
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A Young Life Being Destroyed

There is a scandal in this sick world,
That makes the majority of us feel so reviled,
If there's a crime as heinous as murder,
It's the sexual abuse of a child.

It's been around for thousands of years,
But some have looked the other way,
The men in dark suits have hidden the truth,
While the victims do not have a say.

They've been beaten, abused and tortured,
By people who are nothing but beasts,
But these scum do not wear labels,
They can even be nuns and priests.

If they took time to read their scriptures,
These predators would know full well,
There will be no entry to Heaven for them,
For an eternity it's confinement in Hell.

There are some who work in nurseries,
They're even in our schools,
These predators are all around us,
But they don't live by our rules.

The type of work they're engaged in,
From suspicion they are exempt,
They gain the confidence of children,
Then treat them with total contempt.

They're the very people we turn to,
When we're in our hour of need,
But beware there is evil among them,
On your childhood innocence they'll feed.

They're the ones we are taught to believe in,
What reason would we have not to trust,
Something you would never contemplate is,
Their thoughts towards you could turn to lust.

When it's found out what they've been doing,
Rather than have them exposed,
They sweep it under the carpet,
It's better this subject's kept closed.

Those we trusted to look after us,
They were meant to show us affection,
While we've been sentenced for the rest of our lives,
They'll be given a lifetimes protection.

[...] Read more

poem by Bri Mar
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Apology For Bad Dreams

I
In the purple light, heavy with redwood, the slopes drop seaward,
Headlong convexities of forest, drawn in together to the steep
ravine. Below, on the sea-cliff,
A lonely clearing; a little field of corn by the streamside; a roof
under spared trees. Then the ocean
Like a great stone someone has cut to a sharp edge and polished
to shining. Beyond it, the fountain
And furnace of incredible light flowing up from the sunk sun.
In the little clearing a woman
Is punishing a horse; she had tied the halter to a sapling at the
edge of the wood, but when the great whip
Clung to the flanks the creature kicked so hard she feared he
would snap the halter; she called from the house
The young man her son; who fetched a chain tie-rope, they
working together
Noosed the small rusty links round the horse's tongue
And tied him by the swollen tongue to the tree.
Seen from this height they are shrunk to insect size.
Out of all human relation. You cannot distinguish
The blood dripping from where the chain is fastened,
The beast shuddering; but the thrust neck and the legs
Far apart. You can see the whip fall on the flanks . . .
The gesture of the arm. You cannot see the face of the woman.
The enormous light beats up out of the west across the cloud-bars
of the trade-wind. The ocean
Darkens, the high clouds brighten, the hills darken together.
Unbridled and unbelievable beauty
Covers the evening world . . . not covers, grows apparent out
of it, as Venus down there grows out
From the lit sky. What said the prophet? 'I create good: and
I create evil: I am the Lord.'

II
This coast crying out for tragedy like all beautiful places,
(The quiet ones ask for quieter suffering: but here the granite cliff
the gaunt cypresses crown
Demands what victim? The dykes of red lava and black what
Titan? The hills like pointed flames
Beyond Soberanes, the terrible peaks of the bare hills under the
sun, what immolation? )
This coast crying out for tragedy like all beautiful places: and
like the passionate spirit of humanity
Pain for its bread: God's, many victims', the painful deaths, the
horrible transfigurements: I said in my heart,
'Better invent than suffer: imagine victims
Lest your own flesh be chosen the agonist, or you
Martyr some creature to the beauty of the place.' And I said,
'Burn sacrifices once a year to magic
Horror away from the house, this little house here

[...] Read more

poem by Robinson Jeffers
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Posting Pictures

i'm going to quit writing poetry,
and start taking pictures...
pictures of the homeless,
the jobless, the hungry,
the war victims, drug victims,
crime victims, victims of oppressive
regimes, beaten, imprisoned, threatened...
starting right here!

the elderly left to die in want,
those left to live on the street,
families sleeping in cars,
parents burying their children...
smoke stacks smoking,
nuclear disasters, oil spills,
mountains being mined,
timber being cut...

lonely people walking alone!
small children crying...
lovers left in the cold...
empty churches full of people.

i'm going to post these pictures in color
for all the world to see,
post them in dead silence...
maybe then someone will hear,
hear, and offer a hand!

poem by Eric Cockrell
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September on Jessore Road

Millions of babies watching the skies
Bellies swollen, with big round eyes
On Jessore Road--long bamboo huts
Noplace to shit but sand channel ruts

Millions of fathers in rain
Millions of mothers in pain
Millions of brothers in woe
Millions of sisters nowhere to go

One Million aunts are dying for bread
One Million uncles lamenting the dead
Grandfather millions homeless and sad
Grandmother millions silently mad

Millions of daughters walk in the mud
Millions of children wash in the flood
A Million girls vomit & groan
Millions of families hopeless alone

Millions of souls nineteenseventyone
homeless on Jessore road under grey sun
A million are dead, the million who can
Walk toward Calcutta from East Pakistan

Taxi September along Jessore Road
Oxcart skeletons drag charcoal load
past watery fields thru rain flood ruts
Dung cakes on treetrunks, plastic-roof huts

Wet processions Families walk
Stunted boys big heads don't talk
Look bony skulls & silent round eyes
Starving black angels in human disguise

Mother squats weeping & points to her sons
Standing thin legged like elderly nuns
small bodied hands to their mouths in prayer
Five months small food since they settled there

on one floor mat with small empty pot
Father lifts up his hands at their lot
Tears come to their mother's eye
Pain makes mother Maya cry

Two children together in palmroof shade
Stare at me no word is said
Rice ration, lentils one time a week
Milk powder for warweary infants meek

[...] Read more

poem by Allen Ginsberg
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Victims

Victims
Chorus:
The victims we know so well
They shine in our eyes
When they kiss and tell
Strange places we never see
But youre always there
Like a ghost in my dreams
And I keep on telling you
Please dont do the things you do
When you do those things
Pull my puppet strings
I have that strangest void for you
We love and we never tell
What places our hearts in the wishing well
Love lead us into the stream
And its sink or swim
Like its always been
And I keep on loving you
Its the only thing to do
When the angel sings
There are greater things
Can I give them all to you
Pull the strings of emotion
Take a ride into unknown pleasure
Feel like a child
On a dark night
Wishing there was some kind of heaven
I could be warm with your smiling
Hold out your hand for a while
The victims
We know them so well
(chorus)
Show my heart some devotion
Push aside those that whisper never
Feel like a child on a dark night
Wishing we could spend it together
I could be warm with your smiling
Hold out your hand for a while
The victims
We know them so well

song performed by Culture Club
Added by Lucian Velea
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Underground Killers

They kill for a reason
They'll strike anyone
Doesn't matter how old or young
Pay 'em big cash, they'll give 'em a slash
Explain how it should be done
A shot in the head
The man cut in half
Tortured 'till death
You'll never see him back
CHORUS
Underground killers
They are everywhere
Killing for money
They don't care
Leaving their victims covered with blood
Underground killers
Will make a mess
Whose killing plans have been set
Murdering their victims without mercy
They promise to make it worse
Tell 'em their next mission
And they'll give 'em death
Burn him alive
A high voltage jolt
A stab in the back
They promise you'll see him dead
Slay the victim to death
Dead bodies everywhere
Brutality is their authority
Killers are not afraid of death
CHORUS
Underground killers
They are everywhere
Killing for money
They don't care
Leaving their victims covered with blood
Underground killers
Will make a mess
Whose killing plans have been set
Murdering their victims without mercy
They promise to make it worse
More massacre for the long future generation
Their customers are the only police source of information
You've paid 'em in full
For the dirty job they've done
Now you must die
Like the other ones

song performed by Incubus
Added by Lucian Velea
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Victims No More

Victims No more on this Mother Earth,
No More killing of her

people, animals, mammals, fish and birds,
to them she has given birth.
Yes, victims no more,
For all of us as one,
what you do unto the innocent

with your weapons,

has devastating repercussions.
From a standpoint of victims you make us your slaves,
bringing all of us to an early grave.
No Victims of the Sea,
the sea creatures are meant to have a destiny,

and swim in an ocean that is clean.

No one is here to have their homes taken away from them,
be it through pollution of oil from which it stems.
This oil drilling has to end.

So put down your weapons.
Copyright 2010 Christina Surnise

poem by Christina Sunrise
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