Stressor

Poverty is the lack of necessities required for human survival and welfare. Despite positive development, poverty in Kenya continued to be a huge problem. Half of the population in Kenya earns less than $1 US money each day. In 1992 half of all rural Kenyans were living below the poverty line. There are several factors contributing to the ongoing problems of poverty in Kenya. Some of these problems are; limited economic diversity, lack of opportunity, government corruption, and unfair walls by rich countries. The children’s of Kenya that lives in the rural areas has a 46% poverty level compared to 11% in the urban areas. One out of ten children that live in Kenya lives in poverty. When a child in Kenya grows up in poverty they are exposed to illness, they do not do well in school, and they have many health problems. A hand washing campaign was launched at the schools in Kenya; children were taught the best method of washing hands with water and soap and encourage them to share the information with families and friends.

By being an African American I have experienced some type of stressor in my life. Racism is very much alive. I can remember my family and I went into this restaurant and we were treated very nasty. We were the only people of color in the restaurant. We were the lasted to be seated and when our food final arrived it was very cold. There were people who came in after we did, they had eaten and were leaving and we still had not gotten our food. When asked if we could get some hot food, the waiter told us that the cook was gone for the night. We refused to pay for cold food, so we left and as we were leaving, that same waiter was bringing out food and we could see steam coming from the food. She just smiled at us. I know that this country has come a long way, but racism will never completely go away. There are so many different people in our country that society is riddled with so much hatred against people who beliefs and color is not the same. It is very sad that people’s can hate people for no apparent reasons. We as a society need to stop judging people before knowing who they really are. Racism can scar children for life. They have been showed how to hate or have lived in a family full of people who hates others. Infants as young as 6 months old recognize racial cues, even before they develop language skills (Burnette, 1997). It is very difficult for a small child to handle these types of situation. As parents it is our responsibility to teach our children what is right and what is wrong.

Reference:

Burnette, Erin. (1997), June). Talking openly about racism in children. APA Monitor, p.33.