For many of us, we can safely say that we’re able to eat three meals a day and that we’re even able to pick and choose what we want to choose every day. Sometimes, you may find yourself taking that privilege for granted: not everyone in the world is able to do something as simple as have two-three meals each day, and they have access to much fewer resources than we do. Underprivileged children not only come from a low-income background, but they also often don’t have access to education, shelter, food, and medical care. This is extremely detrimental to their growth, both physically and mentally; while other kids are able to have a childhood they can enjoy, underprivileged youths are essentially robbed of that childhood.
According to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), about one billion children around the world can be categorized as underprivileged, and nearly one in seven children live in poverty in the United States. The vast majority of these children lack access to an adequate amount of food, and many of them live in shelters and public places. As the children grow up, they develop a variety of not only physical illnesses and infirmities, but also mental health issues. Now, most people already know about these statistics (save for specific numbers), but not many people decide to step up and do anything. So why should we care? Why should we help the underprivileged youths in our world?
Children are the future of our world. Eventually, they will grow up, and as they interact with the rest of society, their actions and points of view will be greatly influenced by how they grew up. There are many children who possess hidden talents and intelligence that could greatly benefit the world; however, with their lack of resources, they are unable to obtain the bare necessities of what they need to survive, let alone find ways to hone their skills and interests. We live in this world, and it’s something that we want to see grow and improve. Without having strong, fresh minds join the table to make decisions and provide input, our society will not be able to expand. As members of our community, we should not only think about how current events and conditions will affect our future, but we should also just think about empathy and kindness.
Underprivileged children live in extremely harsh conditions, facing situations that we couldn’t even imagine experiencing in our daily lives. Around our world, 700 million people live off of less than 1.90 USD a day, and a large majority of those people are made up of children. It is extremely hard for children to gain solid footing and background to lean on; especially in the United States, as minors, many opportunities aren’t available to them unless given explicit permission by a guardian. However, while there are many children who live in poverty due to their family background of poverty, there are just as many children who live in poverty due to needing to fend for themselves due to having abusive and problematic guardians. Those children are unable to get a source of income for themselves and must do what they can to survive; however, often, there is nothing that they can do.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a surge in the number of children living in poverty; this is a social problem in our society that everyone must pitch in and help to the best of our abilities.
Bibliography
Child Fund. Let's Talk About Privilege - and How We Can Help Underprivileged Children, Child Fund, https://www.childfund.org/underprivileged-children/. Accessed 17 September 2022.
Neiditch, Dan. Why We Should Care About Underprivileged Children, Daniel Neiditch, 15 January 2016, https://danneiditch.org/why-we-should-care-about-underprivileged-children/. Accessed 17 September 2022.
Ponio, Judy. Underprivileged Children: What Can We Do For Them?, Our Father's House Soup Kitchen, 26 July 2021, https://ofhsoupkitchen.org/underprivileged-children. Accessed 17 September 2022.
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