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Gordon Parks writes about a small boy named Flavio who lived in a favela. The name of the poor town was Catacumba. it was not very livable for you and I lets say. the story goes on about garbage, remains and other things conjoining in the streets and sewer systems. Flavio like many others in the favela is sick, due to malnutrition, but yet is always a happy person, and cares about others more than himself or his health. With all these obsticals inFlavio's way, he still has a very optomistic look on life.

My response to this essay is, I feel fourtunate to be in the situation I am am in today. Flavio is a huge leader already, just by being the person he is. But imagine if he had the recources such as a normal house not in a favela or food, or money; all things us kids take for granite today. I feel like this is a very inspirational story that Parks wrote.

I think the government should pay for birth control for poor women, that do not have the means to pay for it themselves. Just because the women are poor does not mean they can not have sex. Birth control is needed by pretty much all sexually active women, and the government should help pay for those needs of people.

www.divinecaroline.com

www.usnews.com/health-news

1. A man is going to do a study on poverty in the favela.His original assignment was to find a father and ask him questions. However he found a small boy who was horribly malnourished and decided to follow him anyways. He followed him to his home and saw the poverty he lived in having alot of family.
He talked to the father the next day and found he owned a shop next to a clinic. He sells bleach and kerosene makes less that a dollar a day. Also because of his shop placement the clinic wouldnt see his son who suffered from malnutrition and violent coughing. The reporter and cameraman/interpreter took the young boy(flavio) to the doctor who told them he didnt have long to live and that he was a goner.
Quite honestly that is a sad story and probably happens alot. Theres no real magic way to end poverty except for people to give hard work and dedication to the project and money! Also some families just lack the will power or are held up by some family members.
2. Thats insane pay poor people to take birth control, I mean who seriously runs this country! Have we become that lazy that we lack the will power to try and help people. You should never throw money at a problem unless its something really easily fixed, but still its going to be wasted. People should be responsible regardless of what incentives are offered.

Caitlin Barnes Blog Post 5

1. Flavio's home is an incredibly sad story that focus's on the topic of poverty. Flavio's home tells the tale of how Parks feels about how individuals allow other people to live. He tells the story of Flavio, a 12 year old boy living in a slum called Catacumba in Brazil, who carries the responsibilities of an adult on his shoulders. He not only discusses how disappointing the environment around him is, but he then goes into specifics of how him and his family live and how difficult it is for him to find food for his family and provide for each and every one of them on a daily basis. On top of that, Flavio is sick, and slowly dying, but no matter how lousy he feels each day he still focus's on providing for his family and continuously puts them first.
Parks went into Flavio's family as an observer and chose to write a story about the life they live. They were unsure of how to interpret his gesture of interest in their family, but with time welcomed him in despite their fathers objections. To me, the picture above represents Flavio and his siblings.

-I feel that poverty is one of the most depressing things to think about in the world. Its reality, but its saddening to think of how many people suffer due to it. Even more heartbreaking is the fact that its not just adults that have to suffer from it, but the children in the world that don't have much to survive on and are caught in the statistics too.

2. I don't think that the government should be paying the poor women for birth control. Homeless shelters exist all over the world, and if the womans situation is that bad, then she should check into the homeless shelter. I think that the government should potentially offer sex ed classes or wellness classes for women who are in unfortunate circumstances so that they may learn from it and make better choices to better their future. Stay teen states that "Three out of ten teenage girls in the United States get pregnant at least one before age 20 -- that amounts to 745,000 teen pregnancies each year" as well as "Almost 50% of teens have never considered how a pregnancy would affect their lives."
http://www.stayteen.org/get-informed/default.aspx

Valeria Alarcon Blog Post 5

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"Creating Hope and Opportunity in Haiti for Extremely Poor Women and Their Families." BRAC Blog. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. .

1. The essay by Gordon Parks entitled Flavio's Home is about him visiting a favela in Brazil named Catacumba and meets a 12 year old boy named Flavio de Silva who changes his life. Parks visits this favela to interview a father with a family who is in poverty. They interviewed what he is going through and his beliefs on his situation. During their time there, they meet the 12 year old boy, Flavio, and they had a feeling that this boy would have a better story than any other father, because his legs were like sticks that were just screwed into his ankles. Parks and his partner visited Flavio's family and realized that Flavio's health was really bad. They took him to the clinic to try to get a doctor to help him but Flavio had sypmtoms of bronchial asthma, malnutrition and tuberculosis, which didn't give him much longer to live.
In my opinion, poverty is probably the saddest thing in the world. It breaks my heart to hear about a family like Flavio's with barely any food and with sick siblings. Sometimes I wish I could save them all at the same time, but it is very hard. People do not realize what they take for granted. People think they need new clothes every week, new shoes, their nails and hair done, and etc. But they do not realize that there are people out there who need food and shelter to survive. I wish people all around the world could help end poverty so that there would be less families like Flavio's.

2. I understand that the problem of poverty has provoked a wide array of proposed solutions and that one controversial proposal argues that the government should pay poor women financial incentives to use birth control, but I disagree with this solution. I do not think it is right that women are not allowed to have as many kids as they want. It is their body, and they should be able to do whatever they want with it. I read in an article that "The Women's Health & Justice Initiative and the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic condemn Representative John LaBruzzo's recent legislative plans to pay poor women to get sterilized and reward rich, educated people to have children. The sterilization policy currently being advocated by Representative LaBruzzo is a blatant form of reproductive violence and population control policies of blame and disenfranchisement, rooted in this country's long and continual history of eugenics." How can people do this to humanity? These people seem like people who would be for abortion. This is very wrong.

"A Feminist Response to LaBruzzo's Sterilization Plan | A Katrina Reader." Challenging White Supremacy Workshop Home Page. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. .

James Morton Blog Post 5

1. Gordon Park’s Flavio is a story in which caught my interest and most of all inspired me and made me realize how lucky I really am. To summarize this story, it starts off talking about how a boy not too old is living in deep poverty. Him and his family are all underfed meaning malnourished. The young boy everyday walks around trying to find little pieces of to feed the family. Of course, he does not find much obviously since they are all malnourished. Then one day three men came walking. These men were generous enough to try and help young Flavio so decided to bring him to a doctor to be examined. With must devastation, the news came out to be that the young boy only had one year left to live. For some reason the Flavio was not too startled by these news. I believe he just wanted his family to be safe.
This story really impacted me. After reading it I have become much more appreciative of what I get every day. I always have money in my pocket and food on the table every night. I realize I really have taken advantage of these things.



2. Poverty numbers are way too high. The pill meaning birth control would be the perfect solution to lowering the poverty numbers obviously. Everyone has the right to bear a child whether they mean to or not. I believe if the government would teach these people and introduce them to birth control a lot less would suffer and especially a lot less children would die every year. The government also needs to educate the poor on having children mostly so they won’t make the mistake of letting them die at a young age from diseases or purely starvation.

Clay Payne Blog Post 5

1) Gordon Parks wrote about a young boy named Flavio. Flavio lived in a favela called Catacumba. Mr. Parks spotted this boy and with his assignment being to find an impoverished father with a family so he followed the little boy to his home. He writes and observes this boy and his family also visiting his father at his work. The things that Parks discovered about povernment i can only imagine!
My personal response to the essay would be WOW! I could not imagine seeing what Gordon saw on his journey through the favela. People dont realize that the USA isnt the only country out there and everything isnt like what we have. Third world countries all over the wold suffer and i just wish there was more we as a country could/ would to for them!
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy53kEvW6MqlsQnWfh__pZIcegq9pdo4DpQlee0C87UhieJGknvrqrw-Dtds83XLSJXbmglFHLKUjg3SzodFuOtIIc9CN4czy6lPVeYPUq7di_qAA301Tn7pFoMxgvw4rnWPdoHk5h8uE/

2)The argument about paying poor women in order to use birth control i think is a little much. Yes women i think need to be protected and use safe sex techniques if they arent looking to be pregnant but just because they are poor doesnt mean that they NEED birth control. There are other cheap methods to safe sex and can be used if they choose that in their life style. I dont think that the argument giving them money would stand a fight because what income does a person have to be considered poor enough to be pretty much given birth control? People can have safe sex without birthcontrol.

Rolando Lopez Blog Post 5

1. Gordon Parks' Flavio's Home starts in Catacumba a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Gordon Parks and Jose Gallo are looking to interview poverty stricken fathers for Life magazine. They meet a young boy who looks starved yet smiles at Parks. Parks decides to follow the boy to his home. The boy lives in a small shack and when Parks and Gallo enters the shack they meet the boy's (Flavio da Silva) brothers and sisters through the interpretation of Gallo. The children bicker and fight, and Flavio cooks and cleans. After it gets dark the parents arrive, Jose da Silva and Nair his pregnant wife. They ate what little they had and Flavio offers some to Parks and Gallo, they refuse knowing how little they have. Parks and Gallo ask Jose da Silva for permission to photograph his family, which he takes some time to agree to. As they were leaving, Parks notices Flavio's violent coughing. Gallo mentions to Parks as they head back to the hotel how dangerous it is to stay in the favelo at night. When they get to the hotel on the rich side of town, Parks exclaims how the da Silva's shack could fit in a corner of his hotel room and the steak dinner could feed the da Silva's for three days.
The next day they return to the favela where he notices the long lines for the sole water spigot and bathroom. He met Jose da Silva at his shop where he sells kerosene and bleach. They kept going until they saw Flavio and followed him. After Flavio finished his work Parks took him to the clinic to check on his cough. After two hours they are seen by the doctor who tells Parks, in english so Flavio wouldn't understand, that Flavio is dying and probably doesn't have much longer to live, maybe a year. Parks didn't tell Flavio about what the doctor had told him and repeats to Flavio that he'll be alright.
This story was very sad. Reading the details presented in the story was hard and really disheartens me to read about the decay of human life in some parts of the world while in others people are doing more than well enough.

2. Controversial proposal: Government should pay poor women financial incentives to use birth control. Reasons why this proposal could work is that having the choice to use birth control or learn about the contraceptive devices that are available are ways to decrease the number of unplanned pregnancies and therefore ways to decrease the death rates of kids that die by starvation and other painful deaths. This also saves the lives of the people practicing birth control methods from dangerous abortions and dying from giving birth which would leave the kids she already has and the child she had alone or just one person to care for them.

Poverty. Digital image. Youthnoise.com. Youth Noise. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. .
"AFP: Give Poor Women Birth Control, Education: World Bank." Google. AFP, 10 July 2008. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. .

Kasie Molnar's Blog Post 5

My first impression of Flavio’s Home was that it seemed to be a very sad story. It spoke of the horrors of poverty and Flavio’s strength to survive and even the courage to accept death without even thinking about himself but of his brothers and sisters. Flavio’s Home is about the life of a 12 year old boy who has the responsibility of an adult, is able to accept this responsibility and still remain vibrant and hopeful even thought he is suffering form physical illness, poverty, overwork and worry. Throughout the story Gordon Parks explains in detail Flavio’s life, but the thing that seemed most significant to him was how Flavio was able to still smile even though he has such a hard life. While being only a child himself Flavio is able to care for his younger brothers and sisters by preparing food, clean their home and even instructing them to wash themselves. While Flavio and his brothers and sisters accepted Gordon Parks presence their father was not too pleased. He viewed them skeptically as he was not sure of their intentions. I think a lot of times people who are in similar positions have a problem with trusting other people to help them, out of fear that they are doing it out of faulty intentions.

I think that education would be a phenomenal way to move forward in reducing the amount of children born out of ignorance. I also think that perhaps the financial incentives would be good seeing as how I know from people that I knew who were considered poor, who would have used birth control had they been able to afford it.

Laura Johnson Blog Post 5

1) In the essay titled Flavio's Home, three journalists decided to venture to the poorest part of Brazil. While walking around the busy streets of Caracas, they encountered a little boy by the name of Flavio. Flavio looked to them like a boy who only had a shirt, skin and bones; immediatly the three journalists felt bad for him. They decided that they were going to get him some help by taking him to see a doctor, but before they could do this they went to see Flavio's family in there makeshift home.
After watching the de Silva family eat dinner the three journalists returned to their hotel outside of the slums. The next morning the journalists and Flavio went to the local doctor to examine Flavio's health. When they got there they had to wait almost two hours before he was even examined. Once he was in the doctors room, the doctor only spoke English so that only the journalists could understand what he was saying. The doctor told them that Flavio was terminally ill and that he had roughly a year, if that, to live. Once they left the doctors office, Flavio asked the journalists what the doctor said was wrong with him. They told Flavio that everything was going to be fine and that there was nothing seriously wrong with him. Though, Flavio knew the truth and only asked the men if they could make sure that his family was healthy and survived.
This essay made me more aware of all cases of poverty that the world is facing, not just in the United States. I admire the individuals who decided to go over to Brazil and try to help someone that they didn't know or have any relation towards them. If more people could act like this, their attitudes could become more compassionate towards the poor in other countries. Also, listening to the graphic detail and looking at the picture breaks my heart in the sence that there are children who look like that in the world when people waste so much food.

2) Two reasons why this is contreversial are because birth control has many physical and mental health risks. Women who take birth control have a higher risk of getting breast cancer and oral cancer. The government should not be allowed to bribe women into taking something that may hurt them in the long run. Another reason is that governments should not be able to bribe women because every women has the right to choose what type of contreceptive that they wish to use.

Photograph. Angels for Brazil. CharityAdvantage, 14 Apr. 2010. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. .

Timothy Milne Blog 5 Post

Poverty. Photograph. TERRRAY. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. http://blog.ssis.edu.vn/terryp/.

1) Gordon Parks’ essay about Flavio Da Silva was very empowering and made me think. Parks explains about how he was sent to Catacumba, Brazil to write a piece for Life. However, in his adventures, he stumbled upon Flavio. Flavio took parks back to where he lived, where parks realized that Flavio was living a very unhealthy life, was malnourished, and lived with 7 siblings. Flavio cooks for his family with very little food and resources, while Parks is there. Parks also writes about how the children were left to eat the little amount of food they each received with their fingers, since the parents were given a utensil and a plate. Flavio had an awful cough among other sicknesses, so Parks and Gallo took him the village’s doctor. After the doctor looked at Flavio, all the doctor said was that nothing could be done for him, because other kids were in the same predicament and that there wasn’t enough money to help him. The doctor also practically told Parks that Flavio was going to die soon. Flavio said how he was unafraid of death but that he worried for his other siblings if he were to die.

This story was very inspiring and showed me just how much people care for others more than themselves. Flavio was in a horrible position being a child of eight and having practically no money whatsoever. This is a very emotional thing, because Flavio does more for his sisters and brothers than he does for himself. It takes a lot of power for someone to do such a thing, because the majority of people act in self interest in order to get the most for themselves. I don’t know if I would be able to be as strong as him in a situation like that, because I have never had to experience it. In my life, I try to help people, especially people like Flavio who are so unfortunate that they don’t have much of anything. After reading this essay , I feel even more impelled to do so.

2) The government is in control of many factions of our lives. Many of the ways the government controls our lives is for the better good of every citizen. I believe that by the government paying poor people to use birth control, they are in turn helping the poor people get themselves out of poverty to a point that they can sustain their own lives. First of all, giving incentive to poor people to use birth control would help them get themselves out of poverty, because they wouldn’t have to spend money on a child. On average, the cost of raising a child is more than $131,000; Money that people in poverty don’t have (Cost). Also, about 24,000 children die each year as a result of poverty (Poverty Facts). As a result of the government offering incentive to poor people to use birth control, and thus not have children, the lives of those people and thei potential children will be much better.

"Cost of Raising a Child." BabyCenter. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. http://www.babycenter.com/cost-of-raising-child-calculator.

"Poverty Facts and Stats." Global Issues. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. Http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats.

Mckenzee Blog Post 5

1. The essay by Gordon Parks entitled Flavio's Home was a very heartfelt piece. A young reporter sent to interview a poor father and his family in the deep slums of Brazil. She ended in Catacumba where she found a young boy named Flavio de Silva. Catacumba was an extremely poor town with tiny shacks that were held together by old planks of crumbling wood and a tin roof that was almost entirely rusted. The shack, like all the others were leaning down the side of a mountainside. Flavio looked just like the shack he lived in. he was frail with sticks leg and sunken eyes from starvation and jaundiced coloring. Gordon had a connection with him at first sight. The boy was carrying a tine of water on his head and had stopped to take a breather. The boy as exhausted as he was still managed to give a smile to Gordon.
Gordon follows to the boy home to interview his father and family for her piece. When she got there she encountered many disturbing things. There were seven more children at home that were left to watch over themselves. Flavio was the care taker of his family at only age twelve! Gordon also witnessed how they reused water. They used the same water they cooked with to bath everyone in, and then used the same water to scrub the nasty dirt floors. As they spent the rest of the evening their Gordon would watch as Flavio almost choked to death coughing. She knew something was wrong and when the parents finally arrived home she asked why they do not take him to the doctor. Flavio father told Gordon that the doctors do not do anything for his children because he built his store in front of them. After leaving the shack and arriving to the nice hotel Gordon decided she would take Flavio to the doctor. The next day she took him to the doctors and found out Flavio was dying and would probably only live another year. There was nothing the doctors could do for the boy. When Flavio asked how it went Gordon didn’t have the heart to tell him and only said, “You’ll be alright Flavio”. The shocking thing was Flavio didn’t care about himself. His powerful words at the end said “I’m not scared of death. It’s my brothers and sisters I worry about.”
My outlook on this story was, “ I didn’t realize how lucky I am.” Here I am complaining because I didn’t want chicken for supper, and children like Flavio would be grateful to even have meat for a meal. Stories like these are either hidden from the public or denied by the public. They are hidden because countries don’t want to show their week communities that cannot provide for themselves and are seen as weak. Stories such as these are also denied by the public such as American because it inhumane to even think people live like that. It makes people that are well off look greedy and Americans don’t like to be looked at that way, so they ignore the problem thinking it never exists; so they don’t have to feel bad or feel greedy. As sad as that sounds it’s true in a lot of cases. What really got to my heart in this story was the fact the Flavio didn’t care he was dying, he only thought of his family and how he feared for them if he did die. This story showed true devotion to family which I think should be looked at as an example of how you should respect your family today.



2. Although I think the government is going down the right track I don’t think it’s a good idea to pay women to take birth control. I don’t think paying women to take birth control will really make women stop, if they can already get money on welfare. Americans are greedy if you say you’ll pay them to do something, they’ll make another claim to say they need more. I think paying for birth control would only lead Americans further into welfare support. Even if you pay a women to take birth control that doesn’t mean that she will do it. So what happens when she has the money and gets pregnant? Wouldn’t that be a waste of tax payer’s money? The bigger problem is a lot of women can’t afford birth control and that what gets them in the situations they are in. I think birth control should be free, hand them to anyone to encourage them to use it. This gives the choice to the women and if a woman makes the choice they are more likely to stick to it. Even women with jobs have trouble paying for contraceptives simply because insurance won’t cover it. If women didn’t have to worry about paying for birth control I think women would take every advantage of it. Going through high school most of my friends that ended up pregnant said they couldn’t afford birth control when I asked if they were on anything. Even I have had trouble paying for birth control some months and had to have my parents chip in. Do you know how embarrassing that is? I was almost to the point where I said; okay well I’m just going to not get it this month. I don’t understand why the government can’t just have pills for free. They give out free condoms but if a boy refuses to wear one, what is a woman to do? Providing free birth control for women gives them the power to control their situation. It there was free birth control I think you would see a huge drop in teen pregnancies and since teen pregnancies unusually lead to welfare and poor families I think it would only benefit the communities.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=51391
http://www.womenshealthchannel.com/teenpregnancy/index.shtml

Carly Hamilton Blog Post 5

1. In this story, a man named Gordon Parks was sent to Brazil as a reporter to find a story on an impoverished father and his family. Gordon ended up doing his story on a young boy named Flavio he came across while exploring Catacumba. He was invited into Flavio's home and witnessed how horrible his lifestyle was and how he was basically in charge of taking care of the family, including his many brothers and sisters. Flavio was severely malnourished and overworked and was becoming quite sick because of it. His father was a strict traditional man who expected a lot from Flavio, and Flavio feared him. Gordon and his partner were introduced to these impoverished peoples horrible living conditions and watched hopelessly knowing there was little they could do to help. however, they managed to get Flavio to a doctor after they noticed his extreme coughing attacks happen frequently. The doctor had nothing but bad news for Flavio and his condition but Gordon kept it from him, knowing he was not going to live much longer.

This essay brings out a lot of emotion for me. It's hard to imagine that people actually live this way everyday in some parts of the world, when I'm living in such luxury without even realizing and appreciating it. Gordon kept mentioning how Flavio managed to keep a constant smile on his face no matter how much he was suffering and how bad his condition was. I find it hard to be happy sometimes even with all the things I am blessed with. It seems that those living modestly are always more appreciative of the things they have and even seem to be happier than most rich people. However, I think it's very sad that even after all the hard work Flavio put in to take care of his family, he was still going to die within a year and there's nothing anyone can do to help.

2. To be honest, I think this proposed method of paying women to take birth control is simply unrealistic. The government does not have the money to waste on women who cannot control themselves sexually and are so careless with their own and their children's future. I read an article where State Representative John LaBruzzo proposed an idea to pay poor women $1,000 to have their tubes tied. He stated that women living on welfare and food stamps are more likely to reproduce than women who are financially stable and so he wants to reduce the number of births by poor women. This seems completely unrealistic to me because not many women would even agree to this and where would we get the money? It just seems like an overall bad idea to me. I found an interesting statistic that convinced me that paying women to get their tubes tied is completely unrealistic was the fact that 52% of all abortion in the U.S were committed by women under 25. This proves that having your tubes tied will not solve anything because not many women under 25 are ready to get their tubes tied, they are most likely planning on having kids in the future once they're older and ready to be a parent.

http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html

Waller, Mark. "LaBruzzo considering Plan to Pay Poor Women $1,000 to Have Tubes Tied | - NOLA.com." Nola.com. The Times Picayune, 23 Sept. 2008. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. .

Thomas Moore Blog Post 5

1) Gordon Parks’ essay Flavio’s Home is a very moving piece. It is about a young boy that lives in a massive slum in Brazil. Flavio lives in an extremely small shack with his three siblings and his mother and father. His home life is very chaotic due to the small living quarters and his sisters fighting all the time. Despite all of the chaos in his life this twelve year old boy shows an amazing amount of responsibility and maturity. He is responsible for cooking, cleaning, and looking after his siblings. It seems like he does not even know what poverty is and goes about his life as if he has all that he could want.
To me this essay was very moving. Gordon Parks went into the middle of this slum and made his essay as personal as possible. We learn in classes and from news stories that these places exist but we never give them a second thought after that. With essays like this one it is easy to become emotional and become attached because it is written on a personal level and tells a true and sad story.
2) I do believe that there should be some usage of contraceptive by women like Favio’s mother. But I think it would be impossible for all of the women in poverty to take one little pill every day. It would reduce the amount of poverty though. Favio’s family struggles to feed all of their children because there are four of them and another is coming because his mother is pregnant. Granted if they only had four children they would have more food to eat and less to worry about. But I do not believe that people should be obligated to have as many children as they please. It is our god given right to have as many children as we want.