Brittany Ubaldini Blog Post 5

1. The essay entitled, Flavio's Home, by Gordon Parks is about a severely poor 12 year old boy in a slum called Catacumba in Brazil. Gordon Parks has been sent to do an essay for Life and ended up finding Flavio. Flavio was malnourished and severely sick and was working extremely hard when they found him. He showed them the shack where he lived and introduced the men to his family. He had many brothers and sisters and his mom was pregnant with another child. They barely had enough to eat for all of them and were all severely malnourished. Since Flavio had an awful cough and seemed very sick, Parks and Gallo took him to the clinic that was in his village. In the doctors office, the doctor told them the boy had maybe a year to live and there wasn't much he could do because many children were like this and there was no funding to prevent this. The men decided not to tell Flavio but it was as if he knew because he stated, "I'm not afraid of death. It's my brothers and sisters I worry about. What would they do?". This is an extremely saddening and upsetting story. It's even worse that there's many more children out there living like Flavio. I've always wanted to help as many of these boys and girls as I can but I don't know where to start. I just don't understand how we live in all this excess but yet we can't seem to give a little of our time or money to help all of these sickly poor people. I plan on doing something about this in the future.

2. I do not think the government should pay poor women financial incentives to use birth control. If they're going to give them money it should not be for them to use on birth control. I think the government should provide the women with free birth control and education about sex so they can take it or use it by choice. It is not the government's business whether or not these women choose to use birth control. If the government educates these poor woman and possibly provides free birth control for them, then I believe this will fix many of the problems with poverty and multiple children. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy says, 'two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavioral effects.' Many of the participants in the programs delayed or reduced sexual activity, reduced their number of sexual partners or increased condom or contraceptive use." (kirby) If it has worked for our teens, why don't we bring it into the poverished areas?

Kirby D, Emerging Answers 2007: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2007.