Jennifer A Blog Post 5

1. The essay of Flavio's Home by Gordon Parks is a very disturbing story. It is about a young women sent to the slums of Brazil to interview fathers that live in poverty and ask them how much money they make, how it affects them and their families, what their dreams are and what frustrations they have. She meets this young boy about 12 years old named Flavio, and he takes her and her friends back to his shack of a home. They then meet all of his brothers and sisters while Flavio is cooking the little food that they have... rice and beans. Then mother and father then come home and get fed first with plates and forks while the children have to eat with their fingers. The children are also bathed with the same water the food was cooked in and then the left over water is reused. Gordon then takes Flavio to the doctor to see if they could help,but since Flavio's father built a store in front of the doctor's building they refuse to help his children and the doctor pretty much tells Gordon that Flavio has a year to live and that he is well done.

- My response is that reading this story really made me think. We Americans have it so good in our country especially compared to countries that have very poor areas such as Brazil. Yes America does have some poor areas, but nothing like this. These people are dying of starvation and the kids in the family have to take care of each other as if they were the parents. I think that world poverty is something that is very terrible and that people should do all they can too help, even if it is donating something as little as a can of soup, anything would help these people. I think by reading this you see how some Americans take advantage of what they have, driving around Range Rovers and spending their money on things that aren't essential to life, when people is these situations would kill for just 5 dollars. It is sad how Flavio's father only gets paid 75 cents a day where some Americans get paid over 300,000 a year. I believe that the world should do everything in their will power to help one another.

2. I do not personally agree that the government should pay poor women to use birth control, I think that is should essentially be free, which it is at some health clinics. Some women have in their mindset that if they have a lot of kids they will get more welfare money and that is just a wrong way to think about life because those kids will most likely live in poverty still. I believe that birth control is good to keep poor women from getting an unwanted pregnancy and it is also a good use for population control. The world is growing in population is growing with three people per second, and in the past 20 years we have seen an increase of 33 percent in population growth and it is continuing to sky rocket everyday. I do not believe the government has the money and should pay poor people to use birth control because we as a country are in debt and should be using it to fight worse poverty in our country. Like I said, some birth controls offer free birth control and I believe that is a good solution to take into consideration.


Bryant, Peter J. "Human Population Growth." Web.