This is the 1994 Pulitzer Prize winning photo taken by Kevin Carter. The photograph shows a famine stricken Sudanese child trying to reach food. Behind her is a vulture waiting for her to die so it can eat her.
Starvation and lost hope
Life as a university student is difficult. I am heartbroken because I didn't have enough money to buy an iphone or an ipod touch, so I had to settle for a nano instead. This was upsetting because I can't actually fit all my music on it. I am a whole 5GB short. I often feel inadequate because my parents refuse to buy me a Louis Vitton handbag, which is the only one I really want, instead I have to settle for Country Road.
I have enormous financial problems at the moment because while the internet is available at my university for free, I absolutely could not be without it in my college room. As a result of this, I must spend 30 dollars a month maintaining it, and even then, I have limited downloads. My phone also eats into my funds. I pay minimum, 30 dollars a month to ensure I have unlimited data text messages because all my friends live so far away. It would take me a good 30 minutes to walk to their homes if I wanted to talk to them. On that note, I often am heavily inconvenienced as I am too poverty stricken to buy a car. I do not want to be embarrassed driving it, which means I need at least ten thousand dollars to buy one. I will probably need to wait until I graduate and get a real job, which is not for another 4 years.
Life is tragic in the Regional Areas in Australia. Young students living here are forced to live off only college food because the restaurants are just so incredibly expensive and the high end social life simply prevents most young people from having any time for a job. I am one of the lucky ones to hold a stable life guarding job at a theme park a couple of hours from Sydney, but I am only earning 17 dollars an hour. I don't make enough in a week to cover the cost of my rent. I am unable to move home because it was just so far from my university. It used to take me 50 minutes on the train, or 40 minutes driving, and often it was just impossible to get a car park anyway.
I don't know how I will get through the next four years of my life as a student. Some days, I get so upset by everything that all I want to do is come home and watch TV, only I don't have a TV in my room, and my computer screen is too small for the picture to be decent. I am seriously considering going on youth allowance because otherwise, I won't have a good social life next year, and unless I get ipod speakers for christmas, my hearing will probably start to deteriorate too since I am forced to use earphones. Life really is tragic.
Meanwhile, across the globe...
Nodira, which means 'unique' in Uzbek, is one of five children in a poor family. Every morning, after reciting her prayers, Nodira feeds the hens and goats from her wheelchair. The rest of her day is spent knitting for other people and helping her mother with the household chores.
Nodira has never been to school because it is too far from her home and inaccessible for her wheelchair. A local teacher used to come and tutor her at home and, as a result, she was able to finish third grade. After that, her parents moved to another town and the tutor's visits became more sporadic.
Despite the many difficulties and frustrations that plague Nodira's life she is fortunate to be living with her family. The stigma attached to children living with disabilities, combined with the lack of wheelchair access in schools and the economic difficulties faced by many Uzbek families following the collapse of the Soviet Union, have led many parents to place children with disabilities in special institutions. In fact, of the 23,000 children in institutional care in Uzbekistan, 19,626 have disabilities.
These days, Nodira does homework exercises at home and reads as much as she can. Still, it is unlikely that she will be able to finish her primary education, much less attend university. While missing out on an education is a great disappointment to Nodira, her greatest wish - a true friend - can still come true. Poverty Uzbekistan
See also...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFZz6ICzpjI- A world vision video aimed to compare the lives of those who are poverty stricken and those who are, in comparison, spoilt brats.Just keeping it real.
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