By Amy Lieberman
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| Denzel Matthew while in Dominica (Photo courtesy ChildFund International) |
“As household incomes decline and governments reduce spending on public services, more poor families are falling deeper into poverty and must find ways to cope with meeting basic needs,” Mayanja said at a United Nations press conference on 19 October, on the World Day for the Eradication of Poverty. “These coping strategies often have long-term negative consequences for human development, especially of children and most often girls.”
The theme of this year’s World Day on the Eradication of Poverty, formally celebrated on 17 October, encapsulated the experiences of children afflicted by the global epidemic. Affected children across the world found an eloquent ambassador in 16-year-old Denzel Matthew, who traveled from his native Dominica to the United Nations, to discuss his personal journey and struggles to overcome poverty’s influences.
It was the first time Denzel had left his Caribbean country, where 40 percent of the people live below the poverty line, but the high-school student is by no means sheltered—at the age of 14, Denzel became involved with gang violence, and considered dropping out of school.
The oldest of seven siblings, Denzel noted how lack of access to education and opportunity caused him to lash out and take “a violent path at a very early age.”
He has suffered some wounds from knife fights, noted his mentor Francis Joseph, director of ChildFund’s programs in both Dominica and neighboring island St. Vincent. It’s not unheard of for Dominican children as young as nine-years-old to become involved in knife violence; they usually progress to acquiring guns around the age of 19 or 20, Joseph said.
“There are very limited facilities for these children, in terms of socialization, sports, library research, and other activities,” Joseph told MediaGlobal. “Obviously they are tempted. They build up on their frustration and their isolation, and the easiest thing for them to do sometimes is to get physical.”
ChildFund helps Dominica youth break this cycle, offering more than 7,000 children and teens early childhood development programs, extracurricular activities, and mentorship. In Denzel’s case, ChildFund, a U.S.-based organization with branches around the world, helped turned his life around, he says.
The photography course—and the digital camera it provided—offered him a chance to express himself artistically, and prompted him to stay in school. He and his other pupils were instructed to take pictures of anything that impacts them—the results are often shots of village life, indicators of the daily struggles low-income Dominicans face.
“I thought about dropping out of school, after having been involved with gangs and so forth,” Denzel told MediaGlobal. “But I really liked taking pictures and I was told that I had to remain in school to keep on doing that. Taking pictures makes me feel like a different person.”
ChildFund prompted Denzel to find a new group of friends, and to consider a new future. He says that he now wants to be either a mechanical engineer or a journalist. On his trip to New York City, Denzel continued with his photography work, stopping repeatedly on 42nd street to snap shots of buildings and people who passed.
“Denzel has become much more confidant,” Joseph told MediaGlobal. “He has worked with our photography instructors and they have given him some tips and his experience has really grown. He is very good at writing and is really a very intelligent, young boy now with a bright future ahead of him.”
Denzel is only one example of a child born into poverty, who with the right tools and people around him was able to rise above his odds and stay in school. As M. Gérard Araud, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations, noted during the press conference, the global economic recession has slowed progress on the Millennium Development Goals, placing the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people—especially children and women—at a greater risk of hardship.
In response to a query about how to reduce poverty at an international level, Araud responded, “I think your question should be addressed to God, ‘how can poverty be eradicated?’ That is something that goes far beyond the competence of a diplomat.”
Yet organizations like ChildFund, and examples of individuals like Denzel, illustrate the way supplementary programs and attention can transform children’s lives, paving the path for a greater future.
To learn more about ChildFund and sponsoring a child like Denzel, visit ChildFund.org
