About poverty in Curaçao
20% of Curaçao's residents below poverty standards
Currently about 25.000 residents of Curaçao receive earn below poverty standards, most of them living in piteous circumstances. At first glance this does not seem much, but out of an entire population of 130.000 it counts for about 20 percent of the population. This causes serious issues like illicit drug trade, single teen moms and drop-outs. Most kids are raised by single mothers that are also responsible for the flow of income, leaving many kids with minimal or no care when school wraps up (at noon).
Sleeping on an empty stomach without a meal
Many
children that go to sleep without a meal on a regular
basis, go to school
without breakfast and live in slums full
of holes in
walls and
roofs along dirt roads. Whenever it rains, there’s
leaking, no power or
fresh water, meagre dogs roam the area. These parts of
Curaçao
look very much alike a third world country and are just a few
kilometres away from tropical beaches and expensive
resorts. The gap between rich and poor is much wider than in Western
countries,
like the
Poverty is often invisible
Too often it is hard to judge the
circumstances people and their families live in when you meet
them on the street. People do not like to show their poverty. According
to the
report Pobresa, ban atake (Poverty, let’s take it up), of the
Reda Social
Foundation, in slums like Seru Grandi, Kanga, Dein, Montaña,
Rooi Santu,
Otrobanda, Wishi, Souax, Seru Fortuna, Soto and Berg Altena,
there’s large
scale poverty. About three quarters of the working population in those
areas is unemployed.
Nobody in Curaçao perishes from hunger. Most families with just a few hundred to spend per month to spend, not leaving any money to buy food, are being supported by relatives, friends or acquaintances in better situations. Others fill the gaps taking up various loans but an estimated thirty percent is involved in criminal activities. If none of these options work out, there’s only one possibility left: going to the Netherlandswith its higher incomes and and relatively wel kept welfare system.
Various relief organizations
Various community centres and organizations are active on the island, their activities aimed at helping those in need, like providing food to children, assistance with homework, playing games and other educational forms. Goal is youth outreach to guide them to a more positive future. Curaçao Aid Foundation is one of these organizations, providing this kind of aid and is aiming to expand its work, for which your help is needed.