Elements of Poverty

These children witness poverty everyday because they live it. Because every aspect of their life is encompassed by it. Their eating habits, what they eat, what they drink, where and how they sleep, how they go to the bathroom, what knowledge they have and much more are all effected by their family's poor financial state. While many kids might find a chocolate and candy as a treat and a treasure from Santa and friendly elders, these boys believe that a boiled egg is a treat. A boiled egg is a treat to them. They drink tea and water readily and nothing more. Juice is way too expensive and forget luxury items such as soft drinks. A lot of the time they mash scraps they can find to make the components of a decent meal. And a lot of the time that's not enough for them all to eat. Forget the quality of the food, the quantity of the food is pretty low too. They use newspapers for toilet paper and the boys have expressed their discomfort. The mother is annoyed with their bums being black and dirty but she has no choice because they can't afford to buy real toilet paper. When the Mom was utterly shocked at the death of her baby daughter she couldn't cook or clean or take care of the boys. They had to do that on their own. Of course Frank helped because the other boys were mere infants (2 years- the twins). Frank had to take care of the preparation of their meals. A young child cannot take care of himself let alone his three younger brothers. The substitutes they had to use are degrading to them- and they know it too but once again, they have no other option. Their money is really tight and the Dad is unwilling to give up his drink.