Ethiopia

[*Star*]

I've just been watching it on the news this morning.
And I feel so sorry for them and the kids that are starving, but part of me is wondering why they have having children when they know they can't feed them?

I don't know, maybe I'm missing something, but if I couldn't feed my children, I just wouldn't have them, I couldn't bear to see my children in a state such as I've seen on the news this morning.

I guess one of the problems is contraception. But if it was me, then I would abstain. I just couldn't bring a child into this world to see them suffer like that.

Am i missing something else? I just don't understand.

 

[emeraldsroses]

I believe the reason they have so many children is because they believe that the children will take care of them when they're too old to do the work they've been doing. Infant mortality is also high in developing nations, so they have a lot of children to make certain that a few will survive beyond infancy/childhood. It's all to do with being cared for in their old age.

 

[LisaJ1986]

I'm sorry but i agree they should really have children. How many people in those countries make it to 'old age'? It's like the kids with HIV. It's so unfair on them to be so sick and get no help.

 

[NickyB]

Firstly people in third world countries don't value the individual life in the way we do. My Dad worked in Sierra Leone for a year, one of his colleagues children died and he didn't even go home to be with his family. His family need him to be at work earning instead, compare that to my Dad and had theat been me it would have broken his heart and he would've been on the first plane home.

It's also to do with probability of survival. If a parent needs children to support them in older age, have more, there's more chance of one or two of them living long enough to do so.

Is it also a factor, that maybe they don't know any better? We are aware of how good we have in the developed nations, but if youo didn't, would you think less of having children that you won't be able to feed if that's the norm.

 

[SarahH]

My friend worked in Ethiopia and Guana while she was training to be a doctor and some of the stories she tells are awful

 

[leckershell]

I didn't watch the news so don't know if it's telling anything different to the "usual" 3rd world stories today. But I was under the impression that in these sort of countries, women aren't thought particularly highly of and there is a high amount of rape and sexual abuse as women are sort of seen as objects to the men to use as they please. That coupled with a lack of contraception probably goes towards the population numbers.
Shoot me if I'm wrong, but there must be some truth in that.

 

[uncle_bens]

Firstly people in third world countries don't value the individual life in the way we do. My Dad worked in Sierra Leone for a year, one of his colleagues children died and he didn't even go home to be with his family. His family need him to be at work earning instead, compare that to my Dad and had theat been me it would have broken his heart and he would've been on the first plane home

100% Wrong. Of course they value 'individual life'! Just because one person made a decision that doesnt seem to us to be normal, doesnt mean people in the 3rd world don't care. Like you said, his family needed him to work, its a tough choice but he has to feed his other children and wife, they don't have the luxuries that we have.

As for people in the 3rd world having babies. There not always starving, usually its as a result of a bad harvest or a drought or things they cant forsee. At the times of these droughts the women arent getting pregnant, because frankly they wouldnt be able to. The get pregnant at the times were food is plentiful and so on, there not gonna stop having children because they are thinking something might go wrong with the weather.

The high infant mortality rate means the children might not even survive so they don't plan pregnancies like we do in developed countries. I don't think we have a right to make value judgements on these peoples lives. They see death every day of their lives so naturally they have a different way of coping or seeing death, its something natural and they cope with it better than we do over here, they also have more faith in those countries so ulitmately believe its 'fate' and the children will be in a better place than they were on the earth.

 

[beanie]

sorry but there are some comments on here that really shocked me. If onlyit was that easy. TeenAsmaTeam, you make some goodpoints

 

[uncle_bens]

Is it also a factor, that maybe they don't know any better? We are aware of how good we have in the developed nations, but if youo didn't, would you think less of having children that you won't be able to feed if that's the norm.

'They' are not animals and 'they' are not stupid...

 

[NickyB]

Wow, harsh I think.

I'm going from second hand information, from my Dad. I swear I have not embelished anything he's told my about his colleagues daughters death. The guy didn't even leave the office.

And when I say 'know any better' I don't mean in a childish or animal behavious way, I mean, can people in 3rd world countries comprehend how/what we have in the developed countries?

And criticising me for saying 'they'? Well I'm very sorry.

 

[uncle_bens]

Wow, harsh I think.

I'm going from second hand information, from my Dad. I swear I have not embelished anything he's told my about his colleagues daughters death. The guy didn't even leave the office.

And when I say 'know any better' I don't mean in a childish or animal behavious way, I mean, can people in 3rd world countries comprehend how/what we have in the developed countries?

And criticising me for saying 'they'? Well I'm very sorry.

I'm sure that story is absolutely true, but one anecdote is hardly fact about the mentality of the people in the 3rd world, and i didnt intend to criticise your use of they.

I don't understand how people in the 3rd world understanding what we have in the developed world would make a difference to how many children they have, i think i've missed the point.

 

[NickyB]

I appreciate your response, I might have taken your response too harshly.

I don't know if I can explain, Star says she wouoldn't want to bring children into the world of poverty and suffering if she knews that what they had in store.

But we in the the developed countries are exposed to more ways of life than our own. If you're somewhere in the 'middle' (not geographically) in the UK, you are very aware there are people living in poverty here, there are people living on the streets with nothing, but you're also aware of people very well off, and living a life far better (than I do for example) but even then, people like celebrities with access to absolutely everything they desire.

So, this might sound naive, because I never have been to a third world country, if you don't travel the country, don't have access to TV or other media, would you think your way of life was the only way of life (not to that extent, but I can't articulate it better)?

I'm happy to be wrong, but I would have thought it was more than just the probability of prolonged life.

 

[uncle_bens]

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo i understand, i knew i missed sumthing