My name is Dylan. I am a student at BYU and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. These blog entries are posted weekly as a project in my Writing and Rhetoric course at school. They are posted with the hopes that the reader might be made more aware of these people and their unfortunate circumstances. If you wish to do your part to help, please visit this site: www.ldsphilanthropies.org
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Homeless
Photograph by Sebastião Salgado
“Home is where the heart is.” But what about those who don’t have a home? How can we consider passing along such cheerful words to those who are without these luxurious? I speak without experience, but my guess is that it probably isn’t an easy thing to do. We might tend to take the comfort and protection of homes for granted from time to time, but homelessness truly is a problem of serious concern. Recent studies showed that worldwide, there is an estimated 100 million who are homeless, and just in the U.S. alone there are 3.5 million people who experience homelessness at some point during the year (Homeless World Cup). This same source also explained that “the average life expectancy of a Homeless Person in the UK is42 years, compared to the national average of 74 for men and 79 for women” (Homeless World Cup). Homelessness also causes other long-term effects, especially in children. Dakota Woodlands is a group that works towards providing an opportunity for comfortable and reasonable living for those who might otherwise be denied these things. On its website Dakota Woodlands claimed that, “Homeless children are not simply at risk; most endure physical, psychological, and emotional damage due to the circumstances that accompany homelessness. Homeless children suffer from poor nutrition and a higher rate of infectious diseases, asthma and related conditions. They lack access to consistent health care, which increases the severity of the illnesses. Children’s academic performance is hindered both by poor cognitive development and constant mobility. Homelessness inhibits physical, emotional, cognitive, social and behavioral development in children” (Dakota Woodlands). This photograph of Salgado’s is one that captures the raw reality of what living on the streets (or in this case, the sewers) could be like. Because the population of Jakarta is so colossal, many are forced to live in places like this for an unknown amount of time without any source of real shelter.
Photograph by Sebastião Salgado
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