I-Search+by+Andrea

by Andrea ** Part I--What I already know about my topic ** Ecuador is a beautiful country with many mountains and sights to see, however every country has its problems and this place has the problem of poverty. In Ecuador poverty is a huge problem and it is clear to anyone who goes there. Actual buildings and stores aren't poorly made but what show this is the people you find on the streets and roads begging for money. When I go there on vacation I always see people mostly children and women on the roads were cars pass by and perform by dancing or juggling and if not they are selling small things like bubble gum, candy, or handmade dolls. Maybe you might find a few children on the sidewalk where cars park and ask the owners if they could watch his or her car for 50 cents. Once I went to the beach for three days and I saw many children running around arguing over who should look after the car to get 50 cents. I kept seeing this until the last day of my time there. So on the last day there was this little boy who changed my way of seeing things. My family and I were eating at this outdoor restaurant and all cars were parked outside. Then my dad spotted this little boy sitting behind a car playing with little pebbles, he was wearing a white shirt filthy with dirt, brown shorts and worn out orange flip flops. My dad told me to take a walk with him and took me to the little boy. "Hello" my dad spoke to the boy (in Spanish) and the boy responded hello back. I rolled my eyes and wondered what my dad wanted me here for. My dad asked the boy what his name was and what he was doing here all alone. The boy responded that his name was Juan and that he was looking after cars to get money for his mother who was sick in bed. My dad asked Juan what his dad was doing and the boy responded that his dad died two years ago because he was a drunk. My dad asked the boy a bunch of other questions but this question broke my heart the most. "When is your birthday?" he asked and Juan responded "it was yesterday". That put me in shock; my sister’s birthday was the day before too. "What did you do to celebrate your birthday?" my dad asked. "Nothing," Juan responded. I could feel my heart break into pieces. This made me realize work hard even on their birthdays to get money to raise a family. So what my dad did was when we were about to leave he told the boy "This is for watching my car" and handed him 50 cents, "and this is fro your birthday," and handed him five dollars. Just looking at the little boys face was like magic. His smile was so big the it made me forget about his dirty clothes face. I could feel myself smile as the boy said thank you and jumped up and down.
 * How Can We Work Together to Stop Poverty in Ecuador? **

I wonder if children like Juan will ever feel as happy as he had at that moment. What about women with newborn babies, what do they do to raise their children and give them the best? What if poor people in Ecuador don't get food in a week, what will they do? How do other people feel about seeing kids on roads performing in front of cars to get money? How often do these people get help from others? How many poor children do not have parents to help them get money for their everyday needs? How many children do not have parents? How long have these people been dealing with poverty? What is the thing the people give the needy that helps the most? Do some people in need help each other? What is these peoples biggest wish? What charities help poverty? Do poor people have a permanent "home"? How often do the needy move around to survive? I have so many questions that I cannot answer by myself but need some one to tell me about. // . //
 * Part II--What I Want to Find Out **


 * Part III--The Search **

The book I chose was "Update on the Ecuadorian Economy" by Mark Weisbrot and Luis Sandoval. I chose this book because it was an update in the year of 2009 and since my topic is on the economy of Ecuador, it was a perfect choice. This book is guiding my understanding by telling me the increasing number of poverty in Ecuador. However, it isn't giving me enough information on poverty in this country. It isn't leading me where I want to go, but it is giving me ideas o what to do in my game. For example, this book is telling me about the Employment in Ecuador, which can tell me that how many jobs are available to the public and how many jobs are needed in order to reduce the number of poor people in this country. This book also tells me about Social programs in Ecuador. For example; having children go to school can increase the chance of them getting a job in the future and put their way of life (the amount of money they have) to not strike in the zone of "poor". There is this internet source that is really informative. It tells you how much the poverty number increased and the unemployment rate. It also gives you other useful information I could use in my game. I think I am going to make my game a board game. A mix of Ayiti and Monopoly only the location would be in Ecuador.

My other site that I used was Ecuador - Poverty and wealth. This web site stated the rates on which the poverty number increased through the years. It said that the people living in poverty in the country of Ecuador had increased from 35 percent of the population living in poverty to about 50 percent. This told me and made me completely sure that the number of the population in Ecuador has increased over the years. In the other site I have looked for information for said that, "Poor growth and economic instability have crippled Ecuador's capacity to reduce poverty." You can prove this by looking at the numbers that tell you that poverty has increased throughout the years.

I've changed my mind about making a mod of Monopoly because it would be too complicated to change it up so it was about helping the people living in poverty, so I have decided I would stick to making a game similar to Ayiti in a non-computer form. If I made a mod for monopoly as my game it would seem that the game wasn't based off Monopoly at all.

I have interviewed a person who has witnessed poverty in Ecuador and has worked with people in these situations. This person is my mother. She was born and has lived in Ecuador for most of life. She worked with these people that lived in poverty when she was a teenager.

She told me that at the age of nineteen she started working with the poor. These people were moving into other peoples land, land already owned by someone. They were there looking for better opportunities. These people had no water, electricity or any basic things we use like decent bathrooms. These people had to steal to get food and money. My mother said that she has noticed the number of poor people increase. When working with these people she brought food, water, soap, and lotion to these people. She cooked for them with the mothers and grandmothers every Sunday while her friends played with the children and helped them with homework. This program was for children and teenagers. I asked her how she got other people to help her and her friends; she said that every week a lot of people would donate money or food so she and her friends could get the supplies for these people by Sunday. She said little things like donating money helped get supplies for these kids by the end of week. She told me in order for these people to survive they had to steal. Adults taught heir children to steal so they could survive. She told me that when she first started to work with these people, they stole her friend's car in which they brought all their supplies in every week. "They would steal anything," she said; so when going there on Sundays she wore the oldest clothes she owned and nothing else. This place where she helped these people was only in this "neighborhood". There were also a lot of people on the streets that are begging for money and selling gum and there still are (as seen from our last visit).

In the process of all the research and thinking I have done I realized that putting poverty in Ecuador to an end or at least to stop decreasing is very difficult. This country isn't the only one struggling with this issue either. So I have decided to make my game to help people realize that it isn't easy being a person living where there is barely enough money to feed the family or any money and food at all. I've learned that the number of people living in poverty in Ecuador increases throughout the years and has always been that way. I've learned that the poverty number is so high that it is very difficult to put an end to poverty. This information lead to me having a different goal, which was not to figure out how to decrease the poverty percentage but to inform people about what was going to in not just Ecuador (even though this is the country I’m doing this about) but to realize that poverty, in anywhere on Earth is a serious issue and that they should at least know that life isn't easy for these people. The most important thing I learned above all is that this is not only adults and teens going through poverty but babies also. Some of the parents of these children don't have enough money to give them food because they don't have it or they just spend it all on drugs. This I-Search taught me that life for these people is never easy and that sometimes they are in a huge need for food they steal. Site : Ecuador." The World Bank, 2000. Web. 19 May 2010. <[]>.
 * Part IV--What I Learned **
 * Part Six --Bibliography **

Site : Encyclopedia of the nations." JRank, 2000. Web. 19 May 2010. <[]>.

Site: Sanchez-Paramo, Carolina. "WorldbankpovertyinEcuador." // [] ///. Banco Mundial, May 2005. Web. 21 Apr 2010. <[]>.

// Book: // Weisbrot, Mark, and Luis Sandoval. // Update on the Ecuadorian Economy //. Washington, D.C.: Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2009. 21. Print.