Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Perú: 45% de niños y adolescentes padecen pobreza

http://www.wordchamp.com/lingua2/ReaderResult.do?assignmentID=0&courseID=0&url=http://noticias.latino.msn.com/latinoamerica/peru/articulos.aspx%3fcp-documentid%3d27884040&fromID=45&toID=13&demo=false&docPhraseID=0&back=

This article is about the high poverty rate and related issues in Peru, especially among the young.

I chose this article because I hope to visit Peru this summer, and I would like to learn more about the history, culture, and current issues. I think that the news is difficult to hear. It is not that there is no poverty in the U.S., but that it is simply not as severe. We have a large gap between the rich and the poor here, but even more so it exists in Peru. Peru, of course, has much more infrastructural and developmental work to be done, and there is plenty to talk about for the upcoming presidential elections. I think there is a strong calling and even obligation for those in the middle and upper classes to leave behind a life of material overflow to tend to those in material deprivation. It will not be solved simply by giving out of excess, but to reach out of the very lives we live and intentionally develop relationships with those on "the other side." When we can put on new eyes we will see the suffering from the inside out, and recognize the social barriers that maintain this disparity.

revelar = to reveal
el distrito = district
consciente = aware/conscious
disparidad = disparity
tema = theme