Educar en la Calle: Reflection

My experience with Jorge Morillo and his project Educar en la Calle have greatly influenced my semester abroad. With Jorge, I have truly had a once-in-a-lifetime experience (I know you can say that about everything I do abroad, but I really mean it with this one). I was able to see a part of Sevilla that no other study abroad student has seen, thus giving me a truly unique perspective. I also have learned so much not only about the effects of poverty and social marginalization, but also about the ways in which they can be resolved.

During my time with Jorge, I have thought a lot about the recent political changes in the States. Many students experience a strong sense of pride and appreciation for their home country when they live abroad, but I have experienced the opposite. My experience with the children in Tres Mil Viviendas has made me reflect on the harmful effects of our political system. 

The conspicuous gap between our politics and humanity continues to grow. Politicians accept more and more money from corporations in exchange for votes, thus creating policies that seem to only benefit the richest of the country. Politicians continue to polarize the left and the right and our opinions by painting every issue as a matter of black and white, right and wrong, and shouting through the microphones of the mass media, "you are either with us or against us." Politicians speak in sound bites and buzz words instead of actual public policy. They politicize every issue, from the religion of our President to the education of our children.

Meanwhile, people are struggling. 

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2009 14.3 percent of the U.S. population had an income below their respective poverty thresholds, increasing the number of people living in poverty to 42.9 million. 

While politicians are playing government, they are also playing with people's lives. But it seems to me that Democrats and Republicans alike have lost sight of that. While they are busy spitting out their talking points on network television, millions of people are living hungry and ignored. 

Jorge Morillo believes that his greatest personal accomplishment with this project is his realization and ability to find the humanity in every situation. He talks about how these children are ignored because they are poor and live in a situation seen by the government to be too difficult to improve. But, he says, what the government does not notice is that they are still children, no matter what their situation is perceived to be. 

And so instead of looking at the country in terms of budget deficits and public opinion polls, perhaps we could try to see the people of the United States. Before cutting millions of dollars from higher education, perhaps we could try to see the millions of people with dreams to go to college but cannot because of insufficient financial aid. Before cutting millions of dollars from social services, perhaps we could try to see the millions of children going hungry every day. 

Perhaps we could remember that our politics matter and our decisions especially affect those most in need.