Giving the Poor Their Rights

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1640435,00.html


Giving the Poor Their Rights:

Margaret Atieno Okoth and her husband are both working for 2$ a day in order to survive with their 12 children in the slums. The two parents have very bad living and working conditions and are only able to send three of their children to school. Like Margaret, 1 million other Kenyans are also forced to live in the slums under horrible conditions. Many of these people are convinced that their situation will not change, as their family has been forced to live in the slums since generation.

People like Margaret have no chance to find their way out of the slums, because they do not have the rights to do so. They do not have any birth certificates or legal addresses, which makes it impossible for them to move, or to find a sufficient job. In addition, it is very dangerous for them not to have legal identity papers, since the landowners of the slums could force them of the land at any time. Another problem is that the people living in the slums know nothing about their rights since no one of them can read or write. Therefore, they do not understand what they should rightfully receive from the government. Automatically, the people are scared of any confrontation with the government or the laws. Since the people fear the government they do not dare to ask the government for support or a decent job. This causes even more problems among the poor people and poverty increases as no one dares to rebel against the unfairness.

Organizations are now intending to help these people to understand their rights. With such organizations the people from the slums are being educated and gain courage to stand up for their rights. Although these organizations are now helping the poor people, they still have to have a lot of support from others. The change among the slums will be very slow because still a lot of these people are being suppressed by their landowners and the government.