How Does It Feel?

Poverty Simulation

I attended a poverty simulation on Saturday that was sponsored by Big Brothers Big Sisters. The purpose was to help us as Bigs be able to better understand what types of situations that our Littles and their families deal with on a daily basis. It was not mandatory but I thought it would also be a good opportunity to learn how stereotypes about people who are in poverty affect how they feel and to learn what it feels like to struggle to make ends meet. It was also interesting to me to see how Barbara Ernereich’s book would relate to working minimum wage jobs.

The proctor divided us all into groups that would represent family units. My group was a family of three: a single mother and two teenage kids. We were given our materials that explained our circumstances and what we needed to take care of in a month’s time span. The mother in my family was a 34-year-old high school drop out who had no job or skills besides working as a cashier for a few months prior to her first pregnancy. The father left recently with nothing but $10 in cash to survive on. There was a 17-year-old son who was also a high school dropout, had been arrested for drugs and had a pregnant girlfriend. Finally, there was a 15-year-old daughter who was the only person in the household with a job as a dishwasher making $112 a week. Needless to say, the odds were stacked against our pretend family and we had no income to pay the surmounting bills.

During the simulation, each fifteen minute interval represented a week and at the end of an hour all of our bills had to be paid or we would be evicted and our utilities would be disconnected. At the end, neither the mom nor the son were able to find jobs with their limited education. We got evicted, all of our utilities were disconnected and we were reported to social services for child neglect. Even though it was just a simulation, I felt the stress of being uneducated and trying to get work. I felt the pressure of trying to make a legal living. I felt the frustration of not being able to contribute to my household and take care of my family.

It made me more cognizant of what people have to go through everyday to get things accomplished that I sometimes take for granted. Instead of having the luxury of being able to get in my car and go where I need to, I had to use a transportation ticket that took up a lot of my money since I was unemployed. I couldn’t apply for jobs online and wait to hear back from someone, I needed money and I needed it fast, I had to go to the employment office every week to see if I got a job. It also made us aware that although there are a lot of resources available to the poor, it is not easy to access them and it does not always make ends meet. I really enjoyed participating in the exercise because it gave me a more personal perspective on some of the things we’ve talked about in class.