Yesterday and today I have been in Watertown for a conference for work. (I deleted and restarted that sentence at least 9 times.) The first day was great and the beginning speaker had us laughing so hard we were wiping tears away. It was a great way to begin.
Later in the day we all participated in a poverty simulation. What an eye opening experience. Everyone walked in and grabbed a name tag, which was flipped over so you couldn't see it. The names were fake. Then we had to find our "family". My name tag said I was 7 and had ADHD. Let me tell you, I played that part well!
Every 15 minutes was considered a week. We had bills to pay, many facilities to visit, work and school to attend, and we also faced typical problems that our families would face in real life. Some families were evicted, some were doing drugs, some went to jail, some were denied medical coverage, food stamps, or groceries, while others were laid off from their jobs. It was really a neat experience to walk in the shoes of people who live in poverty. Neat probably isn't the right word. It was more eye-opening.
Back to my part...I went to school (8 minutes out of 15) and couldn't sit still, kept interrupting the teacher, poked the kids next to me, and was just naughty. (Imagine a bunch of adults acting like we're in school...it was great!) I said I had to go to the bathroom and the teachers said ok. But I got distracted and ended up on the playground outside, until the police found me and I went to jail. My grandparents had to come and pay to get me out. (Remember this is all me as a 7 year old.)
Anyhow, to actually face the daily problems of someone in poverty was again, eye-opening. The whole simulation was 2 1/2 hours long. When we finished we had a debriefing session where we talked about how stuff like this really affects the people we work with. It was an awesome experience to say the least.
1 comment:
That does sound like it would be very eye opening. I am sure it also was an experience you will never forget.
Post a Comment