Poverty From The Eyes of a teacher in Yap

Poverty From The Eyes of a teacher in Yap

 

This week I interviewed a teacher named Ashley who is currently teaching in the island of Yap.  Yap is located is located in the western Caroline Islands, today part of the Federated States of Micronesia, about 850 miles east of Mindanao in the Philippines.  I asked Ashley about the poverty there.  Although compared to the United States, it would seem impoverished; most people that live there do not see themselves in that way.  Most make their living from fishing and are able to make enough income to buy basic necessities and although they live in small shacks made out of tin, they consider themselves to have what they need.  In the classroom there is still a disparity between the “haves and the have-nots.”  While a few sported IPADs, some students lacked transportation and so they could not stay for much needed tutoring after school or participate in school events that required money.  Some lacked basic supplies because they had to wait until their parents got paid, which in the fishing business fluctuated.  She described her main challenges as having limited supplies and dual language learners.  Supplies such as printing paper and ink were very limited so she had to get very creative in her lesson planning and was not able to send things home.  In addition to this she had some students this year that did not speak a word of English.  She found that one of the strategies in helping the students learn was to relate everything to the fishing culture.  She noticed that all of the pictures showed boats and water and fish, so she used real life examples such as how many fish were gathered and sold to teach addition and subtraction.  She explained even though she did the best she could, she could have done a better job if she had more resources and help.  Even though some of her students came to school hungry it would be frowned upon if she were to feed them.  In this culture children as young as 7 years old are expected to get up at 5:30, make their own rice and draw their own water for hygiene.  Students that came to school hungry or dirty were considered “lazy,” and needed to learn the lesson by the hunger pains and being made fun of by other students for their appearance.  Ashley observed that these students did not do as well when hungry and it affected their learning.  She feels she did her best this past school year, but reflects that there is so much more that she would need to do in order to reach out to those who do not have the emotional or academic support that they need at home.   

I have learned that even though it may look different in different areas, poverty still has the same affect regardless which is the student not getting equal access and opportunities.  I also have gained an appreciation of the tools we have here in the United States for overcoming poverty that are not as easily available in other areas.