London is where things happen, its where people make serious money, have a good time and come to live when things are unfortunate. It is a modern hub bursting with innovation, excitement and opportunity. However, this is the point I'm going to make, its the extent to how much these things are true and for whom, that is often disregarded. Just because there's a label on the front of a tin, it does not mean that the contents within the tin will be in accordance with the label. The same goes for London. Yes, it's a fantastic place to live, but its hard living here.
I am lucky enough and privileged enough to say I live in a beautiful 7-bedroom house in a very good area. Not everyone can make this claim or boast about it - and there lies the root of the problem - not that everyone isn't living in a spacious 7-bedroom house - but that people don't even have their own room, or let alone a house. Yesterday, I visited one of my female friends, who is 23 years of age and having to share a room with her 18 year old brother, they have done so for about 11 years. My friend started explaining to me the depths of the implications of sharing her room with her brother. She has no privacy, no space for 'quiet time' or the ability to organise her room and decorate her room how she wants. Her brother faces the same struggle.They live in a 2 bedroom house, which is clearly not appropriate for the ages of the people living in its accommodation. But this is the reality for many families across London. I am fortunate enough to say that I can enjoy the beauty of having my own bedroom and not having it to share with my siblings, as the result of having 7 bedrooms within my house.
Homelessness is another problem among the young in London, which is often dismissed for not being much of a concern. I personally know of about 5 homeless people who are all cooped up at one of my friends house. They have all been living there for quite some time now, their ages range from 17-29. Most of them have been involved in some sort of family domestics and/or been kicked out. Since I have been a witness to this situation, I have been going sleep with so much gratitude, to be able to sleep in a warm, cosy king size bed without having to deal with people making noise in my room or having to put up with people's body odour. Here is the most striking thing though, the people I just mentioned will eat about once a day, which is usually at the end of the day, where my friend that owns the house may send someone to the local shop on an errand to collect some ingredients for a meal. Majority of the time, they kill their appetite by smoking cigarettes and weed throughout the day. This really hurt my heart, this was something some families from slave communities back home wouldn't even be familiar with, even they would be accustomed to having the basics of 3 meals a day.
Just to point out, this group of young people are not the only one's to experience poverty at this rate, there have been times where I have not had enough to have at least lunch, I've had to wait till I've finished university and then gone home to fill my belly. Glad to say, my parents, despite having 6 mouths to feed, including their own, which makes 8, have always gone above and beyond in ensuring our plates are filled with good nutritious food. But times do get hard, with the soaring energy bills, and other financial commitments, me and my siblings have had to learn how to be grateful for the basics, food, water and shelter and try to refrain from circling items of desire in catalogues and comparing our lives to the children that attend the same educational institutions we do.
Advertising and consumerism has produced a greedy society, who is constantly bombarded with luxurious products on show, tempting people to spend aimlessly. Whilst some people may be working in legitimate jobs, some who are dying for the chance to be offered a job but are continuously being rejected, feel under valued and therefore engage in illegal ways of generating an income. There is a particular shopping centre, which I visit now and again, where there are numerous dealers hanging around, grinding, just to get by. I spoke to one particular guy, who looked at me and said, "Sister I don't want to live this life,". It hurt me to hear this and see the desperation so clearly displayed on his face. I told him I do not like what he is doing, but that I understand.
Poverty is so prevalent, that I see these dealers wearing the same clothes day in and day out, which yes, may happen back home, but even back home, people have enough clean clothes to wear. It is mind blowing how a city like London can be so absorbed by winning major deals and bringing in revenue, rather than concentrating on nurturing the heart of it, the people that live in it.
Needless to say, anyone living in London will know that this is a dominant phenomenon that exists in our society, which we are not tackling too well. It does not take rocket science, a degree in psychology or some brain training to figure out that improving the welfare system in our society, we wouldn't be experiencing most of the problems we are. The number of delinquents and crimes on the rise can be reduced, if we help train those from disadvantaged backgrounds into good paid jobs, rather then leaving them to fend for themselves. Because that is what starts the criminal journey, which costs us, in our taxes being paid to put them in jail, only for them to end up back in again. Our economy needs a boost and not a hand pulling it down and tearing it in pieces.
The truth is while globalization is allowing London to develop into a multi-million pound industry and also producing avenues for austerity in the third world, poverty is not limited to how rich a place looks.
I am lucky enough and privileged enough to say I live in a beautiful 7-bedroom house in a very good area. Not everyone can make this claim or boast about it - and there lies the root of the problem - not that everyone isn't living in a spacious 7-bedroom house - but that people don't even have their own room, or let alone a house. Yesterday, I visited one of my female friends, who is 23 years of age and having to share a room with her 18 year old brother, they have done so for about 11 years. My friend started explaining to me the depths of the implications of sharing her room with her brother. She has no privacy, no space for 'quiet time' or the ability to organise her room and decorate her room how she wants. Her brother faces the same struggle.They live in a 2 bedroom house, which is clearly not appropriate for the ages of the people living in its accommodation. But this is the reality for many families across London. I am fortunate enough to say that I can enjoy the beauty of having my own bedroom and not having it to share with my siblings, as the result of having 7 bedrooms within my house.
Homelessness is another problem among the young in London, which is often dismissed for not being much of a concern. I personally know of about 5 homeless people who are all cooped up at one of my friends house. They have all been living there for quite some time now, their ages range from 17-29. Most of them have been involved in some sort of family domestics and/or been kicked out. Since I have been a witness to this situation, I have been going sleep with so much gratitude, to be able to sleep in a warm, cosy king size bed without having to deal with people making noise in my room or having to put up with people's body odour. Here is the most striking thing though, the people I just mentioned will eat about once a day, which is usually at the end of the day, where my friend that owns the house may send someone to the local shop on an errand to collect some ingredients for a meal. Majority of the time, they kill their appetite by smoking cigarettes and weed throughout the day. This really hurt my heart, this was something some families from slave communities back home wouldn't even be familiar with, even they would be accustomed to having the basics of 3 meals a day.
Just to point out, this group of young people are not the only one's to experience poverty at this rate, there have been times where I have not had enough to have at least lunch, I've had to wait till I've finished university and then gone home to fill my belly. Glad to say, my parents, despite having 6 mouths to feed, including their own, which makes 8, have always gone above and beyond in ensuring our plates are filled with good nutritious food. But times do get hard, with the soaring energy bills, and other financial commitments, me and my siblings have had to learn how to be grateful for the basics, food, water and shelter and try to refrain from circling items of desire in catalogues and comparing our lives to the children that attend the same educational institutions we do.
Advertising and consumerism has produced a greedy society, who is constantly bombarded with luxurious products on show, tempting people to spend aimlessly. Whilst some people may be working in legitimate jobs, some who are dying for the chance to be offered a job but are continuously being rejected, feel under valued and therefore engage in illegal ways of generating an income. There is a particular shopping centre, which I visit now and again, where there are numerous dealers hanging around, grinding, just to get by. I spoke to one particular guy, who looked at me and said, "Sister I don't want to live this life,". It hurt me to hear this and see the desperation so clearly displayed on his face. I told him I do not like what he is doing, but that I understand.
Poverty is so prevalent, that I see these dealers wearing the same clothes day in and day out, which yes, may happen back home, but even back home, people have enough clean clothes to wear. It is mind blowing how a city like London can be so absorbed by winning major deals and bringing in revenue, rather than concentrating on nurturing the heart of it, the people that live in it.
Needless to say, anyone living in London will know that this is a dominant phenomenon that exists in our society, which we are not tackling too well. It does not take rocket science, a degree in psychology or some brain training to figure out that improving the welfare system in our society, we wouldn't be experiencing most of the problems we are. The number of delinquents and crimes on the rise can be reduced, if we help train those from disadvantaged backgrounds into good paid jobs, rather then leaving them to fend for themselves. Because that is what starts the criminal journey, which costs us, in our taxes being paid to put them in jail, only for them to end up back in again. Our economy needs a boost and not a hand pulling it down and tearing it in pieces.
The truth is while globalization is allowing London to develop into a multi-million pound industry and also producing avenues for austerity in the third world, poverty is not limited to how rich a place looks.