Poverty In Central Appalachia

This blog post has been extremely hard to write. I thank God for having a very warm, loving, and supportive family while growing up and still now as an adult. It’s never easy to read about child stressors, but I feel especially sensitive to these sorts of travesties postpartum.

After giving this topic much thought I am choosing to write about someone I know that has a very sad history. This woman has faced many hardships and abuses, but I will focus on the ones that are pertinent to this topic. She was born and raised in Central America during a time of civil war in her country.  She lost her mother to breast cancer at a very young age and lived with an abusive father. She lived in poverty as a child and was sexually violated as a teenager. That act of violence resulted in pregnancy. This woman decided to keep the baby.

Her story is one that is wrought in abuse and does not really have a very happy ending. Granted, she is a productive person and able to function in day-to-day life. However, her experiences have left deep emotional and mental scars. She is unable to have a healthy and loving relationship with her children. Nor does she have healthy romantic relationships. She tends to be controlling with the people in her life as well as in her relationship with food. This woman is a compulsive shopper and will buy an article of clothing or shoes everyday. This is to compensate for having grown up in poverty.

She has never had a supportive network of family or friends. She has been in constant survival mode and tends to engage with most people in a way that is manipulative and with only her best interest in mind.

I choose to learn more about the poverty in Central Appalachia. In the course of my research, I have come across a fund that strives to make a difference through social change. “The Appalachian Community Fund (ACF) is a publicly supported, non-profit grantmaking organization that provides resources and support to grassroots organizations working to overcome the underlying causes of poverty and injustice. According to this website, there are very few hospitals in this region, about 20% of the population in that region live below the poverty line and there exists a monopoly on coal mines. Additionally, in a certain county, 40% of the population does not have access to clean drinking water. Socially, the people of this region are “consistently misrepresented in media”.

This organization works to mentor teenagers and help them attend college. They worked as a community to keep a nearby clinic open. They seek to keep the community safe and healthy by fighting against developments that will pollute the area and risk the health and safety of the community. They work with grantees that mobilize to change policies and systems that affect the people of Central Appalachia.

http://www.appalachiancommunityfund.org/html/success.html