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One planet – but foreign worlds for Kiwi and Cambodian 9 year olds

One has the world at her feet. The other struggles across multiple fronts. Compare the everyday lives of an average 9 year old Kiwi girl like Isabella with that of a 9 year old in a remote, poor Cambodian village.


A child like Isabella
  
Cambodian child
 
Family income:
Approx $70,000 2 income home
$500+ pa
Health risks:
Colds, sports injuries
Stunted development, diarrhoea, dengue fever, typhoid common, malaria less common, lethargy due to poor nutrition
Family size:
2-3 children
5 kids on average
Social inclusion:
Children fussed over, valued
Children often not asked what they think or feel
Security:
Often taken places by car, parents usually vigilant
Reasonably safe if stay in village. Children in very poor homes may be forced to become servants around 11 years of age, which can lead to trafficking. Domestic violence quite common
Status of women:
Legal rights, social security safety net
No social security if father leaves, no unemployment benefit
Average lunch:
Sandwiches, snacks, fruit, juice cookie or biscuits, cheese, meat, yoghurt
Rice, a thin lemon grass soup with perhaps a slice or 2 of fish. Rarely vegetables
Leisure time
TV, computer games, sports, dance classes, movies, sleepovers and birthday parties, shopping, reading, bebo
Chores after school like cooking, sweeping, collect water. Very few books Chasing dragon flies, playing in water, skipping, making mud pies, hand games
Education:
Pre-school, primary then secondary schooling. Tertiary common. Computers common.
From age 6, likely only 4 hours per day at primary level. Family pressure to join workforce from 13 or 14 years. No computers
Fears:
Exclusion by peer group, embarrassing parents, lack of money, loss of cell phone
Not having food to eat, fear of dark, domestic violence, storms, floods, loss of family members to diseases like AIDS, Malaria, Typhoid

Hopes & dreams:
Fame, limo rides, fashion, travel, friends and family, sporting or musical achievement, wealth, exciting job like lawyer, doctor or teacher
Often not a consideration. Children in poverty rarely asked what they want for their future




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