Shock Factors Haiti

I'm sure many of us have heard of Haiti, and mostly it is because we heard about the devastating earthquake that occurred not too long ago. There is more that has happened to Haiti than just the earthquake. Haiti's past has been violent and bloody, and living there is very hard. I find it very hard to understand their predicament. The game 'Ayiti the cost of life' helps you realize how they live. It was a very shocking experience, because I found out that it is very hard to live like that. The game shows you how people in LE.D.C.s live, and trust me, it's a very frustrating experience. In the game, there is a family you must be helping to get out of the cycle of poverty. You have to choose a factor to focus on and you will be judged by how well you score in that category; there is Health, Happiness, Education, and Money. I chose education, so I would be scored on how much education the children got. I had to choose what jobs to give to my family members, and I decided to send my mother to work as a market woman because it earned good money and was a safe environment, send my father to work as a rum distiller because it earned the most money, and to send all three children to the best (and most expensive) school there was. I felt like if I focused on education and got the children a good education, they would be able to work for more money and then eventually that would lead to them getting out of the circle of poverty. I kept on spending money for their education, so I did not have enough money left for other things, and so the father of the family caught a cold and had to rest for the season. I chose not to take the chance of him getting sick because I thought that after a while he would get better.Since I was tight on money, I decided to take my youngest child and my daughter out of school and make them work on the farm, so that it would earn us a bit of money. After that, we ran out of money and I even had to take my son out of school and help out on the farm instead of getting an education. I tried to get them books and tutors, but I ended up not being able to afford it. In the end, they all caught cold or bloody diarrhea and died. It was a lot harder than I thought. I played the game again after a while, and though I did much better, it still wasn't good. This time I decided that education was less important than staying alive and being happy, so I chose health as my most important objective. This time, I tried to keep my children healthier by not having them work outside the whole time. I alternated the studying and the working. While my son was studying, I made sure that my other two children were working, and then I made my son work while the other two were in school. That way, they all get an education, but they all work too. I also tried to vary the jobs for the father. Rum distiller was not a safe job, but it earned the most money, so when we were in desperate need of money he worked as a rum distiller, but otherwise I made him work as a farm hand. I preferred that the mother worked as a market woman because it was both safe and it earned money. I was much better off that way, but I did not prepare my house for the hurricane and that's what got me in the end.

I think that it was very important to educate the mother, because there were many good jobs that she could have gotten, such as secretary, but she could not because she did not have enough education. The women are the ones that can work as teachers or jobs like that, because they are the ones that have to walk alot each day to get water, and if they worked they wouldn't have to do that. They are not as strong as men either, so they would get less done on the farm anyway. It is a lot tougher to get an education in an L.E.D.C because there are not that many good schools, and many people can't afford the good ones. Many people probably prefer to have their children stay at home and work so that they can get money, which I totally understand now because of the game. I think it is extremely important that people get an education in L.E.D.C.s, because then the people can make smarter decisions, which will help them get out of poverty. What struck me the most about this game though, is the fact that I could just press quit, and it would be over. I could play the game again if I wanted to, and if I lost I could keep on trying. It isn't like that with people in poverty. That is their life. They can't quit whenever they want to. They don't get second chances.