Themes: Human Rights
Objectives
- To develop understanding importance of empowerment and its importance on fighting against poverty
- To promote social justice, human dignity and responsibilities among participants
- To increase the knowledge on empowerment strategies
- To develop understanding between the human rights, poverty and exclusion
Duration and Planning
- 10 minutes : Opening and Informing
- 70 minutes : “Horoscope of Poverty”
- 10 minutes : Discussing about Social Justice
Materials
- 12 Horoscope Cards
- 12 Life Cards
- A4 Papers
- Pens
- Flipchart Papers
- Board marker
- Paper Tape
Recommended Method
“Horoscope of Poverty”
Participants are asked whether they believe in horoscopes, read or not, and how they give information. Participants’ experiences related to horoscopes are taken shortly. Participants are divided into 3 groups. Each group is given 1 set of Horoscope Cards and 1 Set of Life Cards. Groups are given 40 minutes and they are asked to write a horoscope for 4 people on their cards. It is stated that there is not any true or wrong that they can write everything. After finishing, the participants are invited to the main group, after which the participant groups are asked to read the life card of the person they have identified before the horoscope interpretation. After each presentation are finished the results are put into the wall.
- What did you consider when writing the interpretations?
- How do you describe poverty?
- Why is there a rich and poor discrimination in every society?
- What opportunities do people have when they are rich?
- What opportunities do people have when they are poor?
- Is it a crime for people to be poor? Fate? Or is it about economic, social and political reasons?
- What does a poor person need to do to get rid of poverty?
After discussions, importance of social rights and the relation with the poverty is provided. With this, the discussion found for the general human rights is provided to the participants so that they can develop the general idea.
Life Cards
| Maria, a single mother with three children, lives in a very poor suburb in Madeira, Portugal. Her latest companion has just left her. She works as a maid for a wealthy family, but for how much longer? Someone recently stole an expensive ring from the lady of the house, who suspects one of the maids. They can’t find out who is guilty, so all the maids are going to be sacked and replaced. Maria is Capricorn. |
| Amina is from Turkey. She lives in a small village in one of the poorest region of the country. She is 12 years old and her parents – very poor peasants – are talking about looking for a husband for her. But she does not want to get married; instead she decides to run away from home and travel to the capital where she hopes to have a brighter future. Amina is Gemini. |
| Misha is from Tomsk in Siberia. He has been unemployed for many months and he does not know what to do. His wife is very ill and has to stay in bed all day. He has four children aged 20, 18, 10 and 8 and the two youngest are disabled. Misha is Virgo. |
| Yuriy lives with his parents and three younger brothers in Tomsk in Siberia. He is twenty years old and a very promising ice-hockey player. His uncle in America has offered to try to find him a scholarship to study in an American college. Yuriy’s father, Misha, has been unemployed for many months and at the moment, the only source of family income is from odd jobs that Yuriy does. Yuriy does not know what to do. His mother is ill, two of his younger brothers are disabled and the family relies on him. Yuriy is Cancer. |
| Bengt is a young Swedish skinhead. He has been arrested twice this year for violent behaviour. He has been out of work for two years now and despite this, refuses all the offers that have been made to him. He prefers to spend his time training his dog, a pit bull terrier, doing body-building and being in the streets with his mates, who have been linked to several recent racist incidents. Bengt is Aries. |
| Ricardo lives on his own in Barcelona, Spain, in a tiny apartment he can hardly afford. He has been ill for many months and lives off social security payments from the government. He used to work doing odd jobs. His wife took the children away and abandoned him when she heard that he has AIDS. He is Libra. |
| Abdoul came from Mauritania many years ago to look for work in the French capital, Paris. He spent the first years alone but was later able to bring over his wife and four sons as well as his grandparents. They all live in one apartment in a poor area of Paris. For a while things went well, especially when Abdoul’s wife gave birth to twins, but it has proved a struggle to bring the children up to keep the Mauritanian traditions. The twins are now 12 years old. They are having lots of problems at school and often refuse to obey their parents. Recently, Abdoul lost his job because of the general economic downturn. Abdoul is Leo. |
| The twins, Moktar and Ould, were born in Paris in France. They are the children of Abdoul, a migrant worker, originally from Mauritania. The whole family, their parents, four older brothers as well as their grandparents all live in one apartment in a poor area of Paris. The twins are now 12 years old and have lots of problems at school. They refuse to study, skip classes very often to hang around with their friends in the suburbs of Paris and refuse to obey their parents, with whom they fight a lot, sometimes violently. Reports from school show that they are becoming increasingly aggressive. Moktar and Ould are Aquarius. |
| Krista, 20 years old, rents a tiny flat in a very poor suburb of Prague and dreams of living in Germany. She has read an advertisement offering jobs in Berlin. She called the number and met a man who promised to get her out of poverty saying that she will easily find a job in Berlin. She decides to trust the man and to take the chance to go to Germany. Krista is Sagittarius. |
| Jane is an elderly widow who lives in Scotland. Her husband was an alcoholic and hardly ever worked. She survives on the very small state pension but now needs extra care as her health is worsening. Jane is Pisces. |
| Bella lives together with her sister, Angelica, in Palermo in Italy. Their parents died when the girls were sixteen and seventeen, which meant that they had to leave school and work to support themselves. They are now twenty-two and twenty-three. Bella has two jobs; she works as a maid during the day and as a cleaning lady in a hospital at night. She also looks after Angelica, who is a drug addict. Bella refuses to let her sister down because she knows how much her sister suffered from their violent father. Bella has problems with her own hot temper, that she finds hard to control and which has caused her to lose her job on two recent occasions. Bella is Taurus. |
| Angelica lives together with her sister Bella in Palermo in Italy. Their parents died when the girls were sixteen and seventeen, which meant that they had to leave school and work to support themselves. They are now twenty-two and twenty-three. Bella has two jobs and she also looks after Angelica, who is a drug addict. Angelica often steals her sister’s wages to buy drugs. She has been on and off drugs for many years but finds it very difficult to control her addiction. Angelica is Scorpio. |
Horoscope Cards
| Aries (Bengt) (21 March – 21 April) Love Work Health | Libra (Ricardo) (23 September – 22 October) Love Work Health |
| Taurus(Bella) (22 April – 21 May) Love Work Health | Scorpio (Angelica) (23 October – 22 November) Love Work Health |
| Gemini (Armina) (22 May – 21 June) Love Work Health | Sagittarius (Krista) (23 November – 21 December) Love Work Health |
| Cancer (Yuriy) (22 June – 22 July) Love Work Health | Capricorn (Maria) (22 December – 20 January) Love Work Health |
| Leo (Abdoul) (23 July – 22 August) Love Work Health | Aquarius (Moktar ve Ould) (21 January – 19 February) Love Work Health |
| Virgo (Misha) (23 August – 22 September) Love Work Health | Pisces (Jane) (20 February – 20 March) Love Work Health |
Additional Information and Readings
1.EYCB – Compass –Horoscope of Poverty
2. Freire, P. (2016). Pedagogy of the Opressed
