Dashboard > Team > The Change Agents Our Idea
Why did your team choose to focus on this challenge?Challenge 3 focuses on SDG 1 no poverty- around 20% of the Irish population struggle with poverty. We are also learning about poverty in GCE. We chose to focus on this topic of Hidden Poverty as we feel very empathetic towards people struggling in poverty as it is a big issue in Ireland and around the world. We know that it is difficult to send children to school when there is very little money in a household, but we want to give children a chance and the same opportunities as everyone
What have you learned about the challenge that you didn't know before?
We had not heard of hidden poverty before. We realise now that poverty doesn’t just mean that someone is homeless. Hidden poverty means a lot more. Everyday people go to work and school who you wouldn’t expect to be experiencing poverty and are struggling to pay bills, but they are working and have what is considered good jobs. We are learning that sometimes children who experience poverty face challenges every day. We have researched what the government is doing to help this situation improve. We also want to do more and make a real difference.
Outline the specific problem you would like to solve for your Hero and two or three solutions you think would help.
Our heroes are a family of 6 living in poverty. They have little money. The children attend a DEIS Primary school. We learned how important empathy is to really understand our heroes lives. We imagined ourselves in their position and thought about what we would do if we were them. By doing this it really opened our eyes on how hard it is for people especially children who might feel anxiety or stress as they don't have what the other children in their class might have. They are afraid to ask for money at home.
Ask your Mentor anything.
Chanel aged 11: If we could do one thing for our hero we would improve her situation Chanel has to look after her 4 siblings while her mother works and her dad is in prison. She doesn’t get to have a proper childhood. She is burdened by huge responsibilities. She doesn’t even get to enjoy school anymore. We want Chanel to have a happy life at home, not to be the parent figure. We want her to know there is a way out and give her some hope. We want her to experience music and sport.
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