A Visual Cycle of Poverty

A quick recap:

• In my class, have been learning about a song called ‘Break the Cycle’ by a group of girls in an Aboriginal community out of Alice Springs who sing about the sad things in their life which they wished were different
• We have learnt what the term ‘cycle’ means
• We have understood the phrase ‘break the cycle’ by learning about the non-government organization Carpets for Communities which aims to break the cycle of poverty in Cambodia
• Students have explored the sad things the girls are singing about in this song such as fighting and drinking, which is making the girls want to ‘break the cycle’
• Students have made a visual representation of what the girls cycle looks like
• Students have established that they want the girls to break the cycle but accept that it would be hard to do  

More than a lyric 

It was now time for some inspiration and some problem solving. I wanted my students to believe that the girls from the song would ‘break the cycle’ and know that change is possible. I also wanted my students to consider how the girls were going to ‘break the cycle’ and hoped that these words would shift from being just a lyric my students sing, to a real life problem they can try to solve.

This process of the students problem solving this situation was very tricky as there was no correct answer and I wasn’t looking for a single solution. I guess I was just hoping that through this thought process my students would begin to consider their own reality (which is not too different to the reality of the girls in the song) and think about their life and how their choices could affect their own future.

A tangible example of 'breaking the cycle'

Earlier in the term I shared the story of Carpets for Communities with my class to inform my students of other cycles which exist in the world and to inspire them to see that change is possible. I decided to make some visuals of this cycle of poverty and show how Carpets for Communities intervenes. I hoped that this tangible example of how a cycle is broken would be inspiration and food for though for their problem solving. 

The kids in impoverished families need to help earn money for the family to live off. These kids do not get to go to school and so will get trapped in a cycle of poverty. 

Carpets for Communities breaks this cycle by empowering mothers to earn a stable and fair income.

Mothers are taught how to produce one-of-a-kind, hand-hooked carpets that get resold into Australia and across the world by volunteers. When a mother joins the cfc program, her children can be back in school in 48 hours and the cycle is broken. 

Change is possible 

When I worked through this happy story with my class, there were smiles all round again.

I wanted this visual to help students believe that things can change and just because things have been the same for a while doesn’t mean it always has to be like that.