WE-BE Magazine Summer Issue 2014 | Page 5

Say you are a typical teen who lives in a minority world country today. In the morning your cellphone alarm goes off, perhaps you check to see if any texts have been received, maybe search the web, or social media networks. Next you might put on some tunes and have nice hot shower; pick out and put on clean, washed clothes from a closet full of choices, eat a hot, nutritious and delicious breakfast, and take a bus to get to school. Throughout your day, you have a lunch brought from home to eat, or you can buy something from a store nearby, and you have clean water whenever you like from fountains. After school there are programs to sign up for, sports to play, places to shop, or maybe a job to do to waste away the afternoon. Once it's evening, dinner is ready, and following that you can burn some more time by playing video games, watching TV, texting, music, reading (etc.) until eventually you fall asleep. ! However, in the majority world countries… this isn’t the case for most. ! Let's place you in a developing country for a few minutes. Depending on which country you are living in, and who and where you are in it, you may or may not have a TV, radio, or in many cases even electricity. Now, perhaps you may be an 8-year-old boy who works the fields with his dad from dawn to dusk, or maybe you’re a 12-year-old girl who works her day away trying to provide clean water, and maybe some food for her family. Either/or, no matter how hard you work, you most likely will never live with more than $3 a day. Once dawn rolls around you crawl out of your shelter. You may or may not have a family to greet, and you probably won’t have anything for breakfast. If you are lucky enough to be able to go to school, you walk a long distance and you are learning together with kids of all ages. Desks are dented and beat, but you are all thirsty for knowledge. On the other hand, if you aren’t enrolled in school, often because your family can't afford to pay the fees, you will stay home and either help your family with work, hike to get clean water, or maybe you will have to beg on town streets and pray you will be able to have something to eat. Maybe you will find a ball to kick around with some friends, or just play around to find some joy in the day. Dusk will soon take away th