Poverty Simulation Orientation Fall 2012

As part of the mandatory Belk College of Business graduate student orientation, the students registered for MBAD 6100 class had to participate in the Poverty Simulation program coordinated by Daniel Valdez, the Volunteer Manager for Crisis Assistance Ministry. Being a first year graduate student, I had to take part in this simulation exercise. And I must admit it was one of the most eye-opening experiences I have ever been through. The exercise, although funny at times, gave me a different perspective and outlook on life and how fast things can change in one’s life due to unforeseeable circumstances. I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunities I had in life. My parents have been very conservative with their finances and, although we did not live in any luxury, they were able to provide for me everything I needed in order to succeed in my tennis endeavors and more recently in my education pursuit. However, in all this time, I never thought of scenarios where I would have to face poverty, living paycheck to paycheck and trying to make ends meet. We tend to think that if we have a bachelor's or, better yet, a master's degree we will be immune to any economic hardships; unfortunately, the reality is much different.

Within the Poverty Simulation, I was assigned the character of Ms. Chen, a working mother of three (ages 8, 10, and 16). My husband was laid off three months prior and our sixteen year old daughter was a few months pregnant with one of our neighbor’s son. We lived in a three bedroom/two bathroom house. Since my husband was laid off (he was an IT specialist), we have been paying for some of our expenses with our credit cards that were already maxed out, with no real way to pay them off. In addition, my paycheck was not enough to cover all our monthly expenses. Thus, we were stuck.

Throughout the entire simulation, I felt very helpless when it came to aiding my family. Although I had a job, my monthly paycheck was not enough to keep my family and me alive. I was only able to provide food for my family two out of four weeks and, at the end of the fourth week, we were kicked out of our house for not paying our mortgage. The community we lived in had only one bank and one grocery store for which the waiting lines were unbearable. The social services organizations were always packed and they were very limited in the amount of help they could provide. To top that, I did not get to spend one minute with my children. I felt very helpless when I would get home at the end of the week and the children would need money for field trips or different events they would want to participate in with their classmates at school, and I could not offer them that opportunity. This situation affected me the most because, in real life, I would be completely devastated if I would not be able to provide for my children and offer them experiences that would enrich their lives.

If you ever have the opportunity, I highly encourage you to participate in a Poverty Simulation. It will make you see the world through a different set of eyes!