Fall 2008 Writing to Reflect Final Draft When born in a peaceful, safe environment such as Santa Barbara, California many people don’t realize that poverty all around the world is very saddening. I’ve witnessed and seen some of the most depressing ghettos you will ever imagine. While driving back from school, looking out the window, and seeing that in both left and right sides of the highway there is “Villas”, a Spanish term for ghetto . Five story Villas, made out of wood, plastic, cardboard anything really. Children dirty full of mud from a long night without having a bed to sleep in and parents gathering whatever they can find to build a home, or some sort of shelter. On your way back home, looking out your window and seeing a group of dogs about to die of hunger, you can see their bones coming out of their skin. At the stop lights, kids begging for money, food and shelter. Prostitution being seen in every corner of every street of mothers trying to gather food for the family. In a third world country like Argentina and many others, you can expect to see this almost every were you go. My home for eight years during my childhood was Buenos Aires, Argentina. My father was offered a very promising position in a firm in Buenos Aires. Living in luxury homes, private schools and country clubs wasn’t bad at all, I still go and visit every year. But every time I get there, the quality of life of you see is either extremely luxurious or extremely poor. Having lived there eight years, I’ve seen it all and I’ve lived it all.
With the government being so corrupt year after year it’s hard to change the way things work. If the government would shift more towards becoming more of a socialist organization, after many years of rebuilding and following what Camilo Jose Vergara the author of “The Ghetto Cityscape” said, “we must go beyond the statistics and into the streets, alleys, and buildings.” My family moved back from Argentina to Santa Barbara in 2001. I’ve gone back...