Before taking this class I had the view that them coming to the United States was a bad idea on their end and that they were trying to escape the problems that they had faced in Mexico, thinking that the United States would somehow create this magical, perfect life. After taking this class I understand why they come here and why many take the dangerous and sometimes deadly journey to get here. Banerjee and Duflo in their book Poor Economics talk about bad institutions and corruption; “those who have power under the current political institutions get to make sure that the economic institutions work toward making them rich, and once they are rich enough they can usually use their wealth to forestall any attempts to move them out of power (2011, p. 238).” The ultimate goal of those in political institutions is not to create better lives for the poor in their communities, it is to better their own life. Many migrants to the United States realize that we have programs and policies that can help their families. We have TANF, SNAP, WIC and housing assistance. These programs along with agriculture jobs are what drive migrants to our Country. Food banks, help provide security to these families in that they can feed their families and All Faith Community Services can help migrant families fill out applications for any other assistance they may …show more content…
Reading books, watching lectures and other videos can tell and show you want low-income families go through and tell you how they think the problem of poverty can be solved but until you get out in the real world and interact with those earn little income you have no idea. The greatest learning experience that I feel I can have is to feel emotion in situations. Seeing the struggles that low-income families have makes me want to get out and try to make a difference. If I had only been reading the books and watching the lectures I would have never had the experiences I did and want to get involved because it doesn’t affect me. Without the Service Learning Project its like you are watching a movie. The real issues are what’s behind the movie screen, you have to get up and walk behind the screen to really have an idea of what is