Almost one in three of Britains children live in poverty today and thats three times as many as in the 70s. In Newcastle alone nearly 17,000 are living on the breadline as families fall in to the vicious trap of debt. Here, young people have their say on poverty.
| I can’t claim benefits. I have to rely on friends and relatives for money. It makes me feel ashamed. It’s horrible. |
Leanne Allison, 8
"Poor people have to pick their food out of the bin. Poverty is people who have no money and no clothes, people who have to sit in doorways. Poor people do not have homes. I saw this man in the town next to the shop and I put this money in this thing for him. He was wearing clothes with holes in and they were dead baggy."
Lyndsey Smeaton, 11
"Being poor is having no income, not having a home or a bed to sleep on, kipping on benches. I saw lots of people in London sleeping at the Tube stations. I think it's horrible. I don't see people lying on the streets here at 11pm like they do in London. They should be given homes."
Emma Dickman, 9
"When someone lives out on the street you can tell that they are poor. People who sit in doorways when they are out in the cold are poor. They have got to look in bins for food because they have no money to buy food for themselves. They need clothes that can keep them warm in the cold weather. I've seen poor people in grey and black clothes. They were dirty."
Steven Boyle, 17
"Poverty is being totally skint, having nowhere to live and having no work. I've been unemployed since leaving school but I can't claim benefits. I have to rely on friends and relatives for money. It makes me feel ashamed. It's horrible. I can't buy any new clothes. I even have to borrow money to go to job interviews."
Emma Allison, 11
"Being poor is having no money and no house. Poverty means that you can't buy new clothes. Tramps and homeless people are the poorest. They get ill because they are out in the cold. I feel sorry for them. People who are starving are the worst off."
Lindsay Marchant, 16
"I've seen a poor person before. He had a trolley and was pulling stuff out of bins and all the possessions that he ever owned were in the trolley. As he was pushing the trolley he was stopping at every bin and picking out things. He had dirty clothes on and his hair was all ratty."
Simon Mather, 12
"Poor people have got no houses. They've got no money. Because they've no houses they've got to walk around the streets and look in bins. People need houses to keep them warm. Poor people need a drink."
About this article
This article was published in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle.
