Running head: GLOBAL ISSUES REPORT 1

Global Issues Report

Colonias Poverty

Aileen Espinoza

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

October 29, 2018

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Abstract

The problem that is being addressed is poverty in colonias and how it affects people in the long

run, this can be due to disease or to low income or food scarcity. There are a lot of problems that

affect these people and that need to be addressed by the government and known in the public so

that people can help.

Introduction

Poverty, despair, and destitution are the livelihoods described in these colonias. The

colonias are found within the Texas and Mexican border. A lot of these communities live in

poverty and can barely maintain for themselves. Its significance is that there isn’t just plenty of

these communities, there are many of them. In Texas alone, there are about 2,300. The situation

in colonias affect the people simply because of their lifestyle. They tend to drink more alcohol,

do more crime, and not try to seek better opportunity.

Discussion

How does the situation in colonias affect people?

Studies show that people in colonias tend to drink more alcohol than other people.

According to Wallisch and Spence (2006), there is a much larger consume of alcohol in colonias

people living in poverty. In addition according to Caetano, Mikler and McGrath that researched

with the two authors mentioned a year later they concluded that drug abuse is a problem that

affects people in colonias but that also acculturation is a big factor in this problem because the

study showed that people that changed their life style the drinking problems would decrease.

This shows that the situation in colonias does affect what people do and consume and culture has

a lot to do in this topic.

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People in colonias have a more trouble taking care of their health and their family

members due to their poverty situation. According to Sharkey, Nalty, Johnson and Dean (2013),

children do not receive the right diet and it does not give them the nutrients and the healthy diet

that they need according to their age and height in order to be healthy. In addition to the research

that the authors conducted, another research and surveys took place in colonias of West Texas

(2008) this study found that people were not taking good care of their health because of low

income and this led people to addictions such as drinking. Based on this evidence we now know

that people in a poverty situation have a harder time with their health and this can become a

problem that leads people into using other type of substances.

People in colonias do not have the food that they need to have a healthy life that’s

because they cannot afford it. According to the authors from the last belief did a study that

showed the amount of food that people have while living in a colonias is not enough for them or

their children. And according to this study, this problem is affecting people very seriously

because this can cause even more problems in the long run which lead to health conditions.

(Figure 2.)

People from colonias tend to get more sick because they can’t afford the health care that

is needed for them in order to live good, this is important because health is something that

everyone has a right to and has to have.

There are some diseases that affect more people in colonias and in situation of poverty

because of their surroundings and the conditions of this places. According to Lopez, Ramirez,

dengue is one of the diseases that affect people in poverty. This confirms that the situation in

colonias does affect people’s health and life because due to the conditions there are some

diseases that become stronger like dengue that comes with mosquitoes.
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Even though people in colonias have a harder time in their lifes there are still some

opportunities that can help them succeed and have more chances of getting into higher education

and anything that they need or want. This is important because this people need all the help,

according to May, Bowman, Ramos and other authors that participated in this study (2003),

people in colonias have a very low income and live in a very poor situation but there’s still things

that they can do in order to improve their life.

People colonias must find their own ways to find their own ways to make money and buy

food, because their economic status does not allow them to get everything that they need, and

they need some extra money for them to be healthy. According to Sharkey, Wesley and Johnson

(2012), people in colonias sell things (Figure 1.) , this can be food or have their little stores, that

help them get extra money and that way have a better chance of having better food and better

opportunities. In addition according to Valdez and Dean in a study conducted a few months later

in 2012 they address that people in colonias can have health problems due to this kind of food

that is being consumed because this people sell what is cheap and easy and because of this it

doesn’t have a very nutritious value and its causing people to be overweight and to have obesity

problems.

Drugs are one of things that affect more in colonias. According to Swanson, Linskey,

Salinas, Pumariega and Holzer (1992) drug use in colonias in the border can affect young adults

and lead to suicide rates increase considerably this is important because the use of this

substances affects everyone that consumes them and affects every aspect of their lives, leaving

them with less money and less opportunities to grow also, according to Benjet, Borges, Mora,

Fleiz, Blanco, Zambrano, Rojas and Ramirez (2007) based on their research they found that

adolescents in Mexico have tried illicit drugs and this is a survey that was conducted to teenagers
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that are between the age of 12-17, it has become a very bad problem that is now affecting kids,

the age range keeps going down and there is no control over the really bad things that this

substances can cause.

People in colonias find their own ways to survive and to eat, sometime these situations

can be even more difficult, because people in colonias live in extreme poverty and this affects

their ways of living. According to authors that were mentioned in past paragraphs the food and

the low nutrients that kids receive in their diets their health is getting worse and worse which

affects them and also their families because this type of problems lead to medical needs that can

not be afforded by the family, also according to the authors this problems are one of the most

severe ones because they affect the majority of the colonias population and the number and

percentages are increasing rapidly, this issue is very important because the sooner it is addressed

the sooner this people get a better lifestyle and can get what they need in order to live healthy

and better each day.

There are a lot of opportunities for people in colonias to go into higher education, this is

important because the government and universities have a lot of options for people with low

economic income which can help them get a degree and get a better opportunity of making their

situation better. According to some research that was conducted in 2017 universities offer

scolarships and the government provides financial aid to people that have low income and can

not provide education to their kids. This issue is important because people in colonias need to get

the same opportunities as everyone and a chance to get better and get a career and a degree.
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Conclusion

The situation in colonias affect the people because of the lifestyle. They devote

themselves to drinking, or even crime. Only in Texas, there are about 2,300 colonias. So, there

aren’t just plenty of colonias, there are a big amount of colonias along the U.S. These colonias

live in poverty and can’t sustain for themselves or their families due to their low income. They

are found within the Mexican and the U.S. border. Their livelihoods could be described as

disparity, and destitution.

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Figures

Figure 1. Example of a mobile vendor that sells fruit in a colonia.

Figure 2. Photograph of people with no food in a poor areas.