Simple Life 2013 Jan 16

I don't know how many of these videos I will get to film. This was taken by chance and I've been wanting to do this, just without the courage. Here's a student from my school, a third grader who was from here, but left for the city with his mom for two years before being sent back to live with his grandparents. He's considered lucky, because he got to live with his mom for a while. The other little girl in the video is a first grader. I asked her where her parents are and how often she gets to see them. She just said once a year, for a few days. This is pretty much the norm here. This boy is also the best performing student in his class, academic wise, simply because he's been to school in the city before. The expectations between city and rural is huge. The kids here lack stimulation from home because they are mostly raised by their grandparents who don't know any better. This is a complicated vicious cycle of inadequate education, family values and low prospects.