Students in the poverty simulations try to sell items to a pawn shop to make ends meet. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Childcare students take part in empathy-building “poverty simulation” in Lethbridge

Nov 20, 2019 | 11:16 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – “I think one of the things for the younger students that come into the Child and Youth Care program is, sometimes, they don’t have a lot of experience with the different agencies that are out there to support families and children, so this is an opportunity for them to see what different organizations are out there for people and what they actually do for them.”

That was a comment made by Brenda Bryson, an Instructor in Lethbridge College’s Human Services Department.

She, along with the United Way Lethbridge & South Western Alberta, had around 50 students in the Child and Youth Care, Educational Assistant, and even General Studies programs get a real-world understanding of what many of the families they will likely have to work with go through on a regular basis.

Bryson believes it is a lot easier to get into poverty than many realize and far more difficult to get out of it.

All of the students were given a character that is based on a real-life person who has struggled with poverty in one form or another.

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They then had to go to work, pay their bills, and support their families while volunteers would randomly give them “curveballs” like their fridge breaking down, an unexpected pregnancy, or needing to get their child emergency healthcare for an injury or illness.

Leanne Beusekom is a first-year student in the Child and Youth Care program with a dream of working in childcare or social services.

She described the whole experience as wild, a little chaotic, stressful, emotional, and busy.

“There was like so many different things they made us do, like we had to pay all of these bills and we didn’t have enough money and we had to figure out and prioritize what needed to get paid and where our money had to go and still get to work on time and still do all of those things, so it was really hectic trying to prioritize and schedule.”

Beusekom played a 39-year-old man in the simulation that was trying to support a wife and children, admitting that she probably relied a little too heavily on her wife and mom to raise their young ones and focused too much on work.

She told LNN that she has a whole new perspective on people who are struggling to get by.

“I feel like there’s this general idea that poor people don’t work hard and are just lazy and that’s why they’re poor, but going through this, we worked our asses off. It’s a lot of work and it’s more work than like my life [usually is] and my life is already hectic, so I feel like it really shows how hard they’re working despite what might not look like it because they’re not living in a fancy house.”

After the simulation was over, the students had a de-brief to talk about their time in the exercise.

One student called it a rat race. One said their family got evicted while another had their spouse go to jail. All of the students were able to go to a variety of organizations for help, although some proved to be more helpful than others.

Some felt they got ripped off trying to sell things at a pawn shop and everyone who got a payday cash loan to take care of their debts were overwhelmed by the interest rates. Many said they struggled to figure out where they needed to go for support services and had a tough time bouncing back and forth between the numerous groups.

The poverty simulation was organized in part by the local United Way.

Marketing and Communications and Communications Coordinator Connolly Tate-Mitchell says it was developed by the Missouri Community Action Network in the U.S. and has proven to be effective in the past with other organizations and student bodies.

If your company or group would like to take part in a poverty simulation of their own, you can contact the United Way Lethbridge & South Western Alberta.