49 Practical Activities and Methods for Human Rights Education > Horoscope of poverty

Horoscope of poverty

Can you see into the future? What will next year bring for Amina or to Misha?

Themes	Poverty, Globalisation, Social rights
Complexity	Level 3
Group size	15 - 21
Time	60 minutes
Overview	This activity combines knowledge and creative composition to explore issues about the consequences of poverty and the opportunities in life which are denied to the poor.
Related rights	The right to food and housing The right to health The right to work
Objectives	To reflect on both the lack of opportunities poor people have, and the difficulties they face in taking those which are presented To understand the cycle of poverty To promote social justice, human dignity and responsibility
Materials	12 Horoscope cards 12 Life cards One sheet of paper and a pencil for each participant Large sheet of paper or flipchart or board Markers or chalk Tape
Preparation	Copy the Horoscope and Life cards and cut them out. Make up three sets of cards so there are four life cards with their corresponding horoscope cards in each set. Put each set in a separate envelope so that they don't get muddled up.

Instructions

• Introduce the activity. Talk briefly about horoscopes in general. Do participants ever read them? Do they believe them? What sorts of information do they usually give?
• Divide the participants into three small groups and give each one a set of Life cards together with the corresponding Horoscope cards.
• Give the groups twenty minutes to write fantasy horoscopes for the four lives on their cards. They should use their imagination, intuition and general knowledge to foretell what will happen to the people in the coming year. Stress that there are no right or wrong answers, but that they should try to make the predictions within the scope of reality.
• When they have finished, call people into plenary. In turn, ask each group to present their work. They should first read out the information on the life cards so everyone is introduced to the different characters, and then they should read out the horoscopes.
• Finally tape the life cards and the predictions onto the large sheet of paper to make a wall chart.

Debriefing and evaluation

Start the discussion by asking each group to explain how they decided the futures of each of their characters. Then go on to try to define poverty and finally move on to discuss the consequences of poverty.

• What images do participants have of people who are poor? In their own country and in developing countries? Are these stereotypes? How well-founded are the images? Where do people get their information from?
• What do participants understand by the term poverty?
• Might someone be regarded as 'rich' if they lived in one country and 'poor' if they lived in another? In other words, is poverty relative?
• In your society, why are some people rich and others poor?
• What are the main passports out of poverty, both in your country and in Eritrea, one of the poorest countries in the world? Having a rich uncle? Winning the lottery? Having an education? Being healthy? Knowing the right people? Working hard? What else?
• How easy is it for people who are poor to break the circle of poverty? In other words, how hard is it for someone born into a poor family not to be poor as an adult?
• What kinds of opportunities do people have when they are rich?
• What kinds of opportunities do people have when they are poor?
• Is it people's own fault that they are poor? Is it their fate? Is it because of social, political and economic forces?
• Poverty often goes hand in hand with poor health, hunger and malnutrition, lack of education, poor work skills and unemployment. Is it a coincidence or are they connected? If so, what are the connections?
• In general how do people view/treat poor people?
• What sort of political and social policies lead to the best opportunities for life for all citizens?
• To what extent is education a key to reducing poverty in your country?
• In almost every country of the world, the gap between rich and poor is increasing. The gap is also increasing between countries. What are the consequences of this for Europe?
• Does it matter that the gap is widening? If people think it does matter, then whose responsibility is it to act to reduce the gap?
• What can individuals, groups, local communities and nations do to close the gap?

Tips for facilitators

Make it clear to participants that this is a fantasy horoscope and that it is not necessary to be an astrologer or know anything about the characteristics traditionally attributed to the signs of the zodiac. Rather, they should focus on the details given in the life stories on the cards and use their own general knowledge and knowledge of history, economics and sociology. The "love" item in the horoscope cards should be taken to refer not only to the love life of the individual, but also their relationships with family and friends.

Variations

You can adapt the life stories or replace all or some of them with others you find more interesting or appropriate. You can also replace these stories by real cases you know of, or have heard of, in your own community or country.

Suggestions for follow-up

Women are frequently the sole breadwinners in the family, either because they are single parents, or because their partners are out of work. However, women are often discriminated against in the workplace and, if social support is lacking, it is often extremely hard to both work and bring up a family. If the group are interested in exploring some of these issues, they could do the activity "Work and babies".

We can speculate over our horoscopes, but our future is not written in the stars, it is what we make it. Nonetheless, we do need to have ideals and visions to work towards.. You may like to do the activity, "Dreams" in the all different all equal education pack and let people share their hopes and aspirations for the future.

Ideas for action

Offer your support to an NGO or association that is working with people who are poor and trying to create opportunities for them. You could identify a local group and find out what their needs are, then develop a project to raise funds.