Dude, where are all the boys?

Last night and today we have been visiting villages within the city that are mostly occupied by trash pickers. These are families that literally dig through the trash cans of the city everyday looking for materials they can sell. In doing this we have discovered a huge problem.

Last night we came across a family who had 6 girls and they lived in 1 small room. That’s grandma, grandpa, mom, dad and 6 girls in a room about the size of my bedroom in America. I can’t even begin to describe the situation they were living in (we filmed it and interviewed them). The lady and her husband have basically put themselves in this situation all because they want a son. Their first child was a boy but he was stolen as a baby (another huge problem in poor parts of China).

The kids all go to school but this generational poverty is very hard to break. This morning in another area we met the same situation and heard of countless other stories of the same vein. Families with too many kids (all girls) putting them deeper and deeper into poverty.

How do you change something like that?