Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

Here's the long awaited article on Grocery Gap Project, which will be published in The Link, a Cheraw newspaper. It is like a follow up to my previous Grocery Gap post. Thank you to everyone in CCCC for this great summer experience! Enjoy the article!

Breaking the Cycle of Poverty
By Rui Jiang

“Well, you know what I see around here? People on food stamps buy the most expensive products,” a grocery store employee told me as she guided me to find food prices for my shopping list for a family on food stamps. She turned around only to see my disbelieving face, “What? You don’t believe me? I suppose they just don’t know how to budget.” Thinking to myself, “Yeah, there are a lot of us who don’t know how to budget. But that lack of budgeting skills must affect the food-stamp recipients more.” She went on, “At the beginning of the month, our registers never rest, but by the end, we hardly have any food-stamps customers.” She paused, thinking back for a second, “I have been in the grocery business for years, and this is what I have observed.”

I certainly did not expect to hear this comment while shopping for the Grocery Gap Project. Did she mean that food-stamp recipients buy expensive foods for half of the month until their food stamps run out and live on barely anything for the other half? It sounded extreme to me, but it is true that many food stamp recipients live in near starvation at the end of the month due to a lack of food stamps. Even the News and Observer wrote an article about how people are pinched by the high food prices and the stagnant food stamp allotments. Most people run out of food stamps by mid-month according to the article. As a Duke intern at the Chesterfield County Coordinating Council, one of my responsibilities was to help the Health Subcommittee investigate how one can eat healthily on a tight budget. The Grocery Gap Project idea came from Marlboro County where Mrs. Karen Butler and her staff conducted a similar study. The Chesterfield County Coordinating Council wanted to know if people in Chesterfield County could eat healthily too, especially since food prices have skyrocketed.

During my first meeting with Mrs. Butler to set up this project, I distinctly remember her asking me, “So, if the circumstances around a family are preventing them from getting a job, an education, and a healthy life, what should we do? A better question, where do we start? How can we change the situations?”

I stared at her, expecting some kind of an answer, but it did not come. All too often, the circumstances that keep a family in poverty form a hard-to-break cycle. If someone is not healthy, then he or she cannot work to earn money, especially if he or she does not have a high school diploma. Without much money, an individual cannot afford to pay bills or medical expenses, much less buy more expensive healthy foods. Without nutritious foods or good medical treatment, their health will not improve, and they are back to where they started. For Karen and the Health Subcommittee, they have decided to attack the cycle by improving the health of the people.

They say that you are what you eat. In order to promote health, we have to look at our diets. My job was to determine whether a typical family on food stamps in Chesterfield County- single mom with two kids under 8, earning a gross of $800 a month- could afford a healthy diet. We developed a meal plan based on the government’s Thrift Food Plan with a few southern touches such as having tea rather than some other beverage. By the time I went into grocery stores to catalogue prices, I had read my fair share of literature on food stamps and previous Grocery Gap Projects, and I expected everything except the employee’s comment.

For example, I was not shocked to find that the healthy diet costs 50%-60% over the food stamp budget, which allots $2 to $3 worth of food a day per person. Granted, the food stamps program does not expect a family to rely solely on this money for food. However, since families cannot use food stamps to buy non-food items, such as paper towels, they have to use their income to buy those essentials. In turn, food stamps are the only money left for food.

I was prepared to hear one single mother’s tale about how she cannot afford fresh fruits and vegetables for her kids. As she puts it, “When you are comparing a bag of 10 cakes for a dollar versus a bag of 8 to 9 apples and oranges for four or five dollars, what’s a mother on a budget going to do?” I was not surprised to find that mothers on food stamps sacrifice eating healthy foods so that their kids can have the best food. Two separate studies on obesity trends in food-stamp recipients actually reported that mothers on food stamps are vulnerable to obesity due to this practice. As the community, we should make sure that these mothers do not have to sacrifice their health for their children’s health due to monetary reasons. I understood that transportation and high gas prices limit people from going to the cheapest grocery store, or in some cases, the only grocery store that is 17 miles away. I even agree that the food-stamp program should incorporate car payments as a permanent part of the calculation for the net income qualification, so that more hard-working people can receive the support that they desperately need. What caught me off guard was the comment by the grocery store employee. Could one of the factors contributing to running out of food stamps be a lack of budgeting skills?

Our initial goal of targeting health as a way to change the circumstances around a family has expanded to the question of poverty and a lack of healthy foods, which circles back to ill health. People need whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, all of which has become a luxury when someone on food stamps lives on only $2 to $3 a day. While the insufficient funds and high prices of produce are to blame for the inability of shoppers to buy them, people can take steps like budgeting to make their provisions last longer. Often, we expect people on food stamps to budget better than ourselves, but it is not always the case as the grocery store employee pointed out. Thus, the community should provide some budgeting tips, especially for those who need them the most.

What can be said about these results and the observations? My short study over the last eight weeks has shown that although the food stamps program comes short when providing a healthy diet for a needy-family, there are budgeting steps that the recipients can take to bridge that gap. This does not mean that simple budgeting would solve the problem, because with groceries that cost 50% over the allowed budget, even the thriftiest people have trouble making ends meet. What I am suggesting is for us to take steps to empower our fellow citizens so that we can break the ugly cycle of poverty and bad health and make our community a better place.

The Future is Bright

[For all visitors who are visiting my blog for the first time, you should read my first blog, which was in May, to understand the purpose of my blog. Enjoy your visit here!]

As you can see from my previous blog, which shows the actual evaluations from the kids at my science camp, I enjoyed my time with these awesome, smart and energetic middle schoolers. I can’t believe that I had felt apprehensive going into this camp. I know that we had the brightest kids, which makes a difference. These kids actually care about science and are excited.

One of the favorite activities for these kids was making slim. Who doesn't like slimmy gooey green stuff? One boy discovered that the slime is very elastic, so he took it upon himself to place it in his shirt to simulate an artificial heart. When I asked, "What can you make with polymers?" he said, “I want to make the next artificial heart!” I was pleasantly surprised by his ambition. Then I reflected… you know, these kids will one day be the next great scientist and leader. I am glad that this science camp could open up their minds to discover things to which they probably have never given a thought.

The second most exciting event of the day was making root beer with dry ice. I had seen this experiment when I was in 6th grade and decided that it was the greatest thing ever! The kids obviously thought so too. When I placed the dry ice into the root beer syrup, it began to fuzz and bubble. A giant cloud of fog flew out of the tall cooler, just like a witch’s brew. I could see the eyes grow bigger and bigger as they focused in on the carbonation process. There were "wooohs" and "ahhhs" all around the room. When the bubbling finally died down, everyone lined up to taste the home-made root beer—even the kids who don’t like root beer. One kid said, “This is like 10 times better than the root beer I have at home!” Haha, this must be the I-can’t-believe-that-I-just-made-root-beer factor.

I distinctly remember one boy walking up to me and said, “How much was the dry ice?” “Um, about $1.50 a pound,” I replied. “Oooooooh!” The boys’ eyes grew round, and they turned to each other, “I have $500… We can start our own root beer company, and we can name it the JZB Root Beer for each of our names!” I was so tickled by the idea of their own root beer company.

Teaching these kids also meant being a part of their lives. But listening to what they have to go through in life really shocked me. For example, I heard that some of the kids come to school after walking on the streets for an entire night! If they can go through something like this and triumph, then they are my heros.

I am glad that Duke students can be role models for these kids. Maybe if they know that someone has broken barriers that they think are impossible to break, then they will think that they can break them too.

Evaluations From the Kids for Science Camp

I thought that nothing could better describe my experience with the science camp than the evaluations that the kids gave on the very last day. Here's are most of the evaluations. They are the exact evaluations, and I only corrected some of the spelling to make it easier to read.

Evaluation for Science Camp: Write one thing that you liked about the camp, one thing that you didn’t like, and one thing that can be improved.”
Actual Evaluations (with spelling corrections):

“1) Things I liked about this summer camp are that we have all had the chance to learn about different chemicals.
2) One thing that I didn’t like about this camp is that it was only four days.
3) Your camp can’t be improved because it’s already the best.”

“I liked the ice cream, the experiments and the diet coke and the globber. I *heart* Mrs. Rave, Mrs. Saha, Mrs. Cloe, Mrs. Kyli, Mr. Anthony, Mr. Mathew, Mr. Will.
I didn’t like NOTHING.
My suggestions are… we should of did something that involved chemicals and test tubes. IT WAS FREAKEN Awesome!”

“It was fun. We made stuff like root beer. It was awesome. Thank you!”

“Things I liked about this camp: We got to test things that we didn’t get to do in school! We got to make unusual things for science (in school) like making a dough volcano, root beer & Ice cream!
Things I disliked about this camp: actually I liked everything!
An experiment I wish we could’ve done: I wish we could’ve mixed drinks or punches like coke, or Pepsi/fruit punch!
Dear Rec Dept,
This was a great camp. Also have a vocal camp for 12 year-olds!”

“What I like about the camp: the fun experiments.
What did I not like: how short it was.
I think that next time you have chemical camp you should make more stuff explode and make camp longer.”

“What I liked about the camp is that it is fun, creative and cool. What I didn’t like is that it only lasts from Mon-Thurs. I would have like to see it last for at least 2 weeks. I don’t have any suggestions. Thank you. This camp Rocks!!!”

“I really loved this chemistry camp, but personally I’m more of an all around science person. If it were just science in general, I would add dissecting something, but that’s just me. Besides that it was great. I don’t have a favorite ‘cause I loved it all. Chemistry was an extremely awesome camp.”

“What I liked about the camp was everything :).
What I disliked about this camp was nothing.
What needs to be improved, nothing. Just have the same people do the camp again. They were really nice :)”

“I like was it was very cool and I had a lot of fun: also wish that it could be a longer camp because I really liked all my friends and the college students and I think they liked me too and I be a scientist because it’s so rocks.”

“I liked the ice cream. I didn’t like shaking the ice cream bag. I wish the camp was longer.”

“I really enjoyed this camp, I pretty much disliked nothing about it here. It’s kind of let me learn a little more about science. Also, it was worth taking 8 hours of my time.”

“I loved making stuff that I could take home and show my family. The only problem is that I feel like a nerd when I tell them I went to a chemistry camp. We need more stuff to take home. Bye!”

“They should have a snack everyday! And a huge party at the end!”

“Overall, this camp was fun! The things I liked about this camp was the staff and the experiments. The one thing I disliked about this camp was it was so SO short. More experiments would be great!”

“It was awesome. I liked everything about it. It was amazing.”

“I liked science camp and everything about it. If we have it next year, I’ll come then.”

“This was the funniest camp related to science ever. I loved everything. It was so much fun.”

“1. What I liked best was everything! I had never done any of the experiments we did, so I got to do new things. I didn’t know what each experiment would turn out like, and I thought it was really cool! I want to show my parents how it is all done. But they probably won’t enjoy it as much as I did!
2. There was nothing I didn’t enjoy.
3. I can’t really think of anything else I would like to do. I twas all very fun. I learned a lot, and I would be happy doing anything else.”

“Liked: everything! It was all so fun!
Disliked: nothing
Improvements: nothing! No improvements! Chemistry camp rocks!”

First day of science camp… Explosion!

Wow, I am amazed at the imagination of kids. Today was the first day of science camp, and I am tired, but extremely glad. After all of the planning, it finally goes into action, and I can’t believe how well the kids enjoyed the activity.

The idea came to me when I saw that the science teacher had lots and lots of salt, oil, vinegar, and baking soda. Hum, I wonder what kind of experiment I can make with those ingredients. Of course, the classical vinegar and baking soda volcano came to my mind. From what the science teacher said, most of these students have never done this classical childhood experiment before!

Even though I have done the baking soda and vinegar experiment, I have never made an actual volcano. When I was trying out the experiment at the apartment, I decided that the dough was the perfect play dough. Instead of just making a volcano, I was inspired by the latest Indiana Jones movie, so I made an alien on the side of the volcano. Then I proceeded to make a little cat or pig thing, a car, and another small volcano island. I realized that the kids could have some fun with the dough and use their imagination to create their own volcano island. I thought that the kids should have a competition to see who can make the coolest island.

At the beginning of my class, I decided to use the song about the definition of chemistry that my friend Betsy and several other GSSM friends had made up in Intro Chemistry in JC’s class. I thought that it would be a great way for us to get a kick-start on the camp. It goes something like this (Sing this to the tune of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”):

Chemistry is defined as
the science of the materials
of the universe and
the changes that they undergo.
So it’s root, root, root for a fun summer.
Explosions, reaction galore,
For it’s 1, 2, 3 wholes days at the science camp!

I made up the refrain… I am impressed with my lyrical skills. Anyhow, the class started off with me explaining some basics of chemistry. Some of the kids already knew everything, but the majority did not. There were two kids who were entering the 5^th grade! This camp was targeting rising 7^th and 8^th graders. Those two sure have a head start than anyone else in their grade.

While the kids were going to the back to retrieve their materials and making the actual volcano, the classroom atmosphere was similar to a rocking boat in a storm with a thin string attached to the shore. There were definitely a lot of confusion and craziness, but I had a great crew of teachers who went around helping kids to fill up their bottles and constantly cleaning after them. The science teacher was great! I couldn’t have done the class without her. She gave me valuable advices like repeating the instructions after each stage of the experiment. I have learned that kids don’t remember instructions, nor do they read instructions. I have to constantly remind them. I also learned that I have to have my measurements exactly right, or else I have to deal with lots of drippy dough. I have also found out that having extra materials helps a LOT.

Through out the class, I went around to each table to check out what they were doing. I helped out with securing structures on the volcano, and I got to talk to them about their creations. What the kids came up with impressed me quite a bit. They were allowed to use food coloring, so this was very colorful.

One team decided to make an extremely drippy gray and green volcano with inspirations by Dr. Seuss. Another team made a volcano of multiple color patches, which turned out to be very artistic. One team, with a ten-year-old who started to cross pollinate his grandpa’s lilies at the age of five, made an entire house on their volcano, complete with a farm, a tree, a rose bush, a pond and a goat (who, according to the kid, was stuck on the hill as the volcano exploded). One boy made a pig face, while some other boys made several animals and placed one of the animal’s head on the opening of the volcano. Of course, its head was blasted in the “explosion.” Another group made a graveyard with a dough barrier so that in the explosion, the foam could not reach the grave. Another team made a heart on their volcano. I just really enjoyed watching them making these volcanoes. I promise that I will have the photos up as soon as I can.

I think the other teachers enjoyed talking to the kids. When we asked this one kid what he wanted to do when he grows up, he said, “I want to be the founder and CEO of an international bank.” Wow, I am impressed that he has such a big dream. But everything starts with a dream right? If I can’t dream, how I can reach beyond what I think I am able to do? I think all of the kids in the classroom have so much potential. I don’t want them to loose steam as they grow up and enter high school.

The most dramatic moment of that day was when I counted down to the explosion. Everyone had to finish making their volcano and clean up their lab counters before we allowed them to pour the vinegar into the baking soda solution. So here we all are, in the science classroom, everyone had his or her goggles properly placed. In each team, one kid held the vinegar bottle precariously over the opening of the volcano, while the other kid stared intensely at the opening… waiting for something to happen. There was not a single noise in the room. I could feel that the suspense and the heavy breathing in anticipation of something great. I really should have taken a picture. It was classic. Then I yelled, “3, 2, 1, and let it explode!”

The designated vinegar pourer dumped the vinegar in and the bubbles came up as predicted. There were “wooo’s and ahhh’s” all over the room. It made them so happy, which made me glad. Now we have an entire showcase full of volcanoes on the back table. Can’t wait for what tomorrow will bring!

Getting Ready for Science Camp!

When Abbey first mentioned the science camp, I was excited. I have always wanted to attend something like this as a kid. When I was in eighth grade, I went to a camp for geometry and a camp for meteorology in Oklahoma, and I knew that I was meant for this type of camp. Now that I get to set up a science, I included every experiment that I wish I did as a kid.

For the first day, I will ask the kids to make a baking soda-vinegar volcano. When I was trying out the experiment, I realized that it would be great if I asked the kids to create their unique volcano island. The dough that we made is like play dough. I designed my island to include things like cars, animals, and even aliens. I think that science can be creative as well. On Tuesday, I planned a slime making session for everyone. When you are a kid, you have to do something with the slimy stuff. When I made the slime, it was more like a glubber. It was not very stretchy. Hopefully, the kids will still like it. On Wednesday and Thursday, two other BNs will take over the class, and I will just be a helper. One thing that I really wanted to do is make root beer with dry ice. I did not know how difficult was it was to obtain dry ice. I called several places and had them delievered to the school. However, they only deliver the dry ice on Tuesday rather on the day that we make ice cream. If I waited, the dry ice would sublime completely by the time I need to use it. So I have to do change my schedule. No root beer floats, but at least we will see an awesome example of Henry’s law.

Some of other BNs thought we should introduce some famous scientists to the students. I thought that it was an excellent idea, so I gathered three names in Chemistry and I really admire and present them to the kids. They are Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie and Karl Landsteiner. Most people know the first two names, but not the last. Landsteiner was the person who discovered the different blood types and made blood transfusions safe. He won a Nobel Prize, but no one ever seems to know that he helped to save millions of lives. I thought it was a good exposure for the kids. I tried to make each person’s story interesting and easy to read. We will see what the kids say. In addition, I also made a brochure on “careers in chemistry” and “how to become a chemist”. For children in these parts of Carolinas, they rarely meet role models who are scientists. Maybe this camp will expand what they think they can do in the future.

The camp is not without its kinks. When I recruited my volunteers from my fellow BNs, I didn’t want them to just stand around in the classroom listening to my commands at all time. I know that most BNs are ambitious people who want to make their own style known. So I gave each person an experiment for which they can design a class. However, I did not anticipate that some people didn’t want to run a class because they felt like they didn’t know enough. It was a mistake on my part for not telling them exactly what I expected before I asked them to sign up. But all I wanted for them to do was to take that as a challenge, and I have no doubt that they would do a good job. I think this misunderstanding strained one of my relationships with a friend until I apologized.

Apologizing is probably one of the hardest things for me to do because it puts me at such a vulnerable state. For someone who was bullied a kid, I often don’t want to seem weak. But even more, I don’t want other people to feel what I felt: weak and totally at someone else’s command. I do apologize because I know that I was wrong. As hard as it is, I need to admit it and move on. As someone mentioned before, I demand respect. I demand it because I give respect to people. I don’t want to meet someone new, immediately make cynical judgments and pass them off as “honesty.” Ann Frank can teach us a thing or two.

Besides that, I am very excited about the science camp. I have resolved to call it “my science camp,” because I really want the kids to take something away from this camp. I want them to feel like this camp was helpful and fun. I feel extremely fortunate to have my former classmate in Cheraw to help me with this camp.

To be continued...

Exercise for a Cause

What could a better way to spend a Saturday than to exercise, help a good cause, and enjoy a free massage and food? After my CCCC meeting on Friday, (which went very well, and I got to make a report too), my scholarship group went up to Winston-Salem to spend the night before the Big Event. Josh Sommer, one of our famous BNs, greeted us as we received our packets for the 5K run. Abbey has been training me for it. The first time we ran for 3 miles in Cheraw, I thought I would die, but with her encouragements, I made it. Running a 5K is a big deal for me. I used to never run. Before I joined JROTC at school, I thought that I couldn’t even run a 1-mile, let alone 3 miles. If the cancer patients like Josh can fight cancer, then I can run a 5K without giving up.

Talia and I started running a bit later than everyone else. We passed a sign that said, “Set up 1mile” when we had not even felt the effect of running. Talia turned to me and said, “If that was one mile, WE should be in the Olympics.” I didn’t know that the track was only 1.5miles, so when I finished one round, I was really confused to see the finish line. In my mind, I was thinking, “No way, there is no way that I finished 3 miles in less than 20 minutes.” Then I realized that I had to run around the tracks again. That made so much more sense. For the rest of the day, I was in a good mood. It must be the endorphins.

Here comes the random part of this blog that does fit with the theme. I have to say that Mrs. Bennett is so great for providing us with different things to do. She introduced me to the Li’s who is another Chinese family in Cheraw. Their son is an alumnus from GSSM class of 1996. It was very nice to speak to another Chinese family in such a small town. Tonight, we were invited to attend a painting class at the Chesterfield Community Center that Mrs. Bennett helped to set up. I simply loved it! It has been a little bit stressful for me lately because I am in charge of making the science camp run smoothly, helping organize a kid’s day, and setting up a mini-research project. I just went all out with my painting. The instructor was saying that we should use dark colors and then work my way to a lighter color. That was all the instruction I needed. Making swirls, and straight streaks on my white board felt really therapeutic. At the end, I realized that all of my paintings were in dark colors. They weren’t bad, but they were a bit dark. When I tried to lighten up my last painting, it just didn’t work. Anyhow, I am really glad that we had the chance to do a little self-expression with paint. Plus, I was impressed with everyone else’s paintings. We were using the same tools, but everyone’s paintings turned out so differently. Matt was obviously inspired by the state park, and several girls just had some amazing splattering of paint.

The End.

An Affair to Remember

Well, I didn’t mean that kind of an affair. What I meant was a tea party, sort-of-English-style. The idea came to Abbey and me on our first day in Cheraw. Abbey’s beautiful sister, Lauren had her wedding the weekend before we started our internships in Cheraw. She had boxes of fabulous green tea left over from her wedding. The tealeaves were placed in a delicate pyramid with a wired leaf on the end. The green tea smelled so sweet and fragrant that we just awed over them. Abbey is a big fan of teas, and I fell in love with teas when my friends at GSSM introduced me to Earl Gray and lemon tea. My favorite tea by far is the green tea with locus scent by Tazo. It smells as good as it tastes.

In the cabinet, we found that there were lots of tea, and both Abbey and I brought different teas. Hum… what should we do with all these teas when there are only two girls in the apartment who drink them? It dawned upon Abbey and me at the same time that we should have a tea party! I felt so excited because it is like going back to childhood again. We would invite all of the girls, and we would all dress up in our finest tea attire. Guys weren’t invited because we figured that they would say no anyways [sorry Will!].

The plan was set. But it has to be secret because we wanted to send out handwritten invitation by snail-mail even though we live only two blocks from the rest of the scholars. Let me just say that handwriting the invitation was a bit of a challenge for me. I think I learned cursive writing in 4^th grade. After that, I never had to handwrite anything. Everything had to be typed, and my handwriting never improved after that. While writing, I struggled with the letter “b” and “r.” I had to practice writing the invitations twice before starting on the invitations. It was such a fun event because we were so secretive and traditional.

The origin of the afternoon tea started in England as a snack. Then it progressed into a three-course event with finger sandwiches, scones, and teacakes or sweets. Abbey and I decided to use a cucumber sandwich recipe that we tried at her sister’s party. I never knew that the combination of a Ritz cracker, whipped cream cheese and a slice of cucumber could be addictive. I decided that I would not attempt to make any scones because my baking skills equal zero. Instead, I chose to make a berry tart with vanilla pudding and strawberry gelatin in small filling cups. To top everything off, we had mini-éclairs with cream filling.

The tea selection was no less impressive. Since we wanted to cover all tastes, we made sure that we had green tea, black tea, white teas, and fruit teas. For two and a half hours, we sat in the little living room in the small apartment, enjoyed our teas and treats, and chatted away. It was a great way to relax. I think I want to host another tea party maybe at Duke. Be on the look out for it!