Filipino girl age 11, hangs herself due to poverty

Autumn2004

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This story just broke my heart :( I hate it when kids have to worry about food and clothing when this should not even be a concern in their lives.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...ews.html?in_article_id=492472&in_page_id=1811

Filled with despair at her poverty-stricken life in a shack, an 11-year-old girl wrote in a diary how she wished for new shoes and jobs for her parents – then slipped a rope around her neck and hanged herself.

And in her diary the girl, whose family live in a flimsy hut that has no running water or electricity, told how she missed school and did not even have the money to go to church.


Her grief-stricken father, Isabelo Amper, 49, a jobless construction worker, said Mariannet had asked him for 100 pesos (£1) which she needed for school projects.


"I told her I did not have the money, but I would ask my wife if she could get it for her," he said. "The next morning I was able to get a small cash advance but by the time I got home Mariannet was dead."

A neighbour said of them: "The Amper family are always being discriminated against. They're poor, the kids are dirty and the other kids don't want to play with them. Because they're very poor, they've been rejected by their neighbours."

But the Social Weather Stations institute, which monitors the poor, said that some nine million Filipino families rated themselves poor and many of those experienced "severe hunger" in recent months.
 
What a tragic story. I have been very poor and I know where these kids are coming from, but I would never have thought about dying. Bless her family.
 
What a sad story, I cannot believe a young girl of 11 is under so much stress and cannot bear to live, kids that age should be kids, what is happening in todays world that young children take their lives because it is better to be dead than alive, doesnt say much for the economy does it.

I remember when I was 11, we were not rich, both my parents worked to have a roof over our heads, food on the table and pay the bills, my only thoughts then were couldnt wait to get out and play with my friends. I couldnt imagine thinking that life was so bad I would be better off dead.

I dont understand why governments dont do something about families living in such poverty, and there are many countries including mine where people are living way below the poverty line, yet the governments send money elsewhere when it is so badly needed in their own countries.

Im am sorry for the rant, but it just broke my heart to hear about this young girl taking her life because she couldnt stand to live anymore.

My prayers and heartfelt thought are with this young girls family.
 
This is just too sad for words. Bless you Honey, may you never have to worry about anything again...
 
This truly brought tears to my eyes. That poor angel. May she rest in peace and may her parents stay strong :(
 
This is almost too sad to find words to write. That poor young girl may have felt so bad and had such little self esteem having had been shunned by neighbors and others. This family needed help from their more fortunate neighbors and others in the community and government. They were instead overlooked or mocked. Pitiful.

I can't imagine what her parents are going through, now. Not only are they grieving the loss of a young child--the hardest grieving possible, but they may feel terribly guilty. May that sweet, little girl rest in peace and never feel pain again.

Lion
 
Sounds like the shunning and mistreatment by friend and neighbors caused most of the girl's unhappiness.
 
I can't even begin to imagine being 11 and having no hope. That poor little girl.
 
Poor little girl. This is so heart breaking.
 
My dad grew up very poor himself. They were share croppers on a cotton farm, 13 kids being raised in a two bedroom home. In those days you had more children if you were share croppers since you were a more wanted family with more hands to pick. He remembers vividly of snow coming in through holes in the roof in the winter, rarely having meat and mostly bean and potatoes dinners with biscuits. You rarely ever went to the dr. and my dad almost died from gangrene from a burst appendix that he knew his parents didnt have the money for him to have medical treatment. No indoor plumbing at all. They also had local support since in this town many people were in the same position. He remembers a very happy childhood even though they never were truly full from dinner and some nights they didnt have enough to go around so he always gave it to his younger brothers and sisters. He still is that way and would gladly give the shirt off his back to help others, he went without food many times in vietnam and shared his rations with the kids in vietnam. He never had a dessert growing up, their desserts were snow creme and blocks of ice off the ice truck that they chipped off.

I do see that there situation was much worse but I have a feeling if she would have had more suppourt from neighbors and friends it might not have pushed her over the edge to this. I also wonder if she did this so her family would have more food. Heartbreaking either way. It makes me so mad at the phillipines government. My retired physician was from there and he stated many times that the country had money but they refused to help the impoverished. Im so sick of countries (U.S. included) who look the other way at people truly suffering.
 
Autumn, poverty is a problem here too and I feel exactly the same as you, why doesnt the government help those in need, we donate to charities who help those who are struggling, but the governments should make more of an effort to help.

Sounds like your dad is a very giving person, people who have lived it understand. Hope he is more comfortable these days.
 
Don't you guys know about other parts of the world???? This Filipino girl actually had it GOOD compared to millions of people. A lot of kids in the world don't even get the chance to GO to school much less ask for money for projects. A lot of kids live on the street since they can't "afford" a shack!!

I've seen poor with missing limbs, blind, deaf, etc. and they still eek out an existence. This girl had all of her faculties and she still killed herself. MILLIONS in world live in worse shape that she did. Open your eyes to the world!
 
Don't you guys know about other parts of the world???? This Filipino girl actually had it GOOD compared to millions of people. A lot of kids in the world don't even get the chance to GO to school much less ask for money for projects. A lot of kids live on the street since they can't "afford" a shack!!

I've seen poor with missing limbs, blind, deaf, etc. and they still eek out an existence. This girl had all of her faculties and she still killed herself. MILLIONS in world live in worse shape that she did. Open your eyes to the world!

Our eyes are open, we have just been talking about this topic, I know there are worse out there, but we would have tostart another thread, we are kind of drifting off topic on this thread as it is.
Please dont judge us because of our comments on this thread. I have seen first hand people who suffer here and all over the world.
 
Shazza- He moved up to Michigan at the age of 18 and was drafted then met my mom and was fortunate to get a job at general motors so he did very well for himself, we didnt have everything we wanted but I was fortunate to have everything I needed. He always helped his family and regularly sent money down to them. We usually went down there once a year and my dad helped with family members cars and houses since not only was he familiar with car repairs but he is kind of a handyman. I think it makes a huge difference on where you come from and how much you help out sometimes, you understand more how hard it is.

Um&amwfan- I agree others are much worse off. I have been to Nicaragua and seen children living on the streets and having their legs blown off due to land mines. Our government declined to help them after we tore their country up many years ago. But I dont see how discussing her suffering, which they are, is any less important than others.
 
There are so many people who suffer all over the world, and I dont make light of the subject, this thread is about a little girl who hung herself at the age of 11 so that is what we have been discussing. It breaks my heart to know that what I have, many dont have, I dont take anything for granted, I wish there was more that I could do to help those in need. We are who we are because of the choices we make in life, but there are plenty who dont get choices, they are dealt a raw deal, but governments can help more than they are, I bet if you added up what each individual donated whether it be money, time or products, it would add up to a lot more than the government give, I have volunteered my help to those in need and donate money to charities, given to the poor, and Im sure there are thousands more out there that do this too.
So once again in reply to to UM&AMWfan my eyes are open to the struggles of many in the world.
 
I agree us as people can only help so much, unfortunately it doesnt make much of a dent. I feel very fortunate to grow up in this country. I dont like many things that go on nowadays but I realize how in some other countries I wouldnt have any choices to how my future is.
 
Please do not yell at me but..... for an 11 yo to be so sad?? Didn't her parents play some part in this?

I mean if her parents had money problems they did not need to unload on their very young daughter. Obviously they talked of all their hardship in front of her.
You can be very poor money wise and your children would be none the wiser if you don't tell them. You cannot miss what you never had.
 
This story has just absolutely brought me to tears. My heart just breaks for this little girl and the fact that she was so sad. It's obvious that she did have some things sometimes. Like they were able to go to church at times, it said in her diary about how they couldn't go one day because they didn't have money to go and her dad was sick with a fever, so they did go before, hence she had it before and missed it. She did go to school before and couldn't now because they didn't have money and they'd stopped counting her absenses and she now missed it. Her dad was older and discriminated against because he was older. Other kids didn't want to play with them because they were so poor so she must have seen other kids with bikes, and she wished for one and wished for jobs for her parents...she was only 11, she was a child she was not going to be thinking 'other people have it worse in other parts of the world'. I doubt very much she had TV, cable and internet access to know about the situations in Uganda, Ethiopia and so forth. She was a little girl that had dreams...she wished to go to school. This is a sad story.
 

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