poverty simulation

I went to a poverty simulation and it really changed my view of what it was like to be in poverty. We each were assigned a new identity which we had to be for the rest of the time during the simulation. My identity was a 25 year old male with a girlfriend and 1 year old child. We were homeless and I had a job.The time I did make it to my job, I was not treated with any respect and they paid me hardly anything. It was hard and frustrating to get through each week. We had transportation passes that represented the time it took to get where ever we needed to go. We then had 15 minutes to represent each week. We did not have enough transportation passes for me to go to work, so we had to get enough money to do that. It was really difficult and frustrating. By the time I got the transportation passes, I had lost my job because I missed to many weeks. It was really frustrating to try to get out of being homeless. I couldn't even do simple things such as cash checks to get housing and pay for things I needed such as food and other necessities. The mortgage person yelled at me for wasting her time and coming back to much. The banker was also very rude and made me frustrated. I had never had such a hard time trying to simple things. It made me realize how much it helps to have items like transportation and a checking account. I was running around like crazy trying to get things done, but no matter what I did I did not have time to figure out a thing. Even people who were supposed to help us did not.They would say they would help us but then not give us anything just because they felt like it. They would sometimes, but most of the time they were not very nice either. It was also difficult not knowing exactly what everyone offered to get he proper help. If I would have known certain things it would have been much easier and maybe I would have moved out of being homeless.

It was an excellent simulation that I will use in the future when I am working as a dietitian. It gives you a complete different perspective on poverty and what it is like for someone who is going through that. When I am in an internship or practice, I will not be frustrated when someone is 10 minutes late.I will not make a deal about them being late and act rude to them just because of that. I will understand that it may of taken them all day to get there or just been really hard for them. I will also understand that people don't always have access to the food they need. It also may not be a priority for them to have proper nutrition because they are just trying to get through every day. I will be more aware of programs that can help people get the proper nutrition that they need. This way they need money to get the proper access to food. They can get better nutrition and improve their quality of life. It definitely made me realize how hard it is for some people and that I am lucky to have the experiences and chances that I have.