Not only wealth is heritable, but so is poverty. Generation after generation, many families are unable to move forward, which not only deprives them of the hope for a better life but also makes their participation in social matters more difficult thus suppressing the voices of the poor. How can one be a conscious citizen and an informed voter when even their most basic conditions are lacking, and this is exploited against them by politics?
The Real Pearl Foundation decided to change this and help their communities to participate in democracy. They want to get more people to participate in local, national and EU elections, to be informed by more sources and to consider the interests of the community besides their individual needs.
How do elections work exactly? What is on the ballot paper? How to fill it in? What does a political campaign mean? What is the difference between information and propaganda? How can you find your way around and make a decision in a poll? What do I need as a citizen and what are my interests? The people of Told village discussed all these issues in thematic sessions: they learned about the Hungarian state and the European Union: who runs them and how, and about what kind of decisions we take when we vote for one candidate or another in an election. They also learnt how local governments work, they practiced how to ask the notary for help on specific issues, they mocked a public hearing and listened to guest speakers to talk to them. It was an intensive effort: in total, more than thirty different sessions have already taken place. Initial successes are also visible: in the last elections in Told, there was a clear increase in turnout.
Of course, it has been a long road. Only after years, decades of prior work and many small steps, dared the Foundation launch such a democracy programme. As a Foundation staff member said:
"No girl under 18 has given birth in Told for nine years. In the last 15 years, the number of cases requiring police intervention has fallen dramatically, too, with fewer drop-outs and absenteeism in schools. We have functioning communities."
All this is particularly important in isolated communities from which there is hardly a way out. Told is a shantytown. It is difficult for people to stay informed, and even when they try, the information is often complex, the concepts abstract and difficult to interpret with the local knowledge of such closed communities. Conveying these and making them comprehensible, even using simplified language, is difficult, even for experienced speakers. The Foundation therefore helped make the lessons more tangible with a trip to Budapest. During the tour, members of the group - many of whom had never been to the capital before - also visited the Parliament:
"It was a very beautiful sight, the crown is fantastic, I never thought I would see it. We were secretly hoping to see a real politician, but this time we didn't."
"This building was incredible, I can't imagine how long it must have taken to build. And all that furniture! I can't believe I got to see that room in person, something I only see on TV."
The topics covered during the programme have also been compiled into a booklet with all the basic information on the elections. A copy of the booklet was distributed to all households in the village and a follow-up is in the pipeline on the most basic democratic rights, freedom of expression and on representing one's interests.
When Nóra L. Ritók founded Real Pearl in 1999, she gave hope to the children of the whole region: she gave them access to a complex development that they had never had the chance to have before. Since then, they have been helping the people of the area in every way possible: in addition to the art school, they have been involved in crisis management and prevention, strengthening local communities, running a social enterprise and carrying out social work in other villages in the area, in addition to Told - to finally break tout of he repeating cycle of generational poverty. They now work with over 1000 families a year in 25 municipalities.
