Is it only me that finds this odd?

entwisi · 15-03-2006, 15:41

BBC News have an article on 'living on low income in Africa'

Here we have a Kenyan woman who earns (including overtime) $51 a month. She is struggling to afford to live yet spends $15 amonth on a mobile phone!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4805530.stm

Now if that doesn't tell you something about poverty.

pendy · 15-03-2006, 15:55

Depends how much you need a mobile phone. If the infrastructure doesn't support public phones or even access to a home phone, then it may be an essential.

Bear in mind, in this country poverty quite often means not having two tellies or a PC, and not being able to afford holidays abroad.

Tealeaf · 15-03-2006, 16:57

This is no more than the usual garbage we have come to expect from the BBC; it's just a shame that those thicko's at Broadcasting House did not spent a little more time doing a calculation with the figures to realise this womans entire story is implausible. How can she be paid overtime when she works less than the equivalent of 15 days a month? How come she is only 5,000/- in debt when each month her outgoings are 6,649/- greater than her income? Simple sums which someone at the BBC has failed to do.

She obviously has a second income - such as being on the game, which is the norm rather than the exception in Sub-Saharan Africa. My guess is that the BBC reporter probably got a 100/- job in return for filing this crap. How low have standards fallen!

WillowTheWhisp · 15-03-2006, 17:06

But who is she phoning? Why does she need a phone? Is it a necessity or a luxury?

yerself · 15-03-2006, 17:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

But who is she phoning? Why does she need a phone?

Give her a ring and ask her.

shakermaker · 15-03-2006, 17:21

I'm surprised she can get signal!
Must find out the network....it's murder trying to send a text in the middle of Cellar Bar...

oo 1000 posts

Tealeaf · 15-03-2006, 17:24

I've just had another look. Under the first photograph is the caption "To save money Lily takes her own lunch to work".

Wow!!!! - so this is what African poverty reduces you to! Still,I have no doubt that, as per the second photograph caption, it will be all washed down with a Basic Commodity, i.e. a bottle of Coke at 21c.

The BBC should be ashamed of itself for publishing this. It is journalism at it's worse and most shoddy; unfortunatly we have to pay for it through the license, which is for all intents and purposes a regressive tax on the poor. The sooner the BBC goes, the better.

WillowTheWhisp · 15-03-2006, 17:33

To save money quite a few people in this country go without lunch altogether.

garinda · 15-03-2006, 17:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

She obviously has a second income - such as being on the game, which is the norm rather than the exception in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Wrong again.

The statement that the majority of women are prostitutes is wrong.

Spent much time in Sub-Saharan Africa?

I have.

Although there are a lot of prostitutes working there, they are very much in the minority.

The more successful ones mainly service the middle aged saddos that travel there because they are too inadequate to form real relationships in their own countries.

As for the story, it is outrageous that someone should spend such a large percentage of their income on a mobile phone.

SPUGGIE J · 15-03-2006, 19:50

I know a lass who was spending 60 quid a week on her mobile. That was on top of her charges etc.

jambutty · 16-03-2006, 14:26

This woman obviously attended the “Tony Blair School Of Home Economics” and followed the example set by TB.

That is waste billions on an illegal war, multiple layers of bureaucracy, buying expensive cars for ministers, to name just three, whilst most pensioners live below the poverty line.

BLACKBURN RAVER · 16-03-2006, 14:38

lets just wait till the next red nose day

.....

iv'e said it before and il say it again,

"send em condoms"....."cant feed em dont breed em".......

Tealeaf · 16-03-2006, 14:41

I bet this woman is involved in a "Fairtrade" scheme; it wouldn't surprise me if the good ratepayers of Hyndburn were paying for her phone bills.

SPUGGIE J · 16-03-2006, 19:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

I bet this woman is involved in a "Fairtrade" scheme; it wouldn't surprise me if the good ratepayers of Hyndburn were paying for her phone bills.

Tealeaf you are getting as cynical as Less. Good chance its true, though cant see her admitting it can you.

LYNX1 · 19-03-2006, 20:11

It's much the same in this country...............How many people do u see with the backside out of their pants but they still can afford a mobile.
It's a sign of the world we live in.