Pennsyltuckey | Squat the Planet

Pennsyltuckey

adventurekid

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Pennsyltuckey
We approached a trailer. My boyfriend, my cousin and I. It was falling apart. There was a tarp covering parts of the roof, with tires on top of it to hold it down. Surrounding it was an unkempt yard with trash mangled within it. Cats were roaming about. There was a fenced off area with small ponies.

As we approached the trailer, we heard lots of yelling. Inside, there were 2 boys wrestling with one another. One was 7, and the other one was 10. Their mother was yelling at them to get off of each other and get ready to go. Sitting off to the left was an old man (assumed to be the boys' father) hooked up to an oxygen tank while smoking a cigarette. He was complaining about how the cell phone was the worst invention ever made.

Minutes later. the 2 boys came out of their room. The younger one was covered head to toe in dirt. His pants were way to long for him and he didn't have any shoes. The older boy's clothes were too tight for him, and his hair was very greasy. Then, we looked around the trailer. The living conditions were terrible. The only appliance that worked was the wood stove. There were piles of garbage everywhere (especially in the kitchen). Non-perishable foods lay on top of the trash piles.

Before leaving, I had to use the bathroom. My cousin led me down a caving in hallway into the bathroom. The house had no running water, just a bucket to go in.

When I got out of the bathroom, the mother was loading the van. Me and my boyfriend had no clue where they were going, but we decided to go with him. We piled in the back with the 2 boys. From the second the car pulled out of the driveway, you could tell those boys were so excited. They finally weren't being neglected. The older one was making us balloon animals. The younger one had been staring at my hat. It was a black brimmed hat with an anarchy pin on the left hand side. Once I noticed, I let him take the hat off of my head and wear it.

Finally, we pulled up to this farm. The farm belonged to the grandmother of the boys. To the right was a very small red house and to the left was a maze of hay bales. Directly in front of the house was a very large barn (4 or 5 times the size of the house).

2 people walked outside of the red house. One was a very old, tired looking lady. Along with her was a 12 year old girl, with glasses. Later, we learned that she was the older sister of the 2 boys. The grandmother yelled at the 2 boys and told them not to get into trouble. Then, she walked off and the mother and my cousin followed her.

We followed the 2 boys on tons of adventures. They showed us and taught us about animals. They climbed up hay bales and hopped fences. We followed them around and engaged in conversation.

That went on for a few hours. Then, things got interesting. At one point, my boyfriend had to go to the bathroom. The youngest boy took us inside the little red house to use the bathroom. The red house was worse than the trailer. The toilet didn't work, the rooms were filled to the top with junk, and the house was infested in roaches. After getting out of there, we were called into the barn. That is when the most disturbing thing happened. the grandmother neutered a goat in front of our eyes.

And after we thought we seen it all, we realized we had missed out on something...

When the boys started to get a bit more clingy and annoying, we tried talking to them about school. It was extremely heartbreaking to hear the older boy say he wanted to be rich and own a mansion. Then the younger boy talked about school and how he liked it. Hearing them talk about it wasn't the heartbreaking thing, it was the thoughts that came after.

On the drive back to the trailer, we took the 12 year old sister with us. All day, she was put through a lot. She was doing farm work, and getting yelled at a lot for her mess ups. And here she was in the car, between her 2 brothers holding a chicken on her lap.

So we left the farm later that day, and left the family and continued on with the rest of our day. And that is when the thinking really began.

Those kids had nothing. They barley had a home. Their family didn't understand them. They couldn't grow up like kids should. Instead, they had so much responsibility dumped on them. School was a good place for them, they had food to eat and running water there. And if I could have stayed longer to give those kids some of the attention they deserved, I totally would have. It was just sad to see kids that had nothing. No food, barley any clothes, and nothing going for them.

That's all that really happened that day, but it was extremely eventful so I figured I'd share.
 
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Hillbilly Castro

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People think it doesn't exist anymore... this level of poverty.. well it does! And it's not just in the city... at least in the city there are *some* resources. In the country there may be nothing but your neighbors who have less than you have...
God bless them.
 
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Deleted member 2626

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Where was this in pa? It's my home state. Poverty is very much a societal blah blah capitalist product. What's poverty if you live within means or rely less on the machine? Then it becomes simplicity and beauty, not disgusting humans and their disgusting habits and filth.
 
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Deleted member 2626

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Never heard of it. North pa is where it's at, good country and people even for foot travel. Loads of state land just like out west Blm.
 

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