How poor are they really? After all, they look well dressed.

The poor take great pride in their appearance, especially when they are going off to study, which they regard as a privilege. The image of sad, dirty people in torn clothes is a false one, but it is one that charities often feel bound to nourish in their promotional materials, so that their donors will continue to give.

The main reason people in Santa María are poor is because there is hardly any employment. People used to emigrate to Argentina to look for work - and still do, but not as much as they did before Argentina’s economy collapsed at the beginning of this century.

Those who work in the fields use hand tools and are paid a pittance by big landowners. What they earn at harvest time has to last them the year. And often the harvest fails because of poor weather conditions - such as a drought in 2003/4.

No one in Santa María can afford to buy books. They buy photocopies of the essential pages, and that is an economic struggle for them. It is also very expensive for them to buy exercise books. And the bus fare is a struggle too. And that is all before you begin to think of college fees.

SMEF will consider paying whatever is considered essential to enable a good student to continue, and this varies according to each student. We usually expect people to try to find enough work to pay for their photocopies, exercise books and fares, but this is not always possible. Margaret Hebblethwaite sees all the SMEF students regularly and keeps in touch with their needs.

Here are some examples of the poverty of students supported by SMEF. To preserve individual dignity, we are not giving the names of who said what:

	“When I cannot pay the cost of something I need for my course, my family does not eat for a day to save up for it.”
	“My mother earns 100,000 guaraníes a month [£10, or $17] for working as a domestic. This is the only family income, and it does not last the month, for we are five at home.”
	“I began to cry when I knew that someone thought my sister was worth helping. I never thought anyone would regard us of value, because we are poor.”
	“There were three of us who wanted to continue at school. But my parents could only afford exercise books for two of us, so my sister stayed at home.”
	“My mother is the world’s best expert at making the food stretch. But it is a constant tension at home how long we can go on like this, without finding work.”
	“I was top school leaver but I never even began to think what I would like to study at university, as I knew it was impossible. But I know a little about it as one or two of my friends have been talking about their university plans.”
	“When my father did not have enough money to pay my bus fare to the university, I pretended that there were no classes that day, so he would not feel bad about it.”
	“My brother has been working now for three years as a teacher and he does not get to keep a penny of it, as it all has to come to help his sisters pay their rent while they finish university. My father used to have animals, but he has had to sell them, every one, to pay for our studies.”
	“I am one of six children, and there are two of us who wanted to study really badly when we finished secondary school, my eldest brother and I. He is really intelligent, but I think it’s too late for him now, as he is 30.”