Headless Chickens?
Health and hygiene are borne out of wealth, not ‘progress’. To be able to wash your hands properly means that you can afford soap and water. To have access to medication (even if provided free by the government) means you have enough money to travel to wherever it is being given out.
The nomads know about vaccinations for their animals, but they do not use it, because it costs too much money. It costs a lot more to treat a disease outbreak though. I remember considering this ‘equation’ when I observed the ghetto people in Jamaica. If a cheap shoe that lasts 3 months costs $500 and a more expensive shoe that costs $1000 lasts the year, it would be wiser to buy the more expensive shoe now, as in a year, you really would have saved $1000. But if all you have is $500, and you need shoes now...it even takes wealth to save and become more wealthy.
I have not seen toilets here. I don’t think the average man on the street even knows what one looks like and how to use it. They have little plastic kettles that they take with them to ‘wash up’ after they are done, wherever they go. In more remote locations, it is behind the most private bush. In the towns, it is in what looks like a dump, or behind rocks, or maybe behind a little cloth enclosure in the corner of your yard. There is no running water for flushing. There is no waste collection system, not for garbage or human waste. Many Chadians may have travelled abroad and seen these things, but knowledge alone cannot bring change. Is money really the answer to everything as Proverbs says? Or maybe (as Proverbs says again), we need to acknowledge God in everything, then we’ll realise that He is the giver of this ‘money’.
I suppose you have to be in a real developing country to realise that Jamaica is filthy rich! When your people can block the road over dust pollution from nearby road developments, you are filthy rich. When you can choose to tax phone credit (by 25% now, and people still got credit more than food! Lol) ye, that’s money throwing away right there. If you wanna see the latest cars on the market, don’t go on the internet or to some car show in a wealthy country, just come to Jamaica. If you wanna see the latest technological gadgets or what’s new in home improvements, come to Jamaica. If you wanna see people wise and ingenious beyond imagination and a people full of talent and potential, come to Jamaica. To see people waste all they have been given, come to Jamaica. To see class divide, to see slavery at its peak, to see people be defined not by skin ‘colour’ per say, but by skin shade...come to Jamaica!
They are dirty, and sick, and dying in sin because we, the rich, do not care. We are too busy planning the next children’s treat (more for photo ops) to waste a bunch of money on ice-cream (when the dear children need love and guidance, not heart disease). We are too busy having our Prayer Breakfast, where the politicians get to play ‘Christian’ for a day. We are too busy arguing over whether men should have long hair or short hair.
Well, at the end of the day, this is all talk. We’ve all heard talk. We’ve all talked. How do I, as an individual, do something about it? How do I end world hunger? How do I make the teenage girls hold out on the baby making? How do I make him see that his dark skin is beautiful? I have the answer in 66 books. I really have the answer to all the world’s problems? Right now, in my lap???
If we are the body, why aren’t His words teaching, why is His love not showing? – Casting Crowns.
V.M. (with heart bursting for my own people) – 24/01/10, 4 a.m.
The nomads know about vaccinations for their animals, but they do not use it, because it costs too much money. It costs a lot more to treat a disease outbreak though. I remember considering this ‘equation’ when I observed the ghetto people in Jamaica. If a cheap shoe that lasts 3 months costs $500 and a more expensive shoe that costs $1000 lasts the year, it would be wiser to buy the more expensive shoe now, as in a year, you really would have saved $1000. But if all you have is $500, and you need shoes now...it even takes wealth to save and become more wealthy.
I have not seen toilets here. I don’t think the average man on the street even knows what one looks like and how to use it. They have little plastic kettles that they take with them to ‘wash up’ after they are done, wherever they go. In more remote locations, it is behind the most private bush. In the towns, it is in what looks like a dump, or behind rocks, or maybe behind a little cloth enclosure in the corner of your yard. There is no running water for flushing. There is no waste collection system, not for garbage or human waste. Many Chadians may have travelled abroad and seen these things, but knowledge alone cannot bring change. Is money really the answer to everything as Proverbs says? Or maybe (as Proverbs says again), we need to acknowledge God in everything, then we’ll realise that He is the giver of this ‘money’.
I suppose you have to be in a real developing country to realise that Jamaica is filthy rich! When your people can block the road over dust pollution from nearby road developments, you are filthy rich. When you can choose to tax phone credit (by 25% now, and people still got credit more than food! Lol) ye, that’s money throwing away right there. If you wanna see the latest cars on the market, don’t go on the internet or to some car show in a wealthy country, just come to Jamaica. If you wanna see the latest technological gadgets or what’s new in home improvements, come to Jamaica. If you wanna see people wise and ingenious beyond imagination and a people full of talent and potential, come to Jamaica. To see people waste all they have been given, come to Jamaica. To see class divide, to see slavery at its peak, to see people be defined not by skin ‘colour’ per say, but by skin shade...come to Jamaica!
They are dirty, and sick, and dying in sin because we, the rich, do not care. We are too busy planning the next children’s treat (more for photo ops) to waste a bunch of money on ice-cream (when the dear children need love and guidance, not heart disease). We are too busy having our Prayer Breakfast, where the politicians get to play ‘Christian’ for a day. We are too busy arguing over whether men should have long hair or short hair.
Well, at the end of the day, this is all talk. We’ve all heard talk. We’ve all talked. How do I, as an individual, do something about it? How do I end world hunger? How do I make the teenage girls hold out on the baby making? How do I make him see that his dark skin is beautiful? I have the answer in 66 books. I really have the answer to all the world’s problems? Right now, in my lap???
If we are the body, why aren’t His words teaching, why is His love not showing? – Casting Crowns.
V.M. (with heart bursting for my own people) – 24/01/10, 4 a.m.
Looks like Chad got to you! XD
ReplyDeleteI'll pass on the first part, but concerning your second last paragraph, do we stop world hunger or does God stop world hunger when we trust Him enough to obey?
I don't think you're VM because I am. I think maybe U're TD.
ReplyDeleteGod stops world hunger either way. If we try to do it without Him, it wouldn't work. I think maybe it would already have happened if we were obedient to God instead of what we doing now.
And ye, Chad got to me. Lol.