We awoke this morning to the sad news that the wife of one of our watchmen had passed away during the night.
When I was here in November, Jane (the school welfare rep) took Jo, her mum and me to visit her and at that time she was complaining of problems with her feet. She showed us her feet which were very swollen and the skin flaky. When we asked whether she had been for treatment, she told us that she could not get to the dispensary and even if she could she could not afford the treatment (which was about £3 if I recall).
Maybe you can imagine how I feel right now. More than a little hand ringing as I ask myself why I didn’t go down to the pharmacy for her back in November. I realise that this may have cured little except my conscience. Her ailment may well have been untreatable, but I should have acted.
The cultural differences, the electricity blackouts, the bucket showers, the spiders, they are nothing to the problem I am having accepting that you cannot help everyone. People tell you that you have to draw the line somewhere. This may be a truism, but tell that this morning to the watchman who is already working 20+ hours a day and now has to support 3 children on his own on €30 a month.
Why should we have to draw the line at where we stop helping people? Surely if there is one line that we should never have to draw it is where to stop helping people. I understand the finite resources argument; I understand the market failure argument. The market failure argument can explain why more money is spent on treating baldness than on malaria ... there is “no money” in malaria. But explaining it does not justify it. It is not “right”.
Call me naïve and idealistic but I don’t see multinationals drawing a line; I don’t hear companies saying to their shareholders: “You know what? We have made enough money for this year…so we are drawing a line.”
If I sound angry or a little bit bitter, it’s because but I am. Sigh. Much of the school is in mourning and now we have a funeral to organise.
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I'm sorry to hear about this.
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly easy to think you might've been able to help but were somehow negligent. But, although it's cliché, just try to remember that if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. You're helping teach a community and that's more than most of us are doing. As for the companies, well, it looks like you will indeed have to pursue that career in politics (or lobbying) in order to draw some lines. Keep your chin up. We're behind you.