23rd October 2013
Last night I stepped around a severely disabled man who was lying in the middle of the pavement. I pretty much tried to close my eyes as I passed by. His limbs were so disfigured and contorted, he lay on his back, looking up at me with pleading eyes. He did not have the power of speech either.
I also walked past countless breastfeeding mothers and elderly women sitting in the gutter amongst the litter. Barefoot children constantly harassing me for money. A swarm of them surrounded my group as we walked to meet our colleagues for a cultural Ethiopian dinner and performance. To spend more money than these people would see in a year.
We emerged from the probing children, $600 poorer. Yep, their plan worked – they pick pocked my colleague from Sierre Leone.
First emotion is anger, the bloody little shits!! But overwhelmingly I just feel sadness and hopelessness.
The desperation, the lack of dignity, the measures taken to get food on their families table. I was shocked at my emotions as I walked past these fellow human beings. The strong feelings of guilt, of sadness. I thought after all these years of travelling and working in developing countries and disasters, I was sensitized to the realities of poverty. Obviously not.
And while I would usually juxtapose this ‘in your face poverty’ account, with the good work that my organization does to overcome poverty. to try to put a positive spin to all of this. My usual half glass full mentality is empty right now. As there is nothing positive about this.
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