For example the situation in Sierra Leone (I do not mean the conflict, I mean the fact that every 8th pregnant dies there because of the situation in hospitals), child soldiers in Liberia (I strongly recommend you to read the "Stories" book written by Jan Sibik) and I think I do not have to mention Sudan, Congo or Uganda. When I first got interested in what is going on in Africa (after I read an article about genocide in Rwanda in my arts class like 7 years ago) I thought it can't be any worse there. But with every research read, every essay written and every documentary seen I feel like it really IS worse and worse. And of course it is not only Africa. I just finished reading a book about situation in China, about the crazy Mao cult there, about everyday life of normal people.. and it was just crazy. Almost as crazy as the lesson I got about North Korea (I strongly recommend you to read the "Stories" book again). I just started reading a book about the situation in Morocco and I am very excited. But of course I can't forget about Haiti.
It feels a little special about Haiti to me. When I talked to Jocelyn (my friend I met two years ago) this spring, she told me about the missionary work she's done in Haiti and since I was really interested she said - "Whenever you'd want to go to Haiti, just let me know." And as my college situation and everything seemed a little unstable I thought I should really let her now. Wouldn't it be amazing to do great things in Haiti next year??? After I watched the "Ghosts of Cité Soleil" documentary I just felt like I should do it! I felt like Haiti was the place to be!!! But Christmas came, I finally got in touch with OWU and then the 2010 started and I sort of forgot about the Haiti idea when suddenly I just watched news and saw what happened.
It made me cry. But not the way that Indonesia and Sri Lanka did. This was different. I knew (from the movie) how the country looked like. And I saw how it looks now. Some people would say it couldn't be worse. Now you see - earthquakes approved that it can. It is. And then in the middle of the news I realized that Jocelyn mention Haiti couple times on her facebook. I checked her facebook wall and it was full of questons like "Are you alive? Please let us know." etc.
It made me feel terrible and yes, I have NO IDEA how Haiti people feel. But I know that we all can do a lot to help. It might be sending text messages, it might be making bigger donations, it might be flying there as a doctor or nurse (American Airlines are transporting any doctor or nurse for free), whatever you want to do to help - you can. There always IS a chance. So please stop joining stupid facebook groups like I pray for Haiti (it makes me laugh sometimes - do you realize what does the word pray mean???) and if you really mean it just do something. Think about all the people there, not only casualties but also doctors, nurses, soldiers, missionaries, whoever had the courage to stay there despite the warm safe home waiting for them in a completely different country.
(And btw my friends Jocelyn is ok. She survived. She is now continuing her life in Haiti. She is my hero.)
I am now going to finish my notes, head it to bed and hopefully I'll do a good job tomorrow and maybe I'll make a tiny teeny little change in this world.
You all have yourself a good night and please whenever you feel down or depressed - try to think about all those people in Haiti, North Korea, Uganda, Congo, Somalia, Iraq, Sri Lanka... I am not saying that we (western people) don't have the right to feel down, I just want to say that even though we sometimes feel lost and desperate, we still have lives those people can never even imagine to have.
I am not writting this for no reason - doing orphanage work and IC have been literally keeping me alive lately.
I hope you got my point. Good night.
these are photos I stole from Jocelyn's facebook (sorry Jocelyn I am such a thief) :
And these are some of my favourites "quotes" that I think fit perfectly to my post:
"This country became a caricatue long ago. A caricature of communism. A caricature of Stalinism and the cult of personality. A caricature of itself. An insane caricature - more Stalinist than Stalinism, more communist than communism, more stupid than stupidity itself."
[-Stupid Beyond Stupidity-, Pyongyang, The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, 2005]
"But which of the children who should be sitting on a bench in a classroom is a rebel? Which children are fighting for the government?? Who or what decided this??? On which side of the river did each child play before the fighting started???"
[-Children at War-, Liberia, 2004]
"Despite the rumours I still am a part of generation that cares about others"
[I heart]
To be honest... I wish nose goes or rock paper scissors could solve all the problems.
Woudln't that be just way better than wars???
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