I have decided to blog on one of the reasons for my profound and perpetual sadness these days. It is all about the disasters happening around me and in the world. I cannot blank my mind to them because in any of these unpleasant issues, incidents, it could have been me. I could have been one of the numerous children on the street of Bamako or Nigeria begging for food and struggling daily for survival, I could have been Yerima's child bride, I could have been one of so many victims of earthquake in Haiti or I could have been in the Afriqiyah plane that crashed!
For me, it is not about thanking God for making me safe and giving me hope, but it is about thinking and wishing to have solutions to save the World to put smiles on every faces on earth, save the habitat of our animals, to protect trees and our greens. I was not with a perfect childhood but I had a good one compare to many children I see on the street without education, without food, without decent clothes, wihtout any reasonable shelter and without hope! This makes me sadder each day!
One cannot be blind to the fact that extreme poverty plaque many homes but at the same time one cannot but ponder on why many parents would rather have children they cannot cater for and still keep having and throwing them to the street? Is this sheer irresponsibility or strong in belief in God's provision at all cost? Many a parent had good job, good source of income before disaster or sickness befall them and all their hopes throwing out of the window. There is no one way to look at this situation but there are many ways of looking at a solution. For example in Mali, I am not sure if there is any NGO or goverment project in place to address the needs of these children who in my very eye keep multiplying by the day. No matter the street or place I go, I see at least 10 cluster of children begging, waiting for leftover food in their filthy clothes. How sad can that be?
Many of these children that I see on every corners of Bamako are more male and less female. Is this as a result of having more male children on as a result of early marriage for female children which I am yet to investigate. As I strongly believe that many female children will be faced with the same fate as the male children. Mali is predominantly a Muslim country even though I am yet to understand if child marriage takes place as they do not practice Sharia law but secular law. The provision for the rights of adult and young female since it seems that women have lesser rights in marriage will be interesting to know. Is this the terrible way many children will keep surviving in thier own country, in a place where their growth and education should be paramount? What is the future of such a country and such a people?
I still cannot imagine how these children will grow to be responsible adults, by luck some of them would. But they would have still grown without education, without health care, if some of them won't be faced with serious diseases from lack of good hygiene; nutritious food, good water, clean clothes to mention but a few and if some won't have died young! Where is the hope, where is the love, where is the safe haven and where is the future for these numerous children? They have even lost thier childhood before they were born!
Perhaps, we can all think together for other solutions since the work of organisations like UNICEF, UNDP alike seem not to be enough to tackle this epidemical situation. What do we do? What can I do? What would you do? Where is the government???
