Picture this for me if you will: a young woman walks down a dirt road, stepping on large sharp rocks and weaving around potholes so large that if she were to step in them, they would reach her knees.
To her right, she sees a small child with no shoes and barely any clothes, who looks as though he has been hungry for weeks. To her left, she sees a home that has been ripped apart by government officials and a family walking away from it with much grief and pain. This picture has been taken on the streets of Africa, specifically the country of Zimbabwe.
I’ve painted a picture for you, but the facts bring it more into focus. According to www.prb.org, Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the two highest poverty rates in the world, and 83 percent of Zimbabweans live on less than $2 a day. An estimated 2,000 people die weekly due to AIDS-related illnesses as stated by www.plan-international.org. According to www.cia.gov, over 170,000 of the 1.8 million people infected with HIV in Zimbabwe died in 2003, and the current life expectancy rate for people in Zimbabwe is 38 years.
The people of this country still cannot safely drink water, due to the waterborne diseases such as Hepatitis A and typhoid. Thousands of Zimbabweans attempt to flee the country to find work and escape political persecution, only to be stopped at the border by military placed there for that reason.
Now that the image has been burned in your head, imagine living in these conditions. Can you? Most likely, you wouldn’t be able to, no matter how strong of a person you think you are.
No one can deny that these conditions are severe and are only going to get worse over time, so why do people not seem to care about these things?
The answer is simple but cutting: people are selfish, inconsiderate and because it does not directly affect us, we aren’t worried about it.
Maybe you’re thinking, “Give me my Big Mac and don’t ruin my day” or “My mascara runs easily, don’t make me cry.” I think you know what I mean.
All I’m saying is that you could show that there is still good in this world.
Visit www.plan-international.org or find information about other charities (always take caution with these organizations due to legitimacy problems). It won’t take much and it won’t take long for you to help someone live in the country of Zimbabwe.