...this quote, I can't remember the name of the author, "your real calibre is measured by your consideration and tolerence of others".
As a South African, I can be both proud and appauled at our reactions to others in need. The Xenophobia attacks, HIV/Aids stigma, Homophobia ... One of the explanations that is being bandied about is that apparently, since we are a poor country, ourselves, and busy struggling through poverty and it's after-effects, we need to look in our own backyards and fix things there, before we jump on the first flight to Haiti and help out there.
I do not know how I feel about this because to me it is almost inhumane not to want to do something to help in Haiti because that country has been through so much hardship and me, as a South African, no actually as a human being, enjoying freedom that came at such a huge cost cannot afford to sit back and go "oh well, we got people dying everyday in Africa too, why should we help them".
One thing I learnt from working in the NGOs I have been a part of in the last 2 years, is that caring is expensive and some of us simply cannot afford to care.
I would like to save the elephants in the Simalaha and the Teak forests in Zambia for example, but I do not have the money and my way of helping is by begging rich people and organisation to give their money so that we can realise these projects and therefore help the people in those areas.
What I am saying is there will always be a reason why you cannot help others and there is always someone that needs help more than the next. Sometimes your contribution to a project/person that is close to your heart does not have to be in terms of money. By letting people know, by helping them understand (some people do not even know the history of Haiti) by passing on the message to other people who may be able to help, is enough.
But sitting back and pointing out all the things that are wrong in SA (without trying to help solve them either) is not the answer either. Caring is expensive, according to anyway but it does not have to be.
*obviously if you couldnt care less about anything and live your life just for you and your immediate family, then this post is not directed at you but thanks for reading this far anyway!
