I was about to write something about Kevin Rudd using Magic Silver White.. when.. a story came on the news about Indigenous living standards, literacy levels and high percentage of kids living in abusive environments. Kevin Rudd, like others before him, has pledged to do something, twice as much and three times as much of what he has done in the past.
Which reminded me of the woman from World Vision came to my door the other week. She had a briefcase full of kids from South America and India looking for a sponsor.
I don’t want a child from another country I said as I closed the door on the door-knocker.
Naive.. but.. I want to support a way to get our shit together in our own country.
Why do we have pictures of kids from other countries on our fridge doors.. letters in our scrapbooks..?
Why can’t we sponsor children in our own country (the government doesn’t seem to be providing any support for individuals).. we’d be more likely to go and visit our children/families. We’d be more likely to develop an understanding of cultural practise.. Central, northern and western communities would cease to be just tragic stories we see on television.
Aahh shivers.
I don’t know.
Anyone got any comments?
Any suggestions?
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July 3, 2009 at 12:18 am
Michelle
I agree that charity starts at home. It’s an attractive option to have an “exotic adoption” in a far-away land, but if we can’t help those just down the road from us, then why should we think we’re doing good if we do so elsewhere.
July 3, 2009 at 1:37 am
Fusion
I’ve always felt the same, we have so many kids right here in the US that go to bed hungry, can’t read, or are homeless. What a crime (joke) in the supposedly greatest (i.e. richest) country in the world. Yet we have no problem giving aid to other countries, some who practically spit at us… The answer is simple to me, but once politics are factored in, it gets screwed up. Michelle is right though, no matter what country you live in, charity starts at home.
July 3, 2009 at 2:59 am
Sulpicia
Interesting. My daughter is part of a group that will travel to Tanzania next summer to build the windmill part of a well so a village can have fresh water…
This is an exerpt from the guy in charge:
In the fall of 2008, during an opening retreat with Brother Anthony, one of the youth asked the question: “Why Africa? There is so much need right here at home too.” Brother Anthony’s response was insightful: “ Here in Canada, we have all the resources necessary to alleviate all of our social ills. What we lack is the will. In Tanzania there is a great abundance of will. What they lack is the resources. That is why we do what we do.”
(Sulpicia is not religious, by the way.)
July 3, 2009 at 9:09 am
sparselykate
I see your point with this. I was horrified when I started doing some Aboriginal studies units at uni of just how much I had NO idea about, and how ignorant my views had been previously on what to do about the ‘indigenous folk’ – all my smug, middle class ideas.
I’m not sure..but I know we could be hearing a lot more than the negative in the news media for a start.
July 3, 2009 at 10:25 am
sulkygirl
Michelle.. I was interested to see you weigh in.. You are in one of those exotic lands of the kids we have on our fridges. Do you have kids on your fridges over there as well? I’d be interested to know if there is a local (African countries) sponsorship program over there.
Yes. I know Fuse. You would have seen a little of it here – that if you live in the south/east of Australia there is wealth and infrastructure.. yet the centre and top half is very disadvantaged (generalisation).
S. This is so interesting to read. It rings absolutely true with me. Yet I have always expected infrastructure like the making of wells and windmills and providing access to water is a government responsibility.
Your daughter will create something life changing.. and it will change her life as well.
Kate.. you should be taking the kids up to Alice these holidays, hey?
My very good friend Uncle B has told me he’d love to spend some time with you and the kids. Maybe we could go out to the river to see the ring of scar trees where trading and ceremony would have taken place two hundred years ago, and have a smoking ceremony [where the bad things you may have in your past are cleansed].
July 3, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Michelle
I honestly don’t know if there’s a local sponsorship programme. I do know we have street kids, beggars in every parking lot and at the traffic lights, and many social ills. For my part, I try to help where I can (my assistant is a Zimababwean with a family to support – recent xenophobic attacks have left folk like him living precariously), as I can.
Perhaps that’s all we really can do – give of ourselves as we see need and try to make things better for those around us. And perhaps it doesn’t really matter where in the world we’re trying to do so – as long as we do something.
July 3, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Michelle
One more thing… I think it’s sometimes easier to do good overseas than it is at home. You get the nice stuff about your “adoptee”, all the thanks and the pictures and the letters – without having to see the bad side of what day to day life really looks like. It’s easier to deal with a bad situation far away from you than with one that stares you in the face whenever you open your eyes.
July 4, 2009 at 10:04 am
sulkygirl
yes Michelle.. good psychology.. and you are right really – it doesn’t matter where you try and alleviate suffering.. as long as you try.. xx