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5TH SEP 2008
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 I switch on the TV and see yet another advert with starving children in Africa, asking for our support. Now don’t get me wrong I think we need to support such causes but I think we are in danger, if we not already become so, of becoming apathetic.
Seriously, how many of us think about the child we just saw dying of malnutrition on the television while we are eating our dinner? I cannot stand how apathetic we have become about this issue. I am the first to admit, that though I find these images appalling I used to hardly ever take action, then I went to Ghana on my gap year.
I have to admit Ghana was a huge culture shock, apart from learning to cope without internet, running water and electricity (I was in a village located about 2 hours outside of Accra). I thought about all the things we tend to take for granted – being able to pop to the supermarket when we need food, electricity not spontaneously turning of and not having to go collect water for your shower in a bucket. However, after a few days I didn’t miss these things at all, sure doing your washing by hand takes a little more effort but it honestly wasn’t that bad.
Anyway I’m getting of topic a bit. Ghana it has to be said is one of the most stable countries within Africa, it has stable economic growth and the introduction of national health care insurance has already begun. However, the poverty is still astronomical and many people cannot afford to send their children to school (even though lower school is free to all, uniforms and books still have to be purchased). The shanty towns of Accra, are spilling over with people trying to cram in. There are open sewers in front of people doors which they use to dump their rubbish in, go to the toilet and have theirs baths in front of.
During my time in Accra I worked in Korle-Bu, just down the road from Korle-Bu teaching hospital – the largest teaching hospital in Ghana. I was working with an organisation called Ripples Health Care which trains palliative carers. Through this organisation I met people whose lives had been decimated by Aids and cancer. While with Ripples I went with a few of the students to Atua Government Hospital, a far cry from the newly refurbished Korle-Bu hospital. Atua is a small village which has an intensely high HIV/Aids population. On the hill up to the hospital I counted at least a dozen stalls making and selling coffins. Then when I got into the hospital I was taken for a tour before starting to help. We started in the ER, then walked outside to the small huts which were the various wards. Then came the mortuary, I was greeted by the smell of embalming fluid, and then treated to an autopsy followed by quick tour of all 8 fridges. The bodies were piled into them 4 at a time, I had nightmares for weeks after. After showing me these bodies I went outside and threw up, not the only time that this would happen.
Later on I was helping out on the Aids ward and I witnessed somebody dying. The hospital could not afford to give him the drugs he needed to ease his pain, and so all we could do was sit with him and try to comfort him while he died. I will always remember the expression on his face, it was contorted with pain and silent screams.
I’m making my whole experience at Atua Hospital seem morbid, but it was also one of the most joyful. I saw many people be cured or aided by a dedicated yet under funded and understaffed team. Yet people did not complain, they were just happy to get the chance of treatment. In the UK we always complain about the NHS which is bullshit, we get free hospital care and treatment for goodness sake! Yes the NHS has problems but I can guarantee you that people in Ghana and other Africa Nations would kill for the healthcare system we have.
I think that adverts in Britain and across the Western World show only one side to the lives of these people. They portray them as starving, unhappy people who are despairing. This is not entirely true, yes they suffer which is terrible but they also put a higher worth on family, life and their faith. Yes the need aid, but they do not need to in a sense be degraded in such a way as using them for emotive adverts. I don’t mean that the using people to promote World Vision or such is degrading, more that the way we so easily forget these people is.
Next time you see these adverts try and do something, if its actively getting involved and going to volunteer then great, but if not find some sort of way to help. However, don’t just forget these people, also don’t think that they are completely helpless, these are intelligent people who work hard with what they have and don’t complain about it.
Provided by Amanda Hastings (United Kingdom) |
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