As i sit here in Freetown, Sierra Leone observing the lives of those around me & reflecting on the world these thoughts have been crossing my mind...
Each day around the world men & woman live in fear. There are children who have only known war - woman raped, men tortured - yet us in the blessed '1st world' are exposed to little of this except whilst watching the news from the comfort of our homes. We complain about our jobs, complain about our partners, about school - that we want more - a better car, a bigger TV, a more luxurious house -- we complain about almost everything...We have grown lazy with our wealth & our security - we complain about a system that keeps our streets safe, gives us free health care -- that allows us to be free in our beliefs - religion, politics, relationships, & to speak out for our rights without fear of unfair punishment or prosecution.
Yet in much of the world still people walk in their own land with no freedom - woman and children go about their daily activities under the threat of violence - boys and men are made to fight & perpetuate this violence. But those of us in these rich safe countries - countries where most people are willing to risk their lives only to have a chance to live in them - to taste an ounce of our freedom - to give their children an oppurtunity to dream, to hope, to fufill a potential all children are born into this world with-- we have become greedy with our freedom, believing we somehow deserve more than another because we were lucky enough to be born in these places --- taking no time to concern ourselves with the welfare of these others. Thinking it is not our responsibility.
The poor and marginalized members of our society, our planet, our world suffer at the hands of the rich and free. The wealth and freedom of our country was founded on stolen land with stolen people & this continues today -- we buy goods made by children enslaved, we wear diamonds and gold purchased in exchange for weapons, we see woman and children sold as property -- and still all we do is complain that our boss makes us work late, or that we didn't get the designer bag we wanted --- it is on the back of those who suffer that we thrive.
What is the story behind that shirt you wear, that coffee you drink, that diamond you own? Our planet has grown small - through technology we have access to every corner of the globe -- ignorance & prejudice is no longer acceptable - Your freedom comes from anothers suffering - isn't it time we got off those backs & demand from ourselves a better world not just for some, but for all...
07 December 2010
24 November 2010
Money will not buy you happiness, but it will buy you comfort...
Well as I sit here and write this it has been over a week since I’ve used toilet paper, or seen a toilet I didn’t have to use a bucket of water to flush...in Freetown we have had light bout 12 hrs a day, although the people across the street receive 24hrs/day presently? Not quite sure how this gets decided. Today I treated myself to some Nescafe with powdered skim milk – the closest thing to a latte I can get here…and oooo the mosquitoes, they have found my blood irresitable & the worst has to be those darn biting ants!
But despite this my spirit is high, & my health is good so far – I have come to appreciate the small things like electricity at night so I can sleep with the fan on --- and taking a bath with a bucket of cool water to relieve my hot skin –--- it is hard for a girl like me, so used to complete freedom in my country, to need an escort for even the smallest of tasks – unable to even go for a stroll to the nearest store without accompaniment – but these realities I was prepared for…
The past week Mustapha & I traveled to his family in the provinces, to the city of Makeni ---to take public transport for the 2 hour drive the cost is 15 000 Leones or 4$ - the car we took seats 8 people Canadian style, but in Africa they fit 10 --- for the ride home we paid an extra fare so that we would not have to sit with 4 where there is only seats for 3 – it made the ride much more comfortable – I realize that money will not buy you happiness, but it will buy you comfort! We stayed only 2 days there…his mother took me out and must have introduced me to almost everyone in the town while we walked to the market…lets just say I got plenty of chance to practice my greetings in the local language of Temne – sometimes I understand how famous people must feel with the whole world wanting a piece of them, even a simple greeting… We also had the opppurtunity to check out a club his friend built in town – and I have to say it rivals any big club I’ve ever seen in Canada – we had some drinks, listened to good music & took time to play pool on a table that wasn’t quite level while using a pool cue missing its ends – ‘this is Africa’ they tell me – u make do with what you have, besides I still beat all the boys making them all very impressed with me!
My family here was very surprised to see me as most were not expecting me – it has been a great reunion – not much has changed here, except that all of Mustapha’s brothers who are over the age of 20 have all had babies – except here it is custom for the girls to stay with the babies at their parents house since the boys do not have a means to take care of the babies – also the boys don’t really spend much time with the baby, their baby momma’s come here to see the family & offer to launder clothes or other such tasks, while the boys just carry on their usual business --- this is where my cultural upbringing has trouble wrapping my mind around this behaviour, but for Sierra Leone the women accept this and it is just the way…but this is a topic I will discuss at greater detail in the future.
For now, I will leave this as a brief introduction to my time here so far...
But despite this my spirit is high, & my health is good so far – I have come to appreciate the small things like electricity at night so I can sleep with the fan on --- and taking a bath with a bucket of cool water to relieve my hot skin –--- it is hard for a girl like me, so used to complete freedom in my country, to need an escort for even the smallest of tasks – unable to even go for a stroll to the nearest store without accompaniment – but these realities I was prepared for…
The past week Mustapha & I traveled to his family in the provinces, to the city of Makeni ---to take public transport for the 2 hour drive the cost is 15 000 Leones or 4$ - the car we took seats 8 people Canadian style, but in Africa they fit 10 --- for the ride home we paid an extra fare so that we would not have to sit with 4 where there is only seats for 3 – it made the ride much more comfortable – I realize that money will not buy you happiness, but it will buy you comfort! We stayed only 2 days there…his mother took me out and must have introduced me to almost everyone in the town while we walked to the market…lets just say I got plenty of chance to practice my greetings in the local language of Temne – sometimes I understand how famous people must feel with the whole world wanting a piece of them, even a simple greeting… We also had the opppurtunity to check out a club his friend built in town – and I have to say it rivals any big club I’ve ever seen in Canada – we had some drinks, listened to good music & took time to play pool on a table that wasn’t quite level while using a pool cue missing its ends – ‘this is Africa’ they tell me – u make do with what you have, besides I still beat all the boys making them all very impressed with me!
My family here was very surprised to see me as most were not expecting me – it has been a great reunion – not much has changed here, except that all of Mustapha’s brothers who are over the age of 20 have all had babies – except here it is custom for the girls to stay with the babies at their parents house since the boys do not have a means to take care of the babies – also the boys don’t really spend much time with the baby, their baby momma’s come here to see the family & offer to launder clothes or other such tasks, while the boys just carry on their usual business --- this is where my cultural upbringing has trouble wrapping my mind around this behaviour, but for Sierra Leone the women accept this and it is just the way…but this is a topic I will discuss at greater detail in the future.
For now, I will leave this as a brief introduction to my time here so far...
19 August 2010
Return of the BLOG!
Ok, so it's been awhile...over 3 years since i last wrote this blog -- boy how time flies! My reason for starting up this blog again, is because I am once again returning to Sierra Leone this coming November & it just felt like the right time...
The past 3 years I have been working with our First Nation communities around my hometown of Calgary, Alberta, Canada doing animation projects. This I am going to be continuing in Sierra Leone. I will post a bit about this work in the next few days...in the meantime you can check out the link for a view of one of the animations we did with some highschool students from the Stoney Nation, Eden Valley Community...
http://www.galileonetwork.ca/wildandfree/?q=content/horses-ozade-%C3%AEmne
Stay Tooned!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
