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Saturday 25th July 2009
(I am actually STILL in the UK)
"YOU GON HURT YOUR BACK, CARRYING ALL THEM BAGS LIKE THAT!"
ERYKAH BADU
That line is from one of my favourite songs, 'Bag Lady'. The song is metaphorical, Badu is actually saying people need to let go of personal baggage - but it can be taken literally as well I think.
I was sorting through some last bits to pop into my bag for Ghana when I recalled an article I read recently which explained how 40% of the world's population (2.5billion!) live on around 2USD per day. Much as I might think I am being frugal by not spending any money in preparation for this trip - my lifestyle, compared to all these people, will be considered extremely extravagant. My bag alone cost over 50USD!
The inequality is astounding and not fair and when you take history into account, it is clear some parts of the world benefitted from the wealth of other countries which are now suffering.
Even though by Western standards (a phrase I hate) Ghana is not an exceedingly poor country, it will still have I suppose, people who are in the rural areas living on sums many of us in the West would consider impossible.
Oprah Winfrey, in explaining how and why she started an academy for girls in South Africa explained that you do not need to be as wealthy as she is in order to help those less fortunate. "Do what YOU can," she said in that wise way of hers. I want to do something for some of the less fortunate Ghanains that I may meet and will be thinking about this before my departure on 31-07-09.
D
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