THE PROBLEM OF POVERTY, Islamabad (Autumn 06)

Tent City & ICAN

We were sitting in the ICAN head quarters, as the ICAN Director described the nature and challenges of the Islamabad drug culture. Living in a hopeless ecology of abject poverty and impregnable socio-economic challenges, substance abuse seem an entirely obvious form of escapism. Having seen the conditions of the busthi’s and heard the many stories of despair and dejection, I wasn’t surprised that many poor Christian slum dwellers give up and attempt to escape this life of incarceration. When we lose Hope, Sanity and grounded Senses are no blessing. The drug problems in Joondalup and other aboriginal ghettoes in the outskirts of Perth (Western Australia) came back to me. Places, faces, and national borders change, but the stories of hopelessness & misery seem to compose a global chorus. The problems of poverty, dismal living conditions, tangles of socio economic, health, justice other humanitarian issues seem to have no solutions. It seemed fruitless to even attempt to fight this black death of despair, and I couldn’t begin to understand how these struggling missionaries kept going. All I wanted to do was escape to my cosy corner of the world and forget all I had seen and heard, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what most of us living in relative comfort would want to do. Empathy costs too much.

On our 1^st expedition to a drug spot, empathy was the last thing on my mind. As Carol embraced prostitutes and addicts I cowered behind the gallant human fortress that Ben & the Driver/Guard afforded. My already exhausted gagging reflex (because we have all been throwing up a great deal by this time) was working overtime; the rank smells and approaching mob nauseated and terrified me. ‘I wouldn’t survive a day out here’, I confessed to Carol as we struggled into the safety of the air-conditioned car, to escape the mob of beggars that had engulfed us. ‘You will!!’ She said confidently, ‘when the time comes you will.’ (And I sincerely no such time will ever be,, that’s one calling I would rather sit out). On our way home I wondered about the resilience of these ageing missionaries. They were hardly at the prime of their lives and yet they fought this famine of hope and compassion like a young tigress. I envied her immunity to despair and misery, and watched in wonderment as she (and other missionaries we met like her) fought on despite the odds; not by preaching the gospels but by living them. Politicians, Philanthropists, Academics, and Economists all stood around and shook their heads in despair at the problem of poverty, and these fragile old women were busy changing lives one at a time.

Please take a moment of your time to click on the link below and in one click take a step towards change. Indomitable challenges are faced and resolved successfully only when enough people intervene and care.

http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/

Make poverty History Campaign