[/b]Feel free to scrutinize
Africa is often associated with vast savanna scattered with exotic animals, amongst whom the locals co-exist going about their [b]daily business. I cannot relate much to this but can say that in my short existence, a sight that is so prevalent but so ignored. The contrast between the lives of the prosperous and the underprivileged. At every traffic-light, it is not uncommon to see a dirty ten year old child run up to a car to beg in the hope of receiving 10 Pesewas. It is also not uncommon to find a pool party at a five-star hotel situated directly opposite a slum with only a few feet of tarmac separating the two worlds.
Each day as I am dropped of at the school gate around 6 o'clock, I see a group of teenagers my age heading towards a construction site next to the campus. Then later after school, around four o'clock, I see a similar group of teenagers heading home exhausted, all through the window of my air-conditioned car. Whenever I see the teenagers, the almost contradicting emotions of guilt and relief wash over me, making me stare down uncomfortably at my hands. Being able to to use my hands to write, play sports and hang with friends while teenagers less fortunate than myself use their hands to shift boulders and carry blocks, awakens that guilt within me.
The relief I feel is not due to the fact that I am privileged which is not the case but because I do not have to live my life in constant worry over the next meal. I know that this worry may not seem justified but the fact that I feel relief portrays that this is a life no one wants to live
Child labor is prevalent in Africa with children being made to work for minimal payment, if any. Across the continent, children work on farms, construction sites, and factories, despite the ban on child labor. This is due to the lack of education, and as a result, lack of an income. By being forced to work in those deplorable conditions, children are exposed not only to diseases, but are also condemned to illiteracy. I believe that this is an issue that must be dealt with in order to address the problem of poverty in our communities. Children are meant to spend their days in classrooms learning with friends, rather than in factories and on farms, toiling away to earn measly wages.
I've come to find that there are many happy, albeit poor, children, who like to work, so they can provide for their families. Through interacting with them by way of Rotary Club, I've learnt that true satisfaction derives from within and that happiness has very little to do with money. Their happiness and laughter is comforting, for though they have nothing, they still smile; theirs is a hard life, yet, a happy one. I know I could never perform the roles and responsibilities they're forced to, and for that reason, and many more, I respect them.
Communicating with them has changed my perspective on material possessions and life. Education gave them this happiness and it shall do the same for me.
