It was worth it
Trip Start
Jun 30, 2004
1
11
18
Trip End
Sep 15, 2004
Lomé,
Togo
Sunday, August 22, 2004
So the first one I visited was for children, mainly girls, who had been abused, where abandoned or whose parents had literally given them to another (richer) family, the girl then is a unpaid housemaid, whilst the parents reason she will get food and a roof over her head so its worth it. The problem is the child gets no education at all, and often runs away to the centre I was visiting.
This affected me somewhat and for my sanity I visited some other NGOs with what I hoped would be less depressing missions, instead I found out about child trafficking, which is basically dirty old men taking children to Europe and Togolise girls being taken out of the country to work again as unpaid or very badly paid maids.
This didn't really help me become happier again but some other NGOs I saw did make me happier with education and health projects etcc..
However last Friday I took the day off from work at the SOS Children's Village and went at 7am to the local hospital, now if you are on a mission to feel both depressed and sick this is the way to do it. The Psychiatrist at work had invited me along and for a lot of it I have to admit I was thinking "please don't let me get ill in Togo, I never want to come back here!!" It wasn't actually that dirty or anything it was just the general air of misery, death and desperation which was hard to bear and made me rather overwhelmed, the patients pay GBP 4.50 a day to even be in the hospital but if they cant afford medicine they are often literally left to die. I've heard stories of doctors actually demanding a bribe to administer life saving drugs. So I left there .... Overwhelmed and wasn't actually fazed when my motorbike-taxi almost ran over a green mamba snake, this snake is apparently the most dangerous in Togo and if it bites you pretty much nothing can save you, The taxi driver told me this once he had stopped, he found this rather exciting, I just looked at him smiled, thought this country is a little crazy, and asked to be taken home!!
Once I had calmed down a bit I jumped on a taxi and was taken on a rather indirect route to another hospital in town, I didn't go into the hospital (I wasn't scared honest!!) but went into a very pretty building near it that was run by some nuns, They cared for children that either lost their mothers during child birth and the father says something along the lines of " what do I do with this!!? It wont stop screaming" and decides he cant care for it, or simply children who are abandoned in the road.
The difference between where I work at SOS Children's Village and this is that these children are put up for adoption (internationally and nationally) and most leave by 18 months, although the oldest child is 20 who noone will adopt as she's disabled. I made friends with one of the nuns and she agreed to show me around, it was unforgettable, they had about 40 children I think, I liked the way they split the older kids into two rooms to sleep, we had a language problem when she tried to explain why, so she just resorted to "these are bandits.... these are not!!!" the babies room was particularly quiet "they've just been fed" they all had a sock on one hand to stop them sucking there thumbs!!
When I left the building I felt awful, I don't know whether it was being told that many of the children with aids will never reach 2 let alone 3, or the smell of the nappy changing room or simply holding a three day old baby that from what I gather was found one morning in a plastic bag no bigger than a paperback book, in the street having been left out all night, she just lay in my hands eyes closed snuggling in her blanket.
When I walked out of the building I wandered in the area for a bit, everyone just left me alone which is very unusual for here, I eventually realised I had to give them some money, I haven't actually donated much money here because I prefer to give it some way I know its not just going to line pockets but I just knew I had to.
I haven't been the same since really, I feel so angry, how can a mother feel so lost she leaves a baby in the street, how can fathers just say I don't want this child, how can all the passers by ignore the baby crying in the bag all night long, but I know really the answer is they cant afford it, the mother probably cant afford to support the baby, the father cant afford to give up his time when he could be earning money to look after the baby, especially if they are ill with aids, and few people will look after an abandoned child when they have family or extended family who need there care too.
I went to a party last night, full of white people, which was strange to begin with; I found it really hard to shake off the melancholy feeling, its similar to the feelings of guilt at the beginning of the trip but this time its more like, these people sitting here with as much food as they want, as much drink as they want, they don't know what is happening around them and to be honest I don't think many of them care.
I've and you have probably read lots of statistics,
A child in Africa dies of disease, famine or conflict every three seconds.
Tony Blair
A child dies every 30 seconds from malaria UNICEF
Over 800 million people go to bed hungry each night; most of them are women and children
World Hunger
The worlds leaders know what is going on around them, Tony Blair claims to know what is happening in Africa he has made very emotive speeches "If Africa is a scar on the conscience of our world, the world has a duty to heal it, heal it we can and we must. Tony Blair
But if foreigners living here in Togo can live a life where they don't care (or do nothing about, its the same thing) and they can ignore, if they choose to, the fact that the meal that they ate last night would have saved many lives in the hospital less than a kilometre away; how can he, I or anyone hope to change peoples opinions,
I came here trying to understand development issues better, I think now; finally the reality is sinking in.
Im not saying everyone should give their lives to help others, But I can understand being in Europe and not feeling moved to do something, but to live so close to poverty that kills, to people dying of curable diseases and do NOTHING , I cant understand that.
