Somali Aide - Beyond Paralysis

The dire situation in Somali is confounded by groups within that country who are blocking the entry of aide; while "donor fatigue," "will full neglect," "lack luster effort," (Amy Goodman on "Democracy Now") and the confusion of where your donation might go if you sent it paralyse the potential donors. What to do? The UN has described the situation as the most dire drought/famine for many years in Africa (60) and issued a "famine alert" for 11 million people. Meanwhile the press, radio and TV media are muddled by the impasses.

Paralysis is so common today, as to make personal action practically impossible it seems. There is no doubt that we need changing strategies to make aide function better, to replace charity with systems which actually repair the damage suffered by the people to be aided. Huge order, and one taken on by the landmark book by Rebecca Solnit, "A Paradise Built in Hell; The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster," Penguin Books, c2009. She describes how communities as wide ranging as San Francisco (1906), Halifax (1917), Mexico City (1985), New York City (2001), and New Orleans (2005), and some of the changes brought about in response to them give us hope and models for the future.

I'm going to look up the Red Cross and Care on Google, see if they have any suggestions about what is next for Somali. Meanwhile let's all look in the directions suggested by Sonit's book and see how things might be different in all of this. As of 7/27 it looks like a way has been found to bring in aide successfully, the UN announced the arrival of planes with aide today.

"luxury"

In the midst of this midwest (national) heat wave, this semi-retired vegetable grower has the "luxury" of sitting by a fan and drinking cold water. And because of circumstances I am able (as a possibly "endangered elder") to be out of the work awaiting me out there, the chores are done. So we are not talking about air conditioning or other luxurious here, it is a bit more basic than that.

My thoughts and hopes at this moment are with the homeless who must exit shelters so those facilities can be cleaned, and make their way to public libraries and other public places if they can through blistering streets. And with migrant workers and other such laborers who are either in or preparing to enter the fields, yards, work sites and such, with no or utterly few resources to comfort them.

The silent minorities who are either living out the legacy of poverty and homelessness in shelters, abandoned buildings, under bridges and other locations,* or are working in substandard conditions (doing work which other people do not have the stamina or desire to do, or need to do it) are most often forgotten in times like this. Why? Because it is too hard to look at them, they are denied by the denial of consciousness, a basic shift of focus.

How long has it been since you have been on the street or on a work site without water, without the access to a bathroom or finding shelter? Have you ever been obligated to go to work day after day with no or little amenities available, live in a home where the water and electricity has been shut off? "But someone has to do it.." I can hear the refrain out there somewhere.

How can our humanity enable us to limit the number of endangered people as much as can be, and help those who are "out there" as much as we can? Not with charity (although that is better than nothing) but with mutual aid, as Frederick Franck reminds us in his book on humanness. Working, active compassion is part of who we are and should. Denial hasn't and will not work.

* I am talking about substandard facilities for the elderly too, of course, people sitting in wheelchairs, on benches and chairs in hot. uncomfortable hallways, waiting for the next move.