And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing... 1 Cor 13:3My friend – along with a few of hers – just concluded a fundraising [in London] for the witch children in Calabar, and I watched in awe [thanks to FB notes and updates] as everything was put together in no time; pre-event awareness, sponsorship/partnership sourcing, venue arrangements... EVERYTHING! It was simply a success. After all the hard work, one would’ve thought they’d just roll the drums, send down the proceeds and let out a sigh of satisfaction, but ‘girls ain’t playing’; next thing i know, we’re chatting and she mentions that they plan to do something for street kids from Nigeria, and since she’s so faraway, she’d like me to help take photos of Lagos street kids [if they still exist] Of course they exist; loitering about, one hawking this, two selling that, and another crying in a corner ‘cos she’s lost the proceeds from the day’s sales and ‘madam’ will skin her alive. But we rush to work pushing them out of the way so their dirty hands don’t leave stains on our dry-cleaned suits. We see the scruffy-looking boy who tries to clean our windshields for a token, just so he can afford brunch, yet we yell at him to get his smelly tools off our precious car, after all we can’t help all, so why help one?
It’s really more than tossing him a coin, or buying something off her so she’s able to go back home with ‘goodnews’; it’s about genuinely caring and doing more in any way that we can. Do you have a 12 twelve old sister who can’t do half the things you make your 10 year old househelp do? Or perhaps your little cousin-from-the-village gets a dose of panadol when ill, but your kid brother gets rushed to St. Nicholas if he as much as complains of a slight headache. If you donate a huge sum every year to some charity yet are guilty of these then it’s really pointless. These things happen before our very eyes, right under our noses, but maybe seeing them day in day out has put made us in an insensitive state of mind. We complain about potholes and major naija issues, but our chauffeur-driven cars and 24 hour generator-run mansions have blinded us from seeing the little feet and hungry mouths. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not any better. I've lived in these zones for so long i stopped feeling so bad for these kids, maybe I needed a camera assignment to help me see the BIG picture.
