Commercial sex workers, orphans, no bloddy roads, no aid, no nothing. And I just sat there. People not wanting to do away with stigmas, having no other option, no food, no jobs, no nothing. And I just sat there.
It's probably a sad excuse that I'm not old enough to do something, but seriously, what about all those people who ARE? People have enough money to buy 45 million dollars of property, buy aeroplanes, and have nothing in them to do something for people like these? How can you not want to do something? I don't understand. I really don't. How, when people who actually work these commercial sex works, know what having unprotected sex can do to people, do it?
1$ for sex with a condom.
2$ for sex without a condom.
Yes, you read it right. Can you believe it? No? Well then, read it again, and keep reading it till it sinks in, 'cuz it bloddy true. And you know where they work? On the street, under a flap of plastic.
Why do people do this then, you might ask? 'Cuz there ain't no other way to earn money to keep their families alive. And I just sat and kept looking.
Why do people who work them do this? 'Cuz they're sent by the Devil, dammit. I dunno. I can't think of anything. I can't think of a single bloddy reason, as to why people would want to go around sleeping with people on the road, firstly. The reason the people on the road exist, is because people, humans, well bred humans, go around looking for it. And there is no secondly.
There are more than 1 million orphaned children in Africa, alone, today. And these orphanages, they offer the kids porridge, three times a day. Porridge. I don't even want to think about how many there are in India today. But whatever it is, nothing beats that continent. Nothing.
50,000 people died of poverty on Monday. A 2-3 year old with two sticks, called legs, took 5 minutes to gain balance, so that he could stand. He had a pot belly ( one of the signs of Kwahiorkor,, malnutrition, protein deficiency and marasmus). You could count the ridges in one's spine on his back. I could count 7. There was mud and dirt stuck everywhere. There were flies taking 'red eyes' from his leg to his face. There was no strength in his hands to ward off flies. What was the point anyway? They would only come back. Workaholic flies.
50,000 people died of poverty on Tuesday. It's a beautiful day. It's a beautiful place. The place where you can see nature in all its glory. It's the land of deserts, tropical evergreen forests and sand-covered beaches. It's home to the largest wildlife and breeding ground for the world's largest flora. A thousand ships found its coasts and brought with them merchants and colonisers. A thousand ships left its shores, years later, with everything that the land had to offer. Now these very shores serve as a source of entertainment to the living village kids and a source of income to an odd fisherman. Welcome to Asia!
50,000 people died of poverty on Wednesday. A baby lay within the protection provided by its mother against the harsh climate. He wore no clothes. There were flies all over him. I don't think what could be see on him was skin. He was hungry. Not even the liquid-protein stuff that passed as food was left. So, he bawled. Everyone in the vicinity was below 25 years. If the infants were lucky they'd live to see their 16th birthday. And then they'd die of either AIDS, an epidemic, malnutrition, or poverty. Did I say lucky?? The place where you see nature in its most cruel form. A gold mine, now suffering from poverty. Welcome to the WORLD!
50,000 people died of poverty on Thursday and Friday.
You could go on thinking
That there was nothing wrong
Whatever happened to those values of humanity
When a child is now born into this world
With no sense of skin on his bones.
50,000 people died of poverty on Saturday.
And it will happen again. Over and over and over again. And again. And again and again. In Africa, in India, in the whole damn world.
'Cuz guess what? Nobody but a few hundred people around the world really do care enough, to do something about it. Everybody is so busy getting "fucked up" with their own lives, I mean what would we do without leaders throwing furniture at each other in the Parliament, what would we do without leaders who want nothing but easy cash and to hell with the rest of the world, people who are so bothered with what's the "coolest" thing of the day that anything but "I,me, myself" is foreign?
And 'cuz of people like me, who'll just see all this stuff, and do nothing about it. Well, here's what... If I don't do everything that is within my capability at every stage in my life, about all this, sue me. And that's a promise. To myself. And to these people.
Light up. Light up.
Even if you can't hear my voice,
I'll be right beside you dear,
I swear in the days left,
We'll walk in fields of gold together.
I was watching an episode of ER yesterday. Twas filmed in Africa,a group of people working in the worst of conditions to help a couple of million people affected by deadly diseases...and to bring them some happiness, somehow. And their 'desperateness' in order to find some way of continuing their funding.
Our politicians, filmstars, celebrities, etc, etc..go around around the world talking about the ills that plague this world. At the same time, none of them want to contribute anything - material, or otherwise to remedy the situation.
You're completely right about everyone being totally occupied with their own lives.. 500 crore properties, a couple of Jets, and the latest luxury cars seem more important. We, meaning, the general, or 'common' people can't do much in terms of money or resources when compared to what they can do..
Beautifully written post, P.K.. Something one can relate to.. Anyway, keep smiling..the situation can't get worse! Or atleast I hope not...
Why do people who work them do this?
When I was in Dubai...I'd seen awesomely beautiful Lebanese, Chinese and Russian chicks entering into this business just for fun and earning good amount in short time...
It was painful to watch em do something like this...when its not at reqd in the first case...but then easy money is always welcome...n not evreyones blessed with good body :)
Some do it coz they have no other option to get money...few do it to keep up the high society status by having enough cash to throw out in parties...how faricated the life has become these days...
And 'cuz of people like me, who'll just see all this stuff, and do nothing about it
It hardly makes a difference how many people oppose it....people are still going to go for easy money all the time :)
@saranya: There are people who help, but it's just not enough. And that's why while every small action makes a differnce, the difference is not enough. And it won't be, until each of us does something about it.
Thankus. I wish it was more than that though.
And I hope it can't get any more worse, too.
@Arzoon: Yes, there is that. That's in Dubai. It's not Africa, where selling yourself is not done to earn easy money, it's the ONLY way to earn money.
I'm not sure I really oppose it.
I hate the fact that there are different rates for "safe" and "unsafe" sex.
I hate the fact that there are people who'd pay a higher price, at the cost of ruining another person s life.
I hate the fact that children, real children, people younger than me, are made to do this.
I also hate the fact that the reason this is a growing market, is 'cuz there are "customers".
And one day, this "number" of people who hate all this, for the reasons I do, will make a difference. You can mark my words.
Thanks for dropping by guys,
Yours forever sthupitly.
Hmmm... Something for you:
So many words to speak,
Yet, lips sewn to silence
So little time to spend,
All of it spent in violence.
So many things to say,
Yet far apart we stand.
So much ther is to spend,
Yet, not a dime in hand.
Life's little mysteries
Are wont to cause concern...
You might solve them eventually
But one you'll never discern.
Coz, life's like that to you,
You hold it full of scorn
While you writhe in self-pity
It goes on, and on, and on...
You take these things to heart.
I'd call that a pretty good start.
People are crazy, times are strange
The world is yours to change.
--Shrikant Joshi
The second line from the last, has been plagiarized from the "Things have changed," Bob Dylan's OST for the movie "Wonder Boys"
i guess you could always use the argument that one has no choice.. but to do this. then again, we all, always, have achoice, no matter what. That is the saddest part. that we choose the easiest way out, apparently in this case prostitution, but whatever u need to get the food on the table right?
This sorta reminded me bout ur G8/Live Eight post.. why. i dunno.. all the hope in the that post u had.. seems to have died in this one.. cheer up
Peace love empathy
,\m/
God has left Africa.. infact I think god cares only for rich..
anyways at least they are able to feed their family.. imagine if there were not able to do so... that 50000 would have been 200000...wrong this is not using condoms..
@BS: Thankus. The last para is damn good, and i'll read it again and again every time I doubt myself.
@,\m/ : Hmm.. the latter part of my post IS the live 8 post, thank you very much :) Sad part is, it's been more than a year, and I'm here, writing about it again, the only thing to be glad about is that the numbers haven't gone UP UP.
If I lost hope, what'd this world come to?
@Vikas: Lord, hopefully it won't come to those numbers ever.
Thanks for dropping by guys,
Lotsaluv.
ok wait...firstly i believe in free will more than i believe in charity...so i find it really unfair of you to target those with "riches" and their inability to partake of it.
i don't have any excuse for them not doing so and neither will i try and find one, but then it is something they've earned through work (whatever kind that might be)...and hence they deserve the right to spend it the way they wish to.
thirdly, thanks to people like you who feel passionately for this cause, there has been a start...however the damage is too great to be rectified overnight, it'll take time before africa is restored to its original pride....till then it is needed that you work towards helping such causes in a way you deem right...so all the best to you.
so just hang in tight and don't mess up stuff you have at hand, like someoe said in response to a soldier's emotion for the war : "it's easy to say that you'd die for your country, but the war is won only when the last man standing in on this side of the fence"
@nav: You've gotten me wrong. I'm not taking a shot at them. Yes, they've earned all they have, and yes, they have the right to spend it in any way that they wish to.
What I don't understand is how they can stand NOT DOING anything, when they have both the resources and the awareness. Yes, alot of them are. Live 8 was and is the biggest example. But it's not enough.
Thanks for the "people like you". One day, every lil effort ever made will make a difference, I'm sure of it. I just wish and hope that everyone does make than LIL EFFORT.
Thanks for dropping by,
Lotsaluv.