Blog Action Day

Poverty

Bisi got up from her patch of dirt and surveyed the landscape, shielding her eyes from the rays of the sun. She paused and looked down at her too-small dress, now stained with dirt. There was no thought in the prematurely mature mind of possible consequences of the filth-she had no family, at least none who still cared about how she presented herself to the world. The sun indicated it was around time to get moving and she slowly started walking. The last time she had kept playing in the dirt till dark, very bad things had happened to her and she had learned to run away from the dark in the city of Lagos.

Sometimes if she was lucky someone would feed her and ask her about her day. Today she was not so lucky and her stomach rumbled as she waited patiently outside the big house near the roundabout. Maybe they would throw some food out with the trash for the kole (garbage man) to sort out.

The gate opened and she hid behind a electric post. Two teenagers came outside with recycled rice sacks holding the day's garbage ready for next-day collection

"Can you imagine, upon all this work they're forcing me to do, I only have 1K, that can't even buy popcorn to go with my movie at silverbird"  said a young girl who looked only a few years older than Bisi

"Don't worry, if you arrange yourself very well, Daddy will sort you out.." replied a boy who looked like the girl's elder brother.

Bisi's focus was not on the casual conversation but instead on the potential of dinner awaiting her in the sack. The inhabitants of this house were particularly wasteful, and she knew there was a real chance of a meal. She however caught enough of the conversation to wonder at the casual discussion of =N= 1000. If she had a thousaand naira... she didn't allow herself the luxury of dreaming and refocused on the mission at hand.

They locked the gate behind them and she pounced-but soon came up in disappointment. In their hurry to get their chores done, the siblings had not taken care as the maid usually did to tie kitchen trash up properly, and all the trash was mixed up. It was inedible.

It would be another hungry night for Bisi.

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Today is blog action day, and the theme is poverty. 

Nigerians, remember when Mrs Okereke-Nyiuke raised a ridiculous sum of money for Obama in one night? 

It got me thinking of the status quo in Nigeria. If it is so easy to raise $6.3 million over night, why do the privileged not do more for the less privileged? Just one of those dinners held annually-would contribute immensely to the life of at least some poor people.

There is so much waste in our country in terms of resources but also in terms of people. There are so many talented Nigerians held back or driven into vice by the inadequacies of our society: in terms of healthcare, education and social services. It's time we did something. 

Instead of being at least a little more helpful, we Nigerians abroad spend so much time complaining. I'm not going to pretend to have definite answer, but I will say that we might at least consider what we can do instead of what we can't.

Blog Action day 2008