Thursday, March 03, 2016

When all the smoke clears and you see

The median family, before the little girl on the right broke her leg
     I’m just back in Nicaragua after a couple of weeks in Canada hanging out with my family, and going through one of those re-entry things where I’m suddenly reawakened to the many sad stories in Managua.
      Mostly, people cope down here, and with a smile on their face. But when you re-enter after two weeks of happy family time with all your healthy, well-fed and extremely well-tended grandchildren and their many friends, there can be this brief period where you see the place as it compares to where you just came from. And that can really get you down.
     First thing I saw after I hailed a cab near the airport Wednesday night was a motorcycle accident in which the stunned driver sitting on the roadside appeared to have his lower leg nearly severed. He sat bleeding and in shock as a huge crowd of people tried to wave down people with trucks and vans who could take him to hospital.
     The ambulance will come, my taxi driver assured me. But all I could think of was the legion of first responders who would have been all over that guy back in my land. And what will happen to him once the ambulance comes? There are good hospitals in Nicaragua, and the people tell me there are decent public ones. But the life of a young Nicaraguan with a serious leg injury and a long recovery ahead of him will be difficult well after the hospital work is done.
     And how will he work? Because if he can’t, there’s nothing for him other than to depend on his family to help him. There’s a form of social security here for people of a certain age who have had many years of steady employment in the right kind of jobs, but other than that there is very little for anyone who can’t pay their own way. No worker’s comp, no unemployment insurance, no income assistance, no special help for people with disabilities. I suspect we sometimes forget that ending global poverty isn’t just about wages and access to work, it’s about state-managed social support and a sense of responsibility for the welfare of all citizens.
     So that leads me to my next sad story, of a four-year-old girl with a broken leg who begs with her mother in the median near one of the malls not far from our house. I met the family when I took their photo playing Monopoly on the street, and now that I know where they hang out, I am finding them in my view much more often.
      I brought some Value Village toys back for the kids from Canada. There are four of them, and they look to me to be roughly ages 13, 11, 8 and 4. They live near the bus station down the road. I think the oldest three go to school, but the mom is always on the median until about 5 p.m. with the youngest one, who broke her leg in some accident while under her aunt’s watch, the mother tells me. The mother has the girl on her knee and an empty paper coffee cup in her hand, hoping the motorists will toss a few córdobas her way.
     The girl is on her third full-leg cast. I feel like it’s taking really long, and today she looked quite listless and jaundiced. But unless it’s someone like me who steps up – and what exactly am I even proposing to do? – a family like that will just have to go along and see where it all ends up. They will accept the care they’re given and get by as they can, even if the next generation of median beggar is being born right at this moment, inside a little four-year-old girl who at this moment has a broken leg that just won’t heal.
     OK, so now imagine that whole scene again if they lived in Canada. And there’s the sad moment right there. It wouldn’t happen that way in Canada. But it does in Nicaragua and around the world, and sometimes it just gets me to see such a blatant statement of how unfair life can be.
     A good Canadian can end up paralyzed by Western guilt and pity at moments like that. But really, a better reaction would be to take the hit of sadness, think about how a society even begins to change some of that stuff, and then point a little well-aimed wealth from richer countries toward getting all of that happening in countries that are struggling.
     As for you and me, I guess our role is to elect governments that feel the same way while opening our eyes to the quixotic and cruel ways of the world, and doing what we can when we see a problem unfolding in front of us. Act locally, think globally.
          Because if all we do is fix our own country, we leave a whole lot of people behind solely because they were born in the wrong time, wrong country. What with all of us dependent on the other in so many ways in this modern world, that’s got to change. “Somebody has to do something about that, and it’s incredibly pathetic that it has to be us,” as Jerry Garcia once said.
     Anyway. Go hug a happy child – yours or someone else’s – and thank your lucky stars you are a Canadian in 2016. Then maybe just let the sadness come for a few hours and see what it tells you to do. That's what I'm going to do. 

5 comments:

Di Holmes said...

What a gripper,Jody, and the sheer size of the social problems are very overwhelming for anybody who is a feeling human being. Can we just trust that eventually the country will be pulled up in standard of living? It is truly heart breaking for anyone with any sort of social conscience, knowing where we come from, but admitting the vast extent of the developing world's problems. I admire you, telling it like it is. Soldier on, and do the best you can to improve the lot of those close to you there. Hugs from di holmes

ecoteri said...

Jody, my 15 year old daughter came to me tonight to tell me she was sad. a common thing these days. However, today I took her hand in mine and reminded her that sadness has a purpose (reference Pixar, eh?). And then we worked through the sad and excellent parts of today and many days. I believe, and more and more believe, that we can channel the sadness toward action rather than inaction. your stories (>? their stories) here are ones that are calls to action. I will be sharing. thank you.

Unknown said...

Hi Jody....As always, your words touch my heart and speak my truth too! Thanks for the eloquence you have when you string words together with the personal joy, pain, hope, sadness, grief and love that you pour into those words. On my travels this past decade, I too have witnessed poverty, ignorance and disparity beyond belief. I was so affected by it the first time I traveled to Ethiopia I actually collapsed in the Frankfurt Airport. It was the first stop after flying out of Addis earlier that day and after 6 weeks in very impoverished areas of Ethiopia and Malawi. The re-entry to an airport filled with decadent Christmas Scenes, designer bags and folks traveling everywhere and anywhere they want...just because..... was simply too much! I applaud you for your commitment to help where you can and to use those experiences to enlighten those of us blessed to be your friend and/or have access to your blog posts. Good on you...the world needs more people like you. When the craziness of what is going on in our world starts to overwhelm me and send me down that hopeless path of sadness and despair, I try and remember a phrase that helps: EACH ONE, REACH ONE. It's what we can do. It's "eating the elephant one bite at a time" And....being a part of the Rotary world helps too. 1.2 Million people working together to do good in the world helps take away some of the powerlessness! Together, we can and will. Bless you for making a difference in the lives YOU touch. It's enough. xxx

Cairine Green said...

Thanks for this compassionate, yet sad reminder of the privilege we live in here. I guess it is for the many reasons you talk about, that I stay involved in my community, working with the homeless and staying in touch with initiatives that are people-based. I guess too it somehow eases my guilt over how damn lucky we really are to have so many advantages. Looking forward to seeing you this summer and continuing this conversation.

Unknown said...

Hugging my most fortunate grand boys, appreciative of the time I have with them right now and thinking about how to appreciate the good fortune and gift of time with these boys AND think about how I give beyond this fortunate circle as I go forward into this next life chapter. And as always, you inspire!