Recently, I have found my thoughts unconsciously drifting to a subject that I have consciously avoided for most of my adult life…the suffering of others. I mean poverty in the third-world, poverty in Africa, since that’s where I’m from.

I have realized that, up until now, my attitude towards this has been to ignore it where possible. Of course it has never seemed that way to me when it occurs, but I can see now that that is what it was…is. I don’t want it to be there; I don’t wish it on anyone; however, I can’t be arsed to do anything about it, so I change the channel after a customary sigh of sadness and yada, yada, yada…wonder what’s on TV today?

I was raised around poverty. There were poor folks everywhere. That was the way it was…is. We weren’t though, as with most of my friends. The deprived people around…well, they were just a fact of life, you know? I was sure they were fine. Not really my problem. I had my own life to live. It’s funny how life can be. I remember hearing on CNN in my mid-teens that 70% of Nigerians were below the poverty line. I was genuinely shocked. Things couldn’t really be that bad, could they? Foreigners were mistaken. They were looking at things from one perspective. There were clearly large amounts of wealth in Nigeria. What were they going on about?

Over the years that view of my home country has pretty much been the same. Everytime I watch some news or documentary highlighting Nigeria, it always seems to highlight so much negativity (forget the emails…that’s not what I am talking about here. Focus!). I want to say “That’s not the way it is. That’s not the way it is. That’s just not the way it is…”. It’s almost like if I say it enough times, people will realize that I am speaking the truth. However, that is false. The truth is that things ARE bad. If 70% of a the population of a country live under the poverty line (if the statistics still apply…though I can’t imagine them being much different from that), then that reflects the state of the country. That is what matters. It’s no use harping on about the other 30% who are doing well if so many have sucky lives. That means the country is failing. Now that’s something that we who are in a better position in some way, form or manner have to take some responsibility for.

The view that my country is a craphole, true or false, has a number of knock-on effects on my life. There is an instant impulse to disprove any preconceptions people may have about me, because…”not all of us are like that!”. No matter where I go in the world, I will have to answer in some way for being Nigerian. There’s the other problem as well; the voice in my head that whispers to me when I go to sleep at night in the privacy of my home (or hotel room, or in-law’s sofa…don’t ask). The voice says “what have you done about it?”. Up until now I have been fine answering that. I try to live my life to fairly high standards…ish. I try to to do the…right thing. You know what I mean, living a good life and all of that. I could always say “I have done right, so sod off”.

The problem now (aside, of course, for the voices in my head, which I should clearly get therapy for) is that I can now see how selfish that perspective is. It’s always been about me, first. While fixing yourself is fair, there comes a time when extending that sphere around yourself to include others becomes paramount. The idea is that after you are done addressing yourself, you try to contribute to the greater good. You give something of yourself; time, money etc. You do it because you can see more of the bigger picture. You can see that you are part of a whole. You can no longer separate yourself completely. If everything goes to hell, it’s only a matter of time before your little cocoon is punctured as well. So, you try to help out in some way…to do your part, to fix the situation so you can stop defending yourself repeatedly in public! Or you do it to allay your guilt for moving on to better things and abandoning others to face a crap fate; the guilt for not trying to do anything about it. You do it because you are now in the position to. At least that’s the idea.

So, where does one start now that one has been unfortunate enough to be have a conscience suddenly bestowed upon them? What can one do? The body and soul are now ready (sort of) to do something. However, the mind has no clue what direction to head. Well, I don’t think it’s necessary to quit your job and go off with the Red Cross to a warzone to help victims, though you can if that’s your cup of tea. It’s just that lack of sleep bothers me, as do flies, and long periods in tropical climates; plus my missus would kill me. I am joking about these (aside from my wife, she really would kill me), but there is a point. Our lives are full of stuff. Too much to sacrifice to do the big things, so we do nothing. The answer, perhaps, is to start small. Find a cause that you can identify with, then find someone who is doing something with it and join them. For someone like me, that’s easy. There is much to fix in my home country. I can do something about that, and I can start now.

I met up with one of the guys who started this: PovertyStopsHere.org. These are people who are ACTUALLY doing something. No rhetoric, just good, old-fashioned action. I have always thought I was a reasonable person. I imagined that when it came down to it, I could look out for others when required. Well, after this week, I know now that I have much to do if I am to live up to this vision of myself.

So act! Find your cause today. You’ll feel better for it.

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