Seriously, don’t pick up your back pack just yet in search of warmer climes. You might want to check out Persoanl Activism, Heal Yourself First before you head off in search of the adrenaline you need to feed you Brain Trauma. Remember You Are The System. Air Fairs cost more than just money. It’s All Connected. You might want to check out the video footage of Greate Thurnburg crossing the Atlantic. She’s only 16. How old are you? It’s all about logic in the age of Aquarian age. Get out there back on the water if you need to. Maybe find some Otters before you start noising up some tribes people. Check out nowhite saviours and get to grips with the idea of human dignity befoer you start shuving your trauma around. Don’t you want to learn a language? Master an instument? befoer you attempt ‘Africa’ anyway.
This said I did just that a few weeks ago. Jumped on a flight on the basis of a job offer and hear I am covered in red clay wondering how well am I decolonising? Like it’s a game full of points.
Following on from my previous two post about the Diasporas and specifically the European diaspora. I was really just feathering the bed for a little known thing called white saviourism. Which is a kind of weird fetishisation by white middle class people of the ‘poverty stricken’ global south with a particular preference for brown or black bodies. It’s a bit sickening really, as I sit here a white woman in South Africa with absolutely no interest in the plight of an unidentified demographic who have zero interest in my world view. How do I know this? Because I was not invited, I was not asked nor was I consulted for my opinion on either a personal or professional level. I have absolutely no right whatsoeverever none to decide what is best for another person or community. I know it’s pretty fucking radical .
I have met few global activist and indeed humanitarians in the global south that were able to put the needs of the community that they supposedly serve over their needs to earn a living, and/or serve the interests of the organisation that they work for. You see the potentialistation of the funding machine is all most organisations care about over and above their non-willing participants.
It’s actually pretty mental. Before you jump on a plan and start trying to ‘fix’ and even understand the Global South or in fact anybody ask yourself exactly why you are doing it? If it’s to avoid the humdrum monotony of your day to day life don’t do it. You see there is plenty of work to be done wherever you are. Global poverty is a long way from being illuminated and in Britain 1 in 4 children are going hungry. Child poverty has not disappeared from the west. Yet there are many of us swanning around in the global south looking to ‘fix’ problems that are absolutely non of our business yet there we are. There I am. Here I am clearing up other peoples mess rather than fixing my own. Is that true?
Anyways the the whole point is there are humans near you. There are humans near you that are desperately in need of help. Maybe it’s a single mum who needs a baby sitter, maybe it’s an abuse victim that needs the compassionate ear of an unattached stranger. A homeless person that needs a hot cup of tea and hug. It’s not rocket science, nor is it glamorous. It’s real. It’s a deep down and dirty real that can’t be walked away from.
You see is easy to pick up someone else’s struggle and put it down again when you visa has run out. It easy to see how painful and true the world can be and have the ability to walk away from it. All in order to get your gratitude hit. I’m so grateful. I didn’t realise how much I had. How do people survive with so little? That even though life can be hard we can still find joy in the small things #blessed.
Couldn’t you have learned that from the high school friend that was on welfare, or if you are really posh at school on scholarship? Like seriously if 1 and 4 kids are experiencing child poverty where is your local commitment to that? Why would you want that in your street, the school your kids go to, the town or the country you live in. Yet there we are bouncing all over the place pretending we have a gracious heart when we are actually getting all doped up on sunshine and adventure. I mean sure go on the adventure but don’t kid yourself that it has anything to do with helping people. When it actually has more to do with finding yourself. You see here is the secret you only every really find yourself in relation to others. That the biggest part of the human journey.
The greatest part of healing to is having someone who always believes in you. A secure attachment that makes things bearable. That’s why I’m a trauma doula. You see I’d like you to believe that this an unbalanced and completely biased piece of writing with no basis in fact what so ever. Just an opinion piece with no real significance or academic value. You see these are the structures that we should be dismantling. Taking what I need from a broken system still makes me complicit in it. Treating humans as stepping stone on your career path is not ok. Nor is it acceptable to believe that being there to help is ample justification to profiteer from somebody else’s poverty.
Why am I such a great advocate for starting local? The environment scilly. You see we, and yes I include myself in this are impacting climate change by flying.
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