Just Do It!

BISHOP Zephaniah Kameeta hit the nail on the head this week when he said that as long as there is one child in Namibia dying of malnutrition, and as long as people still go hungry on a daily basis, “we are not a free society”.

While Independence marked the formal advent of freedom in Namibia, we, as a nation, still need to work on creating the kind of freedom we would like to see. The problem of poverty is complex.No one believes it can be eliminated with a quick wave of the magic wand.But how we respond to the problem of poverty will undoubtedly help determine the quality of our freedom.The Bishop made his comments on World Poverty Day at an event which formed part of the Global Campaign Against Poverty.The aim is to place pressure on world leaders and decision-makers to eradicate poverty and dramatically lessen inequality.Yes, leaders and decision-makers need to be pressured.But it cannot be left to them alone.We all have a stake in the health and growth of our still emerging nation.The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize this month to the founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, was undoubtedly testimony to the belief that individual efforts can have revolutionary results.Perhaps as Namibians gather at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Katutura tomorrow to “stand up” against poverty, we can reflect on what we can do to enrich the quality of freedom in our nation.Advocacy is important.But so too is action.Most of us are not in a position to make huge financial contributions, sponsor a school or set up an orphanage.But we can support those who do.We can make sure that if we employ a person or people that we pay them a living wage; we can support a reputable charity involved in alleviating poverty; we might be in a position to advance a small loan that will put someone on the road to self-sufficiency; we can support individual initiatives aimed at upliftment; we might be able to create a job at our home or where we work; we can support deserving home-grown initiatives; and, we can blow the whistle on corruption.It goes without saying that corruption contributes not only to societal poverty, but gobbles up invaluable resources – it is a slap in the face to the poor, it is a slap in the face to what we as a nation represent.Greed has so insinuated itself into the national psyche that it has become the “standard” to which many aspire: more, bigger, blinger.The culture of sacrifice evident before Independence is giving way to a culture of selfishness, which has the ability to corrode our democracy.The issue of poverty cuts to the heart of our value system as a nation, to the heart of where our collective conscience rests.In sentencing someone to jail for fraud a few years ago, one of our judges quoted Mahatma Gandhi: There is enough for the needy, but not for the greedy.Poverty, far from being the fate of humanity, is the product of the way we structure our society.We can all play our part in contributing to a fairer, more equal society.There are many ways in which we can invest in our country.The question is: do we care enough?The problem of poverty is complex.No one believes it can be eliminated with a quick wave of the magic wand.But how we respond to the problem of poverty will undoubtedly help determine the quality of our freedom.The Bishop made his comments on World Poverty Day at an event which formed part of the Global Campaign Against Poverty.The aim is to place pressure on world leaders and decision-makers to eradicate poverty and dramatically lessen inequality.Yes, leaders and decision-makers need to be pressured.But it cannot be left to them alone.We all have a stake in the health and growth of our still emerging nation.The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize this month to the founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, was undoubtedly testimony to the belief that individual efforts can have revolutionary results.Perhaps as Namibians gather at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Katutura tomorrow to “stand up” against poverty, we can reflect on what we can do to enrich the quality of freedom in our nation.Advocacy is important.But so too is action.Most of us are not in a position to make huge financial contributions, sponsor a school or set up an orphanage.But we can support those who do.We can make sure that if we employ a person or people that we pay them a living wage; we can support a reputable charity involved in alleviating poverty; we might be in a position to advance a small loan that will put someone on the road to self-sufficiency; we can support individual initiatives aimed at upliftment; we might be able to create a job at our home or where we work; we can support deserving home-grown initiatives; and, we can blow the whistle on corruption.It goes without saying that corruption contributes not only to societal poverty, but gobbles up invaluable resources – it is a slap in the face to the poor, it is a slap in the face to what we as a nation represent.Greed has so insinuated itself into the national psyche that it has become the “standard” to which many aspire: more, bigger, blinger.The culture of sacrifice evident before Independence is giving way to a culture of selfishness, which has the ability to corrode our democracy.The issue of poverty cuts to the heart of our value system as a nation, to the heart of where our collective conscience rests.In sentencing someone to jail for fraud a few years ago, one of our judges quoted Mahatma Gandhi: There is enough for the needy, but not for the greedy.Poverty, far from being the fate of humanity, is the product of the way we structure our society.We can all play our part in contributing to a fairer, more equal society.There are many ways in which we can invest in our country.The question is: do we care enough?