THE VAGARIES OF POVERTY

"Letter from South Africa" is Omoseye Bolaji's regular weekly column published in the Nigerian newspaper, True National News. The column comes out every Monday. True National News is circulated all over Nigeria on a weekly basis.

February 8 2010 edition

Letter from South Africa

With Omoseye Bolaji

The vagaries of poverty

Have you ever wondered about the vagaries of poverty? How you might visit 'impecunious, ignorant' people in the rural areas and they inundate you with savoury food and drink in munificent abundance?

Juxtaposed against this, many 'enlightened’ people in the toropo (urban areas) are so overburdened with sundry accounts for this and that, they can hardly feed their families - and despite what is actually a life of exceeding comforts they complain in strident fashion about how poor they are?

Indeed modern technology and extraordinary advances in science have largely served to distort the lives of proliferating millions. With these countless marvels - Colour (digital) TV, versatile multi purpose cell phones, satellite TV, internet, medley of sophisticated cars, designer clothes etc now commonplace, to most people they hardly realise they are living the good life!

Even in 'poor Africa' so many people hardly appreciate the good life they are living. Many people e.g change their cellphones and cars at the slightest whim...we take it for granted that modern technology has always been there but nothing can be more further from the truth. The world actually existed for many CENTURIES before electricity was discovered - comparatively very recently

Historical writers, scholars and novelists have lamented about the situation in England for example, just over 200 years ago. As Fay Weldon writes about that era:

“England (two hundred years ago) was a place without detergents or tissues or tarmaced roads or railway trains, or piped water, let alone electricity or gas or oil; where energy (what a modern term) was provided by coal, and wood and the muscle of human beings, and that was all…

"People were so poor – most people – they would run, and toil, and sweat all day and all night to save themselves and their children from starvation. Rather like (many parts of) India now.

“If you were a child and your parents died, you lived on the streets…If you stole anything worth more than five pounds you could be hanged or transported to a penal colony for life.

“If (what was stolen) was under five pounds there were long, harsh prison sentences in unspeakable prisons, and the age of criminal liability was seven” (italics mine)

Don't get me wrong; all over the world now, countless millions are indeed poor and starving. There are so many of them in Africa as wars and internecine fighting continue to wreak havoc; with consequent refugees, torture; the horrific situation in Haiti is a case in point too. But I have in mind situations where there is relative peace concomitant with modern science.

There is no doubt about it that there is horrifying poverty in many parts of Africa; specifically the plight of the beggars, the maimed, the horribly deformed – those some refer to as the talakawa. They are the ones who have every right to complain, moan and whinge about their condition.

As for despondent “comfy” denizens in places like Johannesburg, Cape town, Lagos, Abuja, Accra, Nairobi etc who believe 'life is hell' whilst actually enjoying life, please think again, will you?