----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 8:30
AM
Subject: Re: Re: [sharechat] Re: Livig by
one' wits reply again barrel scraper
A little closer to home . Our family lived in
Fiji for five years . After a year of wondering why our monthly grocer`s
bill was so high at the local chinese shop . ( considering there were four
children and two adults in our family) My wife under cross
examination suggested I join her on her next trip into the
heartland . I knew she ran the Vatukoula Relief Society distributing weekly
food parcels to poor families .
My eyes were
opened at the homes we visited and the sheer poverty everywhere.
American and other tourists just do not venture into the heart of Viti Levu .
All they see are swaying palm trees and the nearest cocktail bar . That
is the Fiji they know taking photos of what they are
shown not what they seek out.
I remember one Indian
corrugated iron leanto home we visited with the last of our food parcels.
The family had six children waiting to open the parcel . My wife ,who is more
observant than myself, after a long discussion with the parents as to
their particular needs, asked the parents where the seventh child was .
After an embarassed silence Jill looked behind a screen and we found an
emaciated starving child . We discovered that in a world of absolute
pragmatics the parents,realising they could not feed and clothe all seven
children confronted the heartbreaking decision which child to
literally abandon and starve to death.
Never again did I question our
grocer`s bill nor my wife`s better judgment of priorities.
David
See IRG research reports
