Run…, Run As If Your Life Depended On It…
Published March 26th, 2006 in , .Well, the Commonwealth Games came to an end this evening, and have been hailed an “incredible success“. (Those who live, work or have businesses in the CBD might disagree. I for one do, but I digress!) As athletes and officials return home, the fate and whereabouts of 12 athletes from the African nation of Sierre Leone remains unknown. The 12 missing athletes were part of an original team of 22. Team chef de mission, Mohammed Alpha Kaba, refused to comment on the situation as his plane left Melbourne. (See The Age’s report here). The previous games, held in Manchester in 2002, saw 21 members of a team of 30 flee. And who can blame them? A brutal civil war raged throughout the country between 1991 and 2002 that killed or displaced over a third of the population. Despite the last UN peacekeepers withdrawing in December 2005, instability in the region threatens progress towards Sierra Leone’s stability. For those returning to Sierre Leone, there is not much to look forward to. As the table below shows, life must be grim and short. That said, it is typical of conditions across Africa.
To the 12… RUN!
|
AUS
|
SLE
|
USA
|
OPEC*
|
|
| Population (in millions) |
20.09
|
6.017
|
295.734
|
|
| Life Expectancy |
80.39
|
39.87
|
77.71
|
77.74
|
| Infant Mortality Rate** |
4.69
|
143.64
|
6.5
|
6.3
|
| HIV/AIDS Adult Prevelance Rate |
0.1%
|
7.0%
|
0.6%
|
|
| Literacy |
100%
|
29.6%
|
97%
|
|
| Unemployment |
5.2
|
n/a
|
5.1
|
7.1
|
| Population Below Poverty Line |
n/a
|
68
|
12
|
|
| GDP per capita (2004, in US$) |
32800
|
800
|
41800
|
28500
|
| UN HDI Rank*** |
3
|
176
|
10
|
|
Notes:
* The OECD, or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, share a common “commitment to democratic government and the market economy”. Its members consist almost entirely of advanced industrialised countries. Its members are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.
** Infant Mortality Rate is the number of deaths per 1000 live births.
*** The UN HDI is a comparative measure of poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy, childbirth, and other factors for countries worldwide. The ranking indicated is for the 177 nations with a HDI score. The rankings place Sierre Leone is second last place, up one spot from 2003. Only Niger scored worse. (Norway was ranked number one for the fifth consecutive year).
Sources: CIA World Factbook, OECD, The UN.
Don’t forget to support Make Poverty History.
I for one love my sport and the joy of competition and winning, but despite my first unacceptance of the Games runaways, like idle thoughts, I now say RUN for as long as you can. However, it might not be long before our nation’s social inadequacies catch up with you.
The massive medal haul at the Games kinda makes me cringe. Together with a debatable one-sided television coverage, others could be excused of thinking Australia is not only sports-addled but also bad winners. I am starting to think that Australia’s apathy for anything other than sport leads us to accept social injustices in the world community - A community we so desperately need to be part of.
I am not saying that we should be shameful of being the best in the Commonwelath or dismiss the achievements of individual athletes - they’re certainly worthy of praise but there is more to being a mature nation than watching Australians winning in sport.Let’s flex our Commonwealth superiority in other fields - if this means helping other less fortunate people with a grim and (quite frankly) shantytown future, then so be it.
This is probably the most political I’ll ever get, so for those not use to it, the normal BGE will be back soon.
BGE
Someone once told me that I was living in a fantasy land and that utopia was non exsistant…then they told me that again and again and again, until one day I finally realised it was true.
I want everyone to be able to have a life free from major hardship, simply having access to the things most of us take for granted, such as a roof over our heads, good food, clean drinking water and medical care. This apparently is called having a daydreamy fairy fuzzy land ideal. Why? Because at the end of the day there IS poverty, disease and death and violence. There ISN’T a way that you, me and Jo Blo can stop a war that has been going on for decades, feed millions of starving children and help billions of dying people live.
I understand why the athletes in question want to find refuge in a country that has even more than just the basics, I really do. And I wish that our government would do something more to help all the needy people of the world, we sure as hell have plenty of land.
But what happens when the whole of Sierra Leon departs and is let into Europe, the USA and Australia and the whole of Bangledesh is packed up and sent elsewhere and so on?
Then are all the third world countries left bare and baron and Australia takes on a war that started there but ends here?
With all the help that goes out..tell me what can we do? There is no such thing as utopia, there is just life.
I forgot to comment on your little request about supporting Make Poverty History. Brand Kudos has a post on it, so if you would like a peak at what “Draft London” did for OXFAM, It’s called a “Bit Unfair”, check out Brand Kudos linked to this site. Are you in?
Idle thoughts - why can’t I insert links in the comments, looks like WordPress have some powering up to do, although I don’t know that any commenting system has that function. Maybe we should start a revolution!
BGE
Okay… first things first.
Check out BGE’s post at here.
Secondly, on the linking function. You’ll have to do a a href link. Ask Mr Squiggle… he’ll show you how!
Finally, don’t forget to support Make Poverty History!
PS: I’ve only been wearing the wrist band for almost a year… I’m glad to see you have all been paying attention!
A quick update on the plight of the athletes…
The Age is reporting that 10 of the athletes were granted permanent visas to remain in Australia. The athletes were granted permanent visas after proving to the Department of Immigration they were legitimate refugees. Their four other teammates will find out this week if their applications have been successful. This is fantastic news… and proof that without political interference (ie: Tampa, SIEV X, West Papuan’s), that the system works!