I’ll be honest with you. I thought this would be a one-off post. But we’ve made it to three so yay for me! I’ve turned into a poet in the process as well, eek. In today’s post, we speak of two things: racial or ethnic preferences and vulnerability. The latter is a bit of a hot topic in the development world so apologise in advance for the ranty-panties. 

Preferential Treatment 

Not too long ago, the former government was responsible for teaching us the definition of the word,  nepotism. Trust me, some English majors are not walking dictionaries or language gurus. However, once the new government came in we did see a bit of preferential treatment extended towards immediate family members and what not too – I don’t know what that is called to be honest or if that too is another form of nepotism. But don’t worry, I’m not here to rant about the government. I’m an apathetic “youth” that cares less about what it does with this country and frankly, I don’t know enough to speak on it either and hence I will not.

But somehow, this newly defined (by new I mean, new to our vocabulary as a result of not having used it as much in the past) term seems to have extended itself to the general public as well.

While I do agree on helping those close to home or reacting to the manner in which a news bulletin would and report what is most familiar, urgent and / or near to us; at times of crises when those not so near to us are among those near to us, I don’t see the need for the implementation of this newly defined word. Do you get what I am saying?

See, I’m a mix-bred child. In school I studied one religion, which I did practice up until a certain time of my life. Then in the name of education and supposedly worldly experience, questioning became a part of nature and the importance of balance and all that jazz became pivotal.

Hence at times like this when you hear a particular religious or ethnic group attempting to reach out to their own kind, the only thing I will do is discourage such practices and attempt to write long posts speaking on my displeasure towards this, because let’s face it: we all want to be an internet hero. 

Vulnerability 

So excited to speak on this because, this word is something most NGO folks cannot get enough of.

V-u-l-n-e-r-a-b-l-e: doesn’t that sound magical to you?

Now there is this little notion floating around despite the drop in water levels, on how we should help the most vulnerable. 

Pray tell me, who is the most vulnerable over here? Women and children? Senior citizens? The disabled community? Are we also throwing in a LGBTQ (++ other letters) over there too – no offence to you guys, just that the particular community keeps expanding a lot.

Let me tell you what happens on our side of the world. When it comes to provision of donor funds or drafting of proposals or tackling potential funding opportunities, we try to throw in a bit of the vulnerable because why not, the donors love it! I won’t say that it’s a bad thing as some countries here in South Asia and most countries in Africa are surviving to date because of the great work carried out by NGOs and other non-governmental entities especially when compared to the bare minimum done by the government.

However, in this context how does it work out?

1. Houses 1-5 are situated in an affected area.
2. Houses 1 and 5 are built on a relatively elevated-foundation (pray there be such things) with a second floor.
3. Houses 2-4 are not as fancy with a single story with the exception of house 3 that has gone up to slab-level and a staircase but stopped because building houses is expensive.
4. During the time of the flood, house 1 and 5 are lucky enough to remain in the house as they have another storey and remain there. The water level marks up to around 3 feet.
5. However houses 2-4 are not as lucky and reported a rough marking of 5 feet of water.

Now, when you go about your post-disaster work, will you provide rehabilitation equipment or facilities for only houses 2-4 while houses 1 and 5 looks on? 

That’s all I have to rant about today. Until more flood times, haha. I joke.

❤

P.S. – The sun is more or less out there and I suggest you go dry your clothes. Haha.