The one about Amaretch

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I am reading a wonderful book at the current called “The White Man’s Burden: Why The West’s Efforts to Aid The Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good”, written by William Easterly. I’d like to share an excerpt from his book that I found to be particularly moving in my world, and hopefully yours.

“I am driving out of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to the countryside. An endless line of women and girls is marching in the opposite direction, into the city. They range from nine to fifty-nine. Each one is bent nearly double under a load of firewood. The heavy lads propel them forward almost at a trot. I think of slaves driven along by an invisible slave driver. They are carrying the firewood from miles outside of Addis Ababa, where there are eucalyptus forests, and across the denuded lands encircling the city. The women bring the wood to the main city market, where they will sell it for a couple of dollars. That will be it for their day’s income, as is takes all day for them to heft the firewood into Addis and walk back.

I later found that BBC news had posted a story about one of the firewood collectors. Amaretch, age ten, woke up at 3am to collect eucalyptus branches and leaves, then began the long and painful march into the city. Amaretch, whose name means “Beautiful One,” is the youngest of four children in her family. She says: “I don’t want to have to carry wood all my life. But at the moment I have no choice because we are so poor. All of us children carry wood to help our mother and father buy food for us. I would prefer to be able to just go to school and not have to worry about getting money.” When another group of Western television cameramen encountered the depths of poverty in Ethiopia for the first time, they went back to their hotel rooms and cried their eyes out. That is the right response. What can be more important?” (2006) Easterly, William.

When I first arrived in Africa, I witnessed almost the same sight everyday…and still do. At first, I just took everything in as “the way things were”. The more I saw it, the more I realized how disillusioned I was. Reading this passage moves me to tears every time, because it’s so real. It’s not just happening in Ethiopia, it is happening in a large portion of the world. Kids can’t go to school because they can’t afford it, so they stay home, take care of the siblings, cultivate the garden, or haul firewood for miles to support the family. Can you imagine, at the age of 8 or 9, carrying the burden of supporting your family financially? Can you imagine your child being denied the opportunity to learn how to read and write in school because they had to make money? We’re talking about kids here, the innocent people of this world, who are sometimes sentenced to a life of pain due to circumstance. Why is it ok that this is happening in my neighborhood, right outside my door, across Africa, and the developing world? It may be the way things are, but it isn’t the way things should be…ever.

Quote of the Post:
"It's beyond me, I cannot carry the weight of a heavy world." -Maroon 5

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