Our last day...

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Though I have really lacked inspiration to blog in the last few days, I received a comment from a random person this morning, saying that she thought my blog was brilliant and she is staying up to date with our adventures. I had started to feel like I was really not able to give anything by writing this blog, but with such a nice comment from a complete stranger, I have a smile back on my face. 😊

With that said, our time is approaching a very rapid end. Tomorrow morning, we board the plane back to Aus, back to family, back to friends, and back to thinking so much about what we have been lucky enough to experience over in this part of the world. Yesterday, I was feeling quite ready to go home, and the delay of another day inbetween leaving felt something like the time before your final year 12 exam, when you cannot possibly fit in another minute piece of information. But today, I am slightly dreading getting back home, mainly, I think, out of the fear that it could be so easy to fall back into the same routine life, and not pushing myself to do things out of the ordinary, things that will make me grow as a person. Hmmm.

I have definitely decided to get my behind back over here again sooner rather than later, though I am undecided as to where, when and how long. I had bought Jeffrey Sachs' book 'An End to Poverty' before I left Australia, and thought it might be a good title to take in whilst in the thick of it. Turns out, I am having trouble putting it down, as there seem to be so many logical answers to the worlld's problems, so many simple solutions. When I read that there are still 3 million people dying every year from malaria, it made me feel ridiculous that I had bought malaria tablets to go into a country which doesn't even have a high risk rate. In Africa, on the other hand, there are something like 7,500 people dying every day from this easily-preventable sickness. I look at the statistics of 9/11 - something like 3,000 people lost their lives that day, innocent civilians who did not deserve to die in the face of the political discrepancies that the USA has with the world. This toll was terrible, and the US has every right to invest heavily into making its waters and territories 'safer'. When we put into perspective, though, that 10,000 people in Afrcia have died needlessly every day since 9/11 due to preventable diseases, malnutrition and poverty, it seems ridiculous that the world would not address their needs more directly and put an end to this terrible waste of human life.

When I read these kind of facts and stories, I can feel my heart, like it is trying to tell me something. Might sound stupid, and I ignored it for long enough, but I think being over here has made me realise that this is it for me. I can think of not a single better thing to do with my time on earth, and I have been so inspired by coming over here, that I really hope I will not ignore my feelings for too much longer. But I guess that is entirely in my control...

For one, I have decided that I want to do a project (at least one) with the Happy School, as well as get involved with other aid organisations so that I can get a better feel for what is really needed in the remaining 'extreme poverty' countries of the world. It seems like such a useful thing to spend my time doing, and given that I am financially set up, I can afford to really get my teeth into it.

Anyway, I hope that I have touched everyone of you in some small way, whether that be for some sort of self-realisation, shedding a tear, or just making you giggle at the end of a long day in the office.

I leave behind a trail of words, a dismal way of describing the beauty and warmth which so many of these people here are.

x Maz

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Comments

[Nikki]

Don't stop writing!!!
Maz, Your blogs have been amazing - please don't ever think they were not giving anything back. They have allowed me, for a moment in my day, to put life into perspective and remember that feeling of inspiration when you travel. I can feel, through your writing, the intense emotions that you have felt during your time over there, and I can feel your strength and determination to make a difference in this world. I think they are very admirable traits to have. I think it is such an important thing to be able to not fall into the same routine all the time and it is nice to be reminded of that through your writings. I think you three have just undertaken such an amazing adventure and the things that you have learnt, about yourself and your life, is really inspiring. Please keep in touch with everything that you do, and keep me in mind for any future trips over there - as said to you before you left, I would absolutely love to experience something like that. Travel safely on your way home, and hopefully we can catch up soon to look at your pictures and hear all of your tales. Keep smiling, Nikki

[Gabi K.]

Shedding a tear? Yes, I am doing that right now, Maria. You have touched me so much with your travel diaries and your motivation and I am so proud of you. On SBS, the other day, there was a documentary on Malaria in some Eastern African countries and the simple purchase of a mosquito net for US $ 5.- cured the malaria spread in children by an amazing percentage which I cannot remember exatly.Since this kind of mozzie is only active during the night and they mainly live in the organic matter roofs where people live in and then come out at night, I could not believe the effects this simple investment had on families and I was eveb mote taken by the fact that-to this day- I had no idea of it.Also, that most malaria tablets that are being sold(and in fact not within financial reach of most families) are not effective since they are not up to the latest standard in prevention. The genetics of the mosquito is able to change within a very short time and therefore a lot of the pills that sit in African "bush pharmacies"are basically useless or only work in certain combinations of a few different ones, thus of course increasing the cost again. But the simple mosquito net had such an effect! And here we sit and worry about which leather lounge we buy next... Maria, think of coming back to Australia as also coming back to the people and things you love and the opportunities you have.Imagine you would not have all this and maybe that you then feel what role the people and places in your life have here. Viele Kuesschen, auch an Pickilein, mum