Poverty, Inequality, and Paul Farmer

Last week Khombi (comb-e), one of my best friends in the community, invited me to attend a night vigil (a night long funeral) with her on Friday January 27, 2012. She had said the woman who passed was a great family friend and wonderful woman. The topic changed rather quickly as conversations often do, and no other information was revealed.

Unable to attend the night vigil due to swim lessons that I teach at Hlanganani Primary School in Piggs Peak, I am busy on Saturdays and staying up all night prior did not sound like a good idea. As I started walking down at 7am Saturday morning, I passed friends and host family members returning home. All were weary, from the long night they had previously. Everyone except the men, who somehow regained their energy when they saw me in order to start harassing me bright and early. Yes, I am the mlungu (white person) wearing jean Capri’s and showing my knees. Get over it.

As I made my way down the sand and dirt road, I realized the funeral was for a next door neighbor. Shame.

After a long but wonderful day of swim lessons, I found myself waiting and wondering if there would be transportation back to my community. Bo-Make was fearful that there wouldn’t be and they urged me to talk to people to see if they would give me a lift home. On my sad, desperate, and failing pursuit I saw a woman I recognized and adore. She is a teacher at one of my primary schools. I gave up the pursuit to find a ride and decided to talk to her. She had attended the burial that morning around 10am. Upon my inquiry, she told me the general story.

The Make (mother) who died was the last bread winner of the family. She had 8 children of her own and more from her late husband’s side as well as many grandchildren. Two of the eight are still in school- grades 5 and 9. Her husband, the children’s father, had passed years ago. The only person left is the Gogo (grandmother) who now has the responsibility of taking care of the children. The heartbreaking part of this story is that Gogo has no source of income. Though the government is responsible for paying the bulk of the school fees- because the children are now double orphaned- the family still has to pay a small but hefty amount to the schools. Money of which, they do not currently have. That means a variety of things could happen. The children might have to postpone school, they will most likely have additional duties (household and supportive which may even require them to work the fields for food) and most often than not- result to other secondary and terrible “solutions” for money which includes taking up a “sugar daddy” and sleeping around.

An equally depressing story came to me that one of the young girls I work with in my after school clubs has picked up a lover/boyfriend over the Christmas holidays. There has been talk about her being Teka’d soon (where a young woman is “kidnapped” by the men’s family, taken into the kraal, forced to cry, and “officially” engaged to be a part of the man’s family.) The child’s mother, a single mom whose husband had passed years ago and is the sole breadwinner of the family, is also supporting 4-6 young children by herself and is extremely poor living with all 5-8 people in one incredibly small mud hut (smaller than some bathrooms I’ve seen in the U.S.). She couldn’t be more excited for her daughter. By her daughter being married, the family will inherit cows. Cows mean wealth and wealth means that they have the opportunity to pay for school fees for the other remaining children and most importantly to buy food. Why is this so depressing? The girl is 15 at the oldest. If she marries she will not finish her schooling and she will be entering a hard life very early on.

I have been reading Paul Farmer’s book, Pathologies of Power, and he talks a lot about how social and economic forces shape and lead to certain outcomes. He says,

‘…Poverty remains primary cause of the prevalence of many diseases and widespread hunger and malnutrition among black South Africans.’ The dismantling of the apartheid regime has not yet brought the dismantling of the structures of oppression and inequality in South Africa, and persistent social inequality is no doubt the primary reason that HIV has spread so rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa’s wealthiest nation. (Farmer, p. 45)

Though Swaziland had no participation in the Apartheid and in fact they offered amity to all those (both white and black South Africans alike) looking to escape the persecution, Swaziland like South Africa still suffers from the “structures of oppression and inequality” today. And in such situations, poverty will often drive people to make unhealthy decisions which they might never have made otherwise. Just as in the stories stated above. A lack of resources, money, food, etc, will drive young girls to find old men who might pay for their school fees which results in the spread of STDs and HIV, or force young boys to work in the fields for minimal pay in order to provide their families with food for the day.

It is a very depressing situation and unfortunately, it is not uncommon. My heart continually yearns for each family and each child that faces such an outcome. I am left standing helpless, unable to give any other assistance besides emotional and mental support. Anything else I would provide would be in vain, for the majority of Swazi people in the rural villages (70% of the Swazi population live in rural communities versus the 30% living in urban areas) are suffering from similar situations. My own host mother who had lost her husband about 14-15 years back has been raising her 2 youngest children on the homestead by herself with no outside help or income. If I was to give assistance to one, I’d be expected to give help to all. What then can we do? How can we help? What needs to change? These are the questions we need to think about both as an individual and as a society.