A quick follow up to my previous post about the camera crews buzzing around on the pediatric ward. A couple of days ago I received a text message from a friend in Kampala saying, "I just saw you on TV! It was about malnutrition in Bundibugyo." I'm not sure who thought I deserved to be on the news. Maybe I have the look that Ugandan news outlets are looking for. I'll call it fame.
My friend was concerned about Bundibugyo - are things really getting that bad? Is malnutrition on the rise as dramatically as it seems? The answer is no, it simply hasn't been reported before. Certainly, the rapid population growth coupled with increased cash cropping aren't helping the situation, but it's simply a case where things have been bad for a long time, but only when the WFP pours resources into the area does it get covered.
It makes me wonder how much of the world is that way. How many horrible situations, how many tragedies, how much oppression are we blind to simply because we don't have the time, energy, or desire to know about them? Maybe it's simply that news networks don't show it, or maybe we would rather be ignorant. But if even many Ugandans have little idea about the severity of malnutrition in their own country - granted, in a remote district - how much do we miss? What might our world be like?
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1 comment:
SOOOOOOOOO much better you than me, my friend! I think there's a nick-name in all of this somewhere..."nathani-darling" ...nope, I'll work on it though :)
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