Over 800 people died in the recent mudslide in Sierra Leone.
It’s a great disaster that should send chills down the spine of any thinking human. And, this is after the Ebola epidemic and the civil war.
Someone posted a question on Twitter asking whether Sierra Leone is the face of disaster? That is a hard question.
To me, I would say Africa has become the face of disaster. First, her leaders serve as a form of a disaster and of course, there are the inevitable games played by nature.
It’s always very easy to overlook events like these. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter won’t spring their “safety icon” in this case. Perhaps, where it happened doesn’t matter to the rest of the world.
Also, it’s amazing to notice how many people ignore the disaster in Sierra Leone. Then again, there’s that innate selfishness humans carry with them like a bag. It’s often a question of “if it’s not happening to me then why should I bother?”
There are many reasons why you should bother. After the mudslide, many families have been displaced. They need food. They need clothes. They need counseling.
There are children looking for their parents. There are lovers looking for their partners. These ones need a hug and practical assistance.
The dead won’t bury themselves. There are those who have taken it upon themselves to look for dead bodies and ensure that the dead, at least, get a “decent” burial. These helping heroes need help too.
There are predictions that the mudslide might return. According to one of the Sierra Leonean ministers “the weather conditions are still not favorable. The prediction is that we are expecting more rain in the next couple of days… We want to be able to evacuate as much people as we can before we find ourselves in this situation again.”
Meaning there is the high tendency that another child, another wife, another husband, another brother, another sister, should prepare for the worst. But, the world, I believe, can help to prevent another wiping away of human lives.
When someone calls a particular country a “face of disaster” that sends so many negative messages out to the world. Yes, many events in that country could warrant such a phrase.
The majority of disasters in Africa today are man-made.
Nature, on the other hand, dances and expects humans to be reasonable enough to get out of her way.
It’s my hope that we speak for the voiceless, give them a helping hand when they need one and more importantly, contribute in preventing another disaster.
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