I became aware of an extreme example of those who have; and, those who have not. The nation of Swaziland celebrated it’s 40th independence day as well as the King of Swazi’s 40th birthday in an ostentatious way. The King Mswati was driven around in a convertible BMW flaunting his weath in a country that is overwhelmed with extreme poverty. The nation has been devastated by the AIDS epidemic; it has the world’s highest AIDs rate. This means that many households are not able to earn enough money to provide for their families; because many households are headed up by children because of the plague of AIDs. Those homes that are affected by AIDS may not be healthy enough to work. Many individuals only get enough food to eat because of international food aid. This is a terribly sad event.
This lack of basic necessities limits the average person’s ability to influence powerful changes, in a country that desperately needs to improve it’s quality of life. In my mind, if the country has that kind of money…i have to wonder, why is the international community forced to provide food aid in the first place? Those people should be coming first, in my mind, to the King of that country… he and his family should not be living a lifestyle that feeds off of riches…while his own subjects are forced to accept help from outside countries! That should be considered shameful to the King of Swaziland and it’s officials. It is, to me, a failure to fulfill his duties to provide care for the people under his rule. (more…)
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