Feeding the starving - It is our duty to do what we can

“How much morality is there in saving an Ethiopian child from starvation today, for it to survive [for] a life of brutal circumcision, poverty, hunger, violence and sexual abuse, resulting in another half-dozen such wide-eyed children, with comparably jolly little lives ahead of them?” a columnist in a rival newspaper wrote during the week.

His answer seemed to be that the children should die as an example to Africans to get their house in order.

Maybe the columnist believed what he was writing, or he may have been merely seeking to stir controversy in order to attract attention to himself, in which case he should be ignored. But such vile indifference toward the suffering of fellow humans should not be encouraged.

There is an understandable frustration that aid being sent to Africa is often not getting to the people in need. Instead, it is being siphoned off by greedy gangster elements, like Robert Mugabe and his henchmen. It is important that right-minded people should stand up for decency and insist that we not cut back on helping those in need.

In the 1980s much of the world was moved by the plight of those suffering from famine in Ethiopia. In the quarter of a century since, the population there has grown by 33.5 million to 78 million. The population of this island, on the other hand, more than halved in the 100 years following the Great Famine.

With our history, we should be even more mindful of the plight of those people. During the Great Famine, Irish people fled this island to survive. It might be nice to think that they were welcomed wherever they went, but that was not the case.

The boats on which they fled became known as “coffin ships”, because so many of them died en route. More people died of disease than actual starvation, so those who arrived were largely shunned.

Yesterday was World Population Day, on which the United Nations Population Fund sought to highlight the plight of women dying in childbirth and pregnancy related causes. The death rate of women giving birth still remains the starkest indicator of the disparity between rich and poor countries.

More than half a million women die each year of pregnancy related causes, and 99% of those are in developing countries. This is a grim reminder of how far we have come and what can be done.

In these more affluent times we certainly owe it to our history to help others in the kind of need that once afflicted this island. During much of the 20th century, a veritable army of idealistic men and women went to undeveloped and underdeveloped countries to serve as doctors, nurses, teachers and missionaries. In the process they did more for Ireland’s international standing than any military army did for any country.

We can be proud of their contributions and should rely on those people to ensure that Irish contributions reach those in need, rather than the swindlers.