Slumming it

I can’t get this out of my mind.

A Slum quarter in Freetown

The last time I wrote, it was immediately after the latest “natural” disaster that had befallen Sierra Leone, in which untold numbers lost their lives. Up to this day, the precise casualty figure has not been determined.

The first lesson we learn from the tragedy is that when things go wrong it is the poor who cop it. They not only just die; they also lose identity as well. There is nobody to account for them or advocate on their behalf. As their corporal remains are washed away or consumed by fire, their humanity itself is not only diminished but is frequently erased entirely. Another recent example of this kind of erasure is the Grenfell Tower fire in London last June. In that disaster too, many victims remain unnamed and uncounted.

          And, as if to manage our guilt-ridden conscience for our failure to recognize lives lost or diminished, we quickly assume a posture of blaming the victims for what has befallen them. I cannot absolve myself from this failing, as a reading of my last posting amply demonstrates. Since that posting, however, I have had time to reflect on the predicament of those who live in the precarious margins, not out of choice, but of necessity. However, I cannot extend this admission of mea culpa to what I feel for the rich man sitting in his villa perched on the same hillside as the slum dweller whose abode was a shack in the same neighbourhood. That rich man had, and has, at his disposal, choices, including the benefit of expert advice that should have informed him of the foolishness of building where he did. Rather, it would appear, he ignored good, sensible engineering and environmental advice and went ahead and did what he did. He may have been a denier of facts, who might have interpreted attempts at dissuading him from doing something stupid as an instance of “fake news” and who, at the end of the day, probably congratulated himself on succeeding to manouvre his way around those pesky rules and regulations that inconvenience ordinary mortals. Similar to avoiding paying tax, as some openly brag.

          But what about the poor? When I wrote last, I dumped all those affected into a single basket of deplorables. Yes, the poor’s lack of foresight is to be deprecated. But how did they get to where they did? Sierra Leone has seen a number of upheavals, the most severe and enduring of which was the 10-year civil war that ended more than a decade ago. That war displaced tens of thousands, the majority of whom ended up in and around the capital, Freetown, seeking safety. And there they have remained, eking out a life of sorts, but building communities nevertheless. While doing so, they did things to the environment that unwittingly put their own existence and wellbeing at risk. What is certain is that those living hanging by the mountainside or in the path of an unstable land mass, or along a coastal strip, are bound to become victims again. And again, and again... Until and unless something is done.

          We demand that poor people living in these hazardous locations be moved elsewhere by whatever means, including by force, if necessary. However, an enterprise such as that is bound to fail if the new destinations provide no opportunities for productive employment and community-building. But we don’t pause to ask the important questions as to where the resources to pay the rent and maintenance will come from. Money will be required to pay for life in the new homes. Money for rent, money for maintenance, money for utilities (if the environment is to be protected). It would be lovely if this money could fall from the sky. But we all know that there is no money tree, especially in a country where it is estimated that over 70% of people have to live on less than a dollar a day.

        

Like someone said: “It’s the economy, my friend”.

Tell Fren Tru