THE NEW YEAR AHEAD AND MOVING FORWARD IN HOPE ....

[SandyB]

Its  afternoon ,,, me  driving home ..   the  streets  strangely sort  of half busy  and as I  observe  I get the   same feeling  as I get at Christmas ...  people  abandoned by society and the system some begging at the traffic lights  , some  begging ,, most heartbreaking is the women with babies  on their backs  ,  in all likelyhood  mothers abandoned  by their men trying to  eke out some sort of living ..   Some trying to  sell  something ..  I  do if I see  an  item of wire and  beadwork that has use or appeals  buy  it  to either gift or yes  just  keep ...  It makes me feel  blessed  and fortunate  that I have  financial security , yet I also get those  twinges of guilt , yet remember my Moms words  when as  a child I would  pester her  to give to anyone i felt sorry for .. she would  say " my boy  if we gave to all  we would have nothiing  and would not have solved any problem  just  alleviated the plight of   some a wee bit "
Which brings me to the " SYSTEM "   yes our  system has  previously and even more so now  let  the lesser fortunate down ...  What about  social upliftment  programs funded from money that should not have been  squandered by the fatcat politicians ??    I quote an example ... food  farms  ?? they in power engaging the skills of  NGO's   and working hand in hand with them ?? as  most  stuff  the politicians  touch  gets stuffed up ... we have  food shortages ,   people going hungry .. why not have  these farms  giving them a safe place to stay and work ,, growing food  and of course ,earning money , they in turn spend and yes keep the  tax base rolling .. we have plenty of arable land  but nobody taking  the initiative ...
MY 2 $  WORTH HERE , BUT ANYHOW FOLKS  WHEN  WE RAISE OUR GLASSES  TO THE  NEW  YEAR  TONIGHT REMEMBER THE LESS FORTUNATE  AS WELL .. GO FORWARD IN HOPE THAT  THE ECONOMY RECOVERS , THAT COMMON  SENSE  SINKS INTO THE HEADS OF POWERS THAT BE , AND THAT WE WILL HAVE  MANY BETTER YEARS AHEAD ...

[Bob Molloy]

Hi Sandy,
               Re your query: "why not have farms where these people can live and work?"

We've been there, done that. It was called native tribal areas where each family was allotted land by the headman. And yes, indeed, the result was subsistence living but at least it was a living and there was no crime. There were schools and medical clinics. Each person lived in close contact with their neighbours who had grown up with them, gone to school with them, and intermarried with them.
The problem was, as UNO saw it, they didn't have a vote outside their tribal area. Well, as you know, we solved that problem by handing over the entire voting system.
The ANC went one step further and, using a stick and carrot approach, urged and coerced these subsistence farmers to move to the cities to capture the urban vote, hence the huge surge of population to urban areas.
Now they have the vote but no house, no job, no food, no friendly neighbours and little hope of ever getting back to square one.

I doubt if these thoughts really fit under the heading "happy new year and moving ahead in hope". Perhaps we'll start doing that when we have a reality check at high level.....

[SandyB]

Morning Bob ,  the reality  of  what you say regarding the  carrot and stick applies (  your  paradise in Hout Bay  affected by such gerrymandering )
The thread of where I was trying to  go was  the way it  affects  my heart  to see  so many and yes in this  last year of  reccession  even more so  people  in poverty .. and asking the question  why does  society  the system and  yes the powers that be  let this happen ,,  I quote the  new year ahead  and moving on in hope .. reminding all when  celebrating  and raising their glasses to remember those less fortunate and that the  reality checks do eventually come ... there is nothing wrong with hope , its what helps keep us as mortal beings glued together ...  so yes  abstract as my writing is I say  move into this new year  in hope ..

[Andrew Darné]

From an online source... and yes this makes you think, about those "discarded by society" an dhow they come to be...

BUNDLES OF SORROW
by George Annandale

2009-12-29

I woke up on Saturday morning to the exciting news that over 500 "Bundles of Joy" were born on Christmas day in South African hospitals.

We need this glorious news like a hole in the head. Truth be said, besides the 500-odd babies born in hospitals a further five-thousand-odd were born all over the place; babies born in abject poverty from parents who cannot sustain themselves, never mind their "Bundles of Joy".

What the tellers of the stories of delight omits from their good tidings is that more than 200 of these "Bundles of Joy" will be dead as Dodos by next Christmas, many of them having died most horribly of hunger or HIV/Aids related deaths.

The bearers of good tidings also forgot, conveniently perhaps, to tell us how many of these babies were born to unemployed and poverty stricken parents who can hardly afford enough food to render onto them the energy required to procreate. Many of them having probably harnessed their last bit of energy, most likely derived from an energy bar or Wilson Toffee, stolen from the nearest spaza-shop.

To add more gloom to the supposedly joyous Christmas birthing occasion, it must be noted that more than a hundred of the babies who survived the first year, will die a horrible and suffering death before they are five.

The four-and-a-half thousand who remain, after the initial carnage, does not face a life of moonshine-and-roses either. At least 50% of them will live on the breadline, having to scrounge a living from rubbish heaps, dust bins, begging and petty theft; never knowing whether they will see the next Christmas and not even having a clue that, odds are, they will be dead by twenty-five.

"What is wrong with that?" - some may quite rightly ask, not realising we live in a country, part of a continent that, with the best will in the world, have never been able to sustain itself and its people without alms and food donations.

That the ANC government and its partners refuse to acknowledge or address this very real problem is inconsequential to most. To them, the so-called leaders, the populist promise of social allowances, whilst hoping for a miracle, is the only way to handle the crisis facing the country and the continent.

Instead of facing the fact that too many people are competing for resources, they while away their time, making transformation plans whilst blaming everything, from labour-brokers to white farmers, weather, apartheid, thieves-in-their-midst and wages, for the plight of the poor and desperate.

To them, the so-called leaders, as virulent African breeders of note, the very idea of any legal constraints on breeding, like measures propagated, implemented and enforced by many civilised or half-civilised country outside the African continent, as solution to their overpopulation problem, is quite unthinkable, or as some would say, "Too ghastly to contemplate". Instead of preaching moderation, African leaders urge their illiterate followers to "Go forth and multiply" and promise them monetary rewards as an additional incentive, encouraging them in their belief that their breeding is an assurance policy against famine and pestilence.

[SandyB]

The nail hit squarely on the head in this writing indeed ...

[SandyB]

I will add to this one ... Bob  mentioned  the  tribal areas   .. all from the past ... and yes effectively trashed by  past and  current goings on ...
There  is one large  company  in the form of  woolworths  here is SA ... ( equivalent  and  very aligned  to M & S in  UK )  they have  written into  their company policy  a social responsibility  program .. vis  they  identify areas  and  engage and educate  communities to grow  some of their  more exotic  veggies  etc ...  this is not a form of   handout  ,, sure they help set them up  and  help them along the way  , but obviously it has to be viable ... they having reasonable success with this ...  now  if all major  corporations were to engage in this sort of thing ...  show those palukas in power  how it can be done ,, and yes demand their tax rebate for  job creation ...  talk about job creation ..  if you have a domestic worker as a private individual  ( your are  providing a job  ) but yet  there  is nor tax rebate for  employing someone ?? duh !!  hello  so many  folk are too busy  working and propping up the   goose that lays the golden egg  and have no time for doing housework , yet cannot get a rebate for empoying someone to do it ??  we have to  register  the  domestic worker and  pay into  the  UIF  fund  or some  day some asshole of a  beaurocrat  will come and   fine  you into oblivion ,, yet you cannot claim  against  tax  for empoying as a private individual ???  duh !!!
as  said before  it requires the interaction of business and concerned citizens to get things moving .. farms  as  Eddie  has also said are a way of  providing work and  dignity ... 
One of  the   current lots  cockups  is  the  so called environmental  levy  on  plastic shopping bags  ( and dont  even get me started on that  subject )   the  so called intent was the  levy  was  suppoeed to be used  to create  an  effective  recycling  industry .. to date  they have noting  to show  but  excuses  as they say that  they cannot " ringfence " the  income  from that  source  so there fore cannot hold  any  stupid asshole responsible ... now in my  simple  way of thinking ...   the income  by normal accounting procedures   has a source ..  they have a very  good and  amazing  tax system for  hitting the average wage earner .. but  somehow caanot rinfence a fund and hold somone responsible ... I go back again ..   it must be a joint venture with damm good oversight from indusrty  and  NGO's ...   again more  companies  doing the social responsibility thing  and  demamnding from " powers that be "  engagement  and responsibility ...........  my  tonights  2 $ worth of bile  and suggestion ... Uugh  work tomorrow  wages earned and taxes paid and wasted ...