She lay in a bed soiled by loose stool and vomit, a once beautiful young African girl now emaciated, her abdomen distended by pus, though she was afebrile because of her diminished response to infection. She cannot have understood why this was happening to her and may even have attributed the misfortune to God's will for herself or for her people. Her one hope on growing up would have been to have had a baby of her own but now she was dying childless and friendless.
Her sister in the next bed had children but was now a widow dying of AIDS. Her children would be orphaned and some themselves would die of the same disease. Meanwhile they would live with an overburdened grandmother or be turned out onto the streets.
I was called to see one such small child in the paediatric ward, with large vulval warts. The suffering on that ward was indescribable. How could young nurses be expected to cope and care for those children under those conditions?
The nurses themselves lacked care. At night their Home was visited by rich men (sugar daddies) who assumed that nurses would be 'safe' because they knew how to look after themselves.
On the adult ward I took an elderly lady to a side room for a gynaecological examination - one could not expect to add to the nursing burden by asking for a chaperone. As we entered the side room we found the four or five couches occupied by bodies waiting to be taken to the mortuary.
Who is responsible?
Who is responsible for this suffering and how can it be avoided? There is some local responsibility but much of the cause must be attributed to the wealthy sector of the world - that is, to you and to me. The complex web of chaos and conspiracy by which these causes work would take much time and knowledge to unravel but can be summed up under the headings of 'money, sex and power '.
Poverty operates in many ways both nationally and individually, but the money game was imposed by those in the West who set the rules and have since invited others to join the club. A form of sexual 'freedom' has been authorised by the West. The methods we have used to limit the sad consequences of this abuse of freedom depend on organisation, education and money, but we have the monopoly for all these. The G8 nations are still able to maintain the status quo in power but as I look at that young girl I boil with anger.
Her damages in litigation if only she could claim them should be charged to the account of the West and multiplied millions of times for others in her situation. Yet I bring my family back 'home' for the benefit of their education, to a people living on the wrong side of their television sets, in a virtual reality that protects viewers from feeling responsible for the real world.
If we go back to the beginning of the human story on earth we see man given the care of God's creation. Man failed. If we look at Abraham we see the beginning of a people who were meant to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. They failed.
Christians became the New Testament people of God but the New Testament never replaced God's original intention for man and woman to care for his creation. We have failed. Our world in crisis is the last opportunity to accept the challenge God has given us to show that he cares. If it takes poverty, chastity and obedience, so be it.
Her sister in the next bed had children but was now a widow dying of AIDS. Her children would be orphaned and some themselves would die of the same disease. Meanwhile they would live with an overburdened grandmother or be turned out onto the streets.
I was called to see one such small child in the paediatric ward, with large vulval warts. The suffering on that ward was indescribable. How could young nurses be expected to cope and care for those children under those conditions?
The nurses themselves lacked care. At night their Home was visited by rich men (sugar daddies) who assumed that nurses would be 'safe' because they knew how to look after themselves.
On the adult ward I took an elderly lady to a side room for a gynaecological examination - one could not expect to add to the nursing burden by asking for a chaperone. As we entered the side room we found the four or five couches occupied by bodies waiting to be taken to the mortuary.
Who is responsible?
Who is responsible for this suffering and how can it be avoided? There is some local responsibility but much of the cause must be attributed to the wealthy sector of the world - that is, to you and to me. The complex web of chaos and conspiracy by which these causes work would take much time and knowledge to unravel but can be summed up under the headings of 'money, sex and power '.
Poverty operates in many ways both nationally and individually, but the money game was imposed by those in the West who set the rules and have since invited others to join the club. A form of sexual 'freedom' has been authorised by the West. The methods we have used to limit the sad consequences of this abuse of freedom depend on organisation, education and money, but we have the monopoly for all these. The G8 nations are still able to maintain the status quo in power but as I look at that young girl I boil with anger.
Her damages in litigation if only she could claim them should be charged to the account of the West and multiplied millions of times for others in her situation. Yet I bring my family back 'home' for the benefit of their education, to a people living on the wrong side of their television sets, in a virtual reality that protects viewers from feeling responsible for the real world.
If we go back to the beginning of the human story on earth we see man given the care of God's creation. Man failed. If we look at Abraham we see the beginning of a people who were meant to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. They failed.
Christians became the New Testament people of God but the New Testament never replaced God's original intention for man and woman to care for his creation. We have failed. Our world in crisis is the last opportunity to accept the challenge God has given us to show that he cares. If it takes poverty, chastity and obedience, so be it.
