Chi Hau:

May 28, 2008

This afternoon, while having lunch with my parents, we talked about the issue of poverty. It reminded me of one of the books that I have read – The Diary of Ma Yan. It illustrates a girl named Ma Yan from a poor family in Ningxia, China. Due to poverty, she has no choice but to drop out of the school. The content of the book is in fact derived from a diary written by Ma Yan, which was later handed by Ma Yan’s mother to a French reporter. The book was initially published in France and it managed to raise concern regarding the issue of poverty. Soon, a foundation was established to fund children’s education in Ningxia.

Throughout the book, we can see how Ma Yan’s family is trying to eke out a living from a meagre income. Ma Yan tries to change her destiny and she shows a very strong desire to return to the school. It is really a heartbreaking yet touching real life story. Most of us are taking what we have for granted and we fail to realize that more than half of the population in the world is in fact craving for these things. Every day, we attend lectures but snooze in the class. On the other hand, some people don’t even have the opportunity to be educated. We should be grateful with what we have and appreciate it.

Talking about poverty, it raises my reminiscence of the 30-hour Famine I joined last year, located at Stadium Bukit Jalil. It was really an eye-opening experience for me. We were introduced to the starvation and poverty faced by the people, especially children in China. Nonetheless, starving 30 hours is absolutely nothing compared to those who have to starve for a lifetime. I managed to catch a movie there. It was about a little girl in China, who was forced to drop out of the school and to marry at an early age due to the poverty of the family. Unwilling to kowtow to her family’s wish, she tries all she could to gather a sum of money to continue with her education. I can’t really remember the number but she begs her teacher to allow her to return to the school just because she was dearth of a few cents for the fee. When she lost her only pen, she cries like it is the end of the world as she couldn’t afford another pen. Notice that, it is just a PEN.

A current spate of natural disasters throughout the globe makes the issue of destitution even worse. Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and earthquake in Sichuan, China lead to the demise of thousands of people and left thousands more struggling to survive, fearing the menace of contagious diseases and famine. The situation in Myanmar worsened when the junta refused to let in foreign aids initially. The military scares that the foreign aid workers might arm the locals with weapons to topple the government. This is an act of insanity and it is totally inhumane. While the people were still suffering from the cyclone, an election was held. Indeed this election was just a trick to force the people to support the military government. Now let us turn our attention to the earthquake in Sichuan. At Cannes, Sharon Stone’s recent statement about the issue of earthquake has raised uproar among the people in China. Trying to raise attention pertaining to the issue of Tibet, Stone said that the earthquake is a result of karma. Undeniably it is an inconsiderate and immoral statement…