The speakers we have had so far have really assisted my learning and understanding of what is occuring around the world. Hearing that it is cheaper to buy a weapon than food in South Sudan at times, allows me to create an image of what life is like there right now, not the life anyone would choose to live in. Yet aside from all of this, people are living in this terrifyingly dangerous zone where they must still fight to survive, but their survival techniques are so extreme, having to use weapons for protection over maintaining their personal health and nutrition.
Additionally hearing that rape is the number one card played, and it is not just human lust and malevolence really impacted me. Digging deeper into rape, that it is a purposeful act so that these people can exert power over the locals, telling them what the way is going to be. Furthermore, learning that the acts of rape are to destroy the culture and break apart the families and eventually the village. The thought that goes into it scares me, and makes me wonder how a group of people can destroy another group of people, destroying humanity. It is so unethical, who gave them the power to do this? Or why do their inner selves allow them to do this to other people?
Are we evil as a nation to ignore certain things occurring just so that we do not put ourselves in the position of political and economic turmoil with other countries? We exert our energy into helping rebuild nations after humanitarian crises, but pick and choose too much on what to ignore, why can’t we pledge to be consistent with our actions and turn lives around for people not with the thought of what we can gain or destroy on our field. We as United States citizens have so much already, why do we constantly seek personal gain even in the most despair of times.
Another area that has allowed me to further construct an image around all of the information I am learning, is about the difficulties of obtaining and maintaining aid before even distributing it. Securing the supplies beyond blankets, clothing and food, is such a crucial part that I never thought of. You can’t just demand for supplies that only medical personnel have access to, so that requires having so many pathways of entry into the medical field, and maintaining that source of supply because hospitals alone have so much on their hands. Furthermore without the proper setup of a hospital in areas such as South Sudan, humanitarian aid workers have another challenge of how to make a safe and sterile environment in the middle of a disheveled area, which sounds impossible.
I am so intrigued to continue learning about these fields I have never been exposed to, however it definitely is difficult to piece together and understand the reality of what I am hearing.