One Beautiful World

We all live under the same sun

The Rio+20 Summit that is being held in Brazil  reminds us that we are all connected in one way or another. We actually do breathe the same air and feel rays on our bodies from the same sun. And the moon I see when I look up at the sky each night in Ottawa, Canada, is the same moon I stand under as I gaze up at the starry night sky from the patio of the TEMBO Guesthouse in Longido, Tanzania.

The Rio+20 Summit has 55,000 delegates from around the world talking and sharing ideas about sustainable development. In the past so much emphasis has been on the need to control population explosion, particularly in developing countries. Now we have so many experts like The Royal Society in the UK saying we have to look at consumption, particularly in developing countries, at the same time. Can't do one without the other. Isn't it telling that consumption side world leaders like Stephen Harper from my country - Canada, Barak Obama from the US, Angela Merkel from Germany, and David Cameron from the UK are not attending?

I am feeling like the planet is so small and that there are so many of us living on this earth. I live in such a vast and barely populated country with open space, resources, and opportunity everywhere. It is so easy to talk in "platitudes" when the very real worlds of most of the inhabitants on this earth don't impinge on mine. We live such insular lives and, although we can be in touch with anyone living almost anywhere on earth in a matter of minutes, we still behave as though we care mostly about ourselves. I agree with the experts who say that - at this point in time - we do have the intelligence and the resources to meet the basic needs of everyone on earth. We just don't have the will.  Isn't it all about consciousness and choices?

A young family in Kimokouwa

A year ago TEMBO held a 4-day session in Kimokouwa to help the women in the KWGP (Kimokouwa Women's Goat Project) gain knowledge and information about dealing with their goats during the drought. We also invited women to attend who were not yet in the project but were interested in joining. The day was structured so that we began about 9:00 a.m. and ended about 3:00 p.m. We included chai tea and mandazzis in the morning and a nutritious late lunch. When we asked for feedback at the end of the four days many of the women voiced the same recommendation. Next time we do something like this could we give the money we spent for lunch to the women - instead of preparing a meal - so they could buy food for their families. I knew this is exactly what the women would do with the money since their is nothing else they could possibly purchase in the barren Kimokouwa countryside.

I have to say that knowing individuals and families in Tanzania sure helps me to see the fuller picture. I think it would make such a difference in some of the assumptions we make if everyone got to know just one person in a developing country - I mean, really know them. The people I know are not looking for charity. They are looking for food, water, jobs, and education. I would hope that by knowing the real life situation of someone who happens to have been born in a different part of this world, we might be better advocates for them and their right to things like adequate food and clean water that we enjoy. I know we all think these are just givens, but it seems the US doesn't want to say that everyone has a right to food and Canada is just now agreeing that everyone has a right to water (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18475469).

Kimokouwa children

Perhaps a honest summit might look like this: an equal number of people from developed and developing countries would meet and share real life stories in simple language that everyone understood. Everyone would really listen. One wise person would help us all to see the simple connections: when enough of us make "this" choice in a developed country - say, Canada - "this" is what happens to people in a developing country like - say, Tanzania. Both choices that enhance life and choices that stifle the flow of life.

And, if this didn't help us see the very real consequences and the impact of choices we make each day, maybe we could do this: let all the delegates be children - no adults allowed.

I have a feeling one child would not want to see another without food and water.