For Whom the Bell Tolls

Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu.

So goes the African proverb that declares, "A person is a person because of other people." Not being of African heritage myself, I have to admit that I do not know for certain in what context the saying is normally used, but it seems to me a rephrasing of John Donne's declaration that no man is an island, entire of itself. Donne declares, "any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind" and I think those who do know when best to use the above saying must surely believe the same as Donne did about our interconnectedness.
The problem is, the number of those now acting as though they truly believe seems to be so small. Witness the current desperate straits in Pakistan and the international community's aid response. The flooding began in Pakistan almost three weeks ago and the waters are not expected to completely recede until the end of August. An estimated 1,600 have been killed and 8 million people have been left in urgent need of assistance. Highways and bridges have been washed away, and left hundreds of villages marooned. Millions are now living with the threat of diseases such as cholera, carried by contaminated water, and the need for clean drinking water, food rations and shelter is desperate. "Heart-wrenching" and the worst disaster he has ever seen was how UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon described it on his visit to Pakistan.
So why is the international response to this disaster lagging so far behind what the UN has appealed for? Is it because people suspect aid dollars will be diverted by corrupt officials? Such an occurrence has plagued international aid responses before, but it should not be enough of a reason for people not to open their wallets. Since Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari saw no reason to cancel his visit to Europe or yet declare a national disaster, it might be that the world doesn't quite understand the scope of the disaster.
Kilian Kleinschmidt, deputy to the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy to Pakistan, has stated of the international community, "Pakistan will require our continued and sustained engagement to recover." Our engagement, however, has not gotten off to a good start. Perhaps, sadly, it is the low death toll. The Haitian government, for instance, estimated the death toll in the 2010 earthquake to range between 100,000 and 270,00 although the true number may never be known. Compare that to the death toll in Pakistan. Perhaps some decide their response or lack thereof based on the number of dead.
After having given to the aid effort for Haiti, many are feeling they have nothing left in their budgets with which to respond to the need in Pakistan. This may be true for some, but I would question if it is for all those who say the coffers are empty. I have to wonder just how many might be making such a declaration with the latte of the day clutched firmly in their hand.
Certainly, there are those who are responding with an open heart and open hands. ike Asma Mahmood, of Mississauga, Ontario is a good example of the people who understand the need. She has organized "Tents from Toronto", a drive to collect tents that will help provide shelter for the estimated 20 million who have been left homeless by the flood waters, but it just seems too easy for many who live the privileged life of the western world to turn their back on their stricken brothers and sisters. I know there are those who have much less than others here in the west. I know that there are those on welfare, and the homeless on the streets, but they are not the majority. The majority of us do have the cash in our pockets for that latte, day after day. Far too many have confused luxury with necessity. They do not care to listen to Gandhi's admonition to live simply so that others may simply live. They do not care to listen to Donne's warning that if "if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less". They think they live far enough away that they are granted a kind of immunity from the social-conscience imperative to respond when there is desperate need.
Perhaps those who have decided to ignore the need in Pakistan should pause for a moment over their next latte. They should take that moment to pray that they never experience such need in their own lives, or in the lives of those whom they love. They should pray they are spared the need ever to ask for which of their kindred the bell tolls, lest they find themselves hoping for aid from others as disconnected as they.