Sorry, if I could not explain it well. Lets say I am one of those poor affected. This is happening since years. What should I do:
1. Wait for free food to arrive every six months.
2. Note the pattern that the current job/work/profession is not working out and shift to something else instead.
3. Wait for somebody else to protest for me, and stubbornly insist for a free food package every time my village goes hungry.
If I were the person I will opt for 2).
But I take your point that we must protest. But protest against what? These men are in need of jobs, the maximum we ask for is the government to pass reforms which can create jobs.
Without this we can very well fix corruption and solve this for the moment. But they will need food again in the next six months. Like I said before, now this time where will you get the free food from? and how long will this continue?
Wow, it is really clear that you have not been poor and/or lived in a scenario where you don't have access to work. How exactly are you going to get the energy and ideas to start protesting when you can't even eat? Or that the work you can find, if any, consumes almost all of your time for little pay? You talk about securing your food for next 6 months, but these people can barely secure their food for the next day or week let alone month. The situation is complicated and will require action and change from more than just the most screwed over people in society, so let's not pretend that the poor can just pull themselves up by their bootstraps, which is what you are advocating.
Here's another free anecdote for you. You seem pretty smart, but you need to think hard about your model of the world. Cancel that Economist subscription (I subscribe, btw) if you need to. :)
Anyway, at an NGO that tries to build skills among the poor, the middle-class employees were all talking happily about how nice it was that it rained the previous night, because it had been a hot few months. One of the trainees then quietly said during the conversation that people like them don't really like the rain, because it pours in through their shanties and RUINS THEIR STORED FLOUR (!!) that they use to make rotis.
The last part was that the thing that nobody (including me) had ever thought about. That takes the suckage due to rain to a whole new level.
Here's what people like kamaal probably think to that sob story (which is sad, no doubt, but I find myself thinking the same thing): is it really that difficult to make a small volume, where you put important things, waterproof? I grew up in a fairly conservative part of the US, and I was in boyscouts when I was younger (only achieved my First Class), I know it's not that hard and children can do it. Same with making a bridge.
If you've never watched the Vice Guide to Liberia (http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/the-vice-guide-...) you should. One of the things that stood out to me when reflecting on it is the very first few seconds when they're crossing stagnate water likely containing disease and insects carrying disease. There are nevertheless trees around and lots of dirt--why no bridges? In West Point, why no latrines and toilet pits near or on the beach? Why is there so much systematic incompetence?
In the US at least much of the systematic incompetence comes from the fact many homeless people have some form of mental illness. You can excuse these people and by all means help them, some can even become quite "normal" and productive if they have access to medication that helps keep them stable. The rest? It's hard to find much pity for them.
I don't think my attitude here is particularly "conservative" either, but more due to an engineering personality. If there's a problem, fix it. Unfortunately many poor people give in (through culture, religion, or something else) to a sort of defeatism or general acceptance of their suffering, and those that are theoretically capable of imagination and problem solving nevertheless shirk from it. That's what is truly depressing to me.
> is it really that difficult to make a small volume, where you put important things, waterproof?
Obviously, they would started doing so after the rains started. The point of the story is not to say that the poor are too stupid/poor/helpless to figure out how to protect a few kilos of flour.
The point of the story is like quantum mechanics, the effects of events on a poor person will sometimes be surprising and hard for a non-poor person to understand.
How can someone switch to a better paying job or profession if they don't have the training? And training costs money. Travel also costs money. If you live in an area with a depressed job market, you are often stuck.
Also it would be ridiculous to ignore the mentally ill and disabled living in poverty. Often people can't transition into new lines of work easily because of physical limitations.
1. Wait for free food to arrive every six months.
2. Note the pattern that the current job/work/profession is not working out and shift to something else instead.
3. Wait for somebody else to protest for me, and stubbornly insist for a free food package every time my village goes hungry.
If I were the person I will opt for 2).
But I take your point that we must protest. But protest against what? These men are in need of jobs, the maximum we ask for is the government to pass reforms which can create jobs.
Without this we can very well fix corruption and solve this for the moment. But they will need food again in the next six months. Like I said before, now this time where will you get the free food from? and how long will this continue?