GLOBAL GOAL 10 - REDUCED INEQUALITIES
Akram visits Scotch regularly and he is known to some of the boys through his work in philosophy clubs. The boys were delighted to have him visit our class. Akram began our chat with introducing himself and asking the boys to acknowledge the custodians of the land and to enter the conversation with a spirit of respect. He said that giving respect is free and priceless to receive. He spoke about his early life in Afghanistan and how he grew up in a massive house with thick walls and gates, which protected his family from the outside growing violence and unrest of the civil war happening at the time. His dad was an important figure and therefore the family was safe for the first 5 years of his life. Suddenly the family had to flee, taking pictures from the wall, gold and money. They fled to neighbouring Pakistan, destroying all their ID paper on the way. They arrived in a town that was overcrowded with no sanitation or clean water. The large population though made it easy to hide. The water source was infected with the polio virus and the UN tent was set up to vaccinate the children. Akram has a vivid memory of this medication and he is still marvelled today by the low cost of the vaccine (13c), which prevented serious effects like not being able to walk! Akram was soon living in a house and had escaped the worst of the poverty. They had meals of rice and pomegranate. When the meals were finished, the rubbish was put in a bag and tossed over the wall. 8 year old Akram wondered where the rubbish went as each morning the bag had disappeared. One night Akram spied through the gate and saw a boy as old as himself reaching for the rubbish to eat scraps of rice and pomegranate. Akram learnt at a young age that life was unfair – why doesn’t this little boy have what I have? He realized that those starving have no choice! He learnt that there are factors in life that we don’t have a choice over, like where we are born. Instead of feeling guilty about our lives, we can work with what we have. “I can choose what I can do with my life … I can turn my guilt into grateful. Focus on my attributes to make my life better and choose to make choices for the benefit of others." In line with goal 11, reduced inequalities, Akram gave an example of a small action that can make a big difference for others. He wrote to politicians in 2012 about the polio vaccine so it could be provided for those where polio was still a problem. Given the low cost of the vaccine, he wondered why it couldn't be sent to help as many as possible. Ordinary people can have a say! Often organisations disagree on the definition of a problem and then cannot come to an agreement on a solution. People need to work together to agree on a definition and create solutions.
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AuthorsY5 students at Scotch College, Perth Archives
November 2020
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Photo used under Creative Commons from joshtasman