(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Struggling in Ghana [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-05-19 Things are not going well in Ghana. I have been writing these stories about John in Ghana for awhile, partly as a means of reporting on a group of very poor people who are fighting their own personal wars against the absolute indifference and open cruelty of the current economic system that simply does not care. Those who despise socialism and extoll the virtues of capitalism, open your eyes. Look what your beliefs are doing to people who are simply unable to compete within it. Not everyone is born to privilege. Not everyone has a rich daddy with the network of friends and contacts to guarantee that their children will start out at the top of the capitalist heap. Many, many in the world do not have the opportunity to get a good education to work their way out of poverty. And even if they do have the education, they do not have the opportunity to so much as get a minimum wage, part-time job at a local fast-food joint. For many in the world such places do not exist, and if they do, they aren't hiring homeless, impoverished people. Well, that is one part of the story I have been trying to tell. Our current system is good for many but it is a disaster for others, and they are suffering and dying on the streets in desperate need all over the world. John in Ghana is actually very, very poor. He is one of those who has great ambition, intelligence, and talent but he simply has no way to apply it in the modern system of dog-eat-dog capitalism. But he is also a caring, empathetic person and he has been doing what he can for more than ten years now to help those who are just as desperate as himself. John's own health is fragile. It is only because of the kindness of the people here at dKos that he is still alive. He was dying from the bleeding of a cancerous hemorrhoid when I asked for help. The response was enough to save his life but he still has problems. He has very serious bleeding ulcers that require constant medication. At any rate, between us, John and I (with much help from people here and elsewhere) have managed to do some good for others among the poorest of the poor in Ghana. When three-year old Anabel was abandoned by her mentally ill mother John managed to get her in to an institution that cares for children whose parents cannot care for them. When Zenabu was having a life-threatening pregnancy John took her into the hospital for emergency care several times and finally for the delivery of baby Vicky. When Eliot, a 16 year old runaway boy from the country, was found wandering the streets John took him in, reconciled him with his parents, and has been paying for his schooling in Accra. When a lady named Agnes and her husband were in another dangerous childbirth John helped and she safely gave birth to baby Melbourne. And when Melbourne was suffering from malnourishment John took him to the hospital for treatment. And many others. There are many we have been unable to help, simply due to lack of money. Abandoned 9 year old Ibrahim, who is sleeping under trucks, we just have not been able to help. The old man Frederic, who helped others when he was younger but is now penniless and living under an overpass, we have been unable to help. And John's own brother Joshua, who has the heart and desires of an artist, is starving homeless on the street. What is crushing us is simply that it is impossible to simply help anyone and then send them on their way. Our focus was to provide that 'give a man a fish and he will eat for a day' part of the saying. Sometimes that is what people need- when their baby is desperately ill they do not need training in a new job skill, they need help RIGHT NOW. The problem is that the poor cannot simply accept the fish and then go on their way. They will be hungry tomorrow, and they will get sick again and get injured in accidents and not be able to pay their rent. So the problems continue. The people we have helped have continuing problems. They keep getting hungry, they keep getting sick, they are evicted and have no place to live. So they keep coming back for more help. I am not blaming them for that. The system continues to oppress them and despise them and throw them aside like the corpse of a dead dog. Or as John says, "to die like a chicken." But this messes up any sort of budgeting or attempt to be systematic in helping others. And when something truly serious comes up, as it inevitably will and does, it puts everyone in a very difficult position. This is a problem with no real solution. With limited resources, how on earth does one decide who to help and who not to help? And if we have helped people once, do we continue to help them as problems come up or do we say one and done? Which negates the original help and then why bother? At any rate, it has been a hard, demanding month and it is only half over. Anabel we absolutely have to keep in that safe house. She is still only 4 years old and cannot survive on her own. The abandoned boy Gofred, whose father left him alone on the beach in Accra, is barely five years old. We have to help him. They both have no one else. But it is hard to turn down others who are suffering, in pain, and hungry. And John is bleeding again. I wish I had better news for today's update. It has been a bad month so far in Ghana. 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