In May this year, I came across a Swedish article that dealt with the findings of a recent report about which country was considered the best for mothers to raise their children in. The report based its findings on issues such as health care standards, female life expectancy, education, financial inequality between the sexes, parental insurance, female involvement in politics, child mortality rate and many things more. Sweden came out at the very top and Niger at the very bottom, which was reason enough for me to blog about it, seeing I am connected with both.
The findings did not take into account however that in Sweden, toddlers are being left at daycare centers for longer shifts than ordinary work hours, because their parents need to work more, in order to gain more. When I worked as a teacher in Sweden, it really saddened me that there were so many broken families. Far too often, parents had far too little time to spend with their children, who felt unloved and acted accordingly. It didn't help that the parents tried to "buy their love" with material things, when all they wanted was for their parents to spend some time with them.
So who are the lucky ones, really? The ones who are surrounded by material wealth but have no time with their parents, or the ones who are included in society from the very start, but have few comforts to enjoy?
You see, to me, the challenge about helping is to bring about sustainable development without trampling what is already there. And believe me, Africa has many treasures.
Ishtar
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