Impuls
"Their names are very special ..."
Kenya is a dream! Never-ending tropical beaches, turquoise water, azure sky, countless palm trees, green highlands, red earth. The land of awe-inspiring reaches of semi deserts and savannas, with the snow-covered summit of Mount Kenya in the background, its lower edges a stamping ground for innumerable species of animals. When flamingos flock in their millions to the huge inland lakes they turn them into a sea of pink.
Then the extreme opposites: naked poverty, an inferno in paradise. We are aware of the other side of the coin, which is sapping Kenya of its vitality. Ruthless corruption, brutal violence and dismal squalor. But there is a glimmer of hope even in the midst of such doom and gloom, as Sister Caroline from Kisumu reports:
Mali
A roaring trade in hunger
;)
“Jara stands in front of me. In her hand she is holding a small bundle. When I look closer I can make out the nose of her little son Manilo poking out. Her cheeks are sunken and her body looks very weak.
I am almost worried that she will collapse right there in front of me. She is now the eighth woman I have spoken to this week, all of them suffering the same plight. It is summer and hunger is being ruthlessly exploited once again.
Indien
Marginalisation and loneliness
;)
Financial problems, the weakness of one’s own body, emotional suffering, prejudice and marginalisation even within one’s own family, loneliness and the despair of ever finding work again. Nothing has changed, this is still the plight faced by those infected by HIV in India.
Hazaribag, in the state of Jharkhand, lies in the northeast of India, less than 200 kilometres from the border to Bangladesh.
Tanzania
Maleika’s world
;)
Maleika gets up early in the morning. The sun is still hidden behind Mount Kilimanjaro, radiating a myriad of colours into the surrounding sky.
There is no place for such natural beauty in Maleika’s world, however. Together with her aunt she sets off on the long journey to fetch water for the day ahead. She is 11 years old, an orphan, and has lived with her relatives for as long as she can remember. Her parents died of the fatal HIV virus shortly after she was born. After the long, tiring journey home through the stony countryside with the sun beating down relentlessly, fully laden with the canisters filled with water, she helps with the household chores.