Just like YOU

Yesterday I went to a travel clinic to have a 'consultation' regarding which vaccinations I should take before going to Ghana. And oh my did they ATTEMPT to scare me. According to this chart, I should've gotten 9 shots, because Africa is high risk to all malicious emails. Now I am not ready to dispute what facts show about the illnesses present in that part of the world. But I somehow get the impression that the nurse advising me was sending the message that my quality of life is worth more than that of the people in Ghana. Problem? Absolutely! Mind you I am completely aware that my immune system may not be familiar with some things I may encounter while away. I don't think it's appropriate to imply that the medical systems there are inadequate to handle me getting sick. Like who am I? Aren't I a human being just like you? Just like the people

This small scenario sheds lights on the broad complexities that exist between developing areas of the world and the developed. The fact that people here carry a perception about the value of life and education in places like Africa and Asia that is reduced to quantity and not so much on quality stems from attitudes like the one exhibited by the travel nurse assisting me. Some how my quality of life as a Canadian means more than the hundreds of people I assume live in Lollito and are exposed to the same things I will be?

I recognize that these misconceptions cannot be easily re-worked. And I'm sure it will be the ambitious activists like myself and the other participants of this trip who will be leaders in changing the way people think. But it's really unfortunate that with all of the resources and connections people across the globe have to one another, this arrogance still persists and often goes unchallenged. Well I'm sorry to the clinic that wanted to charge me $300 for vaccinations and meds and to the people who think I'm taking a risk with my health. But I'd like to have faith in the people, community and myself, that humanity is humanity and one life is equivalent to another.

This video by a great Ghanaian artist (that I hope to meet) speaks about the ideal connection one human should have to another.The responsibility we should innately have for our brothers and sisters in nations across the world. "I be human being oh....just like YOU".