Cast Away : For These Reasons

Cast Away : For These Reasons
Lambert Timothy James

Copyright © 2014 Jo M. Sekimonyo

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Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Ethosism 2. Political Economy 3. Capitalism Barbarism

4. Abstinence Theory 5. Common Sense I. Title

Contents

Letter to Mama Vincent (#u3a922724-a234-5257-962b-a26c9fa42a8a)

Preface (#u59a0ae09-199b-516d-addf-d2d199205b65)

Acknowledgments (#u1c118293-6226-5483-891e-d79af7273618)

Foreword (#u60157e01-6ac3-508b-8c11-6b27b5904cd6)

I. Social (#ue8fca425-4b88-5fa0-a89f-c3a3d68d823a)

Interlude I (#ub2668865-0119-565d-b0ae-ae645f4df749)

1. Introduction (#uf38d2ab6-e413-5815-8cea-760204989637)

2. Kamikaze (#u3cfaf7c2-5f9b-516e-a024-ce6e3104e91c)

3. I see poor people (#u6a81a05b-1115-563e-81c7-d6341f43bbbe)

4. Gangnam Style (#uf17b3200-1b29-51ad-a21d-77c0ab355f11)

II. Politics (#litres_trial_promo)

Interlude II (#litres_trial_promo)

5. False Prophesies (#litres_trial_promo)

6. Corruptibilis (#litres_trial_promo)

7. Mohamed Bouazizi (#litres_trial_promo)

III. Economics (#litres_trial_promo)

Interlude III (#litres_trial_promo)

8. Say Whaaat?!! (#litres_trial_promo)

IV. Paradigm Shift (#litres_trial_promo)

Interlude IV (#litres_trial_promo)

9. D.R.I.P (#litres_trial_promo)

10. Diamonds are a woman’s BFF (#litres_trial_promo)

11. Hop-o'-My-Thumb (#litres_trial_promo)

V. The New Testament (#litres_trial_promo)

Interlude V (#litres_trial_promo)

12. Current and rude state of society (#litres_trial_promo)

13. Abracadabra (#litres_trial_promo)

Sky High (#litres_trial_promo)

Full Circle (#litres_trial_promo)

And finally (#litres_trial_promo)

Endnotes (#litres_trial_promo)

Additional Readings (#litres_trial_promo)

"If you are going to tell people the truth, you'd better make them laugh. Otherwise, they'll kill you."

– Human

Letter to Mama Vincent

"There is a common tendency to ignore the poor or to develop some rationalization for the good fortune of the fortunate."– John Kenneth Galbraith

Dear Mama Vincent,

If this letter comes as a surprise to you, then you have no idea of the profound impression that our encounter with you has had in our lives since that day. Putting faces to the global malaise has kept my wife and me from sailing conscience-free around the ocean of the abstract. I sincerely commend you for taking full responsibility for the bad decisions you have made in your life, but I would be foolish to believe that your slip-ups are all there is to the story. In reality, from your birth, the odds were already stacked against you, and I know how this part of the world is merciless to single illiterate mothers. Vincent could have easily been me if I had landed in my mother's hands.

Dear, under your beautiful smile and joyful laugh, I saw an excruciating pain. You still have your life ahead of you. You shouldn’t be a nameless figure, giving up on your big dreams and aspirations just yet. Then again, holding Vincent in my arms, under roaming eyes of law enforcement agents passing by, I for a moment shared your agony and despair.

It is touching the way you come to describe your son Vincent as your reason to live. Most of the young people your age uses such poignant statements to refer to the cute boy or girl they come to believe are their soul mates, the same person they will eventually dump for some blasé reason with little if any remorse. Even worse, it is revolting to overhear grownups reduce life's meaning into the ephemeral passing of emotions. Still, I cannot ignore that your reality in Kenya is far different than people in my current world.

You confessed to us that, at times, you feel hopeless, a pariah creeping through the streets in the vibrant city of Nairobi, which has decided to criminalize poverty. It is not a surprise that Nairobi's zero tolerance on the deprived has created the largest landfill of the poor in the whole Eastern region of Africa, the slum of Kibera. Yet, it breaks my heart to say there are other Kiberas and worse around this suffocating blue planet, which is not comforting to you either. From my travels, I have seen countless young mothers with their children panhandling all over the Democratic Republic of Congo and on every corner in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, and men in faded uniforms begging for coins on main streets in crumbling cities across the United States of America.

I have been on an investigative journey dissecting the hardships endured by Brazilians living in the City of God, the inhabitants of Cite' Jalousie in Port-au-Prince, Haiti before and after the devastating earthquake, the Romanians in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, Russians clustered in the Ghetto of Tver City, Chased in Khayelitsha, South Africa, and the poor in Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong, China. I have been surprised by the residents’ resilience of crime and poverty infected cities such as Detroit, U.S. and San Salvador, capital of El Salvador. And it is sad to say that around the world there are billions of people just like you who will go their whole lives experiencing poverty, famine, homelessness, and abuse that will most likely occur in the hands of law enforcement agents.

Tara and I are well aware that the few Kenyan shilling bills we gave you equated to scarce meals and shelter for only a couple of days. After what you and Vincent probably had to do to survive, is getting back on Nairobi's mean streets, at the mercy of other compassionate souls. We are deeply sorry that we couldn't rescue you and others from this nightmare.

After walking by, giving my spare change to people blinded and asphyxiated by misery, I asked myself repeatedly, what else can I do?! Stories about inequality have been told on and on. Nevertheless, I decided to stir the debate into a new path that could give Vincent and other innocent children like him a chance to a decent life. My mantra is that Vincent should have not just a roof over his head but a home, not just water but clean drinks, not just food but healthy meals, not just a classroom but quality education. And all these factors should eventually lead him to not just a job but at least a universal living recompense for his skills and abilities. Anything less would be regarded as humanity’s failure and continuing tragedy!!!

Sincerely,