Maravi

Michael's US$10,000 Botswana donation

Michael's US$10,000 Botswana donation
By The Post
Fri 23 Mar. 2012, 13:00 CAT

IT is difficult to understand why anyone would wonder why Michael Sata donated money to a school, an elite school, in Botswana when Zambia has many areas that needed financial assistance. There is need to understand the history of our country, of which Michael is part of. Before the mid 1970s, Botswana was a very poor country that was totally dependent on cattle. And at the time of our independence, we had more cattle in Barotseland than the Tswanas had in their whole country.

Under the leadership of Comrade Kenneth Kaunda, our country opened the doors of all its institutions of learning to the young people of Botswana for free. At that time, Zambia didn't also have many educated people and needed more school places for its children.

KK and his comrades did not wait for our country to satisfy all the educational needs of its children before it could open the doors of its learning institutions to the children of Botswana and others in the region who needed that education.

The principle here is that if one has to wait until one has a surplus to give to others, one may never have the opportunity to give to anyone at all because some of these things will never be enough, money will never be enough.

Michael comes from a culture where sharing with others is not dictated by the quantities one has but by human solidarity and the spirit of sharing in itself. In the place where Michael hails from, they generally believe that there is nothing too little to share; as long as something is divisible, it can be shared and it must be shared.

Michael's donation of US$10,000 of his personal money should be something that is praised and not frowned upon. Michael needs that money for himself and his family. Michael is not a rich man who can easily part with US $10,000 without feeling it.

It's a big sacrifice from Michael to give away US$10,000. And it is a sacrifice for which he deserves credit and not a harangue. Botswana needs highly educated people. And quality education is a necessity for that country as it is for all the countries in this region.

Encouraging that type of education is not a bad thing, it is a necessity. We need more and more of such schools. Our region needs to move away from Bantustan-like type of education if we are to harbour any hope of meaningful development.

Yes, we do have many unsatisfied needs. Sometimes we do things elsewhere that we could do here. Michael's donation constitutes a great example in a world plagued by egoism. A firm internationalist consciousness is something we cannot do without.

Criticising Michael for donating US$10,000 to the education of boys and girls in Botswana reveals a total lack of understanding of the reasons for that donation. The analysis being given couldn't be more simplistic.

This simple act of solidarity on Michael's part needs to be defended. The principle of solidarity must be defended for its own sake. Now, let's take a look at the other side of the coin: what would have become of our independence, our development and our country without international solidarity, aid, donations?

How much have we done for others compared to what others have done for us in so many fields? Look at what the Chinese did for us when their country was very much in need of resources to take care of its billion-plus citizens! Even the European nations that have been giving us aid have many problems in their countries that need those resources.

How much is the economic co-operation that is being given to us worth? We don't much like to use this kind of argument because it is unChristian and is devoid of human solidarity. It may be logical, dialectical, but it isn't Christian.

It does serve, however, to make internationalists and Pan-Africanists understand the question a little better; but it's no arguments for internationalists. The argument for internationalists goes like this: help others even if nobody helps us. It's simply a moral duty, a matter of principle, of conscience, to contribute to humanity even if humanity has done nothing for us.

That's what internationalism means. And we must go on developing this internationalist consciousness that Michael is showing.

Moreover, the highest level of political thought was reached when some men became aware that no people and no man had the right to exploit others, and that the fruits of the efforts and intelligence of each human being should reach all others; that man really had no need to be a wolf, but could be a brother to man.

We should welcome all those who have arrived at these stimulating convictions and we should also welcome those who, although they do not share these ideas, are humane, kind and helpful to others.

Michael's relatively small gesture has a message for all persons in this region, on this continent who hunger and thirst after justice. The very God who creates human beings in the divine image and likeness, creates the earth and all that is in it for the use of all humans and all nations, in such a way that created good can reach all in a more just manner, and gives them power to transform and perfect the world in solidarity.

It is the same God who, in the fullness of time, sends the Son in the flesh, so that he might come to liberate all persons from the slavery to which sin has subjected them: hunger, misery, oppression and ignorance - in a word, that justice and hatred which have their origin in human selfishness. Thus for our authentic liberation, all of us need a profound conversion so that the kingdom of justice, love and peace might come to us.

All humans are merely humble stewards of material goods. In the search of salvation, we must avoid dualism which separates temporal tasks from the work of sanctification. Although we are encompassed with imperfections, we are persons of hope.

We have faith that our love for our brothers and sisters will not only be the great force liberating us from injustice and oppression, but also the inspiration for social justice, understood as a whole of life and as an impulse toward the integral growth of our countries.

We therefore appeal to everyone with simplicity and humility and ask them to be convinced of the seriousness of the present moment and of each one's individual responsibility, and to implement - by the way they live as individuals and as families, by the use of their resources, by their civic activity, by contributing to economic and political decisions, and by personal commitment to national and international undertakings - the measures inspired by solidarity and love for others.

This is what is demanded of the present moment and above all, by the very dignity of the human person. Michael was simply fulfilling a duty by making that little contribution. We are a poor country. But we made the contribution we could in the struggle to liberate our region from the yoke of apartheid, the yoke of colonialism.

We did our duty. We paid our historic debt. And by donating that US$10,000 to the children of Botswana, whatever their backgrounds, Michael is simply fulfilling a duty, an elementary internationalist duty.

It is said that if a man cannot sacrifice himself for others, he is incapable of sacrificing himself for anything; a people that cannot sacrifice itself for other peoples is incapable of sacrificing itself for its own sake; a people that is not willing to struggle for the wellbeing of others will never be ready to struggle for its own wellbeing.

What Michael did is something we should feel proud of. Michael, as we know him, is not always conventional. But that's Michael! That's the man we elected to be our President! Michael's donation must serve as an example of solidarity to the people of Botswana and to all of us.

What Michael is teaching us is that the whole region is our homeland and we should aid, as far as we can, every good initiative that takes place in any part of our region. This is what it means to be a patriot without ceasing to be an internationalist.

Those who are not capable of sharing the little they have with others should just remain silent in the face of Michael's gesture.

Labels: BOTSWANA, FRED MUTESA, MICHAEL SATA

posted by MrK @ 4:27 PM