Shut up and do something

Monday the 3rd of September was like all other Monday's, Dissapointing like prematurely ejaculating with a girl that you had been waiting for forever to nail (excuse my French). No need to explain any further on how much I hate Mondays, I was running close to being late for work. As I dragged my bag (field bag) like a lion dragging a dead springbok, I saw an old man and 3 young kids rummaging through the rubbish bins from the apartment complex I now call home.

Those kids should be in school, yet there they were. Scavenging for anything nourishing from what those better off threw away. It was a sad moment for me because it reminded me again how lucky I am and why I should stop complaining like a bride shopping for a wedding dress. I got in the cab and went to the office like nothing happened, sad but that's how we humans are, for as long as we are comfortable, the tales of the struggles and hardships of others is just that, tales. We just blame the government "epangelo nali talepo nawa mpo!" and go on about our business.

But what are we really doing to change the situation? What concrete action are you (yes, you reading this!) doing to positively contribute to the equilibration of life for every single fellow person. Nothing! I will say it again nothing! All people do especially Namibians is complain, but we never do shit! We can complain all we like but politicians will never change, poverty won't run away if we complain about it. Politicians will always be corrupt, there's no one who can change that.

But we can do is go back to basics. We can go back to Ubuntu, what made African people different from the others, we are warm and accommodating, we were even accommodating to those who colonised us. By not caring for each other anymore and ignoring hardships that don't affect us, we adopted a European type of mentality of every man for themselves and god for the rest. Ubuntu allowed a village to raise a child, that child would achieve something significant in life and pass it back. But how many of us graduated from varsity, got jobs and forgot where we come from. I'm sure a lot of us have schools in our villages, how many of you realised that instead of drinking half our pay cheques, if we contributed that money to buying books or building a library at the local village primary school turn we would be making a difference. Even if it only makes a difference in one child's life, it’s still significant.

Waiting for the goverment just does not cut it, why wait for the goverment when as individuals we can make a difference. Life is hard and expensive, but we waste money and are stupid (especially young people). Ever considered valuing ordinary people and seeing the difference it makes. Recently I quickly stole my cousin’s car to run errands (If I wake up dead, twas him who did it). A car guard asked me to watch the car; I gave him a hard time, told him to watch it with his life. He must have thought I was just another young asshole tripping of money and the good life. But I am not, when I asked him to lookout as I reversed into one of swakopmund's many one way nightmares. I gave him 8 dollars instead of the usual two. I figured it would make a difference, for all I know he probably spent it on booze. But then again he probably bought a loaf of bread and went to bed with something in his stomach. It's not up to me to decide for him, I just rewarded him for trying to make an honest living.

Next time you buy a newspaper from the paper guy standing on his usual corner come rain or shine, you should give him an extra two dollars because come rain or shine he will be on that corner and for chossing to make an honest living he deserves that extra two dollars for providing the newspaper come rain or shine (notice I used the same phrase 3 times, running out of words at this point).

Instead of blaming the government earlier when I saw those kids eating out of rubbish bins. I should have been smarter, found a shelter for the homeless and vulnerable (Trust me, there is one in almost every town on earth) and helped where I can, not because it’s my responsibility but because it hurts me to see my fellow countrymen suffer, whilst I can help. If ever you look in your closet and find old clothes then be a decent human being and donate it, the Red Cross will take it gladly. Donate blankets in winter; just do something other than complaining about the government. It is always poignant to note that charity starts at home; it makes no point helping the homeless when you have brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews suffering at home, if you can do something.

Make a difference in a waiter/waitresses life and leave more than the mandatory 10% tip. Tip the petrol attendant, but only after you give him grief and pester him because if he serves you with a smile even when you're a total asshole to him, then you know that he's just a person trying to make an honest living. I hope I'm not preaching to the deaf when I say that we all need to care more for each other and actually give a damn! We just don't care! Case in point, today’s teenagers. Facebooking, flashy life loving, lost, wayward and increasingly doomed to fail. I'm not saying all of them have the intelligence level of a carrot, I'm just saying they don't exactly paint a picture of good behaviour. But for as long as it’s not our little brother or sister we just go "today’s kid’s ne! Things were much better in our day". Truth is things were the same in our day, we were all mischievous little misfits, and okay I'm lying because I was an angel and never put a foot wrong. Point is we should guide those younger than us from being stupid and repeating mistakes, obviously the kids won't listen and probably tell you that you don't know anything. But most of us did the same thing at the same age; they are just kids and just need a firm hand with a large dose of reality.

I’d like to see us (Namibians) supporting our own art, musicians, films and comedians. It would be great if we were buying Namibian music, books and watching Namibian films (A little patriotism people). So what am I doing? I'm using up 30% of my severance pay from my previous employers to pay a very young bright girls school fees for 2013 in full (I spent the rest on jelly babies). Please don't go "Wow! That’s so amazingly kind" and don't clap hands, like Chris Rock says "You want a cookie? For doing shit that's part of your responsibility". Don’t do good deeds expecting adulation, do them from the heart. A genuine gesture of consideration from the heart will leave the receiver so grateful that they will not fuck it up. But that being said, this kid better pass, because school fees are expensive (Tjoh!).

Harsh realities of life "They live they're wives and humble abodes, to be forgotten and ignored as men on the side of the road"