Sunday 5 November 2017

Deconstructing need.

I need a holiday. It’s been a long year, what with finding a new flat and trying to sell a house and then accepting that the whole Brexit shambles meant the house wasn’t going to sell but I was moving anyway so talking tenants and then moving to a new town ... it has been a bit stressful and I need to flop about somewhere warm for a week or few to recover. 

What is this ‘need’? I’m going to Nepal, where people ‘need’ to enough food to eat and homes to shelter them from monsoon rains. Last year I was in Malawi where ‘need’ drove men to fish in rivers full of hippos and crocodiles. Laotians ‘need’ decades of peace to recover from the trauma of years of unremitting bombing.

Here, in the relative affluence of the UK, there are thousands who rely on foodbanks because they don’t have enough money to pay for food. I know of one family caught in the delays to universal credit payments: illness has brought loss of employment and now lack of income has meant the mortgage isn’t paid and they may lose their house. (Where will they live then? Who knows ... they will need shelter from the winter cold as much as my Nepali friends need shelter from the monsoon rains.)


Yes, I have been hugely stressed this year and will no doubt be energised by some time away. But ‘need’? I must choose my words more carefully. For my misuse of the term is an insult to the millions across the world who struggle to meet their basic needs: enough to eat and a weather-proof roof over their heads.

6 comments:

  1. Everything is relative, isn't it Jo? I often hear people in the Netherlands talk about poverty in the cities here. When they use the term, they don't mean lack of food and housing, they mean the family can't afford a new computer or new furnishings and have to make use of second-hand goods. As I see it, and coming from my South Africa background, probably 99% of people in this country don't know what real poverty is, but I have to remember that for them, it is relative to the rest of the population in the Netherlands and that is what they know. Need in its real form is lack of basics, but we take a relative point of view when we use it and that is no less valid. You need some rest. I think that is true, so go to your beloved Nepal and enjoy the emotional and mental peace you need!

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    1. I shall certainly enjoy a restorative time in Nepal - but I hope I don’t forget just how privileged I am to be able to go there.

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  2. Comparing yourself with others is a bad habit regardless of whether you compare your self with people who have less or more. You have had a tough year and regardless of who has it tougher or easier you need some r and r. Don't beat your self up because you are lucky enough to be able to seek r and r by travelling abroad.

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    1. Will do my best not to do the beating-up thing, and take your point about comparing myself to others. But I hope I never take my travels for granted - I am privileged to be able to travel as I do.

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  3. Enjoy the trip, Jo. You cannot solve the problems of the world by denying yourself, but I am sure that your trip to Nepal will give further food for thought - the last one got you involved in that housing project.

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    1. Thanks, Jenny - I’m sure there will be much to reflect on when I’m there.

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