The human carnage going on in this world is alarming. The world is haemorrhaging at a rate that’s likely to see the human race disappear from the face of this earth. Why are humans happy to bring death on others? Surely, we are all together in this calamity and better off being nice to one another. Together we can stop whatever harm we may face, if it’s stoppable. If unstoppable, we can try to mitigate it or alleviate its adverse effects. If all that’s impossible, we can console one another. And if there is none for any kind of consolation, at least we’ll have gone in solidarity! While here then, let’s make hay while the sun shines. Let’s all take on the duty of ending misery. Let’s intervene to end wars and neutralise terror groups out to kill and maim. The rich who enjoy uninterrupted peace must also be awake to the truth that they are not beyond needing assistance. The threat of unforeseen pandemics or natural disasters ploughing through and scattering them to the hereafter hangs ominously over their heads, as it does over ours. It’s therefore every society’s duty, wherever and whenever possible, to be ready to intercede in any of the aforesaid and other scenarios. Alas, as things stand, in all cases that solidarity has proved elusive. The Covid-19 pandemic and the recent Kentucky Tornado (USA) tragedy have been glaring proof, if any was needed. The rich grabbed all the Covid-19 vaccines while no one offered to help in that Tornado disaster. All that aside, consider the cruelty of humankind in the face of the senseless death of poor souls trying to use any means to go where they can make a better life. This misery is easy to stop, surely. Yet only the other day, December 9, about 54 migrants lost their lives in a lorry accident trying to reach USA. Imagining it alone makes your skin crawl. More than 150 children, women and men crammed in a truck, in these Covid-19 times! Beats you how everybody just looks on, doesn’t it? Of course, first to blame are the migrants. Whatever conditions in your country, if you can raise thousands of US dollars to pay people smugglers, why don’t you stay put, tighten your belt, continue working and avoid this risk? Who knows, you may in the end be better off than you’d hope to be in USA. Doubtless, their countries of origin take the lion share of the blame. Countries like Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, The Dominican Republic, when these migrants are trekking to rendezvous at the pick-up points, can’t government authorities intercept and stop them? Unless they think these migrants are extra baggage better left to their fate. But again, your own people? Why stay in power as a government if you cannot fulfil your core duties? Ensuring that citizens’ rights are respected, living conditions are safe and life standards are improving, among others; this should be the mandate of every government. In transit countries, when such trucks traverse the length of Mexico, are the Mexican authorities usually aware and just ignore them? This, well knowing a risky end awaits them? Transit countries cannot escape blame, either. They are all scathing indictments of their countries of origin, of the transit countries and countries of destination. The latter, USA, shares the blame for having ordered that migrants are confined in the horrible conditions of Mexican camps. It’s said this year alone has seen at least 650 migrants die trying to cross the Mexico-US border. Of course, as we all know, these are not isolated cases. The cases are practically daily occurrences the world over. The English Channel saw 28 deaths of migrants who had been ferried from some Arab countries last November. France and the UK were trading blames over who should have stopped the deaths but we know this is not the end of them. And that’s not all. The Mediterranean Ocean has swallowed about 650 African migrants so far, this year. Waters of the Far East, of Australia, who has counted the carnage there? Obviously, there are many more deaths that go unnoticed. In spite of this cruel catalogue of carnage of humans, life goes on as if some lives are worthless. It therefore comes as a breath of fresh air when one country comes out to do something about it. In all of about the 195 countries of the world, correct me if I err but, I haven’t heard of any other country that volunteered to come to the rescue of these luckless migrants. One tiny country nestling in the highlands of the heart of Africa says no, the dignity of all humans must be upheld. Constrained for space and modest of means, when it comes to the kindness of heart, Rwanda has it in abundance. So, last December 10, she received 176 more asylum seekers from Libya. Understandably, she has no capacity to be everywhere to stop wars, eliminate terrorists and save migrants in distress. In doing the little she can, then, will Rwanda serve as an example for countries of the world?
