Every single one counts.

I read an article on Sunday that broke my heart. It was written by a foreign correspondent who had recently been watching a documentary on Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children. It talked about children who were living in such dire states that they spent the bulk of their day fending for their families. These, mind you, are not teenage children. They were 9,10 and even 6 years old. Going to the mines to pan for gold, begging in the streets and selling their souls. According to the article, out of the thousands who enrol in schools in Zim, only about 100 children end up being able to afford the paltry fees that was necessary. Bright young children being locked out of schools and their fates being sealed by their poverty. A poverty they neither asked for nor desired. It was a humbling read.

A few children did benefit from the documentary. At least those who happened to be in the right place at the right time and had their stories told to the world. But the author of this article asked "For every one child that is helped how many others are being locked out of a future? How long will this assistance continue?". Here's my reply. We can't help them all.

Our country like Zimbabwe and Uganda and Congo and scores of other countries have poverty levels that not only put us to shame but continue growing at uncontrollable speeds. We can blame the government or the stars or Adam and Eve for the predicament that we are in but that never solved problems. In fact in its own way, it fuels an already precarious situation. The worst part about our parts of the world is that more often than not, most of the people who go around pointing fingers come from wealthy backgrounds and seen=m to have no tolerance or awareness for the poverty that surrounds them daily.

To me, every single child helped by anyone is important. Every single child fed and clothed and educated regardless of level of education is one step closer to a more stable future. Every child is a generation on their own. Joseph Lekuton, appeared on a revolutionary talk show called "Ted Talks" and talked about his rise from abject poverty to being a professor in Virginia and currently a member of Parliament for a place so remote, I heard it for the first time with him. If his records are to be believed, he has transformed a place that had no hope of a future to something that can be described as a miracle of nature. The reason for this is that someone somewhere, decades ago decided that children from this small nomadic community up North needed to go to school. He fed them lunch which was usually their only meal and educated them. A decision that has changed a generation.

I'd like to believe he is not the only one. Poverty has brought up from the ashes great and powerful men and women of society. So what happens to the other children if you help only one? My question is this: what happens to the one if you never help him? What kind of leader have you killed if you don't think that it is important to only help one child. We can't all be Bill Gates and channel billions of funds into CSR. And even then, with all his money, he can't help every single child and poor person in the world. So if you can keep one child from the street and put them in a classroom, if you can drum up support to provide for just one child even if just for a while, you can without a doubt make a difference. We don't have to help everybody because we really can't. We are still human after all and need to earn our own keep and build our own futures. But with the abundances and surpluses that we have, we could try and make a difference.

I'm not sure about figures but for a few in society figures are nothing but numbers on paper. I know my heart may just bleed for this week and then I'll find something more mundane to occupy my mind. But I hope this article goes a little beyond me. That someone, anyone really, would read it and want to make a difference to someone's future. After all we all have a role to play in the future of our country. Why not get a few bright young minds to help you along.