Sustainability is Relative at Best...

Saturday: We spent the morning taking our second language proficiency exams. Mine could have been better. A few weeks ago, I tested at ‘intermediate low’ and need to move up two levels in order to pass. I feel much more confident in my French, however I think the exam today will show almost no improvement. One week left of language classes and then we have to reach our ‘intermediate high’ level in order to head to post on time. If not, we stay in Garoua for 1-2 weeks to get LOTS of help. This wouldn’t be the end of the world, but I’m really looking forward to getting to Tibati and settling in.

************************ perhaps the beers we were drinking were being paid for by money that could have saved my baby neighbor’s life. But then again, maybe his parents should have taken him to the hospital sooner. Or maybe there was really nothing to be done, malaria is devastating for children under 5.

We talk a lot about sustainable development, how simply handing out money is not sustainable and sets a bad prescident. True. But, what if giving a mother 1,000 cfa to get to the hospital and get medicine for her child is all it will take to save their life. I can spare $2, so why not. If I can help one child live, have I done enough? Or do I have to teach that mother a lesson after her child dies, that if she had gone to the hospital earlier, here baby would be alive. Or if she would have put away 100cfa a month, she would not have had a problem getting to the hospital.