People say nothing is impossible on this planet, and I always don’t take it seriously. However, I now believe that nothing is, indeed, impossible. There is this rich man who has oil, gold, diamond, nickel and other minerals, but he is oppressed as his resources are being consumed without his consent.
For many years, his resources were being utilized for the benefit of his enemies, isolating him and his area from development. He kept shouting and his voice was not heard. One time, he thought of taking up arms against the oppressors and he did it superbly. He fought 7 times 3 years and he finally got liberated. Six years later, he was given the full right to have his own country.
After just two years of trying by hooks and crooks to stabilize his country, he disagreed with his brother who had been helping him in the fight for liberation and that disagreement got promoted to the rank of “war”. It later got promoted to the rank of “war of nerves”. Amidst national and international persuasions to unite as brothers and sign peace, they agreed to end the war. They forgave one another and come to work for the betterment of their country.
Oil is found almost in every state as well as gold and other valuable minerals. Once refined, it does not take time to get buyers as buyers await in a queue. The same applies to gold and other minerals. The rich man sells it to develop the country, but the development is sluggish. To date, there are areas completely inaccessible, with no roads and bridges.
Women are still being attended by traditional birth attendants during delivery. Some families can swear by God’s name that we have no single student in schools, and they cannot die. No schools, hospitals, roads, and bridges. The oil money goes somewhere unknown. The rich man seems unintelligent. Poor men land at the airport day in, and day out to outwit the rich men to give them oil. This seems to be the pool of oil. Even the rich man is getting less of it.
The poor men are too intelligent to fool the rich man into giving them oil to refine. Yes, when a poor man has a brilliant brain, he can put himself in the shoes of the dull rich man. The country with abundant oil remains underdeveloped meanwhile the countries lapping up oil get developed and to everyone’s surprise, they have oil reserves for future generations. To the rich man, it is not a lesson to learn from.
When the rich man was invited to attend a summit, he travelled along with 50 or so of his officials with the intention of begging the poor men for money. Imagine 50 rich men paying a lot of dollars for travel to beg for other dollars. They beg for what has been taken from them! If it is not a political game for masking corruption, then we are seen as ungrateful people in the eyes of the world. There is no need to beg the poor man for money, but there is a great need to beg him for wisdom.
In a friendly manner, the wisdom to seek from him lies in the question, how do you use the oil you take from us? You look developed with little oil, but we look underdeveloped with big oil, how can we use it to get developed like you? Since the poor man expects to get more oil, he won’t refuse to leak how wise oil can be utilized. In this tit-for-tat world, there is always what follows any donations. So soon, the poor men begged will fly into the country with innumerable MoUs to sign, and once signed, they will work hard to refund themselves.
They have been stimulated to take more oil. It won’t be a surprise to see a new crisis on top of the old one. They exist! Rich men with poor hearts exist. They have all it takes to live a happy life, but they leave them behind and sell charcoal by the roadside. The utilization of oil for the benefit of all needs brain. It does not need anything else. If the rich man uses his brain, we would not beg, but we would be begged.
The author is a medical student, University of Juba.