By Theem Isaac Machar Akot
An aid addict has one thing in common with one who takes analgesics—a person who highly succumbs to pain. However, he hardly perseveres aches; hence, the intake of pain-relieving drugs is more alleviating in such an agonizing scenario.
Medical experts (doctors) clearly make us aware that taking them might be a solution to pain relief. Because they bring short-lasting comfort. It is, on the other hand, medically proven that they don’t cure diseases; they only reduce pain while the disease continues to affect the system. In the worst case, the health conditions of such addicts deteriorate.
Equally, a nation that solely relies so much on foreign assistance is another dope head. It is a nation whose leaders think that the country can’t make it without donations. A country that is like a bottle-feeding child—a child that cries at every moment of no feeding bottle. A country that inflicts pain and whose leaders think that donations are the best remedies.
Similarly, this seems to be the habit of our nation. She is a foreign aid addict. Which doesn’t help eradicate (suffering) hunger and diseases. Only transient alleviation has been seen. This is a contradiction to the national agenda, which aims at meeting zero hunger. Therefore, how do I let them know that the foreign donations intended to curb problems are more problematic?
I must feel compelled to say this, though it may offend most men. The humanitarian assistance the country continually receives brings dishonor. Still, most people find it adulatory despite the humiliation. I have downright reliance on them. I look at them as indirect abuse. Besides, those aids don’t only come with abuses, but they also make us hesitant to forge solutions to our problems.
A case in point is the grooming of indolence and weak-heartedness among citizens. The crucial aim of a nation is to produce and prepare hardworking, competent, and productive citizens. A point of contrast in my country is the preparation of lazy, dependent, and unproductive nationals. Because a child becomes who the parents are. However, overdependence on foreign aid is affecting the nation in a thousand ways.
Although it quite often brings joy and relief to most countrymen and women. I, in particular, get no solace in it. Much as the hidden reality asserts that South Sudan is among the richest nations, she is yearly ranked among the poorest nations in the world. The contrast is a negative connotation of resource management (mismanagement).
It disheartens most times to see us as a nation that is used to carrying shame and criticism very lightly. A torrent of abuse flows, and we smear on our bodies.
The worst is that bringing young people up in such malaise is a forever unhealed wound. It can be normal and bearable to have your loopholes kept unexposed to the outside world. As long as you are the chief propagator.
The writer is a third-year student at the University of Juba School of Education