Don’t Cut the Australian Aid Budget

I looked at him and I saw myself,

humanly features, characteristics,

movements between two limbs that are universally shared.

 

I looked at him and I saw myself,

how easily it was to picture

my own soul in his situation,

his family, abundantly caring,

abundantly alike mine.

 

I talked with him and I felt

the depths of his desires,

and they were no different

to mine.

 

You see, we live in a society that

relates to those just like us.

I met this man,

and I saw no differentiation.

 

Now when I hear stories of

children taken in Nigeria,

or communities bombed in Syria,

I ask;

“why were they not newsworthy enough?

 

Do they not suffer like we suffer?

Do they not feel pain like we feel pain?

Is it easier to hide the truth than to face the reality?”

 

For I once met a man,

who lived in a house made of straw.

I felt the depths of his desires,

and the pureness of his heart and I saw

myself.

 

I’ve visited Australian Aid Projects in Timor-Leste,

projects which are fighting against malnutrition,

I’ve touched the walls inside of a  Maternal and Child Health Clinic

which has decreased the rate of infant deaths in the past 3 years…

by 40%.

I saw members of the community reach towards equality,

where women were being empowered.

I watched as clean water taps were being built,

children were being educated and

seeds were getting planted.

 

I went back in November,

excited to see the further change that these projects were going to make,

only to find that maternal and child health clinics,

amongst other successful development projects were

cut

because of the mid -2015 budget to Australian aid.

 

Numbness,

the feeling I felt

as I saw a community with such potential for growth,

was stripped of the ability to provide basic human rights to its people.

 

Go on,

tell me these stories are so different from ours.

tell me that our problems are worse,

or that they caused their chaos.

The only difference I see is

your blindness.

 

There is no depth to your desires,

no purity within your heart.

Open your eyes,

see the world.

See it for what it truly is.

 

If you did,

you’d see a child without reliable access to food and ask;

“how can I help?”

you’d see communities without access to water and say;

“something needs to be done.”

And even better than that, you’ll be the someone who will get that done.

 

Your words have the ability to change the world,

Jacqui Lambie, Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison.

Do it with desires that are deeper than we can fathom,

and hearts that are more pure than Australian soil.

 

 

The Maternal and Child Health Clinic, funded by Australian Aid. Photograph: Lucy Aulich.