Undeserving Overbreeding...

Talk of overpopulation has been with us for some time. In 1798 (when there where only 978 million people in the world) a Church of England curate and mathematician, Thomas Malthus, argued that, if unchecked population would grow exponentially and outstrip growth in food production, leading to famine and poverty. Initially he was wrong, population grew, but so did the capacity to produce food thanks to agricultural advances.

Today there are around 6.8 billion people occupying the planet. That's up almost 1 billion people in ten years. Estimates suggest that by 2050 there will be more than 9 billion.

There are a number of concerns about these facts; amongst them the apparent reality that Malthus may well now be right. This planet cannot sustain the current population - let alone another 2.5 billion people. Famine and poverty already mark our world. However, I would suggest that it's not because we don't have the resources, but rather because of selfish greed and inequity in distribution of available resources.

The UK based Optimum Population Trust suggests that the only way to attain sustainability is to 'reduce global population by at least 1.7 billion people.

Often the cause of concern is leveled at the speed at which 'others' - maybe people of other races, religions or social classes - are reproducing, threatening, presumably, the status quo of whatever the dominant group the commentator belongs to.

This was shockingly betrayed in the suggestion of Michael Laws, (Mayor of Wanganui, New Zealand) who proposed that in order to tackle the problems of child abuse and murder, members of the 'appalling underclass' should be paid not to have children. 'If we gave $10,000.00 to certain people and said "we'll voluntarily sterilize you" then all of society would be better off,' he told the Dominion Post newspaper.

Social (and population) engineering is not a new concept. In early 20th Century racial and Darwinian thinking encouraged the idea that the presumed 'superior' and 'fittest' would flourish, but the British upper class notice, and became concerned that the 'unfit' and 'undeserving' lower classes seemed to be 'overbreeding', or reproducing faster than they were. American sociologist Edward Ross, (1907) recommended policies that would encourage 'capable' people to heave children.

In 1938 the British Eugenics Society set up a Committee with the aim to control fertility; rather than accepting random results, they would, 'improve reproductive power of the eugenically good'. (Perhaps the most famous result of this thesis was the Nazi erradication of the 'eugenically bad'.)

Today, the fear of overpopulation continues to raise up social and racial engineers, but maybe the most insidious and covert response today is seen in the unwillingness of the minority, 'priveleged' world to share the abundant resources that already exist. Through the complex decisions of market monopolisation, withholding funds that could assist in mitigation responses and lending money at 'unbelievably unfair conditions', we have found a way of wiping out the 1.7 billion people that through lottery of birth apparently do not deserve to.

Vindaloo Against Violence

Dine at your local Indian restaurant Tomorrow, Wednesday 24 February 2010.

Let’s find a way to show support for the Indian community and signal that we will not turn a blind eye to violence in our city. This violence threatens all Melburnians’ sense of safety and pride in their home. I want the Melbourne Indian community -and all immigrant communities – to know that they are welcome and entitled to feel safe here.

How cool would it be if Melbourne displayed a show of force by all going out and eating Indian food on a certain night, to embrace and show solidarity with our local Indian community?
Let’s do it!

If you don't like Vindaloo, maybe you could do: Papadums for Peace, or, Korma for Karma, or Dosais against Disunity, or Idlis against Intolerance, or... get the point. Support a marginalised, voiceless person tomorrow.

Miracle: 28 Days On

Major Ced's Deployment Diary, Day 22: Monday 8 February

It's not often that I can use my blog for a real news scoop but I can today. This morning something of a miracle happened. Here's our official news release:

Evans Ocinia, a 28 year old man, was brought to The Salvation Army clinic after being miraculously pulled from the rubble in the Lionshead marketplace this morning. Two men, digging through the rubble, heard Evans begin to talk and call to them. He had been in the rubble for 28 days following the earthquake. The marketplace is located near The Salvation Army compound in Delmas 2 and the men knew we had a “hospital” nearby.

Evan was extremely dehydrated and has skin wounds but he didn’t appear to have any critical wounds or broken bones. He was able to hold his head up on his own and take some small sips of water from the doctor who accompanied the transport. Salvation Army personnel transported Evan to the University of Miami Hospital which is located adjacent to the airport in Port au Prince.

That's some story, eh? And it also testifies powerfully to the importance of hope, the resilience of the human spirit and the value of not giving in. It must also have some of the search and rescue teams shaking their heads in disbelief - and no small measure of reflection that the official rescue operation was brought to and end over 2 weeks ago.

The story is also another tribute to the work of our clinic and the medical teams deployed there. The lead doctor, at the moment Major (Dr. ) Ted Mahr, attends our daily morning staff briefings. Earlier this morning he had proudly reported that the clinic has delivered 8 babies since the earthquake. He told us at the end of this day that today they treated over 270 patients - and that it had been a 'hard day'.

Ted is supported by a team of doctors from an organisation called 'In His image'. Since the early days of the response this group has deployed medical teams of 12 - 14 people - rotating them in and out every 7 days. We could not have managed without them. Today I honour this fine team - the miracle of this mornings' 'find' is a fitting tribute for their commitment and dedication.

Haiti Earthquake Response

A Report from Major Ced Hills, Incident Command (Programme)

The work of The Salvation Army in Haiti in response to the earthquake of 12th January is proving to be historic for the International Emergency Services and for The Salvation Army. For the first time, the United Nations coordination group has requested that The Salvation Army Emergency team become the lead agency in managing a camp for Internally Displaced People.

The camp concerned is in the area of St. Martin in Port-Au-Prince, and accounts for more than 20,000 people, which is more than half of the total number of people made homeless in this area of Haiti according to statistics provided by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The camp comprises 2 areas - the soccer pitch and the adjacent Place de le Paix. These communities are regarded as one entity for the purposes of the current relief programme. The Place de la Paix is a hard standing, concrete floored area - the soccer pitch is grass. Registration of the families was undertaken using a team of 40 Haitian young people who were briefed and trained by Salvation Army emergency experts prior to being deployed in pairs to the camp. This same team are also being used as the labour force for distributions. It is recognised by the emergency team that the area comprising the camp is severely overcrowded, but as the families had already 'set up home' in this area immediately after the earthquake, it is believed to be in their best interests, not to insist on moving them to new camps at this time, in the hope that temporary shelters can be arranged for them some time in the next weeks and months.

Two other Non-Government Organisations are already working in the area with the Army; Concern Worldwide (CW) and Viva Rio (VR). Both were operating in a developmental way prior to the earthquake as were The Salvation Army personnel in Haiti, and it is believed that the 'local' community wish this support to continue. As soon as the Salvation Army were confirmed as the lead agency for the camp management, they met with both the other NGO groups who agreed to work with the Army and provide whatever services they could. Both NGOs are water and sanitation specialists and so, will install latrines and wash stand areas. In addition, Concern Worldwide have teams trained in hygiene promotion, nutritional targeting and therapeutic feeding. A positive partnership is now operating between the 3 groups and Damaris Frick of The Salvation Army International Emergency Services has established a weekly meeting of the three parties.

The role of the camp management is to register all those in the camp and ensure that all the services required to meet the needs of the community are in place and to act as interface between the community and other agencies. Advocacy is a large component of the role. Damaris Frick now has an office within the camp and meets each day with the camp executive committee. This group of 11 persons were chosen from the total committee of 75 people. It is believed that the Camp Management role currently being undertaken by The Salvation Army personnel could develop into an extended one as it may be many months before sufficient redevelopment has been undertaken in order to support a movement back to more permanent housing for those who have lost their property and belongings in Port-Au-Prince.

When Words Don't Match the Actions

I had the privilege of attending a Citizenship Ceremony a few weeks ago (on Australia Day) and there I listened to a member of parliament tell of his belief that all Australians, "even you new Australians" [his words] are equal.

With what to me seemed very little conviction, and even less passion, he announced that he existed only at the pleasure of the citizens, before he went on to reiterate that as Australian Citizens they were entitled to all the same benefits as he and they were his equal.

I might have believed him if I hadn't watched him! The very next morning I saw him on the street of his electorate - I watched as he brushed aside one of these "new Australian citizens" because he was obviously in a hurry to be somewhere else.

The experience once again reminded me that it is better not to announce what you stand for unless you intend to stand!