IT is certainly a horrible way to die and this is exactly the feeling that enveloped me when I read the story of the two infants who perished in that fire. The sad story of two small boys left at home all alone only to perish in such a gruesome way. The blaze is said to have been caused by a lighted kerosene stove which the children’s mother accidentally left alight whilst she was over at her mother nearby ironing a school shirt for one of the said boys who died in the fire. This is very sad indeed, but when you view the Kaieteur News photograph you get an even more distressing side of the story when you look at the squalor in which these people lived. The slum condition is indeed suffocating; a graphic display of a family caught up in a vicious cycle of poverty. The house is dilapidated with holes everywhere that it can be categorised as barely liveable which prompted one Keith Evelyn to write stirringly in a Stabroek News letter for something to be done for the poor and vulnerable in our midst. Of course his article ultimately blamed the government for not taking care of the poor which carried a stern rebuke for them to rethink their One Laptop Per Family Programme to one of a one house per family.
This is indeed a good gesture barring a few pertinent facts. Looking at that scene you see a shack, which is consistent with a squatter landscape; this would change in time as folks slowly build their lives together.
However, I cannot accept the state of that yard which is totally bare and shows no signs of agricultural use. You cannot tell me that the young mother is so busy that she cannot find the time to sow a seed or plant a crop to add variety as well as cut down on the cost of the family’s food bill. At least Mr. de Clou was out early gainfully occupied at work as a sugar cane harvester which is a positive sign; why can’t his wife do the same at home? Frankly speaking, I can barely understand too why that young lady has to go across to her mother to do some ironing when she can well use her own stove at home. We did our ironing on oil stoves and many of us still do, so what’s the big fuss about an electric iron press. This story brings back memories of “good old days” under Forbes Burnham when on a horse he would go around handing out cassava sticks for persons to plant and the slogan was “produce or perish.” Believe it or not we had to accede to that slogan, we had no choice!  But far more important was the lesson we learnt during that turbulent period to be content with what you have.

You see the problem with some of us today is that attitudinal outlook in life, whereby one adopts the stance of “pity me” I am a poor defenceless soul. There is nothing I can do to change my situation. Yes you can! Begin with what little you can do then move on from there. At the end of the day it is not having your quiver full of children and running your mouth all day but being responsible.