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The irony of unequal accumulation

Posted on July 27th, 2011

Gabriella Djerrahian was born in Ethiopia and raised in Montreal, Québec. She has been following the history, culture and politics of the Horn of Africa for the past ten years. A doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology at McGill University, she is writing up her research on the integration of Ethiopian Jews living in Israel.

Moving sucks. I’ve just discovered that recently. I’ve lived abroad for extended periods of time. I pack lightly. But moving house? Hmmm… I’ve realized that the former is easier than the latter, at least in my case. As I sit helplessly in the sea of mostly useless stuff I’ve collected over the years, I’m left with a bad taste in my mouth – the irony of unequal accumulation.

I’m not proclaiming a kind of ‘mea culpa’ for being a ‘Westerner’, the kind of embarrassment that surfaces among people who are acutely conscious of the harrowing gap between the rich and the poor. Been there, done that. While I no longer hide in the shadowy corners of the privileges others worked hard to provide for me, I remain wary of people who disconnect their wealth and the opportunities of accumulation they’ve entertained from the rest of world, mostly filled with people who could only dream of pantries with overstocked food like mine.

What is happening right now in Somalia is heartbreaking. We’ve all seen the pictures. It feels like an eerie flashback of the drought that plagued Ethiopia in the 1980s. The effects of Somalia’s devastation have spilled over to poverty-stricken neighboring countries that include areas on the verge of famine (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/us-africa-drought-idUSTRE75R2JQ20110628).

Exacerbated by the influx of Somali refugees into Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, these countries, along with Uganda, are dealing with what Reuters dubbed “the worst drought in 60 years in the Horn of Africa”, affecting more than 10 million people in the Horn.

I contemplate on the amount of canned goods I didn’t even know I had. My husband jokingly ridiculed my habit of overstocking by inviting my extended family to our place for food and shelter should a nuclear war break out in Canada. Consider this an invitation to all you readers as well.

On a brighter note, the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique wrapped up its 24^th season in Montreal! Between the move and the blistering heat I missed out on all the fun. Would love to get some feedback from those who attended!

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