Stressors in a mad, mad world (pt. 2)

As regular readers of this blog know, I live in Korea. What you see above is a map of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). As I was thinking about what to write for this week's blog, I saw that on the bottom of that list of stressors was violence. Earlier I wrote about actual violence, but now I am going to write about the constant threat of violence and how it may affect children.

I have lived in Korea for 3 years now. And in those 3 years, there have been for me, very shocking developments between North and South Korea, who by the way are in a continuous state of war.

1. Sinking of the Cheonan

2. Bombardment of Yeonpyong Island

Surprisingly, none of these events seem to phase the population. Even the children are unaffected. The fact that approximately 10 million people live less than 40 miles from the most heavily defended border in the world has no effect. This must be a way to cope. This has no basis in science and it is just my theory, but it seems the constant threat of war has desensitized the general population. I was teaching at a English academy for young children when the Cheonan was sunk. I literally freaked out, because I thought there were going to be bombs flying any moment. I even had the quickest route to the US embassy mapped out on Google. But the children in my classes, did not seem concerned. I do not know if they did not care, or did not know, but it was shocking.

Is this the way people cope? Do people become numb to constant violence and constant threats of war? I wonder how it is like in the West Bank, and India and Pakistan. Are the children as nonchalant about war there as they are in Korea?

Stressors in mad, mad, mad world.

In 1992, there was a huge riot in Los Angeles. I was 14. I had some younger cousins, however, who were young. They were 4 and 5 years old. They were old enough to realize that something terrible was happening, but too young to realize why. This is a very famous picture, that many Korean-Americans like myself can relate with. My uncle's were out defending the stores with those men on the roofs. Nothing terrible happened to them, but I can't imagine what my cousins went through.

They both ended up well-adjusted people. But they still talk about it sometimes. Maybe more as a story told to them than actually remembering it themselves. It could be how they cope with it.

The Big One for One Drop!

I am a huge poker fan. I love to play it and I love to watch it.

Recently there was a huge tournament in Las Vegas that had a 1 million dollar buy in, the largest ever. The winner received a whopping 18.3 million dollars and 5.4 million went to the charity, One Drop. One Drop is a charity whose mission is to bring clean water to those who do not have it.

I knew that there was a problem in the world, but I did not know it was such a serious problem. According to the onedrop.org website, approximately 1 billion people in the world lack adequate access to clean, potable water. That is a staggering amount, 14% of the world's 7 billion people. 


One issue that was especially surprising was how the lack of water affects women and girls around the world. 


From the One Drop website:

                Too often, women are not included in the decision-making process surrounding water issues, even    though the struggle to get water typically falls on their shoulders.

The task of gathering water can take up to four hours a day. Moving as much as 100 kg of water over many kilometres means risking health and personal safety; in certain cases, there is no choice but to go through areas that leave them vulnerable to attack by people or wild animals.

Over 70% of those who collect water under such circumstances are women and girls. As such, the daily chore prevents tens of millions of girls from going to school, and those who do find the opportunity to attend school often leave due to inadequate sanitation facilities.

Women are also more susceptible to waterborne diseases because it is they who care for ill family members and wash clothing in rivers filled with contaminants and bilharzias (blood flukes).

Time lost on collecting water could be better spent on life-improving activities such as going to school or learning a trade. Safe local water pumps can give them more of that precious time. Furthermore, cutting down the duration of a woman’s daily water tasks to one hour puts an extra US $100 into her pocket every year.

This poker tournament raised my awareness of a serious public health issue that could be solved by a worldwide collective effort. I will definitely try and educated those around me about this issue as I think this could eventually affect the world, especially with the global climate changes we are experiencing. Kinda like Waterworld. 

Reference

http://www.onedrop.org/en/default.aspx