TRIUMPH OF HUMAN SOLIDARITY

Let’s reach out to those in need, writes Sonnie Ekwowusi

One of the greatest obstacles to human flourishing is the drifting apart of the rich and the poor into separate worlds. As we struggle to live with multiple perceptions of the truth, we should aim at building one world rooted in common humanity. We cannot have two worlds, one for the rich and another for the poor. We should seek to have one world. One love, as reggae legend Bob Marley is wont to sing. One humanity. Unfortunately we live in an age in which unbridled individualism and egocentrism have become statecraft. To rid our age of these, it is imperative that we establish a broader consensus about the meaning of humanitarianism, and about its role in the promotion of human welfare.

To achieve this, there is need for identification of common values from which to erect an ethical framework for human solidarity. In identifying this ethical framework for human solidarity, the pitiable situation of the sick particularly merits top priority. We have to build a strong solidarity for the welfare of the sick. We must set out in earnest to set up formidable blocks of social institutions to alleviate the sufferings of the sick in our midst. No man is an island unto himself. We cannot live in our little cocoons unmindful of the plight of the sick in our midst. If man is said to be a social animal he should always socialise with his neigbours to hearken to their assistance in times of need. Is it not puzzling that despite all our material wealth and scientific mastery and technological breakthroughs we are still surrounded by hundreds of thousands of sick people? Therefore the sick in our midst should move us to pity to team up with others to alleviate their suffering.

The successful kidney transplant surgery which Leonard Dibia underwent recently was the outcome of human solidarity. Leo is a public-interest litigation lawyer. He is a Director of Programmes in a justice advocacy organisation. Since qualifying as a lawyer, Leo has developed a certain irresistible likeness for public-interest litigations. Therefore he decided to build his professional career around public-interest litigations. Leo played a key role in bringing about reforms in the rules for the enforcement of fundamental rights, ensuring courts can respond more speedily to claims of abuses. Through various public-interest litigations, Leo fought impunity in the delivery of law enforcement services, winning several judgments for victims of human rights abuses in Nigeria.

But unfortunately a few years ago Leo was diagnosed of a kidney failure. The doctors said that Leo needed a kidney transplant or replacement to stay alive. Therefore Leo was billed to go to India to undergo the transplant. But as things turned out, he could not rake up the huge amount of money needed for the transplant. Therefore he solicited for financial assistance from well-wishers to enable him travel to India to undergo the surgery. In response to the financial appeal, Leo’s professional colleagues, friends, acquaintances, relatives and alumni association and Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) hearkened to the assistance of Leo. The good news today is that Leo has successfully undergone a kidney transplant in India and is back to Nigeria hale and hearty. This, in my view, is a triumph of human solidarity.

Another demonstrated human solidarity took place at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos a few weeks ago. The Friends of the Sick International, a Lagos-based NGO that caters for the sick in hospitals, had invited me to accompany its members to pay a visit to the sick at LUTH. One of the wards which we visited was the Female Ward. Asked whether she was resting properly and sleeping well at night, one of the patients told us that rats that looked like rabbits had invaded the ward and robbing the patients of their sleep. I sat on one of the empty beds. But one of the nurses walked up to me and warned me that the patient who was previously occupying the bed I was sitting had died the previous night. I quickly got up and made the sign of the cross. As we were leaving the ward, a middle-aged patient occupying the bed opposite us, a stranger to me, beckoned me to come closer. After the initial hesitation, I summoned up the courage to approach her. When I got close to her she whispered to me that she was very hungry. She narrated how her husband who had promised to pay for her weekly meals at LUTH had absconded. After she finished unburdening her sorrow, tears rolled down my cheeks. I dipped my hand into my right pocket, unruffled a worn-out N1000 note which I placed on her palm. On sighting the money, her face lit up. She smiled. We left LUTH premises in silence after being exposed to the sufferings of the people.

On February 8, 2018, I attended the Christian wake and Service of Songs organised in honour of the late Mrs. Nkiruka Justina Okeke (Nee Umeh) at the Eagle Club, Main Hall, Surulere, Lagos. On arriving at the hall, I noticed that it was brimming with men and women from different walks of life who had come to pay their last respect for Nkiru. This lady, I gather, lived a useful life. She lived for others. But she was felled by a breast cancer at age 45. The consoling aspect, however, is that shortly before her demise, her uncle quickly invited a Catholic priest who gave her Holy Communion as well as administered the last Sacrament on her. This is human solidarity par excellence. We cannot live in our little world unmindful that there are people who are out there who need our assistance in one way or the other. We cannot keep on bemoaning on Facebook, Instragram, WhatsApp and other social media that things are bad in Nigeria without lifting a finger to find a solution to the problems around us. The other day I saw a group of passers-by gathering up some sands and stones by the roadside and covering up a pothole on the road. The social service a government could not render, a group of conscienctious citizens rendered within the bat of an eyelid. This is impressive. We cannot allow the transcendence perception of our common humanity to be dulled by individualism. We have to open up. We have to reach to others especially the sick.

WE CANNOT LIVE IN OUR LITTLE WORLD UNMINDFUL THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO NEED OUR ASSISTANCE IN ONE WAY OR THE OTHER