Why did the child die?

Anthony Klouda in the book Reaching Health for All tells us a story and posits a question: 

The Story of Charles Masamba

Charles came home heavily drunk and feeling irritated. He had had a fight with his neighbour about a girl in the bar, but he was also satisfied because he had won. He shouted to his wife to bring his food, and then he remembered that she was in the hospital to give birth for the eighth time. That made him remember that he had to feed the child. And that made him remember why he had become drunk--he no longer had a job, as the estates had laid off their labour last week, and he had not enough money to pay the school fees. He cursed briefly and, while cursing, fell to the floor, already asleep. 

Three days later , the youngest child, who had already looked rather sickly, got diarrhoea. Charles bought some tablets at the shop, which the storekeeper said were the world's number one tablets for diarrhoea, and gave them all at once to the child. The child died the following night. 

The neighbour made no remarks, and did not attend the funeral. 

Why did the child die?

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Today, some so called "youth wings" had called for a nationwide strike from 6am to 12pm to protest against the recent price hike in petroleum products. As I was walking back home after a night-call at hospital, streets had very few vehicles. They were still filled with people: walking to their work, schools perhaps. Silent people who have learnt to take whatever comes. I did not see any protester during the walk from Patan until Lazimpat. 

At Lazimpat, there were a few young men (many looked to be in their teens). Some of them carried red flags. A pony-tailed one sprinted in the road, jumping on occasions, shouting; he was headed to a motorcyclist who was already making a U-turn when he saw some activity. There were a few policemen but before this pony-tailed young man could reach the motorcyclist a truck full of policemen arrived with their bamboo batons. They asked him to stop, he started shouting some slogans and kept running toward the motorcyclist. Policemen surrounded him and gave him a good beating of baton. He sprinted back with equal valor, this time without slogans, scared. A teenager testing his limits perhaps. I do not know if he will have same enthusiasm to sprint past policemen to charge a motorcyclist in the future. I do not even know, if he knows what he is asking for in these protests. 


Why is there a price hike in petroleum? Why is this young pony-tailed man sprinting past policemen just to sprint back scared to death? These questions fit the mold of "Why did the child die?"

But it is unfortunate that our political discourse and activities are detached from these kinds of questions. On the contrary, it is dominated by violence. Some goons in these so called "youth wings" can declare a strike from the comfort of their couches and make the streets empty, forcing people to walk to their work or school, daily wage earners to give up their earnings, sick people to stay at home ailing. They hold enormous violent power. And they try to deal with complex problems with simple solutions because it is easy to do so. A patient deliberation, teasing out complex issues requires patience, insight and humility. On the other hand, violence is incisive and instantaneous. We have been fooled by these instant results into thinking violence is justified sometimes. But if we look at our problems, they have hardly been solved. It is time that we get past this intellectual illusion and take up problems with questions like "Why did the child die?" There are no easy answers.