My call for both our rich and our charitable organizations to channel their activities into the country instead of outside has been met with criticism. Some have even said this reflects a self-centered nationalism. Let us consider the following.
First, wealth and poverty are relative things, and are found all over the world. In the industrial world there is no embarrassment when discussing poverty; figures and charts are freely published in an attempt to solve the problems. Second, discussing poverty does not mean the society or the state has failed to address the problem. The presence of poverty is a fact that we must live with and which the poor themselves have sometimes helped to create and may even prolong.
In the United States alone there are 19 million people, including seven million children, who live below the poverty line while another four million cannot afford a modest meal. The difference is that in societies we call advanced, people admit the problems openly and appreciate how much worse the situation could be if it were ignored. The truth is not concealed or twisted in order to make what is false appear to be true. Talking about the poor and needy does not imply criticism of specialized government institutions fighting poverty nor is it saying that those organizations and institutions have failed to provide the required assistance.
What is very wrong indeed is for us to bury our heads in the sand, ignoring our own problems while our charitable organizations send their aid and assistance abroad at the expense of fellow Saudis. For example, I know a Saudi family of 11 who live in one room; the father works six days a week for a salary of SR700 a month. The unfortunate man was unable to send his sons to a government school because he could not buy what the school required for six sons at the same time.
We all know of such situations but we do not want to open our eyes and admit the truth. We prefer to believe these things could only happen in far away places, such as Afghanistan or Bosnia, and pretend not to see them in our own cities or even next door. There are children here who dream of being given SR2 a month; others long for a picnic and others want nothing so much as to go to school.
