The mirror image of the “Things that bring me joy” post. A few things that make each day that much more difficult to get through.

Slum demolitions

Shadia being a long ways away

People who tell me that I shouldn’t live where I do because there are “bad people” there

The ultra-prevalence of tiny packages of “one-time-use” tobacco, sweets, and and other unhealthy items marketed directly to the poor

My teenage female friends getting married off to older men they don’t even know

The plastic lying around everywhere

The plastic getting burned everywhere

Loud noises that keep us (or Shakeenah) up in the middle of the night

Horrendous traffic.

Strangers mocking me for my accent or skin color

Having to fear every mosquito, every cup of water from the tap, every cough of a neighbor kid, knowing that any of those things could bring illness and death to my little baby or any one of the hundreds of other little babies in the slum

The oppressive heat of hot season

Ten-year-old kids who can’t come to read cause they have to be at work

An education system that often seems primarily intended to make students feel worse about themselves

A police officer hitting a poor man, a man hitting his wife, a woman hitting her child, an older sibling hitting a younger one

Seeing 5x, 10x, or in some cases (i.e. psychiatrists) 100x more human resources being devoted to wealthy communities and nations rather than the impoverished ones

Politics built off of a fear and mistrust of others, especially when those “others” so often happen to be my neighbors

Death too early. Over and over again death too early

Feeling too alone in our desire to prevent all or any of the above