Comfort
in numbers
I choked back my
tears during my last confrontation with numbers, and from
then on, I realized that a rendezvous with statistics and
figures has its own horrors. Take for example the distressing
UNICEF data: 4 million - child laborers in Metro Manila alone,
4 out of 10 - children not in school, 30 per 1,000 live births
- infant mortality rate, 200 women per 100,000 – die
from giving birth, and a plethora more of catalogued information
painstakingly accounted for by conscientious statisticians
and scholars.
We are just on our third week at UNICEF, and three weeks of
facing off with numbers brought more shivers to our already
tortured souls. Apparently, our math-obsessed superiors would
leave some very fascinating materials - containing numbers
of course- on our workplaces as if the pictures were not enough.
We would gladly flip through the pages of these documents,
gradually inflicting pain on ourselves - actions that could
even overshadow the sadomasochistic predilections of the Medieval
Romans. The Romans of the Middle Ages would surely gloat on
this: ‘Of these 6 childhood friends, 1 will become a
criminal, 2 will die before reaching 19, 1 will finish college
and 2 will move from one menial job to another.’ But
my co-interns and I could only swear - amidst the sound of
the menacing laughter fading gently across the brightly lit
hall - that one day numbers will be our slaves.
Today could have been that day. As soon as the news of a P15,000
donation broke out, we suddenly felt elated as the numbers
are apparently on our side. But elation turned to gloom when
we found out that we couldn’t use the money in our ‘immersion’
activity and so we went back to our figures written on the
board and made more changes: P4, 500 – money needed
for food for 150 children, P21, 000 – overall cost of
the activity, 2 hotdogs and rice – lunch (changed to
2 barbecue sticks and rice, later), P500 – cost of making
juice, P3000 juice in tetra packs (we opted for making juice
instead). The numbers listed on the board goes on and on,
in fact. Then, we stopped counting.
Numbers are still our masters. We stop adding up hours these
days too. Oblivious of the time half the time, we continue
talking about figures. We work around them, bend over them,
cross them out, tally them, memorize them and even sleep over
them. But we feel satisfied.
At the end of the day, we think of 33 million Filipino children
and how many lives we can change for the better – not
so many maybe - but if we work well with our math we can continue
counting lives we can save and lives we can touch.
Last night I had a dream. I dreamed of reading the news about
every child, all 33 million, having more than 2 sticks of
barbecue, more than 2 cups of rice for lunch, a banana and
a glass of milk each, any day, anytime they want.
I dreamed too of the news that says: “HEADLINE –
Interns Finally Find Comfort in Numbers.” And I know
we will find comfort in them; even if it takes us a million
lifetimes – we will go figure.
If you are interested
to learn more about UNICEF's VIP,
send an e-mail to kcarbon@unicef.org.
Or call (0632) 901-0154.
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