First world problems

Here I am, leaving a country where 90% of the population exist on less than $10 a day and I am cursing the $1000 laptop that won't connect to the internet. As my colleagues put it "a first world problem".

It's been a really interesting week and not in then oh so British sense of "interesting". No double edged meanings here. I have barely scratched the surface to understand the country and the journey it has been through and needs to go through to move that 90% from poverty.

I think the enduring memory of my visit is a poster offering "cheap pain free 30 minute abortions" in the township. I don't wish to express an opinion on the ethics of abortion, but this poster barely scratches the surface of the issues in these communities.

I am writing this on a phone that many of those I met can only aspire to own, sitting on board an aeroplane and flying to a country that they will only ever see through digital tv (see previous post). And the most important issue is thinking about what to choose from an a la carte menu to eat for dinner, and hoping to get some sleep.

First world problems and something to sleep on.