We need to be generous with ourselves

On Wednesday, the Turkish government, through its embassy in Juba and the Turkish Christen Cray, donated about 31 tonnes of food aid to flood-affected people in Tombura and Jonglei State.

The assistance was initiated by the Islamic Council of South Sudan and was aimed at reaching out to 6,000 people in Tombura and 900 households in Jonglei State. The beneficiaries are those who have been displaced by violence and floods.

This was a generous contribution from the government of Turkey to the vulnerable people in South Sudan. Indeed, the Turkish government and other countries have tirelessly been providing humanitarian assistance to the people of South Sudan since the onset of the conflict, and now they are doing great to alleviate the condition of the flood-affected people across the country.

However, many times, as citizens, we have left the burden of providing humanitarian assistance to only foreign countries.

We look at them as the only people who can provide us with assistance and forget that we are also just like them. So, helping someone takes the heart of generosity, and unless we are generous, we shall always consider ourselves unable to help. A person who lacks generosity will always believe he has nothing to offer, even if he is capable.

It was very shameful to receive blood donations from Kenya when the conflict broke out in 2013 as if the people in the country did not have blood in their bodies. This is because we are not generous to one another.

Unless we stop being like the rich fool in the Bible, we shall never be able to help the vulnerable among us. Jesus taught The Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12:16–21.

The rich man was a fool because of what he did with his wealth. Ironically, God said he’s a fool because he looks very smart. He was rich and able to accumulate all this wealth. He was a wise farmer and a successful businessman, but he did not think of others: the poor and the hungry.

He was a fool because he didn’t want to share his food with the hungry. Instead, he wanted to store his produce, despite the fact that people in his neighbourhood had nothing to eat.

The Bible teaches us how to invest in things God blesses us with. Therefore, if we cannot take anything with us after we die, then what can we do with what we have to have eternal treasure?

We should not be like the rich fool who failed to ask himself what to do with the great harvest given to him by God. The man never thought of giving back to God by donating it to the poor, the widows, or the orphans who had nothing to eat.

We must be generous to ourselves rather than always waiting for help from distant sources, which may take time to arrive. The need for humanitarian assistance in this country is indeed so high, but whatever little thing you provide can help.