TEXT OF AUSTIN BEUTY TUMUINI’S SPEECH ON WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY 2018. ORGANIZED BY: SELFLESS SERVICE INTERNATIONAL

AUSTIN BEUTY TUMUINI’S SPEECH ON WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY 2018. ORGANIZED BY: SELFLESS SERVICE INTERNATIONAL.

THEME: JOY IN HUMANITARIAN SERVICE.

Greetings…Felicitations… I am most honoured to stand before you all, on this special day, the world Humanitarian Day 2018.

Let us never, never forget to always try to put a smile on someone’s face. Trust me it is the most beautiful thing, to know that you can help your brother, your neighbour and you actually do render such help.Man was not created to be alone, you need me and I need you, we all need each other. The event here is tag: Joy In Humanitarian Service and I will be speaking on same.

The holy Bible says in Proverbs 14:21, “HE WHO DESPISES HIS NEIGHBOR SINS; BUT HE WHO HAS MERCY ON THE POOR, HAPPY IS HE”(NKJV).This is to reflect on God’s commands and instructions in Deuteronomy 15:7-14. A thoughtful quote by Nelson Mandela, says “Don’t accept the world as it is, do your part to change the world to what it should be”. I carefully analysed this quote, and I asked myself a salient question, have I accepted the world as it is? Or perhaps, to be more local, have I accepted my environment, the society I am domiciled in, as it is?Maybe we can take a few seconds to ponder on this. Well, the heart never lies, so individually you know the answer, mainly, as it affects you.But if this great man’s quote is actually meaningful to us, we need to change the world and environment of the needy.

A sincere interaction with everyone here on the heinous things happening around us will shock you. Maybe my experiences and stories may not necessarily be the most heart-stricken, but perhaps hearing yours would shock and send the worse chills down the spines of even the so-called hard-hearted and make so many shed tears. Make no mistake, knowledge of the ills of our time, isn’t just a sudden realisation, we all already know this.

But appreciating change or the effort put into effecting change, can only be true if the problem, most especially the magnitude of the problem we face daily is clearly understood.How do you change what you don’t understand? We see rape, Child Abuse, Kidnapping, new born abandonment, modern day slavery , ritual and other senseless killings, political wars, communal clashes, cultism; the truth is that the list goes on and on.

These are menaces of society and are orchestrated by our fellow human beings, who makes hurting others seem so easy. Well these human orchestrated sad activities are not only the issues we have to face.Nature also gives her own periodic lashes, which leaves thousands of men, women and children in deplorable states.HIV and AIDS , Hepatitis, Lassa fever, Ebola, Cancers and so on are public health emergencies that render many children orphans and made widows and widowers of men and women. Earthquakes, drought, Tsunamis, Floods here and there, just keep on naming them.

These add to other events that leads to sadness and pain. And as if it is not enough, the state of poverty in our land is alarming, with a very high population of people not able to feed well, access quality health care, good education, and power. All these I have mentioned have led to what many have termed a humanitarian emergency.

The truth is;one disaster ushers many others in.War here , will usher poverty, sickness and disease, lost dreams, confusion. Mankind more than ever now need real men and women to step up and render the well needed help to millions of women, men and children out there and around us who are in need of help.

Do you know over 2.2million Nigerians are displaced from their homes and communities , due to insurgency?And over 64% of our population are living below the poverty line.Nobody knows the next, but the Holy book also adds;”cast your bread upon the waters: for you shall find it after many days.Give a portion to seven , and also to eight:for you know not what evil shall be upon the earth”(Ecclesiastes 11:1-2).It is not just enough with the problems like I belief we all know them.

Thank God we have Humanitarian; Men and women who still hold the trueness of Humanity strongly, people who still show what it means to love and to have real compassion for fellow human beings, People who ill defy warnings and put their lives on the line just to save a soul. People who will unhesitatingly render the well needed help, just enough to put a smile on another’s face.

Remember that when you give out to the needy, it naturally comes back to you in Joyous form(Prov. 11:25,27-38). They say “there are those who give with joy, and that joy is there reward”(Gal.6:7). On preparing for this speech I thought how do I explain or represent in a talk like this how Joyous it is to give another joy. I mean when you render help you actually spread joy. It is a unique, beautiful and liberating feeling that beats no other.

A joy that comes from knowing that change is needed and the capacity to effect change is available and well applied. To know that those children whose father and mother were senselessly killed by cultists can now have a good education and a future.Or the girl who was gang raped, now scared, depressed and almost committing suicide, able to smile again knowing the world isn’t completely full of wickedness. Or perhaps remember the sad experience or story you have heard and think of what the victims are going through now and how you, I and all of us can help.Imagine putting a smile on that face, which was destroyed by tears.

Imagine being the solution, the helping hand;that they need. Trust me there is no greater joy. So I conclude, let us be the change.let us reject the status quo. Let us render the help that your brother, your neighbour so earnestly needs.Let us play our part in any way to make our society a better, peaceful and loving place. Change one life and you change the world.