How sustainable are the Sustainable Development Goals?

Yes. A typical cynical title which is probably what you have learnt to expect from me. We already had to “re-evaluate” the original goals termed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)… or in more simple terms “we failed so now we need a new plan.” And so came the Sustainable Development Goals. If you are looking for a more optimistic description, this link https://youtu.be/5_hLuEui6ww will give you a brief overview of the change from MDGs to SDGs. The SDGs are a collection of 17 interrelated and integrated goals that the United Nations has said should be achieved in all 193 countries by the year 2030. Here is a cute animation of all 17 goals: https://youtu.be/0XTBYMfZyrM. After that look, I think we can all agree that this seems a bit unattainable. Upon further research into the topic, I found a TED Talk of a man who investigates our progress in attaining the SDGs and predicts how each country will succeed in meeting these goals based on trajectories from 2015 to 2018. If you would like to watch the talk, here is the link: https://youtu.be/N3SQlrmV1cE But long story short, we don’t meet the goals and our predicted year of achieving the SDGs is 2094. As the gentleman so aptly said: I don’t have time to wait that long.

So how can I start making a difference in a community where so many people’s lives have been affected by poverty, inequality, and unemployment? I highlighted 5 of the SDGs I can have an impact on in the community I am currently working in.

1: No poverty

“Poverty is the deprivation of opportunity” Amartya Sen


This SDG is directly affected by all the following SDGs, as we are focusing on empowering the youth, the disabled and entrepreneurs. We are finding sustainable solutions for income such as the KITE project that was started up by another group of students, that has been continued by us. It involves selling old clothes for a reduced price to enable the community to buy the clothes they need, while also creating an income.

2: Zero hunger

“You can’t build a peaceful world on empty stomachs and human misery” (Borlaug, 2016)



Previous groups in the community planted a vegetable garden to increase job opportunities as well as p
rovide food for families. This has been continued by our group, through maintenance of the garden, improving irrigation systems, researching natural cost-effective pesticides and researching and gathering materials for a composter to improve garden growth and produce.

 

3: Good health and well being

“Wellness is the complete integration of body, mind, and spirit – the realization that everything we do, think, feel, and believe has an effect on our state of well-being.” -Greg Anderson








We are currently doing health promotion talks while patients are waiting in the clinic line. We have spoken about physical disabilities, mental disabilities, maternal health, child health and how occupational therapy can help clients. In individual sessions, we look into all areas of our clients lives – body, mind and spirit, as we treat our clients holistically.

 

8: Decent work and economic growth

“Through hard work and education, we can deliver a strong economy and opportunity for all” Julia Gillard








This is being done by promoting small business ventures around the community such as creches and a car wash. Future plans include recycling teams that will be trained and paid to collect recycled material.

9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

“Never before in history has innovation offered up so much to so many of us in so little time.” Bill Gates


                       






As occupational therapists, we are constantly coming up with innovative ways of making the community more accessible and more “patient friendly” starting with the clinic. The introduction of a Facebook and Instagram page to improve youth involvement, painting of the clinic play area to improve child stimulation whilst waiting with mothers in the clinic line and building of stairs to allow all populations to access the garden.







So being the cynical, pessimist that everyone knows I am, you will likely guess the next train of thought, which is, in a world of 7.8 billion people, how is one Occupational Therapy student going to have an effect on a whole community, and make a positive contribution to the SDGs? Well I will be honest (the amount of times I use this statement in my blogs is getting a bit ridiculous now) and say I have no idea. As already mentioned in previous blogs, the vastness of the community and the amount of people who so desperately require help has given me some sleepless nights. How do I help EVERYONE? But I came across a quote that gave me a bit of peace (Goal 16 anyone?)

Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose.

Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently,

until the song that is your life falls into your own cupped hands and you recognize and greet it.

Only then will you know how to give yourself to this world so worthy of rescue.

Clearing, by Martha Postlewaite

I found quite a bit of solace in this quote, but it did evoke the further question of how would I give myself over to this world? This reminded me of a second quote that had long sustained me in my OT journey:

I slept and dreamt that life was joy.

I awoke and saw that life was service.

I acted and behold, service was joy.

Rabindranath Tagore

May I continue to find joy in service so that I may help others find their joy in rescuing our world.

 

 

References

THE 17 GOALS | Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2020). Retrieved 25 September 2020, from https://sdgs.un.org/goals

("THE 17 GOALS | Department of Economic and Social Affairs", 2020)

Borlaug, N. (2020). 60 Best Hunger Quotes And Sayings. Retrieved 25 September 2016, from https://www.askideas.com/60-best-hunger-quotes-and-sayings/

Twitter. (2017). Retrieved 25 September 2020, from https://twitter.com/nokidhungry/status/843479606351007744

Amartya Sen Quote: “Poverty is the deprivation of opportunity.”. (2020). Retrieved 25 September 2020, from https://quotefancy.com/quote/1407952/Amartya-Sen-Poverty-is-the-deprivation-of-opportunity

Poverty Quotes - Famous Scarcity / Shortage Quotations & Sayings. (2020). Retrieved 25 September 2020, from http://www.famousquotes123.com/poverty-quotes.html

Take Action for the Sustainable Development Goals. (2020). Retrieved 25 September 2020, from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

10 Inspirational Quotes for Health, Wellness, and Life In Rhythm - Tambor® | A PASSION FOR Premium Açaí. (2017). Retrieved 25 September 2020, from https://tamboracai.com/10-inspirational-quotes-for-health-and-wellness/

PictureQuotes.com. (2020). Retrieved 25 September 2020, from http://www.picturequotes.com/in-a-good-economy-people-work-hard-to-succeed-in-a-bad-economy-people-work-hard-to-not-fail-quote-853064

PictureQuotes.com. (2020). Retrieved 25 September 2020, from http://www.picturequotes.com/through-hard-work-and-education-we-can-deliver-a-strong-economy-and-opportunity-for-all-quote-128210

World Population Clock: 7.8 Billion People (2020) - Worldometer. (2020). Retrieved 25 September 2020, from https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/#:~:text=The%20current%20world%20population%20is,currently%20living)%20of%20the%20world

Goal 9 from the #globalgoals: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. (2020). Retrieved 25 September 2020, from https://za.pinterest.com/pin/252342385348449802/

  



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