OVERCIVILISATION

I am a wife and a mother and extremely proud of that fact. If I could I would wear a badge everyday declaring it to all. Not only am I proud to be a wife and a mother, I also take my responsibilities VERY seriously. I'm always reading and getting more information that'll help me improve myself as I minister to the needs of my home and family members. This quest for more knowledge takes me far and wide all over cyberspace wherever I can find women discussion groups or blogs.

Lately, I've been so absorbed with reading other women's blogs. These are christian women who are usually full time homemakers and mostly homeschool their children. They are passionate about their responsibilities and take it as an assignment from God which they must not fail at. I must say that I've been blessed by these women and I thank each one of them for taking the time to share a bit of their world. From them I see what's new, who has some good advice, how other women are ordering their homes, how other women train their children.

Some of these women are also passionate about the earth and are committed to doing their bit to protect the environment. Many are committed recyclers and I find this highly laudable.

Some however, advocate cloth diapering and I am amused by this. While I try to respect other peoples opinions I find it strange that after so much avdancement made by man some would think of going back to the ages when babies are made to endure those horrible stinky nappies, eew!!! I appreciate that the thinking behind the cloth diapering idea is that a reduction in the use of disposable diapers would reduce the amount of resources being used to produce the diapers and hence kindness to the earth. But surely, disposable diapers made from biodegradeable materials might be a better answer to our environmental challenge.

I shudder to imagine how uncomfortable those poor babies must be whose mothers chose to swathe their tender bottoms in cloth diapers / nappies. After a couple of pees those cloth diapers begin to stink as bacteria interacts with the urine, the diapers are bulky and tend to bunch up between the baby's legs causing more discomfort, the fabric sometimes arre too rough especially against a baby's soft skin and which mother can honestly say she enjoys washing loads of soiled nappies everyday ( even with a washing machine).

The essence of civilisation is that we grow and develop better ways of doing things. There are people who worked long and hard to bring us to the level where we are at now and we must not take their efforts for granted. There are loads of women here in Africa who cannot afford to buy a packet of disposable diapers for their children but who desperately need the convienience of swathing their babies bottoms in them because the demands of a heavy work schedule cannot afford them the time to frequently change and wash cloth diapers.

While the proposition for cloth diapering is gaining momentum, some women have gone way ahead of the crowd to suggest the use of reusable sanitary pad. I read recently on a blog, directions for sewing the reusable sanitary pads. This reminds me of what my grandma told me about how they used to handle their periods in her days. I say a big eew!!! to this.

I think people in the western world, as they are called, have become too civilized that the are now suffering from what must surely be overcivilisation.