Clean water in Africa

[harry]

There are many countries conquered more territory then the USA.

But then you don't even know your own history never mind anyone else's.

[harry]

ally caused by these

Interesting monologue. There are huge tracts of ex-farmland in Africa uncultivated because the farmers can't sell anything they grow due to food aid. So they give up and go and join the queue for the free hand-outs. And there is ignorance and incompetence, they are unable to run any business effectively.

A lot of land has intermitant droughts. The same places cannot support the population in drought though it can in good rains. So, overpopulated due to high birth AND survival rates.

There is no point in supporting this ever increasing population, we are headed for mega-disaster.

The streets in the UK are filled with "Chuggers" (Charity muggers).

They are paid to try to get you to sign up to regular payments for one charity or another. At one time we had volunteers on the streets rattling tins for donations. Charity is big business over here.

[harry]

igenous_People

The USA has always had concentration camps and still has. More then a hundred throughout the USA and of course one in Cuba.

You don't even know current events never mind your own history. I hear you still gas people in some states. And "W" authorised torture. Now we learn your gestapo is spying on all your/our emails and telephone convesations.

The fascist state.

[harry]

There has always been slavery everywhere and there still is. Both legal and illegal. Black people never even discovered the wheel. They became an obvious target for slave taking. Most slaves were rounded up by their compatriots and sold on. Some even sold their own unwanted children

[harry]

There is nothing can be done Duf, it is an insoluble problem. Interference only makes things worse.

[harry]

Heh Heh. I have travelled extensively in Morocco. It is now a major European tourist destination. Think Mexico only less violent/more culture. For the moment anyway There are far worse places than Casablanca. And better. Casablanca is pretty untypical.

[harry]

You are right to be suspicious Duf. Many of these aid agencies are just self serving wonks/crooks. There are probably lots of people in the USA need assistance these days. You can help them on a personal basis and see where your money is going.

[The Daring Dufas]

The ancestors of many of my darker skinned cousins were sold into slavery by their own people on the coast of West Africa to slave traders from Europe. The different tribes waring with each other didn't consider what they were doing with the prisoners they took to be wrong but I suppose they didn't care as long as their adversaries were out of their sight for ever. I wonder if the warlords actually knew of the horror their fellow Africans faced in the dark holds of those slaver's ships? o_O

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

I do help my neighbors and I've done a lot of work for churches. When I was hospitalized last May, the minister from my friend's church was my first visitor because I helped repair the AC unit outside their church after copper thieves cut out the copper lines. I donated time and materials even though I don't share their faith. They're just nice good people who have little but help others as much as they can. I suppose when I help a group of folks like that, I'm helping many others by proxy. ^_^

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

I would guess the biggest problem is not understanding the culture and political situation in those countries with a large population of folks in desperate situations. I would think the best help is expressed by the old adage containing the words "Teach a man to fish". I can't feel anger toward the wonderful caring people who are trying to help but what happens is often out of their control and the results are not what they expected. o_O

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

The famine causes the war in as many cases as the war causes the famine. When you have no food because someone else has all the good land, or the water, you fight for the good land or the water.

When multinationals take over the good land and water to grow coffee or pineapples or sugar cane to make money so there is no good land and water available for the common man to raise his maize or manioc or millet to feed himself, his family, and his livestock, you have famine. Blame the world bank, not the African.. And famine causes political unrest - which turns to war - the big man is a member of tribe A - which gets all the benefit of the multinationals money being pumped into the country - so tribe B fights to get their share.

And the world bank and the multinationals currently have the biggest influence on corruption too - they feed it on a daily basis.

[Stormin Mormon]

Sounds like the situation is a total pain in the ass. I'm glad you're seeing it from within.

Another problem with food aid is when cheap or free food is brought in from outside it kills the market for locally grown food when there IS a good crop - so the small farmer gets nothing for his cash crops and cannot afford to buy anything from anyone else.

When the small farmer can't get anything for his rice because the market has been flooded with free USAID rice shipped in from where-ever, he soon cannot afford to grow rice any more, so now the food shortage is even worse.

Food aid only when necessary, and help and education to allow the locals to grow and produce their own food, or to earn the money to buy food, is MUCH more effective.

Transportation is also a problem. Both for locally produced food and for foof aid. The food grows after the rainy season - and the roads are washed out by the rains to the point you cannot get trucks through to pick up the crops to move them to market. Then the food aid comes in, and the locals are out of food - the neew crop has not grown yet - and the roads are impassible to deliver the food aid to where it is needed..

It's a WHOLE LOT more complex than most who only see it from this side of the pond (wherever that may be) can even begin to imagine. Yes, there are societal and political reasons - but it goes a lot deeper than that.

African development is a very DIFFICULT subject. Much moreso than even south American, central American, or Asian development - all of which have their own issues.

You need to see the situation from within to even BEGIN to understand it.

[Stormin Mormon]

other folks have gone along. I should know more, perhaps some day.

Send us the text, or link.

losnyder dot blogspot dot com

[Stormin Mormon]

Some years ago, I met a fellow who lived near me. City grown person. He grew up in a welfare home. I grew up in the suburbs. I decided to see if I could coach him in some better ways to do things. What I found was that everything he did came with a big list of reasons. Which reasons made no sense to me. And everything I suggested was declined for a big list of reasons. Which list of reasons made no sense to me. And so twenty years later, the only thing I accomplished was to have wasted a lot of time and money and effort. And some antacids based on frustration. Twenty years later he had fewer teeth and a couple heart attacks from smoking and fatty dieet of city foods. The tax payer had paid for most of his cigs, and had paid for his couple days in the hospital and is presently paying for all his medication. When I met hin, his idea of how to spend time was to stand on the front porch with a cigarette and cordless phone, and chat with the people walking by. When I said good bye to him, he was standing on the front porch with a cigarette, and cordless phone, chatting with the people going by.

I had the same missgivings when I was in Africa (Zambia) 40 years ago. Was it effective for me to be there teaching when they had their own people who were capable of teaching - but could make more money working in private business because I was willing to be there basically teaching for nothing??? Might it not have been better to work towards getting their own people involved rather than having Cuso volunteers do the job? The CIDA funded directors of the program had a pretty nice gig going that they were not too interested in working their way out of. Can't complain about sun 9 months of the year, cheap beer, and a relatively easy expatriate lifestyle, along with a good salary and "hardship bonus".

For my part, I tried to instill in my students a sense of responsibility, and a sense of PRIDE - so that they might consider teaching others - passing on the knowlege they were SO FORTUNATE to have the opportunity to have provided for them. I have to believe that at least a few of my 35 students went on to be a positive influence in their world. After 2 years I came home with empty pockets, but a lifetime of experiences to look back on.

My later time in Burkina Faso I sometimes also had to wonder if there was any point to being there. The people group I was involved in had real trust issues - they didn't trust each other farther than they could throw each other - and with good reason - as honesty was not a commodity in great supply. My friends had, by that time, been working with this group for about 17 years, and had been really questioning if anything was getting through. While I was there they found out about some serious duplicity and deciet that was causing serious problems in the community. They had to leave the community a year or so later, if for no other reason than to preserve their sanity - although health was the more significant force. They still had contact and were still working with the community, although not living in the community. Going back 10 or more years later, the whole fabric of the village has changed - they are more trusting and trustworthy - and along with that they are becoming more self sufficient and prosperous, and more healthy. They had an influence - and they had to step back and let it perculate for a while.

[Stormin Mormon]

So it is the White Mans fault after all. It's a conspiracy to keep The Africans enslaved. I suppose Whitey is afraid of a strong Sub-Saharan Africa so all the charity and religious relief agencies are being used to keep The Black Man down. They're not there to help even though they truly believe they're doing God's work. They're a tool of the evil multinational corporations which wish to steal Sub-Saharan Africa from the people who own it. Darn, we must let all the church groups know the truth so they can stop what they're doing. o_O

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

Sounds like Clare, like me in my Lenny days, was trying to help them learn new skills and take care of themselves. I respect that.

I salute you and your family for trying to help those poor folks in such

a bad situation. The people who really help are few and far between and that's a real shame. If I ever start to feel sorry for myself, all I have to do is remember the folks around the world who's lives are so much harder than my own. I know that if I resided in one of those Third World countries, I would have been dead long ago. The nurse called today with news of a new pain medication they want me to try. I wouldn't have access to such medical care in a third world country and I would suffer a lot worse fate. o_O

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

That is NOT what I said - and you know it.

[Stormin Mormon]

Ah, health problems. I dumped Lenny after he got me sick three times in a couple months. Twice off a sick kid, and once when he fed me a salmonella burger that he knew good and well was tainted.

Part of the reason I don't go to Africa, I can't be getting sick like that. I've heard that Africa is host to a wide variety of diseases, in larg part because they don't understand microbes.

Even something as common ad diabetes is pretty much a death sentance for most. It's not a good situation even for "whitey" with diabetes.

Chronic malaria, Bilharzia, and malnutrition means many have 3 strikes against them before they reach age 5 (if they do). And that's not including what is in the drinking water.

Sanitation is another serious issue - building proper privies AND wells in Wast Africa would make a huge difference in human health. In East Africa and Central Africa the general higene seamed a lot better.

On my trip last spring to the Mediteranean, North Africa, and the Canary Islands I think the worst conditions I ran across were in Marseille France - worse than Cassablanca - and some parts of Cassablanca were pretty rough. We saw the "underbelly" of Cassablanca from a mini-taxi we hired to take us around the city most tourists don't get to see - parts of the "old city" where even a minibus would not get through. Very Arab - yet also very African

[Stormin Mormon]

Now, that's a profound question. Which agencies are actually doing good for the Africans? I don't donate, because I'm suspicious.

I believe the thing that would save a lot of children is clean potable water. I remember seeing a video of relief agencies setting up medical clinics for children in order to give them a mega dose of vitamins to keep the infants from going blind. I can't physically do anything like travel to those areas of the world to help those folks and I have a little bit of money coming in but am suspicious of what agency actually uses donations for something other than TV advertizing to get more donations. With your experience, who do you consider a charitable organization that efficiently uses donations to help people? o_O

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

Needs silent alarm motion detectors around the AC. So the pastor and the Elders can run out and beat the copper thieves into the next world.

I do help my neighbors and I've done a lot of work for churches. When I was hospitalized last May, the minister from my friend's church was my first visitor because I helped repair the AC unit outside their church after copper thieves cut out the copper lines. I donated time and materials even though I don't share their faith. They're just nice good people who have little but help others as much as they can. I suppose when I help a group of folks like that, I'm helping many others by proxy. ^_^

TDD