Posted on 07/30/2005 1:34:58 PM PDT by bill1952
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - In Niger, a desert country twice the size of Texas, most of the 11 million people live on a dollar a day.
Forty percent of children are underfed, and one out of four dies before turning 5
. And that's when things are normal.
Throw in a plague of locusts, and a familiar spectacle emerges: skeletal babies, distended bellies, people too famished to brush the flies from their faces.
To the aid workers charged with saving the dying, the immediate challenge is to raise relief money and get supplies to the stricken areas.
They leave it to the economists and politicians to come up with a lasting remedy.
One such economist is James Shikwati. He blames foreign aid.
``When aid money keeps coming, all our policy-makers do is strategize on how to get more,'' said the Kenya-based director of the Inter Region Economic Network, an African think tank.
``They forget about getting their own people working to solve these very basic problems. In Africa, we look to outsiders to solve our problems, making the victim not take responsibility to change.''
-snip
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
At least one person admits the real problem.
Although it goes on for the need for more aid, it does at least address the problem of endless welfare aid.
It's a good article - worth a read.
Sounds like liberal "solutions" to problems we have right here at home.
You cant throw money at Africa....you throw good money after bad when you do.
ping
No yellow cake here folks, just move on.
Sounds like one of those "Don't Feed The Bears" things that we see in our country.
Welfare.....
Who was it who said "Helping one to learn to help themselves" (paraphrase) is true compassion?
Yes, of course the same can not be said about domestic financial tossing....
Yes that's right and if the bear bites your hand off then where will he feed?
It was a similar debate over aid to India. India made good and is looking ahead. Africa, though has some of the most corrupt states on earth. It's tough to get progress under corrupt states.
The coast of India is looking good. The interior of the country is destitute.
Uranium, coal, iron ore, tin, phosphates, gold,molybdenum, gypsum, salt, and petroleum.
If I am not mistaken, France controlled the mining for most of the time.
Not sure what France's involvement is at the moment.
Perhaps the Interior will withdraw and form their own country if they are getting a raw deal.
My brain has been screwing around with me all day. I read 'underfed' to be the past tense of the verb 'underf' (like un-earthed) and then paused for several seconds to consider what underfing something might be and for that matter what 'derfing' would be as well. I derf, you derf, she derfs, we derf...
At any rate, those Nigerian children have been underfed and I just bet it's not a pleasant thing...
During the 1980-81 famine in East Africa, I flew relief supplies into many different feeding centers in Kenya & Uganda. These were in very remote, dry regions that experience rain & crop failure once every 5 to 10 years.
Three times I was told a similar story by the expat staff of the centers. The staff members had overheard tribal people eating in the center say, "If we get a good harvest next year, let's don't save any. Let's make it all into beer!. If we run out of food, these folks (missionaries, relief workers) will come back and feed us again!"
In 1979, Kenya had a bumper maize (corn) crop, but nowhere to store the surplus. They sold it overseas to earn foreign exchange (real money). These sales continued even after Kenya finally admitted that there was famine. The surplus was sold, as was the 2 million bag (90 kg) "strategic reserve".
Plenty of blame to pass around.
Thank you! Excellent article.
I won't even go into my usual tirade of "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats every day." ;)
"All these pompous rock stars patting themselves on the back and they accomplished the opposite of what they set out to do."
Actually, IMHO, they DO end up accomplishing what they set out to do; promote THEMSELVES. They don't give a rat's rump about hunger. They're too busy pawing through their $12,000.00 "Goodie Bag," and ordering around their lackeys to be bothered with the "details!" ;)
Again, very, very good article! :)
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