What they need is a decent government that governs fairly and honestly as well as enforces contract law and criminal law with no favoritism. What they need is for people to not be so fatalistic and seek to improve their circumstance to the best of their abilities. The two are synergistic. But, it’s all so intrenched and habitual that I don’t know if they can pull out of it on their own. Call me a colonialist, call me a racist, I don’t care anymore. I don’t wish those people ill and I don’t want to take advantage of them. I just want to see them in a self-sustaining productive state and not a pitiful mess as they have been for practically my entire life.
Nixon’s comment on focusing on Africa if he had the chance way back when - makes me wonder what might have been. Although there is a long memory of the various tribal fighting, so that is difficult to overcome.
Our church has a group of Rawandan’s (Christian) that worship in a separate space. I think they either were always Christian, or perhaps from one tribe. A few months ago some former muslims, or perhaps the opposing tribal members, but now Christians, came to speak and apologize for their tribe’s actions in the civil war. Many of “our” members walked out, and I guess the visitors mainly got a very cold reaction from most of the members. Of course the church leaders were hoping that it would lead to reconcilliation. (And perhaps it is the first of many steps).
The reaction as Christians is sad, but also understandable. Some of our members have talked about how they were left as orphans when the other tribe would come through and kill all of their family members over the age of 12. I’m not sure that I could ever forgive someone for that.
One of the many negative consequences of WWI might have been the too-rapid collapse of colonialism. The third world might have been better off with a more gradual withering of Western Imperialism.
Just thinking out loud here.