People are starving to death in Niger. Why? No one paid attention when they begged the United Nations for aid after the locust swarm last year. They knew this was going to happen. They saw it coming. All they needed was a dollar per person in need. Now they need at least 8 because these people must be given health care as well. The harvest isn't for weeks and people aren't getting any less hungry. MSNBC has a list of organization accepting donations to avert the crisis.
This crisis brings up some questions. Why do we respond to tragedies rather than preventing them? Why do we only provide food rather than including the education needed for people in starving areas to find ways to feed themselves? Are we less able to care about the plight of the world with the economic problems we are facing? Have we forgotten that sometimes personal sacrifice is necessary to provide for the common good?
Thursday, August 04, 2005
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11 comments:
Great questions:
Also, why has the US and other nations ignored aid to Africa? Why not pull out of Iraq, spend the money for more worthy causes, abroad and at home. If Bush thinks that he has spread democracy to Iraq, he is deluding himself.
As cold as this may sound, I wouldn't want to give any aid that's not accompanied with contraceptives. Much of these problems are caused by overpopulation.
Africa was doing fine before all the vaccinations. It was then that the populations started spiralling faster than they could feed themselves.
Right now we have major problems especially in the Sahel (sp?) region of Africa of desertification, where the desert is growing because of overpopulation, overcultivation, and overgrazing on soils that cannot take it.
If we do not address the problems of overpopulation, we will just continue the misery. I realize your intentions are wonderful. But we must address the real issue first.
You beat me to it, ZS!
I can't quite believe what ZS is suggesting but maybe he'd prefer it if a few more of them died before we gave them aid.
Maybe we should send death sqauds out there?
We're the ones who imparted Christianity to them, and that is their main hang up with condoms. We helped make the mess over there. I agree that we need to teach them about contraception, but not while killing them by not providing food.
Al ot of what's wrong with America has to do with the Christianity, but that's another post. That doesn't mean I believe that Christians are bad people. I am ideologically opposed and have found no reason not to be. Christian groups, and you're right, Catholic groups as well, refuse to send aid to Africa unless the aid organization teaches abstinence only with regard to its sexual health classes. If you don't believe me, feel free to look it up.
PC - Yeah, I'm well aware of that. It's pretty sick. If you say the A-word (not abstinence), you get cut off from funding.
Also true, adn also unfair. The problem is tha even liberals are wrong on this front. Right now, these people need food. For God's sake, give them some food and teach them to raise food. Who the hell cares what the ideology of the organization providing the aid is? Let's get them fed first. Next we can work on sexual health and AIDS prevention. Let's just keep them from starving to death tonight.
PS - Given my corretion of spelling on someone else's comment, I should not that my dog jumped on my computer and I'm having problems with certain keys. Please excuse typos. I feel sheepish.
NSC,
I think some of the questions I ask are problems with no real answers. My goal is to raise awareness of the issues facing us and spurn discussion about them and other things. Sometimes I get some good discussion and sometimes I don't. I do learn a lot from the comments. Even if I don't resolve a question, I learn a lot about people from the way they respond. Some peeople get immediately defensive whenever any question is asked. Some people give their opinion. Other people, like you and me, want to find answers and are truly interested in learning from all kinds of people and growing in our knowledge of the world around us.
I think people worry too much about the difference they may or may not be making on a world scale and neglect the small, ordinary things they can do every day to make a difference. See my post: So what do we do? How many people here will actually do these things in their community? I will. You might. But we can't count on other people. We, as Americans, need to stop thinking someone else can do it better and take matters into our own hands. I can lead by example in my life and in my classroom. What else can I do?
Finally, you're right. I can't include myselfs as a Chirstian, but many American groups are still bringing Christianity and not much more to Africa. These people don't need religion. They need FOOD. That's really all that concerns me about Africa right now. I have a link to The One Campaign which focuses on education and health care as well as food, and I think it's the best African Aid organization out there right now. I encourage people to contribute, or, if they can, to volunteer, though I think Americans should save their volunteer hours to help improve our social problems.
I relaize I have been a little hard on Christianity lately. It's probably childishness. I am a recovering Catholic and I still have some animosity. I was locked in a closet by my first grade Catholic school teacher and told I was evil. Christians are not bad people. Those that truly follow their religious principals are loving, generous people, of tthe kind I hope will help me in my quest to better America. So, to all of the Christians I have offended, I apologize. I really do. I am human and I am learning. Please forgive me.
I slip up. If I were to have a gravestone it would be "I was human".
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