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Starving Africans
January 20, 2009I came across another line in President Obama’s inaguration speech that I need to comment on:
“And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.”
I would love it if the wealth of the world was spent on resolving the problems of poverty in Africa and elsewhere, rather than on wars, population reduction through wars, and enslavement of soldiers who are mostly way too young to understand they’re being used to promote suffering and evil.
I’m probably stepping on toes again, not that I want to. I’m usually so disgusted with politics I pay little attention to it - but with our country in such a crisis, and with so many others experiencing major emotional traumas or hopes, it is hard to ignore it.
My main point is that Africans are suffering extreme deprivation and I’m tired of seeing the photos of starving children and their elders, while mega-millions are spent on wars and destruction. I hope President Obama can bring some SANITY to the situation and direct some cash back to people who really need it.
If you’d like to help, you might be interested in a charity I’m participating in, called Kiva… with Kiva you can give loans to people in developing nations who are trying to start or maintain businesses. The business owners must repay the money so usually you’ll get your loan money back, and then can either loan it to someone else, or keep it. My first loan went to Mary Barimah in Ghana for her used clothing business.
read comments (1)
Mountain Dweller
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:45 pm
The origin of war is not because men wanted war. It was greed. One man took away the possesion of another by force or coercions.
When there is nothing else to take the one with the power to kill enslaved the others by force so the action is repeated. Only by fighting back can this cruelty be stopped. It is called war. Most wars are bad of course. But if there is a war to free people from oppression like the Hutus and the Tutsis ethnic cleansing in 1994 then it must be good. Someone with the right intention had to go in and intervened to stop the heartless killing. There is some kind of order.
It is up to the people how they are being governed. There are some good people who wanted everybody to have the same benefits of a free society everywhere but are silenced or doing nothing. It is this doing nothing that allowed a society to decay. To maintain order we need a good law. if the head of a government can get away with breaking the law the society can never benefit from freedom of choice. This is what Africa is all about when they have authoritarian rulers.
President Obama socialist program is doing the opposite of what I envisaged.
He wants to control every part of the human lives and take away individual liberty. Without individual liberties there is no progress. Progress comes from the hearts and minds of every individual. Imagine, if you tell Mary Barimah that she can only work for you and not for herself?
It is this people who will provide charity to the needy and the destitutes.
I spent some of my times contributing to the African needy. Charity is a temporary way to help the needy to get up and fight for themselves against their countries administration.
You are on the right track of helping people to help themselves - it’s called capitalism. It allows the freedom to practice of what you believe whether its religion or making a living. If this same principle is applied to the country overall Africa will be as economically viable as Europe and America.
You ideas are not new. The World Bank had been doing this for years. It worked for several countries such as India and other Asian countries. It should work for Africa but the cycle of corruption and political intimidation of mob mentality are too obvious to give people any opportunities to make a decent living.
i am not saying you have to start a war to change people lives for the better. People have to fight back practicing fairness in capitalsm controlling their own destiny - not the government. Example, if you have 10 eggs to sell. The government takes away two - that is fair.
Now, if government take away 100 eggs from your 200 and then tell you to give 50 away to the needy I don’t think you can last very long in this business. This is what Obama wants to do. Do the right thing.