Canadutch
You know, I’m not the most worldly person. I’ve traveled around a bit but I generally don’t keep up on the politics and news in other countries. Hell, I hardly pay attention to the news in my own country, so overall when it comes to current affairs I’m a giant ignoramus. Something had me confused the other night though, and I asked my husband about it. My question was…
Why, when all the rest of the world seems to be donating out the hole to Africa, does nothing seem to improve?
Seriously, for as long as I can remember I’ve seen ads with children with bloated bellies and flies around their eyes, with their brown drinking water asking me to send money. I remember more than once when I was younger suggesting to my parents that we should adopt an African kid. I wanted to send them to school and get their letters, and maybe even meet them someday, just like the ads promised. It never happened, my parents were busy supporting me and I can’t really blame them now.
There are telethons, TV shows, super stars like Angelina Jolie and Madonna and endless other attempts at improving the situation there, but nothing seems to change. I don’t get it. Look at American Idol with their ‘Idol Gives Back’ crap (big publicity stunt if you ask me, Idol didn’t give shit… their viewers did!)… they raised like, a gazillion dollars for starving Africans! Where has it gone? What has it changed?
When I asked my husband about this he had all the answers and went into them at length. Politics, and how it benefits some people to keep certain parts of Africa poor and a number of other explanations. The things he said made sense but then I can’t help but wonder, why keep sending money then? There are a lot of people who truly believe in that cause but aren’t they swimming upstream here? It’s probably enviable that people ‘fight the good fight’ when it comes to these places, but man… there comes a time when you gotta learn to choose your battles.
Don’t get me wrong, I know I sound like a heinous bitch who can’t sympathize with what is going on down there, but shit… all these countries have their own starving, diseased, downtrodden people to take care of, why keep sending all the money off to somewhere that takes it all in for SO many years and doesn’t seem to show any significant signs of change?
Ok, yeah… help the world, be a good person and so on. Fine. I give, so does my husband but I guess we just make different choices on when and to whom.
The reason I’m thinking about this at the moment is because of something that has happened in the news here in the Netherlands recently. It’s about five young Dutch girls who went to Africa on a working holiday organized by a Dutch charity. They were there to BUILD A SCHOOL, you know… to help the local people… and what did they get in return? They were attacked and raped by 10 local men. RAPED!!!
This is the story told by Dutchnews.nl:
Five young Dutch women between the ages of 17 and 25 were raped by a group of Kenyan men last Thursday during a working holiday organised by the Amersfoort based charity Livingstone.
A spokeswoman for Livingstone on Monday confirmed the report which was published in the Reformatorisch Dagblad newspaper, reports ANP news service.
The attacks took place while a group of 12 Dutch volunteers were working on rebuilding a school. Despite security measures, around 10 men forced their way onto the terrain using a neighbour as hostage, reports ANP.
The intruders, who were armed with a gun and other weapons, demanded all those present, including local people and children, to surrender their valuables. Five of the Dutch women were taken to another room where they were raped.
‘They also tried to rape a number of local women but they were eventually left alone because they had babies with them,’ the spokeswoman for Livingstone told ANP.
Staff at the organisation are ‘extremely shocked’ by the attacks and have immediately suspended the Kenyan project, she said.
The five Dutch women were treated at a hospital in Nairobi before being flown to Brussels on Saturday where they were met by family and Livingstone staff. They will be offered further medical care in the Netherlands.
Kenyan police have assigned 30 officers to the case and have already questioned a hundred people, says ANP.
What in the living fuck?!
I guess it can be said that because of the living conditions that this is just how it is and this is exactly why people are trying to improve things there, but … ugh!
I really need to get educated on this issue because as it stands right now I don’t see the point in any of it. I have to wonder that if knowing what they know now, and having gone through what they’ve just experienced, if those girls still think it’s all worth it.
There are so many problems in Africa, where to even start…
HIV is a huge problem and they have no gov’t sponsored hosps/medicines etc to help their people. People are dying from it by the thousands leaving orphaned children with no one to care for them. Then you have malaria yet the poeple are so poor they can’t even buy mosquito netting. Poor drinking water. No schools. No reliable transportation. There is just a total lack of gov’t support in every way you can think of..social financial, health etc… Total lack of education in all areas imaginable. Cultural differences, beliefs etc hinder growth and development.
Famine is huge b/c the rate the population increases far exceeds the rate of food production. Birth control is not culturally accepted for the most part.
The fighting which can only be called genocide in the Sudan/Darfur is a major barrier to people getting any kind of help and for the most part the world ignores it. You don’t see the USA charging in to save these poor black people do you? Of course not.
The problems are so massive and all-encompassing that the money it takes just to try to keep some level of support for proper education, medicine, mosquito netting etc …well, it takes millions.
Here’s some perspective; NS has a welfare budget of 900 Million just for this tiny little Province so imagine what it takes to (on a regular basis) support the poorest and neediest of Africa.
People who help have no choice, but to use money as a band-aid right now b/c the gov’t will not develop anything to help Africa become financially self-sufficient. The gov’t officials who are not crooked as hell are most likely afraid to become a target for insurgents.
Why not turn some of this help, these millions toward home (USA/Canada etc)? Africa is a place without hope. We, like America, are a land of opportunity. Someone can have a dream, can have hope and move mountains. Most Africans can’t even find clean drinking water let alone hope for anything grander like education, a job, money to feed their children etc..
People who go to Africa to help are true selfless heroes b/c there are no rewards for what they do other than personal.
I wonder on these things as well..
I am hoping there can be good done to help those in need, but I often wonder if some or a large percentage of the money isn’t being embezzled on the receiving end somewhere/somehow.
It is an eye-opener, for sure. And it’s very sad about the Dutch women who were raped. I wonder what the punishment will be for the men who did so? Of if those men will even be found? Pigs.
Isabellas last blog post… In 28 Years…
I have asked myself those same questions of course and asked my husband about it too and he went into great detail about it all. No matter what it’s an awful situation for the people there. I’m glad you posted your thoughts about it though because I think alot of people are asking themselves the same thing.
Sonyas last blog post… Freaking Humidity
What’s acceptable in one society isn’t acceptable in others. From my experiences in India, I discovered that rather quickly. I’m an outspoken woman here in the USA, but over there? Still not really looked highly upon, even if I am a foreigner. Nothing pissed me off more than to have to find a man to help me get something fixed because the hotel front desk just saw me as a lowly WOMAN.
Ambers last blog post… Speaking Corporate
Yeah I know you guys are right that I don’t know the whole story, I don’t think anyone does tbh. There is probably so much going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about. When I used to ask my parents to send money to adopt one of those kids they wouldn’t because they said they didn’t REALLY know where the money was going. We’d probably be buying some rich African or American guy a boat.
I’m not basing the entire question on the one event alone. I actually had asked my husband the question about Africa 1-2 nights before I saw the news about the Dutch girls getting raped. It was just then that I went “!!!!!!! OMG !!!!” and really started thinking harder about it.
1) Don’t give them fish, teach them to catch it.
2) People who don’t want any change will not do what we (“rich west”) tell them. (If a homeless is offered home and money, (s)he won’t use it in a way we expect.)
3) HIV spread supports poverty. Children are left alone, cannot care of their own education, must work to survive.
4) In some parts of Africa there is war (black against black) but western developed world hides it cos Afghanistan/Iraq war is more important/strategic for them.
Sometimes I think that western world lives in a bubble and has little knowledge of what is going on in the world. Sorry to say it but if some people still think that we (East) live on trees, how can they know what is happening in Africa? All Africans aren’t bad, you just picked up one story. It is like when person with tattoo kills someone, media show it and you say: all people with piercing and tattoos are strange, unreliable and dangerous drug addicts. Nothing is simple.
no-one aka Sherman’s big fans last blog post… Heavyweight champion
Tough question…
I wondered the same thing at times too. While I don’t think I have an answer for it, I must say Africa was badly exploited by “us” (Europeans, mostly) for as long as they could. We just helped ourselves and after all, colonization only ended a few decades ago.
Now I’m not saying everything is “our” fault blahblahblah but it certainly helps putting things into perspective. And yes, people help Africa but the country is still exploited for many reasons, most of them are not humanitarian.
Now what happened to the Dutch volunteer is of course terrible. That said, it is one news, one story that went badly wrong… it’s not like all the volunteers get attacked and I’m sure their work is appreciate in Africa.
Zhus last blog post… The Last Four Things I Bought
This is so sickening and unhumane…I totally agree with you. Why help people when they can’t even help themselves?
bluefishs last blog post… Economy crisis
Gah, do not get me started. This is a little off that topic but the other day I was at Sonic and they had guest carhops as they often do, teenage girls collecting tips for their missionary trip. TO ITALY. Seriously. I said are you kidding me? You are going to preach Christianity to the Italians? This poor girl began to explain to me how they needed to be educated about the ways of Christ and I said you do realize that most Italians are Catholic right? She looked at me with the dumbest stare ever and said but they are not CHRISTIANS.
*if I posted this twice it is because I am an idiot
Juless last blog post… Lisa Garza – Robbed – The Next Food Network Star
Gah, do not get me started. This is a little off that topic but the other day I was at Sonic and they had guest carhops as they often do, teenage girls collecting tips for their missionary trip. TO ITALY. Seriously. I said are you kidding me? You are going to preach Christianity to the Italians? This poor girl began to explain to me how they needed to be educated about the ways of Christ and I said you do realize that most Italians are Catholic right? She looked at me with the dumbest stare ever and said but they are not CHRISTIANS.
Juless last blog post… Lisa Garza – Robbed – The Next Food Network Star