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Africa: now the good news

Brian Doolan

by Brian Doolan

17 Aug 05:42am

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Filed under: Africa, Famine, Foreign Aid, Poverty

100 comments

Once again Africa is gripped by a catastrophic famine.  As developed countries and NGOs scramble to mobilise aid, we are told incomprehensible numbers of people face a ghastly death by starvation, including hundreds of thousands of children.

Map of Africa by Hermann Moll.

It can make you despair.  Sometimes we feel like turning away, we seem so powerless and the problems so entrenched and repetitive. Giving money can feel pointless; commercial TV news hardly mentions the crisis, guessing it will have viewers reaching for the remote control.

But there’s another story about Africa many Australians might find very surprising.

For example, how many of us would have put an African country in the top ten growth economies over the past decade?  Well, how about six out of the top ten? It’s true. Step forward Angola, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Chad and Mozambique - all shot the lights out with growth above seven percent a year according to Standard Charter Bank.

Joining them on the winners list in the next few years will be Zambia, Ghana and the Congo.

Yes, I know, dry old economic data. How about more human measures of progress?  How about these? In 1950 200 of every 1,000 African children died before their 5th birthday.  Today it’s around 60. That’s still horrific, but it’s a massive improvement and heading down.

Rwanda is a country almost synonymous with the horrors of African tribal violence and famine. Just 17 years ago 800,000 Rwandans were butchered in a bloody civil conflict. Yet today its economy is booming and it’s taking huge steps to improve health.  HIV prevalence has been cut from 13 per cent in 2000 to 3 per cent in 2009. Deaths from malaria dropped from 9.3 per cent of those infected to 2.9 per cent in the same period.

In eye health, the Fred Hollows Foundation is witnessing huge progress.  For instance Morocco has beaten trachoma and, again in Rwanda, we’ve seen the rate of blindness cut nearly in half.  Aid and development programs have played a vital part – not least in health and education - especially when driven by local people.

A few years ago while visiting Kenya on behalf of Fred Hollows Foundation, I met Simila, a young woman who’d walked her blind mother, Rose, across miles of stony ground to an outreach eye surgery camp.

As the horror of the growing famine in Africa unfolds now I’ve been thinking more and more about what has become of Simila and how Australians will react to another humanitarian disaster on the world’s poorest continent.

Simila was 10, loved school and wanted to be a doctor. But like so many others in the developing world, her mother’s blindness meant she had to stay home and care for Rose rather than go to school and have a chance at a better life.  So when Rose’s sight was restored, so was Simila’s life.

She lives in the remote Baragoi region of northern Kenya. Its dry, stony ground is tough farming country in a good year. But with the current severe drought, the UN estimates more than 10 million people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda are in very grave danger. And with Kenya struggling to look after 900,000 Somali refugees, it’s likely the times are very, very hard for Simila and Rose.

So, the news is extremely bad for many Africans at the moment, but it’s not not universally bad. And there’s not ‘nothing we can do’. There’s plenty.

First, we should support - to the amount each of us can afford - the efforts and material aid being delivered by humanitarian agencies. World Vision, Oxfam, Red Cross and many others are doing a huge, daunting but critical job saving lives. They are putting food, water, medicines, doctors, nurses and shelter on the ground. You can contribute directly to that. The Australian Government is spending, on our behalf, $80 million on emergency relief. That will save many, many lives.

The emergency is real and a herculean effort is needed to avert an almost unimaginable human tragedy. But it will eventually pass and food production will recover.

The point is your generosity is not futile and it’s not just ‘drop in the ocean’ charity. Think of it as investment in your fellow humans in one of the most go-ahead parts of the world. Invest now and watch it grow.

Only a generation or two back we in the West saw nations like China and India as basket cases – wracked by cycles of famine and despair. Occasionally you’ll still hear an older Australian talk of the starving in India or China, but it now sounds strange. There are issues of wealth inequality in both of Asia’s giant economies, but today they’re economic superpowers, self sufficient in food and pillars of the world economy. Unimaginable even to my parents’ generation!

So the second thing is, don’t give up on Africa. There is a great deal on the great continent to be encouraged and optimistic about.  Africa can recover and go ahead in leaps and bounds, challenging all our old perceptions with its remarkable development.

But it sure as hell needs all our help right now to get through this diabolical emergency.

Please do whatever you can.

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100 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Gregg says:

      05:56am | 17/08/11

      It is quite possible there are still many disadvantaged if not starving and dying in India and China, w perhaps not just being told of them by the media.

      Certainly there would be many more disadvantaged and dying if children were not working as 10 year olds in sweat shops.

      The huge percentage increases for African growth may be good on one hand and it is not so surprising when you consider western industrialisation and economies in near free fall and African countries starting from a very low base.
      It is kind of like if one was very obese and if you ever tune into one of those greatest losers showa, it’ll always be the fattest who will shed quickest at the start.

      But all this growth will no doubt likely cause even greater increases in populations with subsequently more pressure on the food train let alone what it will be doing for our CO2 if we are really supposed to be worried about that.
      Should the west be offering to set up sterilisation clinics?

      Reply

    • old fart says:

      07:34am | 17/08/11

      “Should the west be offering to set up sterilisation clinics”

      Shades of the third reich.  What next, identifying patches and extermination camps?  Why dont we just withhold drugs for HIV and let the disease process takes it’s course?

      you really are a scary person

    • Sheldon says:

      07:36am | 17/08/11

      So I guess you wouldn’t have a problem with the famine since its reducing Aficas population and thus their CO2 emmissions?

    • marley says:

      08:23am | 17/08/11

      Okay, first, the west via organizations like UNICEF and the Gates Foundation, spends a mozza in Africa on health and sex education for women, helping them with contraception.  It’s not like the issue is being ignored.

      Second, it is a truism that, as economies improve, birth rates decline.  The better the African economy, the better educated its people will be and the fewer children they will have.  It’s already happening in North Africa and there’s no reason at all that it won’t happen in sub-Saharan Africa.

    • iansand says:

      08:28am | 17/08/11

      Gregg - there is a strong correlation between prosperity and declining birth rates.

    • Gregg says:

      10:49am | 17/08/11

      @Sheldon,
      ” So I guess you wouldn’t have a problem with the famine “
      The article is all about the famine and that’s much scarier Old farter.

      They have come around every so often and probably many we do not even know off and one of the reasons is that many areas do not have a consistent enough weather pattern so as people can survive.
      The pope and having large numbers of children does not help and thus problems will only be greater.

      As for education and declining birth rates, that may sound fine in theory but it may well be that the birth rate and population has gone beyond education pulling it back being all that practical.

      Explosive population trends can cause all sorts of problems that will affect this planet far more than CO2 ever will, even with more mouths and consumption causing CO2 to increase.
      It will just get worse and nothing will ever likely be done until we will be relying on more famines, diseases and wars to cull populations and yes, that’s really scary.

    • Liz says:

      10:52am | 17/08/11

      There’s also a strong correlation between poverty and the adoption industry when children are sold to richer countries.
      Donation to charities is fine if you can be sure aid reaches the people who need it and not warlords.Famine is caused by crop failure, starvation by wars.

    • arnie says:

      11:15am | 17/08/11

      @ Gregg,
      Correct, its the biggest loser sort of analogy. For example Zambia, has a lower GDP per capita now than 40 years ago,when it was higher than South Korea’s. Angola and Mozambique were in a dreadful civil wars for 20 years.
      Of the list- only Zambia no Nigeria have no excuse. The others had civil wars, genocide etc. The huge success story of sub Saharn Africa(black Africa) is Botswana-even with huge AIDS rates-its infant mortality is comparable to that of the Australian aborigine population-which is quite low by non developed country’s standards.

    • Demoman says:

      12:50pm | 17/08/11

      While there is a strong correlation between birth rates and economic performance, having Africa increase its standards of living and thus the corresponding levels of consumption may not be the wisest thing. Already the world will struggle with China and India developing, I am not sure there is enough to go around and I certainly am not willing to have my standard of living reduce so that people I don’t care about can have gadgets.

      Also, building up economic rivals like we did with China is not exactly the smartest thing the West has done in the last few decades given that soon they will pose a military threat to us.

    • iansand says:

      04:22pm | 17/08/11

      Demoman - That is at the heart of Mr Rudd’s greatest moral dilemma.  Do we restrict the development of developing nations because that will increase the emissions the world faces when the emissions underpin our rise to economic prosperity?  Is it moral to say that a third world nation should not develop because of things to which they did not contribute?  It means hitting people with a double whammy - they are faced with the consequences of climate change and pay for those consequences by being kept at a less than optimal stage of development.

    • chungo mung says:

      08:22am | 17/08/11

      Wow Gregg, reading your thoughts make me just wanna hang out and down a couple of beers with you. You light up my life. Yep the numbers are in a very unique context internationally, but the improving numbers on health and such are real numbers of real people - hope is an important thing mate.

      As for this sterilization talk - there are plenty of candidates for sterilization in the west according to some, but better we just sterilize the overpopulating poor black people eh? I just can’t believe that anyone who reads history or calls themselves a member of the educated population can seriously suggest an idea like forced sterilization - though you don’t use the word forced, the reality of clinics and poor people in overpopulated places is not that these people would all volunteer themselves in for such a procedure.

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      10:55am | 17/08/11

      @Chungo,
      You OK with a chainsaw and I might be able to put up a slab.
      ” but better we just sterilize the overpopulating poor black people eh? “
      OK, so a lot of if not most of the people, yes real people and many of whom will dies are one shade or another of black or brown but colour makes no difference for if there is out of control population explosion of people of any colour, something would be best to happen about it.

      While we’re at it, seems as though there could be a good use of clinics around London too.

    • fml says:

      11:02am | 17/08/11

      Thats the problem with one side of the over population argument. We could spend money improving our farming land and methods and becoming self-sufficient as a nation, but the simple solution is to offer free sterilization the poor of the world.

    • Brad says:

      12:38pm | 17/08/11

      No FML, the problem is that improving methods of farming and self-sufficiency is already suffering diminishing returns. We have damaged 20-30% of the planets carrying capacity just getting where we are today and countries like China and India are now by far the biggest offenders- simply becuase they have the biggest populations. Global warming is only a symptom of overpopulation and there are far more serious symptoms beginning to manifest right now. Those will cause hardship far sooner than sea level rise. We’ve just mad ethe fastest billion people ever - it took 12 years. I sincerely hope it will remain the fastest billion ever.

    • Demoman says:

      12:54pm | 17/08/11

      The growth in food production was greater than the growth in population until recently.

      You cannot magically make food appear and it is uncertain if there will be another green revolution.

    • fml says:

      12:59pm | 17/08/11

      Brad,

      Why is it that forced steralisation for China and India is only the catch cry of Western Nations? While China has implemented the one child policy why are they paying Australian universities to sequence wheat DNA with the view to create drought resistant wheat?

      Which would you prefer? Spend money on scientific research to create drought resistant crops? or just force other nations to steralise their people?

      If global warming does exist, why not a multi-faceted approach to moving towards cleaner energy? Why is forced steralisation the answer?

    • Grv says:

      01:17pm | 17/08/11

      @Brad, China and India are lower down the scale than western countries in terms of being global warming offenders. What exactly are you saying and where are you getting your facts from?

    • Condom Onium says:

      08:38am | 17/08/11

      Birth control is a must in Africa, as well as Brazil, where there are so many children born just to work.  A sustainable population is the only way to save people, the planet and is plain good sense, which is ot what most dictators or politicians have.

      Reply

    • marley says:

      09:05am | 17/08/11

      @Condom - the birth rate in Brazil is about the same as the birth rate in Australia - below replacement rate, at 1.9.  Seems to me as though they’re doing pretty well.

    • Arnie says:

      11:05am | 17/08/11

      In Africa, and also in Latin America- a big part of the population problem can be attributed to the catholic church. i spent my childhood to teenage years in Africa, so I should know a little bit about the attitudes. GOD is taken very seriously in these countries
      The inflexibilty of the church regarding this issue-family planning- with condom use minimised due to the teachings-have also resulted in more HIV/AIDS cases than if the attitude were flexible. So, instead of setting up sterilisation clinics-someone , maybe the UN Secretary General should fly out to the Vatican to have talks with the present Pope. Pope John Paul II was inflexible on this issue. Possibly if the angelic Alberto Luciani, Pope John Paul 1 had survived long into his papal reign this overpopulation would have been less of a problem, as he was far more flexible.

    • John the Zombie says:

      12:14pm | 17/08/11

      Arnie and the fact that these countries are mainly of Islamic population does seem to worry you. Yeah lest blame the catholic church for the porblems. Hey why not blame the UK riots, somalia famine, Zimbawe inflation and the ill of the world on the Catholic church.

      Maybe you should also look at India or Pakistan and see the problems that exsist there. The other day I was listerning to a programme on 972am (Adelaide) were they were looking at the population in Pakistan and why birth control is out of control. They interviewed a mullah and he stated that women must give birth to as many children as possible as it is stated in the Koran and that Allah will provide for them, He also outlined birth control is not allowed.

      The lady went onto interview a women. She had 7 children already and one on the way and her age was only 22. She stated her husband wanted a daughter and had made her keep having till they had one. Due to the high amount of birth the lady had suffered as well as it had taken a huge toll on her body.

      Yes religion has played a role in population problems but dont go blaming one over the other.

    • Arnie says:

      01:05pm | 17/08/11

      @John the Zombie,
      As I said I have lived in Africa, the Christian population of Africa’s 1 billion people is actually more than the Islamic population-48% to 41%.  You must be confusing countries like Somalia, Libya etc being wholly Islamic and extrapolating it to the vast majority of Africa being so. Africa was conquered by European powers and mostly converted to Christianity. Of the Christians, catholics are the majority-and the Catholic Church does a considerable disservice by being inflexible-both for AIDS and population.
      Blaming one side(the Catholics) does not mean exonerating the other side-the Muslims. The only problem is there is no central figure in Islam ,such as the Pope in Catholicism to pin part of the blame. No significant Islamic figure has such a major anti birth control agenda for its followers as the Vatican has.
      I’am not being anti- Catholic, I have gone to school and higher education in catholic institutions, grateful for that -but the truth, however unpleasant must be said.

    • Arnie says:

      01:17pm | 17/08/11

      @ John the Baptist,
      Anyone who knows anything about Africa and its issues will definitely mention the catholic church in relation to AIDS control and population.
      You(who knows almost nothing about Africa) are doing a disservice to the other readers by ridiculing the comments of informed people who know Africa very well and have lived in Africa for over a decade. 

      Also what do you know about Islam?  The most intolerant version is found in pockets of Africa-and it is found in Somalia too-but not in all of Somalia.
      And yes-you are right in one aspect of your ignorance about Africa- the Islamic attitude is also a problem-but the Vatican are highly educated, sophisticated people who should know better and be more pragmatic

    • John the Zombie says:

      02:10pm | 17/08/11

      Arnie I klnow alot more about Africa then you think. I have freinds who families reside in African counrties. Do you know the reason for most African countries doing well at the moment? It is not because they have done changes to make there econmies more effective but China has come in. China is building roads and increasing its role in mining in these countries. You may say thats good but what you may not know that they ppl hired by the firms are lowly paid and on top of that many Chinese firms dont even hire Afrcian workers. In your regards of trying to say that large amounts of Africa is catholic and that Islam only makes up a small part shows you small understanding of Africa.

      Here is a bit of info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Africa

      “According to the World Book Encyclopedia, Islam is the largest religion in Africa,[11] with 47% of the population being Muslim. Its historic roots in Africa stem from the time Muhammad whose relatives and the epic followers migrated on a hijra to Abyssinia in fear of persecution from the pagan Arabs”.

      Maybe the World record book is wrong and you are right. As the table shows below that Christianity is a higher percentage but if based on number of ppl then from the article it shows Islam in a number is the highes as of the left over 53% a portion of that is not just Christian but Hindu, Judism, Baha’i and other religions.

    • Ronk says:

      03:34pm | 17/08/11

      Yes indeed, anyone who knows anything about Africa and its issues will definitely mention the catholic church in relation to AIDS control and population.
      The facts (contrary to the ignorant bigoted opinions expressed above) are:
      - No pope has ever taught that people must have as many children as possible (though some other religions teach this).
      - No pope has been or ever will be “flexible” on the Catholic teaching that contraception is morally wrong.
      - the fertility rate of Catholics is LOWER than the fertility rate of non-Catholics.
      - Many of the countries with the world’s lowest fertility rates are predominantly catholic countries.
      - there are very few if any people in developing countries who want contraception/sterilisation but can’t get it. The overwhelming majority have children because they WANT them.  When rich white Westerners say they want to “provide” more contraception, sterilisation and abortion “services” to meet an “unmet need”, what they mean is they want to FORCE them on the black people who (in the rich white’s view but not their own) are having “too many” children.
      -  30 years of practical real world experience fighting AIDS in Africa shows that the strategy endorsed by the Catholic church (abstinence from sex outside of monogamous marriage) works as the primary weapon against the spread of HIV/AIDS, condoms do not, in fact tend to make it worse.
      - The proportions of Catholics in the population of African countries is inversely proportional to the HIV/AIDS rates.

    • There can be only one..... says:

      03:45pm | 17/08/11

      In relation to HIV/AIDS infections, the Catholic Church also teaches monogamous relationships which, as far as I know, are pretty good inhibitors of the spread of this virus. Obviously God and his teachings are’t taken that seriously…..or are they not able to keep it in their pants?

    • Arnie says:

      05:06pm | 17/08/11

      @John the Zombie,
      The very same article that you are referring to says that in 2002, 45% of Africans were Christian(majority catholic) , 40% muslim. All the other mainstream religions you mention together do not add up to even 1.5%. The rest are animist(indigenous African beliefs). Only in Ethiopia are the christians not majority catholic and are orthodox-christianity being introduced there in 330 AD, well before Mohammed was heard of.  But the Muslim/Christian exact population figures are a moot point, lets say they are roughly equivalent. This still means we are talking about at least 450-500 million christians.
      What you are saying about the muslims may be true, but 2 wrongs don’t make a right.
      @ Ronk,
      Your views are very idealistic, and I wish they were true, but the majority of the people on the ground are of the opinion that the church (specially under Pope John Paul II) was intransigient and unhelpful. I have no reason to be a bigot, my 2 half African half brothers are christians.
      @there can be only one…......,
      Why should only africans keep it in their pants?  Human nature is such that it succumbs to temptation. I mean ,among a very small minority of catholic fathers there’s even reports of paedophilia- so people need faith as well as practical measures to help them.

    • Ronk says:

      06:06pm | 17/08/11

      Arnie, I did not state any “views”, idealistic or otherwise. I stated only the facts. If you doubt them look them up. Having relatives who are African Christians does not immunise anyone against ignorance or bigotry. I apologise for any implication that you were being DELIBERATELY bigoted rather than expressing bigoted views out of ignorance.

    • Arnie says:

      11:44pm | 17/08/11

      @ Ronk, have you even ever been to Africa? rather than reading things out of the internet and accusing people who have grown up in Africa of being ignorant.

    • Ronk says:

      09:45am | 18/08/11

      Arnie, yes I have been to Africa, but that is beside the point. I know many people who have travelled to dozens of overseas countries but their entire actual knowledge of the world, its people, geography and demographics could be written on teh back of a postage stamp, and they believe more outrageous myths than many people who have never travelled overseas.

    • Ronk says:

      01:17pm | 18/08/11

      And Arnie, the “population problem” in South America is if anything an UNDERpopulation problem. South America is twice the size of Europe with a quarter of the population, and its population growth is flatlining.

    • Condom Onium says:

      09:07am | 17/08/11

      Mis typed Condom Onium meant dictators and politicians do not have common sense

      Reply

    • Homer J says:

      09:12am | 17/08/11

      Nice reminder of what is possible.
      If they can just stem the endemic corruption then Africa can really blossum.

      Reply

    • Kel says:

      09:15am | 17/08/11

      So now we just need to work on stopping women and children being raped enmasse. Some of you talk of birth control, well stopping rape would be a good start. But apart from performing some kind of mind altering surgery that removes the evil in men, I really don’t know.

      They can talk up economic growth in the Congo all they like, but I’m sure the women and children would prefer to be poor than sexually assaulted (and murdered in many cases).

      Reply

    • Fiona says:

      07:37pm | 17/08/11

      A “rape condom” was invented by south african health worker working in a hospital in the Congo for this very thing. It has barbs in it. Don’t know whwt effect it’s had.

    • AB says:

      09:18am | 17/08/11

      An interesting take from journalist Matthew Parris (Times UK) on something that has greatly <a >benefited Africa</a>.

      Reply

    • Paul H says:

      11:44am | 17/08/11

      I agree, a very interesting and thought provoking article - and I, like the author, am a confirmed atheist!

    • Fiddler says:

      09:32am | 17/08/11

      “Its dry, stony ground is tough farming country in a good year.”

      Then MOVE and stop the expectation that the rest of the world will feed you every time it isn’t a “good year”

      Reply

    • Mike says:

      12:25pm | 17/08/11

      You mean, like a refugee?

    • MIke says:

      09:36am | 17/08/11

      Maybe things would be better for the common African if their countries were run under more efficient European lines, like in the old days ? Of course, since self determination most African countries have descended into barbarism, chaos and economic ruin (think Somalia and Rhodesia) but we can’t mention that, can we ? Most people in Zimbabwe for example would welcome the return of white leadership as it’s hard to worry about “racisms” when you and your family is homeless and starving and your completely corrupt political classes are hugs and murders looting the country. Nothing will really change in Africa while the West just drops in food aid parcels and allows terrorists like Mandela to roam free.

      Reply

    • fml says:

      11:08am | 17/08/11

      Calling Mandela a terrorist is probably not the most kosher. The old adage of one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter is quite apt in this circumstance. Considering he brought equality to many.

    • Mike says:

      11:49am | 17/08/11

      FML…. is one mans “necklacer” another mans Freedom Fighter ? Is one mans “kill the civilians” another mans Freedom Fighter ? Mandela allowed everyone in SA who’s not part of his ruling clique to be equally oppressed, good for him.

    • Aaarsss kikar says:

      01:27pm | 17/08/11

      Mandela is no terrorist,what a ridiculous comment.  If Mandela were an intransigient leader, many hundreds of thousands of lives would have been lost-but I will stop right here since I have never been in South Africa except for a visit-and white South Africans may have a different version.
      But yes, many African countries as a whole are worse off than under colonialism. But under colonialism these Africans were not allowed into anything other clerical jobs, second class schools, inferior farmlands etc-so its hard to compare. Having said that, there are many African countries better off such as Botswana. Also among the colonialists, the Portugese were the worst-they did not develop Angola and Mozambique-Mozambique had just 3 medical doctors for a population of millions.
      So the answer is not black and white-there are 54 countries in Africa, each with different histories and colonial masters.

    • Bernard says:

      09:39am | 17/08/11

      The problems in Africa will continue for a long time to come because the skill hungry first world just snatches all the talented Africans up as tokens of feel-good multiculturalism once they graduate from Western Universities. Where are the pro-active programs to sponsor them to go back and improve their own countries? We are robbing the third world of its talent and should not be surprised if we have to help them to solve their problems, or if we see them filling the boats to get to our shores.

      Reply

    • Andrew says:

      09:47am | 17/08/11

      Ever since I was a kid I’ve been hearing about the plight of African countries locked in famine. The money we’ve sent over this time has been good but surely all that its doing is propping up an unsustainable environment. It’s obvious that the country cannot sustain the population. They don’t have enough food and resources to live. Lets stop just sending money and food and start tacking this realistically! The people and especially their leaders need education as much as food. If they are not fit enough to lead then a UN delegation needs to take control of the country and lead for them. Only when they’ve ‘got it’ do we hand the country back.

      Reply

    • MattW says:

      10:11am | 17/08/11

      Gregg, people in less developed countries have lots of kids because they need the kids to support the parents & grandparents in old age. Once countries develop and they can plan & save for retirement, there isn’t that need anymore, plus the cost & time of raising children and getting them a good education puts a natural cap on it too.

      A massive problem for African people is bad government. Which countries from outside want to invest if the money is going to be siphoned off by corrupt local politicians? Unless you have something like oil (Sudan, Nigeria, Angola, Chad) or diamonds (Namibia, Botswana) then it seems to take something bad happening (genocide in Rwanda, famine in Somalia) or potentially happening (planned highway across the migration routes in the Serengeti in Tanzania) to get action.

      If the bad govenment or bad Big Man is removed and the money spent wisely (like in Rwanda), then things will improve for the whole country and people will get their chance to succeed. Not saying we shouldn’t be sending it, but the aid going to Somalia & Kenya is a bandaid for a situation that came about by bad government making a bad situation (drought) worse [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14458109]. If that governence remains once the drought ends then it is likely to happen again.

      Once the drought is over, more pressure needs to put on the governments to do the right thing by their people. I met plenty of industrious people from Kenya to Zimbabwe to Cape Town who just want a chance to get ahead, they all said corrupt & lazy government was the biggest problem…

      Reply

    • Paul H says:

      10:15am | 17/08/11

      I am surprised and disappointed that such a positive and uplifting article should elicit such a cynical response by Gregg et al. Brian Doolan, you have inspired me to contribute to the improving situation in Africa.

      Reply

    • Chris Martin says:

      10:24am | 17/08/11

      And what, exactly, have you done about it Gregg?

      Reply

    • Grv says:

      01:25pm | 17/08/11

      He’s the CEO for the Fred Hollows Foundation for one. And what have you done, Chris?

    • Ronk says:

      10:08am | 18/08/11

      You’re kidding us, Grv, surely?  If you’re serious, I will never vote for such a racist organisation as the Fred Hollows Foundation again.

    • Ted says:

      10:25am | 17/08/11

      The basket case that is Africa is more about the Despots that run the place than anything else.

      Reply

    • Ian says:

      10:30am | 17/08/11

      Wake up world where there is obvious corruption, revolutions etc etc the rest of the planet are less inclined to take notice, sort that and you sort the problem.

      Reply

    • Dave says:

      10:43am | 17/08/11

      What about the fact that theres just too many people on a continent with not enough resources to support them?

      And this is made even worse through the fact that they are bringing children into families that cant support them. It is a domino effect. Rather than trying to feed them all, we need to stop the poor and unemployed having children, then at least in a generation or two’s time, we will have only those who can support children having them. The more children they have, the worst the problem gets. Face the facts.

      Reply

    • Traxster says:

      10:59am | 17/08/11

      The mention above of TV channels only showing news that won’t cause their viewers to turn off supports my contention that ‘the media’ie.TV,newspapers etc
      are instruments of censorship in that they only print news that will sell their papers.

      Reply

    • qwerty says:

      11:01am | 17/08/11

      thank you for this article.

      Reply

    • Brenton says:

      11:38am | 17/08/11

      If you want to help Africa and change things for the better, then assist a girl to be educated!
      Also, there are many conservation projects that not only help animals but communities such as the ‘Lion Guardians’

      Reply

    • Michael says:

      11:48am | 17/08/11

      I do what I can afford but I can’t shake the feeling that more of my money lines the pockets of charity bureaucrats, African government bureaucrats and of course, criminals who see an easy buck in charity.  Then there are the thieves and gangsters who rob and pillage the goods that we supply for re-sale on the black market, often in areas where there is money and no need for aid.  I want to see a charity with no employees at all, just volunteers distributing our money to where it is needed without backhanded, under table payments to secure safe passage.  But then I live in cloud cuckoo land and believe in fairies.

      Reply

    • Don Bobio says:

      11:56am | 17/08/11

      If you use percent as an indicator it can appear very successful without actually being such.  if their economy was only only worth $1m and they then made $1.1m the next year that would be a 10% growth but a $100k increase is hardly going to make a difference. With such discord within these countries surely the reporting and recording is only just catching up and that there may have been no growth just more info reported.

      Reply

    • Richard says:

      12:06pm | 17/08/11

      Opening my eyes when born I saw I was in Australia, the best country on Earth, opening eyes in the UK or USA would have meant being in hopeless countries, in Africa would have meant that the World has responsibility to solve the problems instead of waging wars, ah well.

      Reply

    • Col. of Blackburn says:

      12:12pm | 17/08/11

      How many houses in these areas have rain gutters feeding into water tanks? Although considered ‘dry’, these countries have a climate comparable with, say, western NSW or the Mallee in Victoria. Certainly dry but not parched. There is the hoary old maxim, ‘don’t pray for rain, dam(n) it!
      BTW, I was quite taken by the resourcefulness of the Somali refugees shown on the program about the Kenyan refugee camps last night. These sort of go getting, pull yourself up by the bootstrap people are just the sort of ‘refugees’ we should be attracting to our country! wink

      Reply

    • marley says:

      08:15am | 18/08/11

      Col - your first question might better be, how many of these houses have roofs.  I’ve seen African housing that consisted of plastic bags.

    • Demoman says:

      01:04pm | 17/08/11

      We are depriving these people of developing functioning societies from the ashes of dysfunctional ones by constantly propping up their fundamental causes of their problems.

      This is the same as marching into the middle east and imposing democracy when the people are not ready for it. I say we let nature run its course and let them as a civilization come to terms with what is happening. They can then demand better of themselves and build a better society.

      If the West didn’t go through those centuries of hardship, massacres and revolutions we never would have developed to where we are today. Those events shaped the national consciousness, and imposing that on people who cannot relate is retarded.

      Reply

    • Grv says:

      01:05pm | 17/08/11

      Thankyou Brian for this informative and relevant article. It is refreshing and positive, and great to see you have put yourself out there to assist.

      Reply

    • Extremely Popular Poicy Free Liberals says:

      01:32pm | 17/08/11

      Does Africa have too many humans ? If Australia had Africa’s population and population density , then australia would have problems also!

      Reply

    • Ronk says:

      03:43pm | 17/08/11

      You don’t seem to realise that Africa is more than twelve times the size of Australia. Africa has less than half the population density of Europe. And Africa has a larger food growing capacity than europe. Africa’s population density is less than South America’s or the USA’s.
      From geography.about.co.
      “Population density of the continents:
      •North America - 32 people per square mile
      •South America - 73 people per square mile
      •Europe - 134 people per square mile
      •Asia - 203 people per square mile
      •Africa - 65 people per square mile
      •Australia - 6.4 people per square mile
      The population density of the planet (including all land area) is about 105 people per square mile. If Antarctica is eliminated (since it has zero population density), the world population density rises only to 115 people per square mile.

      The population density of the United States is approximately 76 people per square mile.

    • arnie says:

      05:23pm | 17/08/11

      @ Ronk,
      Africa is roughly 4 times larger than Australia, not 12 times you must have transposed the square mile and square kilometres as I first did. Australia-7.6 million sq. km, Africa 30 million sq kilometres.
      But land area is not the whole thing. A lot of Africa is occupied by the sahara desert which is 9 million sq km -larger than Australia, just like Australia is largely desert. Apart from the sahara desert ,a lot of other areas of Africa are arid and semi-arid, and unsuitable for farming.

    • Ronk says:

      06:15pm | 17/08/11

      My bad Arnie, the total land area is not the important point anyway. Read the rest of my comment which is more relevant.

      Yes the Sahara is big, but unlike Australia which is MOSTLY desert and semi-arid, most of Africa is arable land. In fact Africa has more arable land than Europe.

      My point is, the reason the average African is much poorer than the average Australian has NOTHING to do with there being supposedly “too many” Africans. Africa could quite easily support several times its current population, if only the political and economic issues could be solved. Lack of potential food production per se is NOT holding Africa back.

    • Tony says:

      01:37pm | 17/08/11

      We are again urged to help the hopeless case that is Africa.  Back in the days of Live Aid I was persuaded by the hype to lend a hand.  The aftermath of the sudden support of Live Aid was not widely reported but incredible, never again will I do handouts to futile causes and Africa is top of that list.  I suggest anybody considering throwing money into this pit does some research on how that money will be used, a few minutes of education might change your mind.

      Reply

    • Doug says:

      02:26pm | 17/08/11

      You don’t ‘cut’ HIV prevalence from 13 per cent to 3 per cent.  Those people died. Not the best indicator to pick for Rwanda.

      Reply

    • marley says:

      04:18pm | 17/08/11

      Rwanda seems to have gone in quite aggressively with education programs and, once they were available, with antiretroviral treatments - so unlike a lot of other countries, they’ve managed to stem the infection rate.  That’s a positive indicator in my book even if the wording is a bit sloppy.

    • Utopia Boy says:

      02:41pm | 17/08/11

      So much growth?
      Why can’t African nations help themselves then? Given the nature of economic data, I would suggest the average wealth of a country’s population has grown, but very few of each nation actually see any of that wealth. The mine owners live abroad and pay their fellow countrymen a dollar a day to extract diamonds.
      It’s incredible that we are watching famine again a short 20 years after the last tragedy, and it’s even more despicable that the western world is being asked to do all the hard work.
      I, for one, won’t be donating anything.

      Reply

    • Ronk says:

      03:45pm | 17/08/11

      The mine owners and other expliters of Africa are nearly all white westerners.

      The Western world basically caused the problem, the western world should help fix it.

    • Nathan says:

      02:20am | 18/08/11

      “being asked to do all the hard work” are you serious giving money is hard work. I don’t think you really appreciate why we do it. Firstly humanitarian reasons i.e. help to prevent human beings starving and perishing (not a bad reason). Secondarily as Ronk said we have interests there with mining (if its good enough to take their resources cheap maybe giving back won’t hurt) and manufacturing will inevitably be moved to Africa at some point with low labor costs. thus providing aid gives us a seat at the table to force agendas…....countries do not give money in Aid out of the goodness of their heart most of the money never leaves our shores

    • Arnie says:

      06:50am | 18/08/11

      @Ronk,
      Mining is only significant in perhaps 10 or so out of 54 African countries. To my knowledge the big ones are South Africa(many minerals), Zambia(copper), Namibia,Botswana(Diamonds),Congo(many minerals). Other African countries have oil as their main exports-again only perhaps 7 or so-Nigeria,Gabon,Angola,Libya being the main ones.
      The biggest problem for Africa currently, is not the mine owners(they may be part of the problem), but the politicians and bureaucrats who run Africa. They pocket a significant percentage of GDP per year as well as aid money. A lot of the aid money goes to infrastructure and services , from which they receive a significant percentage cut, may be 5% -10% -enough to make them dollar billionaires. The other problems are cronyism, poor economic management, low base of literacy,significant HIV/AIDS in the population,highest population growth percentage of any continent etc. If we continue to blame westerners (they were to blame initially)- we aren’t getting at the root of the problem-the problem is African leaders themselves. Its been 40 to 50 years since most African states got independence. Only Botswana, Mauritius,Ghana and a handful of other African countries with good leadership have come out shining.

    • Arnie says:

      07:08am | 18/08/11

      @Nathan,
      Quite correct, a lot of the AID , sometimes much of it , maybe 20%-30% actually go to buy infrastructure and other services from the source country of the AID. This is assuming the aid is at concessional loans or a grant. In fact most of the AID is at only slightly lower than market interest rates-and debt servicing takes up a lot of their budget annually.
      The old adage-there’s no free lunch applies in AID too, in most cases, except for humanitarian emergency aid given for famine.

    • Ronk says:

      10:22am | 18/08/11

      Arnie yes mining (including oil) is significant in only a minority of African countries but it’s by far Africa’s biggest source of foreign income.
      I wasn’t suggesting mine owners are the ONLY westerners exploiting Africa or that certain african politicians and terrorists don’t also shar some of the blame.

      But for one example look at the Western “loan vultures”. These are people who prey on the poorest of the poor.

      Thanks to the efforts of the late John Paul II, his idea of a Millennium Jubilee Debt write-off for the poorest and most indebted countries was eventually adopted in modified form.

      What these vultures do, is to go around to other lenders, buying up the debts of countries whose debts are about to be written off . Then they demand immediate payment in full from the poor country. This happened recently in Australia when a vulture company seized the assets (including a valuable mine in NSW) belonging to the Congo government, for “non-payment of debts”. The NSW courts upheld the seizure.

    • Peter says:

      04:10pm | 17/08/11

      You lost me after the 2nd paragraph. It’s been clearly shown that GDP does not represent an increase in living standards of a country. We talk about how these countries have more of this “money” thing everyone is talking about, but does this translate into less death for the African people?

      If the people at the top can drive around in a nicer car, I guess that IS progress in the current western perspective.

      Reply

    • Tim says:

      04:42pm | 17/08/11

      Back and forth tit for tat… the record repeats. All this talk does nothing, much like politicians all around the world who cause so many of these issues by serving their greedy selves. It’s true that famine is caused by crop failure and starvation by wars, but this view also detaches each as if they are not connected, and thus too simple of an approach. One thing is for certain, if we don’t clean up our act together globally, Africa is window into our future too, that is after the mining companies have finished ripping up the earth and have left us out to dry.  Oh hang on second, I’m sure a global carbon tax will fix all of our woes, it might even stop the disgusting neglect going on in our own backyard with children living and going to school next door to a steel foundry. Anyone see what I’m getting at here…? Society is broken, and needs to be fixed from the top down, and not by the people who have created the mess we all see today. A little off topic but let’s not forget, if we can’t help ourselves we can’t help anyone. And talk of sterilisation is crazy and quite evil when there are other more sensible and humane options.

      Reply

    • Tony says:

      07:47pm | 17/08/11

      High growth rates are easy when you start from a low base. Look at China. And most of the list of countries have been basket cases either having suffered civil or external wars.

      Reply

    • Tom says:

      07:53pm | 17/08/11

      you must be joking? SA is heading for ruin hence people are leaving in droves (those that are able) and moving their assets

      Reply

    • Beth says:

      08:59pm | 17/08/11

      Thank you so much for such a positive article, a lot of people think we are just throwing money at Africa and nothing is coming from it, so it is fantastic to hear about the growth and positive change. The selfishness of some westerners disgusts me, but we each have a choice, I am glad to know that the support we give really does make a difference.

      Reply

    • graham says:

      11:36pm | 17/08/11

      I like any article that highlights the fact that Africa is a beautiful, ugly, fertile, arid, peaceful, warlike, civilised, tribal conglomeration of human weaknesses and virtues, of hopes and hopelessness, of simple joys and desperate hardships, of love and hate and greed and charity, and above all majesty. The most interesting, mysterious, complex, fundamental continent on the planet.
      I love it!!    It’s the cradle of mankind—and it rocks!

      Reply

    • Destry says:

      06:38am | 18/08/11

      “... today [China and India are] economic superpowers, self sufficient in food and pillars of the world economy”.  We import a great deal of food from China.  So, the idea is that we buy food from China so we can donate it to Africa?  While China takes that income and builds battleships.  So, why doesn’t anyone expect that China should help Africa by exporting a lot of food to Africa gratis?  China has $trillions$ in savings and all the “developed West has is $trillions$ in debt.  Just because a nation is developed does not mean that its in any position to feed millions of people in other countries.  Western countries are basket cases now and foreign aid makes it very much worse.  In those African camps, the people just sit around doing nothing.  Why can’t they have something like our work for the dole?  Do something for themselves.

      Reply

    • Destiny says:

      09:32am | 18/08/11

      @Destry,
      Have you heard of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy? There ,farmers produce whether its required or not , because of subsidies by the state. Thus we have wine lakes, butter mountains,grain mountain etc- surplus food in the order of hundreds of millions of tons-only to be destroyed each year. Such food could be transferred to famine stricken countries(its not that easy though). Have you heard that 20% of green house gas emissions by livestock can be attributed to the wastage of 20% of all meat by us?  The disparities on this earth in the 21st century is insane and obscene. Whoever can help the starving need to do that-we cannot help where we are born. Life is a lottery - we could easily have been born in Somalia, just as much as we could have been born here.

    • marley says:

      09:22am | 19/08/11

      @Destiny - the problem with food aid is that it undercuts the local producers, who give up farming - and the famine recurs because no one is bothering to produce anything.  You want to end the cycle of famines?  Force the EU to open its borders to African produce.

    • Arnie says:

      07:15am | 18/08/11

      @Destry,
      What do you suggest the people of the camps do for themselves?You and I would be in the same situation, if we were born there. There is no work for them to do-the opportunities are very limited, something that’s difficult to understand if we are born here.
      Most of the Chinese population live on less than dollar a day- you are only looking at one side of the economic equation. But if China can help, it would be a good thing.

      Reply

    • James Hunter says:

      10:47am | 18/08/11

      Giving food aid is good, giving contraception would be even better. That way we would be helping in the longer term. I would even go so far as too make food aid conditional on contraception and family planning.

      Reply

    • Ronk says:

      01:24pm | 18/08/11

      That is even more despicable than Gregg’s comment.  “I know you’re starving but I’ll force you not to reproduce otherwise I’ll refuse you food”.  You rich white racists just don’t or won’t get it. people in Africa WANT to have chidlren. They’ve got all the contraceptives they want.

      You sit there in your armchairs thinking that the problem with people working from dawn to dusk at subsistence farming in the torrid sun, weakened by malnutrition and chronic diseases and parasites, is that they can’t help constantly bonking? You live in a fairytakle world of your own construction.

    • Destry says:

      02:43pm | 18/08/11

      @Destiny @ Arnie:  Yes, I agree there’s not any easy solutions and there’s a lot of waste in the world that can be used to save lives.  It’s just that too many commentators still assume that relief must always come throught the the old models.  The EU was criticizing the US about food help, and assuming that US planes would be available to transport so much of the aid the world offers. The USA can’t afford a train ticket.  The world is changing.  Since Arab Somalia causes so much of the grief (genocide) in the Horn of Africa, where are the mega-rich Arab states whose only interests is to build the world’s tallest building, or some new architectural wonder? The UN Security Council has for too long just concerned itself with military affairs/aggression; why can’t they include food security too and everyone pull their weight? A true world solution. For years, I supported a child (in a foreign country) through an AUstralian charity so I am not insensitive. I want all people (not just children) to have a dignified quality of life.  I just think it would be so sweet if the effort of those 10,000,000 in camps could be marshalled in some way, and be rewarded with more than just food. Southern Somalia is a new country: how about nation building projects? Some of those guys have been in camps for a generation.  Some individuals in Australia have probably been on the dole/pension since the Whitlam era too.

      Reply

    • Destry says:

      02:53pm | 18/08/11

      @Ronk: People like you have only the racist card to play. It beats fair argument. James Hunter’s valid point is that they should NOT WANT to have so many children when they cannot afford to support them, and expect the world to feed them.  It’s not about racism.  It’s about common effing sense.  Hunter probably says the same about poor white Aussies who have too many children and become a drain on the nation.  In other words, take responsibility.  Until the modern revolution in agriculture, survival of the fittest was Nature’s parameter for human evolution: not survival of the unfittest.  And that has nothing to do with race because it’s colour-blind!

      Reply

    • Ronk says:

      04:51pm | 18/08/11

      Destry, I have plenty of cards to play. Read all my other comments here. But when I see blatant racism I call it what it is. How would you like anyone, let alone a stranger who lives in a totally different culture on teh other side of the world, how many if any children you “should” have and even telling you how many you “should want” to have? And tell you that people of your race are over-sexed and bonk too much?
      These Africans are taking responsibility. They know that having children is good, and no on average they do not have “too many” children. But when the weather, (probably worsened by global warming caused almost entirely by rich white westerners), corrupt politicians at home and abroad, greedy white bankers and industrialists, and warmongers in Africa and the west, all conspire against them to cause a famine, they ask for just a little bit of help. Maybe 0.001% of the value of a typical westerner’s average consumption. But some westerners say that’s too much, go and get sterilised instead and if you can’t grow enough food, then go ahead and starve.
      These people have great dignity and generosity. They would give you their last possession if you needed or wanted it.  One aid worker there said she was handing out food parcels and she said to one obviously severely malnourished African woman, “I’m sorry the parcel is so small, but this is all we have for you at the moment.” The woman then immediately handed back half of the little parcel and told the aid worker “give the rest to somebody who needs it more than me.”

    • marley says:

      09:41am | 19/08/11

      @Ronk - I have read your comments, and think that anyone who generalizes about rich white westerners ought to back off calling other people racists.

      Overpopulation is a global issue, and a real one.  Worrying about African birth rates, which are the highest in the world, is a legitimate concern, given the problems much of sub-Saharan Africa has with supporting its burgeoning population. 

      As to “too many children” - well, frankly, yes, Africans do have too many children, if you believe, as many do, that birth rates should not exceed replacement rates.  The medical systems, the education systems, and the infrastructure in much of sub-Saharan Africa are simply inadequate to cope with the current rate of population growth.  And that has repercussions in the form of high child mortality rates, high illiteracy rates, desertification, and so on.

      And I don’t believe for one minute that the high birth rates there are because Africans “know that having children is good”  - high birth rates are a symptom of poor, struggling economies - should the sub-Saharan Africans (because we’re not talking all of Africa here) get their economic act together, those birth rates will drop. 

      And one of the things that has not helped Africa over the last 50 years has been food aid.  All that has done is undercut the local farmers and render their income non-existent - who’s going to pay a farmer for his crops when you can get it for free from the local aid agency?  In the short term, food aid gives us westerners a chance to feel good - in the long term, it destroys the local economies.

    • Ronk says:

      10:52am | 19/08/11

      Marley, your thesis is completely flawed and based on prejudice rather than facts. To take just one of countless conter examples, Australia’s birth rate reached its highest ever levels in the 1950s and 1960s. I hope you’re not going to absurdly claim that Australia in the 1950s and 60s had a “poor, struggling, economy”.

      The #1 thing holding Africa back is that je jure Western colonialism has been replaced by de facto Western economic colonialism.

      Yes there a number of other contributing factors to underdevelopment, including in SOME (by no means all) African countries, a high population growth rate, which taken on its own would not be a problem. And it will not and has never been solved by promoting or supplying, much less forcing upon people, contraception, sterilisation and abortion.

      Yes food aid does help greatly top overcome SHORT TERM problems tsuch as the current famine. In normal years East Africa has no problem growing enough food for its population. Food aid in famine times does not undercut the local farmers, the local farmers have already sold out all their produce at high prices. When the drought breaks they will plant again.

      I would just like to see some of the commenters above deliver their comments face to face to these proud and dignified East Africans:

      “Sorry I can’t give you any donation (which would be so small compared to my wealth that I wouldn’t even notice if someone stole it from me) because way back in the 1980s I gave a donation to people from your country, or at least your “general region” which is bigger than Australia, who may have included your parents or grandparents”.

    • marley says:

      01:43pm | 19/08/11

      @ronk - no, Ronk - my arguments are based on fact.  Your rebuttal does not address the points I made at all.

      I did not imply that Australia had a poor and struggling economy in the 50s and 60s - Australia’s birth rates were never anything close to what many African countries experience today.  What I said, and reiterate, is that as economic performance and prosperity improve, birth rates drop.  That is the case for Australia, and it is the case globally - with increasing prosperity, birth rates decline.  You need only to consider declining fertility rates in North Africa or Indonesia to see the point, never mind looking at Europe or North America.

      I have never suggested forcing people to be sterilized or to take contraceptives.  I do, however, favour educational programs which allow people to make informed choices.  And interestingly, birth rates are dropping in places where these facilities are available - notably in South Africa, Kenya (yes, Kenya) and in urban Africa generally. 

      Do you seriously believe it is right to see poverty stricken countries trying to apply limited resources to exploding populations? A lower birth rate means, quite simply, better facilities for the kids who are born - better health care, better schools, less environmental damage. 

      As to your comments about farmers, nonsense. If a farmer plants a crop and sells it,  he then replants so he produce another crop.  But not if the market is inundated with free or cheap produce.  Do you think that, if the west ships in food to feed 8 million Ethiopians a year, that won’t impact on the price of locally grown produce?  Of course it will.

    • Ronk says:

      03:47pm | 19/08/11

      Marley, you claim your “arguments are based on fact”.
      There are no “countries with exploding populations”. Your claimed fact is not a fact at all.
      Your claim that East africa is at any remote risk of being “inundated” with donated food is a sick joke.
      Your racist assumption that the choices that Africans make are not already “informed”, betrays your agenda - your idea of “education” and “being informed” is to persuade them to see things the way you do.
      Yes in recent history it is often (by no means always the case) that “economic performance and prosperity improve, birth rates drop”. AFTERWARDS. The drop in birth rate does not cause the prosperity, if anything it is vice versa. And in the countries with the very lowest birthrates (mainly in Eastern Europe) the drop in birthrates occurred along with a FALL in prosperity.
      Your simplistic “solutions” (which by amazing coincidence remove all blame for the situation, or responsibility to do anything about it, from anyone except the victims of this disaster) are no solutions at all.

    • marley says:

      04:08pm | 20/08/11

      @Ronk - you’re kidding, right?  There are no African countries with exploding populations?  What was the population of Ethiopia 30 years ago, and what is it now?  What is the fertility rate in Niger compared with, say, Botswana, never mind Tunisia or Australia or Europe?

      As to my “racist” assumption that many people in Africa lack basic education or information about health, birth control and nutrition - well, why don’t you check out literacy levels, especially in rural areas, or consider the reports and statistics of those who actually work in the field, such as UNICEF, WHO,  MSF, and a dozen other agencies.  Are they all racist too?

      It is a fact that many African women have no idea how to prevent conception, or how to ensure that the children they do have are healthy.  If you think that teaching women basic hygiene, contraception and nutrition is “propaganda” well, sir, all I can say is I find it quite racist of you to deny African women the knowledge, and the consequent choices, that we lucky folk in the west have.  And if you think that African women don’t want to acquire that knowledge, you should perhaps visit a few clinics, or look at the link between availability of information and reduced numbers of births in places like Nairobi. 

      And yes, birth rates in history have fallen as economies have improved.  For heavens sake, that was my entire point.  But what will help the economy improve?  Providing free food and undercutting local farm prices won’t, but eliminating EU tariffs for African produce will.  That most definitely is in our hands.

      And so will reducing the pressure on governments to provide infrastructure if the population growth slows even a bit. 

      I simply dont understand where you’re coming from.  It’s absolutely plain that Africa has the highest birth rates in the world, and lacks the capacity at this time to deal with the consequences of those birth rates.  Is that their fault?  No, certainly not entirely.  What can be done about it?  Getting their economies off the ground, of course - but the population issue is a genuine one, and needs addressing as well.  No force, but education - and isn’t it odd how, when provided with information, so many women actually choose to have fewer children?

      Now those are facts.  And your paternalism is far more patronizing and racist than my realism.

    • Ronk says:

      12:56pm | 05/09/11

      Marley, it’s astonishing that after spouting your paternalism for a dozen paragraphs, you then accuse me of paternalism. All I ask is that you treat Africans the way you would treat a white person.

    • Destry says:

      07:16am | 19/08/11

      @Ronk: Points noted, mate.  Thanks for your reply. smile

      Reply

    • Kay says:

      06:59pm | 19/08/11

      Soroptomist International is an organisation committed to getting aid to where it’s most needed, ie. to women and children, who are most effected by male driven violence, religious/ideological oppression, conflict and poverty. Please consider donating to them.

      http://www.soroptimistinternational.org/presidents-message

      Reply
 
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Punch on: Open thread 24/05/2012

Football happened last night. One colour reigned supreme. Or there was a draw. This open thread was written…

If sports movies have taught us anything, NSW will win

by Anthony Sharwood

32

If sports movies have taught us anything, NSW will win

In the classic Hollywood sports flick script, a ragtag bunch of losers and misfits take on the arrogant…

Schapelle has done her time

by Daniel Piotrowski

145

Schapelle has done her time

Schapelle Corby has served more than seven years in Kerobokan prison for attempting to import 4.2 kilos…

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

Michael S says:

"A teacher at Geelong Grammar had criticised her for using words that were too long, which had left her confused and had made her doubt her ability to write essays. She became ''quite distressed'' when her English marks began to fall." I can sympathise. My scholastic mentors conveyed to me a causal relationship… [read more]

From: Welfare for breeders is a bonus for everyone

Change Up! says:

I have no problem paying my taxes. As a single, childless person on a very decent income, I can afford it and not have my life severely altered. Plus I understand that my taxes paying for things like schools, childcare and infrastructure is ultimately a good thing. A better community is better for me… [read more]

Light weight

Gentle jabs to the ribs

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

A private school girl’s family is sueing her elite, extremely expensive private school for not… Read more

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