This is not my...Debate
|
The BBC were asking 'who is to blame for hunger in Africa?
The responses are worth a look as they show a diversity of opinions.
I wonder though.... |
How can we, in the Western world, best help to tackle the problem of hunger in Africa?
Have your say. Click here
(Make sure that you fill in all the fields as otherwise it is really annoying and eats your text.)
Your Comments...
Just back from africa
Just came back from Morocco from a conference in renewables and some field research in the draa valley, in the border with the sahara. I know the problems in this region are not representative of the whole of the continent, still some striking conclusions stuck to my mind.
I always thought the desertification in morocco was advancing from the south...well this is not completely true, actually much of the desertification comes from the north. Difficult to believe? Well there is enough water in Morocco to maintain all the southern population, but instead of sending it to the people, the water never reaches that point because:
1.Big cities in the north (ouarzazate) use the most of the water suitable for human consumption, government quotation: "for the sake of development of the city". marvellous!
2. The rest of the water they let flow to the south by the draa river is salted and polluted by the growing population of ouarzazate...so there is water but is not suitable for agriculture or human consumption...cool!
3. They built a dam in ouarzazate 25 years ago for distribution of water suitable for humans, but it is open just few times a year and is clearly insuficient (all locals expressed the same along the river)...consequence: the locals are forced to use the water from the river for agriculture, and due to the salt, the soil is being degraded more and more...this results in poorer and poorer yields...fantastic!
4. All this mixed with no rain is provoking a massive migration to the north cities in search for jobs and decent lifes (not always achieved in progresively crowded urban areas). Therefore traditional ways of living and building are being lost forever. Impresive!
5. Finally: rich Moroccans and Europeans "need" to play golf in ouarzazate consuming ridiculous amounts of water...great! who convinces them there is people that NEED that water...my irony has been lost forever :(
Can someone tell me how to alleviate these kind of situations? Specially taking into account that morocco is one of the african countries in better shape :( without talking about corruption, negligence,stupidity, etc...
Sorry but this is not being pesimistic...just crude reality
- Nono
Just a couple of things to contribute to the debate on 'our' responsibility regarding Africa
The first point is that no one single explanation (colonial destruction, Western exploitation, corrupt regimes, weak civil society, 'new order' conspiracies, development organisations 'doing business', and so on) can suffice when it comes to understanding a massive continent with a complex (and controversial) history, a mixture of peoples and beliefs, a variety of interlinking external and internal influences, and highly diverse natural environments and environmental resources. So causes should not be the issue, unless we are talking about very localised situations. What should be questioned are the effects. If someone is poor, it is reasonable to assume that they will not give a shit about protecting their natural environment, for example. Over-exploitation of resources comes as a direct result of people's need to survive. So rather than allocating blame, action is needed to, quite simply, eradicate poverty, for the benefit of humanity and its environment, for present and future generations.
So the second point: how. It is clearly important for us, as the 'privileged' few, to do something. Not only might this help our fellow human beings and their environments, it might also make us feel good about ourselves. Which is always nice.
But I think it is important not to enter into these issues without being fully aware of what is going on, rather than naively (albeit with the best of intentions), marching forward on some kind of neo-colonial campaign of salvation. Indiscriminately bundling a load of aid off to the 'Global South' to alleviate our consumer consciences does not help, because even if it does reach the people we are trying to help, this creates a dependence on the part of the recipient(s) that prevents them from claiming ownership of their own lives, and giving them an existence they have reason to value. Apart from this, it's totally unsustainable, and subject to political whims that care little about human life.
Neither is it helpful to rely on Western Governments to do half of the things that some of us elected them to do in terms of international development. The United States, while wholly failing to meet the demands of the international community on innumerable humanitarian and environmental issues, seems content to run around the planet spreading the word of 'democracy', as if being able to vote is going to make life better for the world's poor. While it is true that undemocratic countries do happen to be economically poorer than democratic ones, regime change surely has to come from the people. As an Iranian friend of mine once pointed out, people deserve the Government that governs them. If change is to happen, they have to be the ones to instigate it.
So what can we do to enable these processes of change, sustainable development, and eradication of poverty? By providing people with the tools, the education, and the networks, to bring these about themselves. If you want to send money, send it directly to a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) working at grassroots level, with a proven track record in the field (Education, Health, whatever), and keep track of what is being done with your investment. Volunteer. Take a year out of London life and spend some time with the people that you profess to know so much about as you leaf through your copy of The Guardian. Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) has an office in London, and they are crying out for qualified professionals in pretty much every kind of job you can imagine. If you don't want to leave London, go and meet people from across Africa living just down the road. Talk to them about their countries. Ask them how you can help. Break down the barriers and clear up the mess that poverty and misunderstanding have created on your own doorstep (poverty is everywhere – open your eyes to it). Read. Go on the Internet and chat to people. Exchange knowledge. Join an NGO. Write letters. It's a shame that a large supermarket chain laid claim to the phrase, but it's true, every little helps. You're not going to solve all the world's problems, and inequalities will always exist, because that's the way the equilibrium of the world works. But that's not an excuse for doing nothing. There's actually no excuse, as far as I can see, for that.
- Amy
Actually, many of the developed world's current responses to hunger in Africa are still dominated by strategies more or less akin to this ?sending of our leftovers to the starving?.
For some donor countries, food aid, purchased from subsidised farmers with overseas aid budgets (to the extraordinary benefit of domestic producers), is transported on national vessels (to the benefit of national maritime carriers), and is eventually distributed to the needy by bulky international organisations.
It can often cost three or four times the value of the food aid itself to get it transported and delivered in this way. And often when it arrives, it's a commodity that locals are culturally averse to, so they sell it way below its original cost price to get something they can eat.
Not so different to sending a leftover brussels sprout to Africa, eh?
Fortunately, there appears to be a growing recognition of this absurdity. Aid agencies are beginning to prioritise local procurement of food-aid from within recipient countries themselves, or at least from within the sub-saharan region, if their donors let them (and many now do).
Using African markets to resolve African problems clearly has multiple benefits in terms of cost, appropriateness and growth. If, as is also increasingly happening, we can shift over to distributing cash, instead of food, to people in times of crisis, we'll not only boost those local markets, we'll also be delivering choice, as well as assistance, without all the logistical hassles and costs.
But there's still a long way to go on all of this. And of course, these are just responses to extreme hunger, not solutions in themselves.
On a lighter note, I asked my 8-year old at the weekend what he thought we should do about hunger in Africa, to see what his generation's equivalent to the "send it in an envelope" solution is.
"Send them some of our cows" he answered "so they can drink milk and be healthy".
When, like a dream-shattering bastard, I explained that our cows probably wouldn't survive the African climes and pathologies, he shrugged and said:
"OK, send them crisps".
"Why?" I asked.
"Coz they make you fat, which is what hungry African people need".
"Hmmm, what about all the crisp packets?"
"Send them a recycling bin as well".
"But there are no machines to recycle out there."
"They don't need machines the crisps will make the people big and heavy, and they can crush the rubbish into useful stuff themselves ??!!?"
Same rhymes, different nursery!
I heard this years' ago on good old radio 4.
A street child in Calcutta was asked what was his favourite food - he was puzzled by the question but eventually said - just food - obvious isn't it - this should be pinned up on every fridge door.
- mm
...your Mum always used to say 'there are starving children in Africa and you won't eat that delicious plate of sprouts/bowl of cold custard/ burnt rhubarb and rabbit crumble (ok maybe that one was just our Mum eh suse?).
Well I always remember sulking and thinking 'send it to them then' - so it's really quite obvious!
All families with Children in the UK need some form of home based flash freezing device and and an organised system of transportation to deliver the unwanted food from kitchen table to hungry mouths in Africa.
The only potential problem (apart from all the 'real' problems I intend to ignore in the name of humour*) is that, according, to Jamie Oliver, all kids in the UK are now fed on a diet of salt, lard and e-numbers so sending them our leftover turkey twizzlers would probably do far more harm than good!
- Pete111
* bad taste, attempted
(Ha ha - think that might just be ours. S x)
