Make Poverty History
The slogan ‘Make Poverty History’ is a fine sentiment, but is it really achievable? Even Jesus said that the poor would always be with us!
The G8 summit at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland starting on July 6th is focusing on the problems of Sub-Saharan Africa and climate change. Pictures of starving children from that continent have featured on our TV screens and in our newspapers and magazines for as long as I can remember. Africa’s problems seem to be an unholy mix of natural disasters, wars, corrupt regimes and now the spectre of endemic HIV and AIDS. These statistics from the G8 Summit web site highlight the toll that this dreadful disease is taking on Africa’s people.
I fear that we can pour all the money in the world into Africa, yet its people will still starve to death or die of AIDS if we don’t act in harmony with the countries making up that continent. In my opinion, Africa itself needs to force regime change on corrupt governments to ensure that the resources garnered from the West are spent on the people in need, rather than propping up dictatorships. Zimbabwe is a glaring example of a once prosperous African nation that has been brought to its knees by a dictator. Mugabe has egotistical megalomania written all over him. I culled these lines from his personal web site, which says it all I think!
I know you love your leader as much as you love your country. I know you deserve to see what kind of man I am. To those of you that already know me, this will simply be a joyous refresher of your cherished memories of me.
Africa needs to be helped to help itself. The West should cancel its debts and offer advice on how to start over. The continent of Africa is brimming with natural resources, if only these could be harnessed to bring in an income for all the people rather than squandered by the few, I think it would really make poverty history in Africa.