someone get norman borlaug!
no!!!
OK, I had a few spare minutes and took a look at the conversation… seen a lot of things go back and forth… I loved the advocate of the devil in that he was a good advocate (and should be shot as such).
The argument against sending food-aid is valid unfortunatly, we’ve been sending food aid for 30 years… it hasn’t helped… there are other organisations however that managed to help:
Micro credit organisations ( which opened a new snakes-nest in the form of mafiosi-like dept extortion practices).
Wells project: most of them failed: turns out the local women want to get away from their husbands, and walking 10km to the well/stream was the only way they could… so they sabotaged the wells (Benin and Togo).
UN school funds: laughable underfunded overthought attempt ended in schools built without ANY idea about the local climate, and those that weren’t finished placed “teachers” in classroom ending children learning about “our galic ancestors” instead of “how to plow a field, and why I should leave it every 4 years”.
Lets not even go into the locals taking farms back: a lot of white farmers got ousted in several countries because the locals were looking for scapegoats (not that the white were innocent mind you), and fields don’t plow themselves…
I’ve heard about Businesse only being able to pay people a days wage, because if you gave two days, the workers would think it was a day off and came back only when the money ran out… Or having to segregate ethnic groups in workplaces because of very real life threatening practices the locals had with their neighbours. Some of Africa(ns) are such a mess of cultural problems you wouldn’t believe they managed it this far… yet still they are around, and somehow that must mean they achieved to adapt, and have a “workable means of survival”… in such a hostile environment I think we should admire their fiendish creativity and guile for surviving instead of taking pity… maybe they could learn us a trick or two if only we’d listen.
Sorry but some countries in africa really are totally messed up, but we like it that way (I’m looking at Nigeria). However some other (Benin, Togo, parts of ex-congo, South Africa) are managing quite well.
Don’t put Africa in one basket… it’s oversimplified… simplification is bad, mmm’kay?
I think in general people are pretty simple. They can think ahead and weigh risks and consequences. Usually when someone doesn’t want to jump, it’s cause they can see the ceiling. i.e… if I were to offer you a billion dollars, and you had no safe place to put it, would you take it knowing what your so called neighbors and friends would do to you for the money? -so naturally you’d just take what you can eat and leave the rest. (no one in their right minds does anything that might upset and alter the rules of their world. The world’s lessons don’t come easy.)
Also… I hate to say this, but none of us live there. To us this is a passing thought with a simple answer we haven’t tested. To them, they’ve trial and error-ed this for a very long time, along with dealing with various outsiders barging in and leaving once they have what they want(either closely related or from across the sea), and I’m pretty sure they don’t like someone from outside telling them what to do and calling it help. They have their ways as we do and for the greater good, I think that should be respected.
Bottom line… I’m pretty sure it looks cute adopting a foreign child, but I’ve never seen anyone vouch for a fully grown man -education and such… and seriously… no one wants to travel there, or incoorporate the place economically in any way aside from taking resources without any regard to the locals.
So guys. Quit acting like you care. We can’t see ourselves calling any of them “uncle”, “dad”, or “friend” so really. Just stop.
Um… I’m taking most if not all that I’ve said back. That’s been my response to this argument for years, and I don’t have any research to prove what I’m saying aside from what I’ve seen here and there.
I’m sure a lot of untold good has come from foreign help, and a lot of that good has been tainted somehow or kept from sight. I’m sure a lot of people benefit from outside help, and a lot might be dead without it.
Bettering entire nations can’t be done from outside. That’s a full time job of all who constitute a certain state. Heck, look at where you live: One bad official can tank a good nation, or city. But, what I said undermines the fact that there are some people out there mostly kids, who didn’t choose where they popped up in this life, and they don’t have the luxury of waiting for things to get better. Regardless how much the tv shows people still starving or whatever, I know one MORE person out there is doing better and getting a chance to become someone because of outside help, if help from within can’t reach her/him.
I was a Jackass in my last post. I’ll leave it up there for all to see. But I take it back for those willing to forgive me. Thanks.
me too
I agree with bigdad