Empowering Africans
Africa needs neither sympathy nor charity – it needs permanent solutions. We must help Africa build itself from the ground up, providing safe local drinking water, ample food, quality medical care, permanent housing, full spectrum education and affordable energy. Then it will be possible to empower its people with the tools to create a sustainable economy, utilizing their own natural resources and talents to drive growth and prosperity.
Pierre Vella-Zarb, Thornhill, Ont.
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The cost of corruption
Author Dambisa Moyo’s approach to helping Africa is more realistic than Bono’s; she believes more aid will actually hurt Africa’s prospects for improving living standards. My favourite anecdote from her book, Dead Aid, relates Zairean president Mobutu Sese Seko’s desire to reduce his country’s $5-billion debt in the 1980s – while sending his daughter to her wedding in the Ivory Coast on a leased Concorde. If we are to continue giving aid, 100 per cent of it must go directly to the end user, not to government officials. African countries must help themselves by eliminating trade barriers between themselves. The West should eliminate trade barriers to African imports, unilaterally, if need be. Implementing these free market reforms will attract capital from the West, eliminating the need for African aid altogether.
Mark Howell, Toronto
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The problems in Africa that exist today are ones of internal struggle, leaving Africans more oppressed and impoverished than in colonial times. The levels of corruption and authoritarian control by their own people leave most Africans with little hope for the future. I was born in Uganda (before Idi Amin) and spent my early childhood in Zambia (then controlled by Kenneth Kaunda) and see little change in 30 years for the average African. The West for some reason feels a need to fix Africa and its complex problems. Since the days of Bob Geldof's impressive efforts in the 1980s to help Ethiopians, Africa is still stuck in a repeating cycle of aid. What on Earth do a couple of aging millionaire rock stars think the cure-all is for Africa?
Andy Reedman, Ottawa
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Who is not horrified and saddened by the situation in so much of Africa? Who would not wish for clean water, food, personal safety, education and opportunity for all? The success of grassroots projects – whether to dig wells, care for ailing grandmothers or educate girls – shows that individuals are willing and perhaps even desperate to help. Meaningful systemic change cannot happen in countries run by corrupt governments that have no political will to improve the lot of their own people. Sadly, the political will for true change also seems to be lacking outside Africa.
Jill Rafuse, Halifax
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It is a forgone conclusion that massive sums of money can be raised by Bono and Bob Geldof to help the long-suffering people of Africa. In a continent where the norm is corruption, who can guarantee it goes to the people who need it?
Murray Rubin, Toronto
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Lemon-aid
Hello, Mr. Bono and Mr. Geldof. My name is Natalie and I am 7 and three-quarters. Everyone in the world seems to need help, and the children in Africa need our help the most. In my school we have a lot of kids who do not bring lunches and snacks – they are really hungry like the kids in Africa. My mom and dad work hard to help the kids in my school have food for lunch. My parents also work hard to help make donations to families in Africa. In the summer time I set up a lemonade stand outside my house and give all the money I make to charities. This summer I am setting up a Library of Hope to share used books with kids who do not have books at home. Do the kids in Africa need books too? My mother explained to me that you are musicians who want to help the world by teaching us how to help others. So please teach me or give me ideas as to what should I do with my friends to help our hungry friends at school and also help the kids in Africa.
