Why?

by | Apr 20, 2006 | Africa, Words

"No, there are no murders in Africa. Only regrettable deaths, and from those deaths we derive the benefits of civillisation. Benefits we can afford so easily because those lifes where bought so cheaply."

[The Constant Gardener] 

Hunger

by | Apr 19, 2006 | Africa

I haven’t posted about Africa in a while. But it’s still on my heart. Trying to figure out where to go with it, what to do with it. You know, I learnt recently a new fact I didnt know. I’ve gone on about the diseases and the poverty, preventable things that are killing so many. But this hurts me even more.

More people die in Africa every day due to hunger, than disease and war combined.

How can that be?? I am convinced that there should never be starvation in a world of surplus. What can I do to help with these? How can so many people be dying from lack of food, when we throw so much out? What can I do??

Africa

by | Feb 9, 2006 | Africa

Recently God has been breaking my heart over Africa, and laying it heavy on my heart. Some statistics about Africa for you (courtesy of National Geographic)…

  • Percentage of worlds total landmass: 20
  • Population: 900 million, 14% world total
  • Number of languages spoken: over 2000
  • Number of democratic governments: 19, of a total of 53 nations
  • Average income: 50% of Africans live on less than $1 a day
  • Average life expectancy: 46 in sub-Saharan Africa, 67 in North Africa.
  • Infant mortality rates: 102 per 1000 in sub-Saharan Africa, 33 per 1000 in North Africa.
  • Most common cause of death: AIDS

And you know, I just cant understand it. The following stats about HIV/AIDS break my heart…

  • Number of people worldwide with HIV: 40 million
  • Number in sub-Saharan Africa: 26 million
  • Number of people in sub-Saharan Africa contracting HIV daily: 8,500
  • Number dying of AIDS daily: 6,300
  • Number South Africans needing ARV drugs to prevent progression of illness & death: 983,000
  • Number receiving medication: 117,00
  • Annual cost of three-drug, generic ARV regimen per patient in Africa: $650
  • Cost per patient for ARV drugs in the US: $10,000

How can there be such pain and suffering caused by a PREVENTABLE disease? How can it cost so much more to provide treatment for the same disease in the US (and probably the UK and Ireland too, I dont know the stats), than it costs in Africa? If we cut down the costs here, couldnt we treat many more Africans? How can we let them die like this?? I dont understand it at all. I have to do something. I’m searching for some way to contribute to this great continent.

Change me…

by | Feb 2, 2006 | Africa, Faith

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the world and problems in it. Hmm… thats a very wide-sweeping statement, let me refine it. I’ve been thinking a lot about poverty, and about the problems in the African continent particularly. And I’ve been challenged, humbled and heartbroken at it. I want to make a difference. How can I change the world?

A friend recently passed on a comment to me that her brother made, about how we cant change the world, but we can change the life of one person or one family, and in that way we’re changing their world. I liked that thought. The needs are so vast, so far beyond comprehension, that I often feel overwhelmed by it. ‘God, how can I make a difference, I’m just one person.’

So I hereby pledge, I will attempt to be the change I want to see in the world.

I dislike apathy. Millions of people die every day because people like you and me do nothing. Therefore, I will live passionately, be passionate for the people living and dying in poverty.

Anger wells inside me thinking about the crippling amount of debt that Third World nations suffer to repay, to us, to First World developed nations. Therefore, I will give generously, and I will give often.

The statistics are overwhelming…

30,000 children die every day due to poverty
(malnutrition, lack of clean water… preventable)
800,000 people live in one particular slum in Narobi
(half the population of Northern Ireland)
The same number of people who died in the tsunami,
die every two weeks in Africa due to HIV/AIDS.

I must fight for them. I must love them. I must be passionate. I must give.

Will you join me?