Suffering and Smiling: Vanity Fair Does Africa

an excellent piece.  it reminds me of a conversation i had with a friend, who spent a year living in Uganda teaching computer skills to locals.  I asked him what he thought of the “fly-covered-children-donate-now” africa commercials on tv, and he could barely contain his resentment.  he was quite clear in defending Africa as being much more than a continent of pity - and chastised the dealers in misery for portraying it as much.

a great satirical article on this topic is here http://www.granta.com/extracts/2615

Great piece, Frank.

And of course even the bad guys in the typical African narrative can’t get any credit. I remember an African history professor had us read a story from Harpers about the Rwandan genocide, that basically described it as a bunch of maniacs (...dare I say savages?) running amok with machetes. The professor spent the next hour explaining about the amount of organization and planning and, well, bureaucracy that went into the genocide - bus timetables, supply orders, etc, etc. But no one ever mentions that, or even much in the way of background and lead-up - it often seems to be described as this spontaneous, inexplicable outburst of chaos and violence.

I don’t mean to be too harsh - but sometimes I wish I could get every celebrity that has ever gone on about saving Africa in a room together, and make them try to fill in a blank map of the continent’s countries and major cities. Bonus points for anyone who actually knows exactly where (and what) Darfur is…

excellent post, thank you.

I used to read World Hum every day when I had this job that made me want to shoot myself.  I’ve moved on (praise the Lord), but I now remember why I like it so - it’s opinionated and open minded.  Rare these days!

Personally, I loved the VF story on the planes. I never really thought about the skill and ingenuity needed to fly and maintain these dinosaurs and I doubt I’d have the business stamina to survive in Africa.

Wow, I was surprised to read such a treatment. Forgive me if this sounds simplistic but perhaps we should not be to hard on the so called “do gooders”. The first time I left the insulated US to visit Peru I was overwhelmed with the poverty I encountered in the slums of Lima and of course that is not the full story I was also taken aback by the warmth and generosity I encountered. It changed my view of the world and my place in it. Perhaps the real benefit of travel is that we in the west can experience a rich and varied life without so much of the artifice of a lonely and alienated consumer driven culture. Often travelers come back from a trip to the “third world” with a great sense of their own poverty as they drive in a box to park in a box garage and sit in their box house to watch a box when they are not working in their cubicle box Hell…all alone without the type of community that so warmly included them despite the economic, language and religious differences during their travels. This being said should we not also question the injustice of such a great disparity of resources? Why should Americans consume 60% of the world resources when we only account for 5% of the global community? It seems hardly justified to say to any country in Africa that they will need to solve their own problems many of which are a continuation of colonialism and now corporate globalization. Those of us who regularly travel need to be the voices that speak from experience against the many injustices we may encounter.

For a Great treatment of the Topic I would recommend Dr. Vandana Shiva’s book “Earth Democracy” .

Way to go Frank Bures.  This is a bold statement and so well put.  Africa is much more than those Charity TV ads or the celebrity tours we get in our media.  Getting to the roots of such serious problems as the ones facing many African nations is incredibly difficult, but I agree with you that going for the roots is the only approach that will work.  I also agree that thes problems can and will be solved at some point, country by country, village by village, by and for the people living there.

Great read.  I am going to Kenya in January 08.  I am very excited to meet the Maasai and see the region for myself.  I am a paraplegic in a wheelchair so the trip may present some unique experiences for me.  I could sure use some contacts for further Kenyan information.

This is an excellent piece, however, you’re placing these celebrity do-gooders in a slightly undeserved bad light. They’re not all bad, some of them actually want to see a difference take place in Africa. But, I have a much greater respect for those who are actually going to these places and spending time with the people there, moreso than the ones who simply send money and a good luck note. However, I don’t agree that money and celebrity notice will save this country, if it really does need much saving. Whatever mess Africa is in, whether it be due to poverty or AIDS, it was brought upon themselves and in order for conflict to cease, the African people must be able to take care of those problems by themselves. The problem must be solved within itself in order to be solved for good. There is not much Americans or Europeans can do if the African people aren’t willing to learn from the mistakes they’ve made in the past. Simply put, they are the only ones who clean up the mess for good.

In all fairness I think that it is harsh to say that whatever mess Africa is in whether it be due to poverty or AIDS it was brought upon themselves.  You see it wasn’t brought on by poverty or AIDS but these contribute to its countries being the poorest in the world and sinking deeper and deeper into the mess that was left behind for them after colonialism, corrupt leaders, and mismanagement that has lead these countries that are the richest in the world in terms of mineral resources into debt that they are not capable of getting out of.  I agree that foreign aid is not going to solve the problem.  How can pouring more money into Africa be beneficial when officials are using the money to their own benefit?  When people are living in survival mode everyday and governments are selling land to buyers who are exploiting it and have no care about environmental issues.  That in turn causes more troubles with health where babies are being born into sewage and have the highest rate of infant mortality, clean water isn’t available, people can’t farm for themselves.  Africans need to be educated about safe practices and also have take part in contributing to their country but they need to be given the means to do that, infrastructure, education, exposure to press, training.  You see there has to be a happy medium between international help, accountability the part of the African government and getting the country’s citizens to have jobs and roles in building the economy.  Our aid has been less than helpful sometimes putting them into more harm, ex:putting certain officials into power and looking towards Africa for the purpose of gaining resources.  We give money to NGOs to go and help say women who have been raped resulting from conflict over minerals, the government sees that the people are being aided from western aid and decides to milk the cow of international support they cut back their support, that can’t happen.  They need to have a responsibility for their people because without their people they will have no country.  There is no question that training programs and assistance funds need to manage and monitor funds more efficiently.  We have all of this money pouring into Africa but yet we have to realize that Africa is a continent and not a country so helping is really a large job, it can fit the US, China, India, Argentina, Mexico plus some inside it.  So there is no doubt that we can’t expect big changes right away, we need long term plans.  Its like having a friend crash on your couch, you can’t support them there forever but they need to be driven themselves and support can help to get them on their feet and headed in the right direction to meet their goals.

Spoken like a journalist or an academic. 

There are cafes and writers and music and cities and bastards and brilliant people.

Modern countries need homegrown engineers, mechanics, surgeons, telecom technicians, accountants, honest government officials, network administrators, scientists, and other dull people who do not sing and strum the guitar in picturesque cafes, or writefolksy stories to be fawned over and patronised.

Take away the quaint patina and what do you see of the future in Africa?  Bravado in the face of overwhelming challenge?  A continent being taken over the Chinese enterprises and western multi-nationals because it lacks the homegrown expertise to do for itself.

I tried to validate the statement by Jane stating “Why should Americans consume 60% of the world resources when we only account for 5% of the global community?”

Where did this figure come from?  I did several internet searches and could not find this statistic.  I found many references saying that Americans consume 30% of the world’s resources and account for 5% of the population. 

60% is a long way from 30%.

This is an excellent material. Africa’s problems should be a major concern for all the super powers. After all, we are trying to create our utopic peaceful society that eliminates poverty, yet we are still persecuting other people in the name of money.