A lifetime of charity guilt

…and if we gave money, medicines and expertise to them freely we could reduce the infant mortality rates and increase life expectancy so there would be no need for so much breeding. They have so many children because they know only the very strongest will survive beyond childhood. It’s natural selection – if you told a European woman that 3 out of every 4 kids she would have would die before they reached adulthood, she would have as many as she could too. In years to come, as food and water supplies become more certain and money supply becomes better targetted so that doctors and medicines become more readily available, the number of children born in Africa will (naturally) decrease. If you can afford to give then give (but make sure you are giving it to the right agencies). If you don’t want to help any Africans Emma then give to a local charity or Cancer Research or something – anything except the BNP really :wink:

i always feel guilty and end up giving the money.

i even have 3 direct debts from my bank account totaling to 70 euro a month for third world aid.

on one hand i don’t mind giving the money, because i know its going to help somebody, and on the other hand, i hate giving it to them.

sometimes i feel like its a never ending money pit for them.
its like the don’t have to learn how to help work them selves out of it because there is a never ending supply of money to feed them.

yes, i too asked the question a lot, if they are too week and hungry to walk, how on gods earth do they have the energy to have sex to have the baby.?????
i don’t know about any body else, but if I’m too week to walk, sex would be the last thing on my mind.
there are a lot of places now that help them to work themselves out of it, like building schools, and wells, things like that.

but yes, i do feel guilty every time somebody knocks on the door, and i always end up giving the money. :( :lol: :lol:

Does anyone really think that the problems of an entire continent, problems Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Portugal (in the main) created over the course of 150 years, will be solved in the space of a few years by giving a tenner here and there.

There are two reasons for the state of Africa- appallingly bad government, and economic repression by the rest of the world (you want to pay £10 per jar for your coffee?)

It will take generations to resolve the African problem, during which many more millions will die, we will continue to turn a blind eye (no oil y’see) to exceptionally repressive and brutal regimes because it strategically suits us to do so.

The giving of money is an issue of choice- but rest assured, the money you give through charity (as opposed to the Aid given by government) does save lives- it’s whether you wish to give to that or something else

@Mr Bigstuff wrote:

Ok, even though I intended not to reply to Emma’s bullsh1t, I feel I have to set the record straight on this particular issue (not for emma’s benefit but for everyone else’s). Africa is dealing with the legacy of colonialism, the cold war, the imposition of failed economic neo-liberalist policies by the IMF/world bank and the unfair trade arrangements of the WTO.

There might be corruption in Africa but there’s corruption in Europe, America and Asia too. Corruption is part of the problem but not the only problem. The biggest problem in my view is the continuous exploitation of African countries by rich countries that has gone on for centuries.

When African countries achieved independence they were never truly free. If you take the examples of Nkrumah in Ghana and Lumumba in Congo, they were both elected socialist leaders who had big plans on eradicating poverty and improving their countries. However, both leaders were toppled by the CIA because the USA saw left-wing governments as a threat. Angola and Mozambique were also targets for the CIA. The rebels in the Angolan civil war (which was one of the world’s longest civil wars) were financed by the USA.

Even if you overlook the impact of colonialism and the cold war, you can’t dismiss the actions of machiavellian businesses from outside Africa. Take for example the actions of Shell oil who conspired with the Nigerian government in relation to the persecution of the Ogoni people who live in an oil rich area. Foreign companies are also getting involved in conflicts where natural resources such as diamond and gold mines are involved.

Basically, everyone wants to point the finger at 3rd world countries but nobody wants to accept any responsibility for their considerable role in these countries misfortunes. It’s so hypocritical. Personally, I think 3rd world countries need to unite to demand cancellation of their debt and to form cartels for certain produce. If they wait for the 1st world to give them a fair deal they’ll be waiting for ever because rich countries can make a profit from war and from poverty and dependency. So it’s time for poor countries to be more radical and do whatever it takes to make their countries prosper.

I agree with much of what you say, Mr B but I think you underestimate the sheer level of corruption in some countries- Abacha (Nigeria) personally siphoned off $4 billion and is one of so many examples where rulers have used the national treasury as a personal bank for themselves, family, tribe or close friends. Nepotism could have been coined for African politics.

Many of these, often brutal murderous, regimes were propped up by either the US, Russia, France etc for purely strategic purposes.

However I agree the subsidies providedby the rest of the world in protecting their markets destroys most opportunities for african development – the classic example is

The EU gives $900 in subsidy for every cow within it’s borders-surpluses, produced at a fraction of their real value then flood the African market, undermining local producers. Simultaneously, African exporters face huge tarriffs which effectively shut them out of the European market. As stated, if we paid the true price for African produce, we would find we pay a much higher, fairer price.

However, no one has mentioned, over the last 20 years, the horrific, biblical scale impact of AIDS across the African continent, especially sub Saharan- by 2010m the average life expectancy in Botswana will be 27

It becomes a vicious circle- teachers die quicker than they can be replaced, children are not educated- that is if they are not, at the age of 9 and 10, the main breadwinner as their parents have already died of AIDS- in some countries up to 40% of the population are HIV- the impact on an economy of thousands of citizens and workersdying each DAY is unimaginable.

You takes your choice whether you wish to donate to an African charity, but they do save lives and offer hope where for decades there has been none