Mizero Children of Rwanda Bring Hope to a Continent on the Verge
I had the opportunity to see the Mizero Children perform in D.C. today. They are a group of young Rwandan orphans who survived the 1994 genocide, and have somehow had their musical talents nurtured. Which lead me to my question, what the hell happened to Africa?
As I scan the news of Africa, it is either genocide in Darfur, civil war in Somalia, kidnappings in Niger, coups in the Congo, Hyper-inflation-induced disaster in Zimbabwe, not to mention a South African government which refuses to believe in AIDs, or a litany of other issues.
The problems of Africa are egregious violations of the most basic human values, but there are also more self interested reason that the U.S. should be more involved. Nigeria is the third largest foreign supplier of oil to the US. There is oil in Ethiopia and Sudan. The violence in Somalia is yet another training ground for Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, the Chinese are pouring money into developing African infrastructure and cementing their relationships.
For all of these reasons, you’d think the US would be engaged in more vigorous diplomacy in the region and yet like Latin America we are too busy to act, even in our interest. Still, Africa survived colonialism by Islam and the West, and its people, like the Mizero Children, will surely survive these current crisis. They will nurture their creative talents and take their rightful place as equals among the international community - why not help them?
on November 15th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
The reason that the U.S. doesn’t do more, and in fact probably shouldn’t, is that the majority of our aid ends up, at best, being wasted, or, at worst, keeping the failing oppressive governments in power.
Of course this doesn’t mean we should give up on the continent, but we need to make more of an interpersonal connection than an intergovernmental one. We need to lower trade barriers so that African corn and sugar farmers can compete in our markets. We need to end the war on drugs, so that African farmers are not enticed into illicit activities. There are so many steps that can, and must, be taken right here at home… we must get our house in order before we can have a positive impact in the world. Fortunately, we’ve already sent Mike Auerbach over there, which should solve most every problem… at least the ones that Ben Marcy didn’t solve already.