Green Witch wrote:
I think many people care, but feel overwhelmed and powerless to help. As others have pointed out the problem goes far beyond a raising some money with a concert. There was an article on the BBC about mothers having to abandon weak children in order to survive themselves and save their other children. How could someone know that and not feel grief? These problems have roots in bad politics, corruption, ignorance, greed, religious fanaticism, and climate change. It's natures brutal way of dealing with these things when humans refuse to address these problems. It's only to get worse and could be coming to a country near you.
Setanta wrote:
<snip>
i am saying that it's not as simple as just throwing money at a problem, and that many "solutions" in fact create bigger problems.
<snip>
So true.
Have been trying to lock down some of my thoughts on this and listened to an interesting docu on BBCNews today, called our world which concurs with this
Setanta wrote:
Even in nations which have relatively stable governments, food aid can wreck their agricultural economies.
<etc>
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b012s2cg/
It’s only 30 mins long – but if anyone would like to listen to it, it may be possible to hear/see it from the link above
It is evident that, as we did in the ‘80’s, righteous indignation cried out with events such as LiveAid etc – and that sometimes, we can make a difference in a small way for some – however, did it fix all the problems – no – and these events will not address all the problems as outlined in the news report, nor does it stop the addiction for aid or self sufficiency that these countries need to survive. Our aid can also then create further problems in the world and for these countries – as often does our ‘aid’ when political wars occur.
With limited understanding of all the issues, I do ‘get’ the “for” and “against”… In 1963 the WFP began their assistance in Africa and at that point, who knew of what would happen in the future.
http://www.wfp.org/faqs
As reported, the assistance over the years formed that addiction for ‘aid’ and meanwhile all the political processes/corruption etc kicked in too.
I find it difficult to listen to people, highly intelligent people who have a direct knowledge and understanding, far more than I could ever know about these things, talk about seeing the “Uganda Aid Experiment” through. It must be hard to make these decisions as they have to do – but then all these kinds of decisions are hard.
An experiment, as it was named, whilst watching the children chew on old dried goat’s skin and determining whether to let a child have food by measuring their arm (in simplistic terms)… well, it seems incredulous to me – but then I wouldn’t know how we could resolve these crises as they happen around the world.
Trafficking of children was outlined too.
Quote:
Hunger and child begging test Uganda aid experiment
17 July 11 16:29
By Humphrey Hawksley
BBC News
As appeals continue for the drought in East Africa, aid agencies' eyes are on a region in nearby Uganda which is the focus of a global experiment in aid.
In the past year, the UN's World Food Programme has begun a project to try to end aid dependency in Karamoja and make the 1.2 million people there self-sufficient.
Food handouts are being strictly regulated, but many villagers are complaining of food shortages and charities report an increase in street begging by children.
"It's getting worse because now there's no food for the children, they all come back to Kampala to beg to earn a living," says Maureen Mwagale, who runs a small charity called Kaana.
"These children are both physically and mentally abused."
The children, as young as two, sit on the pavement of a busy shopping area, hands outstretched for money. We found two - Longorio, aged four, and his three-year-old cousin Lochien, being looked after by his 13-year-old sister, Nachiru Ellen.
She said she used to go to school but because of the lack of food in Karamoja her parents sent her to Kampala. Between the three of them, they had earned about $1 (£0.62) that day.
World's poorest
The children send much of the money to their village, Lorikitai.
Once there, we were told that up to 60 children from the community had been sent to Kampala to beg. Lochien's aunt, Napfu, said her own little boy was there, too, and her little daughter would go soon.
"There's nothing we can give them here," said Nachiru Ellen's father, Peter Lochoro.
The landscape of Karamoja is cruel and arid, the people among the poorest in the world.
The UN's experiment includes planting thousands of acres of robust crop like sorghum and cassava that can withstand drought, starting new businesses and bringing infrastructure and some economy to the area.
But even now, serious glitches have arisen. The UN has cut school meals because of what it describes as an administrative problem with the supply chain.
"We used to have breakfast, lunch and supper," says Diko Ben, the headmaster of Loodoi Primary School. "Now there's just a midday snack. Many here are now malnourished and if it stays like this, I don't think you will see a future."
Mr Ben says 200 children, a quarter of the whole school, have left because of the lack of food, adding that every child in school means one less under threat of being sent to beg in the cities.
The UN says meals will be restored by September and that, with the Ugandan government, it is drawing up a plan to end the crisis over Karamoja children. But it is not in place yet.
One church charity rescues children - they are now at a boarding school in the town of Iriri.
"It was horrible," says Amei Mandy, now 10, who begged for five years. "At night people would come and beat me and take my money."
His friend Kodet Michael, also 10, says: "My mother said we had to go to Kampala because there was too much hunger. But when we got there she disappeared and left me."
Only about 20 children are at the school, while the UN estimates that more than 12,000 mothers and children from Karamoja are begging on Ugandan city streets.
Despite setbacks, the UN insists its experiment is on course. A year ago, $215m was spent on feeding people in Karamoja. This year that figure has been cut to $90m, the bulk of which goes not on food handouts but long-term development.
If this experiment does work, it will be rolled out in other parts of the world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-africa-14178497
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14178497
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14143562
These aid situations are applicable not only in drought, famine… but the natural disasters too, as has been discussed in previous threads about Haiti etc.
Not so long ago – in the UK, there was an over-dramatic social experiment that took place for TV called The Street That Cut Everything
http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/bettergovernment/2011/05/bbc-street-cut-taught.html
where in one street, the residents were given back their council tax money, put in all in a pot, and then decided amongst themselves how they would spend the money. It was interesting to watch how people could so quickly turn on one another and what one person considered important, was of no importance to another, who helped who, who judged who, who didn’t give a rat’s ass about their neighbour down the road – down to life and death matters. As a quick example – should they spend money on lighting at night in order to try and prevent graffiti/crime and help with security issues, or should they give the mother on benefits enough money to provide her daughter with meals for school?
Of course, this only went on for a few weeks and then “life as they knew it” would return to normal. However, during this time, emotional damage was done to a couple of the folk who realised that ‘their worth’ was made less than important than others and their neighbours most certainly weren’t whom they thought they were.
Anyhoo – what I am attempting to get across is that I can see and agree that throwing money at a problem does not fix it, there are so many other factors to incorporate and by perhaps solving/assisting one problem thus creates a whole new set of problems.
I don’t know whether it’s simply the word “experiment” that messes with me – as I say, I can try and further my understanding of these issues and why this is the way of the world, but I do find it difficult to come to terms with in my own head at times.
Again, the means to an end is often necessary.
I do, or rather have to believe tho, that aid can make a difference when I read reports such as this re Somalia.
Quote: The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has called on donor countries to come up with $1.6bn for the famine in Somalia.
The UN food agency will host emergency talks in Rome on Monday as aid agencies struggle to help nearly 12 million people on the brink of starvation.
Meanwhile, the BBC has learnt that the Red Cross has managed to deliver food to 24,000 people to a town, north-west of the capital Mogadishu.
It is one of the worst affected areas by drought in the country and is under the control of the Islamist group, al-Shabab.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14268779
