Terra Incognita: Stop ‘saving’ Africa!

[Norwegian]

A BOY stands in front of wind turbines at the Ashegoda Wind Farm north of Addis Ababa.. (photo credit:KUMERRA GEMECHU/REUTERS)

Since 2005, LifeStraw, billed as a “cheap, portable personal water purifier,” has been picking up awards; Esquire said it was an innovation of the year in 2005, Time called it the “best invention of the year,” Gizmag, without any contrition, called it the “invention of the century” and Forbes called it “one of the 10 things that will change the world” in 2006. The “straw” is a long blue tube that “provides access to safe drinking water by converting microbiologically contaminated water into safe drinking water.” Publicity images of it show black Africans, sometimes half naked, bending over to drink purified water through it. Paul Hetherington, a spokesman for WaterAid in the UK, claimed “it is something that may well have very useful applications in an emergency scenario. But it’s not a development tool, it doesn’t really solve the problem of getting water to people.”

Innovative devices like LifeStraw aren’t created with malicious intent, nor are they necessarily ineffective; many work perfectly fine. But let’s look at the images again; young, half-naked Africans hip deep in a pool of water, stooping to drink the water through one of these devices.

When Europeans or Westerners travel to countries with sub-standard water, they sometimes bring water filtration systems, tablets or other means to purify water. We don’t see pictures of them bending over streams, cow-like, drinking water through LifeStraws. High-tech straws are not suggested as a means to solving filtration problems for white people, say, in parts of rural Russia or Romania, where there might be contaminated water, so why are they “good enough” for black Africans? And it isn’t just about straws: the device is emblematic of an entire industry of suddenly popular, quickly forgotten programs and devices that will “save” Africans or “solve” Africa’s problems.

LET’S GO back to the beginning. Lack of access to safe drinking water is a problem.

Almost a billion people worldwide are estimated to not have access to safe water; and supposedly around 35 percent of them live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Basically that means most of Africa doesn’t have access to decent water. That’s a problem. It was also a problem for Europe and the West well into the 20th century. Even today many travelers ponder whether it’s safe to drink tap water in Poland and Ireland. Contaminated water is a global problem, the product of overcrowding and the industrial age. Attempts to address the issue date to the 16th century.

So why is it all the processes that led to safe drinking water in Europe are not seen as workable for Africa? Why is it the “answer” to African problems is always some charity with portable toilets or stoves or some other device – even cardboard bicycles – that no one would ever expect Romanians to use? Google “solve Africa’s drinking water problems” and you come across “a giant basket that uses condensation to gather drinking water.” Looks pretty, next to some grass huts. But they won’t be using that in Nevada. Nope. Just for Africans. Not for Saudis or Kazakhs.

Another website claims to have “15 concepts for providing clean drinking water,” which include a photo of African children who “pump while playing” and another that proposes transforming “sewage to drinking water.” Sounds wonderful. No one expects people in Kansas to drink sewage, but in Malawi it’s a great idea. Another system made by SunDwater uses a “green...

low-cost, low maintenance system that converts dirty or salty water into potable water.” According to a report at Israel21c, it includes a four-square-meter photovoltaic dish (like a satellite dish) and the water is condensed on it. It sounds nice, but it isn’t a real solution; after all, no one is going to be using it in Portugal, so why expect it to be used widely in Uganda? One of the most emblematic symbols of all this was a story in 2013 that “At the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium school in Tel Aviv, 20 ninth and tenth graders are testing the simplest, cheapest and fastest way to solve the problem of malnutrition among their peers around the world.”

In plastic bottles they had bred a bluegreen algae called spirulina, that looked like green slime, and the theory was this would be good for Africa. I have a better idea: serve this in the cafeteria of schools in the wealthy communities of Israel, and if the kids there agree to eat it for a year, then export this idea to Africa. Because if a bunch of nice kids in your community don’t want to eat green algae, don’t expect “Africans” to want to.

Another article discusses “watering the grassroots: Training African women to solve water problems.” Supposedly a “rainwater harvesting system” was launched and “prior to their efforts, these schools were not equipped with water or sanitation facilities – a problem that is all too typical across much of Africa.” Oddly, that wasn’t the solution to China’s drinking- water issues. Just Africa. In China the Ministry of Water Resources estimated that as of 2005 three-hundred million people were unable to access safe drinking water.

Almost 200 million people in rural areas were still exposed to harmful substances.

To combat these problems the government was investing in a massive “11th five year plan” which envisioned plowing $5 billion into safe drinking water. By contrast 334 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa were estimated in 2010 to not have access to clean drinking water. That’s roughly the same as in China, yet in China they are digging up rivers, laying pipe and building massive infrastructure projects worth twice the GDP of Malawi to combat this scourge; they are not handing out straws, solar panels and baskets.

Solutions to problems in Africa tend to involve handing out 21st century high-tech gadgets to infrastructure-poor countries that require massive 20th century reforms and solutions. All of the problems Africa faces, whether it is the supposed need for “smokeless stoves” or clean water, are ones every other country in the world faces or has faced. Yet the solution for Africa almost always does not take into account incremental changes that people want; rather they envision some miracle device that “solves all these problems, and would help reach the Millennium Development Goals,” or some foreign imposed solution.

The Western concept of “saving” and “solving” Africa’s problems too often derives from a sub-conscious racist “white man’s burden” mentality, wherein the “starving African” is “saved” by the white man from abroad (Google ‘smokeless stove Africa’ and see the first image). The solutions offered are manifestly inadequate and ridiculous, but serve industries of charity and self-promotion. The legions of nonsensical awards for these inventions are part of this “salvation” culture.

“Saving” Africa, or “building schools in Africa” has nothing really to do with Africa.

That’s why decade after decade, the Western “solutions” to African’s problems don’t solve anything except Western NGO workers’ need for a regular salary.

If you want to save Africa, demand that the technology be exported there to bring it up to European standards. Don’t expect people there to live a life drinking out of straws like cattle and eating algae.
Terra Incognita: Stop ‘saving’ Africa - Opinion - Jerusalem Post

It the most thought-provoking article I have read this year. Give it a try

@Derolo @Archdemon @Natan @500 @MarkovChain @Solomon2 @F-15I @TimeTraveller @Muhammad Omar @scherz @55100864 @yesboss @chauvunist @Major Shaitan Singh @ghazaliy2k @BDforever @Chinese-Dragon @Hu Songshan @Gufi @kristisipe @CHARGER @graphican @American_Millenium @Beidou2020 @Jguo

 

[Sliver]

I completely agree with the points here. As a rationalist and pragmatist, I try to analyse the other side of the coin.
China, USA, Europe and other countries that are "wealthy" have their own priorities as well.
while I understand that the "treatment" given to African people should not be different than people from our own places,
it is almost impossible to implement - given that there is poverty, there is competition, there is the desire to work for ourselves.
The world does not owe Africa or anyone anything. some of the technologies you mentioned here have their roots in being 'sustainable, inexpensive, replenish-able and non perishable' which are major requirements for any tech going into grass roots of Africa. You cannot expect to run a reverse osmosis plant in interior of Sierra Leone when there is no power or security to take care of the installation.
Also, there are a lot more avenues to help Africa than the ones you just pointed out. the USA gives special treatment and gives educational avenues for many African nationals - who can then go back and help develop their own regions.
I can go on about this. But as a final point:
the onus of development lies on the people of their respective countries.
China, Bangladesh are some countries here that have made huge strides in development during our life times. their journeys are remarkable - because the development came from within - hence it can be sustained in the long run.

 

[Norwegian]

China, Bangladesh are some countries here that have made huge strides in development during our life times. their journeys are remarkable - because the development came from within - hence it can be sustained in the long run.

You nailed it. Some scientific racists believe African Sub-saharans have low-IQ levels generally that hinder them to evolve like East Asian countries. Do you agree?

 

[yesboss]

• On a general note : Today i was listening to some program on t.v, it was said that a sum of around 4 trillion dollars! have been spent in the past decade over the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. I was thinking that how it is in the nature of humans to go down the path of destruction, they have to fight over some reason no matter what. A large percentage of people around the world don't get clean water to drink for God's sake, starving to death, without the basic necessities of life how many go down the path of wrong doing or suffer to death. I wonder if only a small percentage of the money (say 10%) which is spent on wars could be if allocated to some good cause such as providing clean water for everyone. I mean how hard could it be, harder than making a nuclear capable ballistic missile which can vanish millions of human beings in some distant part of the world in a blink of an eye.

 

[Shapur Zol Aktaf]

You nailed it. Some scientific racists believe African Sub-saharans have low-IQ levels generally that hinder them to evolve like East Asian countries. Do you agree?

Negroid Africans are a "lower" race. They practice "almost-cannibalism (eating chimps)" which is normal for them. Google Bushmeat (eating apes, bats etc..)

Finally they are made untouchable by some powers in politics and media. They are holy divine prophets, if you critisize them or their region you're definitely a nazi/racist. Same system as critics against Israel, then you're anti-semite, jew-gasser etc.

 

[TimeTraveller]

A BOY stands in front of wind turbines at the Ashegoda Wind Farm north of Addis Ababa.. (photo credit:KUMERRA GEMECHU/REUTERS)

Since 2005, LifeStraw, billed as a “cheap, portable personal water purifier,” has been picking up awards; Esquire said it was an innovation of the year in 2005, Time called it the “best invention of the year,” Gizmag, without any contrition, called it the “invention of the century” and Forbes called it “one of the 10 things that will change the world” in 2006. The “straw” is a long blue tube that “provides access to safe drinking water by converting microbiologically contaminated water into safe drinking water.” Publicity images of it show black Africans, sometimes half naked, bending over to drink purified water through it. Paul Hetherington, a spokesman for WaterAid in the UK, claimed “it is something that may well have very useful applications in an emergency scenario. But it’s not a development tool, it doesn’t really solve the problem of getting water to people.”

Innovative devices like LifeStraw aren’t created with malicious intent, nor are they necessarily ineffective; many work perfectly fine. But let’s look at the images again; young, half-naked Africans hip deep in a pool of water, stooping to drink the water through one of these devices.

When Europeans or Westerners travel to countries with sub-standard water, they sometimes bring water filtration systems, tablets or other means to purify water. We don’t see pictures of them bending over streams, cow-like, drinking water through LifeStraws. High-tech straws are not suggested as a means to solving filtration problems for white people, say, in parts of rural Russia or Romania, where there might be contaminated water, so why are they “good enough” for black Africans? And it isn’t just about straws: the device is emblematic of an entire industry of suddenly popular, quickly forgotten programs and devices that will “save” Africans or “solve” Africa’s problems.

LET’S GO back to the beginning. Lack of access to safe drinking water is a problem.

Almost a billion people worldwide are estimated to not have access to safe water; and supposedly around 35 percent of them live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Basically that means most of Africa doesn’t have access to decent water. That’s a problem. It was also a problem for Europe and the West well into the 20th century. Even today many travelers ponder whether it’s safe to drink tap water in Poland and Ireland. Contaminated water is a global problem, the product of overcrowding and the industrial age. Attempts to address the issue date to the 16th century.

So why is it all the processes that led to safe drinking water in Europe are not seen as workable for Africa? Why is it the “answer” to African problems is always some charity with portable toilets or stoves or some other device – even cardboard bicycles – that no one would ever expect Romanians to use? Google “solve Africa’s drinking water problems” and you come across “a giant basket that uses condensation to gather drinking water.” Looks pretty, next to some grass huts. But they won’t be using that in Nevada. Nope. Just for Africans. Not for Saudis or Kazakhs.

Another website claims to have “15 concepts for providing clean drinking water,” which include a photo of African children who “pump while playing” and another that proposes transforming “sewage to drinking water.” Sounds wonderful. No one expects people in Kansas to drink sewage, but in Malawi it’s a great idea. Another system made by SunDwater uses a “green...

low-cost, low maintenance system that converts dirty or salty water into potable water.” According to a report at Israel21c, it includes a four-square-meter photovoltaic dish (like a satellite dish) and the water is condensed on it. It sounds nice, but it isn’t a real solution; after all, no one is going to be using it in Portugal, so why expect it to be used widely in Uganda? One of the most emblematic symbols of all this was a story in 2013 that “At the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium school in Tel Aviv, 20 ninth and tenth graders are testing the simplest, cheapest and fastest way to solve the problem of malnutrition among their peers around the world.”

In plastic bottles they had bred a bluegreen algae called spirulina, that looked like green slime, and the theory was this would be good for Africa. I have a better idea: serve this in the cafeteria of schools in the wealthy communities of Israel, and if the kids there agree to eat it for a year, then export this idea to Africa. Because if a bunch of nice kids in your community don’t want to eat green algae, don’t expect “Africans” to want to.

Another article discusses “watering the grassroots: Training African women to solve water problems.” Supposedly a “rainwater harvesting system” was launched and “prior to their efforts, these schools were not equipped with water or sanitation facilities – a problem that is all too typical across much of Africa.” Oddly, that wasn’t the solution to China’s drinking- water issues. Just Africa. In China the Ministry of Water Resources estimated that as of 2005 three-hundred million people were unable to access safe drinking water.

Almost 200 million people in rural areas were still exposed to harmful substances.

To combat these problems the government was investing in a massive “11th five year plan” which envisioned plowing $5 billion into safe drinking water. By contrast 334 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa were estimated in 2010 to not have access to clean drinking water. That’s roughly the same as in China, yet in China they are digging up rivers, laying pipe and building massive infrastructure projects worth twice the GDP of Malawi to combat this scourge; they are not handing out straws, solar panels and baskets.

Solutions to problems in Africa tend to involve handing out 21st century high-tech gadgets to infrastructure-poor countries that require massive 20th century reforms and solutions. All of the problems Africa faces, whether it is the supposed need for “smokeless stoves” or clean water, are ones every other country in the world faces or has faced. Yet the solution for Africa almost always does not take into account incremental changes that people want; rather they envision some miracle device that “solves all these problems, and would help reach the Millennium Development Goals,” or some foreign imposed solution.

The Western concept of “saving” and “solving” Africa’s problems too often derives from a sub-conscious racist “white man’s burden” mentality, wherein the “starving African” is “saved” by the white man from abroad (Google ‘smokeless stove Africa’ and see the first image). The solutions offered are manifestly inadequate and ridiculous, but serve industries of charity and self-promotion. The legions of nonsensical awards for these inventions are part of this “salvation” culture.

“Saving” Africa, or “building schools in Africa” has nothing really to do with Africa.

That’s why decade after decade, the Western “solutions” to African’s problems don’t solve anything except Western NGO workers’ need for a regular salary.

If you want to save Africa, demand that the technology be exported there to bring it up to European standards. Don’t expect people there to live a life drinking out of straws like cattle and eating algae.
Terra Incognita: Stop ‘saving’ Africa - Opinion - Jerusalem Post

It the most thought-provoking article I have read this year. Give it a try

@Derolo @Archdemon @Natan @500 @MarkovChain @Solomon2 @F-15I @TimeTraveller @Muhammad Omar @scherz @55100864 @yesboss @chauvunist @Major Shaitan Singh @ghazaliy2k @BDforever @Chinese-Dragon @Hu Songshan @Gufi @kristisipe @CHARGER @graphican @American_Millenium @Beidou2020 @Jguo

Thanks For Tagging Sir..........

 

[KingWest]

You dont owe anything to Africa? Euh, apperently you have forgotten about the slavery during the colonial era. In Belgian Congo, they would chop black people's arm off if the did not want to work for example.
"From 1885 to 1908, it is estimated that the Congolese native population decreased by about ten million people.[2] Historian Adam Hochshild identifies a number of causes for this loss under Leopold’s reign—murder, starvation, exhaustion and exposure, disease, and plummeting birth rates. Congolese historian Ndaywel e Nziem estimates the death toll at thirteen million.[7] Leopold capitalized on the vast wealth extracted in ivory and rubber during his twenty-three year reign of terror in the CFS. He spent some of this wealth by constructing grand palaces and monuments including the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren. Ironically, Leopold never visited the kingdom in which he committed such atrocities, to witness the tragedy of his greed."
Belgian Congo | Colonial Genocides | Genocide Studies Program | Yale University

 

[500]

Saving Africa reminds me "Saving the Planet":

 

[Sliver]

You nailed it. Some scientific racists believe African Sub-saharans have low-IQ levels generally that hinder them to evolve like East Asian countries. Do you agree?

completely agree!

Negroid Africans are a "lower" race. They practice "almost-cannibalism (eating chimps)" which is normal for them. Google Bushmeat (eating apes, bats etc..)

Finally they are made untouchable by some powers in politics and media. They are holy divine prophets, if you critisize them or their region you're definitely a nazi/racist. Same system as critics against Israel, then you're anti-semite, jew-gasser etc.

no human is "lower race" for me. They can define their own "development" goals and work towards it.

You dont owe anything to Africa? Euh, apperently you have forgotten about the slavery during the colonial era. In Belgian Congo, they would chop black people's arm off if the did not want to work for example.
"From 1885 to 1908, it is estimated that the Congolese native population decreased by about ten million people.[2] Historian Adam Hochshild identifies a number of causes for this loss under Leopold’s reign—murder, starvation, exhaustion and exposure, disease, and plummeting birth rates. Congolese historian Ndaywel e Nziem estimates the death toll at thirteen million.[7] Leopold capitalized on the vast wealth extracted in ivory and rubber during his twenty-three year reign of terror in the CFS. He spent some of this wealth by constructing grand palaces and monuments including the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren. Ironically, Leopold never visited the kingdom in which he committed such atrocities, to witness the tragedy of his greed."
Belgian Congo | Colonial Genocides | Genocide Studies Program | Yale University

almost all races/civilizations had a phase where they were oppressed, taken advantage of etc. they are now working to strengthen themselves. granted the pace of growth would have been faster if they dint go through a bad phase. again - take a look at china and Bangladesh to see how people can work towards developing themselves.

 

[KingWest]

almost all races/civilizations had a phase where they were oppressed, taken advantage of etc. they are now working to strengthen themselves. granted the pace of growth would have been faster if they dint go through a bad phase. again - take a look at china and Bangladesh to see how people can work towards developing themselves.

You cant compare Sub-Saharan Africa with neither China nor Bangladesh.

 

[Winchester]

Negroid Africans are a "lower" race. They practice "almost-cannibalism (eating chimps)" which is normal for them. Google Bushmeat (eating apes, bats etc..)

you got to be kidding me
Bats are consumed in many Asian countries too even in places like Indonesia
and let me guess in your view the Aryans will be at top of the human race pyramid
Iranian Identity, the 'Aryan Race,' and Jake Gyllenhaal - Tehran Bureau | FRONTLINE | PBS

 

[Saho]

Everyone knows Africa has the largest natural resources in the world. Let alone a single country that has an excessive resources enough to be self sufficient.

The problem is Africa's resources have been exploited by foreigners, foreign companies and NGO exports harm Africa and their economy.

They also suffered from colonialism and tribalism. Not to mention, their leaders today are too corrupted.

The continent could turn into a paradise in less than 24 months if they have a self sufficient leaders, not become too depending on foreign aids and remove foreigners who exploit their natural resources. It belongs to Africa ONLY.

 

[Gufi]

that require massive 20th century reforms and solutions

that sums up the whole issue...

 

[asquare]

A very interesting book on this subject-

http://www.amazon.com/White-Mans-Bu...d=1420052491&sr=8-2&keywords=william+easterly

If you can, check out William Easterly and Jeff Sachs' debates on wether development aid helps or hinders. They are all over Youtube but you'll probably find some non Youtube links as well. Jeffery Sachs is very pro aid, while Easterly thinks aid does little more than satisfy the conscience of the developed world. Personally, I'm on the fence. I work for a development finance organisation (one that Easterly is very critical of). I can see that we have done some harm in some areas and we've wasted a lot of money, but we've also managed some great results (primary education in India, for instance).

 

[Sliver]

Everyone knows Africa has the largest natural resources in the world. Let alone a single country that has an excessive resources enough to be self sufficient.

The problem is Africa's resources have been exploited by foreigners, foreign companies and NGO exports harm Africa and their economy.

They also suffered from colonialism and tribalism. Not to mention, their leaders today are too corrupted.

The continent could turn into a paradise in less than 24 months if they have a self sufficient leaders, not become too depending on foreign aids and remove foreigners who exploit their natural resources. It belongs to Africa ONLY.

Africa's problem is too much of internal strife and wars that they have not been able to come to grips. No area with continuous wars/political turmoil has made significant progress. I would say, these wars and unrest (by greedy generals etc) have allowed foreign players into their system. And the solution to these problems lies with the people of Africa themselves.