Noting the Nuances (Intro)

Have you ever taken a minute to consider the words or phrases most often associated with Africa; development, poverty, below the poverty line, HIV, corruption, conflict, human rights abuse, rebels, dictators to mention just a few. Very often, the image of Africa is rendered by the media using the image of a starving child, an ailing population, fleeing and displaced refugees or other such images that convey an overall sense of chaos and despondency. That has become our image. That, it seems, is what generally comes to mind when Africa is mentioned in conversation.

Now this is not to imply that we deny or understate the truth contained in such portrayals; we recognize that there is much more to the African experience, however such views cannot be disregarded as they represent a part of the full picture. On the contrary, we must acknowledge and accept these images as pointers to the numerous problems that exist on the continent and then ask the question, what can be done to reverse this reality?

Not an easy question to address as many times the problems are tied strongly to external factors. For any one problem, there must be an understanding of all the factors that contribute to or are affected by it. These problems are usually in a continuous cycle with one precipitating the next. For example, people with diseases like HIV/AIDS cannot afford available treatment and conversely their illness has them unable to get themselves out of poverty.

Very often I take the train. It’s a relatively reliable form of transport and connects me easily to most points I have to get to in the course of a day. On one of my transient trips home, I was seated directly across from a gentle man whose profile was to me and who was also in the middle of reading a magazine. He flipped the page and there, on one side of the magazine spread was the full size image of an African kid with the desert and dead livestock in the background. On the other side of this page spread was the continuation of the article he had started on the previous page. After a few seconds; deciding he would not be able to carry on reading with this image on the other side, the gentleman folds the page in half and finishes his article. Now it took a while for me to process the possible reasons he could have for doing this, but eventually I came to what was the most obvious. The image was disturbing. It burdened his mind as it did mine. He chose, in that time, to put the thought away from his mind.

Well I don’t think we have that alternative. The world has shrunk remarkably and the problems in Africa are inevitably problems to humanity. One way or the other, in our own little way, we should address these problems and thanks to the numerous resources out there now; we actually can.