On May 22nd, 2008 at 12:10 pm, flyovercountry said:

Come on, can’t you people see how much they care?

Yes, and you as well.

Africa is a continent of despair and desperation. Here, eight year-olds toting AK-47s massacre whole villages and eccentric dictators feast on the organs of the opposition, believing it’ll boost their mojo.

And those are just the UN Peacekeepers.

Imagine the hardship that the terrorists are inflicting!

DDT would have killed all the bald eagles and exotic birds, so let’s not get carried away. Mrs. Malkin and the rest of the conservatives on here have made their point, and so have I.

Want to reduce malaria?

STOP intruding into the rainforests and building dams in the tropics.

Nonesense, you would still have mosquitoes and malaria. To kill them you would need DDT. Also there is no proof whatsoever that DDT had anything to do with losing bald eagles. Lead shot is much more of a danger to the raptors.
Malaria became a big problem again in Africa when they were forced to quit using DDT.

Bono’s heart is in the right place, and he uses his celebrity the best way he can to make an impact.

Rubbish. Nothing any celebrity says will make me do anything for him. I have relatives living in Africa. I have seen it firsthand too. Until Mr. Paul Hewson (aka ‘Bono’)gets his hands dirty and spends his own money on his little ideas, I will not give him the time of day.

After all, what country has ever gotten rich from aid?

But giving aid makes us feel better. That investment stuff is for people who have more time.

After all, what country has ever gotten rich from aid? What Africa needs is investment.

This is why I’m becoming an increasing fan of micro-finance. You’re investing, and amazingly it seems the poor in Africa who truly want to make things better can be trusted with the money (unlike certain California congresswomen). They do make things better for themselves and their families and then REPAY their loan.

“Let them eat Cherry Garcia!!!”

I had the opportunity to spend a month in Malawi last year, with a variety of NGO’s and missionaries. World Vision impressed me, but most impressive were the local “aid” groups, such as one called “Somebody Cares” which was started by a Malawian woman with help from Canadian missionaries. I was there (on my own dime) to see what organizations or individuals had the best positive impact for the people of this country…one of the world’s poorest. One of the missionaries told me the U.N. or their government can promise a million dollars but no change ever happens, but $10,000 given in the right place can impact a whole village. But even more, he explained that money doesn’t solve problems, and that Malawi needed more of its own people to experience a change in their hearts and rise up as honest leaders of the country, whether the leadership was in politics or business or church. He begged me to find people to come to Malawi to serve as examples to the people, not money.

The people of the ONE campaign are good people. Bono’s heart is in the right place, and he uses his celebrity the best way he can to make an impact. The missionary I mentioned above met with Bono the day after the first day I met him in person, and when we met again he told me that he told Bono exactly what he told me, and Bono seemed to have a good understanding that money as welfare is more often harmful than helpful. He had also met with Madonna, who he felt had good intentions but a poor understanding of faith, and had turned to “this Hollywood version of Kabala” due to feelings of guilt, perhaps from things she has done in her past or because of her riches. But Madonna recently gave 1 million of her money to open a new Kabala center in Lilongwe, Malawi.

I’m a Christian, conservative, have never voted for a Dem save once for a mayor in my home town. This summer I’ll be attending an annual charity golf event that my sister started last year after losing her husband, Bruce, a youth pastor from Chicago, when he and his younger brother gave their lives and drowned over Memorial Day weekend 2006 while attempting to save a kayaker that had gone over a damn on the Fox river outside Chicago. Much of the money will be going some of the smaller, local groups we discovered while in Malawi…groups staffed by international and local people who have given their lives over to work each day in the slums outside the capital city, working to change the hearts of a people who have become dependent on foreign aid as welfare, groups that are trying to identify Malawi’s future leaders and help train them to change their country from the inside. I’ll be golfing on a nice country club course, even though I hate golf, and then attending a fancy dinner and auction of items like sports memorabilia or 1 week stays in vacation homes in Florida or Arizona, because that’s where the money is. And then that money will go to support people willing to walk away from our comfortable American lifestyle to spend their days in 120 degree disease and rat and sewage infested ghettos and slums. I’ll be golfing while wearing my ONE campaign bracelet, as I do nearly every day. My sister gave it to me at Bruce’s funeral. It had been Bruce’s.

So please, commenters and Michelle…it’s easy to complain on a laptop from your living room. Maybe instead, spend a moment to think about why it takes “free ice cream” as bait to get too many of us to take notice. And then think about spending your next vacation in Malawi. Contact me if you want information on an orphanage with about 100 kids run by one married couple…they could use a hand and welcome anyone willing. Or a relatively cheap and safe hotel in Lilongwe. Or a link to the ONE campaign website to read about what they do and the many Christian charities they partner with.