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My dad was sent to Nigeria to train oil field workers there. Though he wasn't high in the company, they sent him an armored vehicle with a driver. The first week he was there, a car wrecked into a tree killing the driver whose body partially hung out the car door. Few months later when it was time for him to leave the country, the car and body was still there. He asked the driver why no one had moved the car and body. Driver said his family didn't have the money to pay anyone to move the car or body so they left it there. While waiting for permission to leave the country, his passport and visa were missing. The government official told my dad, "you give us $100 and we'll find your passport and visa." He'd been warned about this so he had $100 ready. He handed over the money. The government official pocketed the money and said, "good news, we've found your passport and visa" and handed it back to my dad. When I was in Egypt, I saw a man on the street trying to sell a 12 year old girl he claimed was his daughter. In Tunis, Tunisia the women on our ship were told to stay with a man from the ship. The local men would ignore the women and go to the man next to the woman and ask, "how much for your woman? I give you 25 camel for your woman". South Africa is currently the rape capital of the world, a place where men and women can purchase rape insurance.
Everything mentioned in this post can be applied to SE Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East yet somehow, some way, only the entire continent of Africa is pointed out as suffering these atrocities.
No, it's not! Most of the people in countries like Poland or Romania live better than let's say the bottom 40-50% of Americans!
^^^^This statement is laughable.
Poverty as well as issues of organized crime, sex trafficking, child trafficking, drug abuse, the spread of HIV and alcoholism plague Eastern Europeans in urban and rural environments.
The real reason is corruption... not corruption like we have in America, the kind of corruption I am talking about is murderous corruption... you don't like the government? You die... Africa is a country of lawlessness, it is more money talks or your head walks... Given that kind of climate, how do you suppose they prosper? Capitalism brings prosperity and without a lawful government that is just and fair, a country can never progress with businesses... This is why communism ultimately fails, because a government with that much power will ALWAYS by 150% corrupt... the rate of prosperity/progress can only be made from the will of the people and if the people won't gather and create real change, they will always be where they are yesterday...
Disorganization, poor leadership, high ratio of continental landmass to coast, very poor education, rapidly growing population.
I'm not one to 'blame Europe and America for everything', but the disorganization and poor leadership issue is a result of the leaving behind of a colonial apparatus (borders, industries, political organization) which, taken up by certain African "leaders" has been more mishandled with more disregard, or even malice, toward fellow Africans than anything the Europeans did.
Africa's geographic situation, being a massive land-mass with most points greatly distant from sea-ports makes exporting very costly thus stunting any meaningful entrepreneurial spirit except in a few choice regions as well as creating a climate that, as previously mentioned, is generally poor for growing staple crops needed to support a population that is growing twenty times faster than the first world which brings us to...
Education. In the grand scheme of things, almost nonexistent. The number one humanitarian gesture the first world could make in Africa is to educate them. I'm not even necessarily talking about Math and Science, but even just how to maintain a clean water source and prevent AIDS and unwanted pregnancies.
Disorganization, poor leadership, high ratio of continental landmass to coast, very poor education, rapidly growing population.
I'm not one to 'blame Europe and America for everything', but the disorganization and poor leadership issue is a result of the leaving behind of a colonial apparatus (borders, industries, political organization) which, taken up by certain African "leaders" has been more mishandled with more disregard, or even malice, toward fellow Africans than anything the Europeans did.
Africa's geographic situation, being a massive land-mass with most points greatly distant from sea-ports makes exporting very costly thus stunting any meaningful entrepreneurial spirit except in a few choice regions as well as creating a climate that, as previously mentioned, is generally poor for growing staple crops needed to support a population that is growing twenty times faster than the first world which brings us to...
Education. In the grand scheme of things, almost nonexistent. The number one humanitarian gesture the first world could make in Africa is to educate them. I'm not even necessarily talking about Math and Science, but even just how to maintain a clean water source and prevent AIDS and unwanted pregnancies.
Excellent post. Hard to add to it....and no real reason to.
The continent has no large domesticated animals, and little carbohydrate food resources. This put their development far behind those of other continents, as there was no way to introduce mass production or stability (large-scale farming instead of hunting/gathering) into their society. Consequently they were always behind other nations. The rest is history.
Not true, they have large herds of cattle in the areas where grazing is feasible, both the coco-yam and the jamaica-yam are grown in abundance, (in the "civilized" world these plants are decorative, commonly known as "Elephant Ear", in west africa they are a valuable food source, mucho carbohydrates there, corn is a viable crop and is grown in many equatorial gardens. Most of the large scale farming is on coffee, palm oil and esip mbakara, commonly called coconut, as well as banana and plantain. (they also grow some of the finest "smokin' dope" known to the western hemisphere, and it is dirt cheap. I asked my driver to get me 5 nairas' worth of "indian hemp" as it is called in the region. 5 naira on a good trading day would be worth $2.50. He brought me back a shoe box (one of mine, a 12 Wide) full, of great, genuine 2 toke stuff, 10 months later, when I left the country, there was over 80% of the dope still in the box.
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