Long Onion wrote: » Read an article yesterday in which a number of African economists were arguing that a constant stream of foreign aid is actually destroying the continent and that the best way to help is to withdraw financial support completely. Found it interesting to be honest, what do you reckon? P.S. (I didn't forget to add an 's' after 'Aid' - smartass:))
Cookie_Monster wrote: » "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach him to fish and he'll eat for life"
Long Onion wrote: » Read an article yesterday in which a number of Africans were arguing
aido179 wrote: » dont see how you can fish in a desert drought
Cookie_Monster wrote: » Aid in the sense of food rations or cash is in a way pointless. Aid in the way of education or development projects should be encouranged. As the saying goes: "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach him to fish and he'll eat for life"
Cookie_Monster wrote: » 1. Stop giving aid 2. they all die out from starvation/war/disease 3. ??? 4. Profit
Wompa1 wrote: » HEY WHAT'S STAGE 3!!?......UGHHHH STEP 4 IS PROFIT!
twinytwo wrote: » Africa is cooked with or without aid... with guys like mugabe in power it never stands a chance
Magnus wrote: » Many African countries are very rich in resources but still very poor - where does the money go? We keep them starving and grateful. Just let them keep and use their own resources.
MagicMarker wrote: » Who's Aid? P.S. I'm a smartass.
prinz wrote: » See above. A large proportion of aid, in food etc, and money never filters down to the people who need it. It gets skimmed at every level. Bribes, protection money etc. It was interesting to note that at one stage Ethiopia was spending something like $1,000,000 per day on weapons and armaments for it's war with Eritrea, yet relies on foreign aid for food and basic supplies. The resources are there. I also saw an article once by I think it was an engineer with Krupps or one of the other big firms like that about hydroelectric power, who said by properly utilising the natural resources in the Congo alone, the entire continent of Africa could be supplied with electricity. The biggest problem in Africa is Africans, this only applies to sub-Saharan Africa for the most part. You can't help someone who has no interest in helping themselves. Obviously this does not apply to refugee camps or droughts etc, but I have talked to people who have done work in Africa and they're fighting a constant losing battle, one man was over building houses in a village and training people in trades, tailor, mechanic etc, and when he returned sometime later everything was gone. The houses built had been stripped down and all the materials sold, tiles, bricks etc, the 'tailor' had sold his sewing machine to buy a machete, or the mechanic had upped and left town etc etc. Basically a year of work and training had taken a few months to be undone and the town was back to square one.This was in a productive part of Africa too, with lots of crops and no problems so it wasn't an excuse of starving, or needing to do it. The people just weren't interested. Unless they have someone there directing them and instructing them it won't happen. It's no coincidence that many African nations were far better off under colonial rule, because they actually got things done. And before any jumps in shouting racism and white rule, in many of the colonial nations the civil service, and administration work was done by locals.
Agamemnon wrote: » Aid will only work if it's kept out of the hands of cretins who'll spend it on assault rifles and landmines but, as said above, that's extremely difficult to do in the long term. Bear in mind as well that not every African country is the same and countries like Botswana are doing relatively well.
