'Bono' fide?

Most of us Americans are use to seeing an Africa on television portrayed as a lost cause and most hold these images as their only idea of Africa. It is true that poverty is rampant and Africa has a long way to go, but it is nonetheless, advancing. It's really annoying to me when people expect to be given free handouts, as I get propositioned for daily. Here, that is in large part, due to the touring Brits' who happily throw pens, candy and give money to the people and then leave thinking they're saints and feel they did their part to aid Africa. But when they leave the only white people around to beg for free handouts are those who work, volunteer and live here. This only exacerbates their reliance on handouts and promotes laziness by not working hard to improve their lives and their country. Therefore, when I see and here all these concerts and Bono PR bonanzas promoting Africa as hopeless and the people helpless it irritates me.

Here is a great article, which prompted this post, that discloses a more realistic view of Africa than Mr. Bono and other celebs like to dramatize.

Instead of falling prey to these dramatizations we need to look at areas we can do something about besides throwing money at the continent and magically hoping things change. One major current issue is the U.S. Farm Bill that is up for readjustment. This bill is a large problem for farmers in Africa (as well as the majority of farmers in the U.S.) wanting to get equal market share for commodities like cotton. Because of the subsidies received by U.S. farmers, who receive more money for more crops produced, the market is flooded by a surplus which undercuts the price that would be received by farmers whose livelihoods depend on this income. Farmers here would greatly benefit if the market were fair by increasing their income helping them to save and enabling greater choices of food and other entrepreneurial opportunities. The only real, sustainable way to reduce poverty is to have a reliable source of income. So instead of listening to an hour of Bono playing bad music send your concerns to our government.