Africans and water

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What Africa needs first is a mass random sterilisation programme to get the population down to a manageable level. South America, Central America and Southern Asia should give it serious consideration also.
 
Roaring Chubby said:
Adverts on the tele tonight, charity ones about wanting a few quid a month so people can have clean water.

I haven’t really analysed this before tonight but what the fuck is going on with the leaders of these countries and when are they going to get their shit together? If Water Aid can bang a pump in for a few hundred quid why on Earth are kids dying in 2019 because they can’t be guaranteed clean water?? The technology advances we have seen here in the last 50 years but Africa still can’t provide clean water to people despite countless billions in aid and charity. It’s bloody indirect genocide, we should send in the army and shoot all their ministers until they can demonstrate they can install governments that aren’t corrupt. Rant over, sorry.
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I'd like to know where all of the wells, standpipes, clean areas that have been installed over the past 30 years with Wateraide and Oxfam dontaion have been placed.? Money donations going somewhere I think, but not where its really needed.
 
Monty Pigeon said:
European colonialism in Africa was pretty benign (with the exception of the Germans, who carried out a genocide in Namibia, and the Belgians, who committed innumerable atrocities in the Congo).

The most notorious chapter in Britain's involvement was the response to the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya. There's been a lot of rewriting of history regarding it, glossing over the fact that the majority of victims were Africans killed by the Mau Mau themselves. My dad was in the colonial administration in Kenya at the time, and while he was broadly sympathetic with the idea of Kenyan independence, he was revolted by the Mau Mau - who dealt with villages accused of collaborating with the British by mutilating the inhabitants, women and babies included. He was so committed to the country that he returned to Kenya after independence (which is where I grew up).

Since independence, the West have botched their efforts to develop Africa. Too many projects have become black holes into which endless funds have been pumped with very little end result. If you wonder where African politicians get the money for their jets, overseas houses, and stretch limos, it's usually siphoned off from these megaprojects.

China has a different approach. They loan the money for big infrastructure projects with inbuilt penalties against failure to repay. As a result, Zambia has already had Lusaka International Airport taken off them (China to take over Zambian international Airport for debt repayment default; neocolonialism?), and Kenya is about to lose the port of Mombasa (Chinese may take over Mombasa port: Ouko). As more debts are called in, prepare to see the list of Chinese possessions in Africa grow dramatically.

While some Britons bang on about our supposed colonial 'crimes', just watch as Chinese imperial expansion takes over the continent. You can be sure that human rights and African rural development are not prime considerations.
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China (and its ‘success’) has me in conniptions for the future world order it really does, and with the West in self-destruct mode I can’t see a way out of this.
 
TK-421 said:
China (and its ‘success’) has me in conniptions for the future world order it really does, and with the West in self-destruct mode I can’t see a way out of this.
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Nobody seems to be looking. Kenya potentially losing its international port ought to be a massive story. It gives China a stranglehold on East African trade, and also gives them a new Indian Ocean naval base.
 
Monty Pigeon said:
Nobody seems to be looking. Kenya potentially losing its international port ought to be a massive story. It gives China a stranglehold on East African trade, and also gives them a new Indian Ocean naval base.
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Do you think it would be a story if the port was being ceded to the US? If so, do you think there’s a fear of reporting it from the press?
 
TK-421 said:
Do you think it would be a story if the port was being ceded to the US? If so, do you think there’s a fear of reporting it from the press?
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Not fear. A lack of interest. I pitch ideas all the time. 'China in Africa' stories have very few takers in the UK media. It's hard to find traction for African stories in general. The current crisis in Zimbabwe has been brewing for months without much coverage.

Yes, if the US took over Mombasa port it would be seen as an important geopolitical move and would make headlines. China is managing to get its pieces in place without the Western media paying much attention, if any.
 
b1gals said:
What Africa needs first is a mass random sterilisation programme to get the population down to a manageable level. South America, Central America and Southern Asia should give it serious consideration also.
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So randomly pick people off the streets and rob them of the greatest gift to have a family, for being born poor on the wrong continent is that what you are saying.
 
Civil Wars are not cheap. Add in the fact these charities have bosses also getting big big salaries , then not a lot of the donated money, gets where the people giving the money, think it goes to
 
b1gals said:
What Africa needs first is a mass random sterilisation programme to get the population down to a manageable level. South America, Central America and Southern Asia should give it serious consideration also.
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Haway, then. Come out here to Uganda and break the news to the people randomly selected. Explain to them what makes you so special that you're allowed to breed while they aren't.
 
Monty Pigeon said:
Since independence, the West have botched their efforts to develop Africa. Too many projects have become black holes into which endless funds have been pumped with very little end result. If you wonder where African politicians get the money for their jets, overseas houses, and stretch limos, it's usually siphoned off from these megaprojects.
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RossTheNinja said:
Half the problem, from what I understand is that a charity will come in, sort out a pump/well then bugger off. These things need maintenance so when they don't train anyone to do this, it breaks after a couple years, then the next charity repeats the process.
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They were saying this 30-40 years ago. Have we not learned that lesson by now. We should install this infrastructure AND educate and train them to maintain and renew it.
 
mickb2112 said:
They were saying this 30-40 years ago. Have we not learned that lesson by now. We should install this infrastructure AND educate and train them to maintain and renew it.
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Maybe it's harder to have that as an option on an as. "Buy a well for 50 quid" is an easier sell than "buy some infrastructure for 5000"
 
mickeymoor said:
So randomly pick people off the streets and rob them of the greatest gift to have a family, for being born poor on the wrong continent is that what you are saying.
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Monty Pigeon said:
Haway, then. Come out here to Uganda and break the news to the people randomly selected. Explain to them what makes you so special that you're allowed to breed while they aren't.
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Having a family is a responsibility. Why keep having children when you cannot feed or care for those you already have? I would have liked more children but the time we considered it was a period of time when I was in and out of work so it didn't happen.


My views and opinions are simplistic, maybe even extreme (one day i'll tell you what I would do with criminals), and likely based on the sensationalism that we see in the media in much the same way that Band Aid originated and there are people out there better educated and more informed who could debate it better than me, e.g Population growth in Africa: grasping the scale of the challenge
Dividend or Disaster: UNICEF’s new report into population growth in Africa

Worldwide population is out of control but parts of the world, North America, Europe appear to cope with it better than others (for the time being) and they are far from problem free. We shouldn't live in a world where we hear "third world" and even "fourth world" terminology when referring to countries, but do those nations help themselves ?

Is it too idealistic to say "if only we had less mouths to feed the world might be a better place" ?

@Monty Pigeon You appear well travelled (I envy you for that) so you're certainly better versed than me, but Uganda's population has, according to wiki, increased by 17 million people (from 24m to 41m) since 2000 and has a fertility rate of almost 6 children per woman. Is that sustainable ?
 
b1gals said:
What Africa needs first is a mass random sterilisation programme to get the population down to a manageable level. South America, Central America and Southern Asia should give it serious consideration also.
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A bit harsh, but overpopulation is the cause of many third world problems. The solution is improved education, especially female education. Sadly this is being denied to many girls through outdated traditional beliefs, and indeed religion.
 
Monty Pigeon said:
European colonialism in Africa was pretty benign (with the exception of the Germans, who carried out a genocide in Namibia, and the Belgians, who committed innumerable atrocities in the Congo).

The most notorious chapter in Britain's involvement was the response to the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya. There's been a lot of rewriting of history regarding it, glossing over the fact that the majority of victims were Africans killed by the Mau Mau themselves. My dad was in the colonial administration in Kenya at the time, and while he was broadly sympathetic with the idea of Kenyan independence, he was revolted by the Mau Mau - who dealt with villages accused of collaborating with the British by mutilating the inhabitants, women and babies included. He was so committed to the country that he returned to Kenya after independence (which is where I grew up).

Since independence, the West have botched their efforts to develop Africa. Too many projects have become black holes into which endless funds have been pumped with very little end result. If you wonder where African politicians get the money for their jets, overseas houses, and stretch limos, it's usually siphoned off from these megaprojects.

China has a different approach. They loan the money for big infrastructure projects with inbuilt penalties against failure to repay. As a result, Zambia has already had Lusaka International Airport taken off them (China to take over Zambian international Airport for debt repayment default; neocolonialism?), and Kenya is about to lose the port of Mombasa (Chinese may take over Mombasa port: Ouko). As more debts are called in, prepare to see the list of Chinese possessions in Africa grow dramatically.

While some Britons bang on about our supposed colonial 'crimes', just watch as Chinese imperial expansion takes over the continent. You can be sure that human rights and African rural development are not prime considerations.
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Was in Kenya, in land a few years back, whilst a great country, and a great people, I was astounded at the mineral grab the Chinese had underway, in return for building roads etc - no doubt roads were required, it was the first country I had driven in with a 75 cars side by side all going for a single exit, worse than India for me. China dangle the funding, snapped up by the Kenyans, who then pay for more for the privilege.
 
What i don't understand is these adverts that say 'Poor little Mbilly has to walk 5 miles everyday to fetch clean water for his family'
Why dont they move closer to the water?
 
b1gals said:
Having a family is a responsibility. Why keep having children when you cannot feed or care for those you already have? I would have liked more children but the time we considered it was a period of time when I was in and out of work so it didn't happen.

@Monty Pigeon You appear well travelled (I envy you for that) so you're certainly better versed than me, but Uganda's population has, according to wiki, increased by 17 million people (from 24m to 41m) since 2000 and has a fertility rate of almost 6 children per woman. Is that sustainable ?
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They have lots of children because some will die. Child mortality is falling (which is one of the factors driving population growth) but most families here will experience the death of one at least one child, often more.

Third World population growth was a massive issue in the 1960s, largely due to a book called The Population Bomb by Paul R Ehrlich. He predicted the imminent exhaustion of resources. An economist, Julian Simon, entered into a bet with Ehrlich, claiming that resources wouldn't be depleted, they would actually increase as the population rose. In 1990, both sides agreed that Ehrlich had lost the bet. As a result, population growth alarmism no longer gained widespread traction, and the issue slipped down the order of global priorities.

Uganda can certainly keep feeding its growing population for the foreseeable future. The big failing is economic. There is a large, young workforce that is not being fully utilized. With employment comes financial stability. With financial stability, smaller families. The way to tackle population growth is through economic growth.
 
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