How many African kids could a celebrity e-ring feed??

[kama_s]

Mr. Kama just sent me a link to this article

http://www.catwalkcatfight.com/engagement-rings-child-hunger/

 

[MonkeyPie]

Jeez...that makes me feel terrible, but who knows how much DOES get donated by those celebrities despite their big rings? I could probably feed a couple African kids for a year, but don''t - does that make me a bad person, too?

 

[suchende]

Not to be a cynic, but...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4185550.stm

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 4/27/2009 11:19:43 PM
Author: suchende
Not to be a cynic, but...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4185550.stm

That''s fascinating.

 

[kama_s]

Date: 4/27/2009 11:19:43 PM
Author: suchende
Not to be a cynic, but...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4185550.stm

Thanks for sharing that article. A very interesting read.

 

[suchende]

One of my friends at the State Department says that most NGOs working in Africa have a net-negative effect and often have to get bailed out of warzones by the American government because they fail to take proper precautions.

I am not saying there aren''t good charities out there, or that people should not try to help, just that helping Africa is a lot more complicated than it seems at first blush.

 

[loriken214]

Here is my wonderful child that I''m sponsoring through World Vision. She is living in Bangladesh with her family. The money goes to assist her and her community directly. I just started the sponsorship and plan to introduce myself to her via letters very soon. I''m so happy to be doing this.

Lori

 

[LaraOnline]

She''s gorgeous!

I used to think it was terrible that water was not seen as a ''human right'' that the global resources should be making available to disadvantaged people.

Then, it occurred to me that vaccines for babies was probably a pretty high priority as well, seeing as so many horrible diseases long eradicated in the West still live on in less ''sophisticated'' zones...

Then I had my first baby. Doesn''t it seem unreal that women are expected to make their way in the world with first of all very little choice in whether to engage in relations or not, to have no access to contraception if they chose to not have kids, to rely on children as their only option for support in the world... and to not get a single stitch or other assistance in childbirth?!!

Childbirth seems like an awfully medieval way to go!!! (As does thirst, and commonly eradicated serious disease, mind you)

 

[suchende]

Those are all good points, LaraOnline. Also, ever heard of fistulas? Those are pretty tragic.

 

[LaraOnline]

Date: 4/28/2009 10:11:40 AM
Author: suchende
Those are all good points, LaraOnline. Also, ever heard of fistulas? Those are pretty tragic.

Yeah...

My first labour was about 40 hours (in the hospital, that is, I was going for it at home for a good 20 hours first)... obviously my baby wasn't resting at the point where a fistula would have happened, because I needed assistance (forceps)... just like those poor girls do, who get fistulas.

What a shocking experience for ANYONE to have to go through!!! And they are the ones who live...

I have south african friends who tell me that african girls don't feel pain in childbirth, and they work until they have the baby... I am absolutely convinced that this 'cannot feel pain' argument is about as solid as the argument that animals cannot feel pain when they give birth...

ETA: PLEASE do not flame me as 'racist' for making this crude analogy...trust me, I know very well that poverty stricken African women are HUMAN BEINGS!!!

I can't think of another way of describing the situation so well.
I mean... all living creatures feel pain, do they not? I have heard people retell the myth of African women not feeling childbirth pains several times. Perhaps there are strong cultural reasons why they hide their pain.

Cats ans dogs survival instincts encourage them to hide pain...
Also, cultural pressures force various groups of people to hide their physical pain in different ways, which onlookers may not understand...Scientologist women, for example, are obviously understood to experience pain, but are expected not to make a noise while crowning a baby *snort*

as for working until they have the baby... if you had no medication, no assistance -hey, you didn't even have any running water in your house...what else would you do but go to work as usual? Would you cry about the pain? Or would you rise to social expectations, and cope as well as you could?

This topic makes me feel very upset.