Gnonthgol t1_je9izns wrote
You are talking of Africa as one large entity. Instead it is a huge diverse continent with lots of countries facing different challenges. You have various different natural and social disasters happening at different places on the continent at different times. You have the same thing in for example the US where there are various different aid programs happening all the time, both by FEMA and even foreign aid programs. You have Canadian firefighters working in California fighting forest fires one month and the next month there are Canadian linemen working in Florida cleaning up after a hurricane. A similar thing is going on in Africa where you have drought in a part of one country one year and then the next year IS is trying to take over another country by force.
tyler1128 t1_je9l5lb wrote
Also African infrastructure outside of cities is very bad, making general distribution quite hard, while in many places with conflict, trying to do so might be dangerous.
Gnonthgol t1_je9mgyo wrote
This actually varies a lot depending on the area you are talking about. Some countries have great infrastructure even outside of cities. Others however are lacking a lot of infrastructure. A lot of this can be traced back to how colonizing nations were running their colonies, and then how the US/USSR were using infrastructure aid to help their warlords conduct their operations in the different African countries and then now how China, Russia and the EU is investing in infrastructure that favors their interests. All this foreign efforts are quite disruptive for the local infrasturcture construction. But again it varies a lot between the different countries and you can not say much general about the entire continent as a whole.
tyler1128 t1_je9tv6s wrote
Yeah, it does and there are a lot of reasons. There's also the fact a lot of Africa is mostly small communities in sparsely populated but vast regions. Just "giving everyone all the food and water they need" from foreign aid really isn't a feasible strategy at least currently. Ideally, we'd help communities themselves get more self-sufficient than just send things constantly.
rimshot101 t1_jea4lwy wrote
For a landmass of it's size, Africa has unusually linear coastlines with very few (compared to other continents) suitable seaports.
[deleted] t1_jeb0ru3 wrote
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tyler1128 t1_jeb189r wrote
Yeah, that's where I was trying to go with it. Better than just giving "Africa" as a gigantic place aid, especially the various corrupt leaders who'll probably take much of it for them and their friends, help smaller communities get what they need to provide better for themselves. That's my belief anyway. I don't live in Africa but I do support a refugee group there, directly.
BigDebt2022 t1_je9soh2 wrote
Insert Sam Kinnison "You live in a desert!" here.
Bart_Bandy t1_je9t6cz wrote
"This is sand!"
Greenarchist028 t1_je9ybze wrote
A hilarious bit but a prime example of why you shouldn't take your opinions from a comedian. It's hyperbole that plays on people's misconceptions.
The song he refers raised money to send charity to Sudan and Ethiopia primarily, two of the highest farming land using countries in the world at 12 and 20 currently.
Gnonthgol t1_jea3vs8 wrote
As if the US does not have deserts and as if Afracia does not have jungles.
BigDebt2022 t1_jeaqc64 wrote
>As if the US does not have deserts
He addresses that, too. We have deserts, but we don't live in them. Compare this map if the North American deserts
with this map of population density
...well, actually, we do, sometimes. Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Salt Lake City, etc. Thing is, the people who live there have the technology and money to.. well, live there.
>and as if Afracia does not have jungles.
He specifically mentions areas with 'sand', and where food can't grow. Sheesh.
Gnonthgol t1_jeawa75 wrote
Forgive me for not looking up the full quote. But I strongly object to your suggestion that Africans live in the deserts. Of course there are human population where drinking water is an issue, you mentioned a few places in the US and there are similar locations for cities in Africa. But the idea that Africans live in deserts comes from images from farmlands during severe drought periods or refugee camps from people who have to flee into the barren deserts to avoid racial, religious or political persecution. Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya is some of the most fertile lands on the planet and some of the greatest food exporters in the world, not unlike the US Midwest or California. And similar to these areas there are occasional droughts when the food harvests fails which can create terrifying images of people living in what looks like a desert.
BigDebt2022 t1_jeb509z wrote
> Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya is some of the most fertile lands on the planet and some of the greatest food exporters in the world, not unlike the US Midwest or California.
Great. Then we can stop sending them food.
Gnonthgol t1_jebsbpp wrote
But we want cheap Ethiopian coffee, if we stop giving the Ethiopians our food production surplus then they might cut down the coffee plantations and grow their own food. You would then end up with expensive coffee and angry local farmers who can not sell their food to the aid programs.
BigDebt2022 t1_jebx2mx wrote
Maybe we should look into buying local products, instead of shipping them halfway around the world. Just sayin'.
rimshot101 t1_jea3e6l wrote
People don't realize how damn big Africa is. Thanks to the Mercator projection, a lot of people think it's smaller than Greenland.
[deleted] t1_jeannpv wrote
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Gnonthgol t1_jeapull wrote
A lot of aid is aimed at supporting these stupid governments or to destroy the local economy to benefit governments and companies in post-developed nations. When you look into the details it becomes harder to argue that these countries are better with foregn aid.
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