This is a long promised response to something I read a while ago. It is neither exhaustive nor paints a complete picture of Africa. It is written mainly to say there is hope for Africa. Even as my heart breaks for Kenya hope is not lost. People in Africa long for change, people in the West long for change, we will see change in Africa when the right strategies are put in place and the right people work them.

I had a friend recommend I read this essay. It’s written by Kim du Toit, an Afrikaner living in the U.S. (His life story page talks about his descent from Europeans) The title of the essay is “Let Africa Sink.” When my friend was talking about it, it sounded more reasonable than it is. Let’s outline the basic arguments and then I’ll present my issues with this essay.

His basic premise is that in Africa, life is cheap. He knows this because he lived there for over 30 years. Of his group of 18 close friends, only 10 survive today due to various, specifically African, causes. This creates an understanding of death very different from ours in the West, one where death is generally accepted as a fact of life and rarely tragic.

He then says that this is part of the reason why aid doesn’t work. There is an inherent attitude in Africa that sees death as a fact of life. Africa is a dog eat dog continent, whether those dogs are dogs or people. The billions of dollars in aid has only accomplished regression. Finding its way into the hands of tribal leaders and dictator’s swiss bank accounts, not into the hands of those who need it.

His final point is that the best thing the West can do is ignore Africa. Stop sending aid, stop covering it in the news, and stop sending medication. His solution?

…here’s my (tongue-in-cheek) solution for the African fiasco: a high wall around the whole continent, all the guns and bombs in the world for everyone inside, and at the end, the last one alive should do us all a favor and kill himself.

The argument is actually quite coherent right up until that little paragraph. Apart from his lack of references he reflects issues and frustrations that many of us in the West have with Africa. Nothing seems to work.

His argument although, is simplistic and he misrepresents himself as an authority.* There are many problems in Africa. Many are man made, some are man made from before trade and colonization. Cannibalism was in practice before the East Coast was settled, slavery was first practiced by different tribes*, then picked up by the arabs, and finally brought into its most massive form by europeans. These things all had different consequences, but it is hard to underestimate what withdrawing 25 million people, mostly men, does to a continent sociologically. This is my first argument, there is a blood debt owed by europeans and white north and south americans for what they did to Africa demographically.

More important than that though is an overall mishandling of trying to “fix” Africa. Money has been given without accountability to corrupt governments. Groups like U.N. peacekeepers have had their hands tied during catastrophes like Rwanda due to the interests of non-African countries. Places like the recently mentioned Darfur are playgrounds for world interests like China and Russia. Yet there are groups that are making a difference. World Vision and Compassion International are feeding and educating children, changing the next generation of leaders in Africa. Organizations like KIVA are working from the ground up to invest paltry sums that make a big difference in small businesses, in Africa and around the Third World. Then there are people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, people wealthy beyond belief who are giving most of it away. They’re not being stupid about it though, demanding accountability and results. Unlike the U.N. where more than 50% of every dollar spent is swallowed by bureacracy alone, before the corruption even has a chance to touch it.*

The question was put forward in the title: Let Africa sink? I can emphatically answer NO! What we are finally seeing is innovative ways to deal with the situation in Africa. Solutions brought forward by people who haven’t lost hope in change, even if they don’t believe in the big government style of changing the world. The solution is not ignoring the problem. Globalization means that we will not remain unaffected if we watch a continent implode. We have a moral responsibility because of our past and a duty to our future to work for change in Africa until change occurs.

*His claim to being born and raised in Africa neglects one important detail. He is an Afrikaner who now lives in the U.S. He also fails to give adequate evidence apart from his eloquent sophistry.

* African slavery though was much different from European Slavery. Including things like the ability to move from Slave to becoming a member and sometimes even leader of a tribe. Another thing to note is that Slaves were brought by Africans to trading posts set up on the coast. Trading posts that had to be constantly resupplied with workers from Europe as there was no immunity to African disease.

* As a case study check out this page. Money Quote: “Prof. Sachs is right about tougher seeds but not about more aid. By his own calculation, “out of every dollar of aid given to Africa, an estimated 16% went to consultants from donor countries, 26% went into emergency aid and relief operations, and 14% went into debt servicing.” He could not account for how much of the remaining 44% got siphoned off by corrupt officials, nor could he explain why $400 billion dollars of aid over the last 30 years has left the average African poorer.”
Part of the reason African countries haven’t been helped by Western Aid is because a third of it has gone back to the West and 26% has been used on immediate issues. Mismanagement has prevented long term solutions from being implemented.