I try to look at CNN a few times a day, and I came across this article about musician John Legend and his organization, the Show Me Campaign, and it also touches on what the real people are like who live in poverty in Africa as opposed to generalizing them all as poor.
I think a lot of people just think of Africans and their countries as poor and overall helpless, and we rarely stop to think about how the individuals of each country have a desire to play a part in their country's development. People in modern countries tend to look at it all as helping a third-world country and making the world a better place, but I think organizations like Legend's that focus on the individual and small groups of people trying to make a difference are extremely beneficial as well.
I'm also impressed and inspired by how positive the people of Tanzania have stayed, even the children. It is also great to hear about how people are working to pull themselves out of poverty when the rest of the world is in such economic distress, and it also sheds light on how the people of Africa are excited to be able to even make and sell their own products, and to get an education about anything at all. I think that people, especially here in our country, need to pay more attention and stop taking so much for granted, even students here at Bradley who take their educations for granted, when people in Africa are working day in and day out just to be able to feed themselves and their children.
Do you think that outside countries should help Africa as much as they do, or do you think Africa should be trying to grow and progress on its own without much help? Are stories of individuals moving to people, or do you believe poverty is still a neglected issue? And how do stories like this help open your eyes to people who have nothing, compared to us, who are college students at a fairly prestigious private university?
I included the link to both the article and to the Show Me campaign wesbite.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/10/03/john.legend.mwadawa.ruziga/index.html
www.showmecampaign.org
