AID WILL NEVER SAVE AFRICA

A long time ago when I was still an impressionable 20-year-old,I wanted to work for the United Nations .

somewhere remote,wild where people were in dire straits was my preferred option.

Aid organisations in Africa are a dime a dozen and their fleets of four-wheel drives are always zooming past you on a mission to save some hapless individuals somewhere.

While we cannot dismiss the good work some of the international aid organizations do,we have to admit that “compassion” can only be stretched so far.

I am reading a very interesting book by Andrew Buckoke titled  Fishing in Africa:A Guide to War and Corruption and  got a new phrase there…compassion fatigue.

What happens when the endless streams of dollars ,and Euros are no longer there .

Will Africa watch its children dying because donors have pulled out and the money bags are no longer bottomless.

With so many years that have been invested in the aid business,how many of he projects started can we say have been sustainable over the long-term and have completely obliterated suffering,poverty,malnutrition and  other health issues

I am yet to hear f an aid organisation that has closed shop because it eradicated all of the problems it had set out to alleviate in the first place.

What am I getting at?

Governments in Africa and its citizens need to work harder to ensure that we are not always hang out to dry when western countries can no longer afford to fund our projects.

It is a fact that most countries on the continent are run on donor aid.

We should feel slighted that almost half a century after most of the countries on the continent gained independence we still can’t run our countries independently.

How we are going to do this ?

By ensuring we have better leaders ,people running government and countries need to be committed individuals who put public service before personal interest.

We need to elect leaders who put integrity,hard work and selfless duty before  clan,tribe,color or political interest.

We need to change the way we look at ourselves so that the world stops seeing us as that sorry continent where people cannot put their act together..

We need change.

Please share your thoughts on how else we can inspire change on our beautiful continent…