Movie

After writing a blog for the past semester I have gathered a lot of information regarding South African countries and the different problems they face on a daily basis.  The most prominent one I found throughout all of these countries was the HIV and AIDS dilema.  This disease is responsible for massive amounts of deaths throughout these countries and it is important for people to understand this, that arent being affected by it on a daily basis.  The movie below is designed to help depict the disease and the consequences it has on the people it faces in Southern Africa.  Hopefully it can help people gain insight into the problematic puzzle this disease has created and that no one has been able to solve so far.   

Mining in South Africa

South Africa is known for its vast array of minerals, and the massive mining industries that take place there to control them.  A common one is diamonds which began getting mined in this region in the late 1800’s.  The “diamond rush” took place here beggining in 1871 when one of the first decently sized diamonds was found on the slopes in Colesberg kopje.  Miners came from all over the world to take part in the idea of getting rich off diamonds.  Most of these immigrants were white and worked for companies such as De Beers, a powerful and well known diamond distributor.  This industry brought wealth and power to many, except for the natives and the very land that was being destroyed for its resources.  In todays world this continues to be a common trend leaving natives poor while foreign industries profit beyond belief.  A trend that is not only destroying valuable land around the world but the people who live on it.

CBS speical

For many people that watched the final four recently on tv, they might of caught a glimpse of the video before the games about a boy who created fundraiser called hoops for hope.  The video talks about how he went about doing it and how it benefits many African orphans who have lost their parents to AIDS.  It is a very interesting video and you should check it out. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mheJ5iXXeH0

Fair Trade in South Africa

Recently in Ces 440 we have been discussing the concept of Fair Trade around the world.  South Africa is also partaking in this process and is hoping it will help promote social and economic development among the beneficiaries throughout the country.  In doing so products produced in this area under fair trade regulations will be labeled in a manner so the final consumer will be assured this process was followed.  Hopefully this will create a market for these products in this area and will help many farmers and laborers who were left out of the main portion of profits made off the very products they produced.  Many of the products produced here under these regulations are agricultural such as oranges.  With regulations over commodities traded globally such as these it is South Africa’s hope that it will boost their economy and the way of life for many throughout the country.    

Namibia

In the beginning of this month the Namibia Development Trust launched a Global call to action against poverty.  The idea behind this is to amplify the problem of poverty in the country and to accelerate action against it.  In these terms poverty is defined as hunger, lack of shelter, lack of access to school/jobs, and lack of health care.  Over 30 percent of their population is classified as poor and in the last year that number has risen over 4 percent.  In the cities the poverty rate rises as high as 45 percent.  The inequality in the distribution of wealth is one of the highest in the world here.  Above is a map indicating the percent of children underweight because of the lack of food in the country.  Even though it is a little out dated it gives you a good idea of how badly the country is suffering.  The goal of this program is to make everyone aware of the problems here not just the poor but also the rich.  Hopefully in doing so change can be evoked and the distribution of wealth can be fixed in this country.

World Bank

The World Bank is known for it loans to third world indebted nations across the globe.  South Africa is no different with a World Bank presence there.   There are a couple projects they are currently pursuing there to help better the area.  According to their web site, www.worldbank.org, they are currently developing a renewable energy project to help reduce wasted energy and move away from burning fossil fuels.  By doing this they can also help reduce green house gases from hurting the environment.  Along with this they are developing commercial solar water heating that will help substitute many wasteful practice in energy use.  Another project undertaken in 2005 was to help sustain the Cape Floristic region, one of the smallest and most threatened floristic regions in the world.  There has been over 15 million dollars in grants for this project and it hopes to help protect the regions unique mountains, marine environment and wetlands.  The region is also very important because it contains over 1200 threatened plant species, 148 private nature reserves, 43 conservancies, and 36 natural heritage sites.  In these areas the conservation of water catchments, fishing resources, plant diversity are critical to the areas economy.  By helping preserve this area they are not only protecting the land but also the economy behind it.  The Global Environmental Facilities are run by the World Bank.  It is a program that is designed to provide additional grants and funds for projects like this throughout the world.  Since the 1990’s this program has lent out over 2 billion dollars in funds for projects similar to the ones South Africa has undertaken.  It is interesting though because the site doesn’t go into detail on payment plans and how these countries are able to pay these loans back without defaulting.  The general idea behind many of these plans seems to be for the general benefit of the countries they lend too.  If that is the case it’s hard to believe that so many of these countries can’t get back on there feet after they accept these loans and many are left in the same, or worse, position as before they took them.  Although many of these countries are in need of help it seems that the help they are getting isn’t always positive.  That is why it’s important for these agencies such as the World Bank to make sure they are there for the benefit of developing nations, not just the benefit of themselves. 

Botswana

We all know AIDS is nothing new in Africa, but many people don’t know which countries are hit the hardest by it.  Well the country of Botswana is almost located on the Southern most peak of Africa right above South Africa.  It is a small nation with only 2 million people. For having such a small population there are over 270,000 adults living there with HIV, making about 24 percent of their adult population infected.  This gives Botswana the second highest prevalence rate for HIV in the world.  The average person here is expected to live only until 40, that’s often the same age as us Americans start having our mid life crisis! There is an upside to the problem here and that is how Botswana has been at peace for over 40 years, which makes it much easier to educate and provide the people with ant-HIV drugs. Since there is no cure for this horrible disease the most powerful tool is education.  Since so much of Africa’s population is uneducated many of them don’t fully understand the disease.  According to avert.org, a popular HIV prevention site, the most critical things to be done to stop the spread of this disease are education and awareness, condom distribution, targeting of highly mobile populations, improvement of blood safety, and lastly prevention of mother to child transmission during birth.  Since 2004 HIV testing has been available at most medical centers to go along with routine check ups to help prevent the spreading of this disease.  Since drugs are so expensive to help fight the disease and there is no actual known cure, the best alternative is to educate the young population of how deadly and terrible this disease is.  If the transferring of this disease can be brought down the need for these expensive drugs in the future will too.  Currently the drug distribution has become much better reaching out to more and more of the infected population each year.  Below is a direct link to averts web page where donations are excepted to help fight against HIV in Africa.

http://www.avert.org/help-avert.htm

Zimbabwe

I stumbled across an interesting article from February 12, 2008.  It talks about the reverse racism that is happening in Zimbabwe today.  Whites have always been the minority here but throughout time were primarily in control with British rule.  This all changed when President Robert Mugabe implemented a new land grab policy in 2000.  Essentially this gave the land back to many of the African natives and threw many white land owners off their property.  It was estimated that in 1980 over a quarter of a million white people lived in Zimbabwe, now it is down to around 30,000.  Most of these people are working very low income jobs, which is a new site to see in this area.  The author Nhlahla, sites a story of an old white man who is forced to work for the National Zimbabwe Railway Company because all his ties are in Zimbabwe and was not able to flee the country like most of his fellow peers.  This job is the only thing left that keeps him from being a vagrant and wandering the streets.  With the increasing blame put on whites here for the countries problems continued pressure from Mugabe and the Zanu-PF makes it seems as though whites are the ones being marginalized here now.  It’s no wondering in the upcoming elections many of them will be voting to institute the Movement for Democratic change, which acts as an opposition to Mugabe and his current staff.      

http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=14505

Fences and Windows

There is an interesting chapter in the book Fences and Windows that talks about the anti apartheid movement in South Africa.  It insists that although racial segregation has been put to an end here a system of classes has replaced it and continues to play the same role.  Here though it pin points the blame on a specific restructuring program embraced by the current government and nurtured by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.  The chapter talks a lot about how Nelson Mandela dreamed of South Africa being a place that offered economic as well as democratic freedom.  Along with a place that could provide basic necessities for its people such as housing, water and electricity through “massive public work programs.”  The African National Congress couldn’t do this because clear threats were made from international markets that if they underwent these economic changes then they would be punished by the international market and an economic meltdown would ensue along with bringing an end to African rule in South Africa.  This led South Africa having to open up even more of their markets to foreign investors.  Much of the country is run by white owned companies that are there to indulge in South Africa’s vast mineral wealth.  Since the early 21^st century this has led to the exact opposite effects as Nelson Mandela’s dream.  Leading to a population where five million people are HIV positive and nearly eight million people are homeless.  Which makes you wonder if Nelson Mandela’s dreams will ever be accomplished here.  

Malaria in Southern African Countries

Malaria is a disease that affects millions of people every year and approximately causes the deaths of around two million people per year.  Many of these people reside in Africa where finances are low to counter this disease.  There is some progress with this tragic disease and that is the fact that we are trying to bring it to an end in impoverished countries around the globe.  Many organizations such as the World Health Organization and the Global Fund to Fight Malaria are putting in time and finance to help bring this disease to a halt.  Even in the last two years George Bush took a role in this announcing billions of dollars to be dedicated to fighting this disease throughout Africa.  A powerful chemical called DDT has been used in the past to help keep mosquito’s out of homes in these regions.  This has helped prevent the number of malaria cases to develop in these areas and most of the spraying takes place in low dosages inside homes to help keep its use under control.  This treatment doesn’t come without controversy though.  It is almost like picking your poison because DDT has been linked in some studies to diseases such as cancer and overall environmental degradation.  Bans have been set up in many countries to limit or even stop the use of this chemical due to its adverse affects.  However, in many countries that are located in hot, humid or tropical regions it is still affective to help reduce mosquito transferred illnesses.  This happens to be the case in many South Africa countries and is continued in its use today.  The verdict seems to still be out on this chemical but for now it seems to be doing more good than harm in these disease ridden countries.