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  Kueth Duany of the Syracuse Orangemen meets President Bush. Duany is a native or war torn Sudan, but the product of good old Bloomington, Indiana.
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What plagues Africa now? Disease. Population Explosion.  Internal
Politics. Ignorance. Education can fix all of those things but
Africans will have to do the work. The West cannot do it with immediacy or with a single stroke. You can teach a man to fish... Yeah, its a hokey answer
but it is absolutely the case. The population explosion can only be
contained by teaching Africans to use contraception. That will only
work if they accept that into their culture. Their culture will only
accept it if they start to place a higher value on the independence of
women. Disease will be widely solved by the same solution as will the
famine issue. They need to not have more people than they can feed.
If their farmers can't grow more food because they are not taught
or the land won't do it they need to have fewer people. The land will do it even if north and central Africa are not abundant in water. There are many fertile places, particularly along the Nile. Giving them
equipment to try to grow more food is not the immediate answer. Internal Politics in
Africa is a problem because of the tribalism of its people. I am not
advocating the destruction of their cultural heritage, simply stating
that the Imperialist European powers occupied nations and allied with
tribal and ethnic minorities to form governments. This was a tactic
intended to empower a weaker people against a stronger people and
create an ally. The minority tribe, having never held power, enjoyed
great growth and this became a systematic form of instituting puppet
governments. After the Europeans left they minority government's held
the populace down with western guns or the majority populace got
western guns and "cleansed" the minority rulers. Either way, this
problem is endemic to the continent and only countered by educated people
negotiating in a civilized fashion. Heated tribal grudges have to be
left at the door.
Throwing money at Africa hasn't fixed it, it has made it worse.
Giving them food hasn't fed the suffering, it has fed the armed while
the sufferers continue to suffer. Giving them money hasn't helped, it
has bought guns, which I normally advocate, but not now. Why? Because
not everyone is getting guns, and the people that are getting them are
shooting others for bad reasons. This continent has a tremendous
population that is exceptionally young. Most of them are under 25. In
the world of demographics, that is usually and indicator that a
population will continue to explode. Some countries in Africa have growth rates
around 5%, which is really high for those of you that don't study the
social sciences, and the percentage of the population over 50 is really
low, which means there is going to be a lot more baby making.
Population growth in the U.S.A., for example, is under 1% and the
literacy rate of women is very high, those are usually signs of an even
or "manageable" growth. ("Manageable" means that we have the
technology to increase agricultural yields to feed our population
growth.) Giving medicine to Africa is like giving them money, guns, or
food and it sure hasn't fixed the AIDS thing. The people that need it simply don't get enough of it.
Do you remember Duany Duany or Kueth Duany? They were basketball
players at Wisconsin and Syracuse respectively. They had three younger
siblings (Nyagon went to Bradley and then got an MD at IU, Nok to Georgetown and is/was a model, and Bil to Eastern Illinois) that played D1
basketball. That is awesome in its own right, but their story is
better. Their dad, Wal, was a minister of finance is Sudan back in the
day (mid 80s). He was arrested when a fundamentalist Muslim regime took power
and it magically became illegal to be a Christian person in the
government. Yes, he went to jail because it was against the law to be
a Christian holding a  government position. You see, Sudan never should
have been one country, that was a European construct. The northern
part is culturally and economically tied to Egypt, and is Muslim. The
souther part is Christian and culturally and economically tied to other
central African regions. The Russians gave the northern Sudanese
warlords choppers and planes and bombs and that pretty much settled
things. A fundeamentalist Muslim party has been in control ever
since. Wal busted out of the pokey and fled
Sudan and ended up in Bloomington, Indiana where Wal and his wife,
Julia, earned doctorates at IU. The kids went to Bloomington North for
the locals wondering.
Wal and Julia are the real deal. Julia teaches at IU and has
started an organization that develops strategies to help the Sudanese
develop self-sustaining agricultural lifestyles. She claims that a
fishing net, $20 of squash seeds and a half-acre will produce enough to
feed 15 people. To prove it, she does it herself. Wal goes back to
Africa as a freelance diplomat of sorts. He spent time as the
head of a the South Sudanese Liberation Movement, a quasi-military
group attempting to negotiate the cessation of hostilities. He ended
that upon the realization that only diplomacy will stop the fighting.
He sneaks into countries that have banned him or where he was wanted by
fundamentalists to hammer out peace treaties with local or tribal
authorities. He is now in the process of trying to help the Southern
Sudanese write a constitution. These are all just Bruce Paine doing a woefully  inadequate job of summarizing a truer-than-fiction, epic tale.
This, in conclusion, is how America can help. This is how our
community and way of life can help. It is a harbor and a hope. A
harbor in function and hope in idealism. America helped educate these
folks. It gave them a haven from what would harm them, and it gave
them a chance to catch their breath and get back into the fray. The
basketball was a byproduct of southern Indiana. That byproduct gave
free educations to some folks who are going to do some good. The thing
I take from this is a real-world example that Africa is only fixable by
Africans using diplomacy. Guns won't fix the problems of Africa, only
ceasefires and talking. Bono feeding Africans won't fix Africa, only
Africans feeding Africa will fix Africa. I applaud and support Wal and
Julia Duany and wish the absolute best for them. I think they are the
very best kind of Americans, and perhaps the only kind that can help Africa.
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Duany Duany is already following in those footsteps. Heard word within the last couple of months that he helped 4 kids flee Africa to the almighty Fort Wayne, Indiana. All 4 kids are nearly 7 feet tall and will likely end up with some free educations of their own thanks to basketball scholarship. I think all are currently 8th or 9th graders so we won't hear much for a few years, but I'm sure if/when they arrive on the college basketball scene we will be hearing their story of how Duany Duany helped them get out and better themselves.
We've heard stories over the years of all the work that Dikembe Mutombo does as well. Basketball has been an outstanding outlet for native Africans to come to the U.S. and get educated/make money. It seems as though a good portion of those individuals find ways to give back to their African homes in ways to legitimately help.
Agree but only to a point. Africans (assuming you are talking about only the underprivledged) can only help themselves if given opportunity. Without opportunity, nothing with come of peace, or anything. You need massive job training and industrial opportunity, followed by economic growth. Liberation of women doesn't matter (see Saudi Arabia) neither does non-job based education.
Don't claim individual success as a salve for regional problems. Regional problems need big picture regional answers. And if it means overthrowing governments that don't have the interest of their people in mind so the rest of the world can help (see Myanamar), so be it.
I currently work at a basketball facility in Valpo and have heard rumor of the next Lebron james coming from the Ft. Wayne area. An 8th grade kid who is close to 7 ft. tall and incredibly gifted...maybe it is one of the kids that Duany Duany brought over.
Jordi, I am afraid the situation is quite different from how you would see it. In fact it is I who is looking at the big picture and you who has seen only a narrow window. As much as I enjoy The Serious Tip and, in particular, the recent Chasing my Big League Dreams piece, you make it readily obvious that The Serious Tip is not The Serious Discussion of Geopolitics.
What "opportunity" has Africa not been given? They have ample resources, fertile land, navigable waterways and an able-bodied workforce as history has proven. What they don't have is personal ownership of property, personal liberty, or the ability to read and write. If you were to explore all of the factors normally attributed to indicate a successful economy you would find that the literacy rate of women is high in all of those places. Geographers will state over and over that literacy rates of women is a solid indicator of a country's development. Saudi Arabia has a literacy rate for women nearing 75% of women 15 and older can read and write. 75%! In many places in Africa the MEN don't have literacy rate above 60%. As a matter of fact, many "experts" will indicate that the #1 problem in Africa is literacy.
Regional problems do need big picture answers, but only the naive who don't have sufficient historical understanding of the development and organization of post-WW2 global politics would claim that "industrial opportunity" is the solution in Africa. For a country to industrialize it has to have investment capital to build infrastructure. Historically, the development of that investment capital has been with the marketing of surplus agricultural commodities. Africa has none of that outside of Egypt because they don't have farmers with better educations. Jesus, many of these places have never even seen a mold-board plow which was the key to the population growth of Europe and Asia in the 10th century. The industry in Africa has been built by outside investment, which means it is owned by outside investors. The Diamond trade, the oil in Nigeria, the lumber on the western coast, the coal in South Africa, all of this is bought and run by outside investors which completely marginalizes the Africans. Crap, man, the Africans don't need industry. They don't need CARS, THEY NEED FOOD!
You speak of opportunity, and that is good. Opportunity is the great giver. The opportunity they need is the opportunity of ownership. They need to be able to take possession of a reasonable piece of ground and be able to work it with enough success to feed their family and market their surplus. This is very basic economics and very basic social studies. They cannot do that if people with guns come and take their ground and food, so in addition to ownership they need security. That security can only come when the roving bands of "rebels" lay down their AKs and everybody decides to make their world better. They "opportunity" you speak of only comes when they receive the "education" that I speak of.
If the industrial world hands Africa a bunch of plows and tractors and combines it will come to no aid. These people can't read the instructions. They won't fix them when they break. It will come to nothing. Training Africans how to weld will not help people whose houses are made of wood and rammed earth and grass. Showing them how to build cars will not help because they don't have roads.
In time, these things can be offered to Africa when its consumer markets reach the point that they demand them, but first things first. I see the big picture because I see the FIRST STEP to a real and tangible solution. Seeing the big picture is NOT seeing the picture as you would have it, but as it really is. Seeds must be sown and letters must be read first before anything else will be valued or matter at all.
I WILL CLAIM UNTIL THE DAY I DIE THAT INDIVIDUAL SUCCESS IS THE SALVE FOR ANY GROUP THAT IS UNDER-DEVELOPED. I claim it because I have spent sufficient time studying the matter and history proves it to be true.
"And if it means overthrowing governments that don't have the interest of their people in mind so the rest of the world can help (see Myanamar), so be it." This statement alone shows how much more you need to learn about the issue. How many governments has Sudan had in the time frame i am talking about? At least 4. how many governments has the Ivory Coast had since the French left? How many for Congo, Sierre Leone, Liberia? If you think that regime change fixes things in Africa you are wrong and precedent proves it. How good is the United States at effecting regime change (which is what you seemed to indicate with your "so be it" comment? How did that Haiti thing turn out? Viet Nam? Israel? Iraq? In Latin America and South America? Somalia? Philippines? How is that going? What are the successes of the U.S. in reconstructing countries? Japan and Germany are the two that come the closest. Japan was done at the sacrifice of a great deal of its culture and is still propped up by the U.S. and Germany is far from an ally. I will say it again and for the last time, GUNS WON'T FIX AFRICA.
This is not a race issue, this is a people issue. These people need education to fix their minds and better food to fix their bodies. What is the best way to fight off disease? A healthy diet. What is the best way to fight off ignorance? Literacy.
Let this be a warning to all those who would be critics of mine in the future. I do not take posts like these lightly. I do not write about topics like this because they are in the news and because it is "hot" at whatever moment I decided to sit down and write. This is NOT about a dumb white kid from Indiana claiming to know how to make black folks in Africa better. This is man in possession of an education in the social sciences applying a widely understood and accepted solution to a problem THAT HAS BEEN FIXED IN THE PAST. If you are going to comment, BE READY. Jordi, you have been coming here for a while so I assume you know the drill.
Hank, I think the kid you and Kelper are talking about may go to Heritage (which is in the suburb of Monroeville) but I am not certain. I am trying find a name and figure that out but am not sure. I read the same thing in researching the post. I was looking for information about the Duany family and ran into an article stating that Duany Duany was bringing kids in and such. I was actually surprised at how little information I was able to find about the family. They are kind of celebrities in Bloomington. I know a guy who played AAU ball with Duany Duany and still has contact with him. I am trying to email that guy.
Oh, and if anyone wants to compare the liberty of women in Saudi Arabia with the genocide and exploitation that has taken place or is taking place in African regions like Somalia, Darfur, Rawanda, Eritrea, Angola, Rhodesia...I am stopping because my fingers are getting tired.
Anyway, go right ahead. I don't condone the behavior of Saudi men or any man that uses fundamentalist Islam to subjugate women, but they aren't being drug out in the streets and raped by gangs of armed thugs with the frequency of some African populations.