Every day we are at sea, we have Global Studies which is specifically geared to the relevant countries and regions of the world. Since we travelled around the continent of Africa and visited 3 of its countries, we had the opportunity to learn a lot about this beleaguered great continent.
Much was said about “the scramble for Africa” which is the story about colonialism and imperialism and the exploitation of the continent. The Portuguese, Spanish, German, French, Dutch and English played roles at various times during the last 4 or 5 centuries. Initially the Portuguese were just looking for a trading route to Asia and established outposts to resupply passing ships. Over the course of time, colonies were established which changed hands frequently as a result of neglect or wars such as the Anglo-Boer War of 1902. Gold and diamonds were discovered and the scramble ensued. Ivory tusks from the elephant were a prized commodity. And of course slaves were required to provide the labor to extract all of these riches as well as to build the New World.In the 20th century many African nations gained independence from their European ruling countries. When the colonial governments were dismantled very little infrastructure was left. Africa was left fragmented and torn by warring factions and tribes. Most of the wealth that had been extracted was taken off shore and was not used to improve the local conditions. The newly independent nations wrote their constitutions which were based on the democratic model and there was much hope that they would meet with success in the modern world and that the people could find freedom from poverty and inhumanity.
Sadly this has not been the case in most of the countries on the African Continent. The incidence of HIV/AIDS is astoundingly high and in some places in South Africa as high as 50% and in Namibia the incidence is 21%. Illiteracy, especially among girls is very high and in South Africa unemployment runs between 18-40% depending on the region. And of course the population of Africa is growing at a rate that is not sustainable in terms of food production. Meanwhile the natural resources of the continent continue to be exploited by large international consortia, such as DeBeers, with very little of the money staying in the country of origin where it could be used to create infrastructure or to fund education.
In the many lectures we have heard about Africa, it was repeated more than once that the best hope for the continent lies in education of its people and especially of its young girls. It was said that if you educate a girl you educate an entire family. Education of the girls will impact population growth and the spread of AIDS. It will allow families to become self-sustaining and will promote economic activity thereby creating revenues to improve infra structure and education.
Supporting activities which support education for African girls is an excellent use of dollars which have been set aside for charity because this addresses the critical underlying factor. I have googled charities involved in this work and my efforts have yielded the following charities which have as at least one of their goals….the education of young African girls. They are Camfed http://us.camfed.org/ and Global Partners http://www.gpfd.org/. I have not taken the time to figure out how they are rated and so leave that to your investigative skills. Both of these look like organizations worthy of further investigation.
The photo above is of a girls choir in Namibia who greeted us upon our arrival. They are all orphans of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
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