Today I want to take time to address a problem that mostly everyone knows about which is, the AIDS crisis in Africa. We have all been taught about it whether it be in schools, our parents, or even church fundraisers.  We all know that it is an issue that Africa has been dealing with for a while, but I don’t think we know the severity of it.  I can honestly say as I was looking information up for this blog I was shocked.  I had no clue how bad this issue was.  I thought this issue was getting better, but it honestly is only getting worse.  Readers brace yourself for these sobering statistics. 

Statistics:

·        Between 1999 and 2000 more people died of AIDS in Africa than in all the wars on the continent

·        In 2000, 24 million Africans were infected with the AIDS virus.  All of these people will die by 2010 because of the absence of medicine.

·        Each day, 6,000 Africans die from AIDS while each day, an additional 11,000 are infected by AIDS.

·        In 2008, 33.4 million people where living with HIV in Africa.

·        2 million people died in one year due to the AIDS crisis in Africa.

These statistics are truly shocking and I had no clue that this was such a big issue.  I really do feel like America did try to help Africa with this crisis, but it is such a big problem.  Everyday more people become affected with it than the amount of people who die from it.  At that pace it is hard to get the amount of people who have AIDS to decrease. Poverty in Africa is also a factor for why this problem keeps on evolving.  The majority of the population who gets AIDS do not have the means to treat it.  It is a very sad situation that seems almost defeating.

What can you do?

·        There are many places where you can donate money to help this crisis.  I would recommend donating money to globalissues.org.

·        Another thing you can do is just keep these individuals in your thoughts and prayers.

Poverty

Have you ever woken up in the morning and wonder if you will eat today or if you will even have a decent meal this week?  Have you ever had to wonder if you will make it to the next month?  Have you ever had to do anything possible just to get a paycheck in your hand?  I’m sure many of you said no to these questions, but to many civilians in Africa these are the very question they ask on a daily basis.  Many Americans do not fully grasp how horrible the conditions are in Africa and I want to help put it into perspective for you.

Poverty is when someone lacks the basic human needs and is faced by difficulties and struggles.  Africa is the continent that is the most povershied nation in the world at this time.  To help you gasp how much Africa is in poverty I wanted to tell you some statistics I found shocking.

Statistics:

·         In 2006 34, of the 50 nations on the UN Human development in poverty were in Africa

o   This means that 68% of the world that is in poverty currently is in Africa.  This is a crazy thing to think of.  It makes me wonder why we aren’t doing more to help this nation.

·         The average yearly capita in Africa is $200 dollars per year!!!!

o   Can you even begin to imagine what it would be like if a family of four had to live off of only $200 for a year?  I can’t even imagine going a month with $200 for myself.  This is truly a sobering statistic and makes you think of what you can do for these families.

·         3,000 people die each day because of AIDS in Africa because they could not afford treatment.

o   Can you imagine being diagnosed with a disease and knowing you’re going to die from it soon because you don’t have money to prolong it?

 

These are just a few of the sad statistics I found that really put it into perspective how much this nation is suffering.  When I go on with my daily life task I rarely think of how good I have it and I rarely have to worry about anything.  I can honestly say I have never had to worry about when I would eat next or where I would be sleeping at night.  Next time you sit down with your family at supper make sure you thank them for all they do for you and be grateful for all you have.

If you want to help poverished nations get food you can go to freerice.com  For every question you answer right they will give rice to poverished nations.

Genocide

Genocide

When you hear the word genocide what do you typically think of?  Many think of the horrific genocide of Jews by German Nazis which took place not too long ago.  We have been taught in many history classes about this event but have you ever stopped to wonder if there were any other events like this? I’m here to tell you there are more genocides that have occurred, and one in particular is the genocide of a group called Tutsi’s in Rwanda, Africa.

 Background

  In Rwanda there are two groups of people which are the Hutu and the Tutsi.  The Tutsi was in control of Rwanda until 1962, when the Hutu overthrew there government and began to rule.  The Hutu government was more of a dictatorship and the people had less of a choice.  Once in rule they began to kill many Tutsi especially those who were in control.  The Hutu went to extreme measures and made everyone get ID which said whether they were Hutu or Tutsi on it.  This generated many problems and generated many hate crimes which led to the genocide.

Genocide

In 1994, the Hutu government decided that it would be a better place if they wiped out the Tutsi population by killing them.  Can you believe that?! They take it upon themselves to decide that a whole population of people should be wiped out just like that.  In only 100 short days 1,174,000 people’s lives were taken AWAY from them.  Families were torn apart, children put in orphanages, and wives left widowed.   10,000 people were murdered on a daily basis. The Hutu would kill no matter gender or age.  Children and woman were sacrificed on a daily basis with no mercy.  Many Tutsi women were raped by Hutu soldiers and humiliated.  The soldiers would rape them in public to make scene out of them.  Many of the women would get HIV and die from AIDS.  It is said that 70% of Tutsi woman who survived had AIDS because they were raped.

One of the worst massacres occurred on April 12, 1994.  1,500 Tutsis sought refuge in a catholic church because they got word that Hutus were coming to kill them.  The church was locked and barricaded to insure the Hutus couldn’t get in.  However the Hutus had another plan of action and used bulldozers to knock down the church building.  The Tutsis tried to escape in horror but the Hutu stopped them and killed every person who tried to escape with machetes and riffles.  Mostly everyone was killed in this horrific event.  Things like this happened on a daily basis and the Hutu held no mercy.

The Tutsi people were finally fed up with the Hutu and on July 4, 1994 they reclaimed victory. They knew they were the minority but they felt as if they had no other choice.  The odds were definitely against them but they came through and proclaimed victory.

Through the whole civil war these two groups had little help.  The UN came to ad at the begging but they left shortly after they came because they said the situation was too unsafe.  I think this is ridiculous, I can’t believe that everyone saw this going on and just let them fend for themselves.  I think our society is really good at blocking out what they don’t want to see or hear.  I think that we need to make it an effort to look at whats going on around us and help out those in needs.  Maybe if more people lend a helping hand and opened their eyes less events like this would happen.

- If you want to get more insight to this event I would highly recomenede you to watch the movie hotel Rwanda.  It is very factial and tells the story of what Tutsi's had to go through.