Malawi on the USA...

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sallycinnamon78

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How humbling is this? An interview with a Malawi official, who said they've been able to raise a small bit of money for the hurricane survivors by reminding their people that although they're used to being poor and hungry...we, ie Westeners, are not. After hearing this, I was speechless (unusual to say the least). What on earth can you say.

VERY brief summary of Malawi's own problems: Food shortage in the small African nation of Malawi are typical of a hunger crisis that affects more than 20 countries on the continent. In Malawi, flooding ruined crops, and government officials are accused of selling grain reserves for personal profit.

Older interview here: http://www.journalismfellowships.org/stories/malawi/malawi_crisis.htm
 
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it really amazes me how the world has pulled together to reach out to America. It humbles me as well. A gift like this from people with next to nothing themselves is just so touching.
 
It is sad that the needs of places like Malawi are forgotten when we shift our focus to the event of the day.

For aid to come from Malawi is truly an example of selfless giving and a far better example than anything we have been able to muster.
 
DaveC said:
And yet, somehow, the USA can't return the favour...

A major thumbs up to Malawi. :up:

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/7231.htm

The United States has a substantial foreign assistance program in Malawi. The U.S. Government provides about $31 million annually in development assistance under USAID's Country Strategic Plan (CSP) for the period 2001-2007. The primary goal of USAID assistance is poverty reduction and increased food security through broad-based, market-led economic growth, focusing on four areas: sustainable increases in rural incomes, increased civic involvement in the rule of law, increased use of improved health behaviors and services, and improved quality and efficiency of basic education. The USAID program is implemented in partnership with the Government of Malawi, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), U.S. private voluntary organizations, contractors, and other partners.
The United States is the largest contributor to the World Food Program in Malawi, providing over $100 million in food and other emergency assistance through WFP since early 2002. A $4.8 million Global Development Alliance partnership, signed in September 2004, between Washington State University, Total Landcare, Cooperation for the Development of Emerging Countries, Business Consult Africa, Agricane Malawi, the Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi, Nkhotakota District Assembly and USAID has leveraged $2.8 million of funding from private firms to support the community-based management of the Lake Malawi Chia Lagoon Watershed, addressing interrelated environmental problems affecting the livelihoods, well-being, and health of communities in the area. USAID support for Opportunity International Bank of Malawi is pioneering micro-finance and banking opportunities for low income Malawians, with almost 16,000 Malawians, half of whom never had a bank account in their lives, opening saving accounts in the first 15 months of the bank’s life. OIBM, with the savings portfolio in hand, is moving towards a strong and disciplined micro-lending portfolio. Female entrepreneurs and businesswomen are prime beneficiaries from these loans. Partnering with the United Kingdom’s Department For International Development (DFID) in the spring of 2004, USAID provided technical assistance in support of Malawi’s successful presidential elections through support to the Electoral Commission for the registration process and support to civil society groups, including key faith-based networks, to provide voter education and monitoring throughout the country. Two important health data collection initiatives were funded by USAID in 2004. The Malawi Demographic Health Survey is collecting high-quality data on fertility levels and preferences; family planning use; reproductive, child and maternal health; nutritional status of young children and women; childhood mortality levels; knowledge and behavior regarding HIV/AIDS; and the prevalence of anemia among children and women and of HIV infection among women and men. Analysis of Malawi’s first Behavioral Surveillance Survey (BSS) focuses on the knowledge and behaviors of eleven risk groups, including fishermen, truckers, vendors working in border communities, commercial sex workers, police officers, and teachers. Respondents to the survey were asked not only about their knowledge of HIV/AIDS, but also there own behaviors as well as the behaviors of their colleagues.
 
That's as may be, but 31 million taken in context with the size of the US budget is equivalent to me giving my mom a little bit of tin foil off a mint for her birthday.
 
DaveC said:
That's as may be, but 31 million taken in context with the size of the US budget is equivalent to me giving my mom a little bit of tin foil off a mint for her birthday.

Well if you would have read past the first paragraph, you would also have noticed that, "The United States is the largest contributor to the World Food Program in Malawi, providing over $100 million in food and other emergency assistance through WFP since early 2002."
 
DaveC said:
That's as may be, but 31 million taken in context with the size of the US budget is equivalent to me giving my mom a little bit of tin foil off a mint for her birthday.

What Max Fisher's post did not include was the substantial amount of private aid going to Malawi.

Just so we can get to an answer, how much should the US be sending in aid, and why are you the one who gets to set the level?
 
nbcrusader said:
Just so we can get to an answer, how much should the US be sending in aid, and why are you the one who gets to set the level?


A good question.

The purpose of my posts was not to quibble over numbers. I was responding to DaveC's erroneous statement that the US doesn't return the favor in support of Malawi. A simple Google search provided the numbers I listed above.

But why search for facts when reactionary criticism of the USA is so much easier?
 
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A very sad recent article about Malawi:



Malawi appeal gets 'not a penny'

Malawi is one of the world's poorest countries
The United Nation's $88m food appeal for Malawi has received not a single penny, the organisation has said.
Jan Egeland, the UN relief coordinator, called on donors particularly those in the Gulf states benefiting from high oil prices to help out.

The UN launched an appeal last month for the more than 4m Malawians who are facing hunger after the worst harvest in a decade.

The majority of Malawians live on less than a dollar a day.

On Wednesday, British aid agency Oxfam said that up to 10m people in southern Africa could face severe food shortages later this year unless wealthy nations take immediate action.

'Windfall'

"We have received zero pledges for this appeal," Mr Egeland announced 10 days after the UN had called for assistance.

NEEDING FOOD AID

Malawi: 4m
Zimbabwe: 4m
Zambia: 1m
Lesotho: 500,000
Mozambique: 400,000
Swaziland: 200,000
Source: Oxfam

He asked oil-producing nations to be more generous with their share of profits from high oil prices on world markets.

"There are many countries in the Gulf and elsewhere who have received an enormous windfall from these oil prices. We can save a life for a $1 a day," he told reporters.

About 4.2m of Malawi's 11m people face hunger. Maize production this year stood at 1.3 million tonnes, far short of the 2.1 million tonnes needed to stave off famine.

Oxfam began to distribute food in Malawi this week, but they say they need far more.

The charity says people could face food shortages in a belt of countries including Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

HIV hits farming

Southern Africa was weakened by severe food shortages leading to major international appeals in 2002, and drought this year has been worse than it was then, aid agencies say.

They are urging donors not to ignore the lessons of Niger's food crisis, when early warnings of hunger went unheeded and little was done until television cameras showed children starving to death.

These appeals come as scientists warned that farming in Africa has declined at an alarming rate since the start of the Aids epidemic.

The virus is ravaging agriculture, with the areas of cultivated land dropping in parts of Kenya by 68%, the British Association of Science Festival revealed on Wednesday.

Some 80% of Africans derive their livelihood from farming, so it is vital to the continent's economic growth.

Southern Africa has some of the world's highest rates of HIV infection, with between 30% and 40% of the adult population HIV positive.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4228854.stm


And they offer the USA aid?

Such is the Heart and Soul of Africa. :hug:

Thanks for the interesting article.
 
almost everyone said:
blahblah USA blah Africa double blah
Here we go again, same old yap yap yap.

To me, it sounds like:

Jerry Spinger audience chanting
"USA!USA!"
"USA sucks ass!"
"No it doesn't!" ad infinitum...

Sad and petty nonsense.

Pardon the silliness above, but come on! I don't mean to get on my high horse here, but this thread was supposed to be about the touching gesture, offered to the survivors of the hurricane, by inhabitants of a country suffering greatly from food shortage. It brought tears to my eyes because it was an act of kindness, compassion, and a sacrifice from those who can ill afford it.

I realise that this is fundamentally a politically-related action, and that there's a hotbed of issues surrounding all of it. The thread really wasn't intended as a political free-for-all, though. I suppose it's my own doing: I should know better by now than to even mention the States in this place.

Christ on a BIKE. Actually, no - make that a UNICYCLE.
 
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