"The Overseas Selfie": Narcissism and Global Voluntourism

Not surprised.  A blurb:

Voluntourism is ultimately about the fulfillment of the volunteers themselves, not necessarily what they bring to the communities they visit.  In fact, medical volunteerism often breaks down existing local health systems.  In Ghana, I realized that local people weren’t purchasing health insurance, since they knew there would be free foreign health care and medications available every few months.  This left them vulnerable in the intervening times, not to mention when the organization would leave the community.

Nerd News: Terrorists Attack Dorm in Nigeria

HORRIBLE.  Some 50 college students were murdered and classroom set on fire.  

Nerd News: Failing Liberia's University Entrance Exam

That can't be good!

Forgotten History: The French in Mali 100 Years Ago

Photos from a past French involvement in Mali.

Mali and the Return of Françafrique

Things are getting interesting.

The 2012 Failed States Index

Mondays suck anyway, so I figured we might as well do this annually depressing survey now instead of later this week. The 2012 Failed States Index is online.  The top 5 are all in Africa.

Magi Market Issues: Frankincense Shortage

Oh, my!  

A Thought on Mandela's Legacy

The refusal to launch a cult of personality.

Privatizing Elephants

Here's something I'd never thought about!  More here.

The Loneliest Tree in the World?

Awwwwwwwwwww.  It's missing its Entwives.

Somalia's Former Prime Minister Returns Home... to Buffalo, New York

A fascinating story.  I do hope he writes a book about his experiences.

On Killing Bin Laden: Perspectives from Kenya

Read this.  Caveat: predictable BBC-speak and "Debbie Downer" BBC-bias.

Awesome Photography: Wildlife in Black & White

Gorgeous!  Bonus: baby elephants!

Requiescat in Pace: Norman Borlaug, 1914-2009

By his work in agriculture, he saved the lives of hundreds of millions (particularly in poor nations) from hunger and starvation -- effectively saving the lives of more people than any other individual in history. And you've probably never even heard of him.

Take a look at the remarkable life and legacy of Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Peace Prize winner (who, unlike so many recipients, actually deserved it) and the "forgotten benefactor of humanity." Here is his obit in the New York Times.

Bonus: Read Reason magazine's interview with Borlaug from 2000. Read the whole thing. Here's a piece of it:

A Message from 4 African Presidents: We Want Partnership, Not Patronage

This seems quite consistent with previous postings on the subject of "aid."

Life Imitates Aristophanes: Real-Life "Lysistrata" in Kenya

The current news story. The ancient Greek comedy. Aristophanes would be proud.

Nerd News: Bizarre Teacher Trend

Three instances makes a pattern!

Observe the latest scary trend -- teachers in the news for all the wrong reasons:

1. The New York computer science teacher who barricaded himself in his classroom.
2. The University of Georgia marketing professor who is now a suspect in three murders.
3. The Bucknell University economics professor who denies he was involved in an Ethiopian uprising.
   

Follow-Up: More Analysis on Aid to Africa

Take a look at this op-ed piece from -- wait for it -- the New York Times (link xie-xie to blogfriend Pursuit of Serenity, who rightly wonders if the era of "white guilt" might be waning in terms of that "guilt" partially driving the African aid machine).

Blurb from the Times piece:

CAPE TOWN — Less than four years ago, on the back of Tony Blair’s Africa Commission recommendations, the Group of 8 summit meeting at Gleneagles agreed to write off Africa’s debt and to double aid by 2010. Aid, trumpeted the British prime minister and his fellow celebrity travelers from Bono to Bob Geldof, was the answer to Africa’s development woes.

But this once politically correct view has suddenly become unfashionable.

A key reason is that aid has proved to be an extremely ineffective way of getting a return — in this case, development — on serious money flows. Some put total aid to Africa over the past 50 years as high as $1 trillion.

. . . If Africa is to use aid productively, the responsible government — and not the donors — have to set the agenda. One way to do this is for African countries to ensure that only those projects will be considered that focus on the creation of hard (physical) and soft (education and health) infrastructure. And the government alone, not the donors, should identify priority projects, all of which need clear, identifiable and tangible outcomes and benchmarks — and not workshops, seminars and studies.

You will remember this recent post/book review on Western aid to Africa.

Book Review: "Dead Aid" by Dambisa Moyo and Western Aid to Africa

An interesting book review is now available for Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa by Zambia-born economist Dambisa Moyo.

Here is a piece of it:

Moyo’s views will not surprise readers familiar with the issue. When aid is easily available, she asks, why become an entrepreneur? Lobbying in Washington or Paris is more rewarding for an African entrepreneur than investing in his own country. Moreover, as Moyo shows, aid can destroy the continents’ few indigenous companies. The distribution of free anti-mosquito nets by aid programs, for instance, puts local manufacturers of nets out of business. Moyo proposes classic free-market solutions. The U.S. and E.U. should stop subsidizing their farmers, enabling Africa to export more of its primary products. Slum residents should receive legal title to their homes. African nations should foster the institutions of microfinance. All of this would spur real African growth, she believes.

You may remember that the issue appeared on the blog several years ago with a link to this interview with Kenyan economist James Shikwati, who also called for an end to Western aid to Africa.

In some ways, the Western developed world's love affair with aid is -- OK, I'm going to say it, though it's not politically correct! -- a new version of paternalism and the "white man's burden." It also goes with the entire therapeutic drive behind a lot of seemingly bleeding-heart endeavours: the wish to feel good about oneself for being charitable and whatnot. Good intentions are fine and all -- as paving stones to hell. People need results and a better standard of living.

Also, Africans are not pets -- no matter how many African babies some Hollywood celebrities want to adopt (with much fanfare and self-aggrandizing publicity), regardless of whether the local African authorities want them to adopt a native child or not. *cough* Madonna! *cough* (Boy, I'm trying not to launch into a digression about celebrities and their kinda/sorta neo-colonialist adoptions and messianic aid projects.)

Really want to help? Throwing money at the problem of African poverty won't fix it. In fact, it makes the problem worse. Go for trade, not aid -- and capitalism, free trade, and free markets that create wealth. Also along with the growth of free markets, the growth of free people, of self-sufficient individuals.

See an archived post from my defunct first blog.

Also, I apologize right now for often using so general a term as "Africa." But I haven't time or resources to look at each individual country in that continent; note that each one is different and that talking in overgeneralized terms really can't do much specific good.

UPDATE: Related article here! Blurb:

Africa needs aid, but not the kind the West is currently providing. Conventional development aid has turned the continent into a dependent recipient of charity. We should halt the handouts and adopt successful micro-lending models instead, helping Africans to help themselves.

OK, I can't help myself. Confucius say, if you want to feed a man for a day, give him a fish. If you want to feed him for a lifetime, teach him how to fish!

Satire Alert: Obama Reaches Out to "Moderate" Pirate Community

I wish I'd written this satire myself! There's even a sequel/follow-up.