Thursday, July 25, 2013

Refugees and Kids in Africa

Two topics today, first refugees, second kids, there will be videos about the kids in the future too.

Shown below is a United Nations refugee tarp, which I am told you can easily buy in the markets. I may have a video, and I know my dad does, of going to a market and unwrapping bundles of clothing. It turns out that clothing people donate to Africa is often given to someone to sell, while it seems unfair at first, keep in mind someone is economically profiting from those sales and probably feeding her family. In other words, in many organizations, items donated are actually sold to the people they are meant to help.

The second refugee point that I was also told, by a Rwandan, "Africans only move when they are refugees." In other words, aside from the general migration from the country to the city people don't move for work or family or climate reasons, they move because they are refugees. That is to say, they flee a war.
UN Refugee Tarp Over Richest House in Musasa
I attach the subject of kids to this because life is harder in Africa and I think it relates to being a refugee. In sub-Saharan Africa about one in nine children die before age 5, which is actually an improvement on 10, 20, 50 years ago. There is a certain maturity in kids, at least in Rwanda, that I feel is a consequence of a challenging life. In other words, it is common to see children under ten and even five carrying 10 and 20 liter water jugs, full, on roads and trails alone, with no parent in sight. No child in the US would do that. I understand now why Angelina Jolie has adopted three kids from around the world, despite the fact she is made fun of in this country for it. I see these kids and think, 'I could house half a dozen of these kids in my little apartment and feed them and give them a better chance at economic success and a longer life.' This led to a strange, very strange, idea that I had in Rwanda, I want to get married and have kids, but if that doesn't work out maybe I would adopt several from Africa as a single parent. Ridiculous right? Yet it seems like a very concrete way to make a difference in several people's lives. What more can I do for others, for the world, than open up my house and all that I have to those far less fortunate?
He is Really Just Playing
What Do You Say?

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