Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Kenya's Impending Disaster
An interesting article from today's NY Times on the draught in Kenya. Raises lots of questions about disaster relief, aid, good governance, and perhaps why so much of the continent remains mired in desperate poverty. This is NOT your assignment for tonight; for that, look below to the Welcome post. But feel free to read and comment if you are interested and have the time.
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The situation in Kenya has reached far above the level of emergency. This crisis of hunger in Kenya has started violent conflicts among territories, mass hysteria, and starvation. It seems clear that the government is simply ignoring the situation and acting as though everything is under control. Not only ignorance, some government officials have been accused of selling large sums of grain reserve as this crisis began. In my opinion, a full scale government investigation should be enacted by the United Nations. Kenya's government has shown minimal effort to manage and resolve the situation. Some action must be done to set this corrupt government into conventional and reliable system. Only then will Kenya break this famine and have the necessary help to prevent this crisis from happening again.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I thought after reading only a few sentences in to it was sadness. It is always terrible to see other human beings suffering in such ways. Although, I also realized how extremely grateful to be living a life where I only have to walk less than 5 feet to obtain water, where as some Africans are hiking 20 miles. The article also gives light into the fact that even a prosperous country like Kenya can face death and pain. It just made me think about how America is also prone to disasters. I also found it interesting that at the end of the article it said that because of the drought, and dry land, the counties being affected could also face the complete opposite problem, floods.
ReplyDeleteIn kenya they are almost sort of helpless. there government seems to be blind to warnings and suggestions. There poeple are starving and parched. The only way they would be able to make it through this it seems is to be able to raise livestock and grow crops. poeple over there are dieing because of the lack of this infrostucture. If they could grow crops and raise cattle then they would be able to put the food and water on the table for the good of there survivle
ReplyDeleteThis article really has its readers open up there eyes to what is actually going on in poor countries like Kenya. It gets across the seriousness of the unfortunate situation. It is shocking and extremely unfair that these people have to suffer and go hungry because of the messed up government. The government should take more responsibility instead of trying to avoid the blame by asking, "How do we know they died of hunger?" They should be ashamed of what they are putting the country they are representing through. It is also selfish of the other many richer countries that are taking long periods of time to donate money, I understand that the world is in an economic crisis, but considering the state of health the country's people are in, the richer countries should make more of an effort to help out and contribute their share. I hope that somehow Kenya will be brought out of starvation and suffering but I doubt it will be very soon, unless their government and other countries' governments start taking action to make a positive impact.
ReplyDeleteKenya was at one point the most developed African country, that was in much better state than all of the others, but it has recently taken a downfall in health and economy. A drought, which has taken over all of Kenya, is killing many people, and keeping their water supply away from them. Many of the animals living their have died from the dehydration which has caused a devastating effect on the African children. These children died because their source of food has been stolen away from them. The adults are dying as well from the same causes and are still waiting for more help to come. The situation has only become worse and is not getting any better.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article it made me really appreciaate being a U.S. citizen, even though we're in the midst of a recession ourselves. it makes me think twice about how selfish we are. We always complain about our economy, but the truth is, we dont need those $100 pair of jeans. I think that if all the nations/ countries would get on one accord, we could work together to supply each other with the resources we need. For example, a lot of our products are made in China. Why should America charge $80 for a pair of shoes that were probably made in a sweat shop for $2. I think if we work together we'd ALL have better living conditions.
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