The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
As a Canadian living in Kenya, I am watching yet another food crisis kidnap thousands of childhoods. Fourteen million people in isolated regions across East Africa are struggling to find food and water Ð again. Seasonal rains that normally last two weeks petered out after a miserable day and a half in northeast Kenya. This current drought Ð the worst in four years Ð is yet another example of our incredible propensity to ignore the root causes of poverty that grip Africa, and leave millions at the mercy of Mother Nature. While the world asks "Why again?" I hear whispers of "It's Africa, get used to it," and I cringe. A top United Nations official has warned that if we wait any longer to provide immediate food aid in East Africa, it will be "absolutely catastrophic." Yet response from major donor countries has been lethargic at best. We wait. Our governments wait until public pressure builds. The media wait for graphic images. The public waits until aid agencies make urgent pleas. We wait as people continue to suffer. And as always, it is the most vulnerable who succumb first Ð the children, the pregnant mothers, and the elderly. Addressing the root causes of poverty Ð such as inadequate access to markets, unfair trade, gender inequity, and lack of education to name a few Ð is our only hope of transforming the lives of the poor. Hunger that results from drought is the outcome of poverty as much as it is climactic factors. It is not inevitable, though. In Nanyee, Kenya, people are surviving this drought. A seven-kilometre irrigation system, which was constructed with Canadian donations, runs beside green, lush gardens that feed 520 farmers and their families. The income that people earn from such programs can provide access to education, health care, and nutritious food that help them lift themselves out of poverty. This is sustainable development Ð a practical solution to the problem of poverty. As a Canadian, I am encouraged to see my country wrestling with international poverty. The debate has not been so public since the days of Lester B. Pearson, who envisioned 0.7 per cent of our gross domestic product going to overseas aid. Thousands of Canadians are demanding more and better aid. Are our politicians listening? Sadly, it seems not. Our government spending on foreign aid stands at an abysmal 0.3 per cent Ð an international disgrace. We must commit to combat poverty through sustainable development. Either we support concrete change or we accept images of starving children as normal. I, for one, refuse to get used to it. Jim Carrie is the regional director for World Vision, based in Kenya, East Africa.
