Out of Africa

If you haven't seen The Constant Gardner, go see it.

If you have, read on.

I recently saw Africa referred to as "the world's orphan" in a blog by Jeff Huber (see posting "The New World Order"). In this movie based on the novel by John le Carre that's exactly what you see. Though this work may be a piece of fiction, the northern hemisphere's attitude toward the dark continent and her people is not. What scientists hypothesize as the birthplace of homo sapiens has now become the backwater ghetto of the human race. These people are plagued by famine, sickness, and death while we go on and fight our war on "terrorism". We know nothing, really, about true terror. Except for those who fight this war, those who die in it, and those who lose loved ones every day. On both sides, if there are only two.

Is this how a "Christian" nation, how a civilized hemisphere, treats its southern sister and her widows and orphans, what Christ called "the least of these"? Yes, we have problems at home. Yes, we have a Gulf coast to rebuild. But we cannot afford an economy based on war anymore. Enough of "The Empire Strikes Back". Enough pain and suffering; why do we need to make more?

Our African brothers and sisters need our mercy and compassion, not our indifference or our 15 minutes of caring or our polite gift of money. The global community giving what is needed in Africa--with the U.S. leading the way. Now that's what I call a faith-based initiative.