An Author’s Desk

The Problem with Africa
Got a soapbox I want to stand on today. Just about everyone and their dog has been saturated with messages that there is countless suffering in Africa. We see Internet campaign ads telling us about the plight of the everyday people. Commercials on TV try to guilt us into supporting a child for just a few cents a day. There are movies that depict in sometimes graphic detail the major problems that have arisen out of Africa (i.e., Blood Diamond, Tears of the Sun, Hotel Rwanda, to name a few). Bono, the lead singer of U2, has made it his personal mission in life to make sure everyone in the world does something to help Africa via his ONE campaign and encouraging retailers to use the (Red) campaign.

So, there’s all this awareness going around which means people throwing in their money in what they feel is a good cause. While I don’t doubt the sincerity and intentions of people who contribute in this way, I do feel that the vast majority have missed the mark when it comes to what should be done about Africa. They pay their few cents a day or buy products that will in turn result in funds going to poor African countries, and walk away with a sense of self-serving satisfaction that they’ve done a wonderful thing. Just like every other societal problem, the answer is not to simply throw money at it. Nor is it for us to simply waltz in and tell everyone “this is how you will help yourselves and you will like it.” We criticize colonial Britain for their efforts to “re-educate” the African populace, but aren’t trying to do the same thing here by telling them how to fix their problems?

The quality of life and standard of success within any family, company, church, sports team, and country is a direct correlation to its leadership. If the majority of the countries in Africa are poor, then it can be reasoned that they suffer from poor leadership. So, then why do we rely on the governments to fix the problems of their nation?

There is the famous line that says, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” It’s been rehashed over and over in history, but it carries a powerful message. How is it that we learn certain things? We know fire is a bad thing to touch because at some point we got burned. We know knives are sharp because we’ve cut ourselves before. On the positive end, we learn that politeness and good manners shows people respect and they return the respect. Doing a good job at work or school usually results in greater reward (there are exceptions, but that’s primarily because of the poor leadership). Now, if we were not allowed to experience these things as children, not allowed to get hurt or to feel true accomplishment from our own endeavours, how much of an honest sense of good and bad would we have?

The same goes for governments. If we keep trying to reason with the same corrupt government officials who perpetuate the dilapidated state of their nation and we give these officials money in the hopes that it will magically make it to the people, all we are doing is simply deluding ourselves into a false sense of the warm fuzzies. The end result will be the same every time: The government gets richer, we feel better about ourselves, but the people still suffer.

Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not advocating that we do nothing nor am I bashing charity as a whole, but I do believe that all the energy and money the wealthier nations put in to these African governments could instead be focused on encouraging development at the ground level. Rather than relying on the governments to sort out where the money and resources should go, true grassroots movements (a term oft misused) involving ordinary people of developed countries like you and I are what will provide the greatest benefit to the nations of Africa. When everyday citizens from wealthier nations are allowed to help other everyday citizens of underdeveloped nations because we want to, not because we were guilt-tripped by some celebrity on TV championing the pet-cause-du-jour, everyone benefits, even the government officials who would rather have the money come directly to them. When people are allowed to give their best, to help their fellow man stand on his two feet, that’s when prosperity thrives and poverty dies for the individual, their families, and their country. When individuals who have much are given freedom to help others and those who have little are willing to learn to stand on their own, that’s when humanity truly shines. Obviously, there should be a manner of wisdom applied. Not everyone wants to be saved nor does every single cause out there deserve to be championed.

I believe that the awareness campaigns are good and important, but it shouldn’t just stop there. The Blood:Water Mission started by the band Jars of Clay works with villages to dig wells for good, clean drinking water and provide them with clean blood. This is an excellent example of a the kind of revitalization that is needed. TOMS Shoes takes a unique approach to tying retail to charity through the simple idea of “one for one.” Someone buys a pair of TOMS shoes and they give a pair to a child in need. Kenya Build is a small group dedicated to building homes, schools, and orphanages for the poor people of Kenya. There are literally hundreds of groups out there and they are always in need of help of some form. These are the people who are going to make the difference and it’s easy to see where the money that you give them goes. Heck, you can volunteer to go on a trip with them and see the impact firsthand. I’ve gone to Juarez, Mexico with Casas por Cristo five times to build houses for poor families and you see the benefits from your effort in action right before your eyes.

I’ll grant that my reasoning relies on the people of those countries deciding to take the responsibility into their own hands. So what to do when they refuse to? Let ‘em drop. If all they want is a handout and have no desire to do any work whatsoever, then they do not care enough about their families or country and, therefore, why should we. That may sound harsh, but the fact remains that some simply do not want to make things better. To see the point of view of someone who lived in Africa for over 30 years, check out Kim du Toit’s essay, Let Africa Sink. He advocates simply letting the whole continent collapse on itself and while I tend to agree in some respect, I still believe there are those that truly want a better life and should be helped, but only in such a way that encourages self-reliance. The ultimate lesson here is that dependence on government to solve the problems of a country is misguided. It’s when government is removed from the equation and people take responsibility for their own issues that the problems get resolved. Sometimes, they need help, but it should come in the form of a helping hand that enables them to take their destiny into their own hands. Heck, that’s a lesson many people in the U.S. could learn *cough cough* welfare *cough*. But, that’s a topic for another soapbox…

5 Things from Sam’s Desk of Awesomeness: Video Games
Alright, now that I’ve got that off my chest on with this weeks “5 Things.” I know I’ve discussed video games in the past, but this batch has a few of my favorites from my childhood and some that I play even today.

1. King’s Quest series
This was a series of games that I essentially grew up with. I’ve always bragged to various friends of mine that my mom actually advocated playing video games (for the right reasons and in the right manner, of course) and she was herself a big fan of Adventure games, a genre that has since been sorely lacking in good titles. Above all the othrrs, King’s Quest, developed by Sierra, was her favorite. The series followed the story of the royal family in the kingdom of Daventry, combining puzzle-solving and riddles with a fun storyline that drew from (and sometimes parodied) fairy tales. The first game starred Graham in his quest to become king. From there, the games change to different members of the family with the exception of the last game (which veered off in a convoluted Tomb Raider-esque direction). For me, the charm and fun was the time we spent with mom, helping her solve the puzzles and drawing maps so she could track where everything was. If you’re able to find a complete collection of the games, it’s definitely worth it.

2. Deus Ex
Deus Ex has always been right up there as one of my all-time favorites. It was the first game I played that gave the player the ability to choose how you wanted to play. Combining role-playing games and first-person shooters into one glorious experience, it allowed you to play as either a rough and tumble soldier, a stealthy hacker, a precise sniper, or any mix in between, and, with multiple endings, it was the first game that made me feel like my actions truly determined the outcome. The games I played up to that point had a linear, predetermined path and one ending while this made the world-wide open. With a cyberpunk setting, and a conspiracy theory plot line that made for an intriguing story, Deus Ex is a definite must for any fan of good video games. The follow-up, Deus Ex: Invisible War, was fun and added a new dimension of physics to it, but it was way too short and the open-ended feel of the first one just wasn’t there. I’ve heard rumor that a third game, a prequel to the first one, is in work.

3. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
Another adventure game title from Sierra, but this one was the first one that I played through myself and beat. Sins of the Father follows the story of Gabriel Knight, a New Orleans rare bookstore owner writing a book of his own, a murder mystery involving voodoo. Then, mysterious murders begin to happen, all of them with some connection to voodoo. As Gabriel researches the murders to gather writing material, he is drawn in to a dark underworld within New Orleans. And, as it turns out, these murders have ties that go to Gabriel’s ancestry. The journey takes it from New Orleans to Germany, then to Africa before returning to New Orleans to take on a supernatural evil. All in all, a fantastic story and great gameplay mechanics for its time. It was also kind of violent. a fact which I don’t think my folks knew about at the time, but oh well. So, be wary if you decide to check it out.

4. Mass Effect
You already know about my love of epic science fiction. So, what happens when a game comes along that has the open-endedness of Deus Ex (see above) and an epic sci-fi universe that gives you your own ship, bad guys to fight, and a galaxy to save? Well, my nearly exploded, but luckily I kept it all in. I have never anticipated the release of a game more than Mass Effect. With the promise of customization, a morality system where people reacted to how good or bad you were, and a grand story on a massive scale, of course I was excited. To my great joy, Mass Effect delivered. The team at BioWare created a masterpiece in gaming with this one. Whole new worlds with cultures, languages, traits, and abilities. Tons of weapons and armor with more mods than you can shake a stick at. Countless ways to assemble your team and complete missions. I could go on and on about this game, but I’ll stop there because it’s one of those game that simply must be experienced rather than told about. Mass Effect 2 comes out in early 2010 and your decisions and actions from the first game will impact what happens in the second, so I’m pretty jacked about seeing what they’ve got in store.

5. Halo franchise
Alright, I know everyone’s probably sick of all the hype about this series what with Master Chief’s, um, “face” plastered on posters, TV commercials, internet ads, and junk food products. I normally would not cover something that is essentially one gigantic bandwagon. However, I will have to give Bungie, the creators of Halo, props. They created a unique universe with awesome gameplay, beautifully polished visuals, and a fairly interesting story (albeit a cheesy one). For the sequels, they essentially made the exact same game with a few tweaks, new enemies, new weapons, and new levels, each of them with an even higher level of polish than the last. Not much originality, but they stuck with a formula that worked and it made them rich. And yet, the reason I include it here has more to do with how I’ve played it. You see, Halo was the first video game my brother and I played well cooperatively. We had played several others together such as Diablo II, but with Halo we did something different. Our first time through took forever and we didn’t work too well together at first, but after a bit, we started to get into sync and by the end of it, the aliens never stood a chance against Team Mayo. That first play through spawned a tradition (with a somewhat irregular schedule) wherein we beat Halo in cooperative mode on Legendary, the hardest difficulty setting and we smoke it every time. Since then, we’ve gone on to play other games cooperatively, such as Gears of War, Crackdown, and Army of Two. But, Halo will always be remembered fondly as the one that started it and the Covenant have been running scared ever since (ok, that was cheesy, sorry).

Alrighty, that was a long one. Thanks for sticking with me the whole thing. I’ll try to keep the rest a little shorter in the future, I promise.

El Capitan