Fighting to Save Children in Africa
by Raga S. Elim, Ph.D., Chairman, Kiwanis Capital District Committee on International Understanding

I have long believed that the problems in Africa have been largely overlooked. The former colonial powers-Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Spain-have generally washed their hands of the "dark" continent.

We Americans have a comfort zone because we have had little to do with the continent and feel, for the most part, little responsibility. The United Nations is what member nations want it to be, but mostly the big powers decide.

Africa has been largely ignored. Few long-term solutions have been implemented. And when we hear from UNICEF that 26,000 children die a day, many of them in Africa, we have a problem processing such a huge figure. So we do little about it.

The gallant efforts by a few individuals, churches, and nonprofit organizations can only scratch the surface, and the shipping of emergency food by selected governments, including the United States, is no lasting solution. And because corruption is prevalent in many African governments, and many tribal conflicts continue unabated, the children suffer and die. To be sure, you can qualify my statements, citing President Bush's help for AIDS in Africa and other examples, but prospects overall remain bleak.

We individual Kiwanians cannot by ourselves resolve this tragic situation. But we can make a contribution toward long-term solutions and challenge others to do the same.

Daring the odds, and committed to the ideal of serving the children of the world, the Kiwanis Capital District Committee on International Understanding has adopted an Initiative for Africa.

Basically, the Initiative bypasses African governments and focuses directly on saving children's lives. It seeks to provide technical assistance to help small-scale farmers feed themselves and their children and sustain small businesses on permanent basis.

It focuses on providing irrigation water desperately needed to combat widespread drought and famine in Africa. We are working with KickStart, a U.S. nonprofit that has developed human-powered irrigation pumps (please see
http://kickstart.org/tech/technologies/micro-irrigation.html). KickStart founder, Dr. Martin Fisher, has recently won an MIT sustainability award and been named "Engineer of the Year" by Design News.

Once we Americans know the facts, I am confident that we cannot be indifferent to such an effort. Notwithstanding the current financial crisis in our country and in the world as a whole, our Kiwanis District Committee hopes to exceed our current goal of $25,000 in matching funds and places its hopes in Kiwanians throughout the district to help us succeed. I ask that you first make your own donations and be as generous as you can, and then spread the word to others. The more money we raise, the more African children we can save. We will keep you updated on our progress towards our goal of $25,000 by means of the thermometer shown to the left. As of today we have raised $1675. Donations toward this Initiative are tax deductible.

Please make checks payable to"Capital District Kiwanis Foundation." In the memo line make the notation "Kiwanis Initiative for Africa." All contributions are tax deductible to the furthest extent of the law.

Mail checks to:

                        Capital District Kiwanis Foundation
                        c/o Charlie Adams
                        1601 Charrington Drive
                        Midlothian, VA 23113

The author is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Williamsburg, Virginia, a former professor of International Affairs at several U.S. and European universities, and a former senior U.S. Foreign Service Officer whose last assignment in Africa was as Chief of the Somali Refugee Program. He also served as senior foreign policy analyst in the U.S. Department of Justice. He retired 4 years ago to Williamsburg. For more information, contact him at relim@cox.net or 757-645-4256.