Africa: Day-to-Day Struggle to Survive

It is hard to understand all the factors working against the African people. Even aid workers and other visitors cannot fully fathom what day-to-day life is like. It is a constant struggle for many to find even the basic necessities of food and clean water, never mind medicine and suitable shelter.

AIDS is just one more factor intertwined with daily life. We cannot successfully address the epidemic without considering all the factors. That’s one of the advantages that Support Africa Organization has – many of our membership and workers are from Africa, and have lived with the struggle. We do understand, which why our efforts extend beyond the scope of “AIDS Education” to help with other aspects of African life such as assisting with clean water, medical services, and schooling to give AIDS support a better chance of taking hold.

Below is a brief overview of several of the factors affecting Africans today.

Poverty
Perhaps the single biggest factor, poverty is at the root of most of the other factors listed below. Without money for education, medicine, shelter, clean water, and food, the cycle of all factors will continue. On the other side of the coin, it takes relatively little money to start reversing the affects of poverty. Your donations go much further to help supply these basics in Africa than they would in the United States.

Education
Illiteracy and a general lack of education is rampant throughout the continent. Not only are funds for education limited, but often children cannot attend school because they need to start working at a very young age (six or younger) in order to help support their families. Parents also rely upon the eldest children, especially the girls, to help raise and care for infants and toddlers.

Disease
AIDS is one of dozens of diseases and afflictions that attack Africans. Malaria, cholera, typhoid, various parasites and bacterial infections, even polio and TB – these diseases become deadlier as AIDS and HIV start to break down the immune system, leaving people more susceptible to their effects.

Lack of Clean Water
Water is the most basic necessity to life, especially in the hotter climates of most African countries. Yet for many, gathering water on a daily basis is a laborious chore involving long walks of a mile or more for the closest source. Even then the water may not be clean, infected with cholera, parasites, bacteria, and even human and animal wastes.

Famine
We’ve seen the pictures a hundred times – frail, almost lifeless bodies made up of little more than skin and bones. Thankfully, this is the extreme and strikes in localized areas of Africa. But finding affordable and accessible food is a real challenge throughout most of the African nations, and is impacted by a number of factors such as economics, civil unrest, and climate.

Civil Unrest
As of March 2004, CrisisWatch (www.crisisweb.org) reported 18 African countries – roughly one third – in various states of civil unrest and war. Displacement and economic downturns that come from these armed conflicts make the daily task of finding food and water even more difficult, and leads to rises in disease, famine, and AIDS.

Culture
As with any culture, outsiders have a hard time understanding some of the fears and drives of any given group of people. This is further complicated as there are obviously several distinct cultures throughout Africa.

But generally speaking, most African cultures do not like to discuss issues revolving around sex, and AIDS is no exception. In fact, it is more the rule; people who have publicly announced that they have AIDS have been known to be stoned to death or otherwise killed. What we in the United States may see as superstition rules a large part of life in Africa, leading to misguided ideas. The rumour of several “cures”, some of them quite brutal, gives many Africans the belief that AIDS is not that big a deal. Still others believe to this day that AIDS is the “white man’s” disease and cannot affect them.

Culture is one of the largest barriers to overcome. But again, Support Africa Organization has the advantage. The majority of the members come from these countries. We understand the culture, and the belief system people hold. This understanding leads to a mutual trust that many aid organizations can never foster, if only because they are “outsiders”.

For more information about current events in Africa, please visit the following links:

Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/doc/?t=africa

AllAfrica.com
http://allafrica.com/

World Health Organization (WHO), Regional Office for Africa
http://www.afro.who.int/

CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/africa/archive/

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