Ending Extreme Poverty in the Congo

Mobile technology can pull Africa forward

When I walked into my first African slum this August, it wasn't the tin shanties or the children playing around smoldering piles of waste that surprised me. It was the towering Masaai warrior texting on his cell phone -- punching away at those tiny buttons with precision that would put American teenagers to shame.

Mobile technology has sprouted in nearly every corner of Africa. Cell phones are like digital cockroaches -- in even the harshest conditions, such as impoverished Chad or war-torn Somalia, mobile markets are growing. Between 2003 and 2008, Africa experienced the world's fastest growth in mobile subscribers.

Yet, Africa is struggling. Since the 1970s, Western aid has increasingly turned its focus toward social welfare services, alleviating short-term problems but not supplying Africans with the resources they need to function independently.

Africa doesn't just need another meal; it needs the tools to grow from within. How does the old saying go? If you teach a man to fish ...

Mobile-based technology could be the answer.

via www.startribune.com

I believe we have to "teach a man to fish". That's sustainable.

Girls and Women are Key to Feeding the World

Girls and women are the farmers in Congo. In rural Bulape, they grow the food, harvest it, bring it home, and cook it.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/oct/07/girls-key-food-security-report?cat=global-development&type=article

In a dusty field in Kitui, eastern Kenya, farmers are being taught how to construct small, semi-circular barriers of earth that control the flow of water, slowing its run-off.
Strikingly, of the 90 farmers, few are men. The rest are women. It is a common sight in rural areas of Kenya and South Sudan, as most smallholder farmers are women. The men have gone to look for work in the towns and cities, leaving the women to tend to the crops.

At bore holes –deep wells –it's the same story. Women or young girls have walked for miles to come and fetch water, a time-consuming process. Not only do they have to walk long distances, they may have to wait –an hour is not uncommon –for their turn.

The role of women and adolescent girls is spelt out in a report released on Friday by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Girls Grow: A Vital Force in Rural Economies (pdf).
Its key point is that adolescent girls and women are the key to unlocking the full potential of agricultural development in poor countries and ensuring food security.

Polio Survivors in Kinshasa

Much has been said and written about the survivors in Congo. Typically, it's survivors of the Africa's first world war in eastern Congo. But there are many other survivors to tell their stories. Here's a documentary film, 'Benda Bilili!', about survivors of the cruel, crippling, and deadly disease of polio.

Polio has left its mark throughout the world. It has long been eradicated in the developed world. However, it still makes a deadly appearance in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Congo.
Rotary International backed by the Gates Foundation and WHO is fighting daily battle.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/movies/movie-listings-for-oct-7-13.xml

★ 'Benda Bilili!' (PG-13, 1:25, in French and Lingala) This documentary of years in the life of Staff Benda Bilili, an intergenerational band of polio survivors and street youth, offers intimate, and rare, access to the urban misery of Kinshasa, Congo, as well as this group's can-do optimism -which, in this lucky case, pays off with international success. The filmmakers Renaud Barret and Florent De la Tullaye have an eye for revelation and entertainment. (David DeWitt)