I'm Back...With A LOT of News

Hey all! I've been gone for a while because of all the madness associated with planning International Education Week and most recently Thanksgiving. Now that that's over, I can sit down and give some of my thoughts on recent events throughout the Black World:

Herman Cain - Oh my, where do I begin? The sole black presidential candidate for the Republican party is already in a scandal and the primaries haven't happened yet. Even though I am most likely not going to vote for him, I must say what he's in seems just another group of gold diggers trying to fill their pockets and maybe even discredit the sole black candidate for the Republican party. Overall, all the candidates so far seems like the biggest jokes. I'm surprised that the lot to choose from for this upcoming election, if you plan to vote for a Republican candidate are pretty much using those old and now laughable political tactics in hopes of gaining favor with the American public. Americans are a lot smarter than back in 2004, so I think all of these candidates need to take a seat a really become more engaged with the voters, not whose pockets they've placed their hands in.

Voting in the Democratic Republic of Congo - Many of us probably are praying that this election brings massive change to this war torn country that has been named as the rape capital of the world. But, as we noticed, change doesn't always come easy, and in the case of the DRC, it came with violence. Already, three people have been killed in voting violence - and that's just the canopy of the jungle. I simply don't get it. Why must voting have violence? If you like a certain candidate, don't for them - plain and simple. Why must you force others to not vote for them? Maybe I'm out of touch with this issue as much as the Republican candidates are with American voters...Otherwise, maybe things might be hopeful since just as powerful as the eruption in violence during the elections, volcanoes have propelled their lava into the air causing tourists from all over to stay over night to that lava glow. Sounds like an economic boost is in the DRC's near future...maybe a start to the end of bloodshed and the beginning of, well, lava-shed.

(Anti-) Same-Sex Marriage Bill in Nigeria - I was kind of annoyed to find this out this morning. Nigeria is one of the wealthiest and most powerful countries in Africa, yet nearly half of it's people are living in poverty, the public schools have gone from good to bad and electrical blackouts are commonplace (despite it being one of the top ten oil producers in the world). There are so many problems that are paramount to feed it's rapidly growing economy, but the government is focusing on strengthening it's already strict anti-homosexuality laws? To me (and I think to the majority of Nigerians) the priorities are obvious - focus on the development of the economy by creating jobs, improving education, and continue to improve the infrastructure. Afterward, maybe you focus on some of the social issues that are pretty much based on fear.

A Broad Generalization Leads to a Big Oversight

This morning, I saw another article on rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I know. Hearing about rape in what is considered by the UN as the "rape capital of the world" can be overbearing, but this article was rather interesting.

A source in the BBC News article stated the situation in the DR Congo is bad, but there are other angles that were not considered in the study conducted by the American Journal of Public Health. One factor (a very important one) that she said was not considered was the women who report they were raped to get free health care, since many people in DR Congo live at or below the poverty line and can barely afford health care if not at all.

As I read the article, I was not surprised that this was to clear up a massive generalization. Of course, when it comes to Africa, even in educated circles, we tend ignore several factors that could lead to any results. Yes, the DR Congo has a high rate of sexual violence, but, as we have seen time and time again with African situations (Libya, Ivory Coast most recently), they are far more complicated than numbers and statistics. Once we begin to understand the diversity on the world's second largest continent and how each country has unique problems, then maybe we won't have overgeneralized errors and more scientific studies of situations in Africa.