Lessons from Africa

Lessons from Africa https://t.co/HV09z9Fj47 via @YouTube

— 𝓙𝓲𝓶 𝓟𝓮𝓮𝓽 (@jrpeet) September 4, 2019

Moonshine or a mosquito net

Moonshine or the Kids?

Excerpt:

The Obamzas have no mosquito net, even though they have already lost two of their eight children to malaria. They say they just can’t afford the $6 cost of a net. Nor can they afford the $2.50-a-month tuition for each of their three school-age kids.

“It’s hard to get the money to send the kids to school,” Mr. Obamza explained, a bit embarrassed.

But Mr. Obamza and his wife, Valerie, do have cellphones and say they spend a combined $10 a month on call time.

In addition, Mr. Obamza goes drinking several times a week at a village bar, spending about $1 an evening on moonshine. By his calculation, that adds up to about $12 a month — almost as much as the family rent and school fees combined.

I asked Mr. Obamza why he prioritizes alcohol over educating his kids. He looked pained.

...

Well-meaning humanitarians sometimes burnish suffering to make it seem more virtuous and noble than it often is. If we’re going to make more progress, and get kids like the Obamza children in school and under bed nets, we need to look unflinchingly at uncomfortable truths — and then try to redirect the family money now spent on wine and prostitution.

Comment: A good article on the limits of charitable help! Giving this family $ 10 per month (an amount of which would be amazingly easy for all of my readers) might make us "feel good" but it would not solve the Obamza's real needs. Only the gospel can radically change the heart and only a change of heart will change Mr Obamza's priorities! (A math lesson may be in order too! If he spends $ 1 per night drinking that would seem to be more like $ 30 per month, not $ 12)

Pigeon-Net

Pigeon beats Internet firm in data transfer race

Excerpt:

A South African company on Wednesday proved it was faster to transmit data by carrier pigeon than to send it using the country's leading internet service provider.

Local news agency SAPA reported the 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly the 50 miles from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card strapped to its leg.

Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds — the time it took for only four percent of the data to be transferred using a line provided by Telkom.

SAPA said Unlimited IT performed the stunt after becoming frustrated with slow internet transmission times.

The company has 11 call centers around the country and regularly sends data to its other branches.

Comment: I'm thankful for Comcast!