For many years people of the West have felt sorry for the people of Africa. Sad stories abound of poverty, violence, brutality, oppression, war, corruption, starvation, genocide, tyranny - and this is after the West ended its reprehensible slave trade. There are plenty of good reasons to feel sorry for Africans.
Churches and the Peace Corps sent volunteers and missionaries who founded schools and hospitals. And . . billions and billions of dollars of aid has been given to African governments - to help people, of course. But does it?
An industry has grown up around these government and private donations, the "development" industry. It no doubt started with good intentions and has been life-saving in crisis. But there are very serious objections to aid, coming now from the people of African countries. Author and economist Dambisa Moyo is just one of the critics.
If prosperous countries really want to help - and I believe they do - the question must be asked: what is best for Africa? We'll let some Africans tell their stories, explain their own vision or passion.
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