It is now becoming more and more apparent that Africa is in a state of disrepair, but why? First it is important to understand what symptoms Africa is showing, in light of this trying time. The symptoms of Africa’s proverbial illness include drought, anarchy and religious conflict, all of which causing more damage then the last. The first symptom, and defiantly what most people consider to be the actual cause of Africa’s state of disrepair is Drought. Drought is a lack of water, but in a sense is the death of all agriculture, because what does everything need to survive? Water, without it over 16 million Africans are now in immediate danger of death. Anarchy is the state of lawless or political disorder, anarchy is seen in much of what Al-Shabab( Africa’s terrorist group it connection with Al-Qaeda) does. Most of the food and resources donated to Africa doesn’t even touch the hands of those who need it most, because either the territories are ruled by Al-Shabab who are not allowing any westerner help or the resources are simply stolen by these rebel groups or by the government itself(political corruption). Lastly, religious conflicts make it ni on impossible to escape and try to travel through Africa, meaning there is a good chance of being killed.

Now that some of the symptoms of Africa’s crisis can be seen, it is time to make an educated diagnosis much like a doctor would, after being presented with symptoms of someones illness. It is important to go over all root causes to determine the one, not necessarily disregarding the others, which is the most prevalent cause of Africa’s disrepair. The three so called causes of Africa’s crisis are the poor weather and climate, poor government and the historic causes. Firstly, and most simply are the natural cause, poor weather. This means a lack of rainfall resulting in drought, but also includes large scale fires and devastating earthquakes. As an example, men in Africa made their living by herding goats, but when the drought kicked in sooner then expected, they ran out of places to water and graze their livestock. There were 295 million goats that starved and died because of this. This means no food for the people, and no money for the farmers. However, climate and weather did make African’s starve, it did not keep them oppressed when there was no longer drought. This leads into the second cause, poor and corrupt governance. Africa has a grim history of bad government planning, lack of facilities of all kind, Hindrances facing charitable organizations due to Al-Shabab, political differences resulting in victimization of certain groups and lastly but most importantly the government is using hunger as a weapon of war. The African government is so corrupt they believe that using hunger is the best method of having complete control over the people. They do this by making agreements with warlords and Al-Shabab, forcing westerner help to retreat because they believe we are taking over their culture and ideologies. They are even victimizing certain groups who oppose their ideas, often with death. Lastly, we must look at the historic cause as to why Africa is the way it is. Europeans Colonized Africa. Kenya was under British rule, Ethiopia was occupied by Italy under Mussolini’s command and other parts of Africa were controlled by France. Needless to say, conditions were dismal under their rule. All three countries, Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia were taken by those colonial powers hastily, and without regard to the existence of their tribes and their cultures. It was only done to serve the interests of the colonial powers, not the lives of the people. This is why some Africans still hate westerner influence, even if it is via aid and relief. This now comes down to a choice, because depending on what Africa is diagnosed with, means it could have a completely different solution with various outcomes. Most prominent in the crisis in Africa is poor and corrupt governance. Despite the weather, and the historical causes, it continues to be the governments fault as to why Africans as a people are continually being oppressed. The government is to blame for large disappearances of money and aid resource, propelling starvation. The government still broadcasts its distrust for westerner influence. The UN economic commission of Africa even states that all countries in Africa fell short on corruption , political representation and respect for human rights.

Most of the responses towards this issue are non- permanent, meaning that they may offer brief help if they work, but once they cease things more or less go back to normal. In this case i mean food relief, or trying to get food directly to the people. This method of approach is great, if they are on the verge of death, but even then there is a good chance most if not all of the food will be taken by rebel groups, such as Al-Shabab. This method has been used for many years, and still has shown no improvement. A second method is one of permanence, in this case, complete government upheaval in order to abolish corruption once and for all. A government that doesn’t stand for terrorists or corruption but one that values the life and rights of every human, by still adhering to the values of the cultures already in place in Africa. This leaves the prescription, the latter has been chosen. It is first important to note that Africa is full of many fragile cultures, ones that do not want to be destroyed by having westerners coming in and building a new government that no one believes will represent Africans appropriately. It’s easy to see their distrust in the “white man” , so what needs to happen? Africans need to be educated in the fact that they have the ability to make a difference, taught what a real government with values does. They will force their governmental leaders to step down and resign, not so Americans or Canadians can start building a government, but so that they can create their own government that adheres to their beliefs and cultures so that their new government is to their own design. They must be taught how to start their own revolution, much like many countries in Europe have now successfully done. Once this first issue has been addressed, Africans can begin to restart and live with less fear. They will begin growing their own crops through new methods of irrigation that defeat drought and begin becoming self sustaining so that western aid groups and their influences will no longer be an issue. Africa will be corrected, finally.

It may seem hard to help, for the average Joe may have no idea where to start in terms of how they may help the crisis in Africa. My one suggestion would be to not donate your money to large charity organizations(who keep a considerable amount of your donation and give the rest to terrorists), but to smaller more independent organizations who understand their culture and are the only groups who still manage to remain in some of the more “anti-westerner” areas. As the hate for the westerners is still ever present, it is even my suggestion that going abroad to volunteer may not be the best idea in most cases, because to the extremists it still fuels the idea in their mind that Africa is being taken over by white people and their cultures. Please give great consideration to the charities listed below, who have successfully been helping Africa rebuild and reform.

Cauncy Maples Malawi Trust – Cauncy Maples is the oldest ship in Africa and is being renovated to give health care to over 2 million Africans.

Together4Africa – An online community and aid organization that allows you to chat with those who have similar concerns for Africa and share your ideas.

Exit Poverty – Work to empower people to stay away from poverty, a great starting point for educating my solution, among others.

Remember to continue learning about the problems in Africa, and tell others about them. You may never know who has the means or resources to make a difference.