Los Angeles Times - July 25, 2003
Paul Anderson**

"What's the point of that?" he griped. "We got enough problems here with the economy. Hey pal, why don't you spend that money creating some jobs in your own country first? Sheesh."

Sounds reasonable. But it's not.

Oh sure, the economy's suffering and I wish those feuding goofs in Washington would do a little less bickering over 16 words and more to drive down the skyrocketing unemployment rate. The same goes for the dingbats on both sides of the aisles in Sacramento who are trying to figure out how to hijack the state's budget in a way that will benefit their party.

But lives hang in the balance in the sub-Saharan African countries. And even though it's so far away and we ought to be doing more to help those afflicted with AIDS and HIV here, we need to do the right thing.

Why? Well, listen to Daniso Mokgwathi's reasoning. She's the director of Pitzer College's program in Botswana.

"How many other countries would extend that kind of help without blinking?" Mokgwathi told me at a get-together this week with the directors of Pitzer's other overseas programs. It wasn't just what she said, but how she said it that struck me. She's right. America is a generous nation. We should pride ourselves on that. She lamented that several other European countries have withdrawn aid to Botswana, considered a relatively wealthy nation in southern Africa because of its diamond reserves.

Diamond mining may have made some in Botswana rich, but the country's grappling with high unemployment and poverty. You think the jobless rate in America's bad? The CIA pegs Botswana's unemployment rate at close to 40%. And the HIV/AIDS infection rates are the highest in the world, a problem that threatens to stymie the country's economic progress. Nearly two of five residents ages 15 to 49 are infected.

The population, which stands at about 1.7 million, is expected to dip below one million by 2050.

And then consider this more personal and more human statistic. Just before she left for her trip to America, Mokgwathi said, six acquaintances of hers in her town had died of AIDS-related illnesses. I know the feeling. A few of my friends have died from AIDS-related maladies.

Bush made a big splash in the headlines this month as he trekked through Africa stumping for his plan to fight AIDS.

As soon as he got back, his critics lashed out at him for failing to deliver as much as he promised in the first year of the funding plan. The $3 billion planned got slashed to $2 billion.

Kebokile Dengu-Zvobgo, director of Pitzer's program in neighboring Zimbabwe, had an interesting perspective on the issue. She's eventually hoping for the same thing my father's friend is - the day when the United States doesn't dole out any more money to bail out African countries. On that day, she argued, Africa wouldn't be beholden to the West for aid and would be able to return to its roots.

Dengu-Zvobgo blames issues like AIDS in Africa on colonialism. I know, it sounds crazy and I don't quite buy the argument, but it's a pretty good point. She says the cultural relativism that has descended on Africa as a result of the Western-oriented "global village" has led to a changing of social mores. In other words, many African cultures are experiencing their own sexual revolution. That has fed the spread of AIDS, she argued. Well, that's not the only reason for the proliferation of AIDS in Africa. There are many other contributing factors, but that's not the main point Dengu-Zvobgo is trying to make.

She thinks the Western nations that plundered and took over African countries ought to make redress, but she also pines for the day when Zimbabwe can reclaim its cultural values and not have to rely on foreign aid. I don't blame her. I often wish America would return to her values as well - like tolerance, strong nuclear families and vigorous, informed debate. Those all seem in short supply these days.

I can't say I agreed with everything our visiting African friends had to say about world affairs when we chatted this week, but I'm certain of this: It shows what a great city Claremont is that you can find such fascinating conversations.

** PAUL M. ANDERSON is the city editor of the Claremont-Upland Voice. Reach him at 484-7082.

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