A while back, Aaron Markson (Sanctuary Director of Music) and I were interviewed for an article that a woman at Columbia News Service was writing on Groom’s Showers. She found me through this post on Aaron’s Groom’s Shower. I just did a search to see if Ms. Taylor ever wrote the article and she did…check it out here .

Wow….it makes me think about our arrogance as a nation….and mine as a person. 

Stop Trying To ‘Save’ Africa

By Uzodinma Iweala

Washington Post

Sunday, July 15, 2007; Page B07

Last fall, shortly after I returned from Nigeria, I was accosted by a perky blond college student whose blue eyes seemed to match the “African” beads around her wrists.

“Save Darfur!” she shouted from behind a table covered with pamphlets urging students to TAKE ACTION NOW! STOP GENOCIDE IN DARFUR!

My aversion to college kids jumping onto fashionable social causes nearly caused me to walk on, but her next shout stopped me.

“Don’t you want to help us save Africa?” she yelled.

It seems that these days, wracked by guilt at the humanitarian crisis it has created in the Middle East, the West has turned to Africa for redemption. Idealistic college students, celebrities such as Bob Geldof and politicians such as Tony Blair have all made bringing light to the dark continent their mission. They fly in for internships and fact-finding missions or to pick out children to adopt in much the same way my friends and I in New York take the subway to the pound to adopt stray dogs.

This is the West’s new image of itself: a sexy, politically active generation whose preferred means of spreading the word are magazine spreads with celebrities pictured in the foreground, forlorn Africans in the back. Never mind that the stars sent to bring succor to the natives often are, willingly, as emaciated as those they want to help.

Perhaps most interesting is the language used to describe the Africa being saved. For example, the Keep a Child Alive/” I am African” ad campaign features portraits of primarily white, Western celebrities with painted “tribal markings” on their faces above “I AM AFRICAN” in bold letters. Below, smaller print says, “help us stop the dying.”

Such campaigns, however well intentioned, promote the stereotype of Africa as a black hole of disease and death. News reports constantly focus on the continent’s corrupt leaders, warlords, “tribal” conflicts, child laborers, and women disfigured by abuse and genital mutilation. These descriptions run under headlines like “Can Bono Save Africa?” or “Will Brangelina Save Africa?” The relationship between the West and Africa is no longer based on openly racist beliefs, but such articles are reminiscent of reports from the heyday of European colonialism, when missionaries were sent to Africa to introduce us to education, Jesus Christ and “civilization.”

There is no African, myself included, who does not appreciate the help of the wider world, but we do question whether aid is genuine or given in the spirit of affirming one’s cultural superiority. My mood is dampened every time I attend a benefit whose host runs through a litany of African disasters before presenting a (usually) wealthy, white person, who often proceeds to list the things he or she has done for the poor, starving Africans. Every time a well-meaning college student speaks of villagers dancing because they were so grateful for her help, I cringe. Every time a Hollywood director shoots a film about Africa that features a Western protagonist, I shake my head — because Africans, real people though we may be, are used as props in the West’s fantasy of itself. And not only do such depictions tend to ignore the West’s prominent role in creating many of the unfortunate situations on the continent, they also ignore the incredible work Africans have done and continue to do to fix those problems.

Why do the media frequently refer to African countries as having been “granted independence from their colonial masters,” as opposed to having fought and shed blood for their freedom? Why do Angelina Jolie and Bono receive overwhelming attention for their work in Africa while Nwankwo Kanu or Dikembe Mutombo, Africans both, are hardly ever mentioned? How is it that a former mid-level U.S. diplomat receives more attention for his cowboy antics in Sudan than do the numerous African Union countries that have sent food and troops and spent countless hours trying to negotiate a settlement among all parties in that crisis?

Two years ago I worked in a camp for internally displaced people in Nigeria, survivors of an uprising that killed about 1,000 people and displaced 200,000. True to form, the Western media reported on the violence but not on the humanitarian work the state and local governments — without much international help — did for the survivors. Social workers spent their time and in many cases their own salaries to care for their compatriots. These are the people saving Africa, and others like them across the continent get no credit for their work.

Last month the Group of Eight industrialized nations and a host of celebrities met in Germany to discuss, among other things, how to save Africa. Before the next such summit, I hope people will realize Africa doesn’t want to be saved. Africa wants the world to acknowledge that through fair partnerships with other members of the global community, we ourselves are capable of unprecedented growth.

Uzodinma Iweala is the author of “Beasts of No Nation,” a novel about child soldiers.

This past weekend I officiated the second wedding ceremony of my pastoral life. This one too was a former student from a high school ministry in Omaha where I used to work. What a cool thing to be a part of a very special event in the life of a couple. Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Brandon & Melissa Geary!! Here are a couple of pics…

OK….I am flip-flopping more than any politician that you’ve ever heard. I had every intent to be done with this thing but have come to the conclusion that I can give some space in my life to this blog.

A few days ago, I was on Todd Hiestand’s  blog and read this:

I am only blogging when I feel like it and when it’s a natural extension of things I am already thinking or doing.  I am done trying to “be a blogger” and am now fine with being “a guy who blogs.”

I like this approach and will now seek to do the same. I’ll be on here as life gives opportunity.

Should you be one of the few (my wife mainly ) that still pop by here even though the author never posts, I am going to relieve you of your responsibility. This blog was initially started as a tool to keep people in the loop as we have been working to start a new church in Hudson, WI — Sanctuary. I have digressed from this intended purpose because I don’t think that this is the best way to inform our supporters of our work and I lack the enthusiasm for posting on this on a more regular basis.

With this in mind, I have decided to retire from blogging officially…practically this was done in January. If you would like to stay informed on Michele and I then e-mail me and I will include you on our newsletter list. If you would like to keep up on Sanctuary happenings then visit the above website.

May this blog Rest In Peace.