President Obama had this to say about his role as President.

Transcript:
I have a direct responsibility to my constituents to make their lives better. That’s why they put me in there. That accounts for some of the questions here, how concretely does me being here help them find a job, pay for their home, send their kids to college, live what we call the American dream. I will be judged by my effectiveness in meeting their needs and concerns.
But, in an era of integration and interdependence, it is also my responsibility to lead America into recognizing its interests, its fate is tied up with the larger world. That if we neglect or abandon those who are suffering in poverty, that not only are we depriving ourselves of potential opportunities in markets and economic growth, but that despair may turn to violence that turns on us. That unless we are concerned about the education of all children and not just our children, not only will we be depriving ourselves of the next great scientist to find the next new energy source that saves the planet, but we also may make people around the world much more vulnerable to anti-American propaganda. So, if I’m effective as America’s president now, part of that effectiveness involves providing Americans insight into how their self-interest is tied up with yours.

President Barack Obama announced Thursday that US food and agriculture aid to Africa, Latin America and other poor regions would double to more than one billion dollars because of the economic crisis.
Obama said that he would start work with Congress in the coming days to give 448 million dollars in immediate assistance to vulnerable populations -- such as those in Africa and Latin America.
He added that he aimed to "double support for agricultural development to over one billion dollars so that we are giving people the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty".

The-Afri-Can-Connection

I'm not sure the exact date that I emailed Corrine O'Neill. I was browsing on Facebook and came across her profile through one of my friends in Nigeria. What I do remember is how quickly she responded to my inquiry. This shocked me, because I had emailed a few other organizations about volunteering but had yet to receive a response, let alone a return email from any of them. As many people that are suffering in the world I couldn't understand how so many other organizations allow people who are willing to serve to "slip through the cracks of non-communication." But, Corrine responded so quick that I had to respect her, even if I hadn't yet had the opportunity of finding out her org's views. Not only did she respond within a day or so, but she loaded me down with tons of information about her organization, The-Afri-Can-Connection.

The-Afri-Can-Connection is a Canadian based organization which offers business solutions to rural residents of Ghana by implementing computer technologies into their communities and then training the residents on how to use and maintain the systems.

Moreover, The-Afri-Can-Connection is funding the structure of the Manye Academy which provides academic resources for nearly 300 children. Manye Academy is situated in Kpone Barrier which is outside Ghana's largest industrial city called Tema.

According to Corrine, Mr. Kabutey Nartey, a compassionate soul and his loving wife, Emma Nartey, a Nurse, have invested everything that they have into the construction of a rudimentary 8 room school, salaries for 16 teachers and supplies for the school and children.

The Afri-Can-Connection has assumed the responsibility of providing the schools needs and future construction plans.

Once the new facility is completed with the help of The Afri-Can Connection, poor students from the surrounding communities will have access to a top education in science and arts which will prepare them fully for secondary and post-secondary education.

according to Mr. Annan...

this article was reported on 3.20.09 by the AFP. The American Free Press is a weekly newspaper published in the US.The American Free Press is a populist weekly newspaper that reports what the mainstream media will not. Here's their report.

LAGOS (AFP) — Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan Friday called on Africa's ageing leaders, including Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, to make way for younger successors, saying it was a "shame" how they clung to power.
"It is a profound shame that since independence so many African leaders, once elected, come to believe that only they can be trusted to run their country," said Annan.
"The result all too quickly becomes government for the benefit of the ruling elite rather than society as a whole," he said in an address to a Nigerian research institute, the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation.
Annan said Africa needed political leaders "who recognise that democracy means they that can be voted out as well as into power.
"I don't see why any African at 84, at 85, can still feel that they are the only ones who can run their country and won't hand over to younger men.
"Look at Obama, he is 47, in many African countries they would probably consider him too young," Annan said, referring to the new US President Barack Obama.
If Mugabe, who at 85 is the oldest African president, was to be replaced by a younger person, "his attitude would be different," Annan said.
"We must find ways to attract much larger numbers of talented young men and women into politics...there are men and women of their time, they know how the world works.
Good leadership and governance as well as tough anti-corruption practices, would ensure a country's natural resources are used to improve society, he said.
"For too many countries in Africa, natural resources have not been a boon but a curse. We must (have) greater transparency in the revenue which governments receive from the extraction of natural resources and how the money is spent," said Annan

Every drop for sale

It is said that:

As oil was the crisis of the twentieth century, water is the crisis of the twenty-first. Less than .0008 percent of the total water on earth is fit for human consumption, but global consumption of fresh water is doubling every twenty years. Water has become perhaps our most precious commodity-a life-sustaining but increasingly rare and privatized resource. A dramatic gap exists between those who have adequate water for survival and those who don't, and tensions over water in some areas of the world hover just below open war.

Please read: Every Drop for Sale: Our Desperate Battle over Water in a World about to Run Out by Jeffrey Rothfeder

This is an excellent book that gives alot of insight to the actual situation of the world's water situation.

Village Phones

Based on the pioneering work of the Grameen Village Phone in Bangladesh, Village Phone and Village Phone Direct extends the benefits of affordable telecommunications access in a sustainable, profitable and empowering way. This relatively inexpensive technology can solve many of the problems the poor in rural villages have faced for decades. Grameen Foundation serves as a catalyst and creates the linkage between the telecommunications sector and the microfinance sector to enable microfinance clients to borrow the money needed to purchase a “Village Phone business” – literally, a business in a box. These grassroots entrepreneurs, or Village Phone Operators (VPOs), operate their businesses in rural villages where no telecommunications services previously existed; they rent the use of the phone to their community on a per-call basis. The VPOs provide affordable rates to their patrons while earning enough to repay their loans and earn profits that allow them to make investments in their children’s health, Village Phone has become recognized as a solid business model for reaching rural populations. It is also acknowledged as a sustainable development tool by governments and development agencies such as the World Bank, the United Nations, the International Finance Corporation and USAID.
Village Phone projects are currently underway in the Rwanda, and Uganda. For further information on Village Phone, please contact villagephone@grameenfoundation.org.

I Dream a World by Langston Hughes

I dream a world
where manNo other man will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom's way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day.
A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And every man is free,
Where wretchedness will hang its head
And joy, like a pearl,
Attends the needs of all mankind
-Of such I dream, my world!


Langston Hughes

What does Africa need?

What does Africa need? I’ll tell you what (I think) it doesn’t need. Africa doesn’t need any more negative media coverage.
When many people think about Africa, a lot of different mental visuals come to mind. If you’re a Westerner, you have probably been exposed to countless television infomercials about the poverty that is plaguing Africa. If that’s not your mental vision, then perhaps the image of jungles, wild life and a population of uncivilized people running around embeds your psyche. . A recent episode of the popular NBC drama "Medical Investigation" was about an anthrax scare in Philadelphia. The source of the deadly spores? Some illegal immigrants from Africa playing their drums in a local market, unknowingly infecting innocent passersby. Typical: If it's a deadly disease, the scriptwriters make it come from Africa.

Not to mention, the short history lessons about Africa that our elementary children are exposed to. I’ll never forget the shame that came across my child’s face when I told her that we were from Africa. It took years and years of positive reinforcement and instruction to undo the mis-education that the public school system had taught her. I decided from that point on, that I was the one who was responsible for my children’s outlook and pride about their heritage. Sadly, the masses have been exposed to far too many negative images of Africa. Africa needs more positive media coverage.

Carol Pineau, a journalist with more than 10 years of experience reporting on Africa, is the producer and director of the film "Africa: Open for Business expounded on the negative effects of media coverage. The effects of negative media coverage on Africa have affected its economy. According to the U.S. government's Overseas Private Investment Corp., offers the highest return in the world on direct foreign investment, it attracts the least. Unless investors see the Africa that's worthy of investment, they won't put their money into it. And that lack of investment translates into job stagnation, continued poverty and limited access to education and health care.

Pineau also writes, “Yes, Africa is a land of wars, poverty and corruption. The situation in places like Darfur, Sudan, desperately cries out for more media attention and international action. But Africa is also a land of stock markets, high rises, Internet cafes and a growing middle class. This is the part of Africa that functions. And this Africa also needs media attention, if it's to have any chance of fully joining the global economy.”