"A Different Kind of Africa"

What's in her future?

I think we have all gotten relatively used to the nightly power outages from about 6-9pm. At least we can still work and have light during the day. But we were not expecting it to be out all afternoon. Since Jeana and I (Laura) have been cleaning rooms in the clinic, that made it a bit difficult to see anything we could have possibly cleaned. I had been wanting an opportunity to talk to Dr. Y's wife, Susan, so that afternoon seemed like a good opportunity to do that.

Jeana and I spent the afternoon sitting in the pharmacy talking with her and hearing her amazing story, which I will share more in depth with you all later. But what struck me was how she kept saying: "This is a different kind of Africa!" She gets so frustrated with the people here. She says they don't have the mentality to work for their pay. They just want to grab whatever they can take. She says they are loafers and unmotivated. And I began to think about all of these comments. I know she was talking out of frustration and hopelessness after 10 years of being here and seeing little if any progress.

The poorest of the poor

But I began to put together the pieces of everything I had learned from Tom, Dr. Y's wife, and others. Imagine if you lived in a country that had only had its independence for a little less than 50 years. And this so called "independence" comes with the terms and conditions that everything under the land, diamonds, oil, etc. belongs to France. So basically anything of value upon which this country could build an economy is in Frances' control. And the amazing thing is, France isn't even using it! I am outraged when I think about this. When you look at all the countries in the world, the CAR is sixth from the bottom on the Human Development Index http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index. They are the sixth worst off country in the world!

To put this in perspective for myself and some of you at our church, they are more than 40 countries below Cambodia! So not only do they have little to develop their country with, but within the last 10 years they have undergone 4 different rebellions where whole cities and provinces are wiped out and people have to flee and left everything they had. These rebellions

have wiped out whole factories that employed many people. Every time something is started and beginning to progress, it seems that something happens to pull the nation down. Overtly we see it within the country's leadership, but covertly France still holds this country in despair.

This IS a different kind of Africa. It is an Africa that has seen hardship after hardship. It is an Africa that has been suppressed and forgotten by most. And we the church have the most powerful and only weapon that can bring peace and progress here: PRAYER. WE MUST BE ON OUR KNEES FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS HERE. If Jesus said that faith can move mountains, and that we do not receive because we do not ask, then we better start increasing our faith and asking more. Peoples lives and hope are depending on it.

Laura Gibson

Blogger's note: CAR Statistics:Total population: 4,038,000. GDP per capita (Intl $, 2004): 1,182 Life expectancy at birth m/f (years): 40.0/41.0. Healthy life expectancy at birth m/f (years, 2002): 37.0/37.7. Child mortality m/f (per 1000): 201/185. Adult mortality m/f (per 1000): 667/624. Total health expenditure per capita (Intl $, 2003): 47. Total health expenditure as % of GDP (2003): 4.0. Figures are for 2004 unless indicated. Source: The world health report 2006. For more information, go to http://www.who.int/countries/caf/en/