This weekend I posted (actually, my dear husband posted for me, since low bandwidth in the Gambia makes it hard to upload info onto the internet) the photo of the billboard showing the soldier and the condom. It’s just before the “Dreamgirls” entry with the Bratz cake, in case you missed it, and is titled “Funded by the US Department of Defense”. The first time we saw that we said “what?!”, stopped, turned around and looked at it again. Imagine driving down Lancaster Ave or Roosevelt Blvd. (or…insert your most traveled street here) and seeing that as one of the most prominent (among very few) signs. It also shows how prevalent the issue of AIDS in Africa is, even in a country with a comparably lower incidence of the disease. What was your reaction to this sign and the US Department of Defense funding of it?
Here in local news, every night we watch the President curing AIDS and asthma patients with secret herbs and the Quran. This is making international news. I’ll share more on that tomorrow...
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A Philadelphia-area family's adventures during a three-month stay in The Gambia, West Africa.
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4 comments:
To be honest, my first reaction was to be offended. But then I thought about how serious the HIV/AIDS problem is in Africa, and I was actually impressed that the current administration is funding such an education effort.
My reaction to the cake was the same as when I was in a humongous marketplace in Central America in the mid 70's, admiring the sea of beautiful woven blouses (huipils) that the seated women were wearing while selling their fruits and vegetables, when suddenly an abberation appeared on one of them in the form of a half naked Farrah Fawcett T Shirt.
My reaction?: Wow!
I think this is a hell of a lot more responsible, accurate and laudable compared to a leader of a country waving leaves around with a copy of the Koran, and declaring his supplicant "cured" of HIV/AIDs and asthma.
I recoil from the "oh the west is so awful" and "how dare these aid workers not give rides to people." Are they a bus service? Do they have to have protocols to prevent abuse?
Africa is harmed by the utter lack of the well meaning to engage in practical comparison and contrast.
Let's stop bashing the dreaded west and start honestly examining the societies who are holding their own advancement or lack of it in their hands.
Yeah, why is the Gambian leader off limits, but foreign aid decried?
The US wants to promote political stability, and we need a healthy population to do that. HIV/AIDs is so vast it has the potential to destabilize whole countries.
That's our interest, it's vital, and it's mutual with the Gambian people.
It would shock me if I heard some of the politically correct foreigners speak bluntly about the need for a more educated health policy by the Gambian leadership.
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