Opinion

What is Africa doing on Ebola?

I read this story by ADAM NOSSITER on the BBC on the situation in Sierra Leone and was very saddened that the country continues to helplessly lose lives. It is as if day by day, the Ebola situation is getting worse and all Africa is doing is waiting for help from outside.

 

Africa Map

We are comfortably resting, waiting for the West and the East (China) to come to our rescue. And that help though very much hyped on News Channels and Social Media never seems to arrive in terms of statistics. What is the number of people who are actually being treated? What have the West brought down that is helping? And where? Are we seeing the situation being controlled? Or are we waiting for a major outbreak? Isn’t the situation already ‘major’? Can’t Africa do something for itself?

More pictures, articles and videos are appearing online showing us the real situation on the ground. The mentioned article suggests that over 3700 children have been left orphaned in that region. And the descriptions the author gives of the sufferings and death in the homes, roads, hospitals and the quarantines are painful. Untrained staff who lack proper equipment are left to handle the patients and they do this risking their own lives and those of whom they live with.

Is it that we as Africans have seen ourselves so low we can’t establish clear and bold mechanisms to help ourselves? Is it that we are so poor we can’t come together and build hospitals for our fellow Africans who are dying of something Americans treat in a single day? Or is it that we don’t care? Are we so helpless? We don’t have doctors? We cannot train staff and send them over there? We don’t have a single thing that we could offer? Let them die we will focus on the disease once it reaches our backyard? But West Africa is our backyard! As long as they’re Africans they’re family!

Why can’t the African Union with all its grandiose noise making on Political Matters relating to Sovereignty, the ICC, and all the unhelpful crap they spend hours (and money) discussing sit down and allocate funds towards the finding and distribution of a proper cure for Ebola? Don’t we have just a little money to save lives? But apparently we have money to maintain armies. Our politicians have money to fly out and get specialised treatments. Our so called leaders have cash, so much that even whilst we languish in poverty and whilst our systems from health, education to transport fail, their families are busy taking selfies in Paris in the name of looking for amicable solutions to problems we ourselves can solve.

Africa can handle the Ebola situation perfectly. But we have chosen not to. We have decided to sit down and wait for the West to send in their armies and slowly take over our oil fields in the future. Their help may never come. They don’t really care. They have the means to fly out their citizens and treat them in high end facilities. It isn’t like Ebola is a disease for Africans! But we are making it seem so.

Africa languishes because we are selfish. And our selfishness has made it very impossible for us to be able to help ourselves when the whole world is neglecting us. We have elected stupid, soulless muggins who only care about money. Money for themselves not for us. But we can change that right now. We can demand the AU to do something. Not say something, but actually do something.

Africa has the best doctors in the world. We have the most dedicated researchers. Together we can do a lot. We are sleeping, waiting to die. Unable to contain something we sure can avoid. No seriously, what is Africa doing?

12 Comments

  1. Ebola in Nigeria has been contained, I think other African countries should share the strategies they used in tackling it. Thank God for the USA Zmapp Ebola vaccine.

  2. Ebola in Nigeria has been contained, I think other African countries should share the strategies they used in tackling it. Thank God for the USA Zmapp Ebola vaccine.

  3. Africans are indeed doing as much as they can to cure those with Ebola and making progress, it’s just not being shown in the media to perpetuate the notion that Africans can’t do anything for themselves. I worked with a team recently in London who have being working tirelessly to come up a natural cure and the best one so far is colloidal silver. We met at the Sierra Leone high commission and there were mostly Africans there who are doing as much as they can and training others too.

    1. that is good to hear. But I’d love to see big African organizations doing something as well. Something like the AU. Doctors from our countries being flown out. Our own armies helping out. Such like stuff.

  4. Africans are indeed doing as much as they can to cure those with Ebola and making progress, it’s just not being shown in the media to perpetuate the notion that Africans can’t do anything for themselves. I worked with a team recently in London who have being working tirelessly to come up a natural cure and the best one so far is colloidal silver. We met at the Sierra Leone high commission and there were mostly Africans there who are doing as much as they can and training others too.

    1. that is good to hear. But I’d love to see big African organizations doing something as well. Something like the AU. Doctors from our countries being flown out. Our own armies helping out. Such like stuff.

  5. I have the same question, and more importantly, what are we the ordinary citizens doing about it?
    Are we comfortable with our ministers telling us that our countries are ready for an Ebola outbreak should it occur there?
    What about the Africans who are dying in large numbers in the affected areas? Has a life of a black person become so cheap to other blacks?

    Thanks to the Europeans, Chines, USA and other non-African states who seem to know what to do when there is a problem. I personally have zero faith in the AU and other obsolete directionless African organizations and institutions.

    Africa is like a five year old child who has no clue what to do when faced with a problem, we become paralyzed by such small things like kidnapped girls from Nigeria. We had to get help from Europe/USA ( our parents) to get our girls back.

  6. I have the same question, and more importantly, what are we the ordinary citizens doing about it?
    Are we comfortable with our ministers telling us that our countries are ready for an Ebola outbreak should it occur there?
    What about the Africans who are dying in large numbers in the affected areas? Has a life of a black person become so cheap to other blacks?

    Thanks to the Europeans, Chines, USA and other non-African states who seem to know what to do when there is a problem. I personally have zero faith in the AU and other obsolete directionless African organizations and institutions.

    Africa is like a five year old child who has no clue what to do when faced with a problem, we become paralyzed by such small things like kidnapped girls from Nigeria. We had to get help from Europe/USA ( our parents) to get our girls back.

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