I know it isn't quite as sexy as some blond girl abducted at a popular resort island destination. Certainly, as a story, it's not as captivating as a Presidential bike ride with a major US athlete who was able to beat the French on their own turf.
No, the current crisis in Niger is just another one of those perennial tests of our basic moral character that America seems so good at failing. (And we were doing pretty well after the Tsunami!)
Luckily, the world has a voice in Koffi Annan, who is willing to speak up about the matter. You can find coverage of his visit to the area at the BBC online. Niger, along with a few other countries in the Sahel, is facing famine due to locusts, drought, and already impoverished living conditions. Estimates place nearly 2.5 million people at risk of critical food shortage.
Beyond the fact that there are some really great NGOs that are doing admirable work and who deserve your support, there are some political elements to this tragedy we seem to be overlooking:
1. Opportunity Cost - The UN estimates it needs roughly $146 million dollars to assist those facing acute food shortage; it has only received half this amount in pledges. If America was truly a moral leader in the world, it wouldn't think twice about covering this paltry sum. Sadly, we've been spending far more than that on a ridiculous escapade in the desert that won't feed starving children. Imagine putting as much time and effort that we placed into destabilizing Iraq into ending poverty and preventing crises in places like West Africa. That would be the testament of a truly great nation.
2. Christian Nation, not likely - Instead of working to feed and cloth those less fortunate, the clowns who claim to represent Christian identity in this country call for the assassination of major world leaders. If Christ returned to Earth, he would cry at the state of his Church. The Left really has to start calling the so-called Christian Right on its hooey. For ideas on how the Christian Left should start enhancing its role in American debate, I advise you to check out www.faithandjustice.org.
3. We still don't care about black people - I have a friend who recently dined with a State Department Employee, who informed him that in his humble opinion "Africa doesn't matter." The evidence suggests that this is pretty status quo in the echelons of our government. Of things that our government has proven don't really matter, though, number one still has to be basic human decency.
Famine and starvation should be inexcusable in the modern era. We did such a good job raising funds for Paul Hackett, let's at least get the ball rolling on this current crisis. If you have a moment, I would highly recommend donating to an aid agency that is working in the area. I have already given to WorldVision for Niger relief (www.worldvision.org), and I would recommend giving to them, to Doctors without Borders (www.msf.org) or to Catholic Relief Services (www.crs.org), all of which are very strong nongovernmental organizations. If you prefer, you can also give to UNICEF (www.unicefusa.org), which is also doing a lot to help the population there.
I lived and taught in this area for two years of my life. In Burkina Faso, I saw constant signs of malnourishment in the village where I was, and I couldn't imagine people in the region trying to survive on much less.