This month head over to Washington DC’s Corcoran Gallery of Art and check out a featured exhibit, Access to Life. This is a photographic display that documents the so-called ‘Lazarus effect’ of anti-retroviral drug therapies on people living with AIDS. The Corcoran website describes the exhibit as such,

In 2007, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria initiated a joint project with Magnum Photos to graphically document the positive impact that free antiretroviral drug treatment is having on the lives of millions of AIDS patients around the world.

To document its efforts, the Global Fund turned to photographic cooperative Magnum Photos in order to utilize the talents of the some of the best photographers in the world. An international team of eight noted photographers traveled to nine countries to document the transformative effects of treatment on more than thirty individuals and their families.

The Magnum photographers disbursed to India, Haiti, Mali, Peru, Russia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland and Vietnam, and, “created visual chronicles that encompassed their subjects’ lives both before and after drug treatments.” To view images and read stories from the project, go to The Global Fund Access to Life website. 

India-Jim Goldman/Magnum Photos

Mali-Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos

The exhibit will be displayed at The Corcoran Gallery through July 20th. From there, it will move through Mexico City, Paris, London, Berlin, and Rome. A book will be produced to coincide with the European leg of the tour.

About a year-and-a-half ago, my mom bought me a t-shirt from The Gap as a gift. It was a faded red v-neck with the word INSPI[RED] emblazoned across the chest. My mom told me how she saw it at the store and thought of me, because the clothing was part of a new campaign that donated proceeds to fight AIDS in Africa. That’s when I first learned about the RED Campaign, and discovered that it’s much more complicated than the (PRODUCT) RED Razr and iPod commercials make it sound.

GAP (PRODUCT) RED word T $28.00

A bit of background courtesy of the (PRODUCT) RED website: ”(RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world’s most iconic brands to produce (PRODUCT)RED branded products. A percentage of each (PRODUCT)RED product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.”

Here’s what a (PRODUCT) RED transaction looks like (for a larger view click on the image):

Say you bought that $28.00 t-shirt from The Gap like my mom did. You might wonder what percentage of the profit is being sent to The Global Fund. It can be tricky to find out, because the amount donated varies by item and company. An example from a New York Times article on (PRODUCT) RED observes, 

…1 percent of all spending on American Express’s Red cards goes to the fund, as do 50 percent of net profits from the sale of Gap Red items and $8.50 from each sale of aMotorola Red Motorazr.

50% of the profit donated from some items sounds pretty good, but you have to remember the benefits that participating companies reap as well. They’ve seen profits, new advertising, partnerships, and good karma come their way. Speaking of advertising, the margin between money spent on promotions and funds raised to fight AIDS, is massive. Author Ron Nixon of the aforementioned Times article observes,

In its March 2007 issue, Advertising Age magazine reported that Red companies had collectively spent as much as $100 million in advertising and raised only $18 million. Officials of the campaign said then that the companies had spent $50 million on advertising and that the amount raised was $25 million. Advertising Age stood by its article.

Even if the RED Campaign figures are correct, that’s still ridiculous. Another thing that’s disturbing is that RED and the affiliated companies refuse to disclose their revenue and total contributions. There’s absolutely nothing on the RED website related to fiscal practices. What are they hiding?

Another issue is RED’s almost complete fixation on products, brand names, and simple messages rather than awareness. Watch this (PRODUCT) RED Dell Laptop commercial and see how much you learn about the campaign. 

I bet you didn’t find out that donations end up in only three African countries: Rwanda, Ghana, and Swaziland. You probably didn’t discover that the money raised provides HIV/AIDS education, counseling and treatment or that these efforts are targeted towards women and children. The only thing I found out is that I’ll become some sort of sex goddess if I carry around a Dell. 

You can talk to me until you’re blue in the face about how RED has contributed lots of money to a deserving cause, and has impacted the lives of countless people. I’ll revert back to the evidence stated above, and contend that it’s a sad thing to promote consumerism as even a partial solution to funding the HIV/AIDS pandemic. 

If you want to do something truly charitable and socially conscious, make a direct donation to The Global Fund or a similar organization. You’ll know that your money is being put to good use rather than lining the pockets of the CEOs at American Express, Gap, and the other RED companies. 

• Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan
• Hardcover 368 pages
• Little, Brown, and Company 2008
• Nigeria, Gabon, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya
• My rating: 4 out of 5 chapatis

If you are looking for a super depressing book to read, then look no further. Never has a piece of literature caused me to sink so low as Say You’re One of Them. It is truly relentless in its misery. 

The author, Uwem Akpan, has been the darling of literary critics since the first story in this collection, “An Ex-Mas Feast,” appeared in The New Yorker’s debut fiction issue in 2005. Another story from the book, “My Parent’s Bedroom,” was shortlisted for the the 2007 Caine Prize for African Writing. Somehow, I picked up my copy before I read the copious praise for Akpan’s prose. I simply perused the back cover: a brief except from “My Parent’s Bedroom.” It looked like a compelling read with a unique twist: stories about African conflict told through the eyes of children. I was sold.

“An Ex-Mas Feast” and “My Parent’s Bedroom” are the two best reads, and they are bookends on this five-story collection. The former follows a Kenyan family that survives on the wages of their twelve-year-old daughter, who prostitutes herself in the slums of Nairobi. The latter describes the terrible choice that must be made by a family caught in the middle of the Rwandan genocide. The three other stories included (two of which are book length) are not as well balanced or written, and drag out towards inevitably awful conclusions. 

If Akpan had packaged this book to include only “An Ex-Mas Feast” and “My Parent’s Bedroom,” it would be outstanding work worthy of all the buzz it has generated. Even with a few pieces that are not quite as stellar, it’s obvious that Mr. Akpan is a tremendous talent. I will be looking forward to his future work.  

An excerpt from “An Ex-Mas Feast” p. 7

Mama smiled at the glue and winked at me, pushing her tongue through the holes left by her missing teeth. She snapped the tin’s top expertly, and the shack swelled with the smell of a shoemaker’s stall. I watched her decant the kabire into my plastic “feeding bottle.” It glowed warm and yellow in the dull light. Though she still appeared drunk from last night’s party, her hands were so steady that her large tinsel Ex-mas bangle, a gift from a church Ex-mas party, did not even sway. When she had poured enough, she cut the flow of the glue by tilting the tin up. The last stream of the gum entered the bottle weakened and braided itself before tapering in midair like an icicle. She covered the plastic with her palm, to retain the glue’s power. Sniffing it would kill my hunger in case Maisha did not return with an Ex-mas feast for us. 

A: Apparently all of them.

Ben Affleck has joined the swelling ranks of celebrities out to save Africa, and he’s doing it by producing a TV report on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His documentary aired as an episode of “Nightline” on Thursday June 26th.  You can watch it in its entirety on the “Nightline” website.

[Filming in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo]

Affleck visited DRC three times within the past year, as part of what he defines as,

a long and ongoing learning experience to educate myself before making any attempt to advocate or speak out.

Oddly enough, his learning experience in DRC is what the documentary is all about. Mr. Affleck claims he’s out to “give exposure to voices which might not otherwise be heard.” Why then is he front and center in all of this? Ben Affleck is an Oscar winning actor who gets plenty of exposure, so why not try simply narrating or directing the film? “Nightline” executive producer James Goldston puts it this way,

The idea was to present the story as a personal journey, following Affleck as he met with survivors of the conflict, relief officials, and even some warlords.

And that’s exactly what happened. Ben Affleck actually met with Laurent Nkunda, the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR), officials from Medecins Sans Frontieres and the United Nations, and scores of rape survivors. The interviews do make for a compelling piece, but what about basic ethics? How is okay to interview a fourteen-year-old rape survivor on camera? Will this girl have access to support services if the interview causes trauma? ABC News which produces “Nightline,” is not known for having the best judgement when it comes to mixing celebrity with international affairs. For example, they let Leonardo DiCaprio interview President Clinton. By the way, my favorite part of the film was when Ben attempted to negotiate with the FDLR to leave Congo and go back to Rwanda. Sadly, he wasn’t successful. 

In my opinion it seems like the best way to tackle an issue is to get educated and then take action. This film focuses on the getting educated phase, leaving viewers who have become engaged to wonder what they should do in the face of such a crisis. Even some links to the advocacy and volunteer organizations that Affleck shadowed would have been appropriate. 

Watch the film and see what you think. I’m sure some people will learn a lot from it, and commend Mr. Affleck for his efforts. In the end, I do think it’s a positive thing to focus attention on the humanitarian situation in DRC, even if the spotlight has to be shared with a celebrity.

Here are links to some organizations working in Democratic Republic of Congo. You can make monetary donations to all of them, and some of them have suggestions for how to fundraise, advocate, and pressure our government on issues related to DRC. 

• Run for Congo Women
• Women for Women International
• Panzi Hospital
• Heal Africa
• Congo Global Action
• The International Rescue Committee
• Medecins Sans Frontieres 

I was in Rochester, New York this week, and there happened to be a fantastic exhibition at the George Eastman House on oil in the Niger Delta. The display included photographs and a short film by Ed Kashi of National Geographic. The images were taken from Kashi’s book, “The Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta.” 

If you aren’t in the Rochester area, and don’t have the money to purchase his book, I’d recommend previewing the images and film on the book website. They are truly stunning. 

To become better acquainted with the myriad issues related to oil in Nigeria, and oil in Africa, read John Ghazvinian’s book Untapped: The Scramble for Africa’s Oil.

The great statesman Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing.” I am reminded of this sentiment when I consider the events that continue to unfold in Zimbabwe. Yesterday, MDC opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the presidential runoff that was scheduled for this Sunday. He cited escalating state-sponsored violence, and an inability to protect his supporters from attacks, as the reason for his withdrawal. 

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s long-serving dictator has threatened war if any move is made to depose him. What could be worse than the war that’s already being perpetrated by the state of Zimbabwe against its own people? Journalists and non-governmental organizations have been documenting human rights abuses around the country since before the election. There are a wealth of reports, statements, and photographs that prove human rights violations on the part of the police, state officials, and Mugabe’s ZANU-PF cronies. Despite overwhelming evidence of Mr. Mugabe’s disregard for the welfare of his people, individuals and bodies from the UN to African Heads of State are avoiding or treading lightly on this issue. 

When I read that Mr. Tsvangirai had withdrawn from the runoff, I felt totally deflated. I have no faith in Thabo Mbeki or anyone else to step up instead of “do nothing.” The only person I’ve been impressed with is Zambia’s president, Levy Mwanawasa, and I don’t think he can pull off an intervention alone.

I’ve never thought that it was the right or just thing to interfere in the sovernty of other nations, unless a crime like genocide was occurring. But last night, I found my mind wandering to thoughts of rouge assassination plots and umbrellas with poison darts embedded in the tip. It sounds crazy but everything about Mugabe’s hold on power is crazy, and so is a world that allows that kind of destructive regime to continue. 

• Measuring Time by Helon Habila
• Paperback 383 pages
• Published by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (2007)
• Nigeria
• My rating: 4 out of 5 chapatis

Measuring Time is the story of twin brothers born in the village of Keti shortly after Nigeria’s independence. Raised in a rural backwater by an unloving father (their mother died in childbirth), Mamo and Lamamo are determined to strike out on their own in search of fame and fortune. The unexpected and glorified return of their uncle Haruna, a veteran of the Biafran War, inspires the boys to become soldiers. They steal away together in the dead of night to find a recruiter, but Mamo weakened by sickle cell anemia is forced to turn back. 

The narrative turns here to Mamo, and we follow him as he develops an academic life and becomes a historical biographer. His ambition now is to tell the story of Keti and its people by documenting the lives of ordinary citizens. Occasionally, letters arrive from Lamamo, providing updates on the grueling life of a soldier on the front lines of the West African conflicts of the 80s and 90s. As Lamamo lives history, his brother writes it.

Habila’s plot rolls along steadily, spiking at several points, and pulling the reader into Mamo’s life and the lives of a cast of entertaining characters. This is historical fiction at its best. My one suggestion is that the book could have been slimmed down a bit, as there were some sections that seemed needlessly verbose.

The wreckage of a Sudan Airways passenger jet that crashed at the Khartoum International Airport late Tuesday night. [EPA/Sudan TV]

On Tuesday, a passenger plane carrying 217 people burst into flames as it hit the runway in bad weather at Khartoum International Airport in Sudan. The fire, which rapidly consumed the Airbus A310, was caused by an explosion in one of the engines. Fortunately, at least 123 passengers and crew members survived. On the same day in Kenya, six people were killed in a plane crash near the Maasai Mara game reserve. The deceased included two government ministers. That crash could be weather related. 

Since the New Year, there have been other crashes across the continent that have taken scores of lives. On May 2nd, a plane carrying a military delegation that included South Sudan’s defense minister crashed after experiencing engine failure. Twenty-two people were killed. On April 15th, forty people were killed when a DC-9 skidded off the runway in Goma, DRC while attempting takeoff. On January 19, eleven people died in Angola when a privately-owned aircraft crashed into mountains. 

That’s a lot of accidents and a high number of fatalities in a small period of time. Is this a handful of bad air carriers with outdated equipment and a disregard for safety or should people flying in Africa be concerned? I decided to try and find out. 

The International Air Transport Association contends that, “African safety has improved, but the accident rate is still nearly six times the global average.” The IATA cites some reasons for this poor record:

• Despite high user charges, in many parts of Africa infrastructure is poorly funded and not up to international standards
• Airlines are competing in a global market that has a shortage of licensed personnel. To meet projected demand in 2026, we must train 19,000 pilots a year. With capacity of 16,000, the shortfall by 2026 would be 54,000 pilots
• Governments need to cooperate and jointly provide and recognise standards, licensing and training

The Federal Aviation Administration has created a standards system that rates countries on their aviation safety record. It’s quite a simple system. Countries, not airlines are rated with either a 1, meaning that the airlines meet standards, or a 2 meaning that they don’t. It doesn’t seem like such a great system to me because I know of quality airlines that exist side-by-side with horrendous ones. Find the list here.

The European Union has responded to African air carriers with poor safety records, by blacklisting them. This means that airlines on the list are banned from flying within the airspace of member states. The list is probably also a good indicator of which airlines lack proper safety standards. Notably, the EU blacklist includes Hewa Bora Airways of Democratic Republic of Congo. That’s the same air carrier that was involved in the April 15th crash in Goma.   

The conclusion that I’ve some to is that it is riskier to fly in Africa (about six times risker in fact). If you do your research you can make choices that will improve your chances of picking a safe carrier. There are plenty of African airlines with good records and high standards. I’ve flown Air Kenya and Air Ethiopia before and been impressed by both. 

This blogger is on vacation in Washington DC. Posts should appear again sometime next week. 

…he probably won’t be dressed like this when I drop by the Hart Senate Office Building, but it’s still worth a shot.

I’ve had malaria twice, and if not for swift treatment, I might not be here today (this was despite sleeping under a treated bed net). So it was with great interest that I read an article in today’s New York Times that discussed how donating bed nets to African children has become a trendy thing to do. The bulk of the article was about Nothing But Nets, a United Nations Foundation campaign to fight malaria in Africa through the use of insecticide treated bed nets.

Nothing But Nets is a fundraising campaign that has seen a lot of success. According to the meter on their website, they’ve donated 2,025,693 nets at a cost of $10 each. If you don’t know much about malaria or bed nets, you might think that the Nothing But Nets campaign strategy (blanketing sub-Saharan Africa with bed nets) is the only way to go. In my opinion it’s not. The nets that are being donated in droves today will need to be replaced in three to five years. What happens if the frenzy amongst high school students and churchgoers to fund these nets dies out (anyone else remember when those UNICEF collection boxes were cool)? I find it to be problematic that the money that is being poured into this program is not being spent on creating a sustainable solution to the problem of malaria. Rather, the flow of nets is only enhancing a dependency on donated supplies. I’d like to at least know if the nets are being produced and bought from African companies, but the NBN website doesn’t tell me that.  

Less dramatic and less tangible than a bed net is research for a vaccine. Why aren’t we throwing armloads of ten dollar bills at the Malaria Vaccine Initiative? And what about spraying with DDT? We know that it works. This pesticide is the reason that we no longer have malaria in the United States. There are certainly barriers and costs to spraying Africa, but isn’t the greater cost the hundreds of thousands of lives lost each year? (An op-ed by Nick Kristof on spraying DDT in Africa can be found here.)

As long as there is no sustainable way to deal with malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, bed nets will be needed. They do save lives and they do bring down malaria rates when used correctly. But it’s like placing a band aid on a gaping wound. What I think is really missing, is our will to alter our vision and bypass the quick fix in favor of a lasting change.