c. 2005 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) We are American Christians of African descent.
We have seen the fight for apartheid. We participated in Live Aid concerts and hummed to the melody of “We Are the World.” We have witnessed plane after plane, ship after ship carrying manna from heaven _ abundant amounts of food for the people of Africa.
Together, we share a commitment with millions of missionaries and active socially minded groups around the world to “feed the hungry, heal the sick and to get at liberty those who are oppressed.”
So why are there still so many admonitions to keep caring for Africa? Didn’t those outreaches work? Couldn’t we satisfy the appetite of the people?
Recently we were invited, along with 20 of our esteemed colleagues, to meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in an effort to continue a long and established bipartisan tradition of church-state cooperation in areas of need and opportunity.
President Bush fortunately has realized the potential network of faith-based leadership in addressing the needs of the people of Africa. The recent signing of the African Growth and Opportunity Act extension is but one example of his appreciation of Africa’s importance to the U.S. as a trading partner and supplier of strategic minerals.
But is it enough? In a word, no.
Africa is crying out for more than a place in the international buffet line. Both of us have witnessed the opaque hopelessness throughout most of the continent. Why, in the 21st century, is this still the case? Why after so much assistance do so many African children daily fall victim to starvation, disease and economic despair?
Too much grief, not enough care.
UNAIDS (the United Nations Assembly for AIDS) has published a haunting report that concludes more than 80 million people living in Africa could perish from AIDS by 2025 unless concerted actions are taken. Another catastrophe awaits. Why can’t we band together again _ now _ before so many people die largely as a result of our apathy?
In the era of communal globalization, and as a result of the work of the World Trade Organization, international trade has more than tripled; nevertheless, the continent’s shared debt has more than quadrupled. Their share of global exports has declined from nearly 5 percent in 1980 to fewer than 2 percent today, according to the United Nations Economic Commission.
Africa is believed to be the birthplace of all humanity. Its land is unlike any other with millions of acres of sweeping plains and hidden natural resources, yet this vast continent is largely overlooked by mass commerce internationally.
The action of G-8 leaders meeting in Scotland needed to happen. The people of this ravaged continent needed to be relieved of that insurmountable debt. Why worry about what the destitute people of Africa owe and focus on what they want to give _ their land, their resources, their lives? The time is now for them to be given a chance to contribute, an opportunity to overcome.
No great movement for change has occurred in America without the passion and prophetic voice of people of faith. If we are to put an end to poverty and human suffering at home and abroad, church and state will require divine inspiration and the cooperation of people of non-Christian faiths and secular idealists. Working together, we can find multinational, technical and institutional answers to Africa’s most pressing needs.
African-Americans and all Americans, it is time to care about Africa.
MO/PH END RNS
(Bishop T.D. Jakes is the founder and senior pastor of the 30,000-member Potter’s House of Dallas. Andrew Young, chairman of Atlanta-based GoodWorks International, is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.)
Editors: Search the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for file photos of Jakes and Young.
