CESD Presents the 2008 Travelers' Philanthropy Conference

Update-17 of June 2008- East Africans Enthusiastically Welcome Obama’s Presidential Bid Click here to read article

Update-17 of June 2008- Africa Insight: Obama Victory in Democratic Party Poll has Continent in a Spin Click here to read article

Update-9 of June 2008- Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai to Speak at Travelers’ Philanthropy Conference Click here to read press release

Update-12 of March 2008- Nature Based Tourism Good for Kenya and Good for Biodiversity Click here to read article

Update- 6 of March 2008 -Strong Institutions will Save Kenya click here to read article

Update- 3rd of March 2008 -Kenya Returns to Political Stability — and Leaders Urge a Return of Tourism as well- click here to read article

Kenya’s (Real) Crisis

By Dennis Pinto

If Kenya and its African neighbors received the same kind of mass media attention about its most profound and life-threatening problems as it has about its recent post-election incidents, then perhaps the continent could make some true headway in its battles against extreme poverty, chronic hunger and HIV/AIDS.

But alas, it seems that these critical issues are simply not new enough nor sufficiently newsworthy to make headlines. After all, there are no machete-carrying men in these grim illnesses, no flames and no fury. Most of the victims in these battles have no fight left in them.

The death of some eight hundred people in Kenya’s post-election riots is known by everyone reading newspapers today, yet the fact that an African child is orphaned by AIDS every 14 seconds is known by very few. Kenya and most other African countries, it seems, suffer from “feast or famine” media attention.

As a Kenyan living in New York and the owner of a large safari outfitter operating in East Africa, I have turned to any and all resources to keep me informed about the situation. I receive daily updates from the Kenya Tourist Police and Kenya Tourist Federation, as well as reports from our staff on-the-ground. Yet, what is frustrating and even laughable at times are the striking discrepancies between what I am hearing from my Nairobi-based staff and fellow Kenyan tourism suppliers, compared to what is being portrayed by news outlets.

The situation is neither as apocalyptic nor the violence as pervasive as implied in the news. Incidents are taking place almost exclusively in the heavily populated slums of major cities or in remote country areas—not in the “average” neighborhoods of the cities, not in the country’s legendary game parks, and not on the typical tourist tracts.

Furthermore, millions and millions of reasonable, middle-class Kenyans have not been affected nor involved in any way. These Kenyans are as appalled by the situation as the rest of the world. Yet we do not hear about them in the media either.

According to the Kenyan Tourist Board, there were 30,000 international tourists in Kenya during the turbulent post-election weeks, none of whom were involved nor injured in any way. My company has had several hundred travellers on safari over the last month and none of them have seen nor heard any of the clashes that we witness on the evening news in the United States. It has been business as usual. But again, this does not make for a good headline.

Missing also from media reports have been the heartwarming stories of Kenyans helping Kenyans. A friend in Nairobi emailed the other day, “All is well in the city centre with the grocery shelves well-stocked and people busy buying. The best part, though, are the big piles of non-perishable foods stacked up at the front of the store—all donated by Kenyans to be sent to fellow Kenyans in the worst affected towns. Everyone is trying to help each other.”

If members of the media want to help Africa, then I call upon them to report on the formidable menaces of Africa and not just the sensational, occasional problems. As activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Bono writes in “The End of Poverty” by Jeffrey D. Sachs, “Fifteen thousand Africans die each and every day of preventable, treatable diseases—AIDS, malaria, TB—for lack of drugs that we take for granted…. This is Africa’s crisis.”

What can the average person do? Do not give up on Kenya. Ever since Kenya’s independence forty years ago, whenever the country has experienced any sort of domestic incident—even relatively minor ones—pundits have predicted the demise of the country. This, of course, has never been the case. Kenya has always prevailed as a model of stability and democracy in the otherwise volatile horn of Africa.

We could also consider helping Africans who fight daily battles with hunger, poverty and deadly diseases. For more than twenty years, Micato’s non-profit foundation, AmericaShare, has been supporting residents of Nairobi’s notorious slums by providing access to such basic services as clean water, food, health care and an education. In fact, Kenya’s current problems underscore, more than ever, the need to provide education and enlightenment to the impoverished children in the city’s slums and outlying areas—the
precise locations where the present violence is being played out.

In short, the real news story should be how the world can help Kenya and all African nations eradicate extreme poverty and chronic hunger, and ensure universal primary education and basic health care for all.

That is the true crisis of Africa.