Do you know who this man is?

Many people don’t: I didn’t.  That’s not to say that because people don’t know that they aren’t good people or that they are absorbed in narcissism.  What it does say is that the much of the world is either too naive or too irresponsible to stop and absorb the rest of the world around them, particularly when we’re talking about some 650 million people who live in sub-Saharan Africa.

This man is former Rwandan Army Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, only in charge of the genocide of some 500,000 Rwandans, many of them of Tutsi backgrounds (full article here ).  His actions not only devastated hundreds of thousands of families, but he’s devastated future generations, Rwanda and Africa for decades to come.

But when people here the word “Africa,” they mentally turn their heads, if not physically as well.  The mental images of death, half-naked, starving, children and a continent of pain and struggle is almost “too much to handle” (as if those who go through such tragedies have it easier living it than those who only have to think it).

And yet, isn’t that the problem? Isn’t that the problem that the first images that come to our mind are these? Isn’t that the problem that fellow human beings are suffering to this degree? Isn’t that the problem that these images make us ache and yet we still sweep them under the rug?

It is true though- the rest of the world is not entirely to blame.  Africa has had its share of corruption from within: misuse and abuse of power, exploitation of people, resources and foreign aid.  But the issue here is that this is a global problem - this is not merely a problem of economics, politics, and so forth.  This is a human problem.  A problem of injustice so wretched it should be calling us into action.  It doesn’t matter your take on Darwin or Creation, humans are clearly of higher intelligence than animals, and yet standing by and watching others in horrific peril smacks otherwise.

It wasn’t long ago that the world ran to Europe when Jews in unfathomable numbers were being slaughtered by Adolf Hitler.  And though the scenario in Africa is indeed different than that which it was during WWII and some conflicts should be solved by their own nation, why does the world allow others to be exploited to the point of death in such vast numbers by other dictators and not even give a tenth of the energy to stop it?  You may not have known who Bagosora is because to the media a news story on Africa is usually an old one.  Dare it be said, but it begs an ugly question to all of us of racism and classism that we as humans have allowed to be left unanswered.

Because as the world already knows it, the situation in Africa can only be solved by a collective world effort.  And while much is being done, it is obvious much more is needed.

So the question is: When will sub-Saharan Africa stop being the world’s afterthought?

. . . only the world, we as fellow humans, can answer that.