On Apr 9, 10:55*pm, ChattyCathy wrote:
Dave Smith wrote:
Golden One wrote:

Remember, the Africans treated each other *horribly* LONG before the
colonial powers arrived. *Who was it that sold their brethren into
slavery, frex...??? *And on what continent does human slavery not only
still exist, but is *thriving*...???
I have had a bit of a laugh at the huge blanket coverage in this
thread. This comment is not only pointed at you, but also all others
who keep spouting about conditions in "Africa".

Africa consists of over 50 countries, some better than others. Your
comment above about Africans treating each other horribly is
meaningless unless you are going to specify which Africans. Was it sub-
saharan Africa, western Africa, northern Africa?

It is so widespread that you can have examples from any of those regions.. *Up
in the north you have the ongoing *problem in *Darfur. In the last decade or
so there have been problems in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ethiopia,
Somalia, Niger and Mali. *Even in the countries that are not engaged in war,
there are bands of armed thugs roaming the countryside, usually the remnants
of a former army who steal and murder. *There is widespread famine, not
because of flood or drought, but because it is not save for farmers to work
their fields or to get their crops to market.

For a look at what the right people and democratic government can
achieve in Africa, take a look at Botswana.

It does indeed have a fast growing economy, though it still lags far behind
the industrial world. It also has a rapidly decreasing average life span,
mostly due to a massive AIDS epidemic, with close to 30% of the country
infected with HIV. Count on that taking a huge bite out of their growing
economy.

Dave,

Little bit of trivia about Botswana - 25 years ago a very close friend
of mine and his wife were very keen to go and work there, as there were
some very lucrative jobs that paid well (in US$). However, *when he made
inquiries about moving there through their Embassy in RSA, he was
informed by an official at the Embassy that white men would be granted
work permits for 2 or 3 years at a time - but no permanent residence
would be granted *- and although white woman were welcome to accompany
their spouses on these 'contracts', they would not be granted work
permits at all. Needless to say they didn't go when he found that out,
as his wife was not one of those 'anyone for tennis types'.. Things may
well have changed since then, I haven't bothered to contact their
Embassy find out shrug

It is still the same, however it has nothing to do with being white,
it is to do with not being a Motswana (citizen of Botswana). If a
company is able to source a qualified citizen, they will not get a
work permit for an imported worker. The government also encourages
foreign companies to commit to training a local workforce.

BTW, all citizens of Botswana are called Motswana (or the plural
Batswana) whether they are black Africans, white Africans or Asian
Africans.

JB


Just out of curiosity, have you ever visited any African countries? If
so, I'd like to know which ones, because I haven't been further north
than Zambia myself..

If not, to you and quite a few other posters in this thread, I would
like to point out (with all due respect), that no matter how much one
does 'armchair research' about Africa as a whole, living in one (or
more) of the countries beats knowing what actually 'goes on' in those
countries hands down. From the two that I have lived in and the three I
have visited (I have also been to Mozambique and Zambia on vacations)
you'd be surprised about what is 'published' and what actually happens
can be two totally different things... I am pretty sure this applies to
most countries, including Canada and the USA.

That said, *I do hope that Mr. Mugabe eventually gets officially
'ousted' as he *is* a tyrant (and that's being polite), but I am not
holding my breath... He's not gonna go without a fight, IMNSHO. The
damage he has caused is going to take decades to 'put right'. What a
waste of a great country - sigh. Scary what one human being can do,
isn't it?
--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Monday is a lousy way to spend one seventh of your life.- Hide quoted text -

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