Seeking the Sacred

Index	Chapter Summary	Media Links	Discussion	References
Summary Notes
Stephen Lewis' final chapter in Race Against Time is titled Solutions - A Gallery of Alternatives in Good Faith. It is the study next week and was delayed to follow this, his chapter in Seeking the Sacred. For there is a sequence. In Seeking the Sacred, we have a series of essays on the connections between compassion and spirituality. In Race against Time we have a focused call to action. Stephen reviews some of the conditions of "holocaust" that pertain to AIDS in Africa, especially the "perverse and ferocious Darwinian assault" on the women of Africa. He recounts many of his heart-rending visits to AIDS devastated Africa - to it's villages and it's cities, it's schools and it's farms. He tells of the missing generation between the heroic grandmothers and the 15 million orphaned children. He accuses us of unconscionable disproportion in our military and our charitable spending. The rich nations who promised .7% of GNP to assist the poor nations, don't fulfil their promises - including Canada. "They don't have to die. There are drugs to keep these people alive. There is no reason for what is happening. None. The continued loss of life need not happen. The continued decimation of societies need not happen. The continued accumulation of orphans need not happen. What has happened to the moral anchor of society? The grotesque disparity between the developed and developing world must be eradicated. It's an emergency. This enormous emotional vulnerability verges on irrationality in the human context. It cannot possibly exist in the year 2005, at the beginning of the 21st century. People in the privileged world know their brothers and sisters are under siege; can we really stand by and do nothing? How can those of us in privileged societies see members of our human family in this state and respond so inadequately?" There are some lights of hope. The 3 by 5 Initative of the World Health Organization (3,000,000 on ARV drugs by 2005) is one of the best things the UN has done. The Clinton Foundation helped reduce the cost from $15,000 to $139 a year for treatment. Work is proceeding on preventative anti-microbials with the Gates Foundation focusing on this. Canada changed the legislation aspects of drug patent and generic drugs internationally, though we have not actually produced any generic drugs - most come from India. (See links on Reference Page). When people ask him what should they do, he recommends the NGOs. CARE. Plan International. Save the Children. Catholic Relief Services. Doctors Without Borders. And UNICEF. You can send them money. You can offer to volunteer. You can serve overseas and never see Canada again, says he! On every campus are opportunities of service. Special Notice: MSF asks us to sign their on-site petition. The German pharmaceutical company Novaris is trying to shut down the principle supplier of generic drugs in the world. Please visit Doctors Without Borders learn and sign. The Stephen Lewis Foundation is organized a little differently. Rather than marshall money and resources for redistribution as do other NGO's the SLF has organized to put monies directly and immediately into African bank accounts. This is to reduce the time between the recognition and the action. He observed that far too many died before the agreed help arrived. The Jubilee Coalition centres on third world debt reduction. An essential in every way. Yet the G8 nations continue to deny the matter in every significant way, while sounding as if they cared and were taking action. It is a sham. It shames us all. "You can't imagine what it means for people in Africa to know that there are people in Canada who care. It's not existential. It's real. They are humbled. They are frantic. They are under siege. Solidarity is the greatest reinforcement you can offer. Your donation is like a bond, an insoluble bond forged with somebody on the other side of the world who is counting on you. And that's what keeps me going."
YOUTUBE Media Links this chapter:
Save The Children - Report on Africa 2004 4:32 Catholic Relief Service - Water in Malawi 5:34 PLAN in Kenya - BBC - Aids in Kenya 7:47 The African Children's Choir - Walking in the Light 4:13 Mother Father Please Explain. 4:26 Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama - Satisfied Mind. 8:58 Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama - Never Walk Alone. 5:27 Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama - Give a Man Home. 3:28
Discussion - Discuss: I know that people are counting on me, Lewis says. That keeps me going." (93)
Lewis lists ten things he would like to see happen in light of the Millennium Goals for 2015 established by the United Nations (pp. 167-175): Is Africa expendable? It is not. 1. Cancel $20B in debt owed by developing to developed countries 2. Establish a formidable international UN agency on behalf of women. 3. Greatly expand the number of people receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS,etc. 4. Make much better use of NGOs (non-governmental orgs) to help people. 5. Create a new, definitive program for securing and distributing food. 6. Support the Millennium Village Project for agricultural development. 7. Support the development of new preventive technologies. 8. Work for the abolition of school fees for all school children in Africa. 9. Establish a program to take care of all orphans. 10. Address the lack of human capacity; "missing generations" that died. "We need to see to it that the debts are cancelled, not just the debt service costs." (85) "There is no good reason for what is happening." (75) "If empowerment means anything, it means we can and will reverse the tide." (83)

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