In chapter five and six, Maathai talks about the government corruption and unfair trade in Africa. I found these two chapters really interesting because my best friend usually goes to Africa once a year to visit his father. His father has a mining company in Congo and all the workers are native Africans. He grew up in Cape Town, which is considered the best city in Africa. However, his father's office in Cape Town got robbed when he was visiting a few years ago and a man put a gun at his head. I asked him if he could just turned those robbers to the police and add more security guards to the office. He told me that the police in the city would actually take money from the gang members and they can do nothing with them. Also, the government collects higher taxes from foreign companies because they know the foreign companies are "richer". Government corruption makes it harder for the local people to survive. The only thing they could do is hard labor work. In Congo, most people don't have access to fresh water and electricity. The basic infrastructure is really undeveloped. I think the first step in changing Africa is to educate the people. Local people need to stand up and let the government to hear their voices.
No comments:
Post a Comment