As the President of Jewish World Watch, I encounter one question, again and again: why do you bother? The question can creep up slowly in conversation. Someone will remark, “Well, is there anything we can really do to help those suffering in Africa? Aren’t you just proposing band aids, not solutions?” Others convey the sentiment more bluntly. With a wave of a hand they will say, “Oh…Africa…What do you expect? It will never change. We should not get involved in that mess over there. “
Africa has no shortage of sad or bad news that drives this sense of exasperation. This month, a terrorist group in Nigeria kidnapped 200 young girls to be sold for $12 a piece as brides. In the Central African Republic, hundreds have been killed and two million people are in desperate need of immediate humanitarian assistance. In South Sudan, thousands of civilians have been murdered and millions have been displaced in a new round of violence. Militias continue to rape women, enslave children, and murder hundreds in Congo. And a campaign of ethnic cleansing continues to plague Darfur.
What we can do? After many trips to Africa, and ten years of working on these issues nearly every day, I can say with confidence — quite a bit!
I’ve seen firsthand so many remarkable projects and advocacy efforts that truly change lives and transform whole regions.
Continue reading the article in the Jewish Journal.