Famine Devistating Somalia Again
Somalia is being devastated by famine again. Is it more proof that Africans lack perception or are there hidden factors at play?
Major news sources are reporting that Somalis is in the midst of another deadly famine yet neither the United Nations or the Somali government has made a famine declaration yet. Hundreds of men, women, children, and livestock have already died of starvation and the drought that is affecting the region is getting worse. Drought in the region is not new yet there never seems to be any preparation for their inevitability.
Of course, there are lessons to be learned in all situations but some might say that the midst of despair is the wrong time for conjecture. They will also say that this is the time to take action to help Somalians in anyway we can. I say this is the perfect time for analysis because we need to address the stereotype that Black people lack perception.
Major online news outlets have comment sections on their websites and these comment sections are filled with racists who love to bathe their brain cells in the Dopamine that spewing hatred for Black people produces. Yesterday, I was on one news website that I won’t mention, reading an article on the Somalian drought. After the article there were many comments and if you were to read comments about African famines 10 years ago, these comments would be the same because the hate never changes.
I saw comments like, “If we keep feeding them, they will keep breeding. Let’s send them birth control instead of food.” And the classic, “Why can’t they learn how to grow food?” The sensible thing to do as a Black person would be to ignore the racism as we always do but I for one, hate to hide my head in the sand like an Ostrich. I know that aside from the hate, there are many truths in what these devils are saying.
What is perception and why do Africans seem to always be ill-equipped to handle disasters?
Perception is defined as the process or state of being aware of something by way of one’s Senses. Alternative words for perception include; awareness and consciousness. Therefore, to say that a person lacks perception means that they do not process information well or they are not intelligent. When a person is described as being perceptive, it means that they are insightful, intuitive, and most of all; wise. We all know that Africans are very smart people so why does the rest of the world label Africans as not being perceptive?
Contrary to popular belief, famine is not caused by drought; famine is caused by lack of preparation. Drought is caused when a prolonged lack of precipitation (rainfall) results in a lack of vegetation growth. Human life depends on other life such as plants, animals, and insects. Without rain, all these lifeforms cannot exist in a region. Somalia is no stranger to droughts. The country is located in a region of Africa where rain might fall only a few times per year or not at all. When rain doesn’t fall for several years at a time, the situation is referred to as a drought.
The wise thing to do when you live in a drought-stricken region is to prepare for drought. People who live in cold climates call it “making Hay when the Sun shines”. In Somalia’s case, it would be stockpiling enough food for themselves and their animals in the rainy seasons. The truth of the matter is that Somalians have being doing that; however, several other factors are contribution to the famine this time. The real contributors of the famine in Somalia this time are Climate Change and prolonged Islamist sectarian Wars.
