Out of Africa

Mansa. Zambia. Deepest Darkest Africa. Aged 8. 1980

Jobbing Doctor details an interesting post about his views of working in Africa. JD is contemplating on working there. My view of Africa is an interesting and unpopular one. That is probably because I lived in Zambia while my adventure ridden father served those less fortunate than ourselves. I believe those who live in the middle classes in the UK have this fluffy idea that working in Africa and doing " good for the less fortunate" is somehow good for the soul. I know David Southall does work in Africa and his team are of the view that those who are less fortunate here are eclipsed by those in Africa.

There are a few issues about African politics that I should mention. The main problem is that corruption levels are extremely high. The second problem is that Africa creates a lot of its own problems. If we compare it to the relatively independent India, there is no reason Africa cannot stand on its own two feet. This idea of "charity" should be an embarrassment to the African people. Yet, in the west, we feel that we have paid our dues to society if we work in Africa. I developed this view after a long period in Africa during my childhood years. Africa doesn't need charity, Africa needs a way to stand on its own feet. That way is not going to come if every single person in the West considers it a " begging nation" and feels pangs of sympathy for it. Children do not grow up if they are molly coddled. And that is what we do to Africa and have done to Africa for many years.

David Southall works in Africa to forget his troubles in the UK. He works in Africa because people worship him there and they don't worship him here. He works in Africa because it makes a difference to him to feel useful. I say this because David Southall by nature is not a generous man. Children Advocacy International does some worthy work in Africa but they are also of the view that Africans suffer far more than those in the UK. That is the view of many who work in Africa. They parade themselves as people who are higher in the social level because they have worked in Africa. If you have ever met anyone who has worked over there, all they want to do is talk about themselves because in their eyes, that's a priority subject. It becomes almost evangelical.

I have a different view, first we sort the problems in the UK out then we solve the problems in Africa. 1 in 4 children live in poverty in the UK. but we recognise the African dimension more than we recognise what is happening during recession in our own country. People are dying in the UK and less and less attention is paid to the working class who have as much to live on as those in poverty stricken Africa. End Child Poverty is another campaign worth recognition but not advertised widely. Child Advocacy International and David Southall asks us to recognise the problems in Africa, I ask us to first recognise the problems in the UK, solve them then recognise and invest finances/resources in Africa. What struck me about CAI and David Southall is their complete lack of compassion for problems here in the UK. In fact, most are oblivious to UK problems. They are almost evangelical about their worth while work in Africa. I believe this is what happens to many people I know who work in Africa. African suffering is higher on the priority list than UK suffering when they should be equal. African politics should be cleaned up, the corruption reduced and the countries encouraged to stand on their own two feet without being dependent on the West.

I am probably a very unusual case, in that as a child, I worked in the fields with the Zambians, spoke their language and studied in their schools. Some would say I am half African because of my view on things. During that time, I know the Zambians didn't want charity, they wanted a political solution to the devastating impact of corruption. A political solution does not come by charities. My father was a consultant surgeon who like Jobbing Doctor was unhappy with the UK and went to work in Africa. He was sent back in a plane with encephalitis in 1982 and spent the rest of his years disabled. Did anyone care about him during those years? Did the World Health Organisation or the Zambian Government thank him for a decade of excellent work and the thousands of people he saved. Did anyone care about the fact he operated under torchlight and saved patient after patient by hours of hard work. He died alone in Papworth NHS Trust in 2005, in their Cardiac Care Unit. The difference was that this cardiac unit, the top cardiac unit in the UK had not noticed that he died for an hour until he was found by his 14 year old granddaughter. Papworth NHS Trust had treated him like dirt, had been pleased that he had died and in the end he died in worse conditions than he would have given anyone in the third world. There we have it - the end of a man who spent all his life saving those less fortunate but no one bothered saving him. To write his reputation off completely, the Coroner David Morris wrote "Mr Pal had a heavily mortgaged life". His work in Africa was meaningless and in the end pointless. I still recall, Mr Samer Nashef asking me to take my father who was then struggling for breath and in Congestive Heart Failure - "Take him home in your car Rita". Third world medicine at his best. He wanted me to take my oxygen dependent father, place him in my car and drive from Cambridge to the Midlands. There is no sympathy or empathy for this story because he is just one man and not an African.

This is an interesting contrast as we pay more attention to African Health than our own yet. Africa did not change between 1982-2005, it remains a selfish continent constantly dependant on the west. The more Africa is given, the more it will demand. We pander to its needs thereby preventing the continent from standing on its own two feet. That is a significant failing in our attitude.

Jobbing Doctor must though remember that there are problems in the UK, the problems in Africa are ten fold - drug trafficking, intense corruption, lack of amenities etc. No good deed ever goes unpunished. If he is ready with the dark side of Africa then he should go and work there. The grass though is never greener in the African continent. My recommendation for the movie The Last King of Scotland is an important one for JD. The description of Amin's Uganda is no different then than it is now in various sectors of Africa. For avoidance of doubt, my father smuggled me through the Zaire border in his boot to get me out of danger. I still remember it well and promised myself I would never return to Africa again. I never did and I never will. I think people often forget that you can disappear without a trace and the British High Commission isn't going to be there to help you.