First, I apologize for posting something that is not aviation-related. Again if HSLD considers this inappropriate, please delete it.

Many of you know that I am a lawyer who has devoted the better part of my career to serving the poor, elderly, children and otherwise vulnerable. On this forum, I have two personas - provide advice/counsel to those who ask, and being light-hearted because life is simply too short. Outside of the law, I have several causes which are important to me. One is the horrific situation in Darfur and the other is the even more speakable conditions in the Congo. Both have made news in recent days. I have included some links which I hope will help you better understand the ongoing problems. Nobody in the Western world should allow these to continue.

I, for one, cannot stand by and do nothing. I hope you cannot either.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15704030/site/newsweek/

http://www.savedarfur.org/content

 

Leave the post here! Its “hangar talk”, and very informative. We don’t all live in La-La land; the world is full of suffering and pain. It is important! Especially to pilots who fly all over the world, and must be sympathetic and open minded to those in foreign countries.

To answer your question, yes this is an aviation forum, but HSLD designated a special place called “hangar talk” to post various interesting things not necessarily related to aviation. It spices up things and takes us away from aviation for a while.

Off course it is up to HSLD to decide, he’s an open minded individual and probably wont agree with your closed mindedness.

 

politic free? who said anything about that?

 

vegabond, thank you for the post. I always thought lawyers were in it for money and just there to sue everyone. I was wrong. That article really opened my eyes. Keep fighting the good fight. I'll even join you.

favila, i like your style.
I agree, lets leave this post here.

 

Thanks all for asking my opinion on the post, here is the excerpt from the applicable forum rules:

I wrote that in attempt to avoid partisan attacks based on political affiliation and/or religious beliefs. This thread is a Human Rights issue that obviously could have political and religious arguments, although in my opinion it's not overtly political or religious.

The world could have done more during the Tutsi Hutu genocide, hopefully we can collectively do more this time.

 

HSLD, thanks for keeping this on here. Vagabond, thanks for posting.

I attended a Jesuit University with an aviation program. One of my professors started a Humanitarian Aviation class after he spent the better part of two summers working for AirServ in Darfur. The stories he had were simply amazing. This part of the world has had enough struggle without the political strife. In many cases, AIDS has basically wiped out the population over 30 and what you have is a bunch of 14 year olds carrying around kalishnikov(sp) rifles and RPGs killing each other over differences that are largely artificially created. For those of you that don't know, the Tutsis and Hutus lived in peace for years until the area became a Belgian colony. The Hutus and Tutsis were separated based on skin pigment with the basic belief by the Belgians that the group with darker skin was inferior.

Airserv is a Non-Government Organization (NGO) that specializes in flying relief workers to places that would otherwise take days to get to or be completely inaccessable because of damage to roads from disasters and war. I intend to get involved with them once I get 135 minimums.

http://airserv.org

 

I think we can all agree that they are very noble causes that at the very least deserve recognition, but what can we do? It's going to take more than just throwing money at the problems to fix them. It would seem many parts of Africa are extremely dangerous, I would be leery about spending much time in Darfur or the Congo. What can I do?

 

I know lots of people that have gone to Darfur, Somolia, Albania, and other hotspots with various aid organizations and had no problems. Sure it's a tense situation, but a little common sense goes a long way. In theory, walking through a major metropolitan area at night is not safe if you're not using a little common sense and aware of your surroundings.

One person can't do much, two can't do much either. In an attempt to keep this from getting political, I'll refer to what HSLD said about the Hutu/Tutsi issue. The world kept it's mouth shut. Lots of people knew what was going on. Tell your elected representetives what you think. This is the exact type of thing that the UN was designed to do something about. These people are only getting away with what they're doing because others are letting them. If enough people speak up, and their respective governments take action, it will stop.

 

I took a class awhile back about Europe at the end of the Middle Ages--the 14th and 15th centuries, ending with the Renaissance and Reformation. You have to wonder how their civilization survived at all, with all the wars, famine, cultural stagnation, and political upheaval, not to mention the Black Death. It occured to me that it sounds a lot like present-day sub-Saharan Africa. I wonder if in 500 or so years they'll look back on this time as their own Dark Age.

 

Having been to a few places in Africa and having attended small wars in progress there I can tell the OP it is a great cause, but it is a lost cause.

One thing will bring peace and prosperity, and that is a free democratic republic form of rule with a free economy. Until then, two 7-11s and a *****house help humanity more in a week than the UN will in a year.