Africa Geographic August 2003 [antikvár]

IIÉIIÎ^ i!i H Jh !; I 'v'l' li ' . ' I •, i ' ¦ ' 'ili' M MM .¦'-V 1,1 Ci'-''" V: ,1 ¦'Kt' i a I , J i V 11 ; 1 ¦ ' Editorial AUGUST 2003 I ', i 1 T arn glad to have been born in Africa and wouldn't want I any other place to be my home. 1 am proud to travel ^^^^^^^^^^ " A abroad as a South African and to champion the great potential of our continent. But my commitment notwith-^^^^^^^^^ I standing, I'm also painfully aware of the ills that plague us and am frequently perplexed as how to use my limited voice to tell the worid that Africa isn't a complete basket case. I have just returned from a trip to the United States and Great Britain where my major purpose was to strengthen our ties with conservation organisations working in Africa and to forge new ones in markets where our readership is growing steadily. Almost without exceptton, conversations would turn to 'the state of Africa' and this usually meant 'what the hell is going down there?' Rich perhaps, coming from countries embroiled in their own 'what the hell is going down there?' in the Middle East, but understandable in the context of their major media networks. In the tiny visual, written and sound bites that do touch momentarily on Africa, it is the insanity of Sierra Leone, the Congo Basin and Zimbabwe, images of child soldiers toting automatic weapons and the ravages of AIDS that are the flashing neon lights. So how do you tell the world that Africa isn't a complete basket case? Frankly, the only way is to show it - by building an Africa brick by brick, country by country, region by region, that has integrity, compassion for its people, justice and tolerance. It doesn't have to be built in the cultural and economic image of the wealthy nations of the world. In fact it shouldn't be, as they are hardly the consistent bastions of righteousness and morality they would have us believe. Africa needs all the encouragement and assistance it can get and hopefully Mr Bush's recent visit will shift the balance towards genuinely constructive engagement on a wide front of social and money-related issues. I hope 1 am wrong, but realistically 1 doubt it. Essenrially Africa must pick itself up by its own bootstraps. It can, but it will take strong leaders and leadership, leaders who are resolute, who rule within the bounds of just laws and who do not stop short of condemning neighbours that have blatant disregard for the wellbeing of their people and land. It will be a long, slow and often painful process. And while it happens, Afiica Geographic will continue to show another side to the continent - a conservation and tourism vision that recognises and speaks out about things that are wrong, but at the same time tells the worid that there is much that is right. I challenge anyone to read the articles in this issue alone and not be convinced of Africa's value and positive contribution to the social and natural diversity of our planet. These are the building bricks that we can contribute. Africa needs leaders who are resolute, who rule within the bounds of just laws and who do not stop short of condemning neighbours that have blatant disregard for the wellbeing of their people and land