Oprah in Africa
Dec 18, 2003 Uncategorized
Alright, I know I am going to get a lot of crap for this, but who cares. My wife flipped on the TV last night and tuned it to one of those news shows (I think it was 48 Hours). Anyhoo, they had Oprah on talking about her trip to Africa. I sarcastically said, “Well this will encourage me not to watch TV tonight.”
But then I got hooked. As she told the stories of the suffering orphans there it just blew my mind! She was sharing about different kids’ stories and it was mind boggling. She had a 29 year old mom on there that was dying of AIDS. It reminded me of seeing people like that in 1990 when I was in Uganda, but the epidemic is so much bigger now.
I am not sure if her statistic were right, but she said the number of orphans in South Africa was the same as the number of kids under the age of 14 in New York and California combined! Wow. This does not bode well for the future of the continent, let alone the impact that will have on the world.
I remember distinctly the feeling I had flying home from Africa. I turned to the person next to me and said “Am I supposed to be happy going home? These people need the Gospel so much and they are so receptive! Why would I go back to the spoiled US, where people are such cynics…” I don’t remember what else I said, but I am sure it was eloquent.
Anyway.
Now I’m in a mood. I’m not sure what to do with this.
December 18th, 2003 at 10:56 am
the main speaker at Soularize (see theooze.com) last year was this lady who has a farm in South Africa and she houses like 500 orphans at any given time. Pretty amazing lady. Yeah, we should join up with Bono on this issue for sure.
December 19th, 2003 at 2:36 pm
So I’ve been listening to what Bono has to say about all this for the last couple of years. I think it is an amazing thing to want to try and save a continent from an aptly named “pan-demic” such as AIDS…. I’m not sure we can grasp the magnitude of the problem. And I’m also not sure I quite agree with DATA’s methodology…
Is this problem really going to be solved by donating lots of money to relieve debt so that they can get their economy going and raise their standard of living? I’m not sure about that.
There is one point they leave out in most of their discourse… they talk about how huge of a problem it is, and how rapidly it is spreading. My question: HOW is it spreading so rapidly?
January 7th, 2004 at 2:22 pm
I think it was great that she went there. I was sitting at home when I seen it. I wanted to cry as I seen how the people in Africa life, it’s sad and shouldnt be that way. If we’re going to help the people in Iraq, should we help the people that are dying, and losing parents at a young age? They need our help too, there are kids and adults like that here too, and it’s wrong we wont help the people like that in the U.S. But it had to mean a lot to the people there. I want to go there one day, and hope one day i could help them too, some how.
January 27th, 2004 at 7:26 pm
i am crying because of all the people in africa!<3
January 27th, 2004 at 7:28 pm
i am doing a report on oprah i i will be sure tom put this in it.! i didnt think she had THAT big of a heart<3! she is soooo sweet.
February 12th, 2004 at 2:26 pm
Does anyone know how I can obtain a video of the Diane Sawyer/Oprah Winfrey interview (12/17) re: Oprah in Africa? I would like to use it in a Human Services and Health Care Interprofessional class I am teaching at the University