Why Haiti's tragedy is Africa's tragedy too

I have delayed writing this post out of respect for the dead, although the thought first came to me in the very week after Haiti suffered their horrific earthquake. A few weeks on, the scale of the tragedy is now clear, and the difficult task is to rebuild this broken country - a task that could take a generation, as the Haitian president claimed. He's probably right.

The world has responded, sending aid, people and condolences in almost equal measure. And the celebrities have joined in, too, with the Hopeforhaiti.org concerts and big name stars visiting Port-au-Prince (with huge media contingents tailing them, of course). Most of these visits seemed to be bright rays of hope piercing the darkness that must hang over Haiti (there have been some notable exceptions, such as the missionaries who tried to take 32 children out of the country illegally). The country must certainly be pleased with the international response and the money that has poured in.

I don't think anyone would begrudge Haiti the money that is being sent to them from governments, charities and individuals around the world. Of course not. They are facing a devastating crisis! But that money has to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, much of it will come from sources that were originally intended to go to Africa in aid.

The world’s developed countries have committed to giving 0.7% of their annual GDPs to foreign aid. Only a fraction of the countries have actually done so in the past decade (the USA has given less than 0.1% of their GDP). And they can’t claim to have no money to do so – they’ve been able to bail out their banks (and other industries) with unprecedented amounts of money in the last two years.

So, where does all the money for Haiti come from? In a world of limited resources, that money must have come from somewhere. Unfortunately, it has probably come – in the main – from donations and aid that had previously been designated for other purposes. And most of that would have gone to Africa. I don’t begrudge the Haitians the money, but it has made their tragedy into an African tragedy too. The aid money designated to Africa is essential for dealing with Africa’s crises.

Africans face crises that are of equal (or greater) scale to the devastation wreaked on Haiti – it just isn’t as obvious, as immediate or as newsworthy. It hasn't happened in one horrifying instant, but the consequences are much the same. Haiti now has an estimated one million orphans. Southern Africa alone has nearly ten million orphans - victims of the HIV/AIDS earthquake. Haiti has hundreds of thousands of people without decent housing, access to safe drinking water and basic amenities, and jobless. Africa has millions just like that.

This isn’t a competition. Please don’t misunderstand me. I suppose what I really hope is that people, organisations and governments who have wonderfully and graciously and generously donated to Haiti just make sure that they didn’t “steal from Peter to pay Paul”. I hope they gave to Haiti over and above their giving to Africa and the rest of the world’s poor. And I’d also hope that they will feel moved to match whatever they gave to Haiti and give the same amount to those in need in other parts of the world too.

For more information on how to play your part in ridding the world of extreme poverty, see The Global Poverty Project at www.globalpovertyproject.com.