18 Terrace Review — Wednesday, November 4, 1987 _ African disaster is everyone’s responsibility = The reasons Canadians must accept responsibility for helping third world countries was the message of United Nations Association representative Jon Gates of Vancouver brought to Terrace last week. by Tod Strachan Funded by the Canadian In- ternational Development Agen- cy (CIDA), Gates said he was touring B.C. to explain the cause and effects of famine and why countries like Canada have to forget about large scale aid pro- grams and get back to the basics of small scale, sustainable rural programs. . _Gates, who gave several lec- tures to Caledonia Senior Secon- dary students during the day and an evening public lecture at Knox United Church, said the need is urgent because this year’s crops failed in Ethiopia and their domestic reserve of grain will be exhausted by the end of this month, He said that by Christmas of this year about four to nine million Ethiopians living in a country that has been fighting a civil war for the past 27 years will be facing famine,and conse- quently be added to the 20 to 25 million South Saharan Africans already being fed by emergency programs on a daily basis: “It’s getting worse,’’ Gates . about your daily business. . Africans .aren’t lazy. They’re warned. ‘‘It’s going to become harsher.’’ However he explained that poverty, and not factors such as drought, war,. bad ‘government, -~Sports scores—. _ MINOR HOCKEY PEE WEE HOUSE SCHEDULE TEAM _ATOM DIVISION Kitimat Terrace Prince Rupert PEEWEE DIVISION Prince Rupert Terrace Kitimat BANTAM DIVISION Terrace Prince Rupert Kitimat MIDGET DIVISION Terrace Kitimat Prince Rupert WON ONO AN NRK On tw OCT. 23 OCT. 30 November 8 3:30 p.m. -4:30 p.m. Rotary vs. Thornhill Grocery ; |. 4:30 p.m. -5:30 p.m. Tharnhill Grocery vs. Atom Reps. November 13 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Terrace vs November 22 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Tharnhill Grocery vs. Rotary. 7 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Rotary vs, Atom Raps November 26-29 CANCELLED FOR OLDTIMERS TOURNAMENT December 6 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Rotary vs. Thornhif! Grocery 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Thornhill Grocery vs. Atom Reps. December 13 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Thornhill Grocery vs. Rotary 4:30 p.m. - 5:30.p.m. Rotary vs. Atom Reps December 20 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Rotary vs, Thornhill Grocery ' , 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Thornhill Grocery vs. Atom Reps. COACH — Thornhill Grocery: Fred Statham 635-2922. COACH ~~ Rotary: Rob Bell 638-2074 TRI-CITY MINOR HOCKEY REP TEAM LEAGUE | - OCTOBER 30 LOST TERRACE MiINI-BASKETBALL LEAGUE Willams Lakers 35-Sight & Sound Sonics 30 Totem Furniture Celtics 30-Kitelse Knicks 14 Williams Lakers 33-Totem Furniture Celtics 28 Sight & Sound Sonics 32-Kitelse Knicks 28 poor land use and over popula- tion, is at-the root of the pro- blem. “*Those are factors in famine that deepen it — broaden it and make it last longer. But the underlying root cause is ~ poverty.’* He explained that there is food in Africa and there always has been, but it was only available to people with the money to pay for it. “If you don’t —- tough,’’ he said. And according to Gates factors such as Over-population, disease and the colonial era of Africa con- tinue to sustain the poverty. Gates said Africa has a three percent annual population growth, ‘“‘the fastest in the world”’, and the present popula- tion of 550 million will grow to 875 million by the year 2000. Of the present population, 40 per- cent die before the age of two, 45 percent are under the age of 16 and 32 years old is middle age but, ‘‘the connection is between wealth and hunger — ‘not population and hunger.’’ - “He said 40,000 children die world-wide each day and the ‘ usual cause is a combination of starvation and dysentery; disease caused by poverty in the general African population helps to maintain the poverty. .. “Diseases take your strength, vitality, and the ability to go sick,’’ he said. Gates said the other major § is. the § factor causing poverty TIED = POINTS aoa aAhS OaAn onn oun Right — continued fram page 5 community should take with the - leader of our community, it is therefore encumbent on all of us to take a serious look at the four people running for Alderman. Victor C. Jolliffe Terrace Police. | report An incident involving an ax resulted in a Terrace man being charged with having a weapon which was considered dangerous to the public peace. « tribal/colonial legacy left by Europeans after the 1884 Con- ference of Berlin. , He explained that the African people weren’t involved in the division of their continent into colonies, and consequently lines were drawn through tribal groups and across traditional tribal migration routes. This has resulted, he said, in most present day African coun- tries having minority groups cut off from their own cultures. “It’s something which adds to — the political, economic, and social instabilities they will have to suffer for centuries to come,”’ he said. . Gates explained that govern- ments and agencies made a serious error in attributing .the African famine to drought because they soon lost support, and the problems of poverty and famine still remained. . He explained that drought hit the American mid-west in the a cy i] re a . a rd oa” tt. er aa \s 1920's and this year southern B.C. was experiencing its worst drought in 50 years, but those events didn’t cause death... “No one starved to: death because we have developed the resources and the wealth, so that while people had a tough time, there were places to go where they could survive,’’ said Gates. “In Africa that doesn’t exist. They don’t have the resources and drought tips them over the edge.” es Gates said the effect of the African famine has been a rural’ male migration to urban areas, leaving the women to take care. of agriculture and creating massive, disease-ridden urban. slums. with 70: to 80 percent unemployment. He explained that compounded at the same time by the gradual growth of the Sahara Desert. According to’ Gates the Sahara Desert is now farmers, the agricultural problem was being: rod three million square miles in area, only 0.8 million square | miles less. than the area of Canada, and is growing at a rate - Of five to six kilometers per year. He said in the worst years, 1984 and 1985, the desert. expanded 150 to 160 kilometers in some areas, . cor “This is land that was used for crops and livestock. It is the - greatest environmental disaster - in human history and alot of it is. caused by human interven- tion. It’s man-made famine, man-made drought, man-made desertification,’’ “Two-thirds of the -rural population of Africa are women | while men have migrated to find work...women farmers working land that has become desert,” he stated. - Gates said that he believed Canadians have to become in-. ‘volved on a community or community-group basis. “These — ‘conilnued on page 19 ... have your newspaper | _ * delivered every week. “} ‘For just $24 you don’t have to miss a single issue! Subscribe now! A full year: $24.00 Two years: $45.00 056 PO LTRS 0 M.D ENTRAR x Come into our office, or send a cheque.or money order, to: Terrace Review 4535 Grelg Ave., ’ Terrace, B.C. V8G. 1M7 -Phone: : C1 year - $24 - QO Cheque =O Money Order Please send a subscription to: _ Subscription Order Form: 0 2 years - $45 [] Charge Card: MasterCard (1 : - Visa ee Mail or bring this form to: Card # Expiry Date Name Terrace Review Address 4535 Greig Ave., TT Terrace, B.C. Phone. . . Postal. Code . V8G 1M7