Rwanda and the Heart of Darkness

Deo and I talked today about Rwanda today. Deogratias is a first year student at DMS who I met last year when I came to interview. He escaped from the genocide in Rwanda 1994, lived in refugee camps and came to the US and has been involved in public health fighting AIDs in Africa since then. We have become fast friends and he is one of the big reasons I am coming to DMS.

We talked about the war and its aftermath. Deo showed me a Nightline special about the aftermath of Rwanda now playing itself out in the Congo where people have been dying at a rate of 0.5 million a year from ongoing fighting, disease and lack of food. The final episode in the series talked about coltan, the precious conductive metal used in cell phones that has led to SEVEN different guerilla armies fighting in the Congo displacing millions of refugees. The commentary about the Congo, the diamond and coltan minerals feeding the rich while starving the poor really makes you sick.

Watching this made it apparent to me that it is critical to come up with solutions to counteract both the poverty and disease that are killing people. We gotta get working on implementing microfinance in these areas . . .

Some websites about the ongoing conflict and the DVD . . .

Congo War and the Role of Coltan

NIGHTLINE: HEART OF DARKNESS SERIES DVD