'Do starving Africans a favour.Don't feed them.' This rather startling headline was featured in The Times today. The point was that feeding starving people in the short term has led to long term problems across Africa. While we are feeding them the underlying problems are not being addressed. Well, it is easier said than done. When we see pictures of what is usually described as a famine of Biblical proportions, it takes a very hard nosed person not to want to help. At the same time the point of the article is still worth considering. The punch line is that our support should target education. It is a well educated Africa which will have long term benefits. This point encouraged me because in a small way the walk is designed to raise serious money for one African school. As a Christian who takes the Bible seriously my conviction is that education itself may not solve the problem. Corruption for example requires a change of heart and not just of mind.

There has been hunger in parts of Uganda recently. However,in the south west where we are visiting there is not a shortage of food. In fact the land is very fertile. It is the poor infrastructure (roads are appalling), the absence of industry and generally a lack of investment which causes poverty, to say nothing of the need of a shift in mentality, for example in a more productive use of "waste". The prevalence of malaria, HIV/Aids, breathing related ilnesses and their attendant tragedies add to suffering, with children bearing much of the brunt.

What we are trying to do is a drop in a huge ocean, and there are lots of other drops like ours. Nevertheless I think targeting education may not be dramatic enough to grab headlines but it is sound.