Page 154 - 1970S

48
Cause of the
Biafran Agony...
( Con/Íimed from page 8)
ficient vegetables Ol' greens. That is for
"tt·omm and rabbits." This attitude is
typical of many strange and tragic cus–
toms that affect health and mind. Vast
areas of West Africa, from Sierra L<:Onc
to Nigeria possess cattle but do not
milk them unless influenced by Islamic
or European civilization. The same is
true of northwest Angola. Sorne tribes
that have learned to milk use the butter–
fat as a cosmetic rather than a food.
Tribes in the eastern Congo Republic,
when visited by PLAJN TRUTH editors,
explained aoother strange custom. Thc1'
filed their front teeth to a point. By
the middle twenties, nearly everyone had
lost all front tccth. Why the custom?
Thetr explanabon was that they did
not want to look ltke horses! Nonc
of them had ever seen horses, but thlir
ancestors carne from northern lands
possessiog horses.
Along the upper (southern) reaches
of the Ni le, fish are in abundance. Yct
Cushitic tribes living along the Nile's
tnbutaries have rcfused to eat fish for
nearly 4,000 years!
Nor has European food technology
always been of help. Women in north–
ern Nigeria were found by P!..AIN
TRUTH editors to be Jaboring by hand
polishing brown rice. When it was cx–
plained to them that they were removing
the essential mineraJs and other food
factors needed to build sound bodies,
they looked aghast. They were not
about to be less civil ized than Euro–
peans! What a lragic need for educa–
tion- not only tn Africa but world–
wide.
Needed: Educated Women
The African woman is treated as a
semi-serf to this very day in many areas.
In the Congo the woman does the
hoeing. The woman builds the terraces.
One may see bundreds of square miles
of terraces built by women who hoe by
hand. Sometimes a woman carries her
baby, sometimes the baby may be
under a tree, but the mother hocs.
The PLAIN TRUTH
She bends over nearly aJl day long,
ncver standing up. Just beods over, day
after day.
Bad diet takes its toll among these
babies in vast areas of Africa.
Many childrcn often cannot remem–
ber the numbers from one to ten by
tbe next morning. Their minds can–
not function as they should becausc
their brains and bodies are protein
starved. They try to couot on their
fingers and toes evcry morning and
somehow sorne of them remembcr.
These children have never eaten right.
They are not taught about proper diet
in school. Their minds cannot under–
stand much of what really is necessary
to make civilization work. But there
has been improvemcnt in sorne arcas.
What Has Been Accomplished
In general, the black African today
lives a little better than he did before.
Diet is somewhat better. Por the first
time, parts of Africa have sanitary water
supplies. In many places, howcver, the
African still disposes of sewage in the
saroe river or lake in which he bathes
and washes his clothes.
AH of thc major work that has becn
done in bl.lck Africa in the past 85
years has bcen done by blacks under
European supcrvision. That is why
leaders in Kenya have satd, in effcct,
"We want to rule ourselves, poilticall),
but we want you [ meaning Europeans]
to stay as tcachers, as instructors, as
guides, becausc we have mucb yct to
learn. Y 011 must stay here, )'011 MUST
teach us more." And Kenya has, thus
far, avoided civil war.
A Lesson to the World
A lesson which aU peoplcs of the
world should learn has been writtcn by
Biafra, in blood.
"The Biafrans never could under–
stand the failure of the powers of the
world to stop the Nigerians.... Intelli–
gent and educated as they were, the lead–
ers of Biafra never quile grasped the
realities of power politics in a harsh,
tmromantir world.n (Stanley Meisler,
Los Angeles Times, Jan. 15, 1970.)
Unfortunately the Ibos had to learn
that despite their many sympathizers
in maoy Jands, uwld opinion does not
guarantce indepcndence nor frcedom
f rom disease, malnutrition and death.
March, 1970
It is time our natioos quit serving
the false god of world opinion! World
opinion will never help Amcrica, Bri·
tain or any other nation any more than
it did Biafra. And yet how often do
our nations "flee when none pursue"
before the might of world opinion?
The "broken reed" of world opinion
cannot be relied on.
Hope for tbe Future
Africa wi 11 experience a renaissance
when thcre is fust right govcrnment,
right education, aod right diet. Eco–
nomic dcvelopmeot will follow ioevi–
tably as cause and effect.
The outlook may at prcsent scem
bleak. But evcntuaUy, when the deep–
seated problems of Africa are overcome,
the rich potcntial of the African con–
tinent wtll be tapped for the good of
her inhabitants! Africa will thcn under–
go a transformation unmatched in all
history! You 1lttt)' live to sec it during
your own Jifetime.
Write for our free booklet The IJVon–
de'f"l Jrlorld T omon·ou· - lflha/ 1t
W i/l Be Like.
It will open your eyes to the daz–
zling prospect of Africa's future, and
the world's! O
~~
from the Editor
(Contimted from page 2}
adopted the slogan, "Recapture the
TRUE Va]ues."
lt was impossible to recruit a faculty
completcly in sympathy with this differ–
ent approach - this new dimcnsion in
education. Few if any of those eight
original instructors really believed in
this different WAY. Sorne were antago–
nistic and opposed it.
Perhaps it was important and neces–
sary that tt started with only four
students. There had been 36 applica–
tions for admission. But delays in build–
ing reconstruction prevented opening
until October 8th. By that time all but
the pioneer four had matriculated else–
where.
Had there been 36, instead of 4, 1
am sure the determined opposition of