Awareness is considered a curse, and writers and thinkers may have it worse
than most. Direct contact with people, even oppressed peoples, can be more
encouraging. In the media of today and in various meetings, it is often
difficult to find encouragement, but it is there.

I have have only a few encounters with those from South Africa and East
Africa such as at the Rural WONCA meeting (rural FPs worldwide) and media
reports

but the media reports confirm my impressions of a select group traveling to
the US. I suspect the same is true in Ireland where the nation's women led
the final efforts that took the nation in new and positive directions.

There is a very upbeat attitude

In South Africa, Kenya, and other nations, changes in government have been
accomplished by dedicated people willing to sacrifice much using peaceful
means and embarrassment othe point of clear national support for change.
The role of women and countries realizing that the status of women and
children and the environment are important for best national outcomes, is
hugely encouraging.

NPR captures this spirit:  Kenyan environmental activist and human rights
campaigner Wangari Maathai has been awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.
Currently the deputy environment minister of Kenya, Maathai was praised by
the committee "for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy
and peace."    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4077230

as one of the first east African females to gain even a basic education, it
is fitting that she is the first to win a Nobel prize.

There will be sacrifices while the world adjusts to a better distribution
of resources and outcomes. The situation in the developed nations that do
not distribute well is made worse by policies that retain or expand the
benefits of those with top status while penalizing those of middle and
lower income status. Professionals are very good at structuring local,
state, and federal efforts, and they are even more adamant when their piece
of the pie seems to be threatened, but they will have to face the realities
of daily living. Removing clothes and shaking breasts at Kenyan troops may
not be understood by westerners, but the troops raised by these women (and
by their villages) understood that a change was at hand.

comforting and organizing the afflicted in peaceful and productive ways and
afflicting the comfortable with the results of their poor decisions, is the
only way to accomplish the needed changes in a way that prevents recurrent
cycles of violence and destruction.

Robert C. Bowman, M.D.
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