Cape Verde RPCV Amy Hehringer coments on "the Africa we aren't shown on TV "
Showing progress in Africa
Jean-Marc Gorelick's Jan. 30 Opinion piece "The Africa we aren't shown on TV" is a rare and welcome example of a national newspaper paying attention to the activities of young Americans serving in the Peace Corps. I was disappointed, however, that Mr. Gorelick fed into the very stereotypes he purported to tear down.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) like Save the Children and CARE long ago stopped using images of sickly Africans in their fundraising and advocacy campaigns - in fact, Sally Struthers is no longer a spokeswoman for Save the Children.
While there is no question that AIDS is ravaging many African countries, some have managed to contain the pandemic. For example, by 2002, 6.2 percent of the Ugandan population was infected with HIV, down from 18 percent a decade earlier. Wondering where all the "sickly, defeated Africans" are fails to recognize the diversity and significant success stories within Africa and its nations.
Amy Mehringer
Syracuse, N.Y.
The writer was a Peace Corps volunteer from 1998 to 2000 in Cape Verde, West Africa.
