I have been reading Thomas Friedman’s ‘The World is Flat’ on and off for a while now… I like the book, its an eye opener. Anyway, I read something in it today that struck me (Thank you KPLC for once again immobilizing my work for well over 4 hours – and giving me a chance to catch up on my reading!), here’s a direct quote:

The World Bank Reported that in 1990 there were roughly 375 million people living in China in extreme poverty, on less than $1 a day. By 2001, there were 212 million Chinese [living in extreme poverty], and by 2015, if current trends hold, there will be only 16 million people living on less than $1 a day. In South Asia – primarily India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – the numbers go from 462 million in 1990… down to 462 million by 2001 and down to 216 million in 2015. In sub-saharan Africa, by contrast… [get this...] there were 227 million people living on less than $1 a day in 1990, 313 million in 2001, and an expected 340 million by 2015.

Now, I stared at that page for like 5 minutes just thinking… and how will what I do, what will we do to change this literal ‘curse’ on our beloved continent? How does what I do by writing software and being called a ‘techie’ and feeling nice about it, fit into this scenario? Am I oblivious of the fact, are we [and I speak to my 'African Brethren'] comfortable of where we’re at individually and would not care any less about this fact?….

Even more interestingly Friedman goes on to explain an pretty cool analogy of what he thinks the world would be if all the continents and nations were like a neighborhood… and what he imagines Africa would be..