Below is a copy of the pitch written by the founder of United in Mind prior to creating this website:
The media continues to paint a picture of Africa as a continent that is in need of constant aid, as "passive recipients of white benevolence." The politics of representation continues to paint many peripheral nations around the world as incapable of fixing their own problems, which can have a damaging and demoralizing effect. It ignores much of the continued progress throughout many African nations, such as the advances in technology throughout countries such as Ghana, Rwanda, or Kenya, which pioneered mobile banking through a company called M-Pesa and started a community-based social activism app called Ushahidi, which helped collect info on the 2008 post-election violence that occured in Kenya and helped locate Haitian earthquake survivors in 2010. (Sasse & Haasen, 2018) In the past, the efforts of some NGOs to provide aid involved dumping a surplus of food or supplies sourced from core nations in short bursts, putting local farmers/suppliers out of work, fostering dependency, disrupting economies, and empowering dictators. (Mauren, K. et al., 2015) What many of these countries need is a chance to build a solid infrastructure, compete fairly in the global market, and more support for local businesses and entrepreneurs. Many of these regions contain brilliant intellectuals who will only be able to succeed in fixing their nation’s problems if they stop being oppressed or forced to watch their homeland continue to be exploited by those who stand to gain something.
Congo (now DRC), number seven on UNHCR’s list of countries with the most displaced people, was previously colonized by Belgium. During their rule, they filled a zoo filled with African people and young children were regularly amputated or castrated if their parents were unable to meet their daily rubber quota. (Rannard & Webster, 2020) As many as 10,000,000 Congolese died while under colonial rule. (Recently, horrified Belgians insisted on the removal of King Leopold's statues.) While psychologist Stanley Milgram’s experiment on obedience to authority figures might explain how some individuals may have just been following orders, the fact is, deeply rooted ethnocentric views encouraged by the media and society allowed them to rationalize their atrocities. At present, the humanitarian crisis in Congo is awful. A study conducted in 2007 concluded that around 1.7 million women in Congo may have been victims of sexual violence. (Peterman et al., 2011) Congo is considered the richest nation in the world in terms of resources, and over 120 armed rebel groups continue to contribute to conflicts exacerbated by the struggle for control of its minerals. (Reuters, 2021) It’s hard to say for sure if this wouldn’t have been the outcome for Congo had they not been colonized, subjected to such cruel treatment that likely resulted in multigenerational trauma, and had their first prime minister assassinated due to the collaborative efforts of Belgium and the C.I.A. in 1961 as part of a larger Cold War strategy, during a crucial time for a young nation transitioning to an independent democracy after years of imperial rule. (Nzongola-Ntalaja, 2020) According to an article on Reuters, “Congo mines around two-thirds of the world's cobalt, an ingredient in lithium-ion batteries, and is Africa's leading producer of copper.” (Reuters, 2021b) Congo is caught in a "resource trap." It stands to reason that a large part of their problems are tied to the continued exploitation of their resources by internal and external powers.