Following is a letter from my Aunt Ev. She’s been tracking my time here in Uganda very closely. Due to recent events (see “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”) , she was prompted to contact her local Representative and 2 Senators.

“Hi,
Your mom told us about some of your recent concerns. FYI, I sent the following to Senators Kennedy and Kerry and Rep. McGovern for my district. I would send it to the White House too if I thought it would do any good, but maybe I should send it to Obama!

I don’t know who is in charge of foreign aid, but I think it’s the legislature.

Hope your adventure on the Nile was good.

Love,
Aunt Ev

RE: Foreign aid money

Dear Senator Kennedy,

My niece is a Peace Fellow for the Advocacy Project working in Uganda this summer. Her reports of the situation she is finding there are greatly disturbing.

In reading her posts and links to related information on other African issues I realize that the US may be contributing to some of the severe problems of the people of these nations by financial support of corrupt and abusive governments in Congo and Ethiopia.

The group she is working with, WPIO, (housed by Amnesty International), recently received another round of threatening phone calls because they dare to speak out about basic human rights issues in the Congo.

She has also referred us to a pictorial on boston.com about the famine in Ethiopia. Her interest in Ethiopia is based on her experience there last year when she filmed a documentary for veronicasstory.org.

My request of you is to use your position to ask the question, how would these foreign countries be changed for the better without US aid?

How can we continue to provide money that only supports wars and human suffering?

Please do what you can to change our relationship with the PEOPLE in third world countries.

There is only so much that each of us as individuals can do to help, but our government must be responsible for the impact we have in those areas.

Thank you”

After speaking with Freddy, I realized that if everyone back in the states were to send a message on behalf of The WPIO, the pygmies, the indigenous people and the peasants of eastern Africa, perhaps United States African policy could be affected positively to help bring social justice and equality to the people that Freddy and Pascal so diligently and tirelessly work for. If you would like more information from me, please let me know in the comments section, and I will email you off-blog.

The WPIO is a private endeavor, and the U.S. government may not ever directly aid them. However, to be sure, some of our policies certainly do affect them. Let’s try to see what we can do to affect some positive change.

Thank you in advance.