Open Letter To UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan
by Benjamin Roberts, 2006

Mr. Secretary General, I feel compelled to write this letter to you when I look around me and see the level of misery and despair in the world today and the lack of good faith, principle, and credibility which seem to be the order of the day in our 21st century. Some of this can be laid right at the doorstep of your own organization, the United Nations. You may correct me if I am wrong, but I think of your venerable organization as a body whose mission has something to do with peace, equality, and an improved quality of life for the citizens, one and all, on this planet we share. If this is correct then I take serious issue with you and your organization on your conduct in this regard. These are my concerns: This past Friday I happened to be watching the show 20/20. It showed a segment of how, like the plague in Europe centuries ago, the AIDS epidemic is decimating huge swaths of Africa, turning children into orphans at alarming rates, and transforming siblings and grandparents into the role of parents, since the real parents have long since passed away. Since the able bodied adults are gone there is no one to plant the field. So the result is no food as children are, in essence, left "weeping in the wilderness." In the segment a girl in northeastern Namibia, no more than thirteen years old, is interviewed by 20/20 correspondent Deborah Roberts. The parents are dead. She is the adult taking care of her young siblings. She scavenges for food. They are eating a meager morsel of millet along with worms that they picked off the trees. Then, like a caring and ever watchful mother hen, she covers her young siblings with a mosquito net before seeing them to bed. A precaution to ward off this carrier of the deadly malaria. This done, she then sits outside her humble abode to talk to Ms. Roberts. She is asked about what she think of her future. This child says, "When I think of my future I become very sad and want to cry."

Mr. Secretary General, it is obscene and shocking to me that our planet, that the Creator provided with bountiful life sustaining resources, has in one corner a serious epidemic of obesity from eating too much food, while in another corner orphaned children have to eat worms to stay alive. Is this how the Creator intended the bounty of his creation to be shared? Is it not a cruel joke that in one part of the world humans eat worms on a one time basis in a Survivor television contest to win fame and fortune and show how tough they are, then later have the luxury of regular sustenance from their local grocery store or fast food establishment. Compare that with another corner of the world where orphans are eating worms as their only nourishment. This is allowed to happen and we call ourselves civilized? Mr. Annan this makes me sick to my stomach.

A television documentary recently was outlining the staggering amount of millions of gallons of water the Amazon River deposits into the sea every day. We have huge tankers that ferry oil to various corners of the world so some humans can slake the thirst of their guzzling metal monsters, called SUV's, that take them around creating havoc on the air we breathe. But we do not have the wherewithal or the interest to collect the water from that mighty river, put it on tankers just as big, and send it to Africa and elsewhere so that farmers can grow food to eat, and our fellow human beings can have potable water, instead of having to stand in line and scrounge for this precious liquid in a mudhole.

Mr. Secretary General, all too often we see Western celebrities of note rushing off to Africa and posing with a few destitute kids as they opine the plight of that continent. They do this almost as an afterthought, and often it is unclear in determining who is getting more out of the event. The kids or the celebrity? For example, a number of white celebrities, usually female, at one time or another go there and get in front of the camera talking about the plight of African kids. However, when they adopt it is almost always from European or Asian countries. So much for the plight of African children. Mr. Annan we need much more than the "we-need-a worthy-cause-so-let's-head-to-Africa" routine. Resources need to be focused on Africa like never before. After all, the resources of Africa were siphoned off from that continent to make the wealthy and advanced nations wealthy and advanced. Hence, it is absolute rubbish for those nations to now sit in judgment and pontificate that that continent is responsible for its own misery.

Mr. Annan, you and your organization are provided with resources to better the plight of the world. Right now your organization is expending enormous effort and resources refereeing a slugfest between the Israelis and Hezbollah. This effort is not worthwhile. Two Israeli soldiers were allegedly abducted. Their army attacked the Palestinians, then went on to attack Lebanon and Hezbollah presumably to bring about their release. After untold destruction in Lebanon, with more than 700 Lebanese civilians dead, and missiles raining down on Israel with over 30 dead and many injured, that country has not gotten the alleged abducted soldiers back. The UN negotiated a cease fire, and within days Israel attacked Hezbollah deep inside Lebanon, claiming the usual stale bread "right to defend ourselves" as justification to violate the cease fire and attack so as to disrupt resupply of weapons by Hezbollah. Get ready for a lot more of the same. This southern Lebanon peacekeeping mission will prove futile because you and your organization are attempting mission impossible in trying to stop two religious groups from being constantly at each others throat. Forget it. They have been at this state from before the time of Christ.

You have been left high and dry in previous efforts to intervene and bring some fairness and resolution to disasters in this region. Not very long ago Western newsmen spoke of Israeli army atrocities in the Palestinian camp at Jenin. You thought enough of it to assemble an investigative panel to visit the camp. The Israelis banned you and your fact finding team from entry. The United States sandbagged you by promptly endorsing this ban. An embarrassing situation and a wasted effort by you. It is my opinion that you and your organization should be spending your time and resources on worthwhile efforts. Efforts aimed at seeing that orphans can nourish themselves on more than worms picked from trees. It is nothing short of obscene that in some corners of our planet, as a treat for eating their food, children are given worms to eat. Yes, the gummi worm candies. But in African villages, such as the one in northern Namibia, innocent children have no choice but to satisfy their hunger pangs with real worms as their only meal.

In my Sunday school days I learned of the plagues that hit Egypt, as punishment for having the Israelites in bondage there in Old Testament times. One of those plagues was the death of all firstborn, including those of the Israelites, unless they marked blood on the doorpost of their houses. This plague, of losing a child and firstborn was, in my mind, one of the most terrible of all. However, it pales in comparison to what is being duplicated today in village after African village. In that instance they had choices of putting the sign on their doorpost or not, in order to be spared disaster. Despite the loss of the firstborn, the victims had their other offspring to embrace and gather around them, whilst those who had no children during the disaster could look forward to doing so once the calamity was over. However, there are no such options in this modern day African plague that is decimating villages like the one in northern Namibia. There, the parents are gone, as if in a rapture as mentioned in the New Testament. Only this rapture appears to have been selective in removing the parents from this life, while leaving their vulnerable and helpless children to fend for themselves in this cruel and uncaring world we often like to call a global community.

Mr. Secretary General, even in the most difficult of circumstances, children have an enthusiasm for life and express hope for a bright future. However, it is an ominous and sad indictment of you, myself, and the rest of those who claim to live in a civilized world, when a young child in northeastern Namibia is asked about her future and she responds that she gets very sad and wants to cry when she thinks about her future. God help us all.