It is not very often that I allow myself to get off topic on this blog, but I am going to make an exception today.

5.4 million.

5,400,000. That is the number of people that have died as a result of conflict in the Congo in the last decade. Averaged out, that is 45,000 people a month or roughly 1,500 people a day. One thousand, five hundred people a day...dead. Unnecessarily.

I have a personal interest in the plight of the Congo. When I was younger I lived with Jose Kabeya, a Congolese Refugee, in Colorado (I would tell you his amazing story, but I can not put it on the Internet for fear of possible retribution against him). We became quick friends and I had the honor of being in his wedding. He and I (with most of the credit going to him) had the audacity to think we could do something about it. We were young and naive and bold ... and sat down over pizza one night and came up with a plan and a name, the Morning Star Center for Social Progress. Well, since that night in 2004, we have had over 30 students graduate from our technical school with certificates in information technology and computers (with another class on the way - we have actually already doubled our initial operations in this area), we have shipped medical supplies to local doctors with the help of Project Cure, and we have started construction on an elementary school and have formal approval from the government to begin offering classes in September of this year. We (well, mostly Jose) have also built two teams of members, one that runs the U.S. operations and one that runs operations in Kinshasa, DRC. Not everything has been roses and we are constantly operating on a shoe-sting budget (please donate or become a partner if you are interested), but we are trying and I think that counts for something.

The plight of the Congo, and Africa generally, is largely overlooked, or worse, intentionally ignored. The U.S. is spending 5 billion per month on military activities in Iraq and Afganistan. That is roughly equal to the entire yearly Gross Domestic Product of the D.R. Congo (for comparison, our GDP is 13 trillion). In other words, a little could go a long way in the Congo. I have seen this personally. The total amount our organization has raised would be about enough to get you a moderately used car in the States. Yet, with that relatively small amount, we have managed to affect hundreds of lives in a positive way. The people there are hungry for change. Much of the construction on our elementary school has been volunteer work. We have volunteers working in our technical school as well. People there just want to see things improve. So, keep the Congo, and Africa in general, in your mind from time to time. If you can find little ways to help, I encourage you to do so. To help the Congo and Africa, it is going to take the efforts of ordinary people around the world. The problem is almost bigger than political leaders, which is perhaps why they don't touch it. It is going to take small efforts by everyone and effort number one is recognizing the severity of the problem.

Okay, thanks for indulging me, back to regularly scheduled programming.