How did the countries get into debt?

      It all started when the oil producing nations decided to hike oil prices in the late 1970's. Just like that, these mostly Middle Eastern countries had vast sums of money. They needed a secure place to keep it, so they put it in Western Banks.

Now, suddenly, banks had more money than they knew what to do with it. So, they loaned it out. They loaned it out to developing nations at absurdly low interest rates.

How was the Loan used?

Much of this money went to fund pork-barrel projects which gave business to Western development corporations. Some loans were used to purchase hard-line laissez faire policies and allegiances during the Cold War. But many of the projects failed. And so did many of the economic policies that were part-and-parcel of the loans.  Much of the money was borrowed by dictators who spent it on military and weaponry, which were used to oppress their own people.

In South Africa, for instance, international lending institutions and creditors loaned the apartheid government more than 20 billion dollars, which they put directly to use in bolstering the racist system. When Nelson Mandela came to power in 1994 after being awarded the Nobel Peace prize, he was forced to make payments on money that had been used to pay for his 27 year imprisonment!

What are the effects of Interest Rates? 

      But when South Africa and other nations tried to pay down their debts, they found that the interest rates that they had been paying were all of a sudden double or triple what they had been! Interest rates went, in some cases, as high as 47%, according to an independent congressional investigation (the Meltzer Commission). Faced with failed projects and failed economic policies, many countries could not make the loan payments as they were scheduled. So, the IMF and World Bank happily loaned them more money to cover their payments... with certain conditions. The trap was sprung.

      The economic conditions that the IMF and the World Bank demanded fell into three basic categories, privatization, government spending cuts, or the use of Western corporations for development projects. Many development projects are controversial, like water privatization—providing extremely clean water to the wealthy, and leaving the poor majority with less access to clean water than before. When Western corporations are contracted for these jobs, it makes one suspicious that these economic conditions set up by the IMF and World Bank are designed to help corporations rather than the improvised countries they should represent.

      But government spending cuts are the most devastating of these. Many countries have been forced to cut government spending in the areas of health care and education, which destroys their capacity to combat rapidly expanding HIV/AIDS rates or to provide primary education to children. 27.2 million people in Africa are currently infected with the HIV virus. Debt repayment to wealthy creditor institutions like the IMF and World Bank should not take precedence over AIDS prevention or the education of children. After all, how can sick or uneducated people construct an economy that will provide a living wage to all?

      Foreign aid to debt-ridden countries often goes towards debt servicing. Aid without debt cancellation, then, is like pouring water into a sink with an open drain. Debt cancellation, therefore, is an important prerequisite to effective foreign aid. This is why debt cancellation is so necessary.

      In 1996, international lending institutions realized that debt relief was necessary, and formed the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC) order to assess the need for and to provide debt relief. But little debt relief was actually realized by this bureaucratic process that forced countries to adopt more of the same harmful economic policies before receiving relief.

      In 2000, under pressure from a worldwide Jubilee movement under moral leadership from such important moral voices as Pope John Paul II, the US Congress authorized the cancellation of part of the debt owed directly to the US.

How much debt relief is needed? 

      But there are still 67 counties that need debt 100% debt cancellation in order come out of extreme poverty and meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). That's why Jubilee USA is working on a Bill, HR 2634, that will ask Congress to pressure international institutions to cancel the debt and reform lending practices. The US has the power to cancel the debt.

What Can you do?

      US Congress people make decisions as a result of phone calls and letters they receive from ordinary people. That's why we are asking people who care about debt cancellation to call their representatives and ask them to cancel the debt. It doesn't matter whether or not you are even able to vote, you can still call 1-800-839-5276 , ask for your Senator or Representative, and tell them to support HR 2634. You can visit www.jubileeusa.org or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information or to get involved here in Chicago.

Source: www.jubileeusa.org

DRACUT - Army Spc. Christine Ndururi of Dracut called her family Monday morning to give them the news that her first overseas deployment would be to Kuwait and then Iraq. The next day the military announced that the 21-year-old soldier died of a "non-combat related illness" at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. The family was still waiting last night for an explanation about how she died.

The public affairs office at Fort Hood, Texas - where Ndururi was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment - released no further details about the death. Spokeswoman Nancy Bourget said it remains "under investigation." "She has not been sick," Ndururi's father, Wilson Wachira, 45, said yesterday at the family's home at 46 Woodbine Path. "I'm waiting for them to tell me what happened. She was not ill, unless she was ill after 9 o'clock when she talked to her mother. Before she was deployed there, she had to have a medical checkup." Ndururi, an automated logistical specialist, called her mother at 9 a.m. Monday from a pay phone in Rhode Island to tell her about her assignment. Then the parents heard from the military at 9 a.m. on Tuesday that their daughter was dead.

"The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams," she wrote in her yearbook message.

"To me, she was OK," said her mother, Mary Mwaniki, 45, recalling the last time she spoke to her daughter. The conversation didn't last long. Mwaniki, a nursing aide, was at work. She told her daughter to call back, but she never did. Ndururi enlisted in the Army reserves while a senior at Dracut High School, her father said. The family moved to Lowell from Kenya when she was 16, then moved to Dracut six months after that. Ndururi is the first female soldier from the Merrimack Valley to die in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She is the second soldier from Dracut to die. Army Spc. Mathew Boule died on April 2, 2003, in a Blackhawk helicopter crash in Iraq. Ndururi's family is active with the Kenyan Community Presbyterian Church Ushindi in Lowell.

About 10 church members and relatives gathered at the home yesterday afternoon to pray. Some people brought food. The phone rang every few minutes. Some calls were from politicians' offices offering condolences and assistance, including Sen. Edward Kennedy's. Ndururi graduated from Dracut High School in 2005. "The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams," she wrote in her yearbook message. "She was a bright light, and she had a smile that could light up the room," said Kristine Morrison, Ndururi's high school guidance counselor. "It certainly hit the faculty hard today." Family and friends remembered her as a devout Christian with a beautiful singing voice. She was the choir leader for her church's youth group. "She was a good girl," Ndururi's mother said. "She was special." Ndururi came from a family with a military tradition. Her father was a police officer in Kenya before moving to the United States. He is now a truck driver. Her two older brothers are veterans - her brother George, 26, served in the Army and Simon, 24, in the Air Force. Simon has only served stateside, while George just returned home on Friday after completing a mission in Kosovo, her father said.

Wachira said his daughter was hoping to get a scholarship to study nursing after her military service. "She was caring," he said.Wachira said he last saw his daughter two weeks ago when he visited her at Fort Hood. Ndururi thought she was going to be deployed to South Korea. She was told she would be allowed to use a personal vehicle there, so she planned to ship her car over. "She looked happy," her father recalled. "She enjoyed being in the military." Then, last Monday she found out was destined for Iraq. She cried when she broke the news, her father said. "I don't know why they didn't prepare her earlier, that she last Monday found out she was going to Iraq," he said.

In addition to her two brothers in the military and her parents, Ndururi is survived by another brother, Ambrose, 20, and a sister, Faith, 17. The family had not completed the arrangements for the funeral yesterday. The Rev. Samuel Kimohu from St. Stephen's Church in Lowell stood in the living room and blessed the family. "We want to thank you for her services to this country," he said to her parents.

The reverend said Ndururi is a role model for young people because of her service to her church and country. Family friend Octavian Irura knew Ndururi since she moved to the United States and sang in the church choir with her. She said Ndururi never changed, like many people do when they move here from another country. She said that's a good thing. Ndururi always helped out, taking care of Irura's grandchildren.
"She likes everybody," Irura said. "She was so good to us. She was there for everybody. She always wore a smile on her face." "She was a strong Christian, and her faith was unbelievable," said Peter Mutura, the church secretary. William Zounes, Dracut's director of Veterans Services, said he planned to reach out to the family first, and then the town will likely do something to honor Ndururi at a later date.

"I'm sure the community as well will be very saddened by the loss of this young lady," he said. According to a military press release Ndururi earned the National Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal.

"You can see on this case here, the cause of the death is multiple organ injuries due to multiple gun shots and the pathologist says the fatal bullets were shot from behind," Mr Mue, the commission's head of advocacy explained to journalists. He said their findings were reached after investigations done by competent investigators, who were experienced former police officers. Police Commissioner Ali on Tuesday said KNCHR investigations were not done by qualified investigators and the report was out to win media attention ahead of the December general elections.

Police carried out a major operation against the outlawed Mungiki sect in June after a series of grisly murders. The KNCHR then investigated the disappearance of hundreds of men linked to the criminal gang. The Mungiki terrorised parts of the capital city, Nairobi, and central Kenya earlier this year, demanding protection fees from public transport operators, slum dwellers and other businessmen. Many who refused were brutally murdered. Banned in 2002, the sect's members are thought to be militants from Kenya's biggest ethnic group, the Kikuyu.

Kids Alive Kenya is a local affiliate of the Christian, US-based Kids Alive International. Two organisations, a lawyers’ group called the Chambers of Justice, and Gospel Bible Baptist Mission, which used to collaborate with Kids International, launched the civil suit against the charity. They accuse them of illegally and indecently exposing identities, images, health status and social circumstances of Kenyan children in its website advertisements in a bid to raise funds - as well as trafficking them. "It is suspected of exploiting children to raise funds, yet no funds have ever been delivered to children’s homes in the past 17 months," said Isaiah Mandala, a lawyer representing the two plaintiffs.

Mandala said they were also concerned about the whereabouts of three children missing from children’s homes linked with the group. The charity’s actions amounted to "a serious negation of best interest of children’s principles enunciated in Section 4 of the (Kenya’s) Children Act and UN (United Nations) Convention on Rights of the Child," he added.

Kids Alive is partnered with local churches and groups that run about 10 children homes in Kenya. It operates in 14 other countries around the world, according to information posted on its website. The motto posted on its website reads: "Christian care for children at risk."

image adapted from http://www.ahavakids.org/