Africa Gives to Haiti

From Paul Shepherd of the Black Voices blog:

"When it comes to giving on the global scale, African nations are usually on the receiving end of international largess, but the harrowing images from earthquake-ravaged Haiti have several African nations pledging financial support for the relief effort.

While the pledge offers of $2.5 million from the Democratic Republic of Congo and $3 million from Ghana are a drop in the bucket compared to pledges made by the United States and most European nations, the pledges represent the first time in recent memory that African countries have pooled their meager financial resources to help a country outside of their continent.

Aside from the individual country pledges, a campaign called "Africa for Haiti" has been started online.

Other African countries that have pledged support, include Equatorial Guinea ($2 million), Namibia and Gabon ($1 million each), Sierra Leone ($100,000), and Senegal, which has pledged $1 million and land to any Haitian emigre.

To my thinking, the size of the pledge isn't as important as the notion among African leaders that they can help bring positive change to those who are worse off than they are."