Dustyn Winder

For the second time in two days, I'm going to save myself sometime thanks to the great posting over at Texas in Africa.

Today, she posted suggestions given to Secretary Clinton on her visit to the DRC by local Congolese leaders. That's a breath of fresh air in and of itself. But aside from the wealth of good advice by those that do know best -- advice with tangible goals -- maybe the most powerful "suggestion" came from Christine Schuler-DeSchryver: Take Real Action.

We have received many, many visitors, each more important than the one before. We have received many, many celebrities, too. At the end, we have the impression that people only came to consume human poverty, human misery. And, in the end, all that we got was a pile of business cards.

"A pile of business cards" and Western sympathy don't really amount to much when they aren't backed by real action. I know that, sometimes, I might just be too critical of the actions of the U.S. or Europe or civil society or whom or whatever, but I see no way that anyone could truly believe that celebrity gawking, sensationalized media, pats on the head and the entire "save the African" idea serves anyone but those attempting to do the "saving".

Though I'm constantly aware, it still devastates me to see the idea of poverty and suffering being just another notch in the belt and autograph in the book.