Africa                                                                                                                                      

Here are some amazing eye-opening facts-thanks to Dr.Steve Van Horn:

· The total income of all 55 African countries is a little more than that of Belgium.
· Africa is the world's most indebted and aid-dependent region.
· 17% of the African GNP goes towards debt repayment.
· The whole continent has fewer paved roads than Poland alone.
· Africa is poorer than it was 40 years ago.
· African economies must grow at 5% annually just to maintain the current level of poverty.
· Africa looses 20,000 skilled professionals a year due to economic hardship.
· Africa has less than 10% of the world's population but 70% of the world's total HIV infection.
· 1999 world financial reports indicate that 39% of all African GNP is taken and deposited in foreign banks by selfish and corrupt leaders.
· Nigeria has more than 110 trillion standard cubic feet of gas reserve and about 10 trillion cubic feet of oil reserve, but also has an external debt of $50 billion.
· Nigeria alone produces 50% of the United States' petroleum needs.
· The continent has one of the largest water and river systems in the world, yet it suffers from drought and insufficient hydro electricity.
· A recent computer analysis of the economy of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) concluded that no one could survive there.
· By 1958, the DRC was producing 50% of the world's uranium, 75% of the world's cobalt, 70% of he world's industrial diamonds, and it was the world's largest producer of rubber. But the average income per capita in the DRC is less than 1% of that in the United States.
· With good leadership, and good resource management the DRC could feed up to 2/3 of Africa all by itself.

Friends:
With all of this potential, Africa has the world's poorest of the poor. What is Africa lacking? Why can't the situation change in such a "Christianized" populace? Who are the Christians in Africa and what are they doing?

 by Margaret Kimosop