By Katrina Vander Kooi
"What percent of the United States Federal Budget do you think is designated for foreign aid?" Sara Stegemann asked one Sunday morning during the announcement time at First Presbyterian Church, Luverne.
Members called out 20 percent, and 30 percent. She smiled and gave the answer.
"Most Americans think the United States spends too much on foreign aid," Stegemann said. "In reality, the United States spends less than 1 percent of the total budget on foreign aid."
Stegemann attended the National Gathering on Africa in Washington, D.C., this summer where she was briefed on the conditions in Africa and what the United States could do to help.
Stegemann, a junior at Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D., is a member of the Augustana Coalition for Social Justice, an organization made up of faculty and students that fights for social justice on campus and around the world. "It's a way to stick my toes in the water of activism," Stegemann said.
Because of her involvement in this organization, she was asked to go to the gathering by the South Dakota Bread for the World Institute. This is a Christian organization that works around the world to fight poverty through education.
The cost of the trip was paid for by scholarships that Stegemann received. She spent four days at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., learning about Africa with students from around the United States.
Calls for unity
"The gathering was very welcoming," Stegemann said. "We all pulled together for one purpose."
The title of the gathering was "Called by Faith. United in Action." Various speakers talked about Africa and gave the participants different perspectives on the issue. There was also a worship service every day.
The main message that Stegemann took away from the gathering was a call for unity and healing of racism.
"One of my favorite quotes from a speaker was 'At the end of the day, we have the same heavenly father,'" Stegemann said. "It helps you feel connected to your brothers and sisters in Africa."
Speaker Bishop Charles Palmer-Buckle from Ghana, Africa, who preached in worship about the suffering in Africa, also brought the message home. "He said the reason he was sharing his country's strife wasn't to complain or make us feel guilty but because of brotherhood and sisterhood in faith," Stegemann said. "They're just like me and feel the same way I do."
African problems
"They have the same problems as we, just magnified," Stegemann said.
In Africa, hunger has doubled in the past 30 years, one person in three is chronically undernourished, and AIDS has killed more than 17 million people and is expected to kill 25 million more.
Problems start below the Sahara Desert. "There are 41 poor countries in the world; 33 of those countries are in sub-Saharan Africa," Stegemann said. "Almost one-half of the population lives on less than a dollar a day per person."
The status of women is also a problem. "Women are treated as second-class citizens," Stegemann said. Boys are expected to go to school, but girls are expected to stay home and do chores.
This lack of education leads to other problems.
Studies of mothers in Nigeria with and without schooling show a dramatic difference in terms of infant mortality. Infant mortality rates for children under age 5 drop from 211 (per 1,000) among mothers who have no education to 138 among mothers who have completed primary school, and to 113 for mothers with higher education.
Boys are also fed before girls. This problem again leads to other complications. Women who are malnourished are more likely to pass on HIV and AIDS to their children.
Also, one of the speakers, Bob Dole, talked about hunger related to education. "I remember him saying that 'you're not going to learn when you're hungry,' and I thought that was a good point," Stegemann said.
"There are a lot of obvious things wrong, but at the same time there is this huge potential," Stegemann quoted one of the speakers as saying. "Africa has tons of natural resources."
The money from those resources, however, does not go toward helping Africans. "40 percent of gross national product goes toward paying off the debt," Stegemann said. "Africa spends more money on debt than on health care."
Hunger to Harvest
At the gathering, speakers talked about how to solve this and other problems in sub-Saharan Africa. "The laws are OK, but they are not working," Stegemann said. "We need an African solution to African problems."
There is a resolution called Hunger to Harvest on the floor of the U.S. Legislature that promises to give more aid to Africa.
The resolution calls on the United States to join other industrial nations in an effort to cut world hunger in half by 2015. The writers of the bill cite Bread for the World Institute's estimate that this goal could be reached with an additional $4 billion a year of aid from the world's richest nations. The U.S. share would be $1 billion a year - about a penny a day per American.
The U.S. effort would begin in sub-Saharan Africa where the U.S. would continue to participate until "substantial progress" is made in reducing hunger and poverty.
The resolution says U.S. assistance should be directed to agriculture, food systems, infrastructure, rural development, health care, educational opportunity (especially for girls), financing of home and neighborhood businesses and debt relief.
The Hunger to Harvest resolution was passed by the U.S. Senate on July 18. The House of Representatives has not yet voted on the resolution.
Lobby Day
All of the information given to the participants was to be used on the final day of the gathering. The participants joined with other experienced lobbyists and spoke to their U.S. legislators about the resolution. Their goal was to convince the legislator to co-sponsor the resolution.
"I was cramming hardcore for Lobby Day," Stegemann said. It was her first time lobbying, so she was not alone. "I went with experienced delegates," Stegemann said.
The process of lobbying is having a meeting with the staff member or legislator, talking with him or her about the resolution, and convincing the legislator to sign up to be a co-sponsor of the resolution or to vote in favor of it.
Stegemann visited her own legislators along with Betty McCullum, a U.S. representative from Minnesota. "I really enjoyed talking with her," Stegemann said. "As soon as I left, she signed on as a co-sponsor."
The experience taught her a valuable lesson. "What I took away from this is if I'm going to convince someone, I need to be convinced that what I'm fighting for is right and just," Stegemann said.
What now?
Now Stegemann has put together a presentation about her experience and has sent letters to local churches offering her services. "It takes a lot to think globally," Stegemann said. "I just want to share all of this."
She is also hoping to return to Washington, D.C., sometime next year to lobby by herself for the resolution. "I didn't get to talk to [U.S. Rep. Mark] Kennedy while I was there, so I'm hoping I can do that later," she said.