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I'm always fascinated by what people do or don't know about the world outside their own country.
Mind, I've seen shanty towns on the Texan border that looked little better.
Seriously, people live like this in parts of rural China, which is a fast progressing country.
The US has a GDP per head of $40k. I would think the richest African nations have GDP/head of around $2k, and the poorest around $100.
So how would you expect people to live?
Sorry if the above seems sarcastic-- too early in the morning when I typed it!
I am just surprised when people think life in these places is like it is. Anyone ever read Charles Dickens? Dickens' London of the 1850s is much like any sprawling supercity of the Third World today (Maputo, Rio de Janeiro, Cairo etc.).
Senegal is Islamic. In my experience, Islamic cities are a little better, due to a Koranic emphasis on personal hygiene, and the relative absence of alcohol.
I think everyone is missing the boat on this one.
Thanks to the music, this brought back happy memories of my trip across africa 30 years ago; though there were far less vehicles then. Everywhere I went people were happy, smiling, and willing, even eager to share. People were far happier, far more content than here in America.
I now live in an old mining town in Arizona, where many miner shacks have changed little in three generations, and where newcomers (rich speculators) think the only thing to do is tear them down and build a modern stucco monstrosity.
Americans think the only way to live is to live in a huge house, with all the comforts, where you never have to leave the front door and encounter neighbors, living lives of loneliness and isolation.
I can assure you that doesn't happen in Africa.