On Friday, I had the opportunity to discuss world and national events with a few very intelligent... I must say they are actually very brilliant women... They came over to my house for Tea and Talk. Each woman displayed an immense amount of passion which I found rather contagious. One of these women made such a powerful statement about a movement among women who are being compelled to do more, to offer more help, more love, more understanding, stand up, and to speak out in a collective voice for women throughout this nation and world. This is not a feminist movement, we've been there and done that.. This is a movement(I dont' think I could even call it that) but it's a force of goodness that is driven by divine inspiration, with no intention to gain or obtain anything. It's about nurturing nations and healing and fixing those social, political, and religious divisions that have made progress stagnate in our nation, and other nations throughout the world.
Our meeting started out by discussing current events, we talked about a whole gamete of things, from the Health Care Reform bill, Toyota Recall, Jihad, political candidates, Genetically Modified Foods. Then we started our conversation about a conflict in Africa.. The Nigerian Oil Conflict. This is a tragic and very devastating for those on the Niger Delta. American big oil companies(Shell, Mobile, Exxon, Chevron) were involved, irresponsible, and contributed a great deal to the problem.... Ingrid shared the above photo that just begins to tell the story of corruption, greed, and environmental havoc. It is said that one in every five Africans is a Nigerian, it is the most populated country in Africa. This country gives half of it's oil to U.S. markets. The area where all the oil refineries have been placed is called the Niger Delta, it was a huge carpet of tropical rain forest and mangrove swamps. The effects of the oil industry on the environment are profound. There have been over 7000 oil spills between 1970 and 2000, that's more than one each day. A world Wildlife Fund report said in 2006 that the Niger Delta is one of the most polluted places on the face of the earth. The environmental and public health impact alone would be enough to cause immediate action, but the more underlining social issues caused by this conflict are profound. The saddened reality is the discovery of Nigerian oil contributed to a decline in the standard of living. In 1970's the number of Nigerians subsisting on less than one dollar per day was 36 percent of its population and it grew to 70 percent in 2000. Then, literacy rates are at a low 40%. Access to health care and electricity for most of the population is scarce. Nigerian leadership and government corruption failed it's people. Want to learn more click.....
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