Compare And Contrast The United States Vs The Congo

Over a period from 1960-1965, the first Republic of the Congo experienced a period of serious crisis. There was a terrible war for power that displayed senseless violence and the desperation to rule. There were many internal conflicts among the people. The country eventually gained independence from Belgium. For many countries this would be a time for celebration. Unfortunately for the people of the Congo this became a time to forget. Almost immediately after independence and the general elections, the country went into civil war. Major developed cities like Katanga and Kasai wanted to be independent from the Lumumba government. Different factions started to fight the government and Katanga and Kasai tried to secede from the rest

In the United States, there are the privileges of incredible doctors, medicine, insurance, and many other resources that help the society stay healthy and prevent disease. Disease and sickness can be detrimental to a society. For example, something as simple as getting a flu shot saves lives around the world every year. In the Congo, vaccines are lucky to come by and are extremely valued. When people in a society are prone to disease, this affects how effective the society can be as a whole. Furthermore, this starts from the youth. The youth in the Congo are deprived of basic health requirements, causing the Congo to be an ineffective and war torn society.

Independence could either be the uprising of a new and better maintained country or the uprising of a very deadly war. Kenya and Congo were very alike in terms of how they got to become independent, but how they handled it was the difference. Just like Congo and Kenya many other countries have their differences and similarities. For example, Congo had a much more violent approach to the situation unlike Kenya. Congo took everything very offensive, which is why the there was much tension between the colonies and the African countries. Kenya tried to fix their problem by not ignoring the important things and realizing that things can be fixed.

When I was little, I heard stories of Third World countries where people lived in complete poverty. I would hear of how they had dilapidated domiciles, contaminated water, deadly diseases, and shortages of food. I was always told how blessed I was to live in a country where I was free of these situations, but I always took this truth for granted. I would go along every day, not worrying about where I was going to sleep or what I was going to eat, when people all over the world were facing these situations as problems. It wasn't until I was sixteen that I realized how blessed I was, when I was given the opportunity to visit San Jose, Costa Rica.

Sub point 1: Problem 2: Another huge problem is their lack of education. In another website called Education in Democratic Republic of the Congo, updated on April 19, 2017 by the USAID, 3.5 million children of primary school age are not enrolled in school. This issue is also largely affecting their health issue as well, because people have no knowledge of how to prevent diseases from spreading into their bodies, such as malaria as mentioned earlier. For most of us, who had K-12 education without any restrictions, these problems might be totally unimaginable.

Granted, American poverty is no match to third world poverty, but for such a prosperous country it is pretty sad. Most third world countries do not have social security or welfare (650a). So, the people of those countries have no income to keep themselves going. Even though America does have both social security and welfare, this country still has many homeless and starving people. Horten 3

creates a lack of understanding between the social groups in the Congo and their own

At these moments, life in the Congo is a living nightmare. The eastern provinces of the Congo see violence every day. Women are getting raped at alarming rates. Children are constantly abused and forced to become child soldiers. There are no sources of medicine or even clean water. Anyone can get murdered at any time, and no one is even safe in their own homes.

Today, the Congo is an undeveloped, poor, and corrupt country. The life expectancy is around 43 years due to the lack of protection and unhealthy living conditions. According to The World Bank, around 64 percent of the whole population is living in poverty. In fact, it is the seventh poorest country in the world, just below Madagascar, as well as being the third least developed country under Cape Verde (Nations Online). This is because “The Republic of the Congo still struggles with their economy due to its historical inability to form on its own” (Mckinley). After the Congo was finally able to gain independence from Belgium, they were unable to keep strong markets. This inevitably led to an increase of poverty. Additionally, a country’s GDP (gross domestic product) per capita can determine how well a country is doing economically. The GDP per capita is calculated by dividing total gross domestic product by the total population in the country. Today, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has a GDP per capita of 484.21 USD. This is relatively low compared to other countries; for example, the United States of America’s GDP per capita is around 53,041.98 USD (World Bank). After Belgium granted the Congolese independence, years of being under Belgian control resulted in an inhibition to develop. The African country “were not yet ready for independence”(Scheyven). Their monarchy was inexperienced, which caused an

Congo Square is a public space where African slaves gathered, singed, danced, played musical instruments, and practice their belief after the Code Noir of Louisiana was established for Sunday as non-work days for all inhabitants of the French rule colony. Freddie Williams Evans presented the Congo Square as a significant contribution to the survival of African American in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Republic of Congo was colonized by the Belgians under the ruling of King Leopold II. He exploited the natural resources and the natives for his selfish reasons. Nearly half its population were worked to death, whipped, dismembered, executed outright or sent running into the bush to die of starvation and disease in a pitiless quest for first ivory and then rubber. Whereas, India was subjugated to Great Britain. Great Britain was able to exploit India’s natural resources because of the control they had over the country. They made the raw materials like cotton and tea be sold and exported for a cheap price while they make money off of other countries through tariffs. When these two western countries left their colonies their cultures, infrastructure,

In recent years, Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone have launched major healthcare initiatives in order to expand and improve access to services. However, the state of health systems for the last 20 years is difficult to overcome. Liberia and Sierra Leone were each embroiled in civil wars until the mid-2000s. Porous borders and a shared diamond belt meant that their conflicts were often shared, as political strife, violence, looting, armed forces, and refugees moved to neighboring countries. , Guinea in particular was on the receiving end of refugees. During that time in all three countries, health systems were uniformly poor, with under-staffed and under-resourced facilities, significant health disparities, and almost no systematic infectious disease surveillance or control.

Over the course of human history, many believe that the “Congo Free State”, which lasted from the 1880s to the early 1900s, was one of the worst colonial states in the age of Imperialism and was one of the worst humanitarian disasters over time. Brutal methods of collecting rubber, which led to the deaths of countless Africans along with Europeans, as well as a lack of concern from the Belgian government aside from the King, combined to create the most potent example of the evils of colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. The Congo colonial experience, first as the Congo Free State then later as Belgian Congo, was harmful to that region of Africa both then and now because of the lack of Belgian and International

Congo free state was first established in 1884. The colonial nations of Europe gave Leopold II of Belgium the authority to go and claim the Congo. They said that it would improve the lives of the natives that inhabited the land but that was evidently not the case. As soon as Leopold got over to the Congo, he had forgotten all about these promises. At first the drive for ivory was very prominent but eventually the want for rubber became a lot bigger. The machinery wasn't developed enough to do this so Leopold used what forces he had, manpower. The natives were forced into harvesting and processing rubber. This was a very physically demanding job because they had to climb up the trees to make big slashes into them and then go home and stir the liquid until it was in the right consistency to make the rubber. Each month, if someone didn’t meet the quota that was set out, they would get their hands or feet cut off. There was so many unthinkable things that occurred during this such as forced labour, beating, widespread killing and frequent mutilation. The estimated death toll was between 1 million to 15 million. Just looking at these few examples, the destructiveness of the Congolese people is quite clear. Today, the Congo is still a struggling country. It is very poor, unstable and corrupted because of the various wars and conflicts that happened in the history of the Congo. Because of the

This is a tale of horror and tragedy in the Congo, beginning with the brutal and exploitative regime of King Leopold II of Belgium, and culminating with the downfall of one of Africa’s most influential figures, Patrice Lumumba. The Congo is but one example of the greater phenomenon of European occupation of Africa. The legacy of this period gives rise to persistent problems in the Congo and throughout Africa. Understanding the roots and causes of this event, as focused through the lense of the Congo, is the subject of this paper.