Nothing is more adverse to human survival than hunger. I know mankind is face with numerous calamities but the most devastating one is that of hunger. It is very common of us to see on our screens African children being shown with pot bellies that are swollen due to hunger and malnutrition. Hunger therefore is the leading world calamity, hence it should be the duty of every country to ensure that such a harsh circumstance does not visit it. How a country avoids being trapped in such a situation requires planning and thoughtfulness. Science and technology is here to serve mankind it does not belong to any race or continent, hence the application of science could go a long way into averting such a scenario. But a people living in ignorance cannot capitalise in the wisdom of science all they do is leave things to mother nature. From events around the world one can see that nature can be very hostile but at the same time it has potentials than can be enhanced to ensure survival. Imagine the panic in the country when the rains fail to show people went to great lengths to ensure rains: prayers were conducted. Notwithstanding that prayers can be a good thing, well at least psychologically, we could have develop continge3ncies that will not make us depend entirely on rains. For instance Gambia has a river that stretches the length of the country can we not open up canals that will be utilised to produce us sufficient food that could last for a very long time. This way even with certain minimal forms of drought we would be able to deal with them. But in Gambia the slighthiest show of droughts exposes our vulnerability. A country that is entirely dependent on the forces of nature and the exigencies of this phony market econmoy is bound to be held to ransom constantly. TO BE CONTINUE....... _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~