Yesterday it was announced by the State Department that the United States will provide an additional $105 million in aid to famine-stricken East Africa (we had previously contributed $405 million to fight drought in the region). Vice President Biden’s wife has just returned from a humanitarian visit, where she visited a camp of starving refugees and met with Kenyan leaders who are dealing with an influx of famished Somalis. Said Jill of her trip,

Read more on U.S. cash flushes just fine in Somalia…

Returning from a conference earlier this week, I had the chance to speak with Garreth Bloor, a student at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, about his engagement with politics, the role of religion and civil society, and “Mama Africa’s” story of microfinance success.

Read more on Politics, Civil Society, and Microfinance in South Africa…

Three days ago I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, for Acton’s conference at Strathmore University. Driving about the city the last few days, I have been amazed by the number of small-medium businesses located in the kiosks along streets. These simple, tin/wood structures are bustling with enterprising and entrepreneurial souls working hard to better their lives and those of others.

In a Nairobi bread kiosk

With such diligent and enthusiastic people, why is Kenya such a poor country?

Read more on Why is Kenya Poor?…

Ray’s post pointed to something that’s been bugging me about Jim Wallis’ “What Would Jesus Cut?” campaign. As with the “What Would Jesus Drive?” campaign (“Transportation is a moral issue.” What isn’t these days?), Wallis’ campaign assumes the moral high ground by appropriating the Holy Name of Jesus Christ to advance his highly politicized, partisan advocacy. Jesus becomes an advertising slogan. And what is implicit here is that those who oppose Wallis are somehow at odds with the Gospel of Christ; those who agree with him are on Christ’s side and especially as it concerns “the least of these.”

Read more on Taking His Name in Vain: What Would Jesus Cut?…

God and Money passes along a news story about a church in Nebraska raising money “to buy motorcycles (probably not Harleys) for pastors in the African country of Tanzania. Pastors there serving multiple congregations cannot simulcast their sermons–they have to walk upwards of 60 miles to be with their flock.”

Read more on The New Circuit Riders and the Bicycle Economy…

This year’s Lausanne Congress, Cape Town 2010, is underway and all reports are of a massive event, with substantial buildup and coordination of efforts of and implications of various kinds across the globe. (Dr. Anthony Bradley, a research fellow at the Acton Institute, participated in one of the conversation gatherings last month leading up to the Cape Town event.)

Read more on Acton and Cape Town 2010…

The Detroit News published a new column today by Acton president and co-founder Rev. Robert A. Sirico:

Faith and Policy: Free markets, not aid, will help poor nations best

Rev. Robert Sirico

Read more on Rev. Sirico: Free markets, not aid, will help poor nations best…

And if bed nets or any other foreign interventions are to do significant and lasting good, charitable enterprises will need to rediscover the importance of subsidiarity, of humans on the ground in relationship with other human beings, as opposed to government-to-government aid transfers that often do more harm than good. One person who speaks forcefully to this issue is Rwandan Anglican Bishop John Rucyahana …

A round-up of diverse items of interest, in no particular order:

• “Iraq to open consulate in San Diego,” (and Detroit). Facing difficulties in reaching the populations of Iraqis in the US, Iraq is planning to open consulates in San Diego and Detroit. “The Bush administration set a goal of admitting 12,000 Iraqi refugees this year.” This rather meager goal comes years after the invasion and after hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have had to flee to other countries for safety. Too little, too late: “…while more than 100,000 Iraqi Christians sought to emigrate to the US, only 200 were granted access in 2006.”

Read more on The Annotated Inbox…