Saving the World

March 1, 2005 - 2:17 PM by Allison

I write a lot of stories for Israel 21c, and I don’t promote every single one. But ever since I interviewed Dr. Mickey Alkan, I really haven’t been able to stop thinking about him and what he has been doing in Botswana. I have such admiration and respect for people like him who have both the ability and motivation to literally go out into the jungle and try to save lives on a large scale, the way he is doing with AIDS in Africa. When you look at the frightening statistics in the story, it’s really not overdramatizing to say that the project he is part of is trying to rescue a whole continent.

It really inspires me to try to think of ways I can make the world a better place, and not just plod along every day in my own little world with my own little worries.

Something interesting he told me that didn’t make it into the story were his observations about the internal dynamics of Botswanan society — even though everyone is black, there are clear cultural castes and distinctions and blatant snobbery and discrimination. He said that when the bushmen came into the towns, that people turned up their noses just like they do in the Negev when Bedouin show up, claiming that they “smell.” Well, the bushmen and the Bedouin who are living in shacks and tents “smell” for the same exact reason — they cook their food on an open fire and they smell like smoke!

If the Alkan story makes you too serious and sad, and you need something fluffy, read the story we put up today on the babelicious Mrs. Israel who took the title of Mrs. World. (I couldn’t believe there still exists a beauty pageant that is Neanderthal enough to have subcategories like “Most Beautiful Legs.)”

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