Africa: How do we Respond?

I strongly urge everyone reading this blog to read these two articles - Jubilee: A Sabbath from Suffering and Bearing Witness.  Both deal with problems in Africa and other third world countries.  I found myself both moved and convicted as I read each article - moved by the very human faces they put on the problems (especially the second article) and convicted because I feel like I need to do something.  Problems like debt relief and HIV seem so big - and I'm not really sure what it is that I can and should do.  But the more I read about these issues, the more I think I need to do something.

Why do I feel such a great need to act?  Because more and more I realize that the way we live in the U.S., and the politcies made by the politicians that we elect, has a great effect on people in third world countries.  Our extraordinarily high levels of consumption, when coupled with trade agreements that favor wealthier nations (see this article on how trade agreements often work), have an effect on poor children in Africa who don't have enough to eat.  Our willingness as a country to forgive debt that should never have been incurred in the first place has an effect on mothers and fathers trying to make a better life for their children.

I'm new to many of these issues, and I realize that there are different sides to every issue.  Economics, global trade, HIV in Africa - these are enormously complicated issues - but I'm convinced I need to learn more.  I'd love to know what all of you think.