You can fund insecticide treated bed nets in developing countries by donating to Against Malaria Foundation (http://www.againstmalaria.com), which is currently estimated to be the #1 most impactful charity for your dollar in the world, as determined by GiveWell (http://givewell.org).
I'm always a bit worried about giving to humanitarian charities in Africa, just because it gives warlords a way to turn refugees into a lootable resource[1]. Aid organizations want to help refugees, and are generally willing to give warlords money in order to be allowed access to those refugees.
This was a big factor in the start of the Congolese Civil War. In Rwanada after the the genocide the perpetrators fled into Congo and many Hutus, fearing that the Tutsi forces would want revenge, fled with them. In the Congo the genocidaires were able to confiscate and resell part of the aid, and charge rent to aid agencies, and use the money buy weapons to arm the people there in the hopes of retaking the country. The new Tutsi Rwandan government, not willing to let this happen, decided to invade. And since Mobutu of Zaire had been harboring insurgents from all the other neighboring countries, they all decided to help. Thus began the Congo Civil War. However, rereading the section in Wikipedia on the refugee crisis it seems that Médecins Sans Frontières and most of the other independant aid organizations were smart enough to realize what was happening and leave so they couldn't be used - and it was the mostly UN that was still contributing money and supplies when the fighting started[2]. So maybe you should give money to aid organization after all.
I'm glad you know so much about this, but don't let your knowledge prevent you from doing the right thing. All I know is that Givewell seems extremely thorough, and holistic in their thoroughness. If there were a major effect such as the one you describe (warlords looting villages for bed nets), I expect that Givewell would recognize it and incorporate it into their estimates of cost-effectiveness for charities. Givewell is really very good. (If you want evidence for this, read some of their in-depth charity analyses and see how many factors they consider.)
And if the effect of warlords looting villages for their bed nets is not large enough to make a significant negative impact on the charity's effectiveness, then it still seems like one of the best possible uses of money to do good in the world.
Are you honestly not aware that most of Africa was pillaged and plundered for centuries by European powers that greatly benefited from African resources - human and physical? Yet you expect Africa should recover from centuries of oppression without any assistance? You really recommend lending money, part of which, in the big scheme of things, was indirectly sourced from pillaging Africa?
(Don't mistake me for a reparations supporter, but I do believe it's absurd to believe that "Africa" is where it is through its own actions and should therefore be solely responsible for growth and development.)
It's one thing to say Africa is responsible for its plight (OP didn't say that), it's another to say they're stuck in a vicious cycle of dependency on northern help that we should not feed. Not sure that applies to bed nets though...
I have benefitted from african colonisation in that I get access to tea, coffee and chocolade.
If you are thinking about the slave trade (and when people talk about Africa a lot are) just remember that the europeans brought the slaves from other, stronger, tribes: meaning Africa was itself as responsible as was my ancestors.
Except it is of course complete bullshit. A continent cannot have any guilt, nor can should I be guilty for what my ancestors have done. The only people responsible are the people involved. A man cannot be guilty because of the blood in his veins.
As for how much Africa was hurt take a look at present day Zimbabwe -- it is a completely failed state. Back when the evil white farmers were occupying it, it was a net producer of food and the breadbasket of Africa.
Zimbabwe was a net producer of food and breadbasket of Africa, because the entire black population were pretty much 'slaves' of the white farmers.Its easy to be successful when you don't have to worry about the cost of labor, or even providing decent working conditions.
The government pretty much had to worry about providing services only to the white people (a small fraction of the entire population) , so in effect there was plenty for everyone. You may want to ask the black inhabitants of Zimbabwe if they are pining for the old days when they were considered less than human.
I don't much care for the "help Africa" movement, but please do some basic fact checking before you go on your next ignorant rant.
Nobody said you're guilty of anything. But you are asking why African countries are deserving of aid and I'm giving you an answer: because many African countries are in the position they are in because of colonial powers.
When you study the history of the continent you will see that a good part of the reason for its present levels of political instability, inequality and poverty has to do with an imbalance of power and wealth created due to colonialism (and associated racism).
If you think all that the colonial powers did was buy and capture slaves I think you should go do some reading and educate yourself about the impact of colonialism.
