Maybe one a half weeks ago, I turned on the TV to watch one of the political talk shows that are always shown in Germany and Austria when most people are already busy sleeping. 'Beckmann' featured a lot of interesting guests that night: Monika Schumann (whose husband was one of the RAF's victims in the 70s), two German aristocrats, one author and Auma Obama, sister of Barack.
Once the discussion shifted from the RAF to AIDS, Auma was already deep in a battle of words Gloria Von Thurn and Taxis, who supports catholic morals and is therefore anti-condom and anti-pill. The question was whether or not the Catholic Church is preventing AIDS programms in Africa from being effective by enforcing their strict "abstinence is the only cure for the epidemic" morals (which in my opinion, they are).
And damn, I was impressed. Besides the fact that Auma Obama spoke perfect German (she lived there for 16 years), I was in awe because of how eloquently and perfectly reasonably she was able to explain what really matters in Africa's fight against AIDS, and why it was not a matter of blaming the failure on the Catholic Church. Instead of taking the position of damning the Church for their practices, she stated that while it would always be of help if they started to support the use of condoms, it was much more important to make sure that people are educated enough to make their own decisions without harming others in the process, and spreading the virus.
Auma Obama works for the charity Care in Africa and her work is mainly focused on AIDS prevention programs for teens and children. She was so smart and genuinely interested in learning about other people's opinions - she was the perfect discussion partner. All I wished for at that moment was: "I want to be there now, I want to talk with this woman".
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Oh my God, so awesome. Thank you for sharing this! Onward to Google Auma Obama =)
Gooooosh, I saw Beckmann too that evening.
I was so angry at those arrogant aristocrat-freaks, I almost threw the remote at the tv...
Auma impressed me too. She seems to be both an intelligent and kind person.
Oh I know... I think Gloria's brother was even worse than her. Before her most recent interviews, I had no idea she was such a missionary freak. I mean, I knew that she was a catholic but her views are more than just hardcore (I hardly know any priests who actually think alike).