Timothy Kalyegira, writing in Uganda’s Daily Monitor last week, speculated on the reasons why the Chinese are rising to superpower status, and why Africans are yet to do so. He says, “What has impressed me has been to see a people that are this serious. It is typical of the Western world and is also present here in the Far East.” He says that an “all-consuming commitment to seeing one’s country being strong and effective runs through all levels of Chinese society”.

Kalyegira then asks about Africa: “Is it that we are too normal? Do we lack that extra rough edge that gets people to achieve beyond the ordinary?” He goes on to say, “I have finally settled onto the conclusion that to become an advanced people or civilisation has little to do with education, at least education as defined by sitting before a blackboard, taking notes, and passing exams. In fact, the sooner we wake up from the illusion that by sending our children to ‘good schools’ we are, somehow preparing them for success, the better for us.” Instead, he asserts, “An obsession, a semi-madness, a crazy atmosphere must exist in a country to stir human beings out of their normal calm, complacency and put in them a burning ambition.”

It’s an interesting perspective from an African visiting Beijing. My own view is that the special magic required to move a country from poverty to wealth, from powerlessness to power, is simply trust. If an environment arises in which people can trust each other, fair exchanges can be made and people know that they will in future be able to enjoy the fruits of their present investments, then gradually the country will move from poverty to wealth.

Nearly one-fifth of all greenhouse gas is generated by livestock production – more than transportation – and livestock is also one of the biggest culprits in land degradation, water pollution, water shortages and loss of biodiversity, according to New York food writer Mark Bittman in a talk given at a TED conference in December 2007. Lifestyle diseases – diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers – are the direct result of eating a Western diet.

We consume way more calories than are good for us, and those calories are in foods that cause – not prevent – disease. The evidence is clear that the eating of plants promotes health; yet we continue to over-indulge in junk food and animals. So-called “low fat” and “low carb” diets are not sufficient solutions. The US alone consumes 10 billion animals per year. Between 1950 and 2000 the world’s population doubled, but meat consumption increased five-fold.

According to Bittman, we all have to act on our knowledge to change the way everyone thinks about food. We need to start acting, because this is an issue of global survival. Thirty percent of the earth’s land surface is directly or indirectly devoted to raising the animals which we eat, and this amount is rapidly increasing. The recommended meat intake for adults is one quarter of a kilogram per week. Our current diet creates an odd form of malnutrition, and it is killing us.

The Beijing Olympic Games drew to a close early yesterday with a spectacular Closing Ceremony. Although the content of the opening and closing ceremonies was not to everyone’s taste, the ceremonies displayed remarkable feats of organisation and technology. On the whole the games have been well conducted, without any major disasters. The Chinese Olympic team has itself performed extremely well, and the net feeling of Chinese authorities must be one of satisfaction.

However, the staging of the games has not converted China into a pro-human rights nation. Before the start of the games, large numbers of people suspected of being dissidents, either by reason of their past actions or their ethnic origins or their religious beliefs, were rounded up and jailed or exiled. The games organisers promised to provide protest parks where those who wished to stage a protest could go, but all of the 77 applications to stage protests have been “mediated” or rejected.

On the other hand, numerous small gains have been made. Since 2001 the percentage of Beijing residents involved in physical activity or sport has increased from 35% to 50%. The exposure of Chinese culture to the rest of the world has increased, as has the exposure of other cultures to Chinese people. While the country has not been converted by the “Olympic spirit”, it has had a decent exposure to that spirit and the memory will linger for some time.

Levy Patrick Mwanawasa died last week. He was president of Zambia from January 2002 until his death. Zambia was known as Northern Rhodesia until it achieved independence from Great Britain in 1964. Kenneth Kaunda was president from 1964 until 1991, presiding over a long period of decline in the country’s economy under his one-party socialist policies. When multi-party elections were finally allowed in 1991, Kaunda was replaced by Frederick Chiluba, who proceeded to divert vast sums of public money for his personal use.

Mwanawasa, who became the third president of Zambia in 2002, was a former lawyer who was respected for his integrity. He began attending Twin Palm Baptist Church in Lusaka in 2003, and shortly thereafter his mother died in injuries caused by a fire, one of his brothers died unexpectedly from an illness and another brother was murdered. Mwanawasa became a Christian and was baptised at Twin Palm in 2005.

Although Mwanawasa’s economic record has won him acclaim from Western donors, around 68% of Zambians still live below the international poverty line. The average income of US$395 is around half of what it was when the country became independent in 1964. Life expectancy is only 40 years, and the country has struggled to cope with the social and financial costs of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

People tend to think of miracles as conclusive proof of the supernatural. The problem is that they are only proof to people who accept them as proof. Whenever anyone claims to have performed a miracle, some people might believe in the miracle, but others will believe that the occurrence was an accident, or a fraud, while others will believe that the occurrence was simply the scientifically predictable result of the specific actions which led to the occurrence.

Consequentially, the “reality” of a miracle depends more on the state of mind of the observer than it does on the actual events which take place. If the skeptical observer has decided beforehand that the “miracle” cannot be real, there is nothing that the person performing the miracle can do to convince the skeptic. The skeptic will come up with a non-miraculous explanation, even if it is simply, “I do not presently know how that happened, but I am convinced there is a non-miraculous explanation.” In other words, the skeptic will take a leap of faith to avoid taking a leap of faith.

Perhaps Jesus was thinking along these lines when, as recorded in Mark chapter 8, he responded to the Pharisees who kept badgering him to perform a sign from heaven: “Why does this generation want to see a miracle? Let me tell you that this generation will not get to see a miracle.” It takes more than a few miracles to change behaviours and thought patterns which have been formed over many years.

The real key to a church planting movement doesn’t lie in the individual church that is planted, but in the incubators that produce churches, according to Bob Roberts in his book The Multiplying Church: the new math for starting new churches. Roberts argues that church planting movements are second-tier movements to Jesus movements. Jesus movements travel through social networks, and they take time to establish themselves. They are led by disciples, not church planters, and they are led by the young.

According to the author, none of the usual reasons for planting a church is sufficient in itself: obedience to the Great Commission; conducting evangelism more effectively; communicating more relevantly; conducting research and development in new church styles; establishing bases to reach more people; reaching future generations; and impacting existing churches. The only real reason worth starting a church is to achieve transformation in the lives of people and communities. So the dreaming should start not with the church, but with the people outside the church.

I found the book hard to follow in parts, as the author seemed to leap from idea to idea; nonetheless it is a very worthwhile read as it contains some attractive ideas. Chapter 8 encourages us to start with the society, not the church, and to think like a community developer. We need to know what is going on in the society in the domains of economics, agriculture, education, medicine/science/technology, communication, arts/entertainment, governance/justice and family. Churches emerge when the gospel intersects these domains and people begin to follow Christ.

The Australian government has promised to increase Australia’s foreign aid spending to $3.7 billion, which would be around 0.4% of last year’s gross national income. Over a period of several years the government hopes to increase the figure to 0.5% of GNI, but that is still well short of the UN target of 0.7%. Most of Australia’s foreign aid spending goes on long-term development; for example, around $2.5 billion is due to be spent on long term development in Indonesia over the next 5 years.

While Africa is recognised as being the continent with the greatest needs, Australia’s spending is focused much closer to home. Australia’s contribution to Africa is only around $100 million out of the $3.7 billion. A significant proportion of people in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Vanuatu live on less than $1 per day, and they are seen as a greater priority for Australia than people in similar economic circumstances in Africa.

One of the goals of Australia’s foreign aid program is the improvement of our regional security by improving law and order and preventing conflict in neighbouring nations. Australia takes a leading role in providing aid in the Asia Pacific region, the home of some 800 million of the 1.2 billion people in the world living on less than $1 per day.

When computers were first introduced, people thought they would soon outstrip the capacity of the brain, according to Kwabena Boahen in a TED talk given in Arusha in 2007. In 1946 Alan Turing said, “In 30 years, it would be as easy to ask a computer a question as to ask a person.” Some 60 years later this has still not happened. Blue Gene, the fastest computer in the world, can process 10 quadrillion bits of information per second, and consumes 1.5 megawatts of power. The human brain also processes about 10 quadrillion bits of information per second, but uses only about 10 watts of energy, about the same as a laptop computer.

Neurons in the brain send pulses of electricity to each other. A synapse occurs when a pulse jumps from one neuron to another. The data flows through a network of connections among the neurons; there is no central processor to create a bottleneck. When the brain is processing information, there are redundant connections, which ensure that the information gets through, even if one or more individual pulses go astray.

As increasing miniaturisation is applied to computer devices, the predictability of operation decreases. Consequently, it will be necessary to build a brain-like redundancy into future computers. The projects which Kwabena Boahen and his group at Stanford have been working on include a silicon chip which models the operation of the human retina and a self-organising chip which models the way a developing brain wires itself up.

John Githongo is due to return to Kenya today, three years after fleeing to the UK after exposing corruption in the Kenyan government. In 1999 the former journalist had founded the Kenyan branch of Transparency International, an organisation designed for fighting corruption. When President Kibaki was elected on an anti-corruption platform, Githongo was appointed Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics.

During his time working for the government it became increasingly clear to Githongo that senior members of the government were diverting public funds by arranging for payments to be made to non-existent companies for services which were not provided. When it became apparent to Githongo that the president was not in a hurry to address these issues, and that some of the diverted funds were intended to be used by the government in seeking re-election, he began to take seriously the threats which were made on his life, and he left for England.

The balance of power has now changed in Kenya, with the appointment of Mr Odinga as Prime Minister and Mr Kalonzo as vice-president. In a recent interview with the Daily Nation, Githongo said: “I intend to speak my mind on what I feel needs to be done. I have no political affiliations. My obligations are solely to the people of Kenya – particularly the poor, the dispossessed and those in need.”

On this day 42 years ago, one of the most significant conflicts involving Australians in the Vietnam War occurred. A group of Australian soldiers were patrolling in the area of the Long Tan rubber plantation when they encountered a large body of Viet Cong soldiers, considerably outnumbering the Australians. There was a vigorous engagement in the pouring rain, and the Australians who fought with great courage were supported by artillery fired from the Nui Dat base some five kilometres away.

The battle died down around 7pm as darkness descended, and the Viet Cong forces retreated. During the night both sides evacuated their wounded. A number of wounded Australians lay in the battlefield all night as the Viet Cong moved around them. 18 Australians had been killed in the battle and 24 wounded. The casualties suffered by the Viet Cong were many times greater.

The Vietnam war continued for several more years. The US and its allies including Australia were ultimately unsuccessful in achieving their objective of repelling communism from Vietnam. As so often seems to be the case in modern warfare, the objectives seemed reasonable at the start of the conflict, but by the end the cost far outweighed any benefit which could be gained. The current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have proved to be a lot more drawn-out and expensive than originally anticipated.