By Dominic Nkoyoyo*
Possession of nuclear weapons makes us feel powerful, super-powerful and irresistible! It makes our individual and national egos swell with pride that everything is under our control. And that we are the masters directing the events in the world! «The Big Super Powers» or «The Nuclear Club»: USA, Russia, Britain, France and China are so called because they have stockpiles of these weapons of mass destruction! India, Paskistan and Israel, they too being in possession of atomic bombs seek to join the club!
When you have nuclear weapons, you feel safe, powerful and ready to confront any enemy who comes your way. Moreover, it is a clear warning to the rest of the world, that anyone who tries to offend you can and will be punished very severely! With these weapons, we feel invincible! However, what an illusion! No human being is invincible, no nation is invincible! We are mere creatures who will always remain weak and vulnerable. The 9th November 2001 Al Qaeda attacks on USA testify to this!
In fact these nuclear weapons in which we have put our trust can spew and unleash uncontrollable fires which no waters can quench, fires that can reduce to ashes and rubble the very nation that has stock piles of them! In addition, I think this is one of the message and warnings we can read in the uncontrolable fires of the Japanese tsunami. Twenty four hours after the tsunami struck, the fires were still raging uncontrollable amid the floods!
Normally water and fire are great enemies. However, in the morning hours of the unforgettable day of 11 March 2011 when a mega earthquake of magnitude 8.9 struck the eastern coast of Japan, a giant tsunami, ten metres high sprang to its feet from slumber! In addition, with anger, cruelty and speed of 700km per hour, began its march and adventure of destruction and devastation heading towards the cities where humans live. It sparked off untamable fires! Moreover, for what looked like an eternity, Water and Fire hand in hand wrecked havoc beyond all description in towns, cities and villages!
Thousands of our Japanese brothers and sisters for whose eternal rest we now pray, perished in the water tides and in the blazing flames that looked like «light islands» amid the floods. And as if the earthquake and tsunami catastrophes were not enough, the next day at Onagawa, a huge explosion tore through the roof of a nuclear plant adding misery to a nation already in tears and grief!
Kenji Koshiba a construction worker who lives near the plant, in article by the Associated Press entitled: Japan’s nuclear crisis intensifies as authorities race to combat threat of multiple meltdowns, expressed his worries thus, «First I was worried about the quake…Now I am worried about radiation.»
This raises a very important question, namely: How reliable and effective are our nuclear reactors’ and nuclear weapons’ safety measures? An article entitled: Principles of Nuclear Weapons Security and Safety, in an attempt to answer this question tell us thus, «Due to their extreme destructiveness, nuclear weapons require stringent measures to ensure that they are never detonated either intentionally or by accident except under properly authorized circumstances.» In other words this article is telling us that these weapons are designed with safety mechanisms in them and that they are even resistant to detonation by accident!
Another article by World Nuclear Association entitled: Safety of Nuclear Power Reactors, in an attempt to answer the same question informs us thus, «…radioactive material is not readily mobilized beyond the immediate internal structure. Thus, even if the containment structure that surrounds all modern nuclear plants were ruptured, it would still be highly effective in preventing escape of radioactivity.» It continues to say, «It is the laws of physics and the properties of materials that preclude disaster, not the required actions by safety equipment or personnel. In fact licensing approval now requires that the effects of any core-melt accident be confined to the plant itself, without the need to evacuate nearby residents.»
And a nuclear expert Valeriy Hlyhalo, Deputy Director-General of the Chernobyl Safety Center when on 12 March 2011 was interviewed by Reuters on the explosion at Japan nuclear plant, he said that Japanese nuclear plants are earthquake resistant!
Unfortunately, however much experts want us to believe that the safety mechanisms and measures of our nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons are very reliable and effective; the facts on the ground in the Japanese earthquake and tsunami are showing us the contrary! Radiation has escaped and has also been made to escape more by the operators themselves beyond the internal structure!
The evidence on the ground also dismisses Valeriy Hlyhalo’s claim that Japanese nuclear plants are earthquake resistant! If they were that resistant, there would be no talk of a Japanese nuclear plant crisis reported in all local and international media! Reuters on Sunday 13 March 2011 in an article entitled: Japan fights to avert nuclear meltdown after quake, reports thus, «The most urgent crisis centres on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, where three reactors were threatening to over heat and where authorities said they had been forced to vent radioactive steam into the air to relieve reactor pressure…The nuclear incident,…sparked criticism that the authorities were ill-prepared for such a massive quake and threat that could pose to the country’s nuclear power industry.»
Since a quake of magnitude 8.9 has crippled the nuclear plant, suppose it was of magnitude 9.5 or above, how would the situation be? And on Monday 14 March 2011 there was a second huge explosion at the plant!
And by telling us, «In fact licensing approval now requires that effects of any core-melt accident be confined to the plant itself without the need to evacuate nearby residents,» the World Nuclear Association wants us to believe that those responsible for licensing approval know the gravity of all possible nuclear accidents! But the evidence on the ground proves them wrong. The fear and danger of a possible meltdown at the nuclear facility has forced authorities to evacuate the nearby residents. On 12 March 2011 Reuters reported thus, «About 140,000 people have so far been evacuated from areas near two Japanese nuclear power plants after Friday’s earthquake.»
Given today’s industrialised world with a large consumer society that finds it very difficult to tame its desires for material things, the demand for electric energy is enormous. And it is very difficult to find an alternative to nuclear energy. The Japanese tsunami experience is therefore a wake up call for all of us to invest more time, energy and money in research projects whose target is to find alternatives to nuclear power. For our nuclear plants have the potential to destroy not only all the scientific and technological development and advancement we have achieved so far but also ourselves!
The potential for self-destruction through our nuclear plants is very real. And this is supported by what Reuters reported in an article entitled: Japan’s nuclear power operator has chequered past, «The company at the centre of a nuclear reactor crisis following the biggest earthquake in Japan’s recorded history has had a rocky past in an industry plagued by scandal…In 2002, the president of the country’s largest power utility was forced to resign along with four other senior executives, taking responsibility for suspected falsification of nuclear plant records. The company was suspected of 29 cases involving falsified repair records at nuclear reactors. It had to stop operations at five reactors, including the two damaged in the latest tremor, for safety inspection. A few years later it ran into trouble again over accusation of falsifying data.»
Another worrying report @BBC World on Twitter said, «Japanese engineer Masashi Goto, who helped design the containment vessel for Fukushima’s reactor core, says the design was not enough to withstand earthquakes and tsunamis and the plant’s builders Toshiba knew this.» These shady deals which compromise standards and professionalism in the nuclear industry should be a concern for everybody.
Due to past falsification of data, lack of transparency and these shady deals in the nuclear industry, the Japanese population finds it very difficult right now to believe what the nuclear engineers operating the Fukushima nuclear plant and the government are telling them about the situation! On March 15, 2011 a third deafening blast was heard at the Fukushima nuclear plant! And it was reported that radiation was being released directly into the air! But it took long before the Prime Minister was informed of it. Reuters thus reported, «Japan’s Prime Minister was furious with the power firm at the centre of the nuclear crisis for taking so long to inform his office about a blast at a stricken reactor plant, demanding ‘What the hell is going on?’»
From my analysis of the information I have bout the Fukushima nuclear plant looming catastrophe, it is very likely that this nuclear crisis will be worse than the 1986 Chernobyl crisis! On the 16 March 2011 the Associated Press in an article entitled: Japan suspends work at stricken nuke plant due to surge in radiation, announced thus, «Japan ordered emergency workers to withdraw from its nuclear plant Wednesday amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors.»
As for our nuclear weapons, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami reveal to us that even the waters of the sea will not be able to extinguish the fires these deadly weapons will unleash upon the earth once several of them explode! This experience also puts in question the safety mechanisms of these weapons in which we trust! It is claimed that they are even resistant to detonation by accident, but if an earthquake of magnitude 9 and above blew up their depot, are we sure they would still not explode?
And we have thousands of these weapons around the world. Reliable sources say that we have at least 23,000 stockpiles of nuclear weapons scattered around the planet! And apart from ordinary atomic bombs, USA, Russia, Great Britain, France and China also possess thermonuclear or hydrogen bombs which can be thousands of times more powerful than atomic bombs!
So let the entire world learn from the nuclear crisis at the Japan’s nuclear plant the dangers posed by our nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons scattered all over the planet. And let us work hard for a nuclear free world.
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
An Appeal to the EAC Governments
By Dominic Nkoyoyo*
Drought is looming throughout East Africa! Even Uganda, East Africa’s principal food producer is already alerting its people on the impending drought……
The Ugandan news paper, The Monitor of Sunday, March 6, 2011 carried an article entitled: Review channel used to relay message about drought. In part this article says «…the office of the Prime Minister (OPM) is currently broadcasting a message on television in English aimed at building awareness about the impending drought as well as cautioning the public against the misuse of food reserves and water resources since the country is likely not to receive rains until May.»
Another article entitled : USAID/East Africa Food for Peace Provides Kenya Drought Donation, that appeared in USAID/EAST AFRICA of Wednesday, February 16, 2011 has this to say «During January, 2011 USAID staff…travelled to two of the most drought affected regions in Kenya—Wajir and Marsbit—to ascertain the severity of the drought…and come up with appropriate response options,…In every community the priority cited by the local representatives was the need for water for humans and animal consumption…In order to address ongoing mitigation efforts USAID/FFP has made a contribution of food aid, valued at $24 million.»
Our people with their animals are dying because they have no water! The 2009 drought caused the death of very many animals in Kenya. Human beings too died! An article entitled: The Great drought: Disaster looms in East Africa, which appeared in the British news paper, The Independent describes that calamity in vivid terms, «On the plains of Marsabit the heat is so intense the bush seems to shiver…carcasses of cattle and camels are strewn about the burnt red dirt in every direction. Siridwa Baseli…passes a skeletal cow that has given up and collapsed under a thorn tree…he is driving his herd in search of water…Only 40 of his herd…that once numbered 200 have survived. Those that remain are dying at a rate of 10 every day.»
According to reliable sources, over the past 20 years droughts are common in East Africa. Unfortunately for all these years the East African governments have done little or nothing to contain the situation. It is normally the humanitarian organizations and the International Community that come in to save the situation! And usually help arrives late when several people have already died of starvation and hunger!
We now know that this tragedy of drought is not just a natural disaster, by cutting down trees and destroying forests we are part of its cause. For example we have greatly destroyed the Mau Forest Complex. Covering an area of 273,300hacters (675,000acres) it is the largest water catchment in Kenya and in East Africa as a whole!
Since 1999 the East African countries have been working on plans of using Lake Victoria and River Nile waters for irrigation, in view of increasing food production to combat famine. Unfortunately most of the big rivers which feed Lake Victoria originate from the degraded Mau Forest! And although many people have been evicted from the forest, to restore its eco-system will take many years. It is also clear that since the Nile is the lifeline of Egypt’s population of 80 million which is expected to swell to 122 million in 2050, we cannot divert too much water from Lake Victoria.
This water problem affects not only people in remote and dry areas but also those in towns! Because of deforestation, drought and global climatic changes, all the big cities and towns in East Africa are experiencing shortage of water supply. One reliable source says that the daily demand by Nairobi residents alone stands at 750,000 cubic metres against the supply capacity of 530,000 cubic metres, leaving a deficit of 220,000 cubic metres! In Mombasa the daily water demand is 150,000 cubic metres, but the water firms can supply only 58,000 cubic metres!
During the 2009 drought a lot of boreholes were sunk in Nairobi to address the water shortage in the City. But according to experts, ground water in some areas because of the many minerals it contains is not recommended for domestic purposes! Marsabit residents blamed underground water for cancer illnesses and deaths suffered by their people and animals! And a report by Water Resource Management released in April 2009 confirmed that water from the boreholes in that area was hazardous!
With lakes and rivers drying up because of climatic changes and with ground water being hazardous in some areas, where should we turn to address the water problem?
God in his infinite kindness has given us the Indian Ocean! And I have no information that it too is about to dry up! So I am proposing that the Indian Ocean be our principal source of water in East Africa. And our weapon to combat drought and famine!
I therefore appeal to all the East African Community governments to construct together two big Desalination Plants which remove salt from sea water. One should be constructed at Mombasa in Kenya and another at Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Then pipelines from these two big water refineries should be constructed to supply water to all areas in the region including semi desert areas like Wajir, Marsabit, Karamoja etc.
If our governments push this project through, we shall have put an end to starvation and death of our people due to drought and famine. Saudi Arabia is a desert country but it has enough water for domestic purposes for its people! And this is explained by its desalination plants! Its Shoaiba Desalination Plant at the cost of USD1,060 million is the largest in the world. It produces 450 million litres per day!
Our governments should realise that through the death of our people and animals due to drought and famine we lose a lot of money. Kenya alone during the 2009 drought lost more than 3,000,000 head of cattle. This loss amounts to a staggering Ksh 75 billion ($ 1 billion)! And if we take into account the sheep, goats, camels, elephants etc, which died how much money is that?
So I again appeal to the East African Community governments to take seriously my proposal of the construction of Desalination Plants as our weapon to combat famine in the region. I also call upon all our religious leaders in the region to help me explain this to our governments.
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Drought is looming throughout East Africa! Even Uganda, East Africa’s principal food producer is already alerting its people on the impending drought……
The Ugandan news paper, The Monitor of Sunday, March 6, 2011 carried an article entitled: Review channel used to relay message about drought. In part this article says «…the office of the Prime Minister (OPM) is currently broadcasting a message on television in English aimed at building awareness about the impending drought as well as cautioning the public against the misuse of food reserves and water resources since the country is likely not to receive rains until May.»
Another article entitled : USAID/East Africa Food for Peace Provides Kenya Drought Donation, that appeared in USAID/EAST AFRICA of Wednesday, February 16, 2011 has this to say «During January, 2011 USAID staff…travelled to two of the most drought affected regions in Kenya—Wajir and Marsbit—to ascertain the severity of the drought…and come up with appropriate response options,…In every community the priority cited by the local representatives was the need for water for humans and animal consumption…In order to address ongoing mitigation efforts USAID/FFP has made a contribution of food aid, valued at $24 million.»
Our people with their animals are dying because they have no water! The 2009 drought caused the death of very many animals in Kenya. Human beings too died! An article entitled: The Great drought: Disaster looms in East Africa, which appeared in the British news paper, The Independent describes that calamity in vivid terms, «On the plains of Marsabit the heat is so intense the bush seems to shiver…carcasses of cattle and camels are strewn about the burnt red dirt in every direction. Siridwa Baseli…passes a skeletal cow that has given up and collapsed under a thorn tree…he is driving his herd in search of water…Only 40 of his herd…that once numbered 200 have survived. Those that remain are dying at a rate of 10 every day.»
According to reliable sources, over the past 20 years droughts are common in East Africa. Unfortunately for all these years the East African governments have done little or nothing to contain the situation. It is normally the humanitarian organizations and the International Community that come in to save the situation! And usually help arrives late when several people have already died of starvation and hunger!
We now know that this tragedy of drought is not just a natural disaster, by cutting down trees and destroying forests we are part of its cause. For example we have greatly destroyed the Mau Forest Complex. Covering an area of 273,300hacters (675,000acres) it is the largest water catchment in Kenya and in East Africa as a whole!
Since 1999 the East African countries have been working on plans of using Lake Victoria and River Nile waters for irrigation, in view of increasing food production to combat famine. Unfortunately most of the big rivers which feed Lake Victoria originate from the degraded Mau Forest! And although many people have been evicted from the forest, to restore its eco-system will take many years. It is also clear that since the Nile is the lifeline of Egypt’s population of 80 million which is expected to swell to 122 million in 2050, we cannot divert too much water from Lake Victoria.
This water problem affects not only people in remote and dry areas but also those in towns! Because of deforestation, drought and global climatic changes, all the big cities and towns in East Africa are experiencing shortage of water supply. One reliable source says that the daily demand by Nairobi residents alone stands at 750,000 cubic metres against the supply capacity of 530,000 cubic metres, leaving a deficit of 220,000 cubic metres! In Mombasa the daily water demand is 150,000 cubic metres, but the water firms can supply only 58,000 cubic metres!
During the 2009 drought a lot of boreholes were sunk in Nairobi to address the water shortage in the City. But according to experts, ground water in some areas because of the many minerals it contains is not recommended for domestic purposes! Marsabit residents blamed underground water for cancer illnesses and deaths suffered by their people and animals! And a report by Water Resource Management released in April 2009 confirmed that water from the boreholes in that area was hazardous!
With lakes and rivers drying up because of climatic changes and with ground water being hazardous in some areas, where should we turn to address the water problem?
God in his infinite kindness has given us the Indian Ocean! And I have no information that it too is about to dry up! So I am proposing that the Indian Ocean be our principal source of water in East Africa. And our weapon to combat drought and famine!
I therefore appeal to all the East African Community governments to construct together two big Desalination Plants which remove salt from sea water. One should be constructed at Mombasa in Kenya and another at Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Then pipelines from these two big water refineries should be constructed to supply water to all areas in the region including semi desert areas like Wajir, Marsabit, Karamoja etc.
If our governments push this project through, we shall have put an end to starvation and death of our people due to drought and famine. Saudi Arabia is a desert country but it has enough water for domestic purposes for its people! And this is explained by its desalination plants! Its Shoaiba Desalination Plant at the cost of USD1,060 million is the largest in the world. It produces 450 million litres per day!
Our governments should realise that through the death of our people and animals due to drought and famine we lose a lot of money. Kenya alone during the 2009 drought lost more than 3,000,000 head of cattle. This loss amounts to a staggering Ksh 75 billion ($ 1 billion)! And if we take into account the sheep, goats, camels, elephants etc, which died how much money is that?
So I again appeal to the East African Community governments to take seriously my proposal of the construction of Desalination Plants as our weapon to combat famine in the region. I also call upon all our religious leaders in the region to help me explain this to our governments.
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
The Uncomfortable Silence
By Jimmie Briggs*
In his quest to end violence against women, former war journalist Jimmie Briggs faces his toughest audience yet.
"I couldn’t tell my daughter’s class about my struggles as a man in a traditionally women’s movement, because I barely understand them myself."
Several months ago, my daughter’s teacher invited me to speak to her class about what I do for a living. How was I to tell a room full of squirmy first-graders that I am launching a global campaign to end violence against women and girls, using hip-hop and soccer? That I’ve gone from, sometimes, war reporter to human rights advocate? My own daughter has only the slightest inkling about my work, and the thought of facing her classmates terrified me.
As I trudged up the stairs to my daughter’s classroom, I could hear the barely controlled chaos beyond the door. I opened it quickly and bounded across the room. Once the giggles, finger pointing, and poking subsided under the teacher’s laser-like stare, I cleared my throat and walked to the front of the room, finally leaning my back against the chalkboard. My daughter was sitting near the middle of the class, unsmiling and propped forward—unable to contain her anticipation. I took a deep breath. All I could do was speak to them as I would any other group and hope they understood.
I told my daughter’s class the truth: I began my work as a journalist but would be ending it as an activist. I told them about travelling around the world, speaking to kids very much like them, who are fighting and hurting each other, or who are being treated badly by the adults around them, especially, the girls. I told them that I didn’t like the stories I heard when I was writing articles or books, and about how I’m trying to get other people to help me give those stories happier endings. I told them that since the summer of 2008, I’ve been flying back and forth across the world to build a new kind of effort to end violence against women and girls. It’s the vision of a worldwide campaign called “Man Up.” As I spoke, I saw my daughter lean back and smile.
But I couldn’t tell my daughter’s class about all the suffering I’d seen in places like Afghanistan, Colombia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. That had held people as they died in my arms, and I’d sat with women who had been raped to the point of paralysis.
I also couldn’t tell my daughter’s class about my struggles as a man in a traditionally women’s movement, because I barely understand them myself. I frequently meet with people to talk about my ideas for confronting violence against women, and I run into a lot of suspicion—as if I have an ulterior motive for doing this work. At one cocktail reception, a woman asked me, half-jokingly, if I was exploring this issue as a way to meet women. The stare behind her smile told me she was being more serious than not. My guy friends assume the same.
Outside my professional life, I consciously avoid speaking about the work I do, because people expect me to be the embodiment of the “good guy,” the ideal man. I’m quick to cite a mother, ex-wife, daughter, and scores of frustrated ex-girlfriends who would eagerly agree that I’m anything but perfect.
Trying to build a campaign, or a movement, is all-consuming. Most of the time I feel halted in social situations because all I’m really able to talk about is work, leading me to feel like “Debbie Downer” from the TV show Saturday Night Live, guaranteed to bring a festive mood to an abrupt, uncomfortable end.
One night at a regular Sunday evening dinner party with friends and acquaintances, every time I brought up my work, or hot-button words like “rape,” “activism,” or “change,” one guest would change the subject to the texture and taste of the dessert, or to the succulence of the roast chicken. Eventually, I made it a game to see what food item would be introduced next.
As my talk to the first-grade class wound down, I asked them rhetorically, “Why do I care so much about what is happening to women and girls around the world?” The students all turned to look at my daughter as she began to blush and smile nervously. They got that I’m doing this for my daughter.
I hope one day my work over the last 20 years for women and girls will mean something to her and her classmates. At present, my daughter only knows that her dad leaves for days and weeks at a time, returning only to leave again, just when we’ve become reacquainted. But I stay on the path because there is hope; there is affirmation in this movement of women and men. I see it every day when I read about the many men’s conferences on violence against women that are springing up on college campuses across the US; when I see the grassroots efforts that are struggling to be born in the unlikeliest of places on the Web; and when I witness the coalitions that are being formed between organizations across the globe.
Amid the darkness I witnessed as a journalist, there was light as well, resting in the imaginations and faith of countless young people surviving in the worst imaginable situations. My purpose, the end goal of the Man Up Campaign, is to create the space for that light, and for my daughter and her classmates to be in it.
*Jimmie Briggs is a New York-based writer, teacher, and activist, and is the founder of the Man Up Campaign. His upcoming book, "The Wars Women Fight: Dispatches from a Father to His Daughter," will be published in 2011. Learn more about his international campaign to end violence against women at www.manupcampaign.org
In his quest to end violence against women, former war journalist Jimmie Briggs faces his toughest audience yet.
"I couldn’t tell my daughter’s class about my struggles as a man in a traditionally women’s movement, because I barely understand them myself."
Several months ago, my daughter’s teacher invited me to speak to her class about what I do for a living. How was I to tell a room full of squirmy first-graders that I am launching a global campaign to end violence against women and girls, using hip-hop and soccer? That I’ve gone from, sometimes, war reporter to human rights advocate? My own daughter has only the slightest inkling about my work, and the thought of facing her classmates terrified me.
As I trudged up the stairs to my daughter’s classroom, I could hear the barely controlled chaos beyond the door. I opened it quickly and bounded across the room. Once the giggles, finger pointing, and poking subsided under the teacher’s laser-like stare, I cleared my throat and walked to the front of the room, finally leaning my back against the chalkboard. My daughter was sitting near the middle of the class, unsmiling and propped forward—unable to contain her anticipation. I took a deep breath. All I could do was speak to them as I would any other group and hope they understood.
I told my daughter’s class the truth: I began my work as a journalist but would be ending it as an activist. I told them about travelling around the world, speaking to kids very much like them, who are fighting and hurting each other, or who are being treated badly by the adults around them, especially, the girls. I told them that I didn’t like the stories I heard when I was writing articles or books, and about how I’m trying to get other people to help me give those stories happier endings. I told them that since the summer of 2008, I’ve been flying back and forth across the world to build a new kind of effort to end violence against women and girls. It’s the vision of a worldwide campaign called “Man Up.” As I spoke, I saw my daughter lean back and smile.
But I couldn’t tell my daughter’s class about all the suffering I’d seen in places like Afghanistan, Colombia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. That had held people as they died in my arms, and I’d sat with women who had been raped to the point of paralysis.
I also couldn’t tell my daughter’s class about my struggles as a man in a traditionally women’s movement, because I barely understand them myself. I frequently meet with people to talk about my ideas for confronting violence against women, and I run into a lot of suspicion—as if I have an ulterior motive for doing this work. At one cocktail reception, a woman asked me, half-jokingly, if I was exploring this issue as a way to meet women. The stare behind her smile told me she was being more serious than not. My guy friends assume the same.
Outside my professional life, I consciously avoid speaking about the work I do, because people expect me to be the embodiment of the “good guy,” the ideal man. I’m quick to cite a mother, ex-wife, daughter, and scores of frustrated ex-girlfriends who would eagerly agree that I’m anything but perfect.
Trying to build a campaign, or a movement, is all-consuming. Most of the time I feel halted in social situations because all I’m really able to talk about is work, leading me to feel like “Debbie Downer” from the TV show Saturday Night Live, guaranteed to bring a festive mood to an abrupt, uncomfortable end.
One night at a regular Sunday evening dinner party with friends and acquaintances, every time I brought up my work, or hot-button words like “rape,” “activism,” or “change,” one guest would change the subject to the texture and taste of the dessert, or to the succulence of the roast chicken. Eventually, I made it a game to see what food item would be introduced next.
As my talk to the first-grade class wound down, I asked them rhetorically, “Why do I care so much about what is happening to women and girls around the world?” The students all turned to look at my daughter as she began to blush and smile nervously. They got that I’m doing this for my daughter.
I hope one day my work over the last 20 years for women and girls will mean something to her and her classmates. At present, my daughter only knows that her dad leaves for days and weeks at a time, returning only to leave again, just when we’ve become reacquainted. But I stay on the path because there is hope; there is affirmation in this movement of women and men. I see it every day when I read about the many men’s conferences on violence against women that are springing up on college campuses across the US; when I see the grassroots efforts that are struggling to be born in the unlikeliest of places on the Web; and when I witness the coalitions that are being formed between organizations across the globe.
Amid the darkness I witnessed as a journalist, there was light as well, resting in the imaginations and faith of countless young people surviving in the worst imaginable situations. My purpose, the end goal of the Man Up Campaign, is to create the space for that light, and for my daughter and her classmates to be in it.
*Jimmie Briggs is a New York-based writer, teacher, and activist, and is the founder of the Man Up Campaign. His upcoming book, "The Wars Women Fight: Dispatches from a Father to His Daughter," will be published in 2011. Learn more about his international campaign to end violence against women at www.manupcampaign.org
Friday, March 4, 2011
The Arab Revolt in North Africa: Inter-Religious Dialogue in the Balance in «The New World Order»
By Dominic Nkoyoyo*
The Arab revolt in North Africa beginning in Tunisia, Egypt and spreading like wild bush fire to the rest of the Arab world, has taken the International community by surprise! And for better for worse a «New World Order» is in the making!
On 17th December, 2010 the «self-immolation» of a young Tunisian man trying to earn his living in very difficult circumstances, sparked off the revolt. Police brutality, unemployment, food inflation, poor living conditions, a lack of freedom of speech and political freedom were behind the «self-immolation» of Mohamed Bouazizi. He set himself ablaze after suffering from police repression and brutality.
Anti-government protesters forced dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who had ruled the country for 23 years to flee to Saudi Arabia where on January 14, 2011 he officially resigned as President of Tunisia! Then the rebellion caught up with Dictator Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. It began on 25th January, 2011. Millions of protesters went to the streets in Egypt demanding the resignation of the dictator. And on 11th February, 2011 after 30 years in power Mubarak resigned.
Internationally this Arab rebellion has deep implications and far reaching consequences at three basic levels: Political, Economic and Religious.
At the political level, the Arab countries are going to change their political structures. And this is going to affect their relationship with the rest of the world including the Super Powers! It is clear that the West which claims to be the defender of democracy had been the one supporting the toppled Arab dictators! Will the new governments in these Arab countries still have the same relationship with the West?
As the entire world watches the unfolding of events in the Arab nations, citizens of other countries who are dissatisfied with their governments might also take to the streets to force them out! The Arab revolt has shown that people can liberate themselves from oppressive regimes.
At the economic level, all these Arab countries affected by the revolt are oil producing! And the one who controls this oil controls international economics! Since USA has been supporting the toppled dictators it has obviously been controlling most of this oil. Will this stay the same? Wont China in the changed Arab political structures not use this chance to try and get the lion’s share of this oil and so reduce USA and EU control over the «black gold?»
At the religious level, the Arab countries are basically Muslim states. Since the West which has been supporting the toppled dictators is identified with Christianity, the revolt is at once against the dictators themselves, the West, Christians and the Jews! We can already see that brutality and atrocities towards the minority Christians and Jews in these countries is on the increase. And remember Osama Bin Laden is still around! And this Arab revolt in my opinion is a great victory for him. Many political analysists have ignored or downplayed Al-Qaeda involvement in the Arab revolt! And just call it popular revolt! I doubt their analysis, for its difficult to believe that there no secret links between the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda!
So it cannot be a far-fetched idea that Al-Qaeda is going to increase its attacks on Christians in these countries. On 1 November 2010, Al-Qaeda followers calling themselves «the Islamic State of Iraq» massacred 58 Christians and wounded 78 in the Church Our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad. Then posted a statement on the website saying: «We will open upon them the doors of destruction and rivers of blood. All Christian centres, organisations and institutions, leaders and followers are legitimate targets for mujahedeen wherever they can reach them.»
During the Egyptian revolt on 30 January 2011 at 3PM local time in the village of Sharona in this very country, Muslims killed 11 Coptic Christians including children and left four others seriously wounded. On 1 February 2011 the El Hamma Synagogue one of the last surviving synagogues in Tunisia was set on fire by some Islamists. The fire damaged the Torah scrolls inside the building. And it is reported that the police which was not far from the Synagogue did not do much to prevent the attack.
So the Arab revolt deeply affects the inter-religious dialogue and co-existence of non Muslims in the Muslim world. Catholic League, 23 January 2011 thus reported: «The president of Al-Azhar, an Egyptian university, Sheikh Ahmed el Tayeb, along with leading members of the Islamic Research Academy, announced Thursday they are breaking off dialogue with the Vatican in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s criticism of Muslim violence against Christians.»
The Christians are better positioned to dialogue with anybody including their enemies! Because several teachings in the Scriptures allow this, for example: «You have heard that it was said ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.» (Mt.5 :44).
But the Quaran itself, if taken literally, makes it very difficult for Muslims to dialogue with other religions. It says for example: «Those who follow Muhammad are merciless for the unbelievers but kind to each other.» (Quaran, Sûrah. 48 :29). «Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them, besiege them and prepare for them every kind of ambush.» (Quaran, Sûrah. 9 :5). «Fight the unbelievers in your surroundings, and let them find harshness in you.» (Quaran, Sûrah. 9 :123). With these verses in the Quaran it is very difficult to see how on the theological or doctrinal level the Christian-Muslim dialogue can achieve much! But we should not forget that the Quaran also says some very beautiful things about God, «In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All the praises be to Allah the Lord of all» (Quaran, Sûrat.2:1-3).
So in this New World Order sparked off by the Arab rebellion, we have to ask ourselves : «Is it possible to keep the Christian-Muslim dialogue alive?»
My position is that we should make every effort to keep this dialogue alive. But we should change our strategy! Up to now this dialogue has basically been between Vatican officials and some outstanding Muslim leaders and academics. This is good but I propose that we should also take the dialogue to grassroots level in the villages and towns where Muslims and Christians interact on a day to day basis! In other words let us get the dialogue to diocesan and parish levels! Let the parish priest and the village Muslim leaders get engaged in the dialogue. Facebook groups could also be created to enrich the dialogue. Right now I have three Facebook Muslim friends from India with whom I am engaged in this dialogue. I am reasonably well informed about Islam. And I have my copy of the Quaran which I often read.
While the theologians continue with their intellectual dialogue, here in the villages let Muslims and Christians work together on developmental projects to up lift their standards of living. And let us engage our young people both Christians and Muslims into sport activities, song, dance, theatre and other cultural activities. This working closely together might lead them to grasp the most important thing in life, namely: love of each other regardless of religion, race, colour or tribe. A concrete example will help: In Masaka Catholic Diocese (Uganda) Bishop Kaggwa created the «Kaggwa football Cup.» I happened to be in Uganda at the end of 2008 and I was deeply touched by the competitions of that year for this Cup. All the parishes of the diocese sent in their teams, but the team members were not just Catholics but also Protestants and Muslims! It was really moving to see these young people together appreciating each others’ presence!
Once people come to the knowledge that we need each other regardless of religion, race, colour or tribe, it becomes easier for them to overcome contradictory religious doctrines engraved in their scriptural writings and traditions. Then they begin to work for each other’s good and to protect each other in difficult times. My best friend in secondary school was a Muslim. We were in the same class. We revised our notes together and prepared for exams together. To this day he is still my friend! I lived for some years in a predominantly Muslim region in Cameroon, and my closest friends there were Muslims. So it is very possible for Christians and Muslims to live together in peace. The present difficulties should not discourage us from keeping the dialogue alive.
We have faced difficulties before but the dialogue continued. For example in March 1996 seven Cistercian monks who lived in a small monastery called Our Lady of Atlas in Algeria, we slaughtered by Muslim fundamentalists. But what is amazing, the Muslims of the small village of Tibherine where these monks lived remember them with great reverence, joy and love to this day. A French film by Xavier Beauvios has been made about them. It is called «Des hommes et des dieux» (in English: Of Gods and men.) Within a very short time since it was launched on 8th September 2010, it has been viewed by more than 2,000,000 people in France alone! Since 25th February this year it is also showing in Canada!
But this interreligious dialogue should not be limited to religious leaders and their flocks discussing among themselves, the United Nations and political leaders should get involved. For it is an illusion to think that religion and politics can be completely separated. For the two are just different dimensions of the same human being.
The very fact that over the years USA and its allies have been engaged in a bitter battle with Al-Qaeda which is an Islamic religious group is evidence enough that the interreligious dialogue should involve the international community and its political body. At some point we might be forced to speak and negotiate with Al-Qaeda! The attacks against Jews and Christians during the Tunisian and Egyptian Arab revolt points to the Al-Qaeda elements and involvement in it!
If we want lasting peace in today’s world, Politics must get into dialogue with Religion. And the different religions all over the world should come to the consensus that no one should ever take away the life of another in the name of religion or God or Allah.
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada
The Arab revolt in North Africa beginning in Tunisia, Egypt and spreading like wild bush fire to the rest of the Arab world, has taken the International community by surprise! And for better for worse a «New World Order» is in the making!
On 17th December, 2010 the «self-immolation» of a young Tunisian man trying to earn his living in very difficult circumstances, sparked off the revolt. Police brutality, unemployment, food inflation, poor living conditions, a lack of freedom of speech and political freedom were behind the «self-immolation» of Mohamed Bouazizi. He set himself ablaze after suffering from police repression and brutality.
Anti-government protesters forced dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who had ruled the country for 23 years to flee to Saudi Arabia where on January 14, 2011 he officially resigned as President of Tunisia! Then the rebellion caught up with Dictator Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. It began on 25th January, 2011. Millions of protesters went to the streets in Egypt demanding the resignation of the dictator. And on 11th February, 2011 after 30 years in power Mubarak resigned.
Internationally this Arab rebellion has deep implications and far reaching consequences at three basic levels: Political, Economic and Religious.
At the political level, the Arab countries are going to change their political structures. And this is going to affect their relationship with the rest of the world including the Super Powers! It is clear that the West which claims to be the defender of democracy had been the one supporting the toppled Arab dictators! Will the new governments in these Arab countries still have the same relationship with the West?
As the entire world watches the unfolding of events in the Arab nations, citizens of other countries who are dissatisfied with their governments might also take to the streets to force them out! The Arab revolt has shown that people can liberate themselves from oppressive regimes.
At the economic level, all these Arab countries affected by the revolt are oil producing! And the one who controls this oil controls international economics! Since USA has been supporting the toppled dictators it has obviously been controlling most of this oil. Will this stay the same? Wont China in the changed Arab political structures not use this chance to try and get the lion’s share of this oil and so reduce USA and EU control over the «black gold?»
At the religious level, the Arab countries are basically Muslim states. Since the West which has been supporting the toppled dictators is identified with Christianity, the revolt is at once against the dictators themselves, the West, Christians and the Jews! We can already see that brutality and atrocities towards the minority Christians and Jews in these countries is on the increase. And remember Osama Bin Laden is still around! And this Arab revolt in my opinion is a great victory for him. Many political analysists have ignored or downplayed Al-Qaeda involvement in the Arab revolt! And just call it popular revolt! I doubt their analysis, for its difficult to believe that there no secret links between the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda!
So it cannot be a far-fetched idea that Al-Qaeda is going to increase its attacks on Christians in these countries. On 1 November 2010, Al-Qaeda followers calling themselves «the Islamic State of Iraq» massacred 58 Christians and wounded 78 in the Church Our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad. Then posted a statement on the website saying: «We will open upon them the doors of destruction and rivers of blood. All Christian centres, organisations and institutions, leaders and followers are legitimate targets for mujahedeen wherever they can reach them.»
During the Egyptian revolt on 30 January 2011 at 3PM local time in the village of Sharona in this very country, Muslims killed 11 Coptic Christians including children and left four others seriously wounded. On 1 February 2011 the El Hamma Synagogue one of the last surviving synagogues in Tunisia was set on fire by some Islamists. The fire damaged the Torah scrolls inside the building. And it is reported that the police which was not far from the Synagogue did not do much to prevent the attack.
So the Arab revolt deeply affects the inter-religious dialogue and co-existence of non Muslims in the Muslim world. Catholic League, 23 January 2011 thus reported: «The president of Al-Azhar, an Egyptian university, Sheikh Ahmed el Tayeb, along with leading members of the Islamic Research Academy, announced Thursday they are breaking off dialogue with the Vatican in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s criticism of Muslim violence against Christians.»
The Christians are better positioned to dialogue with anybody including their enemies! Because several teachings in the Scriptures allow this, for example: «You have heard that it was said ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.» (Mt.5 :44).
But the Quaran itself, if taken literally, makes it very difficult for Muslims to dialogue with other religions. It says for example: «Those who follow Muhammad are merciless for the unbelievers but kind to each other.» (Quaran, Sûrah. 48 :29). «Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them, besiege them and prepare for them every kind of ambush.» (Quaran, Sûrah. 9 :5). «Fight the unbelievers in your surroundings, and let them find harshness in you.» (Quaran, Sûrah. 9 :123). With these verses in the Quaran it is very difficult to see how on the theological or doctrinal level the Christian-Muslim dialogue can achieve much! But we should not forget that the Quaran also says some very beautiful things about God, «In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All the praises be to Allah the Lord of all» (Quaran, Sûrat.2:1-3).
So in this New World Order sparked off by the Arab rebellion, we have to ask ourselves : «Is it possible to keep the Christian-Muslim dialogue alive?»
My position is that we should make every effort to keep this dialogue alive. But we should change our strategy! Up to now this dialogue has basically been between Vatican officials and some outstanding Muslim leaders and academics. This is good but I propose that we should also take the dialogue to grassroots level in the villages and towns where Muslims and Christians interact on a day to day basis! In other words let us get the dialogue to diocesan and parish levels! Let the parish priest and the village Muslim leaders get engaged in the dialogue. Facebook groups could also be created to enrich the dialogue. Right now I have three Facebook Muslim friends from India with whom I am engaged in this dialogue. I am reasonably well informed about Islam. And I have my copy of the Quaran which I often read.
While the theologians continue with their intellectual dialogue, here in the villages let Muslims and Christians work together on developmental projects to up lift their standards of living. And let us engage our young people both Christians and Muslims into sport activities, song, dance, theatre and other cultural activities. This working closely together might lead them to grasp the most important thing in life, namely: love of each other regardless of religion, race, colour or tribe. A concrete example will help: In Masaka Catholic Diocese (Uganda) Bishop Kaggwa created the «Kaggwa football Cup.» I happened to be in Uganda at the end of 2008 and I was deeply touched by the competitions of that year for this Cup. All the parishes of the diocese sent in their teams, but the team members were not just Catholics but also Protestants and Muslims! It was really moving to see these young people together appreciating each others’ presence!
Once people come to the knowledge that we need each other regardless of religion, race, colour or tribe, it becomes easier for them to overcome contradictory religious doctrines engraved in their scriptural writings and traditions. Then they begin to work for each other’s good and to protect each other in difficult times. My best friend in secondary school was a Muslim. We were in the same class. We revised our notes together and prepared for exams together. To this day he is still my friend! I lived for some years in a predominantly Muslim region in Cameroon, and my closest friends there were Muslims. So it is very possible for Christians and Muslims to live together in peace. The present difficulties should not discourage us from keeping the dialogue alive.
We have faced difficulties before but the dialogue continued. For example in March 1996 seven Cistercian monks who lived in a small monastery called Our Lady of Atlas in Algeria, we slaughtered by Muslim fundamentalists. But what is amazing, the Muslims of the small village of Tibherine where these monks lived remember them with great reverence, joy and love to this day. A French film by Xavier Beauvios has been made about them. It is called «Des hommes et des dieux» (in English: Of Gods and men.) Within a very short time since it was launched on 8th September 2010, it has been viewed by more than 2,000,000 people in France alone! Since 25th February this year it is also showing in Canada!
But this interreligious dialogue should not be limited to religious leaders and their flocks discussing among themselves, the United Nations and political leaders should get involved. For it is an illusion to think that religion and politics can be completely separated. For the two are just different dimensions of the same human being.
The very fact that over the years USA and its allies have been engaged in a bitter battle with Al-Qaeda which is an Islamic religious group is evidence enough that the interreligious dialogue should involve the international community and its political body. At some point we might be forced to speak and negotiate with Al-Qaeda! The attacks against Jews and Christians during the Tunisian and Egyptian Arab revolt points to the Al-Qaeda elements and involvement in it!
If we want lasting peace in today’s world, Politics must get into dialogue with Religion. And the different religions all over the world should come to the consensus that no one should ever take away the life of another in the name of religion or God or Allah.
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada
Friday, February 25, 2011
Africanization: The Place of Spirits, Ancestors, Ancestral World, Witchcraft, Resurrection and the Child
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo,*
By Africanization I mean: the unveiling of Jesus Christ the Lord and foundation of all cultures veiled in the depth and roots of the African Culture, through dialogue with the the Good News (the Gospel), Church Teaching and Church Tradition. This is so that the African people may stop living in tension between their culture and Christianity. Right now, Africans are apparently living in two worlds, one leg in their culture and another in Christianity!
Christ, The Word, is the foundation of all human cultures because «All things [including culture which is an essential dimension of our social life] came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.» (Jn.1 :3). And for this reason, if we look carefully in the foundations, roots and the basic pillars of African Culture, we shall find Christ veiled in there! So it is our task to unveil him, like I have said, through dialogue with the Gospel, Church Teaching and Church Tradition.
But as Jesus challenged some of the concepts, customs and traditions of his culture and time, the Gospel helps us unveil the Christ hidden in the foundations of African culture which we can also safely call African Religion. If need be, it will challenge some of its ideas and customs. The Gospel will do this in order to enrich our culture by adjusting its lenses to have a better vision for the truth.
African Cosmology or World View
Africans have a world view and interpretation of reality, in many ways different from the Asiatic or Western understanding of the world and conception of reality, but which in my opinion is very close the biblical or Hebrew mentality, especially, the Old Testament. The African world view like that of the Bible, is very anthropocentric. Almost everything rotates around the human being.
Pillars or Foundations of the African World View
The following are the basic pillars of African Culture and perception of reality:
a) God or Supreme Being or Creator
b) Spirits [like those believed to be in the sky or air, water or sea, forests and rocks ], ancestral spirits or spirits of departed relatives and the ancestral world
c) The human being and the centrality of the child in human life
d) Living things, like: animals, insects and plants
e) Non-living things, like: rocks, stones and mountains
f) Witchcraft, the dark force of destruction and the ultimate cause of sickness and death
All these pillars of African culture are dynamic forces which interact with each other.
In our Africanization efforts, there are already some gains made which deserve mention: The Liturgy in many places in Africa is celebrated in local languages, the Bible has been translated in many of the main African languages, African song and dance have been introduced into the liturgy.
In spite of these positive developments, the African still finds himself living a kind of double life, one leg in his culture and another in Christianity. So, there is still a lot to be done to resolve this tension. I believe it is now time to go beyond liturgy in local languages, song and dance which right now dominate Africanization to the African conception of the human being and the basic cultural forces that influence the African in their daily life outside the Church!
Some of the basic things or problems the African faces outside the Church after Sunday Service are: sickness, misfortune or bad luck, family problems like failure to have a child in a marital union, impotence, poverty, death of relatives and friends etc. The way the African understands and interprets these realities is different from the Asiatic or Western conception of them. So, anybody engaged in Africanization, in order to find some solutions to the difficulties an African faces in his life has to turn his attention to the African conception of a person and the basic cultural forces that influence him.
Anybody who reads the Bible and is familiar with the African culture easily notices that there are many similar things between biblical stories and texts and the African Culture. These similarities could serve as bridges that can help us unveil Christ concealed in the African culture. The following Biblical text are a good example:
«…our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places [or in the air].» (Eph.6:12) The African in his conception of reality knows that there so many spiritual forces in the air and some them are evil spirits which are manipulated, captured and used in witchcraft. Again for the African everything even non-living things like rocks in the cosmos are active forces or powers.
«Then Saul said to his servants, ‘Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go and inquire of her.’… ‘There is a medium at Endor.’ So Saul disguised himself…and went there, he and two men with him. They came to the woman by night and he said, ‘Consult a spirit for me, and bring up the one whom I name to you.’…» (1Sam.28:3ff) Africans most of the time consult the ancestral spirits when there is a big problem. So all this fit in very well with the African conception of reality!
«Then woman said, ‘whom shall I bring up for you?’ He answered bring up Samuel for me.’…The woman said to Saul, ‘I see a divine being coming up out of the ground.’… ‘An old man is coming up; he is wrapped in a robe.’ So Saul knew it was Samuel…Then Samuel said to Saul, ‘Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?’…» (1Sam.28:11ff) Here we have an ancestral spirit namely, Samuel. And it is called up from the ground where Africans believe the ancestral world to be, where the dead go although they have the power to come up! And interestingly, the spirit of Samuel is visible! In Western thinking, the spirit is invisible. But it is common in Africa to hear people say that they have seen the spirits of the dead, sometimes, sitting on their graves!
Our Lord Jesus himself when he died, before his resurrection descended into this ancestral world! «Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last….the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many of the bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered into the holy city and appeared to many. » (Mt.27:50-53) According to African anthropology, these bodies that entered the city and moved about appearing to many cannot cause any intellectual problems! For in African mentality, apart from the ordinary physical body a person possesses another body! And, especially, when he is about to die, he can be seen in two different places at the same time. An elderly person I interviewed in Cameroon made me aware of this African concept of the human body.
The Child (Symbol of Christ): The Greatest Meeting Point Between African Culture / Religion and Christianity
The child is so important in the African context that it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the centre of the African culture. In an African context, someone who has all the riches of this world but has no child is considered as nothing and his ideas cannot be taken seriously! And he cannot be given an honourable burial! Everything in African life rotates and revolves around the child! This is why religious life and celibacy do not make much sense to many Africans.
A marriage without a child is a real curse! And it is very difficult to tolerate! So every possible solution has to be tried so that such a couple gets a child. This child is the life, salvation and resurrection of its parents and their ticket to the ancestral world. One who dies without a child cannot be welcomed into the ancestral world! He or she becomes an evil spirit that has no merits to join the ancestors!
This child, so important in African life, is the Christ veiled and hidden in the depth and roots of the African Culture! So from this child dialogue with Christianity should begin. This child is the greatest meeting point between the two.
In Christianity the Saviour and salvation come to us through the child! «Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.» (Mt.1:23) And this child Emmanuel, Jesus Christ is our resurrection and life. For he said, «I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live. » (Jn.11:25) The Lord himself loved children so much and once he said, «Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.» (Mk.10:14)
Resurrection in the African Context
Resurrection in the African mentality is through procreation or begetting children and not the Christian resurrection of the individual person at the end of time. This is why in Africa the more children and grand children one can have the better. And this is the way the Jews also generally understood resurrection. «The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is not resurrection; and they asked him a question saying , ‘Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother…» (Mt.22:25-27).
So, one of the greatest tasks of Africanization should be to help the African move from the concept of resurrection as procreation, to the Christian resurrection of each individual at the end of time. It is also important to move them from the concept of ancestral world as the place where the dead go to the Christian concepts of heaven, purgatory and hell.
Witchcraft
The African world view cannot be complete without mentioning witchcraft. Meaning: the manipulation of evil spirits and forces of darkness and make them do what natural human powers cannot, including evil things that leave everybody totally shocked and terrified beyond belief. These may include human sacrifice in which innocent children are the majority of the victims. And this is one of the areas in which evangelizing is needed in an African context! For the majority of Africans, the ultimate cause of sickness and death is witchcraft! Even if it is clear that someone has died of malaria, it is understood that beyond that malaria there is someone who has bewitched them!
Witchcraft is such a big thing in Africa that rich and poor, men and women, educated and uneducated, politicians and peasants, young and old all consult witchdoctors. Even famous football teams on the continent have special witchdoctors whom they consult if they want to win big matches! Witchcraft is now big money and the number of witchdoctors is on the rise. Even presidents and bishops are not spared as is the case with President Yoweri Museveni and the bishops in Uganda! It is today one of their biggest worry!
So, when people are in difficulties it is very difficult to know whether it is God whom they consult more or witchdoctors! Witchcraft is really a big pastoral problem on the continent.
Suggestions
Africanization has the task of digging up and bringing out all that is good, beautiful and true in African culture / religion and integrate it in its programme of evangelizing God’s people in Africa. For what is good, beautiful and true can never be in opposition with the Gospel.
Africanization should also help Africans abandon all that is opposed to the Good News in their culture, beliefs like: that someone who dies childless becomes an evil spirit and a curse to the family and so, nobody can be named after them.
Practical solution should be found to such important questions like: How do we integrate ancestors / departed relatives, who are so important to the African people in their day to day Christian life? How do we integrate the circumcision rite, the passage from childhood to manhood and womanhood into people’s Christian life? How do we prevent Christians from getting involved in witchcraft activities and so entrust their cares to the Lord?
All religious leaders and theologians in Africa should read Tim Whenwell’s article: «Witch-doctors reveal extent of child sacrifice in Uganda» and watch the video that accompanies it. To find them, go to google: BBC News-Newsnight-Witch-doctors reveal extent of child sacrifice in Uganda.
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
By Africanization I mean: the unveiling of Jesus Christ the Lord and foundation of all cultures veiled in the depth and roots of the African Culture, through dialogue with the the Good News (the Gospel), Church Teaching and Church Tradition. This is so that the African people may stop living in tension between their culture and Christianity. Right now, Africans are apparently living in two worlds, one leg in their culture and another in Christianity!
Christ, The Word, is the foundation of all human cultures because «All things [including culture which is an essential dimension of our social life] came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.» (Jn.1 :3). And for this reason, if we look carefully in the foundations, roots and the basic pillars of African Culture, we shall find Christ veiled in there! So it is our task to unveil him, like I have said, through dialogue with the Gospel, Church Teaching and Church Tradition.
But as Jesus challenged some of the concepts, customs and traditions of his culture and time, the Gospel helps us unveil the Christ hidden in the foundations of African culture which we can also safely call African Religion. If need be, it will challenge some of its ideas and customs. The Gospel will do this in order to enrich our culture by adjusting its lenses to have a better vision for the truth.
African Cosmology or World View
Africans have a world view and interpretation of reality, in many ways different from the Asiatic or Western understanding of the world and conception of reality, but which in my opinion is very close the biblical or Hebrew mentality, especially, the Old Testament. The African world view like that of the Bible, is very anthropocentric. Almost everything rotates around the human being.
Pillars or Foundations of the African World View
The following are the basic pillars of African Culture and perception of reality:
a) God or Supreme Being or Creator
b) Spirits [like those believed to be in the sky or air, water or sea, forests and rocks ], ancestral spirits or spirits of departed relatives and the ancestral world
c) The human being and the centrality of the child in human life
d) Living things, like: animals, insects and plants
e) Non-living things, like: rocks, stones and mountains
f) Witchcraft, the dark force of destruction and the ultimate cause of sickness and death
All these pillars of African culture are dynamic forces which interact with each other.
In our Africanization efforts, there are already some gains made which deserve mention: The Liturgy in many places in Africa is celebrated in local languages, the Bible has been translated in many of the main African languages, African song and dance have been introduced into the liturgy.
In spite of these positive developments, the African still finds himself living a kind of double life, one leg in his culture and another in Christianity. So, there is still a lot to be done to resolve this tension. I believe it is now time to go beyond liturgy in local languages, song and dance which right now dominate Africanization to the African conception of the human being and the basic cultural forces that influence the African in their daily life outside the Church!
Some of the basic things or problems the African faces outside the Church after Sunday Service are: sickness, misfortune or bad luck, family problems like failure to have a child in a marital union, impotence, poverty, death of relatives and friends etc. The way the African understands and interprets these realities is different from the Asiatic or Western conception of them. So, anybody engaged in Africanization, in order to find some solutions to the difficulties an African faces in his life has to turn his attention to the African conception of a person and the basic cultural forces that influence him.
Anybody who reads the Bible and is familiar with the African culture easily notices that there are many similar things between biblical stories and texts and the African Culture. These similarities could serve as bridges that can help us unveil Christ concealed in the African culture. The following Biblical text are a good example:
«…our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places [or in the air].» (Eph.6:12) The African in his conception of reality knows that there so many spiritual forces in the air and some them are evil spirits which are manipulated, captured and used in witchcraft. Again for the African everything even non-living things like rocks in the cosmos are active forces or powers.
«Then Saul said to his servants, ‘Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go and inquire of her.’… ‘There is a medium at Endor.’ So Saul disguised himself…and went there, he and two men with him. They came to the woman by night and he said, ‘Consult a spirit for me, and bring up the one whom I name to you.’…» (1Sam.28:3ff) Africans most of the time consult the ancestral spirits when there is a big problem. So all this fit in very well with the African conception of reality!
«Then woman said, ‘whom shall I bring up for you?’ He answered bring up Samuel for me.’…The woman said to Saul, ‘I see a divine being coming up out of the ground.’… ‘An old man is coming up; he is wrapped in a robe.’ So Saul knew it was Samuel…Then Samuel said to Saul, ‘Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?’…» (1Sam.28:11ff) Here we have an ancestral spirit namely, Samuel. And it is called up from the ground where Africans believe the ancestral world to be, where the dead go although they have the power to come up! And interestingly, the spirit of Samuel is visible! In Western thinking, the spirit is invisible. But it is common in Africa to hear people say that they have seen the spirits of the dead, sometimes, sitting on their graves!
Our Lord Jesus himself when he died, before his resurrection descended into this ancestral world! «Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last….the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many of the bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered into the holy city and appeared to many. » (Mt.27:50-53) According to African anthropology, these bodies that entered the city and moved about appearing to many cannot cause any intellectual problems! For in African mentality, apart from the ordinary physical body a person possesses another body! And, especially, when he is about to die, he can be seen in two different places at the same time. An elderly person I interviewed in Cameroon made me aware of this African concept of the human body.
The Child (Symbol of Christ): The Greatest Meeting Point Between African Culture / Religion and Christianity
The child is so important in the African context that it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the centre of the African culture. In an African context, someone who has all the riches of this world but has no child is considered as nothing and his ideas cannot be taken seriously! And he cannot be given an honourable burial! Everything in African life rotates and revolves around the child! This is why religious life and celibacy do not make much sense to many Africans.
A marriage without a child is a real curse! And it is very difficult to tolerate! So every possible solution has to be tried so that such a couple gets a child. This child is the life, salvation and resurrection of its parents and their ticket to the ancestral world. One who dies without a child cannot be welcomed into the ancestral world! He or she becomes an evil spirit that has no merits to join the ancestors!
This child, so important in African life, is the Christ veiled and hidden in the depth and roots of the African Culture! So from this child dialogue with Christianity should begin. This child is the greatest meeting point between the two.
In Christianity the Saviour and salvation come to us through the child! «Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.» (Mt.1:23) And this child Emmanuel, Jesus Christ is our resurrection and life. For he said, «I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live. » (Jn.11:25) The Lord himself loved children so much and once he said, «Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.» (Mk.10:14)
Resurrection in the African Context
Resurrection in the African mentality is through procreation or begetting children and not the Christian resurrection of the individual person at the end of time. This is why in Africa the more children and grand children one can have the better. And this is the way the Jews also generally understood resurrection. «The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is not resurrection; and they asked him a question saying , ‘Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother…» (Mt.22:25-27).
So, one of the greatest tasks of Africanization should be to help the African move from the concept of resurrection as procreation, to the Christian resurrection of each individual at the end of time. It is also important to move them from the concept of ancestral world as the place where the dead go to the Christian concepts of heaven, purgatory and hell.
Witchcraft
The African world view cannot be complete without mentioning witchcraft. Meaning: the manipulation of evil spirits and forces of darkness and make them do what natural human powers cannot, including evil things that leave everybody totally shocked and terrified beyond belief. These may include human sacrifice in which innocent children are the majority of the victims. And this is one of the areas in which evangelizing is needed in an African context! For the majority of Africans, the ultimate cause of sickness and death is witchcraft! Even if it is clear that someone has died of malaria, it is understood that beyond that malaria there is someone who has bewitched them!
Witchcraft is such a big thing in Africa that rich and poor, men and women, educated and uneducated, politicians and peasants, young and old all consult witchdoctors. Even famous football teams on the continent have special witchdoctors whom they consult if they want to win big matches! Witchcraft is now big money and the number of witchdoctors is on the rise. Even presidents and bishops are not spared as is the case with President Yoweri Museveni and the bishops in Uganda! It is today one of their biggest worry!
So, when people are in difficulties it is very difficult to know whether it is God whom they consult more or witchdoctors! Witchcraft is really a big pastoral problem on the continent.
Suggestions
Africanization has the task of digging up and bringing out all that is good, beautiful and true in African culture / religion and integrate it in its programme of evangelizing God’s people in Africa. For what is good, beautiful and true can never be in opposition with the Gospel.
Africanization should also help Africans abandon all that is opposed to the Good News in their culture, beliefs like: that someone who dies childless becomes an evil spirit and a curse to the family and so, nobody can be named after them.
Practical solution should be found to such important questions like: How do we integrate ancestors / departed relatives, who are so important to the African people in their day to day Christian life? How do we integrate the circumcision rite, the passage from childhood to manhood and womanhood into people’s Christian life? How do we prevent Christians from getting involved in witchcraft activities and so entrust their cares to the Lord?
All religious leaders and theologians in Africa should read Tim Whenwell’s article: «Witch-doctors reveal extent of child sacrifice in Uganda» and watch the video that accompanies it. To find them, go to google: BBC News-Newsnight-Witch-doctors reveal extent of child sacrifice in Uganda.
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Report: Impending drought in Kenya’s drylands: Will the crisis ever end?
Yet again, Kenya is facing impending drought, and the drylands are already bearing the brunt. Around 3 million people are currently affected, and it is likely the situation will get worse over the coming months……..
Water and pasture is already in short supply – and as livestock get weaker and their market value decreases, pastoralists have less income to buy food. Malnutrition is rising as families skip meals, take on debts to buy food, and weak cattle are unable to produce vital milk. Families are withdrawing children from school as they migrate with their cattle to find water.
But why does a regular and predictable event like drought always lead to disaster? It’s because too often the response and the media coverage comes too late – after disaster has already struck, when people are hungry and cattle are dying – rather than addressing the issues that make people vulnerable in the first place. Exacerbated by a changing climate, drought is currently inevitable in Kenya. However it is not inevitable that people starve and thousands of animals die as a result.
Why wait until it is too late? With the right action at the right time, hazards such as drought will not always result in disaster, and lives and livelihoods can be saved. The Kenyan government, aid agencies, donors and the media urgently need to re-assess how Kenya deals with drought.
What makes the drylands so vulnerable?
It is not a coincidence that the drylands are the areas most affected by droughts.
Negative perceptions and stereotypes of pastoralist livelihoods persist, with the result that many people believe pastoralism itself increases vulnerability. In fact, pastoralism is a highly adaptable and resilient way of living that makes use of limited natural resources in areas that receive little rainfall. However, there are five key underlying issues that undermine this livelihood. With the right political will, these can be addressed:
1. Failure to invest in the drylands’ economy The economic potential of the drylands – also known as the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) – is enormous. According to Kenyan government figures, the livestock sector contributes about 12 percent of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 40 percent of the agricultural GDP, and employs 50 percent of the country’s agricultural workforce.
The ASALs support around six million people, or 15 percent of Kenya’s population, yet the government’s budget allocation to the livestock sector is only around one percent of the national budget. While Kenya’s coffee and tea producers receive major support and subsidies, livestock keepers receive comparatively little help. The livestock sector receives only a fifth of agricultural investment, and even within the livestock sector, the ASALs are neglected: While 75 percent of Kenya’s livestock are in the ASALs, they are served by fewer than 10 percent of livestock service staff.
There is little money for development or opening the regions up for investment. Demand for meat and dairy products is increasing nationally and internationally, yet the ASALs are not benefiting from this opportunity.
2. A lack of development and basic services
The ASALs have suffered decades of neglect that have a profound impact on the situation today. These regions are the most under-served in terms of roads and basic services such as water, healthcare, education and electricity. This limits access to national and international markets, and makes people in the drylands more vulnerable to hazards such as droughts and floods.
The drylands are the poorest regions of Kenya. 95 percent of people in Turkana live below the poverty line, compared to a national average of 53 percent. Other ASAL regions such as Marsabit (92%), Mandera (89%) and Wajir (84%) are also far poorer than average.
3. Poor policies, and slow implementation of good ones
Pastoralist communities have adopted their own strategies for coping with the environmental challenges, such as communal land management, seasonal mobility, and the zoning of rangelands for dry and wet season grazing. However, these have been undermined by government policies that have tended to allocate pastoral land – particularly prime dry-season grazing areas – for other uses, such as agriculture, new settlements, game reserves and mining. This has had a devastating impact on pastoralists’ ability to cope with drought.
For example, the Kenyan government has already given tenure rights and ownership of 40,000 hectares of Delta land to the Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA) and the Mumias Sugar Company, to convert the land into a monoculture sugar cane plantation. Over 25,000 people living in 30 villages stand to be evicted from their ancestral land as a result.
While on paper there has been an improvement in recent years in the policies and institutional frameworks for developing the drylands and building the resilience of pastoralist communities, in reality most have not been implemented and drafts have not been finalized. This begs the question, why not?
Some key policies that remain in draft form include: the proposed Disaster Management Policy; the establishment of the Drought/Disaster Management Authority and Contingency Fund; the ASAL Development Policy; and also flagship projects included in the government’s Vision 2030. Without good policies and legal and institutional frameworks, government budget allocation to the drylands is constrained.
4. Late and inappropriate responses
Effectively dealing with drought is possible, but only if we are better prepared. Resources need to be pre-positioned in locations where they are likely to be needed – however this is rarely the case. Often, even when early warning information and contingency plans are available and the drought is predicted well in advance, the response is still late. Accessing government and donor funds in advance of the disaster often takes too long because of the overly slow and bureaucratic procedures – which ultimately costs lives.
Too often the response to drought begins when people run out of food. In fact, there are four phases (see table below) – by putting more emphasis and investment in phases 1 and 2, there is less chance of reaching the emergency phase. Long-term development and emergency aid are two sides of the same coin. This approach is known as Drought Cycle Management, and each of the four phases requires different actions:
Phase Situation Actions needed
1. Normal Good rainfall. Pasture and water available Development: Infrastructure development such as water points, grain reserves, roads and healthcare facilities; Building the capacity of local organisations to lobby and secure their rights
2. Alert/Alarm Pasture deteriorates; depleted water levels Preparedness: Livestock vaccinations and destocking (buying up animals before they get too weak); Stockpiling cereals/grains; repairing old water boreholes
3. Emergency People struggling to find food and water, livestock dying Relief: Food aid; emergency healthcare (for humans and animals); trucking in water
4. Recovery Rainfall – improved pasture and water Reconstruction: Repairing water infrastructure such as dams and boreholes; restocking animals
5. Poor co-ordination at local level While it is vital for effectively managing drought that many different actors play a role – from the government to international NGOs, civil society to donors – the long-term responses are often uncoordinated. This leads to the duplication of interventions, a lack of accurate and comprehensive information sharing, and poor linkages between national and local levels.
While local level structures are in place, currently in the form of the District Steering Groups, line ministries and sectors are often poorly represented and the groups are often not pro-active in communicating and advocating for the right assistance at higher levels. Contingency planning often lacks focus and prioritisation of needs, and without local level contingency funds, ends up being an unattainable wish list rather than a guide to action.
Solutions: Recommendations to the government and donors
The government, donors and humanitarian agencies must tackle the underlying causes of vulnerability to disasters, particularly given the likely increase in frequency and intensity of drought due to climate change. Key recommendations include:
The government should urgently increase investment in the livestock sector, including improving infrastructure and disease control.
The government should redress the unequal provision of basic services and utilities in the ASALs, and ensure development in the region.
The government should prioritise finalising and implementing key draft policies and institutional bodies that would help to better deal with the crisis and long-term needs.
All actors should base their responses on the Drought Cycle Management approach, ensuring that priority is given to preparing in advance for droughts and building communities’ ability to cope, not just responding to emergencies. Governments and donors need to provide long-term flexible funding to ensure this, and provide easily accessible contingency funds.
NGOs should work closely with government and other agencies to develop models of good practice, and ensure these are used and implemented
The government urgently needs to strengthen local level co-ordination, now and for the future, and ensure that government line sectors are engaged in focused and realistic joint preparedness and response planning.
The Regional Learning and Advocacy Programme for Vulnerable Dryland Communities (REGLAP) is a regional project funded by European Commission for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) under the Drought Cycle Management Decision. It is implemented by a consortium consisting of Oxfam GB, RECONCILE, Cordaid, Care International, Save the Children UK and VSF Belgium.
For more information visit: http://www.oxfamblogs.org/eastafrica/
(edited to suite CISA’s style)
Water and pasture is already in short supply – and as livestock get weaker and their market value decreases, pastoralists have less income to buy food. Malnutrition is rising as families skip meals, take on debts to buy food, and weak cattle are unable to produce vital milk. Families are withdrawing children from school as they migrate with their cattle to find water.
But why does a regular and predictable event like drought always lead to disaster? It’s because too often the response and the media coverage comes too late – after disaster has already struck, when people are hungry and cattle are dying – rather than addressing the issues that make people vulnerable in the first place. Exacerbated by a changing climate, drought is currently inevitable in Kenya. However it is not inevitable that people starve and thousands of animals die as a result.
Why wait until it is too late? With the right action at the right time, hazards such as drought will not always result in disaster, and lives and livelihoods can be saved. The Kenyan government, aid agencies, donors and the media urgently need to re-assess how Kenya deals with drought.
What makes the drylands so vulnerable?
It is not a coincidence that the drylands are the areas most affected by droughts.
Negative perceptions and stereotypes of pastoralist livelihoods persist, with the result that many people believe pastoralism itself increases vulnerability. In fact, pastoralism is a highly adaptable and resilient way of living that makes use of limited natural resources in areas that receive little rainfall. However, there are five key underlying issues that undermine this livelihood. With the right political will, these can be addressed:
1. Failure to invest in the drylands’ economy The economic potential of the drylands – also known as the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) – is enormous. According to Kenyan government figures, the livestock sector contributes about 12 percent of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 40 percent of the agricultural GDP, and employs 50 percent of the country’s agricultural workforce.
The ASALs support around six million people, or 15 percent of Kenya’s population, yet the government’s budget allocation to the livestock sector is only around one percent of the national budget. While Kenya’s coffee and tea producers receive major support and subsidies, livestock keepers receive comparatively little help. The livestock sector receives only a fifth of agricultural investment, and even within the livestock sector, the ASALs are neglected: While 75 percent of Kenya’s livestock are in the ASALs, they are served by fewer than 10 percent of livestock service staff.
There is little money for development or opening the regions up for investment. Demand for meat and dairy products is increasing nationally and internationally, yet the ASALs are not benefiting from this opportunity.
2. A lack of development and basic services
The ASALs have suffered decades of neglect that have a profound impact on the situation today. These regions are the most under-served in terms of roads and basic services such as water, healthcare, education and electricity. This limits access to national and international markets, and makes people in the drylands more vulnerable to hazards such as droughts and floods.
The drylands are the poorest regions of Kenya. 95 percent of people in Turkana live below the poverty line, compared to a national average of 53 percent. Other ASAL regions such as Marsabit (92%), Mandera (89%) and Wajir (84%) are also far poorer than average.
3. Poor policies, and slow implementation of good ones
Pastoralist communities have adopted their own strategies for coping with the environmental challenges, such as communal land management, seasonal mobility, and the zoning of rangelands for dry and wet season grazing. However, these have been undermined by government policies that have tended to allocate pastoral land – particularly prime dry-season grazing areas – for other uses, such as agriculture, new settlements, game reserves and mining. This has had a devastating impact on pastoralists’ ability to cope with drought.
For example, the Kenyan government has already given tenure rights and ownership of 40,000 hectares of Delta land to the Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA) and the Mumias Sugar Company, to convert the land into a monoculture sugar cane plantation. Over 25,000 people living in 30 villages stand to be evicted from their ancestral land as a result.
While on paper there has been an improvement in recent years in the policies and institutional frameworks for developing the drylands and building the resilience of pastoralist communities, in reality most have not been implemented and drafts have not been finalized. This begs the question, why not?
Some key policies that remain in draft form include: the proposed Disaster Management Policy; the establishment of the Drought/Disaster Management Authority and Contingency Fund; the ASAL Development Policy; and also flagship projects included in the government’s Vision 2030. Without good policies and legal and institutional frameworks, government budget allocation to the drylands is constrained.
4. Late and inappropriate responses
Effectively dealing with drought is possible, but only if we are better prepared. Resources need to be pre-positioned in locations where they are likely to be needed – however this is rarely the case. Often, even when early warning information and contingency plans are available and the drought is predicted well in advance, the response is still late. Accessing government and donor funds in advance of the disaster often takes too long because of the overly slow and bureaucratic procedures – which ultimately costs lives.
Too often the response to drought begins when people run out of food. In fact, there are four phases (see table below) – by putting more emphasis and investment in phases 1 and 2, there is less chance of reaching the emergency phase. Long-term development and emergency aid are two sides of the same coin. This approach is known as Drought Cycle Management, and each of the four phases requires different actions:
Phase Situation Actions needed
1. Normal Good rainfall. Pasture and water available Development: Infrastructure development such as water points, grain reserves, roads and healthcare facilities; Building the capacity of local organisations to lobby and secure their rights
2. Alert/Alarm Pasture deteriorates; depleted water levels Preparedness: Livestock vaccinations and destocking (buying up animals before they get too weak); Stockpiling cereals/grains; repairing old water boreholes
3. Emergency People struggling to find food and water, livestock dying Relief: Food aid; emergency healthcare (for humans and animals); trucking in water
4. Recovery Rainfall – improved pasture and water Reconstruction: Repairing water infrastructure such as dams and boreholes; restocking animals
5. Poor co-ordination at local level While it is vital for effectively managing drought that many different actors play a role – from the government to international NGOs, civil society to donors – the long-term responses are often uncoordinated. This leads to the duplication of interventions, a lack of accurate and comprehensive information sharing, and poor linkages between national and local levels.
While local level structures are in place, currently in the form of the District Steering Groups, line ministries and sectors are often poorly represented and the groups are often not pro-active in communicating and advocating for the right assistance at higher levels. Contingency planning often lacks focus and prioritisation of needs, and without local level contingency funds, ends up being an unattainable wish list rather than a guide to action.
Solutions: Recommendations to the government and donors
The government, donors and humanitarian agencies must tackle the underlying causes of vulnerability to disasters, particularly given the likely increase in frequency and intensity of drought due to climate change. Key recommendations include:
The government should urgently increase investment in the livestock sector, including improving infrastructure and disease control.
The government should redress the unequal provision of basic services and utilities in the ASALs, and ensure development in the region.
The government should prioritise finalising and implementing key draft policies and institutional bodies that would help to better deal with the crisis and long-term needs.
All actors should base their responses on the Drought Cycle Management approach, ensuring that priority is given to preparing in advance for droughts and building communities’ ability to cope, not just responding to emergencies. Governments and donors need to provide long-term flexible funding to ensure this, and provide easily accessible contingency funds.
NGOs should work closely with government and other agencies to develop models of good practice, and ensure these are used and implemented
The government urgently needs to strengthen local level co-ordination, now and for the future, and ensure that government line sectors are engaged in focused and realistic joint preparedness and response planning.
The Regional Learning and Advocacy Programme for Vulnerable Dryland Communities (REGLAP) is a regional project funded by European Commission for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) under the Drought Cycle Management Decision. It is implemented by a consortium consisting of Oxfam GB, RECONCILE, Cordaid, Care International, Save the Children UK and VSF Belgium.
For more information visit: http://www.oxfamblogs.org/eastafrica/
(edited to suite CISA’s style)
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
OPINION: If The Opposition Won The Ugandan Polls, Would The Kabaka Get The «Federo» He Seeks?
By Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo*
Looking at the Ugandan political scene, it is clear that the dominant figures in Ugandan politics right now are : Yoweri Museveni the current President and the Kabaka of Buganda Ronald Mutebi. It is also evindent that there is almost endless tension between them!
The cause of this tension is Museveni’s rejection of the Kabaka’s demand for «Federo» ( a federal system of government.) The Ugandan news paper The Monitor of August 17, 2009 in article entitled: Kabaka Renews Federo demand, expresses this tension, «Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi of Buganda said yesterday that his kingdom will keep demanding a federal system of government, despite President Museveni’s view that debate on the matter is closed.»
The Uganda government owned news paper New Vision, of January 8, 2011 in article entitled, Movement MPs okay King’s Bill also highlights the tension between the Central government and Mengo (the seat of the Buganda government); it says, «The people in Mengo cannot purport to turn themselves into the Parliament of Uganda. The Constitution is clear, as it gives who makes the laws of Uganda, Mengo can send representatives to make petitions, which will be listened to on their merit.» the articles goes on to say, «…the President repeated his earlier comments that the Kabaka does not answer his phone calls since their meeting last year.»
The opposition is now politically exploiting this tension to win the support of Buganda come the elections in February this year! And the Uganda news paper The Monitor of Saturday January 8, 2011 in an article entitled, Opposition parties promise federo as 2011 polls near says, «With promising federal, the opposition is likely to win the support of mainly Buganda kingdom which has for long agitated for the arrangement which Museveni says is similar to the regional tier system his government is pushing.»
But the important question right now for any politically minded person which probably the Kabaka supporters have not asked themselves is : «If the Opposition won this year’s Ugandan elections would the Kabaka get the federo he seeks or demands?» It is true the Opposition parties are promising federo, but we should not forget that it is one thing to make promises and totally another to live up to them! And we all know how empty politicians’ promises can be! Is the Kabaka really sure that if the Opposition won this year’s elections it would give him the federo he demands?
It is not an exaggeration to say that in the whole country it is basically Buganda which is demanding a federal system of government! And it is clear that not all Baganda are behind the Kabaka’s demand for federo. For there are still very many Baganda in Museveni’s NRM!
In my view, I find it politically very difficult to see how the Opposition if it won this year’s elections, would give in to the Kabaka’s demand of federo! If this demand came from every corner of the country, that would put pressure on the Opposition to honour its promise. But it is clear that very few people out side Buganda would support the Kabaka’s federo demand even if a referedum was held on the matter.
For anybody familiar with Ugandan political history knows very well that Buganda does not have a very good reputation among other tribes. During colonial times, Buganda was a very great friend of the British! And it was through and with the help of Buganda that the British conquered the rest of the country and colonized it! So in most parts of Uganda, Buganda is identical or almost identical to the British oppressors! So it is very unlikely that the people there would give support the Kabaka’s demand for federo.
And what makes matters more complicated is that, reading between the lines, behind the federo demand, Buganda is really seeking «secession!» It is very clear that around the time of Uganda’s independence, Buganda never wanted to be part of Uganda. And to this end Buganda sent at least more than one Memoranda to the authorities in Britain! In September 1960, the Kabaka’s Lukiiko or parliament, presented a Memorandum to Queen Elizabeth II seeking Buganda’s independence! This Memorandum in part reads : «The Lukiiko’s Memorandum which explains in detail the constitutional plan for an independent Buganda is being prepared and will shortly be forwarded to Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom. We intend to divide this Memorandum into three main parts : a) Geographical and Historical background of Buganda; b) Buganda’s reasons for going it alone; and c) the Constitutional Plan.» Buganda still wants to go it alone! This should at least in part explain why Museveni cannot accept federo.
Buganda is the most developed region in Uganda and it is in fact the heart of the nation. The Administrative and Commercial Capital Kampala is in Buganda! Which political leader in his senses can accept the secession of the most important part of his country? So in my opinion even if the Opposition won this year’s Uganda elections, it would not give in to the Kabaka’s demand for federo! The Opposition is just exploiting the federo demand just to win the Buganda votes and so get itself in power. But it is unfortunate the Kabaka does not seem to see that they are just playing with him! After getting into power they would tell him exactly what Museveni has told him, «No Federo!»
So it is high time that Buganda woke up from the illusion and dream of federo at least at this point in history! The Kabaka’s political adivisers who advise him to insist on federo are not helping him. They are men seeking their own interests! And unfortunately many of the religious leaders who could have advised him better and also acted as a bridge between him and Museveni, they too appear to be consumed up by the desire for secession instead of unity of the country!
For sure the Kabaka being a citizen of Uganda, all his rights should be respected and he should not suffer any oppression from the Central government. And his complaints should be listened to. But it cannot be expected that every demand he makes has to be granted.
Anyone can see that the secession of Southern Sudan from the North is reasonable given the injustices and oppression suffered by the southerners over the years. But it is very difficult to see how the secession of Buganda from the rest of the country can be justified! If it is just because some Baganda and the Kabaka himself feel that he (the Kabaka) should have political power and restore a sense of pride they had in the past, that is really the wrong reason for divinding the country! No part of the country should be allowed to secede simply because some people want to have political power!
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Looking at the Ugandan political scene, it is clear that the dominant figures in Ugandan politics right now are : Yoweri Museveni the current President and the Kabaka of Buganda Ronald Mutebi. It is also evindent that there is almost endless tension between them!
The cause of this tension is Museveni’s rejection of the Kabaka’s demand for «Federo» ( a federal system of government.) The Ugandan news paper The Monitor of August 17, 2009 in article entitled: Kabaka Renews Federo demand, expresses this tension, «Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi of Buganda said yesterday that his kingdom will keep demanding a federal system of government, despite President Museveni’s view that debate on the matter is closed.»
The Uganda government owned news paper New Vision, of January 8, 2011 in article entitled, Movement MPs okay King’s Bill also highlights the tension between the Central government and Mengo (the seat of the Buganda government); it says, «The people in Mengo cannot purport to turn themselves into the Parliament of Uganda. The Constitution is clear, as it gives who makes the laws of Uganda, Mengo can send representatives to make petitions, which will be listened to on their merit.» the articles goes on to say, «…the President repeated his earlier comments that the Kabaka does not answer his phone calls since their meeting last year.»
The opposition is now politically exploiting this tension to win the support of Buganda come the elections in February this year! And the Uganda news paper The Monitor of Saturday January 8, 2011 in an article entitled, Opposition parties promise federo as 2011 polls near says, «With promising federal, the opposition is likely to win the support of mainly Buganda kingdom which has for long agitated for the arrangement which Museveni says is similar to the regional tier system his government is pushing.»
But the important question right now for any politically minded person which probably the Kabaka supporters have not asked themselves is : «If the Opposition won this year’s Ugandan elections would the Kabaka get the federo he seeks or demands?» It is true the Opposition parties are promising federo, but we should not forget that it is one thing to make promises and totally another to live up to them! And we all know how empty politicians’ promises can be! Is the Kabaka really sure that if the Opposition won this year’s elections it would give him the federo he demands?
It is not an exaggeration to say that in the whole country it is basically Buganda which is demanding a federal system of government! And it is clear that not all Baganda are behind the Kabaka’s demand for federo. For there are still very many Baganda in Museveni’s NRM!
In my view, I find it politically very difficult to see how the Opposition if it won this year’s elections, would give in to the Kabaka’s demand of federo! If this demand came from every corner of the country, that would put pressure on the Opposition to honour its promise. But it is clear that very few people out side Buganda would support the Kabaka’s federo demand even if a referedum was held on the matter.
For anybody familiar with Ugandan political history knows very well that Buganda does not have a very good reputation among other tribes. During colonial times, Buganda was a very great friend of the British! And it was through and with the help of Buganda that the British conquered the rest of the country and colonized it! So in most parts of Uganda, Buganda is identical or almost identical to the British oppressors! So it is very unlikely that the people there would give support the Kabaka’s demand for federo.
And what makes matters more complicated is that, reading between the lines, behind the federo demand, Buganda is really seeking «secession!» It is very clear that around the time of Uganda’s independence, Buganda never wanted to be part of Uganda. And to this end Buganda sent at least more than one Memoranda to the authorities in Britain! In September 1960, the Kabaka’s Lukiiko or parliament, presented a Memorandum to Queen Elizabeth II seeking Buganda’s independence! This Memorandum in part reads : «The Lukiiko’s Memorandum which explains in detail the constitutional plan for an independent Buganda is being prepared and will shortly be forwarded to Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom. We intend to divide this Memorandum into three main parts : a) Geographical and Historical background of Buganda; b) Buganda’s reasons for going it alone; and c) the Constitutional Plan.» Buganda still wants to go it alone! This should at least in part explain why Museveni cannot accept federo.
Buganda is the most developed region in Uganda and it is in fact the heart of the nation. The Administrative and Commercial Capital Kampala is in Buganda! Which political leader in his senses can accept the secession of the most important part of his country? So in my opinion even if the Opposition won this year’s Uganda elections, it would not give in to the Kabaka’s demand for federo! The Opposition is just exploiting the federo demand just to win the Buganda votes and so get itself in power. But it is unfortunate the Kabaka does not seem to see that they are just playing with him! After getting into power they would tell him exactly what Museveni has told him, «No Federo!»
So it is high time that Buganda woke up from the illusion and dream of federo at least at this point in history! The Kabaka’s political adivisers who advise him to insist on federo are not helping him. They are men seeking their own interests! And unfortunately many of the religious leaders who could have advised him better and also acted as a bridge between him and Museveni, they too appear to be consumed up by the desire for secession instead of unity of the country!
For sure the Kabaka being a citizen of Uganda, all his rights should be respected and he should not suffer any oppression from the Central government. And his complaints should be listened to. But it cannot be expected that every demand he makes has to be granted.
Anyone can see that the secession of Southern Sudan from the North is reasonable given the injustices and oppression suffered by the southerners over the years. But it is very difficult to see how the secession of Buganda from the rest of the country can be justified! If it is just because some Baganda and the Kabaka himself feel that he (the Kabaka) should have political power and restore a sense of pride they had in the past, that is really the wrong reason for divinding the country! No part of the country should be allowed to secede simply because some people want to have political power!
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
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