New America Media - African

Protestors Target Excessive Phone Rates for Immigrant Detainees

2013-05-15T08:30:00Z

RICHMOND, Calif. – At the West County Detention Facility, inmates can pay upwards of $20 for a five-minute phone call to friends, relatives or lawyers. While the high rates are a cash cow for the prison, for detainees they have become a major hurdle to staying in touch with the outside.

For immigrant detainees and their families, the high phone rates can lead to total isolation.

“$50 gets about 15 minutes of actual talk time,” said Roberto de la Rosa, whose mother is currently being held at WCDF. De la Rosa noted that with repeated dropped calls and reconnection fees, the cost of a single conversation rivals a single families’ monthly phone bill.

De la Rosa was among a group of some 40 activists, former inmates and family members who gathered last Friday outside the prison, located about 30 miles east of San Francisco. Representing a cross-section of local civic, religious and legal organizations, protestors carried signs that read, “Detained mothers have the right to call home.”

The rally was part of a national Mother’s Day action led by the national Campaign for Prison Phone Justice. A fact sheet released by the group notes most Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees are either in deportation proceedings or have petitions for asylum pending, and that affordable phone access is critical to their effective legal representation.

De la Rosa’s mother has been held in detention for close to two years, and was brought to WCDF in 2012 after nearly a year of being shuffled between centers. Her son says the constant moving and high phone rates have made staying in touch difficult.

“I’ve really only been in touch with her for the last four months,” he explained. Having recently lost his job and with persistent health problems, he says the added expense of maintaining communication with his mom, on top of rent and groceries “has really taken a toll on the family.”

WCDF houses some 1100 inmates, including those held by the county as well as candidates for realignment -- a state-led initiative to transfer low-level offenders from state to county supervision. In the fiscal year ending in 2012, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the Richmond facility, was paid more than $3 million by the federal government to hold ICE detainees.

Christina Mansfield is co-founder of Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC), which recently launched a national campaign to bring attention to the high cost of prison phone calls. She was at Friday’s rally, where she described immigrant detainees as “a captive market … The high cost of phone calls creates additional and unnecessary suffering for families, and privileges profit over the right of families to remain in contact.”

Unlike state and federal penitentiaries, which are required by law to contract to the lowest bidder, counties are not subject to the same regulation. “Most county jails go with the companies that get them the most profit,” explained Mansfield.

The issue first gained prominence in 2000, after a class action lawsuit was filed by Washington, DC resident Martha Wright against the prison phone companies for charges related to calls made from her grandson, who spent 18 years behind bars. She later sued the Federal Communications Commission, and this past April her case was taken up by the Congressional Black Caucus.

The phone system at WCDF is run by Alabama-based Global Tel* Link. The company paid $75,000 for the contract with Contra Costa County, which receives 57 percent of all profits made from the phone calls. The contract is due to expire in June 2013.

Last year, the company saw profits from calls made within WCDF nearing $700,000, according to documents obtained via a public request act filed with the Sheriffs office by CIVIC.

Global Tel* Link declined to comment for this story.

A call from inside WCDF includes a $3.25 connection fee regardless of the duration, with per-minute rates running as high as 25 cents for interstate calls and an additional 30 cents when phoning out-of-state. Inmates in county jails like WCDF pay higher rates than those in either state or federal penitentiaries.

De la Rosa said that with calls routinely dropped, he often has to pay the connection fee more than once in a single conversation.

Reverend Deborah Lee is director of the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, one of the organizers of Friday’s rally. Gripping a stack of flyers with slogans that read “Justice” or “Happy Mothers Day – Affordable Phone Calls,” Lee described the rates as “exploitative,” saying they inhibited inmates ability to maintain family ties and stay up to date on their legal cases.

Prison reform advocates have long argued that maintaining connections to family and friends on the outside is critical to reducing recidivism and ensuring a smoother transition once inmates are released.

“Families are being overcharged for the most basic things,” she said, “like telling relatives you love them, or speaking with their attorneys about their cases.” Inmates’ relatives often pay anywhere from $25-$50 for two or three brief calls. “It’s cruel and inhuman,” said Lee, “the stories we hear are heartbreaking.”

One of those stories is that of Abesulom Taye, who was released from WCDF last week after a seven-month stint on a technicality stemming from charges dating back to 1998 for marijuana possession. Taye was among those at the Friday rally.

“It happened so fast,” he recalled of his arrest, saying it was unexpected as he had been granted asylum by a judge in 2010. A father, Taye said while he was detained he often had to “decide whether I wanted to talk to my son or have food that day.” The high costs meant that calls went from every other day to once a week. Eventually he racked up phone bills totaling $2000.

Lee’s group has joined with CIVIC in seeking a fair and open process for Contra Costa County to negotiate a new contract that would comply with ICE standards in going with the lowest cost provider.

“We shouldn’t be trying to balance our budgets on the backs of people trying to talk to their kids,” she said.

Caribbean and African Immigrants Getting Blocked in New Immigration Bill

2013-05-03T07:05:00Z

Black lawmakers and civil rights groups are concerned by a proposal in the Senate’s immigration reform bill that would do away with “diversity” visas that are often a pathway for African and Caribbean immigrants to enter the United States.

Advocates said they haven’t seen evidence yet that a new merit-based program is an acceptable replacement for the diversity visas, which total 55,000 each year and are granted via a lottery.

Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP Washington bureau, said he is telling lawmakers not to eliminate the diversity program when comprehensive immigration reform moves forward.

“At this point, we are urging lawmakers not to eliminate the diversity visa program,” Shelton told reporters. “This is one of the places in the bill that needs to be addressed. We will work with our friends in the Senate, and we have started working with our friends in the House as well.”

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), co-chairman of the immigration task force for the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), called the Senate bill “a significant step in the right direction” but said his caucus is worried about the plan to eliminate diversity visas.

“With respect to the abolishment of the diversity visa lottery program, the CBC is extremely concerned that it might limit the future flow of immigration for people from certain parts of the world,” Jeffries said. “That’s troublesome, and we’re evaluating the merit-based visa proposal to determine if it’s fair and balanced.”

The diversity program makes 55,000 visas available each year to countries with low immigration rates to the United States. Those awarded the visas are chosen by a lottery, with about half typically going to African immigrants.

Republican lawmakers have targeted the program in the past for elimination, arguing the program’s lottery system can lead to fraud and undermine national security.

The Senate bill proposes ending the diversity visas in 2015 and creating a new, merit-based visa program. It would make 120,000 visas available per year, rising to a maximum of 250,000, depending on the need for them and the unemployment rate. Immigrants would earn points toward visas based on their education, employment, family ties and other criteria.

“The jury is still out on whether the merit-based visas will be sufficient to address the concerns we have identified with diversity visas,” said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “We are concerned but we are still looking, and we are still making a decision.”

Some groups are furious with lawmakers for putting the diversity program on the chopping block.

“This is not a zero-sum game where we take from one to give to another. That is not how comprehensive immigration reform should work,” said Bertha Lewis, president of The Black Institute. “We are really, really angry about this diversity visa business.”

Jeffries said it was “too early to say” whether he would support the Senate bill without changes. The CBC is in talks with lawmakers negotiating a House immigration overhaul, he said.

“The situation is still very much in flux, and we won’t know until the end of the month what that bill might ultimately look like,” Jeffries said.

Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), another co-chairman of the CBC’s immigration task force, said the group met on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the diversity visa issue.

“We continue to be concerned about the discontinuation of the diversity waiver, and the fact that … African and Caribbean immigrants who are participating in the diversity visa [program] per year could lose that pathway,” Horsford said.

Horsford said CBC leaders have been in talks with immigration reform negotiators in both the House and the Senate. He suggested the merit-based replacement program was included in the Senate bill at the urging of the CBC.

“In large part, this alternative has been proposed because of our concerns with the diversity visa [discontinuation]. Meaning, we brought this issue up when we heard that it was being talked about [being] eliminated,” Horsford said. “And we said, ‘Look, without some meaningful alternative that ensures that all communities, including Caribbean and African immigrants, are protected, then, you know, we [the CBC] would have major concern.’”

Horsford said Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), another leader of the CBC’s immigration task force, has been in talks with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate’s “Gang of Eight,” about diversity visas.

“And now that we have the language, and now that we can see the alternative specifically, we can, you know, begin to work on how it affects our communities,” Horsford said.

Horsford said he expected the House immigration reform bill would have similar language related to diversity visas and the merit-based replacement program.

Shelton of the NAACP said he was hoping for “a strengthening” of the diversity visa program in the immigration reform bill by increasing its numbers of visas and expediting their processing time.

“It has not been demonstrated yet that the merit-based visas that are being lifted up will solve the problems that diversity visas were intended to solve,” Shelton said. “There may be a need for an amendment to fix this problem in the future to help African and Caribbean immigrants.”

White House Honors Two of Louisiana’s ‘Champions of Change’

2013-04-29T18:02:24Z

On April 17, the White House honored two Louisiana community leaders for their commitment to preparing communities for the consequences of climate change.

Patrick Barnes and Rebecca Templeton were two among a group of 12 individuals chosen to be part of the White House’s Champions of Change initiative.

The initiative last week honored 12 citizens, businesses and community leaders from around the country who work tirelessly to build community resilience by preparing for increasingly extreme weather and other costly climate-related impacts.

Barnes is a professional geologist and president of the Gulf Coast’s largest African American-owned environmental consulting firm, BFA Environmental. Some of his projects include water resource consulting and designing and managing several large-scale coastal resiliency projects. Through his work with coastal resiliency projects he realized there was a lack of African-American men and women receiving jobs from the large-scale contracts in the field, so he established Limitless Vistas, Inc, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to give poor and minority communities’ access to the work.

“There is a huge segment of the population not connected to job opportunities that will become available in the region,” Barnes said. “We need to get these youth trained.”

Through his connections at BFA Environmental, Barnes has access to the scientists and engineers needed to train the youth. What’s unique about BFA and Limitless, Barnes said, is the interrelationship between the two. The urgency to train these children now is important because of the employment potential in the near future.

“With the BP oil spill, there will be about 30,000 to 60,000 environmental jobs in the next 10 to 15 years,” Barnes said. “And most of these jobs will be entry level.” Read more here.

Kenyan Marathon Celebration Thrown into Disarray After Boston Blasts

2013-04-16T05:38:32Z

BOSTON - The increasingly popular Boston marathon celebrations by the Kenyan community in the Boston region were abruptly thrown into disarray today. Sudden heavy blasts reverberated at the finish line moments after Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo won the first position in the women's race. Micah Kogo of Kenya clocked in second in the men's race after Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa turned tables on the Kenyan elite male champions by crossing the finish line first.

The scary blasts that resulted in 3 fatalities and over 140 injuries disrupted transportation plans for at least 14 Kenyans and their children who got stuck in Boston after most of the subway train system was shut down. Two Ajabu Media reporters spotted a Kenyan dad and son stranded near Boston commons as they walked towards Hay Market. The father's cellphone had run out of charge and the reporters' cellphones were used to locate a family member who picked the duo after an hour of anxious waiting. The reporters could not use the subway train system because it had been closed as a security precaution.

The now re-united family generously offered the reporters a ride out of town. However, soon afterwards the car stopped at a nearby street corner when it encountered 10 stranded Kenyans with frightened children in tow. The Ajabu reporters gave up their seats for the stranded Kenyans and bravely watched the tightly packed SUV zoom the families to safety in the suburbs. Frantic telephone calls were then made to a Kenyan who resides in downtown Boston to come and rescue the weary reporters.

No Kenyan elite runner was hurt. The bomb blasts took place more than one hour after the top runners had crossed the finish line. However, local Kenyan diaspora runner, Titus Mutinda of Lowell, Massachusetts, narrowly escaped the blast as he crossed the line barely 20 minutes before the explosions. As news of the bomb blasts spread in the mainstream and social media, many Kenyans from out of state and the motherland called their kin to enquire about their safety. Kenyans are known to swarm the finish line in big numbers to cheer their athletes and take pictures.

Kenya fans in New England expected this year's Boston Marathon to be another repeat of last year’s triple-double (in both male and female categories). They woke up early with great enthusiasm and expectant energy and headed to Copley Square in downtown Boston to join a sea of humanity that snakes its way all along the route and ends up at the finish right in front of the giant screen that televises the event live. This strategic position at the finish line is treasured by both Kenyans and their Ethiopian counterparts.

About an hour before the blasts, Kenyan fans lined up along the route had sustained a long duration of loud cheering and ululations as the marathoners raced from Hopkinton town, past Newton's Heartbreak Hill, and down Boylston street into Boston's finish line. The first expected victorious moment came when Rita Jeptoo crossed the finish line at Copley Square to win the women’s 2013 title. Moments later Micah Kogo scooped the second position in the men’s category. Kenyan and Ethiopian fans cheered loudly as each of their national anthems played out on loudspeakers as the champions were presented with their hard earned crowns. Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick, bestowed the honors on the winners.

As usual, when all the top Kenyan runners had crossed the finish line within fifteen minutes of the winner's time, the Kenyan fans retreated to their favorite restaurant VLora just a couple of blocks from the finish line. This is the place they go for lunch and refreshments as they wait for the official awards ceremony that usually takes place at 5pm at the Fairmont Copley Hotel, a short distance walk from Vlora. Many Ethiopian fans had also long cleared the finish line area. It was while the fans were enjoying their meal at VLora that the television aired the explosion and the ensuing chaos that erupted at the finish line.

 Before the sumptuous meals had settled, police officers burst into the underground restaurant and ordered all to vacate with immediate effect. As the Kenyans took to their heels, Ajabu Africa reporters caught the journalist’s bug and jumped courageously onto the street scene to cover the developments. Only to find more than they had bargained for - a total lockdown. In a scary but organized operation, sirens rang in the air as both security and paramedics arrived in hordes. At this juncture everyone was ordered to clear the finish line and move away as far as possible. However, before all could clear the site, there came another deafening blast. It was the third blast.

 A security officer shouted loudly to onlookers and media personalities taking pictures, “It’s for real, you got to run for your lives. Leave this scene now!” The officer did not need to stress any word as everyone took to their heels away from the scene. Within no time the entire down town Boston became police town with countless regular and undercover police cars hunting for the perpetrators of the vile act. They raced back and forth with their sirens and emergency lights on. Dozens of ambulances crisscrossed many Boston streets as they rushed the injured to different hospitals within the city.

 It was during this commotion that Ajabu Africa reporters spotted the Kenyan father and son stranded at Boston Commons. “This is unbelievable. We have been stuck here since 3pm when I called my sister to come pick us up. Then my cell phone lost charge as soon as I told her I am waiting here. She does not know specifically where we are positioned,” said Patrick Kariuki of Randolph as he waited patiently with his 6 year old son.  

“Let us use your cell phone to call my sister again right away”, he requested Ajabu Africa reporters. According to Kariuki’s sister, Judith Mwangi, it took her three hours to drive from Randolph to Boston, and almost two more hours to drop off each of the families at their homes in Quincy and Brockton.

 “It was so hectic. Many of the roads in Boston were closed. The GPS was directing me all over as I figured out how to get around. There was police everywhere, but I thank God I was able to finally re-connect with my family and other stranded friends,” she told Ajabu Media.

She thanked Ajabu Media reporters for helping her stranded brother reconnect with her.

Up to this moment, it is not clear whether there was a Kenyan or Ethiopian fan who got injured in the blasts. Ajabu Media is also not aware of any Kenyan stranded in Boston.

AjabuAfrica.com is a news website based in Boston serving the African diaspora, an ethnic media partner of the University of Massachusetts Boston's Center on Media and Society; and also of NAM.

In Zimbabwe, Learning Chinese Is a Lucrative Investment

2013-04-08T07:30:00Z

Ni hao, Chinese for “hello,” or ting bu dong, meaning “I hear you, but I don’t understand,” are two expressions one often overhears today in Zimbabwe’s capital. It is one of the results of tenacious efforts by governments, private companies and individuals across Africa, but in Zimbabwe particularly, to learn the Chinese language and understand China’s culture.

Learning Chinese as a second or third language has been a global trend in the last few years. In Africa, the rapid increase of Chinese investments and trade (China is currently the continent’s biggest trading partner) has spurred the trend.

Zimbabwe’s government has been very deliberate in enhancing its bilateral relationship with China. It launched the Look East Policy in 2003 to give priority to investors from China, Japan, Singapore and other countries from that region. As a result, trade between China and Zimbabwe has been growing exponentially — China is now the biggest buyer of Zimbabwe’s tobacco.

Although learning Chinese dates back to Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle in the late 1960s and 1970s when freedom fighters went to China for military training, the trend has now accelerated significantly, and for different reasons.

Confucius Institute

To spread the Chinese language and culture, the government of China is utilizing a concept called Confucianism. Confucius was a great Chinese philosopher and educator born in 551 BC. The Chinese believe that his thoughts have tremendously influenced Chinese culture and even had an impact other cultures. Chinese people refer to Confucius as “a greater teacher.”

Zimbabwe leads the rest of the continent in the training of local teachers of Chinese, having integrated the Confucius Institute into the University of Zimbabwe’s academic structures in 2007, as part of an expanding network of about 400 Confucius Institutes worldwide. The program has largely been successful, and the university is poised to export surplus teachers of Chinese to other countries as well.

Professor Pedzisai Mashiri, the inaugural director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Zimbabwe, says that one of the institute’s goals is to promote the Chinese language and culture in Zimbabwe.

Because the government is yet to integrate Chinese into the national curriculum for primary and secondary schools, schools that host Confucius classes offer the Chinese language as an extra-curricular activity. More than a thousand students have received such language training through the institute since 2009. A few others are completing studies in China and will join the university soon.

A skill that pays

Observers say there has been a rising demand from organizations and individuals seeking to learn Chinese. Clarence Makoni, the founder of the Cendel Language Bridge, a private company that provides translations, interpretation and foreign language instruction, told Africa Renewal that there are huge benefits in learning foreign languages. Chinese, he says, is by far the most sought after.

“If you look at the rate at which the Chinese are coming into this country,” says Mr. Makoni, “you do not need to be a prophet to tell who is going to be the most significant employer in a few years to come. . . . All the people we train are snapped up by companies as soon as they finish their courses, and they are paid very handsomely.”

He adds that the ability to speak another major language besides English is a great selling point in the marketplace. A Chinese-speaking interpreter can rake in a monthly salary of Z$5,000, while a bilingual secretary with the same capabilities can claim up to Z$3,000 — earnings deemed at the top range in Zimbabwe.

Laston Mukaro, a language consultant and lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe’s linguistics department, says that although his job grading has not yet changed, he is now earning much more after learning Chinese.

“It makes sense to learn Chinese now other than for the reason necessitated by the government’s Look East Policy,” he says. “Chinese is one of the United Nation’s official languages and if you look at the way China is expanding into the world, you can do better if you speak their language.”

Mr. Mukaro also earns a lot of money from exchange programs between China and Zimbabwe. In addition, he frequently consults for the local Confucius Institute. Other benefits include his current work on a handbook for translating between Chinese and Shona, one of Zimbabwe’s main indigenous languages. “For those who travel to and do business with China a lot, and are privileged to tap its diverse tourism, then learning Chinese is practically obligatory and has immense benefits,” he says with enthusiasm.

More expansion ahead

Professor Mashiri says there are plans to open at least five more Chinese teaching points in other parts of the country, and to construct a Confucius Institute building at the University of Zimbabwe. The Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe has also promised to build a cultural centre to strengthen cultural cooperation between the two countries.

The world is now a global village, requiring people to understand each other’s culture and languages, says Levi Nyagura, the University of Zimbabwe’s vice-chancellor. “We want to see Zimbabwean students get jobs in China. We will continue to work hard to institutionalize the Chinese language, as we have done with the other major world languages.”

There are also suggestions for introducing Chinese into the national curriculum. “The net effect,” argues Professor Mashiri, “is to have the teaching and learning of Chinese cascade from university to secondary and primary schools.”

The New Rape Whistle: Electric Bras and Condoms With Teeth

2013-04-04T18:05:00Z

Editor’s Note: Modern technology has brought us a new kind of rape whistle – an electrified bra that shocks anyone who touches it and sends out a GPS signal to police. But the invention is just as ludicrous as its predecessor -- and once again puts the impetus of preventing rape on women, instead of where it belongs: the education of men and boys.

A group of female engineering students in India has unveiled a new electrified bra to protect women from getting raped. The bra, according to reports, not only shocks the attacker the moment its pressure sensors get activated; its built-in GPS also alerts police and the victim’s parents to the location where the attack is taking place. The designers of the bra, which is called Society Harnessing Equipment, or SHE for short, eventually hope to connect it with smart phones via Bluetooth and infrared technology.

I am sure the female engineering students in Chennai who designed this piece of lingerie did it with the best of intentions, following the national uproar that was generated by the rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in Delhi last December, and several other well-publicized rapes that have occurred in the country since then. (Not to mention around the world -- just this week in Brazil, an American tourist was gang raped for six hours on a mini bus in Rio de Janeiro.)

The fact that the engineers felt it necessary to design such a bra shows that Indian women have little faith in the sweeping rape law the Indian government passed last month to protect women against sexual violence. India has never had trouble enacting laws, just enforcing them. And as every Indian knows, any law can be bypassed by greasing the right person’s palm. Why should the rape law be any different?

And how can you blame women for not expecting much from the law? The practice of dowry (money or property brought by a bride to her husband at marriage) is still almost endemic in India, despite the fact that an anti-dowry law was passed in 1961. In 2010, there were 8,391 reported cases of dowry deaths – young women who were murdered or driven to suicide by their husbands or their in-laws for not bringing in an adequate dowry -- according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Women’s rights activists say that for every dowry death reported, there are dozens that go unreported. Of the reported cases in 2010, only one-third of the perpetrators were convicted.

The majority of rapists, too, get off scot-free. And not just in India.

In most African countries, rape convictions are not common. Worse, affected women don't get immediate access to medical care, and DNA tests to provide evidence are unaffordable. Which is perhaps why two years ago in South Africa, Dr. Sonnet Ehlers designed a female condom with “teeth” to it. Jagged rows of teeth-like hooks line the inside of the latex condom and attach to a man’s penis during penetration. Once Rape-aXe, -- as the condom is called – lodges in the penis, only a doctor can surgically remove it. While doing it, the doctor can summon law officials to arrest the man.

But if the electrified bra and the condom with “teeth” are meant to empower women, these inventions only show the state of women’s powerlessness -- and their lack of faith in laws meant to protect them.

India’s new rape law, which, in addition to harsher sentences for rape and acid attacks, criminalizes “eve-teasing” which, as Lavanya Sankaran points out in a column in The Guardian, is a “coy and euphemistic name for the sexual harassment – the stalking, groping and lewd comments – that every Indian woman is forced to navigate every time she walks out of her home.”

The law also expands the definition of rape and clearly states that the absence of physical struggle doesn’t equal consent. And no longer will misogynist police officers be able to not register complaints and compromise survivors’ rights during investigations.

All of that sounds wonderful, but is the law really going to protect women? Not until there is a change in culture, beginning with the way mothers and fathers teach their sons to be men. After all, as Sankaran notes, social pressure in India is far more powerful than any law.

The solution is not to get women to buy a new high-tech kind of rape whistle. The mindset of men must change, and the change has to begin at home.

A Return to Art Appreciation, Sudan Style

2013-03-29T08:00:00Z

above photo caption: Painting by Bakri Bilal

Sudan’s rich contemporary arts history is seldom referred to amidst all the headlines about war, poverty, and famine that make it to the global media. After World War II, when graduates of Khartoum’s Gordon Memorial College School of Design formed the movement known as the Khartoum School, artists like the father of Sudanese modernism, Ibrahim Elsalahi, calligrapher Osman Wagialla, and Ahmed Shibrain pioneered a unique fine arts movement that reflected a confluence of African, Arab, and Islamic influences. The next generation of artists emerging in the 1970s including painters like Bakri Bilal and Rashid Diab, who focused on painting and color. Sudan was a center for the Afro-Arab art experience.

However, in a developing country like Sudan, with its history of political instability, rigid military rule, and socio-economic struggles, art has been on the country’s backburner for decades since that time. Most Khartoum School artists were able to flourish abroad, and make a name for themselves and Sudan while living outside of it.

above photo: Outdoor Artist on Nile Avenue, credit: Ahmed Elno'man

So when I visited Khartoum in December 2012, it was exciting to witness a change in attitude, a renewed appreciation of art. It was a renaissance; Sudanese artists re-claiming their space.

As you drive down Nile Avenue on Saturday afternoon, you see, with the glistening Nile River as their backdrop, at least 10-15 painters showing their works. They can’t afford to hold exhibits, so the Nile banks are their galleries. Portraits, close-ups, abstracts, nature; all lined up against the huge century-old Mahogany trees that line the street. Admirers walk through the paintings, chatting with the artists. This scene is a new to this country. These artists are pioneering a movement of art appreciation among the lower-middle income population, breeding the notion that despite the economic situation, art is to be created, appreciated, and supported.

That philosophy is shared by Rashid Diab- a painter who took it upon himself to help revolutionize the Sudanese arts scene. The Spanish and American-educated PhD holder created the country’s first arts and culture center that houses artists in-residence from around the world. The Rashid Diab Arts and Culture Center in the Gireif neighborhood in the east of Khartoum is, in itself, a work of art. Diab joined 5 villas, painted and decorated them each inspired by a geographical part of Sudan; there’s the Nubian villa with its ancient Nubian wall carvings, there’s the Western villa with its Darfur and Kordofan- inspired art. And everything, he says, is Made in Sudan. Diab is passionate about supporting and flaunting local, home-grown products, art, and is a huge DIY-er. The center is filled with art made from everyday items that Diab found in Khartoum’s many junkyards- toothbrushes, steel cups, broken glass from perfume bottles are set into cement creating the floor. Everything glimmers in the sun.

above photo: Traditional bridal suite at the Rashid Diab Arts and Culture Center, credit: Hana Baba

Every Sunday, Diab holds a cultural event where he invites artists, thinkers, poets, and authors to a panel discussion on a topic- from where art is going in Sudan, to traditional wedding songs, and there’s always live music at the end. All free of charge. Again, a first in the arts-thirsty Sudan. Diab says the government doesn’t stand in his way, but it doesn’t help either- especially not through any kind of funding. So, he reached deep into his own pockets to make the center happen, and turned to corporate sponsorship through companies like the Kuwaiti Zain, one of the premier telecommunications companies with a Sudanese presence, that is big on sponsoring arts and culture events. This concept of corporate sponsorship is also new to Sudan, and seems is only available due to the immense budgets of foreign companies like Zain and Samsung.

”K CITY”

Samsung Sudan is also playing a part in the artistic revolution happening in Khartoum. However, its focus is on the younger set. The company sponsors a new magazine called “In the City”. Issued in both English and Arabic, a space for young artists and poets to express themselves, also listing the many cultural happenings around Khartoum. This in itself is new- and played a role in fostering a burgeoning English-speaking youth spoken word and poetry scene that was created by the editor of “In the City”, Mustafa Khogali. Khogali was raised in Kuwait, educated in the US, and moved back to Sudan, he says, “to make creative spaces for young people”, who are often forgotten and neglected in most of Sudan’s cultural sphere.

As English-speaking, Western-minded children returned with their families from the US, Canada, and the UK in the mid 2000s following the economic oil boom of the time, that led to a population of kids, teens and young adults who found themselves in a largely non-child-focused and teen wary environment suspicious of their Westernness. A place that lacked avenues for entertainment as they know it. Many found themselves in one of boredom’s most predictable ending spots - mischief.

That’s where Khogali came in. His magazine, with the sponsorship of Samsung, created a radio show by the same name. Then, another one, especially for young poets, rappers, and singers to showcase their talents. Soon, both the magazine and radio show grew and Khogali began to partner with places like the British Council to hold live Open Mic events, and talent shows where young musicians, painters, poets, singers, and comedians can find an audience. There’s one rule: no politics. Perhaps that is one of the main reasons this formula worked. The youth quickly caught on, and Khartoum, now affectionately dubbed “K-town,” is a happening, lively place for these youngsters to blossom. Perhaps this generation will be the one that helps Sudan re-emerge as the hub of Afro-Arab art that it was in the past.

To view more photos from the Diab Arts and Culture Center, click here.

Hana Baba is a Sudanese-American reporter and co-host of Crosscurrents, the evening newsmagazine on KALW Public Radio 91.7FM in San Francisco

Kenyatta Victory and the New African Renaissance

2013-03-22T08:00:00Z

Photo: Kenyans rallied for their internationally indicted President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta.

NEW YORK--History has a way of repeating itself. Uhuru Kenyatta’s triumph in Kenya’s presidential election earlier this month has far-reaching implications for Kenya, Africa and the world.

Uhuru, a scion of Kenya’s founding president, Jomo Kenyatta, is facing similar political circumstances faced by his father.

Prior to independence in 1963, the charismatic Jomo Kenyatta, along with his counterparts in other countries of Africa, fought for the liberation of Kenya from British colonial bondage.

Confronting Modern Colonialism

Today, history seems to have run full cycle, as Uhuru’s presidential victory stands in the face of modern imperialism, which is epitomized by the conduct of International Criminal Court (ICC). With this victory, Uhuru is set to become the new symbol of decolonization of the continent.

The idea of the ICC is good--but to have focused only on Africa since its inception in 1998 does not only make a mockery of its international outlook, but also creates a perception of modern colonialism through international jurisprudence.

Although investigations are being conducted elsewhere, to date the only suspects indicted by the court are Africans. Some countries notably the United States have ignored the validity of the court, and yet Africans are continuously harassed and intimidated by the court.

Certainly, the specter of the ICC may have played significant roles in the outcome of 2013 Kenyan election. On one hand, fear of the court may have ensured the absence of violence in this year’s presidential election, such as the post election violence that occurred in 2007.

On the other hand, the forces of nationalism and patriotism among Kenyans may have also been responsible for the election outcome – surely an unintended consequence of prosecuting a nationalist of Kenyatta’s stature.

The electorate may have cast their votes for Kenyatta in protest to his indictment by ICC and other western collaborators for crimes against humanity he allegedly committed after the 2007 election.

Initially many commentators predicted that the charges would hinder Kenyatta’s presidential ambitions. Even his rival, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, questioned his opponent’s ability to run Kenya “via Skype from The Hague.”

Foreign Interference Worked in His Favor

But anecdotal evidence suggests that Kenyatta re-branded the indictment in such a supremely intuitive way that the ICC label actually worked in his favor. Consequently, the Kenyan elections became a referendum on the ICC and foreign interference in Kenyan affairs.

The latest decision of International Criminal Court to withdraw charges against Francis Muthaura, a co-accused of Kenya’s new president-elect, raises the prospect of Kenyatta’s eventual acquittal. It is the right thing to do.

Imagine conducting a trial of a country’s president via Skype? Would you do that to a sitting or even past president of the United States, or a British Prime Minister? ICC risks irrelevance if it targets only African countries out of 120 other states that signed on to the Rome Statute that established the court.

As salutary and exemplary as Kenyans revolt against imperialism may appear, it is important to remind Africans and the leaders in the continent that the continent’s destiny is in their hands. Hardly any African will welcome foreign interference in the continent’s internal affairs, but the actions of a few elites sometimes justifies external arbiters or interlocutors.

For example, the action of Kenyatta’s main rival Raila Odinga in the days and months ahead will determine the future democratic experiment underway there. Kenya, after all, is the hub of East African economy still recovering from fratricidal violence that erupted in 2007 presidential election.

Although Odinga, himself the son of Oginga Odinga, a fellow nationalist like Uhuru’s father, has alleged massive vote-rigging, saying he would challenge the results in the Supreme Court. It is heartwarming to learn that Odinga has appealed for calm, warning that any violence “could destroy this nation forever.” This is what is expected from a statesman.

Relationship With Obama

No doubt, the post-election politics in Kenya are of interest to the international community for a number of reasons. It will determine the country’s relationship with the United States where Barack Obama, a Kenyan-American, is the president.

There is a brighter prospect of Obama visiting his father’s homeland during his presidency and touting the gains of democracy in Africa.

The United Nations has one of its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, and therefore will have a stake in the future stability of the East African country.

The globalization of labor and capital will benefit stable democracies, and it will be remarkable if Kenya joined the league of stable democracies in the world.

It is clear that elections, corruption, transparency and political participation are perennial challenges to Africa’s democratic governance.

The continent is in dire need of good governance to address a myriad of socioeconomic challenges facing nearly 1 billion African citizens.

In the meantime, this is Kenya’s moment to join the movement for Africa’s renaissance.

Uchenna Ekwo is the President at the Center for Media & Peace Initiatives, in New York, which works toward conflict-resolving journalism. You can follow him on Twitter: @cmpimedia or e-mail: uchenna@cmpimedia.org.

In Pope's Resignation, a Media 'Inquisition'

2013-03-01T04:45:22Z

The Catholic Church is not in crisis. The haste with which most commentators are stumbling over their casuistical feet to explain the sudden abdication of Pope Benedict XVI as the beginning of the end of the Catholic Church is an inexcusable screed.

The 85-year-old Pope’s decision to step down for reasons of human, bodily frailty cannot be overemphasized. Perhaps he is tired; perhaps he wants to try to get closer to his God; perhaps he wants to turn the job over to someone with more energy and vision. It is a very personal decision and should be respected.

In truth, acknowledging one’s inability to fulfill divine mandates seems more like an old-fashioned Biblical virtue. So it is unfortunate that the horse has already left the barn: The world at large (non-Catholics) already judge the Church, at least in part, on the Pope’s human qualities. The Pope is both a theological arbiter and the leader of the church. These commentators tend to string together a series of in-the-news memes and then draw a conclusion based on nothing more than vapor. Excuse me for saying so. Having your own opinion is fine, having your own version of history makes you nutty.

I am puzzled how most commentators holding brief for Catholicism do not understand the church, and that they condemn what they do not understand … condemnant quod non intellegunt. It reminds me of the years, as a student in Europe, of the endless reading of what people thought was going on behind Kremlin walls during the Cold War.

Yes, as is true with any large organization, the Catholic Church has its problems, but how many more decades have to pass before the sexual abuse scandals are placed in perspective? The Catholic Church is arguably one of the greatest sources of good in the world today; its charities give more to the poor and hungry than any single organization, including the US government. Catholic schools educate children worldwide, not only in religion, but also in reading, writing and arithmetic.

Journalists depict the Catholic Church as an oligarchy ruled by a bunch of domineering old men who are obsessed with control of their congregation’s behavior, but that story line doesn’t fit the truth. There is a huge difference between advising and controlling. Catholics are free to make their own choices. Moreover, the Church is the people of God, not the hierarchy. It is the people of God who continue to labor, pray, love and hope despite all. The people of God read, think, consider and make intelligent decisions. They are not sheep blindly following an errant shepherd.

We know what we are doing because we know in whom we believe. Indeed, crux spes unica. The cross is the only hope.

I remain a practicing Catholic because the Church has sustained the centrality of the teachings of Jesus Christ over the past 2000 years. The call to Love One Another as He Loved animates the personal lives of all Catholics. Such virtues are to be found in the cornerstone of most modern democracies. The church is also where I feel at home when I worship God.

Yes, I am horrified by the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, where figures as inspiring as Mother Teresa and Dorothy Day stand side by side with sexual predators. But for me, and I think many serious Catholics, coming to grips with these forces within the church is a trial, like balancing my own humanity and my quest to follow Jesus’ teachings.

As for a successor, the vast majority of believers today are from the so-called global South. These Catholics subscribe readily to the church’s doctrines and see no reason to hit a system upgrade just because Americans and Europeans are headed for the exit doors.

In that respect, the church may well consider electing a leader who looks like the vast majority of its adherents. Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze … well-read, very outgoing and charismatic, or Ghana’s Cardinal Peter Turkson come to mind.

Whatever happens … fiat voluntas Dei … May God’s will be done.

Ethiopia’s Economy Benefits from Returning Diaspora

2013-02-26T14:11:05Z

Listen to the audio segment at PRI's The World

At a salon in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, customer Erica Kanesa relaxes in a leather chair.

“I’m just doing manicure and pedicure,” she says, leaning her head back while a beautician works on her nails.

Spa businesses in Ethiopia are thriving because the country’s middle class is expanding, and also because of the efforts of one man.

Tadios Getaco Belete was born in Ethiopia, but – like many – he fled in the 1970s when an oppressive communist government took over. He settled in the United States and eventually opened a successful salon in an upscale part of Boston.

After a new Ethiopian government took power, Tadios decided to move home. He says the decision was partly sentimental, but it also made good business sense.

“Anyone with a good smell of business can feel and sense [that] there is an opportunity here,” Tadios says. So he decided to do something that no one in Ethiopia had yet done – open a luxury spa.

“I was the first one, and everyone was laughing at me, ‘You’ll not get any customers,’” he says. “But, surprisingly enough, we had an amazing turnout. Now we have about 89 spas.”

Today, his company employs more than 1,500 people.

“Foreign” Investment – by Ethiopians

African countries often talk about the importance of foreign investment, but Ethiopia is benefiting from a different kind of investment – money brought home from abroad by Ethiopia’s returning diaspora.

You can see the imprint of this investment in the names of businesses, says Ethiopian economist Bisrat Teshome. “For example, the Amsterdam Café – the person is coming from Amsterdam,” he says. He provides other examples: “New York Café, Oslo Café, and Le Parisien.” (And there is Tadios Getaco Belete’s salon company. It’s called Boston Day Spa.)

Bisrat says Ethiopians returning from these places have contributed more than a billion dollars to the economy and have opened more than 2,000 companies.

In some cases, these returning Ethiopians have also changed the local work ethic.

Mekonnen Kidanemariam, an Ethiopian businessman who lived in Canada for much of his life before opening the Addis Regency Hotel in Addis Ababa, says his employees used to avoid hard work. But once they saw him putting in long hours, their attitudes changed.

“When I see their motivation level, from where they were to where they are, it’s very encouraging,” Mekonnen says.

His employees have helped make his hotel very successful. Other hotels are flourishing, too.

But economist Bisrat Teshome says what Ethiopia really needs is for returning businesspeople to put their expertise and money into manufacturing.

“If that money was pumped into the industry sector, then it creates more jobs,” he says.

Bisrat says for the same investment it takes to open a high-end spa, a person could open a factory that would create 10 times as many jobs. He says a factory would also boost trade and create more long-term prosperity for Ethiopia.

Bisrat hopes more returning businesspeople will start turning to things like textiles and leather, not massages and manicures.

Director Kim Nguyen's Movie 'War Witch' Nominated for Oscars

2013-02-19T20:05:40Z

One of the nine films shortlisted for the Oscars' foreign film category in 2013 is "War Witch" by Kim Nguyen. Nguyen was born and raised in Canada, the French-speaking region. "War Witch" not only won best film at the Tribeca Film Board Film Festival, where 15-year-old Rachel Mwanza also won the Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival.

Born to a Vietnamese father and a Canadian mother, Nguyen grew in North America, but the film "War Witch" originated from the story the director read about two twins in Burma, Johnny and Luther, who led the resistance against the military government. Film begins with a baby girl conscripted as a child soldier in Africa. She was 12 years old, and was forced to kill her parents and join the rebels fighting against the government.

But Komona was not the normal type of soldier. Due to her ability to see ghosts who warned her of enemies' approaching, she managed to avoid capture and was considered a witch and became the supreme leader of the rebels and given the title War Witch. Fighting along with her is an albino boy named Magician.

Timbuktu 2013 -- Be Wary of Western Military Expansionism In Africa

2013-02-08T00:01:06Z

Image: An aerial view of the Malian city of Timbuktu, recently retaken from Islamist rebels by French and Malian forces.

Having French President Francois Hollande parade like a conquering lion through Timbuktu is not a great idea.

Of course Malians and the citizens of Timbuktu are correct to cheer France for having helped drive out the occupiers. All friends of Mali should also rejoice for its liberation. The occupiers committed atrocities against innocent people. They imposed a harsh regime and harmed Timbuktu's great culture and legacy by destroying shrines and irreplaceable manuscripts.

Yet critical observers who care about Mali and Africa generally must still ask serious questions. Much of corporate media act as cheerleaders and abettors.

So why did Hollande himself personally plunge into the celebration when the dust kicked up by the fleeing invaders hadn't even settled and while Mali still faces trouble and many challenges?

In the U.S. this is called "spiking the ball."

It may look good for the cameras and feel great for Frenchmen who harbor colonial nostalgia. Yet in the long run the excessive triumphalism could invite trouble. Isn't this the sort of thing that motivates and provokes the kind of Jihadists who occupied Timbuktu to return one day for more destruction?

Hollande's triumphalism may also deter West African countries from deepening their commitment to Mali's security if they believe such displays may expose them to further retaliation. After all, Hollande says France will soon withdraw in favor of West Africans guaranteeing the peace.

For the dangers of triumphalism, Hollande need only recall Libya and his predecessor Nikolas Sarkozy's single-handed vendetta there. Following months of bombings by NATO, primarily by the French and British air forces, Muammar al-Gaddafi’s government fell and he was murdered.

Sarkozy, who had earlier boasted that Gaddafi would depart either on a first class ticket or body bag, then flew into Libya with Britain's David Cameron to gloat and cash in their chips. The two hoped to secure lucrative oil concessions for their respective countries.

The anti-Gaddafi forces' leaders had promised in newspaper interviews that the spoils would go to the countries that helped most in deposing Gaddafi.

Instead, Libya has descended into the kind of chaos reminiscent of Afghanistan some years back while U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens was brutally murdered. France has yet to benefit from any lucrative oil or gas deals, and French voters firmly repudiated Sarkozy. Cameron is not enjoying any Libya dividends either in Britain.

Ironically, the occupiers of Timbuktu used the rich weapons arsenal that became available when al-Gaddafi was deposed, and some of the fighters in Mali are surely the same Jihadists who fought against al-Gaddafi. This means France is now fighting some of the same Jihadists Sarkozy supported when they were fighting against al-Gaddafi.

What's more, it's no secret that the United States has been searching for a home for AFRICOM on African soil since George W. Bush was president and it was something al-Gaddafi and several African presidents opposed and still oppose strongly. AFRICOM is currently based in Germany.

As France and the United States increase their military presence in Africa they will work even more closely with dictatorial regimes and brutal armed forces; democratization becomes a major casualty.

Mali's civilian government was overthrown in 2012 by the army led by an officer named Captain Amadou Sanogo, who had been brought to the U.S. for training. Additional officers were trained here by the U.S. and some in Mali.

Mali's national army has been exposed as a brutal and discredited armed force. The New York Times reported that officers even forced Malian soldiers to anally rape fellow soldiers as a form of punishment.

And there are now reports of reprisals, including summary executions of those suspected of having supported the occupiers of Timbuktu.

So why have there been no calls by the U.S. and France for the prosecution of captain Sanogo and other coup leaders? After all, their illegal action of deposing a constitutional regime accelerated the collapse of Mali to the invaders. The deposed president could not be accused of tyranny as his term was expiring and he was not running in pending elections.

When the army in Guinea overthrew the government there and carried out atrocities against civilians it was harshly denounced by the U.S. and there was a call for prosecution at the International Criminal Court, including of coup leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara. The silence, with respect to Mali's army's crimes is very loud and suspect.

Unless, of course, the near-collapse of Mali was in fact desirable and even planned with Mali's army acting as accomplices; paving the way for France's intervention.

Even if things weren't mapped out this way, certainly France can now exploit the situation in the region. Unlike in Libya, where chaos prevents France from benefiting from the country's oil and gas, France is also in a better position to secure its access to minerals in Mali but in neighboring uranium-rich Niger as well.

As for the U.S., this past week The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal both reported that the Pentagon was inking deals with the governments of Niger and Burkina Faso, to station drones in those countries. Is it really possible that there is no connection between such deals and the eruptions in Mali?

Friends of Africa must examine events in Africa from all angles critically.

Recall that just early last year a video dubbed KONY2012 made by Invisible Children (IC) gained a reported 100 million viewership on Youtube. Some critical observers didn't believe the phenomenal numbers or the wide corporate media coverage of the campaign was random.

At the time KONY2012's makers, IC, pitched for viewers to demand U.S. military intervention in Uganda to rescue children from the vicious and demonic LRA rebels. Not surprisingly, the video was embraced by U.S. officials and Uganda's dictator Gen. Yoweri K. Museveni.

The campaign began to fizzle when The Black Star News published an editorial that used memos from the U.S. embassy in Uganda provided by WikiLeaks and showing that the video's makers had in fact worked with the Ugandan regime and even provided them with intelligence information. Many other media outlets subsequently reported on the relationship between IC and Uganda officials.

KONY2012 was a pro-military intervention campaign propaganda disguised as a crusade to rescue Uganda's children. After being exposed IC made a new pitch saying the campaign was now to rescue children in the Central African Republic, where is the LRA's new hiding place. IC's new video "Move," which now include Ugandan government officials, garnered about 53,000 viewerships.

So, while the people of Mali have indeed suffered from the actions of its own military and the invaders, is the crisis now being used in a strategy similar to the now-discredited KONY2012 campaign to expand Western military presence in Africa?

If so, it's certainly much more brilliant and effective than KONY2012 was.

Cancer’s Lonely Soldier -- Dr. Jackson Orem of Uganda Cancer Institute

2012-12-20T08:15:00Z

Editor's Note: This story is part of a special PRI's The World series, Cancer’s New Battleground — the Developing World.

Jackson Orem is a busy man. He directs the Uganda Cancer Institute – the only dedicated cancer treatment facility in a country of 33 million people.

Yet he still finds time to see patients, like Musa Settimba.

“Good to see you,” Orem says as he enters a small exam room furnished with little more than a chair and table.

“Good morning, doctor,” says Settimba.

Settimba is here for a checkup. He has a type of gastrointestinal cancer that is often fatal, even in countries with access to the latest medical care.

Orem has arranged for Settimba to get Gleevec—a very effective and costly new cancer drug—for free, courtesy of the manufacturer. There’s paperwork involved, and drugs for only a few cancers are available this way. It’s a godsend for Settimba, who has been doing very well.

“You are getting one of the best treatments for this disease,” Orem tells his patient.

Unfortunately, Settimba is the rare exception.

Discouraging Statistics

The survival rate for patients who make it to the Uganda Cancer Institute is astonishingly low.

“We get about 22,000 new cases [annually],” says Orem. Of those, 20,000 die within a year.

Orem says most Ugandans don’t have a real concept of cancer as a set of diseases that can be diagnosed and treated. In some tribal languages, there is no word for cancer.

“People are dying because they don’t have a system,” Orem says. “They don’t have early diagnosis. They don’t actually even know that they have cancer.”

And the people who do realize they have cancer often hide it. They fear being stigmatized, and “once you are diagnosed with cancer, they think that it’s already a death sentence,” says Orem.

They’re partly right. Most people don’t come in until the very last stages of cancer. At that point, no doctor anywhere could do much for them.

Lack of Attention

Orem studied oncology at Case Western Reserve University in the United States and then came back to Uganda to head this government-owned cancer institute in 2004. For several years, he was the only oncologist in the entire country.

“It was really very, very demanding,” he says. “I can’t explain how I was managing, because actually I was doing everything.”

Orem doesn’t complain about the hard work, but some things make him cringe. One of them is a comment he’s heard expressed by people from developed countries—that cancer doesn’t hit poor people.

“People think that malaria kills [and] other diseases are killing people from a low socioeconomic status. But cancer is the same,” he says. “The truth of the matter is that cancer is a disease of the African person just like any other person elsewhere in the world.”

The perception that cancer is not a problem of Africans leads to a lack of money, he says.

“When you ask for funding for cancer, nobody is going to give [it to] you. But if you ask for funding for these other diseases, they say, ‘All right, your priority is correct, we are going to give you some funds.’ I think that is actually the reason why things are the way they are.”

There is also a perception that cancer is too expensive to treat, and treatment is too high-tech, to be done in poor countries. Orem says that’s not necessarily true.

A New Push

Orem takes me for a walk up a hill so we can see the Uganda Cancer Institute’s expansion plans.

The Ugandan government is putting up what will be a modern 200-bed cancer hospital to replace the 120 bare-bones beds of the current Institute down below.

“You see that expanse of a building with a blue roof?” Orem says, pointing. “That is the outpatient department.”

In that building is a clinic like some you might see in the US, where patients receive chemotherapy through intravenous lines. There is also a building with the beginnings of a modern pharmacy.

None of the buildings include a gamma beam generator or a robot that can do surgery, but some conditions can be treated as successfully here as in the US.

And now Orem has the help of five Ugandan cancer specialists who recently received training in Seattle, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

What keeps Orem going is that people in the West are beginning to take interest.

Last year, the United Nations urged that more be done to detect and treat cancer in the developing world. George and Laura Bush recently toured Africa to bring attention to breast and cervical cancer.

“People are much more receptive to our messages than before,” Orem says. “It looks like we are beginning to make an inroad.”

Still, he says, when it comes to fighting cancer, Uganda is just at the starting point.

This story was reported with assistance from Jennifer Bakyawa. The series was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

The ‘Kill the Gays’ Bill: Why It Matters Outside Uganda

2012-12-08T09:00:00Z

The Speaker in Uganda’s parliament is promising a gift like no other for Christmas to her countrymen.

Rebecca Kadaga has vowed to resuscitate the “kill the gays” bill, that was put into cold storage in 2009 after it spurred international outrage.

At a time when the US Supreme Court is mulling same-sex marriage and the court in India has just heard arguments about decriminalising consensual gay sex, Uganda wants to get on an express train back to the dark ages. The bill in question threatens to make homosexuality, already a criminal offence in the country, punishable by death if someone is convicted of “aggravated homosexuality” which could include repeat offenders, HIV-positive persons, or someone who has sex with a minor. And that’s not all. The bill has a range of jail sentences, including life terms, for lesser “gay crimes”.

It demands three-year prison sentences for a family member or a neighbour or a landlord who does not turn in a “known homosexual” to the police. If Ugandan gays think they can flee the dragnet by seeking asylum, even that might not be an escape route. The bill wants Ugandans who engage in same-sex activities outside the country to be extradited for punishment.

On the face of it, the bill sounds so draconian, it seems almost ridiculous. Surely, Uganda which is heavily dependent on foreign donors, knows that Western donors are squeamish about their tax dollars ending up funding something that’s gotten the nickname “kill the gays” bill. They prefer their homophobia to be served up a tad more discreetly.

But whether the bill becomes law or not, it’s ended up exposing the rest of the world to some uncomfortable home truths that extend well beyond Uganda.

It’s never really about the gays. When any government suddenly wakes up to the homosexual menace, chances are it’s a smokescreen. In the US, every time an election gets close, right wingers like to press on the homosexual panic button to get the faithful out to vote. Uganda is no exception. As Stephen Wood writes on AllAfrica.com:

Currently, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill lies in a queue behind another controversial bill that will determine who has access and control over Uganda’s lucrative oil resources.

Similarly, a number of high-level corruption scandals dog the Government, such as those within the Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry of Public Service, which have led in recent weeks to aid withdrawal from a number of countries, including the UK and Germany. Simultaneously, attacks on press freedom and civil society continue to occur.

Gerald Bareebe and Brett House point out that the first incarnation of the bill happened in 2009 when Uganda’s increasingly autocratic president Museveni was suppressing riots in the semi-autonomous Buganda region. The US State Department has been raising a lot of concerns about serious problems in Uganda’s electoral processes. All that makes this a perfect time to throw gays “under the Ugandan bus” write Bareebe and House.

In short, Ugandan gays are a lot like nuclear weapons in North Korea: the threat to blow one up gets intensified whenever either government comes under increased pressure.

Follow the money: Archbishop Desmond Tutu has thrown his moral weight to protest this outrageous bill but ultimately the only real pressure a strongman understands is money. And that means going not just after donor governments but after the multinational corporations that do big business in Uganda. They carry a far bigger stick than Tutu does. And activists need to push them and push them hard. Citibank, for example, is one of the largest employers in Uganda but its response to date has been tepid writes the blog ThinkProgress. It has only “only reiterated its nondiscrimination policy:

While the laws and cultural norms in some countries where Citi operates differ from commonly accepted global standards for human rights, Citi supports equality without regard for, among other personal characteristics, race, gender, gender identity or expression, disability, age, nationality, or sexual orientation.

Barclays at least had the guts to name the bill and issued a statement saying it was “engaging at appropriate levels of the Ugandan government” to express its views.

The other big target is Pepsi. Activists trying to push Pepsi to take a stance saying if Pepsi were to speak out against the bill it would “force Ugandan officials to put the bill on hold — or even pull it entirely.”

Culture wars are Frankenstein monsters. The Christian right wants to maintain face-saving distance from this bill but their finger prints are all over it. The right has been warm in its embrace of Museveni who decided he wanted to dedicate his country to God and renounce “the Satanic influence” of the “last 50 years of [its] history”. Of course, he has been in charge for a big chunk of that period. The Christian right has long made Africa its happy hunting ground for funding a culture war that’s increasingly finding little resonance in the United States. Now the Family Research Council is being forced to say while it does not support the death penalty for homosexuality it does oppose “the suggestion that gay and lesbian acts are universal human rights.” But as Tim Padgett writes in Time Magazine this is all too little too late:

As a Catholic, I’m all too aware that Pope Benedict XVI has also said that saving humanity from homosexuals is as crucial as saving rain forests from lumberjacks. And that a Vatican spokesman, after last month’s pro-gay-marriage votes in the U.S., made the equally cruel remark that gay marriage is a slippery slope to polygamy. Don’t blame Ugandan Catholics if they’re getting dangerously mixed signals from Rome.

So what will happen in the end? There are already reports, that are being contradicted by others, that the death penalty provision has been removed, or will be removed from the bill. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The rest of the bill with its prison sentences for homosexual “crimes”, with its demand that families and neighbours rat on gay and lesbians, is equally horrendous.

The real danger is that the death penalty will be dropped and the United States and Britain and Pepsi and Barclays all heave a sigh of relief and get back to business as usual write Bareebe and House, meaning they can continue “to finance a strongman who eliminated presidential term limits in 2005 and has stayed in power for 26 years through deeply flawed elections.”

And lesbians and gays will be expected to feel grateful that instead of facing death sentences they can look forward to life imprisonment.

Kenyans in U.S. Stripped of Overseas Vote

2012-11-28T21:10:19Z

On the heels of Pres. Barack Obama’s struggle to defend the voting rights of U.S. citizens, Kenyan officials announced this week that the hundreds of thousands of Kenyans in the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere outside the country would not be allowed to vote.

National elections are scheduled to take place in March 2013 for President, Senators, County Governors, Members of Parliament, among others.

In the nine months ending September 2012, Kenyans working abroad sent nearly one billion in U.S. dollars (74.4 Kenyan Shillings) to help their relatives at home, and invest in real estate projects among other investments. Kenyans living abroad have also started investing in government securities targeted at them, such as infrastructure bonds and the savings bonds.

The largest percentage of remittances comes from the US.

Read the rest here: Amsterdam News