Africa Today Online: Mei 2014

Sabtu, 31 Mei 2014

Three-way lead at Camperdown

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Gallo Images

Gert Thys. Photo by Anesh Debiky / Gallo Images.

Gainesville native guided by God

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At first glance, Mary Louise Clark appears to be an average resident of Gainesville. What can’t be seen, however, is the 30 years she spent as missionary in Zimbabwe and the famine, sickness and civil war she endured.

Clark, who grew up in Gainesville, pursued a career in nursing in the early 1960s when she felt called to be a missionary after reading an article in Royal Service, a magazine published by the Woman’s Missionary Union.

“I read that they needed missionaries in Africa because people there were dying without ever hearing the name Jesus,” she said. “I thought ‘No way, Lord,’ and I made up my mind that there would be no mission.”

For the next nine months, Clark struggled. It seemed everywhere she turned God was prompting her to pursue mission work. Finally, after sitting through a Sunday School lesson on mission work, she decided she would at least apply to the Southern Baptist mission board.

“I told them every bad thing I could think about myself, thinking that they wouldn’t take me,” Clark said. “But after I made that decision, the peace was overwhelming.”

Despite her best self-sabotaging efforts, she was accepted for a position and given the choice to serve in Ghana, Nigeria or Zimbabwe, which was then Southern Rhodesia. In 1965, she departed Atlanta to work in the Sanyati Baptist Hospital, which is in Northeast Zimbabwe now.

“I didn’t think it was going to be too different,” she said. “Then I got there and there were African huts along the roads and mothers carrying their babies on their backs.

“The biggest shock was when I went to the hospital,” she continued. “I went from working in a clean hospital in America to one that didn’t even feed the patients.”

What started out as a two-year commitment turned into a 30-yearlong career. Clark spent about nine years working as matron of nurses at the hospital before she felt God pulling her in another direction. She convinced the hospital to hire a Zimbabwe national as matron while Clark prayed about her next step.

“At that point in time I thought ‘Now what am I going to do?’” she said. “Children were dying from measles and all kinds of diseases, so, with the mission’s permission, I decided to move into the rural area.”

Clark ventured to Sasame, which is in the African bush, to conduct health clinics for children younger than 5 years old. The main purpose was to treat schistosomiasis, a disease commonly referred to as bilharzia and caused by parasitic worms.

The disease can result in abdominal pain, diarrhea and, if left untreated, can lead to other bladder cancer and several serious conditions. The World Health Organization estimates 90 percent of those requiring treatment for schistosomiasis live in Africa, and an estimated 200,000 sub-Saharan Africans die from the disease every year.

“The treatment is very toxic, and it has to be given under strict supervision because the children begin to act crazy,” Clark said. “We knew that if they ever acted this way, the first thing the parents would do is take them to the witch doctor, which many times would be worse than the disease itself.”

The treatment lasted five days, and the children were kept under constant watch by Clark and her co-workers until it was over.

As Clark and others cared for the children under pavilion-style structures, violence in the country was heating up since Southern Rhodesia was in the middle of civil war. The conflict was fought by the Rhodesian government, Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union and Joshua Nkomo’s Zimbabwe African People’s Union.

The brutality of the war struck home when Archie Dunaway, one of Clark’s fellow missionaries in Sanyati, was stabbed to death by guerilla soldiers. The story still brings her to tears. Shirley Randall, a missionary and one of Clark’s co-workers from Georgia who moved with her husband and four young children to work at the hospital in Sanyati, recounted the wartime attitude among her family and co-workers.

“It was a horrendous war,” Randall said. “If we had any good sense we would have been scared out of our minds, but we had faith.

“Whether we were living or dying, we knew we were with the Lord.”

The war claimed the lives of many missionaries. Not long after Dunaway’s murder, eight British missionaries and four young children were brutally murdered by terrorists on Rhodesia’s eastern border.

After the attacks, many missionaries were evacuated from the region including Clark. The nurse returned to the United States and spent a year speaking about her mission work. Clark also studied to become a midwife.

But the Gainesville native didn’t remain in her home country for long. Clark returned to Zimbabwe, which was still called Rhodesia at the time, to continue her midwife studies at a hospital in Harare, the nation’s capital.

“By this time the elections were happening, and one of the nurses asked me ‘Sister Clark, did you vote?’” Clark said. “I just rubbed my skin, and she gave the greatest compliment I have ever had. She said ‘Your skin may be white, but you have a black heart.’”

In 1980, Robert Mugabe was elected prime minister and the war ended. Then the country changed its name to Zimbabwe and faced the process of rebuilding large swaths of the nation. Clark returned to Sanyati to operate outreach clinics into Gokwe, a region hit hard during the war. She eventually returned to Sasame, where she conducted clinics most days and ran ambulances to local emergencies. Most of this time, Clark was the only foreign missionary in her station.

“I would do my clinics all day long, and I would run ambulances all night long,” she said. “But I was totally exhausted.

“I didn’t have time to pray, to read my Bible, to eat or to rest. It was total mental, physical, spiritual and emotional burnout. I have never felt so horrible in my life.”

Eventually the stress took its toll, she retired and returned to Gainesville in 1995.

Since then, she has become active at Northlake Baptist Church, where she has helped run a food pantry for several years.

The now 85-year-old also spent two years writing a book, recounting her experiences in Zimbabwe. The book is titled “Fambai NaMwari, Sister Clark,” which means “Go with God, Sister Clark” in the Shona language.

“Miss Mary truly has the heart of a missionary,” Northlake pastor Danny Jones said. “She not only shared the Gospel and served the Lord by serving others in Zimbabwe, but she also continued to be ‘on mission’ when she returned to the United States in 1995.

“She shares her faith in Christ with her neighbors, invites people to church, ministers to the sick and bereaved and prays for people in need.”

Sunday, June 8

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Today is Sunday, June 8, the 159th day of 2014. There are 206 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

632 - The prophet Muhammad dies in Medina. He leaves no arrangement for his succession, creating a rift in Islam lasting to this day.

1663 - The Portuguese defeat Spaniards at Ameixal, leading to Spanish recognition of Portugal's independence.

1762 - Russo-Prussian alliance against Austria is concluded.

1867 - Prussia annexes Duchy of Holstein from Denmark.

1869 - The suction vacuum cleaner is patented by Ives McGaffey of Chicago.

1883 - France, by Convention of Marsa with Bey of Tunis, gains effective control of Tunisia.

1915 - Allied forces take Neuville in France from Germans in World War I.

1925 - Britain and France accept in principle Germany's proposals for security pact to guarantee Franco-German and Belgo-German boundaries.

1941 - British and Free French forces invade Syria, then controlled by Vichy French. The French resist for a month.

1942 - Japan ese submarines shell Sydney, Australia, in World War II.

1965 - U.S. troops in Vietnam are authorized to engage in offensive operations.

1973 - Spain's Generalissimo Francisco Franco relinquishes some of his power by naming Admiral Louis Carrero Blanco as premier.

1976 - Large force of Syrian troops moves into Lebanon, where civil war rages.

1988 - Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze tells United Nations that Moscow would observe a moratorium on nuclear testing if United States also agrees.

1990 - Vaclav Havel is elected president in Czechoslovakia's first free election s in 44 years.

1992 - Delegates at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, approve new U.N. body to monitor compliance with environmental treaties.

1993 - Rene Bousquet, former head of police in Vichy France, is killed in his Paris apartment by a crazed gunman on the eve of his war crimes trial.

1994 - Two months after the start of the carnage in Rwanda, the U.N. Security Council approves the dispatch of 5,500 peacekeepers with a timid mandate to protect humanitarian aid but not to stop the slaughter.

1996 - An American icebreaker churns through pack ice to bring tons of food and supplies to 38 Russia ns marooned at an Antarctic research base.

1997 - The Cobra militia of former President Denis Sassou-Nguesso takes control of the center of Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

1998 - Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha dies suddenly of a heart attack, opening the way for democracy in the country.

1999 - A white New York City policeman is convicted holding down a Haitian immigrant Abner Louima in a stationhouse bathroom while another officer sodomizes him with a broken broomstick. The case touches off protests and strains minority relations with the police and mayor.

2000 - Britain's defense attache is killed in a road ambush in Greece. Europe's most elusive urban guerrilla group, November 17, later claims responsibility for the assassination.

2001 - Japan is shocked when a mentally unstable man stabs and kills eight children and wounds 15 teachers and students at a school in Ikeda.

2002- Philippine troops battle the Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebel group and free U.S. citizen, Gracia Burnham. Her husband, Martin Burnham, and Ediborah Yap, a Philippine nurse, are killed in the fighting. They had been held since May 2001.

2003 - Eleven Pakistani police trainees are killed and nine others injured by unidentified gunmen on motorcycles in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan Province. The attack is believed to be linked to sectarian violence since many of the victims were Hazaras, a Shiite Muslim minority, which is at odds with the majority Sunnis.

2004 - France and Germany, the sharpest critics of the Iraq war, back a revised U.N. resolution laying out the powers of Iraq's new government--an important step toward gaining the approval of the U.N. Security Council.

2005 - Ethiopian police open fire on stone-throwing protesters in the center of the capital, killing 22 people and wounding hundreds as unrest mounts over the ruling party's claim of victory in recent election s.

2006 - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq who carried out some of the bloodiest suicide attacks in Iraq and led a campaign of kidnappings and hostage beheadings, is killed in a U.S. bombing outside Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad.

2007 - Hundreds of people flee a sprawling Nairobi shantytown after a violent weeklong raid by police searching for the shadowy Mungiki sect accused in a string of beheadings.

2008 - A man rams a truck into a crowd of shoppers, jumps out and goes on a stabbing spree in Tokyo's top electronics district, killing at least six people and wounding 12 others.

2009 - Teams of builders work through dust storm to expand a base for U.S. Marines now fanning out across southern Afghanistan to change the course of a war claiming American lives faster than before.

2010 - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says proposed new U.N. sanctions against Iran's suspect nuclear program will be the toughest ever adopted.

2011 - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, increasingly cornered under a stunning upturn in NATO airstrikes, lashes back with renewed shelling of the western city of Misrata, killing 10 rebel fighters.

2012 - A mob of hundreds of men assault women holding a march demanding an end to sexual harassment, with the attackers overwhelming the male guardians and groping and molesting several of the female marchers in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

2013 -- President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping end a two-day summit in the California desert with few policy breakthroughs but the prospect of stronger personal ties.

Today's Birthdays: Giovanni Cassini, Italian astronomer (1625-1712); Robert Schumann, German composer (1810-1856); Frank Lloyd Wright, U.S. architect (1869-1959); Suharto, second Indonesian president (1921-2008); Joan Rivers, U.S. comedian/talk show host (1933--); James Darren, U.S. actor (1936--); Nancy Sinatra, pop singer (1940--); Sonia Braga, Brazilian actress (1950--); Kanye West, rapper (1977--); Julianna Margulies, U.S. actress (1967--).

Thought For Today:

Love hath no physic for a grief too deep -- Robert Nathan, American author and composer (1894-1985).

Book review: 'Gandhi Before India"

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“Gandhi Before India” by Ramachandra Guha (Knopf, 688 pages, in stores)

South Africa and its bloody Anglo-Boer War more than 100 years ago powerfully impacted three major 20th-century figures: India’s Mohandas Gandhi, Great Britain’s Winston Churchill and Oklahoma’s Will Rogers.

“Gandhi Before India” casts an interesting perspective on that war, although the book’s primary goal is to spotlight the racist South African forces that molded the historic “nonviolent resistance” stance Gandhi took to rebuff the British Empire and lead the way to independence for India.

The young journalist Churchill, later to become the prime minister who led Britain during World War II, was imprisoned by the Boers during that South African bloodshed. Having experienced defeat and incarceration, he gained empathy for those he later ordered into combat.

In the war’s aftermath, young cowboy Will Rogers waded through the Boer War graveyards and battlefields of Ladysmith, South Africa, to discover innate talents that launched a show business career and catapulted him into world renown for his great humanitarian substance and wise advice for powerful figures.

With the emphasis on South Africa, this detailed biography of Gandhi’s early years reflects an understanding into the makeup of all three men. As Rogers researchers, my wife Michelle and I returned earlier this year from a monthlong prowl across the South African landscape seeking insight into the Oklahoman’s transformation from footloose cowboy to superstar. This book offered vital input into our understanding.

As a noncombatant in the Anglo-Boer war, Gandhi left his family and law practice to lead an Ambulance Corps that mercifully rescued wounded British soldiers. He dodged bombardment to sabotage Boer telegraph lines at Ladysmith, the town where Rogers soon took his first step toward fame.

Muslims March In Central African Republic Capital, Call For Evacuation

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May 31st, 2014 • 0 comments • Filed Under • by ABMN Staff

Hundreds of Muslims marched in their last major enclave in Central African Republic’s capital Bangui on Saturday, protesting against a call by the president that they disarm and demanding their safe evacuation from the city. A tense calm has returned to Bangui following two days of violence ignited by an attack by Muslim gunmen on a church on Wednesday.

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Killings Fuel Anger In Tense Central African Capital

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May 31st, 2014 • 0 comments • Filed Under • by ABMN Staff

Residents demonstrated in a Muslim neighborhood of Bangui, the Central African Republic capital, to express their anger after 3 people were killed in clashes. Tensions have soared in the mostly Christian capital after Muslim gunmen attacked a church in its Fatima neighborhood Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and abducting 27 others. The country has been gripped by ethnic and religious violence for more than a year since Seleka rebels, who are mostly Muslim, seized Bangui in March 2013.  

“Killings Fuel Anger In Tense Central African Capital” is categorized as “world”. This video was licensed from Grab Networks. For additional video content, click the “video” tab at the top of this page.

US congratules new Malawi president

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AFP US congratules new Malawi president

Washington (AFP) - The US government offered congratulations to Malawi's new President Peter Mutharika, hailing active and peaceful elections.

Mutharika, the brother of the late president Bingu wa Mutharika who died in office in 2012, appealed earlier to the other 11 presidential candidates to "join me in rebuilding the country" as he took the oath of office with Vice President Saulos Chilima.

"The United States congratulates Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika and Mr Saulos Chilima on being elected the new president and vice president, respectively, of the Republic of Malawi," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

"We further congratulate the people of Malawi for actively and peacefully exercising their democratic rights in selecting their new leader."

Psaki said "the United States looks forward to continuing our close partnership with the government of Malawi in advance of our mutual interests of supporting Malawi's development."

The 74-year-old law professor takes the leadership of Malawi facing treason charges for attempting to conceal his brother's death in office two years ago, in an alleged bid to prevent Banda -- then vice-president -- from assuming power.

As a former foreign minister and his brother's right-hand man, he was also a leading member of an administration widely blamed for bringing the small southern African country's economy to its knees through years of mismanagement.

The electoral commission said Mutharika took 36.4 percent of the votes cast against his arch-rival Joyce Banda's 20.2 percent.

Healthy Competition Shall Not Devide NPP-Hopeson Adoye

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Member of NPP’s Communications team who now doubles as National Coordinator of Crusaders of Nana Akufo-Addo (C.O.N.A.A), Hopeson Adoye has debunked public assertion that competition between factions of Nana Akufo-Addo and Alan Kyeremanteng has tendencies to destroy the party and better yet cause the party another defeat in the 2016 general election.

Speaking at the official launch of ‘CRUSADERS OF NANA AKUFO ADDO’ which is an opinion support group solely and purposely aimed at championing the cause of Nana Akufo-Addo, Mr Adoye opined that it is necessary for competitions in the party contrary to the views and understanding of some party members and the public at large as he believes it is a platform to test the strength and sense of unity of the party as one unique family regardless.

In view of this he urged other party members who choose to support different presidential aspirants to do so with decorum and circumspection.

As a results he rejected calls by some party members who preferred Alan Kyeremanteng to back down in his contestation for the presidential aspirant position hence rendering Nana Akufo-Addo unopposed. He believes that even Nana Akufo-Addo reckons healthy competitions as he quoted him as saying; “This is but a contest between members of one family, the Great Elephant family. We must, therefore, be guided and guarded constantly by an uncompromising sense of unity, fellowship and greater purpose.

…..The NPP has always stood for competition and choice, and I am a firm believer in these principles. Just as delegates of our party have always done, they will, at the right time, choose the candidate who they believe will best serve the interests of the party going forward.”

However, he indicated that in as much as the newly formed group supports the candidature of Nana Akufo-Addo, the unity of the New Patriotic Party as one body is paramount and no individual is greater than the party. He states that the NPP cannot rescue power from the current government through a fractured party.

Mr Adoye expressed worry at what he called negative campaigning strategies adopted by some candidates and their surrogates prior to the Presidential primaries. He indicates such acts were alien to the traditions of the party and also warns members of the party who had begun casting slurs intended to destroy the reputation of candidates to desist as C.O.N.A.A shall not sit aloof to watch it happen. He stress that C.O.N.A.A shall attack any supporter of any candidate that attacks the personality of Nana Addo as an individual.

According to him C.O.N.A.A is calling for an issue based campaign devoid of smear, blackmailing, and backbiting campaign . He urged other supporter groups of other candidates to sell and project the positive aspects of their candidates to the delegates instead of resorting to crude methodologies of marketing their leaders.

Finally, Mr. Adoye advised that all candidates should ‘go to the ground’, ‘listen to the ground’ and ‘assess the ground’ to know which candidate majority of NPP supporters request to lead them into the 2016 elections. He states that such undertaking is that which has informed the formation of C.O.N.A.A as people say “No Nana no vote”. As a result they believe 90% of delegates are going to vote for Nana Akufo-Addo, hence their project code “President 7117″ which explains that on the 7th of 1st January 2017 Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo would be sworn in as President elect of the Republic of Ghana.

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The face of evil

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“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” - Voltaire

Logic, reason, and compassion is what motivates mankind to be more civilized. These elements seem to be lost on those whose minds are captured by ancient religious dogmas.

The recent kidnappings in Nigeria of young school girls by the extremist Muslim group Boko Haram, has put a face on evil, and in this instance that face is an out dated form of religious dogma. The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekan says God instructed him to capture the girls and he claims the girls have converted to Islam. “I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah. There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women.”

To the average person, the ranting of Abubakar Shekan is delusional at best, and is out of the mainstream of a civilized society. The fact the girls were taken from a school where they were being educated reminds us of the repression of women by religious culture since recorded history. It also reinforces the fact that educated women are a threat to religious extremists. If a woman is educated, chances are her children, male and female will follow suit, denying the extremists new recruits. This is also present in Christianity but more so in the Islamic tradition; In Islamic countries women are not allowed to drive cars, there is a high incidence of child brides, honor killings, women’s faces being disfigured by acid attacks and forced marriages.

Nigeria is on the African continent and so is the Central African Republic and the Sudan.. Recently all three countries have experienced civil violence based on religious differences, pitting Muslims against Christians. What is similar among these nations is the interweaving of politics and religion and the notion of a defacto theocracy creating a sort of group think. In industrialized western nations where church and state are separated, governments are there to govern for the common good of everyone. The hallmark of a pluralistic society.

The leader of the terrorist Muslim group wants to outlaw western influenced education that recognizes the importance of knowledge through centuries of technological and psychological advances. What they want is to keep their populations trapped in a fifth and sixth century world where power and wealth are in the hands of a few, mostly men and the clergy.

The kidnapping of the school girls was a crime for sure, but one against humanity and not against any perceived god as mentioned here; “It’s a blasphemy against God, and people of faith of all traditions should renounce his words” - Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners.

Mr. Wallis , a Christian, made a joint statement with a Muslim, Dalia Mogahed. Chairman and CEO of Mogahed Consulting; “As a Christian and a Muslim we believe in a god who hears prayer. A god of justice. People everywhere should pray against the work of these men.”

When natural or human disasters occur, the religious and not so religious go into automatic prayer mode, petitioning someone not there to make things right. People from all over the world are starting social media sites dedicated to the return of the girls and in the U.S. first lady Michelle Obama has a hash tag “Bring Our Girls Home“ started.. These public relation efforts are limited in scope and give the public a sense of doing something positive, but as one person states; “Justice is a concept. Muscle is the reality” - Linda Blandford

In their book Ego, authors Peter Baumann and Michael Taft explore the connection between, evolution, culture and neuroscience in explaining how mankind is still struggling to be fully civilized and how our beliefs, like those of the Muslim extremists are a carry over from a different time in history. The following is an excerpt from the book; “Evolution acting through the mechanism of natural selection created the emotions that motivate and direct our behavior, as well as the imagination we use to model possible outcomes for that behavior. Over millions of years, these developed in our animal and proto-human ancestors into an extremely potent combination. As a system our thoughts and feelings have ratcheted our species up the escalator from harsh, brutal survival in the dirt to the comfort, cleanliness, and convenience of sipping tea on a transcontinental flight.

And yet, like any technology—our body/brain system represents a highly advanced biological technology—there is almost as much of a downside as there is an upside. The same imagination that allows us to build jet airliners can dream up a plan to crash them into skyscrapers full of people. Our religious feelings motivate us to feed and clothe the needy, or to kill nonbelievers. The same emphatic emotions that allow us to care for our families and children can motivate us to annihilate anyone we think threatens our loved ones. This downside doesn't just drive international terrorists or even the murderer down the block. It drives the anxiety, depression, and alienation that plague us today.”

People of all faiths and no faith are capable of doing evil things, the only difference is the religious will use a straw man - a personal god- to sanction it. Religion was invented by early man to help cope with a world he could not fully understand. The problem is in the wrong hands anyone can interpret something invented for their own purposes. Taking something already flawed, like the belief in a personal god is doubling down on ignorance and very dangerous.

Mythical figure worship is the ultimate drug, with plenty of addicts.

Is Macklemore Playing EMP Tomorrow?

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Is Macklemore Playing EMP Tomorrow? All clues lead to a big yes on that one. Follow the link below.

One Vibe Africa presents Madaraka Festival, a benefit concert and art sale to empower youth from Kenya. Madaraka Day (June 1) commemorates the day that Kenya attained internal self-rule. It celebrates the spirit and meaning of the word Madaraka—Swahili for the authority to make decisions. Madaraka Festival will showcase the music, visual arts, initiatives, and innovations that embody the special relationship between Seattle and Africa; galvanize the community; and support Kenyan youth in taking control of their destiny.

Don’t miss spectacular musical performances (including surprise special guests!) and an art sale featuring original work by students and teachers from the port city of Kisumu. All proceeds go directly to One Vibe Africa and students in Kisumu, Kenya.

Click here for tickets:

Here are some clues as to who the special guest is going to be:

Got it figured out yet?

OWUOR ARUNGA

Owuor Arunga is a legendary trumpeter and an inspiring figure in the growth of One Vibe Africa. Arunga went to The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York where the musicians he admired acted as mentors. You may recognize him as Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s trumpet player.

NAOMI WACHIRA

Originally from Kenya, Naomi Wachira has collaborated with renowned Seattle bassist Evan Flory-Barnes, cellist Natalie Hall (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis), and drummer Darren Reynolds.

BLACK STAX

Comprised of Seattle MCs Silas Blak and Jace ECAj , and vocalist Felicia Loud, Black Stax blends and bends the musical genres of blues, jazz, R&B, and hip-hop. “What defines [Felicia] Loud is […] her flawless command of the tones and texture of American Soul. And what defines [Silas Blak and Jace ECAj] is their commitment to a hip-hop that is complicated at the level of ideas and expression, politics and language.” Charles Mudede, The Stranger.

KORE IONZ

With a multi-cultural cast of musicians that have played and collaborated with artists ranging from Digible Planets to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Kore Ionz brings a positive energy that feels familiar, but takes reggae, rock, and pop to astonishingly new places.

KAMAU NGIGI

The music of Kamau Ngigi contains sociopolitical messages that address the struggles of youth in Africa. A renowned East African hip-hop artist, Kamau Ngigi is a member of Kalamashaka, a Dandora-based group that paved the way for mainstream Swahili hip-hop in Kenya.

MAZIGAZI BAND

An African band from Olympia, Mazigazi Band started within a single family but has since grown to include nine-members. Inspired by African tribal rhythms and musical traditions, their music emphasizes cultural experiences, environmental conversation, and co-existence in a world where differences tend to pull us apart.

GABRIEL TEODROS

To know that another world is possible, and bring it to life has always been the mission of Gabriel Teodros. He has set stages on fire across the US, Canada, Mexico, and Ethiopia, and performed alongside Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def & Talib Kweli, Zap Mama, Digable Planets, and Fishbone to name but a few. Teodros is set to release albums Children Of The Dragon and Evidence Of Things Not Seen in 2014.

YIRIM SECK

Known for his searing lyricism, impassioned performance, and for forging hip-hop with traditional Senegalese dance music, Yirim Seck bridges the illustrious musical legacy of Seattle’s Central District with his family’s African heritage.

NAOMI WAMBOE

First generation Kenyan-American singer Naomi Wamboe broke into the music industry with the release of her single “Niaje,” which pairs her vocal prowess with the power of Macklemore’s acclaimed trumpet player, Owour Arunga.

THE PHYSICS

Local hip-hop trio The Physics first gained recognition with their 15-track LP Future Talk (2007). They’ve since performed at Sasquatch!, South by Southwest, Bumbershoot, Capitol Hill Block Party, and every major nightclub in Seattle to become an integral part of Seattle’s sonic landscape.

And of course you know who.

United Presbyterian Women Circles

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The United Presbyterian Women's Salad Luncheon and Guest Day was held in May as well as the meetings of the four circles. Forty-two people attended the luncheon in the fellowship hall of the United Presbyterian Church at 11:45 a.m. on May 7. Jane ...

WFP chief says conflicts in troublespots causing unprecedented hunger

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May 31, 2014 |Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press

The head of the United Nations World Food Program says the world is facing an unprecedented challenge in its battle against global poverty � too much war in too many corners of the planet.

Executive Director Ertharin Cousin tells The Canadian Press that her organization is facing the most number of complex food emergency situations in decades.

She cites three global conflicts: the internal unrest in Central African Republic and South Sudan as well as the grinding civil war in Syria.

She says the WFP has had to scale back programs in places such as Bangladesh, Kenya, Somalia, and even Haiti, following its devastating earthquake in 2010.

She says the WFP is able to feed only a fraction of the world's hungriest.

Cousin was attending the Harper government's international summit on maternal and child health that wrapped Friday in Toronto.

Shifts an indication to where the power lies

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The shifts made are an indication to where the power lies!

Jacob Zuma’s new cabinet is in reaction to the ever changing political terrain that the ANC is trying to prevent. It show which power blocks are growing and which is diminishing. The battle is also increasing about who may know what. Four changes are of great importance here:

Firstly, almost a third of the ANC MP’s – 72 out of the 242 – have been promoted to the executive body within the ANC. This being an effort to reward certain factions and remind them of the fact that positions in government is becoming the ‘glue that is keeping the ruling party intact’.

This does not predict anything good for the democratic principle of separation of powers in the next five years. If a critical mass of the ruling MP’s are in the executive body, they will not promote parliamentary oversight over the same power. What aggravates the situation is that the majority of the top executive party leaders are within the executive body, rather than in parliament. Executive leaders would have strengthened parliament and balanced power within. During the tenure of Thabo Mbeki, the presidency was extended, which has a consequence that all eyes are on the direction that the MP’s strive for.

The second fact of great importance is the exclusion of Martinus van Schalkwyk and Pieter Mulder. Zuma was by implication forced to cut somewhere along the lines. But it rather shows that the ANC is now less concerned about the powerful Afrikaner nationalistic bloc. Acceptance has dawned on them that most Afrikaans speaking voters are now actually voting for the DA.

The third fact of importance is for whom ‘place was made’. The new Deputy Minister of Labour, Patekile Holomisa, is a known campaigner for a patriotic ethic chauvinistic form of “Afrikaner culture’. In his 23 years as President of Controlesa (Congress for Traditional Leaders in South Africa) the congress has grown from a political equivalent to a most important Zuma-faction. Controlesa applied the constitutional shift of culture with a number of legislations that strengthened their power. Now they have someone in the executive power.

The portfolio rural development and land reform now gets two deputy ministers, which is another fact of rural support for the ANC. The present tendency in civil service departments is for money to be spent on personnel rather than on land restitution. Over the next three years there is less money available for land restitution due to the transfer of the national budget to ‘households’.

Fourthly room was made for the new minister of communication, “Propaganda” being the more appropriate word to use. The effort of Zuma in his first term of office to limit the flow of information is being extended. The Minister would be responsible for communication, marketing and branding for the ‘informed populism’ and the encouragement of investments, everything all in one. The Ministry is being formed out of the SABC, ICASA and the Media Diversity Agency, Brand SA and the Governments Communication and Information system. But the SABC has to remain impartial in its role as public broadcaster. To have grouped all of these together with government communicators and marketing, predicts the undermining of their individual functions.

Someone that would have been of value here is the key MP Luwellyn Landers, to implement the act of protection of state information = that is now when he is in the country: his reward for his role in the protection of state information being his post as deputy minister of international relati0ns.

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US asks its citizens to leave Libya

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Big News Network.com Wednesday 28th May, 2014

WASHINGTON - The United States has advised its citizens in Libya to leave "immediately" the troubled nation wracked by increasing lawlessness and an unending turmoil.

The advisory comes amid reports that the US was sending 1,000 Marines in an amphibious warship, USS Bataan, into the Mediterranean Sea. The ship could be used, if needed, for any possible evacuation of American personnel from Libya.

The State Department Tuesday asked Americans to leave Libya immediately. However, there was nothing on whether the US will evacuate diplomats from the embassy in Tripoli.

The advisory also warned US citizens against any travel to the North African country that is in the grip of an Al Qaeda inspired insurgency for the last three years since the uprising that overthrew long-time dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

The State Department cautioned that the security situation in Libya "remains unpredictable and unstable" with crime levels high in many parts of the country where various groups have called for attacks against US citizens and US interests in Libya.

"US citizens currently in Libya should exercise extreme caution and depart immediately," the department said in a statement.

It said that with the present security concerns and limited staffing, the US can only offer limited emergency services to its citizens in Libya.

"Due to security concerns, the Department of State has limited staffing at Embassy Tripoli and is only able to offer very limited emergency services to US citizens in Libya," the travel warning said.

But the US, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, is sending the warship as a preemptive move to avoid any helplessness amid increasingly violent militia battles that could threaten the American embassy's security.

The USS Bataan is stocked with several helicopters in addition to the Marines.

The US also has available 250 Marines, seven Osprey combat aircraft, and three refueling aircraft in Sigonella, Italy, according to AFP wire news service.

On Tuesday, leader of Libya's Ansar al-Sharia militant group in Benghazi warned the US against backing renegade former general Khalifa Haftar, who has vowed to purge Libya of Islamist militants.

Ansar al-Sharia is listed as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US.

It is accused of orchestrating the 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi in which US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

"We remind America, if they intervene, of their defeats in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, because they would face in Libya something much worse," Mohamed Zahawi, head of the Benghazi brigade of Ansar al-Sharia, said in a statement.

"It was America who urged Haftar to turn the country towards war and bloodshed."

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Airtel launches 4th edition of Airtel Rising Stars

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Business News of 2014-05-31

Airtel Ghana has launched the 4th season of its ambitious soccer talent programme, Airtel Rising Stars (ARS), at a ceremony in Accra, with a call to all leaders to recognise the power of potential.

The call was made by the Managing Director of Airtel Ghana, Lucy Quist, who formally launched the programme.

According to her, Airtel was proud that it was giving other people who have chosen to demonstrate and exercise their sporting activity through football the opportunity to rise on the national level and also go on to make Ghana proud on the global level.

“One of our stars, Pricilla Okyere, is someone who clearly had the ambition, talent and the drive; all she needed was a platform to exercise her talent to develop and grow. That’s what ARS brought to her and our commitment to ARS has remained sure”, she stated.

According to her, this year’s ARS was going to be more exciting as ever, whereby in conjunction with the Ghana Football Association, young girls and boys from the ages of 13 to 17 years, who are in school, will be selected to participate.

“We are going across the country in four different zones and we are going to take two of the top teams, one female and one male, who will join us at the regional finals in Gabon in August 2014. This regional finals is again a strong demonstration of how, as Airtel, we take our responsibility of developing potential beyond the shores of Ghana. We are present in 17 countries in Africa, the widest footprint, and we are running ARS in each of our operating countries,” she said.

On his part, the President of the Ghana Football Association, Kwesi Nyantakyi, reiterated the importance of education to footballers, stating that it was easier to manage an educated footballer than one without education. According to him, it was imperative that modern footballers took their education as seriously as they did their footballing career. To this end, he congratulated Airtel Ghana for introducing ARS, which had both football talent and education as its focus.

Mr. Nyantakyi again commended ARS as a worthy investment by Airtel which has started yielding positively, citing Priscilla Okyere, the former captain of the Black Maidens and others who have gone through the programme and are now playing for the country at different division clubs.

The special guest of honour for the programme, Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon. Elvis Ankrah, was full of praise for the ARS initiative, commending especially its uniqueness of being able to go down to the grassroots to identify hidden football talents. “Ghana is a football country and for any Abedi Pele or Dede Ayew or Michael Essien, there are a thousand more out there waiting to be discovered”, he added.

This year's games will involve 4 zones made up of Greater Accra, Volta and Eastern Regions in Zone 1; Northern, Upper West and Upper East Regions in Zone 2; Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions in Zone 3; and Central and Western Regions in Zone 4.

Youngsters playing for various colts teams in the various regions would play among themselves and regional teams formed to play in the zonal games.

Business News of 2014-05-31

Airtel Ghana has launched the 4th season of its ambitious soccer talent programme, Airtel Rising Stars (ARS), at a ceremony in Accra, with a call to all leaders to recognise the power of potential.

The call was made by the Managing Director of Airtel Ghana, Lucy Quist, who formally launched the programme.

Youngsters playing for various colts teams in the various regions would play among themselves and regional teams formed to play in the zonal games.

Private security companies cheating workers

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Business News of 2014-05-31

The General Secretary of the Union of Private Security Employers of Ghana (UPSEG), Nana Kofi Adu II, has expressed worry about private security companies failing to meet to negotiate salaries of their employees since 2010 when the agreement expired.

He said most Managing Directors boycott their meeting with the General Secretary thus, most issues are not tackled as expected.

Nana Adu told a press conference in Accra that trade union leaders had for the past five years introduced a health policy that allows members of the Union to visit the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Clinic for free treatment with a form picked from the office.

He said a life insurance scheme, which was introduced since last August to support members of the union, offers Ghc2,000 to the family of a member who dies through an accident, G1000 to a member who suffers a major injury, Ghc500 to a member who suffers a minor injury and Ghc300 to the family of a member who dies naturally.

He said every member was entitled to pay a minimum amount of Ghc70p every month to benefit from all the benefits that are attached to the insurance policy.

He said non- registered private security companies which cannot be located by the Ministry of the Interior as their major problem adding that the operators of those companies are military and police officers because “they in the area where labour law does not exist and so fail to appreciate the labour law in Ghana.”

Nana Adu made it know that, trade unions are established to liaise with management to create a sustainable working environment for their members.

He said there was the need to have representatives in the various companies to report on issues to the head office to enable them solves problems concerning the union on time.

He stated that the union will team up with the management of the companies to educate members on their rights and responsibilities.

“Trade unions are to work in collaboration with all partners and stakeholders in the field of industrial relations to ensure that individuals and household under its jurisdiction are adequately informed about their rights under the labour law," he said.

Business News of 2014-05-31

He said most Managing Directors boycott their meeting with the General Secretary thus, most issues are not tackled as expected.

He said every member was entitled to pay a minimum amount of Ghc70p every month to benefit from all the benefits that are attached to the insurance policy.

Nana Adu made it know that, trade unions are established to liaise with management to create a sustainable working environment for their members.

He said there was the need to have representatives in the various companies to report on issues to the head office to enable them solves problems concerning the union on time.

He stated that the union will team up with the management of the companies to educate members on their rights and responsibilities.

WFP chief says conflicts in troublespots causing unprecedented hunger

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at 06:20 on May 31, 2014, EDT.

The head of the United Nations World Food Program says the world is facing an unprecedented challenge in its battle against global poverty _ too much war in too many corners of the planet.

"In the post-war era, this is probably the most number of complex food emergency situations we, as an agency have responded to," Executive Director Ertharin Cousin told The Canadian Press in a wide-ranging interview while she was attending the Harper government's international summit on maternal and child health.

Cousin said her organization — the largest multilateral aid agency in the world charged with feeding the world's hungry — is dealing with four "Level 3" hunger emergencies, its highest designation for crisis.

She cited three global conflicts: the internal unrest in Central African Republic and South Sudan as well as the grinding civil war in Syria. Recently, the WFP added Cameroon as a fourth L3 because it faces a chronic refugee influx with serious underlying nutritional issues.

The result, she said, is that WFP has had to scale back programs in places such as Bangladesh, Kenya, Somalia, and even Haiti, following its devastating earthquake in 2010.

Despite the public outpouring of support for Haiti following the disaster, the agency has since had to cut its school feeding program in half, she said.

"Here's the reality of it: there are 842 million people who are chronically undernourished, and WFP fed, last year, directly, 80 million of them."

Inequity, poverty, racism and sexism are all underlying factors that contribute to poverty in various parts of the world, she said.

"The other issue that's overarching those is peace," she said.

"We can do all those things but if we don't have peace, we can't end hunger."

Cousin gave a spirited address on the merits of nutrition at Stephen Harper's international conference on driving down the deaths of young mothers and newborns in the developing world. Harper announced $3.5 billion over five years to 2020 for the initiative.

But the government also gave $98 million directly to WFP for nutrition programs. The money is to be targeted at mothers and children, as chronic malnutrition is one of the key causes of women and infant mortality that Harper's initiative seeks to address.

Cousin said those funds are invaluable on a broader level because they will be spent in places where WFP has had to cut back programs and services because of conflict elsewhere.

"It was the kind of contribution for where we are right now at WFP," she said.

Canada is recognizing "there are hunger challenges in other parts of the world," especially Syria, which costs $38- and $40-million a week as well as escalating costs in South Sudan and Central African Republic, she said.

Cousin was in Syria earlier this month to see for herself how the situation continues to deteriorate, and was impressed by local Syrian staff who are facing huge personal risks to keep the food flowing through an increasingly narrow corridor of safety.

One female employee told her, with tears in her eyes, that she sends her four children to separate schools.

"She said, 'you can't put all your eggs in one basket.'"

"So I asked her, why do you stay? And she said, because we do important work … if we don't do the work, our neighbours won't have food."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon highlighted the ongoing violence that young girls, in particular, continue to face across the globe. He highlighted the kidnapping of teenaged girls by Boko Haram militants in Nigeria that has become a symbol of the threats to girls' education.

Dr. Muhammed Lecky is a top Nigerian health official who has helped build his county's medical system.

In an interview at the Toronto summit, Lecky lamented the effect of the insurgency on the delivery of health care in his country.

"Boko Haram is a big obstacle," he said.

Public spending that could be going to health has been diverted to defence and security.

"I'm not discouraged because I know where he came from. A lot of progress has been made," he said.

"If we didn't have this problem we could do more."

Content Provided By Canadian Press.

Malawi: election panel declares winner

africatodayonline.blogspot.com -

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — Malawi's election commission has declared opposition leader Peter Mutharika to be the winner of an election that was marred by scattered unrest and complaints from the president and others that the vote was rigged.

Mutharika, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party and brother of a president who died in 2012, won the May 20 election with nearly 2 million votes, or 36.4 percent of the electorate. Another opposition leader, Lazarus Chakwera, came second with 27.8 percent, the election commission announced late Friday night. Malawi uses the first-past-the-post system, meaning the candidate with the largest share of votes, no matter how small a percentage of the total votes cast, is the winner.

President Joyce Banda was a distant third with just over 20 percent, according to the results. Banda had sought to annul the vote because of what she said were irregularities and had called for another election in which she said she would not participate, but a court said her move was invalid.

Banda came to power in 2012 following the death of Mutharika's brother, Bingu wa Mutharika. Malawi is poor and heavily dependent on foreign aid. Banda initially drew praise for vowing to combat graft when she came to office, but her government has been tarnished by corruption scandals.

Justice Maxon Mbendera, head of the election commission, lamented the death of a young boy in post-election violence in the southern resort district of Mangochi. He urged Mutharika, a lawyer and former foreign minister, to "focus on what matters and to spend our taxes efficiently" and appealed to the losers to acknowledge that "there can only be one winner."

Jessie Kabwila, spokeswoman for Chakwera's opposition party, the Malawi Congress Party, said her party will challenge the results in court.

"We are disappointed because this is not a credible election," she said. "We can't have a president from a junk vote."

Nicholas Dausi, spokesman for Mutharika's party, said the victors would not be distracted by "bad losers."

Aer Lingus services return to normal after strike

africatodayonline.blogspot.com -

Saturday 31 May 2014 07.43

Aer Lingus services return to normal after strike

Aer Lingus services are returning to normal today, after the airline was forced to ground almost all its flights yesterday, due to a 24-hour strike by cabin crew members over rosters.

The airline has hired in planes and crews to operate extra services today, as it reschedules thousands of passengers, disrupted by the one day stoppage.

Several hundred cabin crew marched through Dublin Airport yesterday as part of their protest.

Aer Lingus normally carries 40,000 passengers on a bank holiday Friday, but almost all its planes were grounded yesterday.

Meanwhile, talks aimed at finding a solution to the dispute are due to take place next Wednesday.

Yesterday's strike is estimated to have cost the airline up to €10m.

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Workers of Africa Oilfield Services Limited on strike

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Business News of 2014-05-31

Workers of the Africa Oilfield Services Limited, a Nigerian owned oil services provider in Takoradi on Friday laid down their tools to demand an upward adjustment of their salaries.

They accused management of attempting to swindle them by being dodgy anytime the local union leadership makes an effort to arrange a discussion.

According to them, their basic salary is below the agreed GHS250.

On Friday, the workers were seen singing and chanting war songs at the company’s premises in Takoradi.

Speaking to Citi News, a member of the local Union, Ransford Acquah said the workers Union Executives have tried to use all the necessary means to engage the management of the company but to no avail.

“What brought about today’s demonstration is the delay tactics employed by our managers. They have been postponing deliberations for far too long, more than a year. We were demanding an upward adjustment from GHS250 to GHS400 but when we realized the 400 has not been given instead reduced the original GHS250 and we think it’s unfair”.

The Western and Central Regions Officer for the General Transport Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union of the Ghana Trades Union Congress, Richard Hanson added in an interview with Citi News that, management of the company has maintained an entrenched position and is unwilling to negotiate with the workers.

According to him, a particular management member who plays an active role in negotiations declared a ‘deadlock’ in the process and is not ready for further discussions.

“I met him yesterday and his mood and actions did not give room for further deliberations even when he invited me in. According to him, the negotiations have stalled but I insisted it does not take one party at a negotiation table to declare a deadlock,” Hanson explained.

He also revealed that he is in full support of the local union members in their demonstration so long as management is not ready for fruitful negotiations.

Business News of 2014-05-31

Workers of the Africa Oilfield Services Limited, a Nigerian owned oil services provider in Takoradi on Friday laid down their tools to demand an upward adjustment of their salaries.

They accused management of attempting to swindle them by being dodgy anytime the local union leadership makes an effort to arrange a discussion.

According to them, their basic salary is below the agreed GHS250.

On Friday, the workers were seen singing and chanting war songs at the company’s premises in Takoradi.

According to him, a particular management member who plays an active role in negotiations declared a ‘deadlock’ in the process and is not ready for further discussions.

He also revealed that he is in full support of the local union members in their demonstration so long as management is not ready for fruitful negotiations.

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