A Journey Through a South African Township Brings Back Childhood Memories (PERSPECTIVE)

By Roxy Marosa

(HN, October 11, 2010) - When my friends offered that we spend part of a recent Sunday on an organized tour of Cape Town’s renowned Langa Township, I immediately jumped at the chance.

What a great idea to go around and not have to be the one to tell my guests about the place, I thought to myself. We drove from the relatively pristine Cape Town suburbs, where I’ve lived for the past 17 years, into the township that I’ve come to know well from several earlier visits.Artwork on sale in the township portrays life in Langa and its close proximity to Cape Town

 Langa, which means ‘sun’ in isXhosa, is one of the many areas in South Africa that were designated for Black Africans before the apartheid era. It is the oldest of such suburbs in Cape Town and was the location of much resistance to apartheid. The first Township B&B by the name of Ma Neo (mother of Neo) was opened in 1999, and in 2005, Gugas'Thebe, a cultural centre, was inaugurated.

In the beginning this visit was nothing special to me because I grew up in a township in Kimberley and I still have relatives who are residents there. During my four years of working in the building industry, I would visit as often as I could.

On our arrival at Guga Sthebe we were greeted by a young female township resident who acted as our tour guide.

We proceeded to do a two-hour walk, stopping and viewing historic memorial monuments that were built by the community members of Langa.

As we walked, things became familiar to me again. We visited a hostel which now housed families but were originally built during the apartheid era to accommodate men who came from rural areas seeking employment. No women were allowed to live there at the time. These men left their families behind to live in the cities for a period of a year until they could go back home for a visit - usually during Christmas. Some would visit their families as infrequently as every two or three years. Some never returned back at all. There have been many tears shed in Langa.Langa women tell their story to Roxy, sitting on beds that accommodate several family members

During their time living in the hostels, the men would mingle with the community in the evenings and weekends, make new friends, and even start relationships with the women. Most would develop into committed relationships without marrying the local woman, and some would produce children. These men would then have two families to support - one in Langa and another in the rural area - hence the long periods without any visits.

After the abolishment of apartheid, the hostel dwelling rules were relaxed to allow families - opening the way for the women and their children to move in with the ‘husband’. You can imagine the chaos it could have created when the wife back home decided to come visit ‘her’ husband. 

As we approached we could see the dilapidated state of the hostels - set out in a series of tall buildings with open windows and curtains blowing in the wind. Music blared out of the cars parked haphazardly around the hostels. Compared to the other quiet areas of the township, this area was abuzz with activity. People of all ages were walking around, and you could feel a high level of energy on this Sunday afternoon. There’s no landscaping, and washing lines are strewn randomly between the buildings.

The home that we visited was a communal living arrangement, as are all the other homes. There was just one door for people to come and go, and even though the sun was shining on this glorious spring day, it was dark inside.

The commune had an entrance room, a toilet and shower area, a tiny kitchen and a bedroom. At the entrance we met a beautiful young lady who seemed so shy. She was using a plastic medium sized bowl on a bench to hand wash clothes. This common area is used during the day for hand washing laundry, and as a passage way to the other parts of the commune.

The kitchen, which was probably no more than three square meters, is used for cooking and storage of sleeping mattresses. The bedroom had three single beds - one occupied by a man sleeping and another with two women sitting. They were uncomfortable speaking to us but yet seemed eager to share their stories. We learned that each bed was owned by a family – meaning a couple and their children. A sign in front of a clinic in Langa

The grown woman told us that she had three children aged 14, 12 and 6. All were born at the commune, and pretty much know of no life beyond Langa, The bed with the sleeping man was home to a family of five, and the other to a family of four. This was mind boggling to me - as well as to my guests.

My disbelief stemmed from the fact that, in this day and age in South Africa - the wealthiest nation on the African continent - we have families living in this type of misery.

I had many questions race through my mind and I voiced them. I asked about the children’s sleeping arrangements, and was told the mattress in the kitchen was brought in at night to accommodate all of them. Mornings are challenging as limited water and sanitation facilities make it difficult for children to get ready in time for school. I almost broke into tears when they told me that in winter there was no water heater and this forces the children to wake up even earlier to light the one primus stove shared by all families, to heat up water.

My curiosity with the cramped living arrangements almost got the better of me, and I stopped myself from asking wether she was not concerned about the children being exposed to sex given the sleeping arrangements. But I concluded that their children have probably already seen or heard more than most kids their age have.Langa women returning from church

I recalled the first six years of my life, when I lived with 10 other family members in a four-room home. The next year I lived in a 4 roomed home where my parents rented one room to house all six of us. Sleeping in the same room with grown people meant it was inevitable to see what goes on. Being the eldest, my brother and I washed outside, in the same washing basin to save time and paraffin. I found myself stopping my conversation with the woman as I recalled my childhood.A small church in Langa

I continued my conversation with the woman wanting to know if her family stayed in this arrangement because it was free. But she said they paid minimal rent and the sharing reduced the total cost. She spoke with resignation and acceptance of the situation.

She was a stoic woman and her main interest was for her children to be fed, have a place to sleep, and to attend school. She said she had to believe that her children would be safe in the confines of the township.

My immediate, natural reaction was to rescue the families and change the whole situation. If I had the magic lamp I knew what my wish would be for that moment.The crumbling hostel buildings which house several families per room, with laundry in the front

We proceeded to see what was described as the better part of the township, but I was still consumed with feelings that transported me back to my childhood. I had a moment of appreciating all that my parents did to get us out of the communal situation similar to what I had just witnessed. I had a breakthrough moment and realised that I had blocked out that part of my past life, and that the tour gave me the opportunity to embrace it. 

-- Cape Town-based Roxy Marosa is host of the Roxy Marosa Show and runs several projects assisting people affected by HIV and Aids in South Africa.  All photos: Michael Bociurkiw/HUMNEWS.

Lessons Learned From Developing Countries to Help Aboriginal Kids in Canada

(HN, October 8, 2010) -- When The Belinda Stronach Foundation decided to help Aboriginal children in Canada gain increased access to the Internet and computer education tools, it first studied how children in developing countries used the laptops donated by the US-based NGO, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC).

The Founder and Chairman of OLPC, Nicholas Negroponte, and others from the MIT Media Lab have grown an organization that has now provided loaded devices - the "XO Laptop" - to about 1.85-million children around the world - including Uruguay, Mongolia, Ghana, Rwanda, and Haiti.

Farah Mohamed, the President of the Belinda Stronach Foundation, said it took six months of research before a customized fix for aboriginal children in Canada coud be found. She and her team spent much of that time studying lessons learned from Negroponte's work in other OLPC countries.

"You need to make sure that when you go into areas they want it. That's the absolute first lesson: that you can't thrust this type of programme on any kind of community," Mohamed said in an interview today with HUMNEWS. So to that end, she said, all the major aboriginal leadership groups were courted for their support.

Mohamed added that aboriginal children were selected because, aside from facing a large number of challenges - such as mental heath issues, obesity and isolation - they are the fastest-growing population group in the country.

Despite its wealth - Canada is in the top tier of the UN's Human Development Index - there are still pockets of poverty and isolation where Internet access is limited, Mohamed said. "This phenomenal computer - that has Internet access, a camera and loads so many programmes - reduces that barrier right off the top."

Another principle learned from Negroponte and weaved into the Canadian initiative is that all children in the selected groups get a laptop. "it's not about picking and choosing - there is complete saturation. You don't want to have the have and have-nots in a school," she said, adding that even non-Aboriginal children qualify for a laptop.Belinda Stronach

Under the Foundation's plan, up to 5,000 children between the ages of 6 and 12 will receive the OLPC laptop in Aboriginal communities across Canada. Each XO laptop is loaded with a suite of eight customized programs tailored specifically to the needs of Aboriginal children. They also come with customized educational software as well as more than 30 other programs developed by OLPC, and wireless capability.

Mohamed said several partners were approached - including Vale, ParticipACTION and the BMO Financial Group - to ensure that the programmes were customized for Canada. There is even a programme for financial literacy and another that presents books by Aboriginal authors in digital format. 

She said recipients will even be encouraged to record their elders using the built-in camera in the laptop. "So with this little gadget, we are tackling issues around education, connectivity, community, health - and so much more."

The Canadian initiative is involving what Mohamed describes as a "very robust infrastructure" that involves the principals, teachers, and parents. A unique aspect is that, instead of OLPC or Foundation conducting training, Aboriginal adolescents will be hired to act as trainers and resource people.

Reporting by HUMNEWS' Michael Bociurkiw in Canada

UN worker kidnapped during visit to Sudan's Darfur region - In the meantime Security Council team stresses timely, peaceful referendum

(MAP: About.com) (HN, October 8, 2010) -- A UN employee that was part of a UN Security Council visit to Sudan's Darfur was kidnapped on Thursday night.

A UN peacekeeper was abducted in Sudan's Darfur region on Thursday night amid renewed clashes between rebels and government forces.

While the kidnapping was most likely motivated by money rather than by politics, the abduction raises concerns about deteriorating security conditions in Darfur, where separatists have been battling government forces for the last six years.

The UN worker, whose nationality has not yet been released, was abducted just hours after a United Nation's Security Council mission arrived in El Fasher, the capital city of Darfur. (Continue reading @ Christian Science Monitor)

Amb. Susan Rice of the United States, head of the Security Council delegation to Sudan, with other members in JubaThe Security Council delegation visiting Sudan yesterday stressed that the two referenda scheduled for January must be held on time, in a peaceful environment and according to the provisions of the peace agreement that ended the war between the north and the south.

“We are here to reinforce that message and the determination of the Council to support you and all parties to the CPA [Comprehensive Peace Agreement] in that process,” said Ambassador Susan Rice of the United States, who is heading the delegation.

On 9 January the inhabitants of southern Sudan will vote on whether to secede from the rest of the country, while the residents of the central area of Abyei will vote on whether to be part of the north or the south.

The referenda will be the final phase in the implementation of the CPA, which was signed in 2005 to end two decades of warfare between the northern-based Government and the Sudan People’s Liberation  Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in the south.

The Council’s visit was a follow-up to last month’s high-level meeting on Sudan held under UN auspices in New York that produced a communiqué calling on the international community to respect the outcome of the referenda if they meet those stipulated criteria.

Ms. Rice noted that the “core responsibility” for successful implementation of the CPA remains in the hands of the regional Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS), the national Government in Khartoum, and the Sudanese people.

The delegation concluded its two-day stop in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, with a visit to the Dr. John Garang Unified Memorial Police Training Academy in the nearby town of Rejaf.

The visit to the police-training academy was significant because the Southern Sudan Police Service (SSPS) will play a central role in crowd control and the securing of polling centres and ballot boxes during the referenda.

“The UN has been one of the key components in the support that we are getting for the development of the police and in training these recruits […] from the 10 states,” said GoSS Minister for Internal Affairs Gier Chuang Aluong.

Since July, UN Police advisers have trained over 11,500 SSPS officers in referendum security procedures and regulations throughout southern Sudan, according to Rajesh Dewan, the Police Commissioner in the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

An initial group of 5,400 police cadets who began to receive instruction at the Rejaf training facility in January is expected to graduate at the end of this month, and a second group of 4,000 cadets will subsequently start their training.

Wednesday, the Council delegation held a two-hour closed-door meeting with senior Southern Sudanese officials led by GoSS President Salva Kiir.

The delegation travelled to Darfur yesterday, from where they will proceed to Khartoum before completing their mission on Saturday.

- UN News

(News Brief) UN gathering urges global cooperation to fight human trafficking

(HN, October 7, 2010) --- With human trafficking knowing no borders, anti-trafficking experts from regional and sub-regional organizations have met for the first time in a United Nations-backed forum to discuss how to join forces to counter the scourge.

“Effective coordination of the various anti-trafficking initiatives and enhanced cooperation among all actors involved in combating trafficking is essential to maximize available resources, minimize duplication and address States’ fatigue vis-à-vis the number of demands they are required to attend to,” said Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.

She led the two-day gathering in Dakar, Senegal, which wrapped up on Tuesday and drew experts from around the world to confer on how to prevent trafficking, protect victims, and frameworks set up to address the problem in all regions.

“Assistance to and protection of victims must be non-conditional, responsive to the needs, and respectful of the human rights of trafficked victims,” the Rapporteur stressed, calling for regional and sub-regional groups to ensure that their policies are appropriate to victims’ ages and sensitive to gender aspects.

She highlighted the unique position that regional mechanisms are in to combat what she called a “modern day slavery, growing in scale and in terms of human rights repercussions” due to their expertise and knowledge of local realities.

Presenting her annual report to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council in June, Ms. Ezeilo characterized human trafficking as “one of the most appalling forms of human rights violations” and said that it remains one of the world’s fastest growing criminal activities in the world.

- UN News

Upcoming Election in Belarus Test of Lukashenka's Grip on Power (PERSPECTIVE)

The author in October Square in MinskBy David R. Marples

(HN, October 5, 2010) - The political perspective from Moscow today can be crystallized in a single dictum: We need friendly neighbours who will follow our advice at all times.

Such a policy has meant that the dual regime of Putin-Medvedev (or Medvedev-Putin) can never accept the status quo or limit its activities to the confines of the Russian Federation. This fact is not as outrageous as it may seem. During the Cold War both the U.S. and the Soviet Union operated on a global scale to counter the other's influence. The Americans have withdrawn somewhat of late, but remain a military superpower. Russia is slowly responding.

Russia's policy is well illustrated by the events since 2004. In Ukraine, an Orange Revolution brought to power a president who wished to extract Ukraine from the Russian orbit and turn it toward Europe. For five years, Moscow worked to undermine the presidency of Viktor Yushchenko through a sustained propaganda campaign. In 2010, when Viktor Yanukovych was elected, that mission was considered accomplished. Ukraine became a friendly power, if not a totally compliant one.

A more militant policy was applied toward the smaller Georgia, where Russia openly supported the aspirations of two regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, for independence, culminating in a brief but bloody war in which the Georgian army was quickly defeated by the much larger Russian one in August 2008. In contrast to Ukraine, however, the incumbent president, Mikheil Saakashvili, remained in power. Nevertheless, he had been severely weakened.

Today, Russia has a new problem in the shape of the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenka, who will face a new election on Dec. 19 to seek a fourth term in office. Ironically, Lukashenka was initially the most pro-Russian leader in Eastern Europe. But he has fallen foul of Moscow, which has virtually disbanded the Russia-Belarus Union, originally established in 1997.

It is not easy to say precisely how this occurred, but from the Kremlin perspective, Lukashenka has become a tiresome partner who has consistently refused to follow instructions. Though he is a Russian speaker who considers Russians and Belarusians to be one community, he has adopted a new role: protector of Belarus from incursions by Russia.

This quest for complete independence follows conflicts over the prices for oil and gas imports, and Belarus' reluctance to be dragged into various forms of military-security agreements with Russia. The Russian media has replaced Yushchenko as the bete noire of the region with the 56-year old Belarusian leader.

The onset of a new presidential election campaign is always a tense period in Belarus, a small central European state on the EU border. This year the procedure has followed a familiar pattern: Lukashenka denounces his opponents, holds a congress of selected delegates, before gathering signatures (100,000 are needed to run) through a carefully controlled system that requires workers to register their support of the president before they can pick up their wage packets.

Belarus coats-of-arms. CREDIT: David Marples

This year, 17 candidates have entered at the initial stage, mostly from opposition parties and groups. Perhaps a few have a realistic chance of making it to Dec. 19. They include Lukashenko, Syarhey Haidukevich, the president's ally from the Liberal Democratic Party, Andrei Sannikau, the co-ordinator of the European Belarus campaign, and Uladzimir Neklayeu, a well-known poet and writer.

Sannikau was one of the co-ordinators of a website called Charter-97 -- modelled on the Czechoslovak variant of two decades earlier -- an irreverent and often controversial anti-presidential site. One month ago, the editor of the site, Aleh Byabenin, was found hanged at his country house, despite having made arrangements to meet several friends that same evening. Sannikau, a diplomat by training, dismissed the official verdict of suicide.

Belarusian television maligns Neklayeu as a Russian puppet, who has received funds from Moscow. Neklayeu's own explanation is that the monies derive from Belarusian businessmen living in Russia.

As the election date approaches, opposition candidates can expect more harassment, detentions and arrests. This time, however, Lukashenka lacks support from Moscow, which has denounced him through documentary films and news bulletins, culminating in a public attack Monday by Medvedev.

The difficulty for Russia -- it is also one that continues to frustrate the EU, which deals with Belarus through its Eastern Partnership program -- is that unless the rules change, no candidate has any chance of unseating Lukashenka. Each candidate who can collect 100,000 signatures will get one hour on television. That's just not enough time to counter five years of propaganda and repressions aimed at the opposition in the interim.

Moscow, therefore, is likely to remain frustrated. The democratic if fumbling Yushchenko has departed, Georgia has been carved up into component parts, but the hard-line leader in Belarus remains in place, illustrating that for all its economic clout, Russia is sometimes a feeble player at the regional level.

David Marples is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta, Canada. Author of 13 books, he is also President of the North American Association for Belarusian Studies.

The Nike Foundation's "Girl Effect" (Exclusive report)

From the ground up – Small-scale, grassroots programs for girls are informed by local expertise, networks and cultural propriety. Here, EMpower and Nishtha (which means “devotion” in Bengali) in West Bengal provide tools and training for girls to educate their peers about issues such as reproductive health. (photo: Nike Foundation) (HN, October 4, 2010) - Most NGOs and UN agencies probably look at Leslie Lane and his dream team at the Nike Foundation with a sense of envy.

As Vice-President and Managing Director of the foundation, the Briton, Lane, has at his disposal a healthy bank account, the freedom to do targeted, long-term interventions - and a crack team of professionals that are able to develop and monitor projects in developing countries with a business sense.

What's more, Lane says, he isn't encumbered with the branding side of Nike - or having to squeeze PR points out of the foundation's projects around the world.

"We've really been given the space to address the issues surrounding adolescent girls. We're not about building markets….We're really free to work where the greatest need is for adolescent girls and not to be driven by a marketplace approach," said Lane.

The six-year-old Nike Foundation is obsessed with the so-called `Girl Effect' - empowering adolescent girls to take better care of themselves, become active and energize other girls so that they can protect themselves from scourges ranging from HIV and AIDS to sex slavery. In many parts of the world, girls are forced into early marriages, have children before they enter adulthood and are seen as little more than assets by family and community members.

Lane cited as an example of what Nike gets back from the foundation's work is learning a lot about social networking - or about specific markets - and that knowledge gets pushed back to colleagues on the brand side. "There is transfer of learning going in from across two very different worlds," he said. And for the Foundation - access to a pool of top professionals from one of the world's most successful and widely-known brands.

"Our advantage, in some ways, is that we are actually small, and the whole concept of the foundation is to really work with multiple partners and agencies and individuals interested in this area to help move the whole agenda forward. We can get very entrepreneurial and leveraged obsessed when we do our work," Lane said in an interview with HUMNEWS following the Clinton Global Initiative summit in New York, where the foundation premiered the fantastically compelling three-minute `Girl Effect' video.

Lane, himself a veteran of the international business world - he has an MA in Chemistry from Oxford and a MBA from Harvard and before heading Nike's global running business worked with Roll International and Bain and Company - says he collaborates with "a balanced team that combines professionals from brand management as well as knowledgeable people with field experience from the development side". The foundation tries to maintain very close relationships with its programme partners in the field, spending as much time with them as possible. The nimble nature of the organization allows it to easily shift course mid-stream if evidence shows the need for adjustments.

The foundation, which is supported by Nike Inc. and the NoVo Foundation, is unique in the sense that it has an exclusive focus on adolescent girls in the developing world. They define the `Girl Effect' as: `improving a girl's life in order to improve the lives of those around her; her brothers, sisters, parents and beyond. As an educated mother, an active citizen and an ambitious entrepreneur, or prepared employee - she can break the cycle of poverty.

The Foundation cites stark statistics that underpin its focused mission: nearly half of girls in most developing countries are married before they turn 20, and about half bear children while still children themselves. Half of sexual assaults are against girls younger than 15 and young girls disproportionately carry the burden of HIV and AIDS; in Sub-Saharan Africa 76 percent of infected youths are females.

Keeping girls in school pays incredible dividends, the foundation says. With just seven or more years of education, a girl customarily marries four years later, and has 2.2 fewer children. An extra year of primary school boosts future wages by as much as 20 percent, and an extra year of secondary school by as much as a quarter.

Lane knows better than many how to achieve results against a ticking clock: he was a competitive runner in high school and a college rugby player and rower.

Lane credits the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), which this year incorporated a plenary session on girls and women, for placing issues related to adolescent girls front and centre. "There was strong recognition that the power of adolescent girls could actually have impact on the many issues that face the attendees of CGI - whether it be health, education, peace and security, or economic growth. Girls were emphasized as a tremendous resource for positive change."

When asked what project he is particularly proud of, Lane points to the foundation's support of an initiative to address the issue of child marriages in the Amphora region of Ethiopia. In less than two years, families are seeing the value of keeping girls in school longer. "We've been able to show people the value of the girl," said Lane.

Lane says more emphasis is being placed on his foundation and others in the development field on results-oriented programming. "The real shift in development is coming with people that are very much focused on outcomes than on inputs: you can distribute a certain number of (anti-malaria) bed nets, but making sure that the outcome of those bed nets being used effectively to control malaria is really an outcome-based orientation."

Asked whether the message to invest in girls is getting through to African leaders, Lane says he is seeing a shift. "We are very much at a tipping point: there are some real visionary leaders in Africa that have recognized this already. There is programming and agencies and people are working very hard to continue to tell these stories (of success). " He pointed to a conditional cash transfer programme directly to girls in Malawi that has had a tremendous effect on the reduction and prevalence of HIV infections among girls there.

--- Reporting by HUMNEWS'  Michael Bociurkiw.

(News Brief) Many Pakistani flood victims returning to their places of origin – UN

Dheri village elder Habib Khan speaks during a community meeting conducted in support of UNICEF-supported health campaigns(HN, October 1, 2010)  -- The United Nations humanitarian arm said yesterday that the majority of people displaced by the floods in Pakistan have either returned to their places of origin or are doing so, except in Sindh, one of the worst-hit provinces.

The floods are estimated to have affected over 20 million people, or roughly 10 per cent of the total population, with over 75 per cent of them in Sindh and Punjab provinces, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

UN agencies and their partners are stepping up their efforts to assist those affected by the disaster, which killed nearly 2,000 people and exposed millions to homelessness, malnutrition, risks of epidemics and loss of livelihood.

Since the start of the flood response, the World Health Organization (WHO) has provided medicines sufficient for nearly 5 million people.

The agency, along with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has also procured half a million insecticide-treated bed nets as an initial response to the increased malaria risk in flood-affected districts.

Meanwhile, enough tents and tarpaulins have been delivered to provide shelter to more than 448,400 families, while some 3.6 million people are receiving potable water. In addition, food assistance has been delivered to an estimated 7 million people.

To date, UN agencies and their partners have received 31 per cent of the more than $2 billion they are seeking under the revised floods emergency response plan to provide assistance for up to 14 million people affected by the floods over a 12-month period.

- SOURCE: UN News

Tanvi Girotra: Empowering Girls Before Poverty Drives Them to the Streets of India

(HN, September 28, 2010) - When the celebrity couple, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, spoke about a sex slave epidemic before an overflow crowd of journalists at the Clinton Global Initiative summit last week in New York, sitting quietly in the back of the room was an unassuming, 19-year-old woman from India.

While Moore and Kutcher described how there are “more slaves in the world today than ever before in human history” - 27 million globally, including 1 million in the United States - Tanvi Girotra’s mind was back in her native India, where untold numbers of adolescent women are forced into commercial sex work. Incredibly, their work is condoned by rural families and communities as a way to make ends meet amid grinding poverty.

“You have no idea how bad it can get,” said Tanvi, shortly after the press conference.

Tanvi Girotra speaking at CGI. CREDIT: Nike Foundation

On her own initiative, Tanvi started `Becoming I' - a new youth-led organization to create a platform for young people to come together and make a positive difference in society.

It supports projects in India in the fields of education, women’s empowerment, and life skills development, among other issues. The project on women’s empowerment is called Project Fiza and works with a community of commercial sex workers using art, handicrafts, dance, music and theatre.

“We are striving towards providing them with an alternative source of employment and trying to break this cycle of prostitution in their village,” said Tanvi. “We work with three factions of society: the women involved in prostitution, the teenage girls who are the most vulnerable and the children of these prostitutes. We are trying to create a healthy environment for them to grow and push them towards education....Through life skills development, dance and art workshops we give these girls a platform to express themselves.”

Tanvi says the outreach has had a transformational impact on many of the girls. “They realize the world they are a part of isn't the only one they know of.”

Tanvi first realized the other world outside her own - she was lucky enough to be sent to school, she says - walking to and from school. Along the way, she would see street kids and then young girls working as commercial sex workers. “They are exploited to the extent that they believe their body is their only asset - it’s something I couldn’t comprehend.”

Many of the girls who end up as commercial sex workers enter the work soon after marriage, to help their families make ends meet. Tanvi’s NGO believes the only way to break the mindset is to reach them early - providing them with empowerment to say ‘no.’ “It’s become a very generational thing. Once you get to that level you believe that everything is normal,” says Tanvi. “They are pressed by their circumstance...they believe it is their duty.”

Adolescents constitute almost a quarter of India’s population and 50 percent of girls are married before their 18th birthday. Data on how many are forced into sex work is notoriously hard to come by, but several academic studies indicate that early marriage plays a role in potentially exposing girls and young women to severe reproductive health risks, including HIV.

Another important aspect of the intervention is that Tanvi and members of her group do not confront the practice head-on. Even though they are from New Delhi, they are seen as outsiders in rural areas and could easily be barred from entering the communities. “Speaking about the profession is one of the softest spots you can hit,” she says. “We proceed with very small steps.”

So remote are some of the villages that the foundation works in - Tanvi travels 2 1/2 hours in each direction, utilizing five different modes of transport -  that there are no government offices, police stations or hospitals. This can make women and girls extremely vulnerable.

Tanvi says her parents have been very supportive of her work, but that some people ask her if her work really makes a difference. Social networking tools, such as Facebook, have helped her greatly to gain support locally as well as from around the world.

Apart from Project Fiza, the `Becoming I' Foundation runs two other outreach programmes: Project Broadway aims at providing life skills development through theatre - conducting workshops for underprivileged children and teaching them the basics of theatre along with day to day ethics and ways of living.

For street children, Project Sadak focuses on bringing kids of different ages together under one roof and teaching them things like painting, sketching, origami, sculpture making etc. The aim is to teach them and their parents the benefits of school and education. “As most of these children end up becoming beggars or thieves, we also, in a very subtle yet powerful way, show them the different occupations they can take up to earn money,” says Tanvi.

---HUMNEWS thanks the Nike Foundation for facilitating this coverage. Tanvi is part of the 'Girl Effect' - an example of a girl investing in her own community and making the world a better place.

Flood Victims in Pakistan Still Face Many Challenges - UN

(HN, September 28, 2010) - As colder weather descends on parts of Pakistan, concerns are rising about the plight of millions of people displaced by flood waters.

Cases of acute respiratory infections are increasing: in the past week alone, almost 90,000 cases were recorded, which accounted for 80 per cent of all medical consultations, according to Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Also last week, there had been 486,000 people examined for different medical conditions, including respiratory infections, acute and bloody diarrhoea, suspected malaria and skin diseases. Overall, since 29 July to 24 September, more than 6.2 million people had been treated across flood-affected parts of Pakistan for the main four conditions: diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, suspected malaria and skin diseases, Garwood told journalists at a news briefing today in Geneva monitored by HUMNEWS.

He said that in Punjab and Balluchistan there is an increase in suspected malaria cases. Across Sindh, since 29 July, more than 1 million people had suffered some kind of skin disease. This accounted for the largest health condition being reported amongst the affected population.

So far, the health cluster has delivered medicines that could treat up to 4.9 million people. Another concern at the moment was with people returning to the northern part of the country, as well as Punjab.

Also in Sindh Province, more implementing partners were needed on the ground, including non-governmental organizations to help roll out health facilities including the establishment of diarrhoea treatment centers, said Garwood.

The floods have disrupted the lives of over 20 million people. Member of Parliament Yasmeen Rehman said 75 percent of the infrastructure of Pakistan has been destroyed, including schools, colleges and homes. She said women and girls are among the most vulnerable. I could see that they are putting up a very brave front, living in tents. They have problems of skin disease, the dont have clothes or slipers to wear and if they get food, they prefer to give it to their children, They will be the last one if there is any food to eat."

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the agency has launched a pilot project to offer core shelter solutions to flood victims returning to their damaged or destroyed homes. The project offers a flexible alternative to transitional shelters, based on need and would include items such as doors, window frames and clean up kits.

The pilot project targets 300 families in Punjab and Sindh. The project would show the extent to which the flexible core shelter concept was feasible and whether it would help people to permanently rebuild their former homes by providing them with locally-sourced materials and tools, said Chauzy.

The project also aimed to analyze the challenges posed by large scale implementation, including the selection of beneficiaries, procurement and the availability of local building materials, said Chauzy.

HUMNEWS HEADLINES - September 28, 2010 (The Caribbean)

CARIBBEAN

Domestic, sexual violence rates soaring in Caribbean

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

Gas prices up in Antigua

PM updates citizens in NY

Cruise rush about to begin  

ARUBA

Impulse point launches safe connect 5.0

SmartTrend watching for pullback in shares of Aruba Networks after 0.05% gain (ARUN)

Mr Bermuda wins gold medal in Caribbean

Valero selling refinery for $360M

BAHAMAS

Grant urges Bahamians to educate themselves on disaster preparedness

Bahamas Waste biodiesel trials start this week

Bahamas to honour Shaunae Miller (sports)

Possible Air Transat flight from Canada on the way

Bakke Graduate University comes to The Bahamas

BARBADOS

Early warning system for economy

14,000 more stay-over visitors than last year (tourism)

Barbados trounced by Dominica (sports)  

The Caribbean offers endless vacation options (travel)

CAYMAN ISLANDS

Premier wants UN to include Cayman

This is not the end for tax havens  

DOMINICA

The unreported UN general assembly

Dominica, whale friendly nation is now demonstrating global leadership by going green (blog)

NETHERLANDS ANTILLES

Dutch Caribbean security exchange taps Trayport for trading system

PUERTO RICO

Puerto Rico: A personal mission creates a new life experience for student journalist

Cuba announces baseball team world qualifier in Puerto Rico (sports)  

PREPA readies $200 million in revenue bonds

SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS

St. Kitts calls for UN resolution on violence

St. Kitts and Nevis to observe Eunice Kennedy Shriver Day  

HUMNEWS HEADLINES - September 27, 2010 (North and South Oceans)

PHOTO: BCNANTARCTICA

One more China’s scientific station in Antarctica

Australian scientists probe distant clouds with giant Antarctic laser

Glacier ice loss less than thought, study suggests

Our last chance to save humanity? (opinion)

FAROE ISLANDS

Faroese bank shutters Danish subsidiary

Cracking the Norse code

Funding awarded to Shetland fiber optic broadband project  

Small-cap oil on fire

GREENLAND

Spanish fleet set higher quota for Greenland halibut and cod

Shetland deepwater wells likely to be approved in face of Greenpeace action

The new rules: Global warming shifts focus to the friendly north  

ICELAND

Iceland criticized for raising mackerel quota  

EU Agrafish Council condemns massive Faroes and Iceland mackerel quotas

Flooding leaves South Icelandic travelers stranded

Icelandic tycoon’s loan case is settled

Iceland one constituency in upcoming election

China tried to prevent screening of Tibet doc at RIFF

Iceland kills over 200 whales

Earthquakes measured at Iceland’s Vatnajokull

History lesson in Icelandic feminist art  

Pakistan and the MDGs: A Wish-List Running out of Time (Perspective)

The three-day high-level Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly to review a decade of progress of the Millennium Development Goals, ended this week in New York. Running almost parallel to the Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, the flood crisis of Pakistan was a headliner at both these high-profile events. Only a weekend prior was the official launch of the Pakistan Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Report 2010, in Islamabad. Pakistan has been an active implementer of the MDGs and is also one of the eight pilot countries of the One UN Reform Program, currently underway.

Somewhat expectedly, the global progress against the eight MDG goals has been far from encouraging, with most countries not being able to meet targets to improve health, education and gender disparities, among others. The original target set for meeting the MDG goals is 2015, which includes eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education for boys and girls and combating HIV/AIDs, seems much more elusive now than it did ten years ago.

While the UN Secretary General and Heads of State have yet again reaffirmed their “commitment” to achieving the goals, reality has dictated otherwise. Ever since the first UN Summit in 2000, which gave birth to the MDGs, the world has witnessed a sharp decline in economic conditions (especially among richer countries) and a sharp rise in international humanitarian and political crises (in less developed nations).

Pakistan is no different. Still reeling from the impact of the recent floods, the Pakistan government indicated that the country had failed to achieve many of the MDG targets due to slow economic growth, severe energy crisis, the war on terror and recent humanitarian catastrophes which has now set back the country by at least two years.

The Pakistan MDG Report 2010 outlines 16 national targets and 37 indicators adopted from the MDGs. Of these, Pakistan is ahead in 6 indicators; on track in two; slow in 4; lagging behind in 20 indicators and is off-track only in one indicator (infant mortality). Of the six successful indicators, the only one worth appreciating is a decrease in the prevalence of HIV/AIDs among vulnerable groups, including sex workers and young pregnant women. On the other hand, while Pakistan has one of the highest numbers of women representatives in the Parliament, it severely lags behind indicators such as the maternal mortality ratio, women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector and the contraceptive prevalence rate.

This has always been and will continue to remain the dichotomy in Pakistan, where statistics belie ground realities. At every successive turn, it seems that Pakistan has had a ready excuse on which to pin its weaknesses. While pinning the donkey’s tail on previous regimes has always been a favourite electoral pass-time, this time around, the culprit has been identified as Pakistan’s political instability over the last few years, led by its involvement in the “war on terror” and the 2008 global economic meltdown.

While both these reasons have a valid significance, Pakistan’s development indicators have been on a dubious journey over the last decade, to say the least. The most alarming instance in this respect is that the report claims, “there are disagreements over what the extent of poverty is in Pakistan at the moment”. Yet another example of how invisible majority of the population is if we are still not able to identify who our poor are, let alone why, where and how.

Poverty statistics are an inherently political tool for governments on which to base their projections for international aid, debt servicing and write-offs, among others. But it is clearly a double-edged sword. The higher the levels of poverty, the greater the flow of international assistance, but the weaker the image of the state. Alternatively, the lower the levels of poverty, the lower the bargaining position of the state to request for international aid, but more favourable an image.

Such were the years between 2002 to 2006, when poverty showed a steep decline in official figures and international investment was at its highest. But the controversy that has surround these figures still continues, especially since come 2007, the gap began to increase once again, or as the Report states, “an inability or reluctance to deal with the speculative bubble”. It is ironic that the “bubble” was ready to burst on the eve of a regime change. But politics aside, this cat and mouse game to show how rich or how poor the country is, has been detrimental to the overall statistics of a nation just barely afloat.

Further inconsistency arises from the fact that the reasons provided for inability to achieve targets, are still far from adequate. Political and extremist instability, while undoubtedly debilitating the country’s resources, is only a recent cause. Pakistan’s national budget has never allocated much more than 1.6% of GDP to social sectors such as education. The bulk has always gone to defense (which received a 17% increase in this years budget), much before terrorism became instant justification for all things wayward. Neglect of the social sectors in Pakistan predates the MDGs by a long shot.

Similarly, the report claims that the energy crisis in Pakistan has been a result of demand far outstripping the supply, due to “high spurts of economic growth that the government was unable to meet”. While rampant urbanization and a phenomenal population growth rate are the main culprits, severe financial and administrative mismanagement over the decades, has been as much a cause of the power crisis.

It is clear from the Report that Pakistan will not be able to achieve its targets in at least four out of the eight MDG goals, including eradication of poverty and hunger, universal primary education, environmental sustainability and increased maternal mortality. The remaining four goals also leave a lot to the imagination.

But the issue here is not of achieving goals for the sake of meeting MDG targets. Those are but a mere pillar holding a now nearly defunct United Nations in place. The real issue is of Pakistan and other developing nations providing a near-decent standard of living to their citizens. This can and should be a national mandate instead of a UN created phenomena. So perhaps its time to think independently of international agencies such as the UN, since thinking under their shadow certainly hasn’t helped us so far, it seems.

- HUMNews contributor Themrise Khan is a freelance social development consultant based in Karachi, Pakistan

The Annual Clinton Love-Fest (Perspective)

(HN, September 24, 2010) - You can be sure of one thing at the annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) summit: former President Bill Clinton will turn his legendary charm and persuasive powers up high to ring financial commitments out of wealthy individuals and corporations.

The summit, which just ended yesterday in New York, customarily attracts an A-List crowd of business, political and Hollywood titans: this year from US President Barak Obama and Jordan's Queen Rania to the head of CISCO and Google, Bill and Malinda Gates and Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.   

This year, Clinton was able to announce nearly 300 new commitments, valued at $6 billion. “In total, more than 1,900 commitments have been made, worth $63 billion, and they have improved the lives of nearly 300 million people," the former President boasted. (However the formula used to calculate how many people are impacted is not widely known).

New and laudable this year was the prominent status given to cancer in the developing world and the situation of adolescent girls. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton deserves credit for shining light (and funding) on the long-ignored problem of millions of poor women being asphyxiated in their own kitchens by unsafe cooking stoves.

This year, however, those familiar with previous CGIs say the annual summit may be on the decline - despite record financial commitments - and that it doesn't attract the same calibre of folks from the corporate and political stratosphere as it once  did.

Indeed, on Day II, Shakira had to be replaced by none other than the Bush twins after cancelling at the last minute. And officials from the Chinese leadership - who stole the show this week during the annual opening of the UN General Assembly - were almost non-existent; save for business leaders from Alibaba. Also in short supply: corporate and political leaders from the other three super-growth BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, and India.

For a country of its small size, Jordan cast a long and impressive shadow with Queen Rania and Princess Dina Mired, Director General of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation both in attendance.

Many speakers couldn't contain their enthusiasm about the promise of mobile phone technologies to help developing countries leapfrog past barriers, a commitment championed by Cisco and Twitter.

Beyond a less stellar guest list, there was grumbling among the press corps that the annual meeting lacked intellectual innovation - that much of the discourse was recycled, developmental rhetoric commonly heard at previous rich world summits focused on the developing world. Even Bill Gates talking on stage at the closing session with the other well known "Bill" about polio eradication and new vaccines, seemed to emit an appreciation of the fact that we've been here before. But then isn't that one of the points anyway? When will we not need to have these kinds of summits anymore as the problems will have been solved?

Speaking of an intellectual vacuum: the best-attended press conference during the three-day meeting was yesterday's "Real Men" announcement on sex slavery by Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. The session by the superstars (which also included Jack Dorsey, Chairman of Twitter, as well as Microsoft and Peter Buffet of the NOVO Foundation) out-numbered, by far, an earlier press conference on refugees.Bill Gates and Bill Clinton discuss polio and vaccines. CREDIT: CGI 2010

One thing hard not to notice was the large number of corporate leaders from the technology space which included current and former chiefs from the aforementioned Twitter, Ericsson, Google and CISCO; along with energy honchos such as Duke Energy's Jim Rogers.

Although the commitment and new ideas from the tech leaders is laudable, it remains to be seen if their claims that technology can be the "silver bullet" will solve the many problems of the developing world. Having just returned from Sub-Saharan Africa, where I met hundreds of students in a high-altitude village school in Lesotho who had not yet experienced the Internet (let alone radio and TV), it's hard to imagine how to bridge the gap between the enthusiastic aspirations and ideas of the private sector - and the lack of innovative spirit of aid agencies and government officials on the ground.

At the closing session yesterday, the Obamas certainly did not disappoint with their charm, humour and charisma. However many people were scratching their heads on the odd choice of the topic of First Lady Michelle Obama's keynote speech - the plight of American veterans in an economic downturn. It seemed a topic more appropriate for a Mid-West town hall meeting than a high-powered international meeting on the problems of the developing world.

Though, all in all one must give credit to the esteemed former US President who this year secured a record 291 philanthropic `commitments' worth $6 Billion US to tackle the ills the world is currently and has continuously faced in the modern age.

Even Bill Clinton himself remarked at the summary ceremony that the world would continue to deal with situations such as large refugee flows for the "foreseeable future". One wonders if the former Executive in Chief, 6 years on in his annual pledge-fest might be feeling a kinship with other global confabs he started CGI to best.

Worldwide gatherings such as the annual World Economic Forum in Davos - which in 2011 will `celebrate' its 40 year run - was designed to help solve the world's problems; but here we still are today.

The CGI was started to, and still maintains its precedant to hold donors accountable - or risk being uninvited to the annual meeting (which has happened; albeit infrequently) but again, how many years will an event such as this need to take place before we do indeed stem the crisis situation of global affairs we find ourselves in day in and day out? Stress is stress and cannot be maintained without a breaking point.

One last take-away from this summit was the micro-management - once again - of the accredited media at CGI. An army of young volunteers were recruited to keep a watchful eye on all journalists - minimizing contact between media and delegates. An online system introduced this year to short-list journalists for popular sessions failed to include most journalists who had eagerly signed up for such sessions, only informing availability of seats 30 minutes prior to the event beginning. Said one seasoned hack: "This is chaos: I've seen wars that have been better organized."

Mobile Application Reconnects Refugees with Loved Ones

(HN, September 23, 2010) - In a project that will push the envelope on wireless technology in the field, Ericsson and a partnership have committed to rolling out a free and anonymous system to locate and reconnect refugee and IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) families through the innovative use of mobile phones and the internet. 

The program enables refugees to use mobile phones to register and search for loved ones via an anonymous database, and subsequently reconnect using mobile text messaging (SMS) or the Internet. The information registered may be accessed by refugees and NGOs caring for displaced people, and used to quickly put them in touch with their families.  

UN agencies and aid groups have been longing to make better use of mobile phones in the field, given the ubiquity - up to 75 percent of refugees have mobile phones - and falling costs of the devices. The partnership includes Ericsson, Refugees United, in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and mobile operator MTN in Uganda.

António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, says: "The role of the private sector is increasingly important for humanitarian assistance. Lending their knowledge and expertise to support the refugee cause is crucial as many of these projects would otherwise be outside of our reach. Today mobile phones are everywhere.  Utilizing this readily available technology for a good cause to enable refugees to connect with and reach out to family members they have lost contact with is fundamental."

In a press conference at the Clinton Global Initiative to announce the initiative, Guterres called refugees "the most vulnerable of the vulnerable" and referred to mobile phones as "the most democratic product of modern technology I know."

The initiative started with a pilot deployment in northern Uganda at the beginning of September. The application is now being extended to other camps in Eastern Africa. In one camp, consortium members witnessed long lines of refugees waiting to sign up to the service to find missing family members. Most refugees have used a mobile phone so they feel secure, they know how it will work, and they give only information they are comfortable sharing, to reconnect.

Today more than 4,500 refugees have registered, a considerably higher number than possible with traditional methods. Refugees United also provides the service via computers and internet, but with more than five billion mobile subscriptions today the service via mobile phones is highly relevant. In Africa less than two percent of people have access to computers, compared to more than 45 percent that have a mobile phone.

Kai Uwe Ricke, Partner and Chairman of Board of Directors, Delta Partners, said that the partnership still needs considerable support - including more network operators, more funding and spreading the word about the system to refugees everywhere. "Within the next two years with this initiative there will be no reason why refugees cannot find their loved one," Ricke said.

According to UNHCR, there are over five million people of concern in East and Horn of Africa, some 14 percent of the global number of people that UNHCR assists around the world. UNHCR's main operations in this region include Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia.

Education System in Africa Needs More Resources for Children to Protect Themselves

(HN, September 22, 2010) - The lack of resources for education in Africa could be one of the reasons for a shockingly low level of HIV prevention knowledge among young people in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Ann Cotton, the Executive Director of Camfed International, which has several projects in Africa, said the lack of teacher training impacts upon the quality of education.

“You see classes where the teachers are young, very inexperienced and with up to 90 children,” said Cotton.

On Monday, HUMNEWS reported on a new study that cast doubt on the effectiveness of millions of dollars of donor money pumped into HIV AIDS prevention education in Africa. The study of 60,000 Grade Six pupils and their teachers in over 2500 schools in 15 countries, found students within most of the countries have “a generally low level of knowledge about HIV AIDS.” Only 20-40 percent of pupils reached the minimal knowledge level and less than 10 percent reached the desirable level.

Cotton, who appeared at the Clinton Global Initiative on Wednesday in New York, said that given the sensitivity of the HIV and AIDS issue in many countries, effective instruction on the topic can be difficult. The training of so-called teacher mentors has proven to be an effective tool: teachers see them as a first port of call for issues causing concern.

Cotton said that traditional leaders, because of their influence in some countries, need to be brought on board to help spread prevention education and messages. "Given the context of fear surrounding HIV, it can have a paralyzing fear on communities," she said.