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My Social responsibility Africa

October 19, 2011 By
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I’m not sure if I chose the right heading for my topic this month. In my first year, I decided to take a very serious path of social responsibility by trying to volunteering with clubs at my university (University of Cape town)and also taking up different leadership positions with societies. In my third year (this year),I decided to join the committees of these clubs and societies. The first month was really hectic as I had to make a shift from a participation as a member of these societies to  committee member that had to brainstorm ideas that could move the different societies and their beneficiaries to better operation.

After 2 months of my social responsibility trip ,I realised my ideas combined with 8 other committee members I  regarded small  were having an enormous impact on people’s lives in different ways. This got me think why doesn’t a model like this exist at home(Uganda)where young people (university students )come together ,share their ideas and try to make a positive impact.

This got to question my education and wonder what purpose it served in all this. I decided to share my social responsibility experience  with other Ugandans students at my university. The first Ugandan told me trying to help Uganda was a gone case as the politics had taken over and all the power lies in the politicians. The next two Ugandans said they would wait till they had accumulated enough wealth, then they would be able to help their country. Others said they planned to start their lives and were not interested. Let’s say the next Ugandans were pretty much the same.

 

I respect all their comments however I was hurt at these comments, as some went ahead dislike for the African identity. Well this was my response to them “We grew up in African families, We are privileged to go to a top high school in Uganda, We are  currently having one of the best  University educations, We have proved our intellectual  ability is as good as any race by topping our class  ,we are well fed everyday ,What excuse did have not to be the best African we can be?  Change the negatives of Africa to positives. Africans complain and blame but do nothing . You don’t need wealth or power to share an idea or be part of an idea creation. I explained the impact their ideas as a collection of people rather than individuals.

This week ,I decided to embark on a project to  create a group of young Ugandans under the age of 24 who are willing to share their ideas and implement them. All these ideas should exclude politics and look at the people. I know it’s not going to be easy but I’m going to try(I really lose nothing).

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Filed Under: Africa Matters, Latest, LYNN ASIIMWE Tagged With: , , , , ,

It is time Africans embraced Twitter

August 19, 2011 By
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Twitter is a micro blogging site that allows you to answer questions like “how are you?”, “Where have you been?”, “When are the #notw (News of The world) bosses being questioned?” by sending short text messages in only 140 characters in length called tweets to your followers. Your tweets are displayed on your profile page, on the home page of each of your followers.

While the rest of the world has really taken to twitter, Africa is still lagging behind. Don’t give me the excuse of having no internet connection (this goes out to you who has the connection) If you are able to access facebook, you will be able to access twitter. Some African countries are really out there voicing their opinions and others are not. I tweeted this yesterday after noticing that not many Rwandese are on twitter and like many others if they are, they just open an account and never use it.  “I love seeing how other nationalities in Africa are really taking to twitter … voices are being heard! Where are the Rwandese??? *smh*” (smh – shaking my head).  When I used to tweet for @BeautyofRwanda, I constantly used the hashtag #OnlyOneBasket. (A hashtag (#) is used when you want to mark a key word or topics in a tweet) @BeautyofRwanda’s hashtag tells you of the campaign to help women in Rwanda who are weaving baskets in order to get themselves and their children out of poverty. It made people want to know more about the campaign which is what I wanted in the first place.

Voices are being heard through twitter even though the governments and other organisations might not do much about it but at least there is a platform to voice your concerns. Oh! There was Egypt…remember? I now know that #umeme from Uganda is really pissing people off. I get to read the funniest tweets about this topic but I would like to see the end of it because I know that Ugandans are not happy about the electricity load shedding happening in their country. What is going to be done about that? Many wonder. I also now know #malema, one of the topics in South Africa. I didn’t know who he was or what he was about but twitter made it my business to know. One cannot also forget that earlier this year when #Jan25 was the hot topic worldwide. I followed the Egyptian revolution via my time line on twitter from anywhere I was as long as I had access to the internet. Amazing!

“Twitter provides relief from rising email and IM fatigue”

Yesterday 02 of August, I came across a hashtag that Kenyans are using to highlight the plight of the famine in their country – #Kenya4Kenyans. If you follow that hashtag or any other, you get to find out what people are saying about that particular topic. The Kenyan hashtag has united Kenyans and is helping raise funds to help those facing imminent death due to the famine. You get to find out where and how to send donations and lots more. Kenyans should be proud of themselves because I, Africa and the rest of the twitter world are proud of you!

What I am trying to get at here is that we Africans have been given a platform where anyone anywhere in the world is capable of reading your tweet and replying to it. Taking advantage of this tool should be a priority. Only we can help ourselves. While some are using this platform to personally promote themselves without engaging with their followers others are putting it to good use. We are being provided with information that is good for us, however bad it might be, as long as it’s in the public interest then we want to know. Instead of sitting there moaning about this and that, get out there and do something about it. If you don’t tweet about it we won’t know that it is bothering you. It might as well not exist!

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Filed Under: Africa Matters, African Development, African Nations, African People, Latest, Salha Kaitesi Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cultural Diplomacy in Africa

June 19, 2011 By
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The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) in Berlin, Germany is a Non-Governmental Organization that aims to educate and inform on the benefits of cultural diplomacy.

ICD uses Milton C. Cummings’ description of Cultural Diplomacy on their website: “the exchange of ideas, information, values, systems, traditions, beliefs and other aspects of culture, with the intention of fostering mutual understanding.” As such, anyone can be a cultural ambassador for his or her culture through sports, art, music, tourism, business and other fields.

With this in mind, ICD is hosting two events in July with a focus on Africa. The first event is a conference with the title Cultural Diplomacy in Africa: a Forum for Young Leaders, which takes place from July 11-17, 2011 (Application Form).

The second event is the International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in Africa titled, The Rise of Africa. It will take place from July 14-17, 2011 (Application form). Both events are open to applications from young professionals, students and scholars, civil society practitioners, private sector representatives, journalists, and other interested stakeholders from across the world.

The central question or theme for both events is Strategies to confront the Challenges of the 21st Century: Does Africa have what is required? In the past these ICD events have been dominated by diplomats and politicians. This year they would like to have alternative voices presenting a broader perspective on African culture. Click on the links provided for to apply for the events. Let your voice represent Africa this year.

You may also check out ICD’s blog on Africa titled, The Rise of Africa.

Image: UN Human Rights

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Filed Under: African Culture, AFRICAN DIASPORA, African Nations, African People, African Politics, Latest, Minda Magero Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Is Africa really educating Africans?

March 30, 2011 By
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This month the world’s top 200 universities list was published. African Universities were conspicuously missing. The top tier was occupied by school in the United States and the United Kingdom. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is number one, Harvard University is second, and Stanford University third.

Experts have proposed possible solutions to this ‘disgrace’. Prof Adei, the Former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), attributed African misrepresentation in this list to the Universities’ lack of use of ICT. ”African universities do not make enough use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) so they are not competitive on the international stage ” he said.

I believe many African nations place more importance on other sectors rather than on eduction. The more educated a continent is, the faster it will progress in terms of development. It is about time African governments overhauled its educational system and provided its students with the best infrastructure for research and other academic exercises. I attended a university that had a lecturer teach more than a thousand students at a time. I which breed of students could study under such conditions. Under all these circumstances the authorities looked on as though it were the proper thing. As long as the Universities pretend to teach, the students will pretend to study, and in the end, we won’t make it to the top 200 list….again!

Filed Under: Africa Matters, African Development, Edward Amartey-Tagoe, Ghana, Latest, West Africa Tagged With: , , ,

Africa’s First Female President

February 3, 2011 By
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When Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected President of Liberia in November 2005, her victory was celebrated by many. Since the creation of modern African states, Ma Ellen, as she is fondly referred to in Liberia, was the first elected female Head of State of an African country.

Ma Ellen has a formidable resume, which includes a graduate degree in Economics from Harvard, an early introduction to politics as part Liberia’s one-party state of the 70s, years of service in various international economic institutions and a stint at the UN Development Program Regional Bureau for Africa, first as Assistant Administrator and then as Director.

She was twice exiled from Liberia for political reasons, but returned in 1997 to make her first bid for the presidency. After losing to Charles Taylor, she was charged with treason and fled Liberia for the second time. Ma Ellen returned in 2005 for a second and successful bid for the presidency.

Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in as Africa’s first elected female President on January 16, 2006. In the five years since then, she has succeeded in significantly reducing Liberia’s national debt and providing free mandatory education for all elementary school aged children. She also established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2006 to investigate the decades of civil war in the country. The commission eventually recommended that she, among others, be barred from holding public office for 30 years because of their support of Charles Taylor’s regime. She has argued against the recommendation, apologizing to the nation for supporting Taylor and explaining that she withdrew her support and was one of his most vocal critics after she realized his true intentions.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf married James Sirleaf at the tender age of 17. She later divorced him after repeated bouts of domestic violence. She has four sons and eight grandchildren.

Ma Ellen in an interview for TEDWomen said that women make good leaders because they bring extra sensitivity to situations, are more likely than men to be concerned for the welfare of a nation and to respond to people’s needs. She is also known as “the Iron Lady of Africa” because of her reputation for making tough decisions and taking strong action. Her grandmotherly moniker of Ma Ellen balances out her tough side. She has done women all over the world proud, but especially African women. We hope that many more women will have opportunities to follow in her footsteps.

Image: The Daily Femme

Filed Under: Africa Matters, African Development, African Nations, African People, African Politics, Latest, Minda Magero, West Africa Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Championing Reconciliation in Conflict Areas

January 15, 2011 By
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In September 2009 I attended a fundraising dinner for ALARM (African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries), a non profit organization that operates in 8 African countries. ALARM focuses on leadership development and transformation of communities through forgiveness and reconciliation, and their work in regions racked by violent conflicts has been very successful.

We saw videos of people in Rwanda and Burundi whose lives have been completely transformed through the teachings on reconciliation. We also heard stories of people in Darfur, Sudan; Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo; and northern Uganda, who benefit tremendously from the work of ALARM.

As I listened to those stories, I couldn’t help but realize that people displaced by violent conflict often live interrupted lives. For some, all their education and professional skills go down the drain while they are stuck in refugee camps. They lose years that can never be regained, and many children grow up without the opportunity of any formal education. ALARM goes into these communities and provides leadership training, peacebuilding education, as well as economic empowerment opportunities.

The most moving story I heard was that of Founder and President, Celestin Musekura. When violence broke out in Rwanda in 1994, Musekura was in Kenya for higher education and had his wife and children with him. The rest of his family members were in Rwanda, and most of them were murdered in the ensuing genocide.

Musekura realized that hate would not heal the wounds that had been inflicted, so he founded ALARM and went back into Rwanda with a message of reconciliation. In an authentic display of the message of reconciliation, both Musekura and his mother, who miraculously survived the genocide, forgave the man who had murdered her husband and his father. This same man now takes care of Musekura’s mother while Musekura is absent from the country. The founders of ALARM don’t merely teach reconciliation; they live it.

In addition to the countries already mentioned, ALARM also operates in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. Although the head office is currently based in the USA, plans are underway to relocate it to Nairobi, Kenya in the future. I appreciate the fact that ALARM is doing so much on the ground to better the lives of people. Find out more about their work on their website and how you can get involved.

Image: ALARM

Filed Under: Africa Matters, AFRICAN DIASPORA, African Nations, African People, Latest, Minda Magero, Out of Africa Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A bit down today.

November 8, 2010 By
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Am I the only one who feels caged sometimes? There are some days when everything I read a watch just makes me feel lost. This is about being an Sierra Leonean/African/black woman living in the West.

Today is one of them, I have had a lot of time to read through all sorts of items on the internet due to not feeling well. Everything just seems futile when I start to think about how the world is shaped – Let’s take them one at a time -

Education – The main bulk of education is a Western way. All of our qualifications, the way we are perceived in employment and the ways we perceive each other are mostly set by the West. It is so commonplace that we do not even recgnise that our MBAs, PHDs, Masters, models we use to solve our problems are all Western. On a personal note I suddenly thought we as a family fought hard to get my daughter into her school,consistently one of the top schools in the country in leagues tables (which is another whole conversation) only tohave her not experience one black person as a teacher. She comes home all the time full of conversations she has had with the dinner lady,the cleaner and the security guard (whom our family know by name as he is so proud of seeing her there) I do not need to tell you what colour they are. There are 5/6 black girls out of 110in a year. There are not many British white girls either. Mainly girls of Asian (all of Asia) and Jewish desent. The mix of girls not the issue nor am I condemning any hiring patterns of the school. I just felt sad today and wondered what it was like to never be taught by someone who is similar to you in colour. She did not have that in primary school either. Yet I have never met a now 15 year old(last week) who is so confident about her colour than her!

The most ‘     ‘in the world – The best of those are Western. The most of beutiful, the fastest, the most known etc  in the world is a Western idea as well. I am not saying we do not have blacks in these categories just the judging is around Western ideals.

Investment – I am sure other groups find it easier gain investment from each other than Africans from each other. I had a thought last night that if all African adults in UK put £1 in a fund every month and at the end of each year a panel decided businesses in the UK run by Africans to support I may be laughed at! It would be £12 per individual but it would help us as Africans build a base to be able to invest back into Africa eventually. Two weeks ago, a person very dear to me said during a US visit – ‘Bill Gates would not be a philanthropist if he lived in the projects’. Too right.

Entertainment, – Yes we are represented by skin colour but I am sure we are not paid the same. I know there are a few examples of huge success but I always say if you can name the examples it is not happening enough!

Media- Run by the West. No more can be said.

Trade policies.

World Prizes -like Nobel peace prize,TED prize

Lastly, the way Africa is perceived and who is listened to (like Bono) is all within Western rules. We cannot ignore the fact that likes of Bono and Bob Geldof have raised a lot of money. This was because the Westerner was open to listen to them as they spoke same languauge. Just the same sort of language in business etc. We need our own! We talk a lot but we are not developing meaningful language to make us a force to be reckoned with. Two men sang some lyrices years back, they sold a few million and then they became key voices for Africa. We complain about them but we cannot escape the fact that a acheive moreair time than most of us can. Come on we can do better than that, can we not?

The list is endless. The only positive thing to my day today is that I do not have many of them and I anticipate another one in about a year, or else I would not do anything but worry.

Someone please make my day by giving one thing in everyday use or measure of success that we Africans have that is not led by Western ideals. Again, I am not saying they are wrong I am just saying it depresses me once in a while.

Filed Under: AFRICAN DIASPORA, Latest, Sadia Sisay Tagged With: , , , , ,

Should NGOs and Business take on the provision of social services in Africa

August 26, 2010 By
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Anglo American is big in the mining industry and one of the countries they work in is South Africa. Back in May I attended a seminar in London hosted by Anglo American and learned first hand the extent of their Social programme. You can listen to what Jon Samuel their Social and Community Development programme had to say here.

I was impressed by the extent of their social services programme and no one can argue that they are not doing their best to give back in the communities in which they work.

All businesses  have resources on which they draw in order to succeed and one of these resources are the people  that work for that company. As you can see in this article from The Telegraph Anglo America has done its best to understand issues that affect their employees and ultimately their bottom line.

Back to the event in May something that struck was companies involved in the extractive industry do move on sometime when whatever it is they are extracting runs out. That being the case I wondered

  1. what happens to the social services they put in place,
  2. is there a mechanism of handing these over to the local governments?
  3. why weren’t the local governments not providing these services in the first place?
  4. is this all negotiated as part of the mining licence?

We discussed some of these points on the day but do not feel that I came away with any sort of clarification per se. These issues are complicated! In the case of Anglo American, they could say no providing these services and insist that the local government is responsible but that would leave them with a very unhappy community/neighbours/staff as I suspect that these sort of communities do not benefit directly from the Licence fee. I could be wrong here of course.

In these sort of situations working alongside the community to understand their priorities is paramount and you ignore these at your peril as put simply you will FAIL. We recognised this very quickly in the project I am involved in SW Uganda.

Although we wanted to create income generating activities the community wanted clean water and education for their children as the local government did not provide for those under 8 years old. We resist this for a while as it would lead us down the child sponsorship lane which we didn’t want to take on but eh community stood their ground!

Ruhanga nursery school class of 2009

So a few years down the line we have built one classroom at a time now we have three with 100 children from the village and yes we have had to start a child sponsorship programme as most  of the children are either from very poor families that cannot afford the fees or are orphaned by Aids.

This has lead to a smoother working relationship with the community as hey can see the benefits of the project to them as it resolves/addresses a problem they have.

I still have a problem with NGO’s and or Business being left to provide social services by African  governments.

What do you think? Are  you and NGO or a business facing this very predicament?  Let’s hear from you

Filed Under: Africa Matters, African Development, Ida Horner, Latest, Popular posts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Raising the low standards of attainment in Maths in Zimbabwe: Part 1

August 12, 2010 By
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The Causes:

It has been a long time, almost a year now, since I visited Zimbabwe and what I saw on the ground was shocking and gave me prima facie evidence that the standards of education have gone down. I absolutely understand that learning is mainly controlled by what teachers and students do in the black box, but these people don’t have enough resources. The teacher-pupil ratio has defied the principal laws of meaniful learning which has prompted me to write all the following blogs.

Most departments Of Education in African countries are in pursuit of raising the standards of learning in their respective countries but as long as they exclude teachers and pupils in their planning, there will never be meaningful achievement because learning is controlled by teachers’ and pupils’ classroom activities. Most of the teachers have a ‘mixed bag’ in their classes and this is very important to consider when planning. There are pupils with special educational needs who are sometimes labelled as dull/dofo/mjinga/isibumbe/isiqoqodo/slow learners etc and on the other end there are the gifted and talented pupils.

Kute School 015

The first group of students is the one which does not receive enough attention in class because of lack of resources and it is this group that brings down the Maths percentage pass rate of institutions. African governments need to pour a lot of resources in schools; by first training special teachers who will work with pupils with special education needs. If all teachers can adopt the policy that every child matters and apply formative assessment this will improve learning and raises the standards of Maths.

Most Zimbabwean pupils suffer from mathophobia (fear of Maths) and this affects their performance in other subjects but some argue that there is no positive collinear between performance in Maths and performance in other subjects. From my own study and experience most pupils who are very good in Maths are generally confident in other areas of their curriculum.    Dyscalculia (a result of visual perceptual deficit of sequencing problems) generally affects some pupils at most schools and most teachers I talked to do not have any solution to this problem. This brings in the issue of individual education plan which is a planning, teaching and reviewing teaching tool. Most teachers are not aware of the existence of kinaesthetic and visual learners within their classes and the needs of these pupils are not addressed.

Most schools in Zimbabwe do not have computers and students still use logarithm tables to do their mathematical calculations and this has affected their Maths results at O Level. Africa will remain inside the black box unless her schools imbed ICT in the learning of Maths.

Next: How To Raise The Standards In Maths

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Filed Under: Latest, Out of Africa Tagged With: , , , ,

Nursing – saving Grace

July 29, 2010 By
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Returning back from the warm embrace of Uganda to the cold grey reception of Gatwick airport in March ’86, found me a very irritable 17yr old lady – as most people, I’m not at my best when deprived of sleep.  My ticket back to the UK had been an award from a family member who worked as a minister in Education after checking to ensure I was truly a student and resident in the UK. Other than getting my travel itinerary sorted out, I had not looked much further than this although given the state of our relationship with my mum who had now opted to officially state that she was my paternal aunt.  It made a pig’s ear of the whole situation and according to rumours that went rife amongst the family members; it almost cost her residence here!  As usual, the blame was placed squarely at my feet.

I recall the immigration officials asking me who was meeting me and where I was going to stay. My response that I was going to strike out on my own and rent my own place whilst I finish my A-levels didn’t somehow wash – so I was placed in detention. You see I’d been working Saturdays at Littlewoods since getting my NI card and managed to save up quite a fair sum alongside my baby-sitting jobs. Relations between myself and mom had hit a low so I’d figured, once I had enough for a deposit on a bedsit, I’d move out and finish my studies before applying for a place a university.  Contrary to what mom had thought of my teenage rebellion, I really hadn’t gone off the rails; I simply didn’t agree with her perspectives on how I should pursue my life along the culture lines here in London.  She had opted to believe my rebellion was a preliquiste for getting myself a boyfriend and basically not respecting her wishes. There had been a lot of external influences from the extended paternal family members on who had long-term issues with my place in mum’s life – namely my paternal grandmother. Over the years, I’d witnessed a fair number of unfair acts that in the end, I’d given up trying to point them out and opted to bite my lip and bid my time instead.  As it were, my mum had given in to possible pressure and had opted to follow through advice given her and send me back to Uganda – perhaps to teach me a lesson in humility or reminder of my position in the family hierarchy. Whichever it were, the gods were on my side and truth always triumphs no matter how much one tries to hide it.

So there I was the youngest detainee in a detention place some place in Gatwick or thereabouts.  After repeated conversations with various immigration officers, one of them asked me if there was anybody here in the UK who could come and lay claim as my guardian. Going through my little tatty address book making calls to various family friends, relatives – all refusing to come to my rescue, I resigned myself to being returned on the next flight back to Uganda.  At least it was warm there and my biological mum had appeared to be so welcoming and loving in addition to my biological siblings.  I was missing them already.  The poverty and hardships I’d witnessed in my three months stay didn’t sway my love for the country. I’d seen persons who even in the very little they had, being willing and generous in all they shared. But as I was about to hang up, I remembered I’d not called my school friend who’d been in touch with me throughout my short stay in Uganda. I’d not even called her to tell her I’d arrived!  So I asked the immigration officer if I could just make one final call just to let her know I’d arrived but would have to return back. This was the turning point. When I called her, she was so overjoyed to hear my voice that we chatted about everything silly that I almost forgot to tell her I’d be returning back! It was the immigration officer who tapped me on the back and reminded me to bid her goodbye that when I did and she asked why that saw my whole situation change. Claudia, my friend, alerted our headmistress, Mrs Martin, who by the crack of dawn was in the detention office like a lieutenant demanding to know why they had kept a minor in an adult detention centre – it was somewhat comical to see were it not serious.  What transpired between her and the immigration officers after her arrival I was not privy to, but all I remember was being escorted out and being driven to my friend’s house whilst a permanent solution was reached.

In the three months that followed, I attended school from Claudia’s house to finish my A-levels. Unfortunately, I’d missed some of the critical exams and this meant University entrance was to be postponed.  Instead, I opted to attend Croydon College to at least get the grades I needed as advised by my headmistress in order to try and gain entrance to nursing school.  I couldn’t stay with Claudia’s family for long, she had decided to elope to marry her school sweetheart and relocate to Hong-Kong. Besides, her family aside from her mother, all spoke Spanish – having been posted here on diplomatic duties from Chile. Whilst I made good use of free Spanish lessons from Claudia’s grandmother, long-term stay was out of the question.  I initially stayed at a refuge hostel before acquiring my own bedsit.  Throughout this time, I’d attend courses in-between jobs in order to raise the capital I needed to send to back to my biological mother for a proper building to call home.  With the help and advice of Mrs Martin again, I attended my first interview at Ealing School of Nursing after finishing a volunteer’s nursing assistant course at Mayday Hospital in December ‘86 and commenced my student general nursing course in March of ‘87.  Nursing as Mrs Martin had advised me would provide me with a residential in addition to an earning whilst gaining the training that could help me towards any course later on in life should I opt to not to stay within its’ discipline.  She was so right, nursing was my saving grace and an eye opener to a childhood echo of mine when I recall way back at primary answering saying I wanted to work for the Red Cross.  Well I’ve not exactly worked for the Red Cross, but I’ve ended up working within the medical profession and learning all there is about the health of the human body.

Filed Under: AFRICAN DIASPORA, Grace Nakate, Health, Latest, Out of Africa, Popular posts Tagged With: , , , , ,
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