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AUTHOR Wyss, Esther, Ed. TITLE Introductory Guide to Africa. INSTITUTION Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, Cambridge, MA. PUB DATE (89] NOTE 258p.: Developed in conjunction with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee's "Odyssey: from Alaska to Zimbabwe" program. AVAILABLE FROMUnitarian Universalist Service Committee, 130 Prospect Street, Cambridge, MA 02139-1813. PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher)(052)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC11 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *African Culture; *African History; *African Studies; Cross Cultural Studies; Cultural Awareness; *Cultural Interrele.ionships; Foreign Countries; *Global Education; Intercultural Programs; *Multicultural Education; Non Western Civilization; Secondary Education; Social Studies IDENTIFIERS *Africa

AESTRACT This guide seeks to be a tool for action and a resource for understanding some of the key issues concerning AfriLa today. Through a series of six sessions, participants focus on a particular theme or issue that links their community with ihe African context. The six sessions focus on:(1) "Building Connections with Africa";(2) "Culture Connections";(3) "Economic Connections"; (4) "Issue Connections" (Children and Youth, Environment, Food and Hunger, Health); (5) "The Military Connection"; and (6) "Where Do We Go from Here?" Maps, recipes, historical timelines, and contact addresses with brief descriptions of regional organizations involved in work in Africa are included. (EH)

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Introductory Guide to Africa

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Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

developed in conjunction with LJI.1SC's Odyssey: from Alaska to Zimbabwe program

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 3 Introductory Guide to Africa

Editor: Esther Wyss

Design and Production: Victoria A. Bolles

Odyssey: from Alaska to Zimbabwe is a program of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee with fundirg from USA for Africa

Drawings by Millard Sheets from A West African Journal by Mary Baskerville Sheets used with the author's permission.

Details of works of batik art are reproduced as illustrations throughout this volume. All of the batiks were made by UUSC project partners in West Africa.

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee is an independent membership organization founded in 1939, rooted in and inspired by !iberal religious principles which affirm the supreme worth and dignity of every person, the interdependonce of all people, and each individual's right to peace, justice and freedom.

Through its staff and nationwide network of volunteers, the Service Committee works for basic social change in the U.S., and for health, women's rights, economic development, and human rights in Central America, the Caribbean, India and Africa.

ODUnitarian Universalist Service Committee 130 Prospect StreetCambridge, MA 02139-1813 (617) 868-6600 TABLE OF CONTENTS

World Map 1

The Continent of Africa 2

Foreword 3

Introduction 4 The Unitarian Universahst Service Committee: 30 years of promoting programs in Africa 4 History of the Program 5 About the Introductory Guide to Africa 6 Objectives for the Six-Session Program 6 Acknowledgements 7

Program Overview

Facilitating the Group 10

The hick-off Event 13

Session 1: Building Connections with Africa 17 Activities and Readings for Session 1 20 Mapping Exercise 21 U.S.-African Connections: Our Common Struggle 22 Africa in the U.S. Media 24 Worksheet: Our area's media coverage of Africa 25

Session 2: Culture Connections 29 Overview of the Readings for Session 2: Culture Connections 32

Session 3: Economic Connections 45 Overview of the Readings for Session 3: Economic Connections 51

Session 4: Issue Connections 68

Session 4/Issue: Children and Youth 71 Overview of the Readings for Session 4: Children and Youth 74

Session 4/Issue: Environment 93 Overview of the Readings for Session 4/Issue: Environment 95 Session 4/Issue: Food and Hunger 110

Overview of the Readings for Session 4/Issue: Food and Hunger 1 1 4

Session 4/Issue: Health 134 Overview of the Readings for Session 4/ Issue: Health 136

Session 5: The Military Connection 159 Overview of the Readings for Session 5: The Military Connection 165

Session 6: Where do we go from here? 189

Maps and Basic Data for All African Countries 207

Chronology of Key Events in African History 234

Profiles of African Regional Organizations 236

A Taste of Africa 239

Networking Within UUSC and Beyond 242

Evaluation Form 246

Bibliography 247 World Map

UNITED STATES AFRICA: a continent of 51 Independent nations and 3 disputed territories Area In square kilometers (miles): 9,372,614 (3,670,245) Area In square kilometers (miles): 30,323.000 Climate: temperate (11,700,000) Capital (population): Washington, D.C. (638,432 ) Climate: tropical Capital: n/a Population: 241,960,000 Life expectancy at birth: women 78 yrs., rT n 70.4 yrs. Population: 650,000,000 Life expectancy at birth: 50 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births): 11.2 Languager official: English: also: many others Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births): 107 Religion: 55% Protestant; 36% Roman Catholic; Languages: almost 2000 4% Jewish Religion(s): traditional Indigenous; Muslim; Christian School-age population in school: 77% School-age population in school: 44% Adult literacy rate: 76% Adult literacy rate: 46% Government type: federal republic Government type: 29 nations under military rule, 25 na- tions under other systems Independence date: July 4, 1776, from Great Britain Independence date: ranging from ancient times Hood of state: President George Bush (Ethiopia) to 1989 (anticipated for Namibia) Per capita GNP: $15,541 (1987) Head of state: n/a Natural resources: metallic and non-metallic minerals, Per capita GNP: S699 (at of Africa); $370 (siih-Sahoian petroleum. arable land Africa) Agriculture: food grains, feed crops, oil-bearing crops, Natural resources: minerals, petroleum, arable land cattle, dairy products Agriculture: food and cash craps, cattle, dairy prodi Jr: ts

1 THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA

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6 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Foreword by Richard S. Scobie Executive Director, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee has been working in pzrtnership with the people of Africa for nearly 30 years. UUSC has supported community organizations involved in agriculture, health, family plant-, ng, water resource development and education in 13 African nations. Philosophies of development have changed over the years, along with the nature of the relationship between Africa and her neighbors and former colonizers to the North and West. During the great drought of the early 1970s, UUSC began to address the linkages between economic and political decisions being made in the United States and the conditions being experienced in Africa. Now, after a dozen more years of work, we are ever more convinced of the importance of these links. Our lives and societies are more intertwined than the average North American knows or can easily accept. This program of study and action is designed to help North Americans better understand the reality of modern Africa and the multiple ways in which our policies and practices have direct impact on the lives and well-being of peoples whose cultures very often pre-date our ownby centuries. It is our hope that the experience of participants using these materials will enable them toboth better understand realities of our relatedness and to be able to work more effectively for a more just world society.

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I Introduction by Esther Wyss, Editor, National Coordinator, Odyssey: From Alaska to Zimbabwe

I was 13 years old when Ifirst went to live in Ivory Coast, West Africa with my family. As a typical American teen-ager, my immediate reactions to moving to Africa were: "We'll have monkeys and lions in our backyard!" and "I won't have to go to school anymore!" At that time, years of Tarzan movies, National Geographic and Walt Disney specials, and a notion of African History that romanticized Europeans, such as Stanley, Livingstone, and Dr. Albert Schweizer, had left me with some firmly entrenched stereotypes about the so-called "Dark Continent". Even today, geographical illiteracy, lack of and/or distortion of information by the media, racial prejudice, and cultural narrow-mindedness concerning Africa continue. They contribute to and reinforce stereotypes about Africa. Over the past few years, our stereotypes have evolved and been transformed. With the drought of the mid-1980s and reports of war and strife in Southern Africa and the Horn, unwiringly, we've grown to accept an image of Africans as victims of famine, and of Africa as a war-torn continent. Reinforcement of such messages has allowed us to adopt an image of Africa as a "problem" continent in need of help. It has led us to accept United States intervention on the continent, such as military assistance to so-called "freedom fighters" who use terrorist methods against their people. The image has contributed to the development of a government policy towards Africa with practically no accountability to U.S. citizens. In some cases, the stereotypes have made it easier to justify U.S. corporate investment in South Africa, exploitation of resources and labor by multinational corporations, and U.S.-based manufacturers dumping toxic waste and pharmaceuticals on African people. We've managed to distance ourselves and depersonalize the 650 million people living in Africa. In our tendency to oversimplify, we forget that Africa is a continent four times the size of the continental United States, and that it is composed of 54 different countries (this figure includes disputed territories). We forget that, in Africa, there are about two thousand different languages spoken; more than a thousand ethnic groups with indigenous political systems; an enormous wealth in literature, music, traditional medicines, arts and crafts; belief systems that have existed for thousands of years; vast reserves of natural resources and minerals; and a history that goes back further than that of any other continent to include the cradle of humanity.

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee: 30 years of promoting programs in Atrica. With a philosophy grounded in liberal religious principles that affirm the supreme worth and dignity of every person, the interdependence of all people, and each individual's right to peace, justice, and freedom, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee rejects such stereotyping. UUSC philosophy calls us to act on behalf of people all over the world so that they can freely make decisions that control their daily lives. The Service Committee does this by helping people overcome institutions and policies that oppress them, by providing experiences that promote self-determination and human freedom, ane )y educating and mobilizing individuals and groups for service and action. UUSC has consistently spoken out against the status-quo of development policy in Africo Examples of UUSC presence in Africa have been the promotion of community health services in the People's Republic of Benin, medical assistance to hospitals in Eritrea, and training programs for young women in Senegal. UUSC works to break the cycle of poverty and hunger, and to build partnerships with African community leaders, rather than to foster dependencies.

4 Introduction

Our rapidly changing world reminds us daily of globalinterdependence and our need not to compete, but to work together in a manner that is both ecologicallysound and built on respect for all human beings. In its thirty-year history of promoting appropriate development inAfrica, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee has worked with many partners in Africa to build a stronger visionof such an interdependent world. UUSC's African partners are keenly aware of the distorted images about Africa many non- Africans may have. Many times they have asked UUSC's International Programs staff: "Tell Americans what our lives are really like!" Their concern has challenged us to come back and look at ourselves, and see the need tobuild understanding and advocacy on African issues among the Unitarian Universalist comminityand beyond. We must forge stronger, healthier links between U.S. and African communities,links that allow us to move between global understanding and local action. True local action canonly be based on a vision that connects the communitywith a global reality. It was in this context that Odyssey: From Alaska to Zimbabwe, a program of community learning and action abcutAfrica was conceived. The program is built on a philosophy of sharing,and the knowledge that the best way we can help Africans as well as ourselves is to take the time tolearn from them and act on their behalf in our everyday lives in the United States.

History of the Program On a pilot basis, in spring 1989, we asked ten activists from UUSC'ssocial action Units to join in an effort to build an Africa agenda in five areas of the United States.These activists called Harambee leaders received training, materials, and UUSC support to establish local Harambee groups. (Harambee [pronounced: Ha-ram-bayl is aSwahili word literally meaning "Let's All Pull Together!" It refers to a popular movement in Kenya where communities organize meetings,pool resources and in;tiate self-help projects). Harambee groups underwent a process of community inquiry to clarify explicit linkages between the local and the African context. Building on these linkages, they developed an action agenda. Together with other local initiatives, the groups are acting on issues that emergefrom their inquiry. Such action include: planning an event (such as a boycott to oppose apartheid) setting up a resource center on African issues establishing a youth theater and education program about Africa at schools and churches inviting Africans to speak at community centers, nursing homes, andschools pressuring local authorities into adopting a divestment plan ensuring that information about Africa is included in local organizingwork on racism, crime, environment, housing, AIDS, and U.S. military spending The example of this pilot program has led us to develop and refine the IntroductoryGuide to Africa into a 6-session study program, to encourage others to join the networkof people concerned about learning and acting on behalf of Africa. Introduction

About the Introductory Guide to Africa This publication is a tool for action, a resource for understanding some of the key issues concerning Africa today. We have sought to provide you with up-to-date information on Africa. Although by no means exhaustive, the Guide provides an overview of the diversity of the continent. Whenever possible, we selected articles written by Africans to allow us to hear the voices of Africa rather than those of interpretations by non-Africans. Six sessions guide participants through a logical series of activities, readings, and discussions designed to culminate in community action. Each session focuses participants' attention ond particular theme or issue that links their community with the African context. Other useful information contained in the Guide includes country maps with country-specific data for 54 nations and territories. The maps are followed by an historical timeline which notes some landmark dates in African history, by short descriptions of some of the most important regional organizations in Africa, by contact addresses in the U.S. for networking about African issues, and by a bibliography. We hope that the information about Africa you're particularly interested in is easy to find and readable without being overly simplistic. In our mind, all issues are thought-provoking and relevant to our lives here in the United States, and should push the reader towards action and further research. We urge you to use the Introductory Guide to Africa to initiate action. Perhaps the publication can make a contribution to educating community leaders in the U.S. who will join our African sisters and brothers in the struggle for a more peaceful, healthier, and safer world. Another UUSC publication is important to keep at hand. The Busy Person's Guide to Social Action provides necessary tips on how to organize a group, how to develop an agenda, and how to implement an a( tion campaign.

Objectives for the Six-Session Program

Why si)uld a community in the United States act on behalf of Africa or, for that matter, even be interested in African issues? The African continent is far away; the culture and people are "different"; and, in our day and age, people have got plenty of problems in their own local area to take care of. The purpose of the Guide is to show how what happens in Africa is vital to us. What happens in Africa is, in fact, our business from an economic, social, cultural, political, and humanitarian perspective. Learning about Africa helps us understand and gain a perspective on our own local issues, and act in the best interest of all humanity in our interdependent world. By providing ideas for activities in the Guide, we hope to clarify a process of discovery of linkages between a local community in the United States and Africa, and ultimately, to spark the Harambee spirit of self-help on the local level in the United States. Two points for clarification: participating in the program does not necessarily mean raising money for Africa, which tends to be the "quick fix" response to a perceived problem. I iarambee asks you to help yourself and others by learning about Africa and bringing the message home through greater awareness and local action. Nor do we feel that the program is asking you to take on a new issue or a new agenda. Rather, we see that learning about Africa serves as a lens to look at the racism in our own communities, and ac a reflection of issues that you and your community are already concerned about (such as health, environment, militarism, poverty and cr ime, food and hunger), issues that can only be enriched by an African perspective.

1 4 6 Introduction

The sessions are meant to help groups build an action agenda for their own area. UUSC staff in Boston will provide supplementary information, advice, and support if necessary.The Guide seeks to follow the tradition voiced by a true global citizen, Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small groupof thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Acknowledgements Many people have been integral to the realization of the Introductory Guide to Africa. It's a heartfelt privilege to have the opportunity to thank all those who have contributed time, advice, materials insights, energy, and thought over the past year. On-going encouragement and feedback from the Wyss family and just about everyone at UUSC were crucial morale-boosters. Lou Witherite, Directorof UUSC's International Programs Department, and Natalie Zimmerman, former UUSC Units Coordinator, provided the initial vision to develop the program. UUSC staff integral to the program have been MaryLania, Linda MacKay, Carlos Madrid, Steve Shick, Leora Zeit lin, and Charlie Zoeller. Without funding by USA for Africa, this vision would have gone the way of so many dreams, and never seen the light. Susan Rich and Adrienne Nicotra were an extraordinary team of editorial assistants:they buried themselves in piles of publications, collected materials, provided useful advice and provocative suggestions to the format of the publication, and wrote many of the sections ofthe pilot version of the Guide. No valid materials can be developed without incorporating learning and inspiration fromother programs piloted in the past. The Africa Peace Toursponsored annually by the Africa Peace Committee along with other recent innovative development education programs represent a precedent important to the format of this book. The numerous African colleagues, development education specialists, trainers, local and national community action groups in the Boston area and beyond who have provided support and inspiration in many different manners, include: The Adult Programs Council, Unitarian Universalist Association; Karen Boatman, Boston University School of Education; Ron Chisom, People's Institute for Survival andBeyond; Kevin Danaher, Africa Exchani;e; Abdel Kader Galy, University of Niamey, Niger, West Africa; lohn Gaventa, Highlander Center; Tandi Gcabashe, American Friends Service Committee, Atlanta Office; Haddy Gebbidon, colleague from The Gambia, West Africa; Harambee leaders throughout the U.S.:Bob Allison, Ginnie Blocker, Patrick Feely, Tyna Fields, Marinda Harpole, Nancy I lartl, LindaHendriksen, Kelly McHenry, Ben Sims, lexi Truman, Clemmie Wiley, Logan Wiley; Jerry Herman, American Friends Service Committee, Southern Africa Office; John Huchison, Boston UniversityAfrican Studies Center; Barbara Major, People's Institute for Survival and Beyond; Maphiri Masekela,coHeague from South Africa; Ginny Moore, UUSC Board of Directors; Nick Mottern, Maryknoll Fathersand Brothers; Paul Mulloy, Massachusetts Global Education Program; James Oporia-Ekwaro, UUSC colleaguefrom Uganda, East Africa; Reginald Petty, UUSC Board of Directors; Mark Rand, USA forAfrica; Bill Rau, Bread for the World; Phyllis Robinson, Cambridge Community Development Department; Ficre Ghebreyesus, Tsehai Habtemariam, Karen Hauser, and Tekeste Seyoum, Eritrean Relief Committee;to Sullivan, Boston University African Studies Center Outreach Piogram; UUSC UnitCo-Chairs in Boston, Cinncinati, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Washington D.C.; SylWhitaker, UUSC Board of Directors; Loretta Williams, former Director, UUA Department of Social Justice. Introduction

AU articles appearing in the Introductory Guide to Africa have been reprinted with permission. I would like to thank the many authors, publishing houses, journals, periodicals, informationcenters, and clearinghouses for allowing us to use their materials, making this publication possible. Copyrights appear on every reprinted article, as well as in the bibliography in the back of the Guide. I urge everyone to look at the sources from which the passages have been excerpted.

In our life-long role as learners and actors on this planet, may all ofus join hands and take the time to understand the words of Africans such as Julius Nyerere, ex-president of Tanzania: "The significance of the division between rich and poor is not simply that oneman has more food than he can eat, more clothes than he can wear, and more houses than he can live in, while others are hungry, unclad or homeless...The reality and depth of the problem arises because the man who is rich has power over the lives of those who are poor, and the rich nation has power over the policies of those who are not rich. And even more important is that a social and economic system, nationally and internationally, supports these divisions, and constantly increases themso that the rich get even richer and more powerful while the poor get relatively even poorer and less able to control theirown future..." Introduction

Program Overview

Kick-off Event 4,(video)

Introduction: Building Session 1 connections with Africa Where do we go from here? Establishing an Session 6 action plan

Culture Session 2 connections

Session :3 Military connections

Economic Session 4 connections

Issue connections: Children and youth Inyironment I ood and I lunger [Ina Ith

9 Facilitating the Group

A group undertaking this program is ideally composed of 10-12 participants, representing a diversity of skills and ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. As a group, participants should be willing and committed to learning about Africa, studying their local community, and examining linkages with Africa. For any group to become a real "group," there needs to be a voiced common interest that binds people together. In the case of the program participants, the shared interest is the desire to learn and "do something" about Africa and hoW the continent relates to their own community. The group facilitator, therefore, should encourage participants to get to know each other, and build up the spirit of trust and teamwork. The advice below is designed to help you get started as group facilitator.

Designating a Facilitator The person (or persons) who facilitates this study group does not have to be an expert on Africa. The group should decide whether one person will lead all the sessions, whether a system of co- facilitators should be set up, or whether individual members of the group should rotate the facilitator function among themselves on a voluntary basis. Know the course outline. Familiarity with the materials and the outline of activities you will cover in the current and subsequent sessions will enable you to sense when you can go into a topic in more depth and when you need to move on.

Continuity

Plan to be at all sessions. Continuity is important in building group cohesiveness. Ifyou are coleading and must be absent, let the group know ;.-1 advance. Whenever a group leader is absent, interrelationships must be rebuilt. This process cannot be circumvented.

Setting and Preparation Arrange for a comfortable, attractive meeting space appropriate to the size of the group. The physical setting contributes greatly to harmonious interactions among participants. Ifa change in the meeting place become necessary, let the group know in advance. Plan to arrive before the group members and have all equipment and materials ready for the session. This helps participants feel comfortable and contributes to an organized, relaxed flow in the seminar process. Try to keep the order of the suggested activities, but be flexible and alter if it seems advisable. Use the readings, the session guidelines, and videos that have been suggested in order to get the discussion and learning process going, but, don't feel compelled to followevery suggestion made. It's your process; feel free to make adjustments in it as you see fit. Consider it a guide, not a straitjacket.

Length of Sessions Begin and end the session on time. Each session will take about 2 hours. Emphasize to participants the need for punctuality at each session. Beware of time constraints, and set a time limit for the activities within a session. A good device to keep the sessions moving is to appoint a member among the group as the timekeeper for the evening.

10 16 Facilitating the Group

Participation Ask group members to let you know if they expect to be late or to miss a session. Urge everyone to be at all sessions. The value of the experience issignificantly diminished for all participants if members drop in and out of the program. In addition, absences raise questions and concerns about the well-being of the absent person. A group does not function effectively if there are questions about a member's absence.

Breaks Plan a ten-minute break at approximately the middle of each session. Schedule it at the end of an activity, where there is a naturalbreaking point.

Group-Building Get to know each member of your group and help rw,,rnbers to get to know one another. Taking time to build group rapport and trust is an essential component of every session. It can he helpful at the beginning of each session to invite participants to recount an experience in the past week that saddened or gladdened them, or to share a personal observation with the group. Also, don't forget to have some fun and leave time for laughter. Enthusiasm won't come just from the facts you'll learn, but also from the spirit of mutual support and respect that will come from the experience of getting to know and trust a new group of people who share a common concern about Africa and their own community.

Communications Be especially conscious of the need to balance input by group members. Try to get everyone to make some contribution to the evening's discussion and make sure that no one person monopolizes the group. Be sure that insights and !earnings arr;ved at by the group are gathered and given expression, and that personal sharings are honored in some way. Provide a time in each session when this can he done or use the opening and closing activities, where appropriate, to accomplish this. Support group trust by encouraging participants to keep confidential what hasbeen shared in the group. No one wants his or her story told elsewhere.

Sensitivity Be sensitive to the potential emotional impact of the material on participants. Strong emotion may surface. Give yourself and the other person timeand room to express them. Decide how to act when participants become emotional. Do not confuse support with agreement. You may support a person in his or her grief, fear, or anger andbe critical about what he or she does with it. Ask question, use your intuition, challenge assumptions,and make suggestions. Seek a balance in your own participation. This balance is dynamic. Encouraging other' participation is usually more fruitful than inadvertently being the One everyone turns to asthe "expert." Facilitating the Group

Session Follow-Up Take notes or keep a journal of the events in each session: the kinds of experiences related, the insights learned, what seemed to excite participants most. Use this information to help you plan later sessions and to remind the group from time to time of the journey they have undertaken. The following brief checklist may also help the facilitator evaluate the quality of a given session: O An agenda is prepared prior to the meeting. 1:3 Meeting participants have an opportunity to contribute to the agenda. O Advance notice of meeting time and place is provided to those invited. [a Meeting facilities are comfortable and adequate for the number of participants. Hanging a banner or poster, arranging literature is helpful. CI The meeting begins and ends on time. O The use of time is monitored throughout the meeting. CI Everyone has an opportunity to present his or her point of view. O Participants listen attentively to each other. O There are periodic summaries as the meeting progresses. O No one tends to dominate the discussion. CI Everyone has a voice in decisions made at the meeting. lj The meeting typically ends with a summary of accomplishments. F.3 The meeting is periodically evaluated by participants.

[ZIPeople can be depended upon to carry out any action agreed to during the meeting. Cl People can be counted on to attend each meeting. 1:1 When used, audiovisual equipment is in good working condition and does not detract from the meeting. LI Guest speakers are briefed beforehand about the audience, agenda and equipment. CI Remember to bring registration sheets, pens, name tags, thumb tacks, newsprint, tape, handouts, and other supplies suggested for each session.

(Guidelines were adapted from the curriculum guide to How Open the Door?,produced by the Unitarian Universalist Association, and from UUSC's Journey to Understanding. The checklist was adapted from Marion Haynes, Effective Meeting Skills. California: Crisp Publications, 1988.)

12 The Kick-off Event

Some people wanting to undertake this program may already have a group of participantslined up; some may have to recruit groupmembers. A kick-off event is ideal for getting your group started, and encourages broader participation. The key to "selling" the program to others is to help participants recognize that it is both fun and interesting to find out about the linkages between their communityand 'he African context. This study program asks participants to address and question some of the stereotypes that have traditionally engulfed U.S. understanding of Africa. Two videos from the "Consuming Hunger" series provoke audiences to take a hard look at the U.S. television and media culture surrounding hunger and poverty. Therefore, as a kick-off event, show the 29 minute video "Shaping the Image" (avail-able from UUSC's Citizen Action Department). It documents hunger in Ethiopia andthe U.S., and how television shapes our thoughts and feelings about hunger and responses to it. "Shaping the Image" shows what happened to the images of starving Africans once they became part of our television culture, and includes some scathing criticism of the stereotypingby UUSC colleague James Oporia-Ekwaro. (You can purchase the video for $19.95from the Maryknoll World Video Library Maryknoll, NY 10545 (914) 941-7590.) Also read pp. 1-15 ("Getting Started", "Getting your Story out," and "How to get a Good Turnout") from The Busy Pers )n's Guide to Social Action for additional suggestions onlaunching a program.

Announce the Event Invite people to the video screening and to join the program through a leaflet, aflyer, a press release, or an announcement in the local papers and public radio station (see sample invitation on page 15). Here are a few ideas of people and places to go to get a groupstarted: personal connections, friends community-based and social- service organizations your workplace unions, city-wirie organizations local government officials and coalitions advocating a schools, colleges and universities global perspective churches and other religious financial and business institutions communities (especially those public bulletin boards in libraries with international interests and other public offices

1 3 The Kick-off Event

Use a Sign-up Sheet As people enter the room on the day of the screening, be sure to have them sign an attendance sheet, include columns for name, address and day and evening phone numbers, so that they can be contacted later when additional Africa events are held.

Have Literature Available In order to get the educational process going, prepare a literature table with copies of the Introductory Guide to Africa and other Africa literature (books, newsletters, journals) on it. Distribute photocopies of the Africa Fact Sheet (on page 16) to the audience.

Distribute Flyers Make up a flyer announcing the day, time and place of the first group session, as well as the telephone number of someone who can be contacted for more information about it. You might also want to include an enrollment coupon with space for name, address and phone numbers, which could be collected after the video or be sent in later by those who aren't ready to sign up on that night.

Outline the Program and Answers Questions

The organizer of the screening (or someone else) should describe the six-session studycourse to the audience once the film is shown. Give details as to when and where the first session will be held. It should be scheduled for a few weeks after the kick-off event. Explain that the goal of the course is not to indoctrinate participants with a particular point of view, but to provide them with an opportunity to read and discuss a variety of information representing various points of view on Africa ina supportive and relaxed atrnsphere. Potential participants should be encouraged to participateso that they can become better informed on Africa, and ultimately more directly involved in related lobbyingor public education efforts.

After the course is outlined, volunteers should pass out sign-up flyers or index cards foranyone interested in signing up for the course. Those in attendance should also be asked to post flyers in appropriate spots to help get the word out that the course will be starting. Be sure to contact those who do sign up in advance to remind them of the first session and to encourage their attendance. It is important to get a least five people to commit themselves to the group (ten to twelve is ideal). One way to ensure attendance and to build group responsibility is to assign participants to make presentations or to bring refreshments.

1 4 Program of CommunityLearning and Action about Africa

Funded by USA for Africa and sponsored by the UnitarianUniversalist Service Committee In Africa, millions of people suffer from poverty, hunger,unemployment and illiteracy. Millions of Americans also suffer from those problems. How arethe underlying causes in both places similar? How are they related? In both Africa and the United States, people are organizingtheir communities to solve these problems and improve living conditions. Exploringthe links between Africa and the United States can help us discover not only what we have in common,but also how we can work together in our interdependent world. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee invites you to: undertake a special kind of safari and learn about the African continent its people, cultures, politics, and policies on health, agriculture,international debt, education, militarization, refugees, population join a nationwide movement of concerned citizenslearning more about U.S. involvement in Africa explore global interdependence, and the links of your communities toAfrica act on racism and issues of concern in your owncommunity (such as homelessness, poverty, AIDS, military aid, minority and women's rights)

How do I join? Come see a short video from the "Consuming Hunger"series, which asks us to look at the U.S. television culture surrounding hunger and poverty inAfrica. "Shaping the Image" shows how images of starving Africans became part of our televisionculture, and includes some criticism of the stereotypingby UUSC colleague James Oporia-Ekwaro.

Screening Date: Place: Time:

At the showing, you will learn some astounding factsabout Africa, and meet other people interested in finding out more about Africa and how itrelates to issues of concern in our own communities. If you can't come, but would like to be informed aboutAfrica-related events in your area, contact: at ( /Name) (Telephone)

See you there! Africa Fact Sheet

Scientists report that genetic findings link every person now on earth to a common human ancestor a woman, known as "Lucy," who lived in Africa 3 to 3.5 million years ago. In 1323, Mansa Moussa, ruler of Mali, traveled to Mecca in present-day Saudi Arabia with as many as 60,000 camels, each carrying a bag of gold dust. Africa includes more than 1,000 ethnic groups speaking almost 2,000 separate

languages. 0 Military spending is encouraged by sales and aid from the United States, China, France, Israel, and the Soviet Union. Of the 24 African nations affected by famine in the past 5 years, 21 are under military rule. Women perform as much as 80% of food production work in Africa, as well as most household work and child care; traditional development aid projects have bypassed them because they are considered consumers, not producers. The African environment ranges from arid deserts and rolling plains to tropical rain forests to glacier-capped mountains. Throughout history, African peoples have adapted to all of these conditions. Centuries before the discovery of the "new world", Africa had thriving cities that were centers of trade, scholarship, and technology. African "griots" (village folk singers/historians) tell stories that have come down through their families for over seven centuries. Africans were among the first people to learn how to write. They began by carving hieroglyphics pictures on stone and later inventing a form of alphabet. 5 to 10 million people live as refugees in Africa. Research and experience show that providing education for women can reduce infant mortality and slow population growth rates, yet fewer than 50% of African girls go to primary school and fewer still continue on to secondary school. By organizing cooperatives for food production, health care, and marketing, African women in many communities are becoming more independent and productive. Africa has heavily influenced the rhythms and movements of American music and dance, and artworks such as those of Picasso and Mondrian. Health conditions and health care are worse in Africa than in any other region in the world, with wide-ranging effects. For example, a Nigerian farmer may be incapacitated for 15-20 weeks of the year by malaria. Thus he may not produce enough food to support a family, even if all other conditions are favorable. In international trade in the 1980s, the deck is stacked against Africa: total profits from African exports in 1982 were enough to pay for imports for 27 days. That leaves 338 days of debt. iession 1: Building Connections with Africa

Goal: To introduce the participants to the program

Activities: Participants get to know each other and share their Africa-related interests and experiences. They do a series of exercises to recognize basic connections between communities in the United States and in Africa. They read three short passages that identify the dominant themes of the study program. They receive an overview of the study program. They set the agenda and designate responsibilities for Session 2.

Suggested Equipment and Materials: enough copies of the Introductory Guide to Africa for all participants (otherwise there should be photocopies of the readings, mapping and connections exercises for all group participants) easel and newsprint (or similar contraption) to mark down overview of program, participants' questions, responsibilities as needed a pad of paper to write down people's names, addresses, and phone numbers a notebook to compilo list of Africa resources in the area a table to display any Africa-related literature a bulletin board to pin up a map of Africa, relevant articles and announcements name tags, thumb tacks, scissors, tape refreshments (preferably something of African origin)

1 7 Session 1

Session Outline:

1. Why are we here? (20 minutes)

As they arrive, participants prepare name tags, pick up and pay for their copies of the Introductory Guide to Africa, and complete a sign-up sheet. Participants then share their interest in learning more about Africa. The group facilitator can stimulate discussion with questions such as: What brings all of us together? What Africa-related experiences or interests do you have? What would you like to learn more about concerning Africa? What preconceptions about Africa do we have in the U.S.?

2.Mapping the African Continent (10 minutes)

One of the first challenges in learning aboui Africa is to situate the continent on the world map. The facilitator introduces the mapping exercise on page 20. He or she also refers participants to the map of Africa on page 2 and the section with maps and basic data on all African countries in the Introductory Guide to Africa (pages 201-227). This information allows participants to identify individual countries as they encounter them during sessions and in !he readings.

3. Our Common Struggle (10 minutes)

Another step in learning about Africa is addressing our tendency to distance the continent from our daily lives here in the United States. There are key commonalities between tile struggles within our own communities and those in Africa. Many of the dynamics of domestic struggles with poverty, health, and hunger are mirrored by those of families and communities on the African continent. The exercise on page 22 encourages participants to recognize these similarities.

4. Why learn more about Africa? (30 minutes)

Three short readings have been reprinted in Session 1 (pages 26-28) to introduce the major themes that will guide us throughout the program. The first reading presents the conditions of injustice and violence against the innocent in Mozambique, Southern Africa. The second passage highlights Africa from a historical perspective, and asks why the mainstream population in the U.S. is not informed about African history. The final reading, a short passage by Zora Neale Hurston, evokes the theme of racism. Integral to this program is recognizing the importance of understanding domestic U.S. racism and the African American culture in learning about Africa. Questions for discussion after readings: Why should we learn more about Africa? I low is this our moral responsibility?

2,1 18 Building Connections with Africa

5. A program overview (10 minutes)

The facilitator is encouraged to refer to the description of the program in the Introduction of this publication (page 4) in presenting this overview.

6. On-going assignments for participants (10 minutes)

A network of African resources exists in just about every region of the United States. Identifying this network over the course of this six-session program can be useful in providing information, eye-witness testimony, and concrete examples of Africa. The facilitator designates participants willing to: compile a list of African resources in the area. This means keeping track of:

1)people (African students, teachers, scholars; and others who have travelled and worked in Africa) 2)the local network of African arts, culture, crafts, theater, film 3)area organizations and coalitions (non-profit groups and businesses) that have agendas involving Africa 4)the bookstores, libraries, universities, and colleges with journals, periodicals, books, literature, nol-fiction, etc. on Africa collect articles for a scrapbook on media coverage of Africa (clippings should be shai ed on a bulletin board at each session). The messages a community receives about Africa can either reinforce stereotypes about life on the continent, or help break them and introduce a more empowering perception of the relationship of interdependence between Africa and the United States. (Please turn to page 24, Africa and the U.S. Media, for more information). look for up-coming Africa-related events (speakers, movies, exhibits, festivals, et( .) There should be announcement time at every session.

7.Setting the agenda for Session 2: Culture Connections (10 minutes)

Before leaving, all participants should know what their responsibilities are. They should: set a time, place and duration for Session 2 designate (a) facilitator(s) if necessary assign reading of the overview of the articles for Session 2 to all participants. designate participants responsible for reporting on certain readings, if all participants aren't able to read all the articles for Session 2 nominate person(s) who will bring African-style refreshments (see pages 233-235, "A Taste of Africa," for selected recipes) to the next meeting those who have cultural items from Africa should bring them to the next meeting, and bn prepared to talk about them

1 9 Session 1

Activities and Readings for Session 1

Mapping the African Continent Most of us are familiar with the world map known as the Mercator Projection this is the same map we had hanging on classroom walls in school as we were growing up. It was developed in the 1600s to provide European sailors with a clearer perception of navigational distances. The Mercator Projection, however, fails to accurately portray the size and proportions of the various land masses on our planet. It wasn't until the early 1970s that the Peters Projection was developed, and is now being popularized. Its advantage is that it accurately reflects the size and proportions of the continents. Compare the two maps on page 21. The most striking transformation is apparent when you look at Africa. The Mercator Projection, which was developed by a German, is strikingly Eurocentric Europe (at 1,878,417 square miles) appears almost as large as Africa (11,700,000 square miles). Meanwhile, the Peters Projection, also developed by a German, shows us a Europe and a United States (at 3,670,245 square miles) that have shrunken considerably and focuses our attention on the so-called "Third World". Africa takes up the full center of the map.

Suggested activity: If not all group members have their own copies of the introductory Guide to Africa, the facilitator distributes copies of the maps, and ask for reactions from the g! oup. Questions such as these can stimulate group discussion: The introduction of the Peters Projection has not been without controversy. Why? If you were to host a conference highlighting the United States as a world trade or military power, which map would you be most likely to use? Why? In your mind, what does the continued use of the Mercator Projection in portraying the world imply? What would the wide-spread adoption of the Peters Projectioo mean for our geography and world history classes?

20 Building Connections with Africa

Mapping Exercise

(

IuIj*L

Mercator Projection

:::

Peters Proj ecti on

1,1 21 Session 1

U.S.-African Connections: Our Common Struggle

There are similarities between the conditions of poverty and hunger in the United States and in African countries. On a rotating basis, participants read the following quotes and guess where it happened. You might be surprised. Answers are on the next page.

A. "No food was in the house. The babies had no milk; two were crying as several of the older children tried to console them. 'These people are starving,' the local guide told the doctors. The parents had not eaten for two days. The children had eaten some dried beans the previous evening."

B."Julieta was pregnant, her eighth pregnancy, since she had already had seven children. Her husband was d track layer for the railways, but his earnings were insufficient to support his family so Julieta worked in exchange for food (sugar, flour, salt)."

C. "The majority of my patients wander all over...working the crops. They have no education and poor conditions. They are hungry. Our people have become human garbage. They are damned. I am told that elephants don't die of disease; they die of starvation when their teeth fall out. Thar is the same thing that happens to my patients."

D. "... we are lodged in these bungalow rooms. There is hardly any space. There are too many people, and one room is not enough for a large family... We do have tap water, but it should be improved. There is only one faucet 300 yards away for more than twenty families. We should have a better water supply and toilets."

E. "At the feeding center, 'we got 1,700 c I ients,' la worker] explained, 'and many of them walk ten miles or more to get here."

F. "She's curled up in... a torn sweater on a mattresswith no sheet...A week later I stop by to visit. She's in the same position: drowsy and withdrawn...Her children, scattered like wilted weeds around her on the floor, don't talk or play or move around or interrupt."

G. "We had to leave because we were poor, and there was no money to pay the taxes. We left our young children, and when we returned they were grown, with beards, and some were dead. Today all our sons are lgonel. Only the old people remain, and they have little strength for farming. All our hcuseholds have been destroyed."

H. "Widowed several years before, left without income,and with only a few possessions, this woman had settled her family of three children near a one-room wooden schoolhouse... The woman's only earnings were those she received from time to time in payment for cleaning the school." Building Connections with Africa

Where did this happen? (from previous page)

A. Mississippi, USA (from Hunger in America, 1985)

B. Mozambique (from Lina Magaia, Dumba Nengue: Run for Your Life. New Jersey: Africa World Press, Inc. 1988)

C. Texas, USA (from Hunger in America, 1985)

D. Kenya (from Perdita Huston, Third World Women Speak Out . New York: Praeger Publishers. 1979)

E. Ohio, USA (from Hunger Reaches Blue Collar America, 1987)

F. New York City, USA (irom Jonathan Kozol's Rachel and her Children, 1988)

G. Senegal (from Oxfam America's Facts for Action #11 )

II. Sudan (from Perdita Huston, Third World Women Speak Out. New York: Praeger Publishers. 1979.) *Adapted from "U.S. and Third World Poverty: Making the Connections," a Tools for Peace And Justice campaign sheet produced by Oxfam America.

2 3 Session 1

Africa in the U.S. Media

A constant theme of this program is looking at the portrayal of Africa in the media. For example, the video used as the program's kick-off event asks participants to question the stereotypes inherent in the television image of the starving African.

The messages a community receives about Africa can either reinforce stereotypes about lifeon the continent, or help break them and introduce a more empowering perception of the relationship of interdependence between Africa and the United States. While most of us are familiar with growing U.S. dependency on foreign markets, economic relationships with Africa tend to remain obscure. Yet Africa may be key to a U.S. local economy or business.

All of us can have access to the media through contacts (press, radio, and television)as well as corporations and organizations that interact with Africa. Articles that explain connections with Africa have a special impact the key being a local angle in writing the article. Polls have shown that most Americans read what are called "small" newspapers (1,394 of the 1,645 papers in the U.S. havea circulation below 50,000). Therefore, the closer the story is to Tulsa, Hattiesburg, Eureka, etc., the bigger the play among the readership. Readers do play a role in what is printed in these papers for example, in ethnic communities that are mostly African American, the coverage of Africa is much higher. Still, most Americans don't see how Africa can affect them. Our challenge is to show that it does!

Activity As an on-going assignment within the scope of this program, all participants should clip Africa- related articles from local papers and other news sources to keep ina group scrapbook. Beyond this, certain participants in the group are designated to identify the Africa-related media network in their area. Perhaps it's easiest to make one person responsible for identifyingnewspapers, another for local radio, another for local television, etc. Each person will record the findingson the local media network and its coverage of Africa. They will report back to thegroup during each session. The findings by the group can help initiate a "reeducation"campaign inyour area. The worksheet on the following page is designed to guide those group members responsible for collecting information.

24 Building Connections with Africa

Worksheet: Our area's media coverage of Africa

1.What are the main newspapers, magazines, television, and radio stations in my community?

newspapers:

magazines: television: radio:

2. What percentage of space/time do they devote to international issues?

newspapers:

magazines: television: radio:

3. What kind of Africa coverage do they have?

newspapers:

magazines: television:

radio:

4.Do these media cover mostly peace/conflict, trade/economy, politics/government, eilergy/research, human interest, or ecology/environment issues?

newspapers:

magazines: television: radio:

5. Who are the people responsible for the coverage on African issues?

newspapers:

magazines: television:

radio:

6.What are the main organizations and corporations with African interests in my area? What imageof Africa do they portray? Who are the people responsible in their public affairsoffices?

(adapted from: Massachusetts and the World: An Activity and Resource Book by Paul T.Mulloy. Tuft University, Medford, MA, 1982.)

25 Session 1

Article 1: from Dumba Nengue: Run for Your Life: Peasant Tales of Tragedy in Mozambique by Lina Magaia.

Ihave four children. One of them was brought to me by fate, as a result of action by And I heard it being said that there was civil war in thebandidos arniados.*I gave birth to three. Mozambique. Civil war!? What is civil war? Wars, When I reached home un May 23, 1985, the little whether civil or not, are waged between armed con- ones, as always, ran towards me to greet me. I said tingents. That's not what's happening in Mozambique. hello to them automatically, without feeling. They There's no civil war in Mozambique. In Mozambique stood motionless, not understanding. One of them there is genocide perpetrated by armed men against asked me what was wrong. It was around three in the defenseless populations. Against peasants. It is the afternoon. same as what was done by scientific means against I didn't answer. I went into the house and threw millions in the forties under Hitler's command and myself on the tv.td in tears. My eight-year-o'i came to what the world condemned. Yes! That's it. The excuses talk to me and pressed me as to why I was criing. I told and the tactics differ but the results and the victims are him: the same. There is nu civil war in Mozambique. "Today I saw Sonyka killed by a bullet in the chest, It was reported from Malawi on October 13, 1986 my son." that RENAMO** "resisters" had taken towns in the "But isn't Sonyka there outside?" he asked, astonished. center uf Mozambique. At the same time it was "Yes, our Sonyka is outside. The bandits killed a reported that more than forty thousand people had child even smaller than Sonyka sought refuge in Malawian territory.**** Refuge from At this point Sonyka came into the room yelling, what? What are they afraid of? Why do they run away "Mama, what did you bring us from Maputo?" when the "liberator" occupies the land where they "I brought tangerines. They're in the car. Go and get were living and producing? For love of this "liberator"? them." In trust and hope of the benefit the occupation will They all ran out but soon came back, and it was the bring them? Why do they run away? Isn't it a clear sonI had been brought by fate who said to me, demonstration of rejection of those murderers? "Mama, the tangerines are covered in blood. Look at Some people spend a great deal of money and the bag, Mama." material and human resources to spread the idea of a "Wash them and eat," I replied. civil war in Mozambique. People who du this are "Whose blood is it, Mama? The car is covered in either naive or misinformed as to what isreally blood," said my eight-year-old. happening, assuming that they have any good int;:ntion. "Ask uncle Gaetano to wash the car out." Or they are the promoters uf the killings that are It was only then that I realized how much blood had taking place in our country, an independent and been spilled in the car. Blood of that pretty young girl sovereign country. In other words, they are supporting in her red skirt Blood of that child whom I had the aggression. wrapped in my black blouse, a blouse that I could The events recounted here are not the invention of a never bear to wear again. It was the blood of the sick mind with a taste for the macabre. There was no children uf Mozambique. Blood spilling from the attempt to choose the most dramatic stories.%rid wounds cut in their bodies by the knives and bayonets then: are many, many more, some of them much wielded by sons of Mozambique who have been sold worse. But how can we find out about them when the out to the enemies uf Mozambique. Sold to the victims are illiterate, and have no access to micro- enemies of the peace of Mozambicans. But sold in phones or other technoloa to report their day-to-day exhange for what? existence? What greed, what promises, what drugs could trans- Under cover of night the killers, who are infiltrated form children of the same womb into destroyers, by our enemies, are tearing the flesh of Mozambique "brain-smashers," people who could set fire to their into shreds. own brothers and sisters? I wanted to understand. I wanted to see an armed Lina Magma bandit, to know and understand tin,.: had heard many stories. But I thought they must be i.,agger ated. Baudtdus armadusis Portuguese tor al med bandits1hemu also I couldn't believe that people could do the th'ilgs I had called mar saugu heard about. There were the massacres of Wiriamu, Inhaminga, Nyasonia,* but I told myself that perhaps 'The first twoarelocalions in v.ln, ftunarmed Muiambn an they were possible because they were done by colonial- peasants vere massacred by spelid Iultes Of the tolomal arm% ists and others who were strangers to this land. But lhe Rhodesian army lhas responsible for the latter in khn h hundieds of Zimbalnvan tefugves ais%%dia.,!Ali/ambit ail these are the sons of Manhica, Inhambane, Sufala " tAlitens died of Mozambique? Inhambane and Solala are pu.r Imes and Manlm,a is a And I saw my children crushed, disembowelled, rent in southern Motambique with bayonets or their heads blown open by a burst **RENAMO is the Portuguese a Iuuii\Iii bul MtiR. from a machine-gun. ""Several fiurrdr ed Ihuusand Mo/amhnans tu Zambia and Lanbahv.e 26 Building Connections with Africa

Article 2: from Through African Eyes byLeon E. Clark.

Since the beginning, Africans have compiled a long list of accomplishments and made an impressive number of contri- butions to human history. The Western world, however, has not always recognized these contributions. For centuries, Africa was thought of as the "dark continent," a land of primitive people with little or no history worth studying. Today, we realize that the real "darkness" was in our own minds, in our ignorance of Africa. This recent awakening has taught us a number of facts about Africa that should give us cause for some humility: Centuries before the discovery of the "new world," Africa had thriving cities that were centers of trade and technology. As early as the 14th century Africa had centers of learning at Timbuktu and Jenne that drew scholars and theologians from throughout the Muslim world. During the Middle Ages, when justice thro.ghout much of the world was determined by the sword, great kingdoms in Africa had courts of law. When the Normans invaded a little-known island called England in 1066 A.D., they could muster an army of only 15,000 soldiers. In the same year, the West African state of Ghana could put 200,000 warriors in the field. When the Arabs invaded Europe in the 8th century A.D., they were able to push all the livay through Spain into France. When they invaded West Africa, they were stopped in their tracks. When most Europeans were still pagans, in the 4th century A.D., the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia (then called Aksum) was a center of Christianity and could claim to be the oldest Christian empire in the world; its stone churches, built in the 12th century, are among the wonders of the world. These random facts illustrate only a small part of Africa's richhistory. There are many more facts that might be mentioned, and still others that might not strike Westerners as significant but are nonetheless important. After all, Africans might consider the development of peaceful societies more significant than the development of great armies. They might consider the preservation of African religions more significant than the adoption of Christianity. In short, Africans might have their Own idea of what constitutes an important history. But no matter what standards we use, African history stands as an important pillar in the structure of human development. Why, then did the %Vest fail to appreciate the significance of African history for so long?

27 Li 3 Session 1

Article 3: from "How it Feels to be Colored Me." in I Love Myself When I am Laughing... by Zora Neale Hurston.

Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the grand- daughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you. The terrible struggle that made me an American out of a potential slave said "On the line!" The Reconstruction said "Get set!"; and the generation before said "Go!" I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep. Slavery is the price I paid for civilization, and the choice was not with me. It is a bully adventure and mirth all that I have paid through my ancestors for it. No one on earth ever had a greater chance for glory. The world to be won and nothing to be lost. It is thrilling to thinkto know that for any act of mine, I shall get twice as much praisc or twice IS much blame. It is quite exciting to hold the center of the national stage, with the spectators not knowing whether to laugh or to weep. The position of my white neighbor is much more difficult. No brown specter pulls up a chair beside me whcn I sit down to eat. No dark ghost thrusts its leg against mine in bed. The game of keeping what one has is never so exciting as the gamc of getting.

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3 4 28 Session 2: Culture Connections Goal: To establish greater awareness among participants of the connections between the U.S. and Africa on the basis of race and culture.

Session Length: approximately 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Activities: Participants share objects of African cultural interest and discuss the value of the arts as a means of preserving cultural values. They recognize that a history based on racism lies at the root of the U.S. relationship with Africa. They observe how African and African American culture has maintained its strength and resilience. They discuss readings on the common struggles of Africans and African Americans against racism and cultural oppression. They announce up-coming Africa-related events; share findings on the Africa resource network in the local area. They set the agenda and designate responsibilities for Session 3.

Suggested Equipment and Materials: African cultural visuals and foods brought by participants easel and newsprint to mark participants' questions, responsibilities copies of participants' names, addresses, and phone numbers to distribute to group a table to display any Africa-related literature a bulletin board to pin up a map of Africa,relevant articles and announcements thumb tacks, scissors, tape music cassettes to compare traditional sounds from West Africa (e.g., Ali Farka Tour& Zani DiabatO) with the U.S. blues (e.g., Hound Dog Taylor, John Lee Hooker,Howling Wolf) video cassette player

2 9 Session 2

Recommended Videos (to be shown either before or after the session):

How Open the Door?: Afro-Americans' Experience in Unitarian Universalism. This video is a historical overview of the role of the African American in the Unitarian Universalist movement, and looks at some of the factors that encourage and discourage African Americans from joining the Unitarian Universalist Church. The video is primarily for Unitarian Universalist audiences. (35 minutes)

Available from UUSC's Citizen Action Department, 78 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108, (617) 742-2120; or from the Unitarian Universalist Associations Adult Programs Council, 25 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108 (617) 742-2100.

A.F.R.I.C.A. This is a short, dynamic rap song about Southern Africa performed by the Stetsasonic youth group, particularly good for capturing the attention of younger audiences interested in Southern Africa. (10 minutes) Available from UUSC's Citizen Action Department, 78 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108, (617) 742-2120.

Session Outline:

1. A mini-celebration of culture and the arts (20 minutes): Activity: Share the stories behind the African cultural items participants brought to the session, as well as reactions to the food and the Kenyan Proverbs (Article 1). What do we learn about African values from art and culture? Do similar crafts, foods, proverbs exist in the United States? Discussion: Oral literature plays an important role in African society (article 2: The Story of the Mouse is a typical example). What place does this type of literature have within the different ethnic groups found in your own community? Discuss the different functions of oral literature in your own cultural backgrounds. Brainstorming Exercise: Draw up a list of African cultural events that have occurred in your area. Where might there be room to create more opportunities for public exposure to various African arts?

2.Discussion of the Readings Racism and the Resilience of African Culture (30 minutes): Two readings (articles 3 and 4) familiarize us with the trans-Atlantic slave trade and its continued impact on African Americans today. Besides being an extreme form of racism and exploitation of man by man, slavery was also 3n attempt to eradicate the identity and cultural value system of peoples of African origin. A history baseu on racism, therefore, is at the root of our relationship to Africa as Americans in a white Caucasian-dominated society. Without recognizing that root and the ways it has been perpetuated through the centuries into today, it will corrode our efforts to collectively build meaningful connections as Americans with Africans and within our own society.

3 Culture Connections

Questions: Do participants agree with the above statements? Why or why not? Discussion: Racism is the presence of race prejudice together with power exerted to maintain the prejudice. This is a commonly accepted definition of racism. Using this definition, list the factors contributing to racism as participants think it is being manifested in respect to non-white communities in our society today. Then list the factors that participants feel combat racism. What conclusions can you draw from these lists? What role(s) do(es) culture play in this analysis? Listening Exercise: Play selections from West African and African American music. Compare the styles and the emotions evoked by the sounds. Think of other African American cultural characteristics that can be traced to Africa. The common struggle against racism: readings by Africans and African Americans (articles 5-9) (20 minutes) Discussion: Recently, prominent U.S. black leaders officially advocated the use of "African American" to refer to people of African origin in the United States a term Rev. Jesse Jackson says has "cultural integrity". What does such a change in terminology imply? How does this fit with the ideals of Pan- and Trans- Africanism? Follow-up activities for issues raised by the readings (30 minutes): Ask a resource person knowledgeable about South Africa and the apartheid regime to describe the factors contributing to cultural oppression in their country. Consider the parallels, if any, that participants can draw between these conditions in South Africa and factors marginalizing ethnic minorities in the United States.

3.Updates on the local Africa resource network (10 minutes)

The facilitator asks participants to announce: progress on the list of African resources in the area (people; local network of African arts; area organizations and coalitions; and relevant libraries and resource centers). recent articles and media coverage on Africa (place clippings on a bulletin board ). up-coming Africa-related events (speakers, movies, exhibits, festivals, etc.)

4.Setting the agenda for Session 3: Economic Connections (10 minutes)

Before leaving, all participants should know what their responsibilities are. They should: all have copies of the participants contact list set a time, place and duration for Session 3 designate (a) facilitator(s) if necessary assign reading of the overview of the articles for Session 3 to all participants. designate participants responsible for reporting on certain readings, if all participants aren't able to read all the articles for Session 2 nominate person(s) who will bring African-style refreshments to the next meeting as homework, identify 5-10 commodities of African origin in homes or local store

1 Session 2

Overview of the Readings for Session 2: Culture Connections

For people in the United States, African A Fulani tale originally passed on by word of culture brings to mind much that has become mouth (article 2), establishes the importance of part of our everyday life. The jazz, blues, oral literature as a wa to preserve history and modern reggae, or popularized African music on express human values beyond everyday life. the radio, clothes and fashionable African Written down by Malum Amadu, this story jewelry, the number of African restaurants that follows the traditional model of African folktales have emerged in U.S. cities everywhere, news where animals prove far wiser than people. To about Africa on television all attest to the preserve the story, and the handmade paper on influence of African culture on American life. which he had written it, Amadu stored the Hand in hand with the celebration of the culture manuscript among some Arabic texts and other of Africa and its diaspora, runs a constant theme valuable papers inside a huge bundle of cloth. of cultural oppression and racism that has He extracted the manuscript from the bundle on defined the historical ties between the U.S. and a rainy night in Cameroon's Central Highlands the African continent. and presented it to the book's author. The wealth of artistic expression that can be Article 3 introduces the reader to the sla,e traced to Africa should come as no surprise trade, a period that forever marked the when you stop to consider the continent's relationship between the U.S. and Africa. diversity and the spread of its peoples throughout Between the 1440s and 1870s, up to 20 million the world. Africa is made up of over 50 nations, Africans were uprooted from their homeland. more than 1,000 ethnic groups, and almost Most were transported to the Americas. As with 2,000 separate languages. Keeping this in mind, most heinous crimes against humanity, the the articles selected for reading below can only voices of the true heroes and heroines of these serve as a small introduction to Africa's cultural four centuries were blotted out. This forces us, as and aesthetic diversity. students of history today, to focus our attention on the very exceptional cases of slaves who won As with any society and its language, an their freedom and were able to tell their story. In African language is intimately related to the an excerpt from a book entitled Ftince Among identity, integrity and survival of the culture it Slaves, we learn how Ibrahima, a Muslim prince represents: those who command its nuances, captured by the Mandinka people of Naini-Maru idioms, and proverbs (often the elders, story- (in what is now known as the Gambia), was sold tellers) are highly regarded within a community. into slavery and crossed the Atlantic in 1788. Proverbs work as a creative mechanism for Through a series of coincidences, Ibrahima was securing ties between past and present. Some able to plead his case in the United States, and, Kenyan proverbs and a short "lesson" in the after years of slavery on a tobacco plantation, widely-spoken East African language, Swahili, returned to Africa shortly before his death in set the tone for this chapter (article 1). 1829. Alex Haley's landmark book Roots, popularized by the television series, takes the reader on the same journey in reverse from the United States across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa. The book traces the author's ancestry back prior to slavery to his family's village in the Gambia. Haley's travels through the generations of his family in many ways revolutionized African American thinking about their heritage. Mote than any other contemporary book, it led African Americans to value their cultural linkage to Africa. Airing of the television series in many

32 Culture Connections

African nations has stretched the Roots legacy far solidarity in relations between Africans and beyond the borders of the United States. Bernard African Americans. Makhosezwe Magubane's recent volume The Many African authors, actors, artists and Ties that Bind (article 4) tells us of the impact of musicians Chinua Achebe, Miriam Makeba, Roots. Hugh Masekela, and King Sunny Adé to mention Over the course of generations, maintaining a few have had a profound influence in the a connection with Africa has been deeply United States. Article 9 tells how the musical ingrained in the minds of many African "Sarafinal," performed by and about school Americans in the U.S. As African states sought children from South Africa, has taken Broadway independence in the 1950s and 1960s, African by storm. The spirit of Tesistance is most Americans, including W.E.B. DuBois and captured by the show's use of "mbzganga", the Malcolm X, called for unification of all people of music and dance style originating in South African descent. This movement, called Pan- African townships. Africanism, was the driving force in the Much remains unsaid in this brief selection establishment on May 26, 1963 of the present- of readings there's no mention of African day Organization of African Unity (OAU) in communities in the U.S., the influence of African Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Pan-Africanism is being art and sculpture on Western artists, the spread redefined into Trans-Africanism, subject of of the African story-telling traditions, languages, article 5, "The African Diaspora and the and religious practices throughout the Americas, Contemporary World". or the effects of the "brain drain" of talented After generations, a distinct African Africans who resettle in other parts of the world. American tradition has developed in the I 'nited Nevertheless, issues raised by these readings States; likewise, cultural traditions iii Africa should stimulate thinking about the rich, resilient continue to evolve. Yet some constants remain. tradition of African culture. The significant body of readily available literature and poetry by both Africans and African Americans reveals parallels in the choice of topics and literary styles. Such constants, also reflected in oth(.r art forms, demonstrate the ultimate triumph of African cultural traditions. A passage from Maya Angelou's A// God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (article 6) portrays some of the expectations of African Americans who have settled in Ghana as part of the "back to Africa" movement. A short poem by Alice Walker (article 7) exposes some of the tension and ambivalence of the African American living in a society founded upon the white European value-based ideals of assimilation and egalitarianism. According to Wole Soyinka, Africa's first recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, artists play a crucial role in advocating issues that affect their culture and society. By virtue of his craft, says Soyinka, the writer "feels the wholeburden of the world on his shoulders" in dealing with contemporary African issues such as cultural boycotts, African feminism, and the need for

i 3 I"! Session 2

Article 1:"Proverbs from Ke^ya" and "Say it in Swahili" from Your World: An International Paper for Young People.

PROVERBS Seeing is different from being told From Kenya Much silence has a mighty noise.

A little path is sometimes the one Thunder is not yet rain. that leads you to the mein road.

Soon found soon lost Do not say the first thing that comes to your mind. Absence makes the heart forget

He who is unable to dance says that the yard is stony. Good millet is known at the harvest

There is no phrase without a double meaning. Talking with one another is loving one another.

He who receives a gift does not measure. Virtue is better than wealth.

ENGLISH SWAHILI PRONUNCIATION

Hello Jambo Jahm-bo

Goodbye Kwaheri kwah-hay-ree

Please Tafadhali tah-fah-vahl-ee

Thank You Ahsante ah-sahn-tee

We are friends Tuko rafiki too-koh rah-fee-kee

34 Culture Connections

Article 2:"The Story of the Mouse." Seven days the young man stayedinthat town; FromAmadou's Bundle byMa lam Amadu, then he said that he feltrestless and wai to go home. ONLDA Y, a very large snake came and crawled about in 'If wc go ;o the Lami'do,' said the snake, 'he will offer thevillage between the sarEs. The people gathered you many wonderful presents. Don't accept them. Ask together in a crowd and wanted to kill it; but a young only for thc ring on his thumb.' man, whose father had died and left him three slaves, Thc young man went and took leave of thc Lami'do, pleaded that it should not be killed. The people told him who offered him thousands upon thousands of beautiful that they would only leave the snake in peace if hc gave presents, in fact the whole world. But the yotmg man them one of his slaves. refused. 'Then leave it alone,' hc said, and gave them one of his 'I don't want all that,' he said, 'only the ring on your slaves. thumb.' Another day, some children caught a hawk. The young The king replied: 'But that is such a little thing.' man pleaded with diem zo set it free,and gave them his The young man's only reply was 'Mhm.' So the second slave. They freed the hawk and it flew away. Lanu'do took off his ring and gave it to him. When the people caught a mouse, the young man took The snake and the young man left together, but the his remaining, very small slave-girl and gave her to them snaix, only went with him as far as the spot on the path to let the mouse go. They set it freeand the mouse ran where they had previously met. I.iefore they said good- away. bye to each other, the snake said: 'When you reach your From that day, the people thought the young man was saCc:, everything you ever wi,ihed for in your ilk will be mad. lie took his spear and walked away into the there.' wilderness. After some time, he became tired and sat And this was all true. When the young man reached down wider a tree, just off the path. Suddenly, he hcard home, he found everything in the world, everythiig he something that sounded like the roaring of thc wind from had ever wanted; it was all there in his sara. far, far away; and slowly, slowly a huge snake came 'File young man married, but the mother of his wife crawling towards him. In front of the young man, shc was a sorceress and was not allowed tolive in the village. curled herself into three large coils and her wattles saC.' was on the other sideofthe river. One day, she glowed as red as tire. She looked at him, he booked at ',aid to her daughter: `Get me your husband's ring.' her. Then she uncoiled herself and slowly, slowly crawled '1 he daughter, the wite of the young mo3n, rook pepper away. and rubbed it in her eyes so that she cou1 weep without Thc young man got up and went on his way. After a. rt'ason. The young man tried to comfOr:his %%11C, but she fcw steps, hc met another youth sitting quite by himself anl that ,d1 she wanted was the ring on his linger. At last next to the path. lie took the ring oti his finger and gave it to her. 'Where arc you going?' asked the youth. She kept it for some time and later gave it tO her lOver, 'I am going to seek my fortune,' answeredtieI young telling 'inn to take it to her mother on the other side of man. the river. The lover took it to the mother and she became 'Whilst you were resting over there, did you see rich, but the wealth of die young man left him. .1.1is wife anybody?' left him and returned to her mother on the other side of 'I met a snake, replied the young man. the river. 'That was I,' said the youth. 'I am the snake that made Poverty came to the young man. Ile had nothing left the people gather together, in order to kill na,:; but you at all. Ile took his staff andwalked away once more into said, "Don't kill her." Come with me! One good turn the wilderness. Suddenly, the hawk came to him and said: deserves another.' 'Come with me, my friend; I will help you. You once did The young man followed the snake, and when they me a good turn.' came to an ant-hill the snake said: 'I fold on to myfeet; The young man followed the hawk to the hole of' the don't be afraid.' mouse. There the hawk called: 'Crawl out 1' The young man held on to the snake, and they crawled When the mouse came out, the hawk took it in his through a hole in the ant-hill. At last thee came to a large beak and flew away with it to the sate of the mother of tawn. The guards at the gates did not want to let them the young man's wife. There, he dropped thc mouse. The pass, but the snake drove them away, and wentwith.the mouse gnawed a hole in the pot where the motherkept yoong man into the town and straight tothe palace ot the the ring, took the ring up in his mouth, and crawled out Lai ni'do. again. Then thc hawk picked up the mouse, Hew away After they had saluted the ruler, the snake said to him: and dropped it at die feet of the young man. The mouse 'When the people wanted to kill me, this young man spat out the ring and returned it to him. Theys,nd good- beught my freedom.' The Lanii'do replied that they bye to each other, and the young man went home. There w :re his guests, and they were 'welllooked after. all the wealth he had lost came back to him. 35 4 1. Session 2

Article 3:from Prince Among Slaves by Terry Alford.

On January 3o, 1788, Captain Nevin get sail on theAfricafor Ibrahima was sixty-six when be told Gallaudet about the the Gambia. The mouth of the river was usually reached in less voyage. For two reasons it seemed best at that time to suppress an than thirty days. After paying a customary toll at Juffure, it took account of it. Slave ships were so familiar to people in 1828 that another week to ride the tides upriver to Niani-Maru. TheAfrica the biographer could say of Ibrahima's trip, "It would be useless reached this place about the first week in March. to describe its horrors," and everyone would know what he Niani-Maru was a Mandinka village of several hundred houses meant. In this way it was asserted that Ibrahima underwent a pas- on the Gambia's north bank. A map of the period contains this sage as ordinary and as abominable as had 75,000 other Africans inecription from Harry Gandy of Bristol: "Yanimaroo is a in 1788. Also, his biographer did not wish to arouse illwill delightful country abounding with provisions ... (and]inhabited toward slaveholders, and this was another reason to let the matter with honest, hospitable people; their houses are provided with pass. And so no full account of these weeks was ever published. various kinds of household furniture, etc." This place had become What is left, rather disconcertingly, is a few facts, a few hints, and wealth) through the taxing of caravans and the slave trading a tradition. They are not what one wants, but hey do give an idea that had thrived since the 1600s. Mandinka cultivators and of the passage. traders had resided here for centuries. They were a tall and For one thing theAfricawas very crowded. One hundred and slender people, black, active, and warlike. The mania, or king, of seventy people aboard a I to-ton brig meant there was less than a Lower Niani, of which Niani-Maru was the chief town, lived in a one-ton burden for each slave. Two tons were consideredmini- nearby town. With his permission Heatley and two other Euro- malby English reformers. If the average height of five feet in the peans maintained establishments dealing in slaves, ivory, wax, tweendecks applied, no one could stand up in the men's quarter, and a little gold. and those on the side platforms could not sit up from where they To Heatley's eyes, Ibrahima and the remnants of his war party, lay. One can imagine what this meant for the Fulbe, who were tall appearing from the hot lowlands south of Niani-Maru, would people. Ibrahima, himself six feet tall, was chained by the ankle to have looked similar to groups he had seen many times before. another passenger. His confinement was broken only for meals, "They come down in large bodies, tied together by the neck," he and those were customarily served twice a day. It was also cus- wrote, "perhaps loaded and whipped along the same as a hon.e." tomary for the slaves to sing their country songs and dance about With fifty of his command lbrahima was soon purchased by Cap- for exercise, males on the main deak and females up on the quar- tain Nevin. "The nature of the slave service in the West Indies, ter-deck with the captain. As the Fulbe, who were Muslims, did being chiefly field labor," Barnes wrote at this time, "requires for not dance, perhaps Nevin's quirt was employed to get them the immediate interest of the planter a greater number of males." moving. At any rate, lbrahima was more impressed with Nevin's Nevin shopped accordingly. Ibrahim& could see that for every habit of having tea served at a table in the late afternoon. He four men brought on tbeAfrica,there were only two women and could not have seen this unless he was situated near a grated one child. The men were clamped in irons immediately ("We hatch, which tells something important about the voyage. There should think it very dangerous otherwise," Heatley noted) and was no first class in the tweendecks, just levels of hell such as taken below. Bulkheads separated them from the boys abast the Dante provides, but if Ibrahima was at a hatch, he had a good mainmast and pumps. Several dozen women were put aftward position for fresh air and sea breezes and a.better chance of sur- between the boys and the ship's square stern. In the bow to Ibra- viving. It meant being the first out and the last in during musters. hima's front was the "hospital," an isolation room for anyone But the hours below are the measure of the voyage. Despite the developing fever. Precise figures are lacking, but it appears about ports and gratings that Heatley had given theAfrica,ventilation 165 or 170 Africans were crowded below deck. Captain Nevin was poor, with partitions shutting the bold into breathless com- also stowed in 456 pounds of beeswax and twenty-three ivory partments that were bot during the day, cold at night. Human tusks. excrement raised a stench that was fetid and noxious and killed Heatley said it was quite common for incoming captives not to appetites more effectively than seasickness. Nausea, weakness, understand each other and not to know the full extent of what was and debility followed. From dysentery and guinea worms, a mor- taking place. lbrahima, who was fluent in Mandinka, knew pre- tality of at least fiye per cent was expected. Ibrahima's impression cisely what was going on. While it did not lessen his alarm at his of the trip was that it seemed to go on and on and on. "Tedious" fate, it meant he knew what the fate was. The time passed with was the adjective Gallaudet used, tedious in the nlneteenth-cen- Dr. Cox had made him familiar with whites, and he was no doubt tury sense of "overlong" and "wearisome." Inevitable physical less afraid of them than were many other people in the interior. and mental deterioration resulted. "The horrots he felt so deeply" But of help, there was none. Although there were Muslims in was the expression used to characterize the trip many yr ars later. Lower Niani who might have been expected to save lbrahima, "(The] Prince's sufferings were very great." political and cultural considerations bade otherwise. Andthe Captain Nevin thought :he trip went well. Behind him on the Fulbe here, divided by dialect, caste, and religion, showed little Gambia theL'Aimable Louise'scargo had revolted and taken intergroup feeling as well. Rese.Neeven hostilitybetween them over the ship. Barnes would receive no letter to that effect, nor was common. There was nothing at Niani-Maru for lbrahima but would he read in the newspapers that theAfricahad floundered the tow that pulled him on. like theMinervaor exploded like theTartar.However protracted After a rapid loading, theAfricabegan downstream inmid- the voyage seemed to lbrahima, theAfricahad really been scud- March. The bamboo and swamps of Niani were soon succeeded ding the swells as if it were being chased. A quick passage was by mangrove thickets so inpenetrable that the banks were hidden mode. When the Windwards buoyed near, there appear to have from view. Salt water was encountered a hundred miles up the been no deaths in the crew, and, miraculously, just a handful in river at Elephant Island, and the country became flatter and more the hold. Of the 164 Africans alive when purt would be reached, monotonous each mile. Villages of cane huts alone appeared. At all but seven would be judged "prime Negroes" in adequate last, the ship came to the level lower river, where all the winding health for sale. was rewarded. TheAfricaslipped past Barra Point and spread its sails to the northeast trade winds. Its prow pointed for the Wind- ward Islands, more than three thousand miles to the west.

4 Culture Connections

Article 4:from The Ties That Bind by Bernard Makhosezwe Magubane

By Way of a Conclusion African ccosciousness reached its apogee with the publication in 1976 of Afro-American consciousness of Africa thus reflects the experience of a Alex Haley's Roots and its dramatization in a 1 3- hour series on television.' people, their aims, their struggles and their goals as they continued to live in Never before had the history of black America, and especially its African hostile climes. As Roots indicated, the American black's interest in Africa connection, become an issue of national debate. For the first time Alex was not nostalgi& It was produced from the deep layers of their tormented Holey had actually traced Afro-American history, not only through six lives in the New World "Ti.American Negro has a definable and generations in America, but to Africa. Haley, through Kunta Kinte had legitimate historical tradition, no matterhow painful, in America, but it is established real continuity between Africa and Afro-Americans, in actions the only place such airadition exists, simply because America is the only and thoughts, through sorrows and tribulations, as no one had ever done. place the American Negro exists ... He is anAmerican capable of The publication of his book, exactly 200 years alter the Declaration of identifying with the fantastic cultural ingredients of this society, but he is Independence, was ironic and it did not escape James Baldwin: also forever outside that culture, an invisible strength within it, an observer."" Whether Black Americans tried to identify or attempted to I cannot guess what Alex Haley's countrymen will make of his birthday evade identification with things African, the specter of Africa continued to present to us during this election and Bicentennial year. One is tempted haunt them; and in one way or another, they had to come to peace with it. to say that it could scarcely have come at a more awkward time what Haley's saga is a magnificent attempt to re-establish the ties that bind Afro- with conventions, the exhibition of candidates, the dubious state of this Americans to their ancestral home. As Chuck Stone put it "Alex Haley is particular and perhaps increasingly dubious union, and the American the Thucydides of our day, interpreting the Black Diaspora as majestically .. The quest attempt hopelessly and predictably schizophrenic, of preventing total as the Greek historian catalogued the PeloponnesianWar . cord disaster, for white people and the West, in South Africa. There is a from Tennessee succeeded, painstakingly unraveling the umbilical carefully muffled pain and panic in the nation, which neither candidate, that had stretched to a tortured distance from Africa andAmerica."" neither party, can coherently address, being themselves but vivid symptoms of it.'

Roots is about lineage and blood, history and suffering and the need to know about these things. The particular pain of not knowing is the fate of all Afro-Americans whose history was so curiously mislaid in America, cast aside as a fint sacrifice to survival on the plantations of the New World. According to reviewer Willie Lae Rose, "Omoro and Binta Kinte could possibly become the African proto-parents of millions of Americans who are going to admire their dignity and grace." Tne world of Alex Haley's Roots is Gambia, West Africa, around 1750, where one of his ancestor& Kunta Kinte, born of Ornoro and Binta Kinte of the Mandinka people and of the Muslim faith, lived. In the recreation of this nine and place, the ancestral village is brought to life with all its beauty and dignity. The public ceremonies of the beautiful Mandinka people are revealed as precise and coherent mirrors of their private and yet connected imaginations. Baldwin noted that these ceremonies, imaginations, however removed in time, are yet, for the black man anyway, naggingly familiar and present, I say, for the black man, but these ceremonies, thoseimaginations are really universal, finally inescapably as old and deep asthe human race. The tragedy of the people doomed to think of themselves as white lies in their denial of these origins: they became incoherent because they can never stammer from whence they came.'

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

i 7

t../ Session 2

Article 5:"The African Diaspora in the Contemporary World: From Pan-Africanism to Trans- Africanism,"African Diaspora Studies Newsletter.

THE AFRICAN DIASPORA IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD FROM PAN-AFRICANISM TO TRANS-AFRICANISM

Some eighty-four years after the Africa and the diaspora to combat West- Today, however, there are some 50 first Pan-African Congress, structural ern socioeconomic subordination of Afri-independent, majority-ruled states in changes in the status of African peoples can peoples throughout the world. Africa, 12 independent Caribbean both internationally and locally require a Historically, linkages between diasnations, a nascent black consciousness in reassessment of whether or not trans- pora blacks and Africans have been Brazil, and a greater measure of equality Africanism, rather than Pan-Africanism, defined by Pan-Africanism. But contem-and political influence among blacks in should be our response to contemporary porary realities may now require a the United States. The clear-cut objective realities affecting intra-African relations.redefinition of the purpose and goals of now is to develop a consciousness of unity Pan-Africanism. A brief historical over-and a forceful push for economic power view will show that the responsibilities to eliminate economic dependency. of black leadership are now far more complex, and that the objectives of con- tinued diaspora interactions are much "Historically, linkages more multifaceted. between diaspora blacks The Pan-African Congress, held "Whereas Pan-Africanism and Africans have been iii Paris in 1919, was spearheaded by advocated, among other defined by Pan-African- W. E. B. Du Bois. The conference was hold in response to the consolidation of things, an eventual ism. But contemporary European political and economic controlterritorial regrouping, realities may now re- in Africa. However, the aim of the con- gress had been merely to improve treat-trans-Africanism is based quire a redefinition of nent of the African "natives...insofar asprincipally upon a kind of the purpose and goals of their development permits." psychological unity." Pan-Africanism." In 1945, during the aftermath of World War II, the Manchester Confer- cnce took place. At that time, both U.S. l'resident Franklin D. Roosevelt and I iritish Prime Minister Winston Churchill ,.;ave their support for self-government It is because of this global struggle The issue itself derives from the the Atlantic Charter. However, the of members of the darker race to narrow widely held belief that the political and i'onference participants called only for the gap between themselves and the economic future of peoples of African iiqual opportunity and autonomy. industrialized Western world that a para- descent both in Africa and abroadis phrase of Du Bois is pertinent: the prob- inextricably linked by a sense of inter Although this was the first Pan- lem of the twenty-first century will be locking destiny. This sense of destiny African congress to have had significantthe convergence of the color line with grew out of the primal fact of African African representation, it was not until that of the poverty line. the first Conference of Independent Afri- concepts and kinship and the existence With these developments in Timid, of spiritual and cultural affinities. can States, held in Acaa, Ghana in 1959, just two years after that country'sit is therefore possible to understand Moreover, a similar history of Fun independence, that delegates called for why trans.Africanism offers a more prag- pean domination led to the emergence iftotal African independence and unity. matic solution for the problems of Atrica the tradition of Pan-Africanism, a con This sigmiled the acceleration of Africanand the diaspora. In addition, the o cept which espoused an alliance or uniondeadoniution. cept, unlike Pan-Africanism, assunIcs no of all African peoples or nations and the hegemonial position for any part establishment of an identity between African gmuping or nation.

4 Culture Connections

Article 5 (coned.)

Whereas Pan-Africanism advo However, trans-Africanism recog- While the capacity to realize this cated, among other things, an eventual nizes as well that the greatest Afro- goal will necessarily differ within vari- territorial regrouping, trans-Afrir ism isAmerican contribution to African politicalous sectors of the diaspora, the following based principally upon a kind of psycho-and economic development may be that tactics should become part of a coherent logical unity. It envisions a two-prongedof capitalizing on the prerogatives of trans-African strategy: basis of operation: a concentration i)f national citizenship. Specifically, since effort in the country of one's actual the United States' global reach gives it a1. the development of a sense of collec- citizenship coupled with a profound iden powerful position in international affairs, tive responsibility for the condition of tity with issues relating to the African an Afro-American quest for progressive the African peoples; homeland. policies toward Africa and the diaspora Trans-Africanism also emphasizes may be more beneficial than a massive 2. the consolidation of power and influ- economic and political collaborat return to Africa as advocated earlier by ence at the local level; acToss territorial boundaries for in,. :dal emigrationists. Similarly, the use of a self-interest. It incorporates the notion ofsignificant portion of black American 3. the selective repatriation to Afi-ica of Pan-Africanism inasmuch as the ulti- aggregate income in 1980, $127 trained specialists to provide needed mate goal of creating one nation/state inbillion), for political empowerment and technical assistance; Africa may strengthen the continiqu's investment in and trade with Africa influence within the international and the Caribbean, would advance trans- 4. the institution of a greater measure of community. African goals. economic self-reliance between Africa Moreover, the 62 independent Afri- and the diaspora; and can and Caribbean nations constitute a voting block of more than one-third in international fonims and therefore 5. the purposeful attempt to accumulate should miperate in a more systematic capital to advance political and secu- "In sum, the fundamen- way to become a significant force in rity goals. tal assumption of trans- multilateral diplomacy. Africanism is that the In sum, the fundamental assump- As shown, the implementation of tion of trans-Africanism is that the trans-Africanism and its intended impact African continent has African continent has the potential of on African peoples opens the door to the potential of becoming a powerful and pivotal force much further research and inquiry. 111 becoming a powerful international affairs. If actualizad, this force could have a reverberating effect and pivotal force in on peoples of African descent every- international affairs." here. Thereft n.e, tix p imary ubjecti%., of diaspora Africans should be to forge policies that not only consolidate Africa] power but enhance the strategic impor- tance of the continent.

'1 0 39 Session 2

Article 6:from All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou. Article 7:"xiv." from Once: Poems by Alice Walker.

From All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou

I was soon swept into an adoration for Ghana as a I was one of nearly two hundred Black Americans then there was young girl falls in love, heedless and with slight chance frum St. Louis, New York City, Washington, D.C., the of finding the emotion requited. Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Dallas who hoped to live out There was an obvious justification for my amorous the Biblical story. picture of feelings. Our people had always longed for home. For Some travelers had arrived at Ghana's Accra Air- the centuries we had sung about a place not built wall port, expecting customs agents to embrace them, por- bleak-eyed hands, where the streets were paved with gold, and ters to shout "welcome," and the taxi drivers to ferry were washed with honey and milk. There the saints them, horns blaring, to the city square where smiling little black would march around wearing white robes and jeweled officials would cover them in ribbons and clasp them to girl crowns. There, at last, we would study war no more their breasts with tearful sincerity. Our arrival had little waving the and, more important, no one would wage war against impact on anyone but us. We ogled the Ghanaians and American us again. few of them even noticed. The newcomers hid disap- .rhe old Black deacons, ushers, nyithers ofthe pointment in quick repartee, in jokes and clenched flag church and junior choirs only partially meant heaven jaws. holding it as that desired destination. In the yearning, heaven and The citizens were engaged in their own concerns. gingerly Africa were mextriLably combined. rhey were busy adoring their flag, their five-year-old And now, less than one hundred years after slavery independence from Britain and their president. Jour- with was abolished, some descendants of those early slaves nalists, using a beautiful language created by wedding the very taken from Africa, returned, weighted with a heavy English words to an African syntax, described their tip* hope, to a continent which they could not remember, leader as "Kwame Nkrumah, man who surpasses man, of her to a home which had shamefully little memory of them. iron which cuts iron." Orators, sounding more like Which one of us could know that years of bondage, Baptist southern preachers than they knew, spoke ot fingers. brutalities, the mixture of other bloods, customs and Ghana, the jewel of Africa leading the entire continent languages had transformed us into an unrecognizable from colonialism to full independence by the grace ot tribe? Of course, we knew that we were mostly un- Nkrumah and God, in that order. When Nkrurnah or- wanted in the land of our birth and Saw promise On dered the nation to detribalize, the Farm, Twi, Ashanti, our ancestral continent. Ga and Ewe clans began busily dismantling formations I was in Ghana by accident, literally, but the other which had been constructed centuries earlier by their immigrants had chosen the country because of its pro- forefathers. Having the responsibility of building a gressive posture and itsbrilliantpresident, Kwame modern country, vile worshipping traditional ways Nkrumah. He had letit be known that American Ne- and gods, consumed enormous energies. groes would be welcome to Ghana. He offered havens As the Ghanaians operated an efficient civil service, for Southern and East African revolutionaries working hotels, huge dams, they were still obliged to he present to end colonialism in their countries. at customary tribal rituals. City streets and country I admitted that while Ghana's domestic and foreign roads were hosts daily to files of celebrants of mourn- policy were stimulating,I was captured by the Gha- ers, accompanied by drums, en route tofunerals, naian people. Their skins were the colors of my child- outdoorings (naming ceremonies), marriages or the hood cravings: peanut butter, licorice, chocolate and installations of chiefsind they celebrated national and caramel. Theirs was the laughter of home, quick .uid religious harvest days. Itis small wonder that the en without artifice. "Therect and graceful walk of the trance of a few Black Americans into that high stepping women reminded me of my Arkansas grandmother, promenade went largely unnoticed. Sunday-hatted, on her way to church. I listened to men The wonder, however, was neither small nor pain-

talkind whether or notI understood their meaning, less to the immigrants. We had come to Africa from there was a melody as familiar as sweet potato pie, our varying starting places and with myriad motives, reminding me of my Uncle Tommy Baxter in Santa gaping with hungers, some more ravenous than ,ithers, Monica, California So I had finally come home.I. he and we had little tolerance for understanding being ig- prodigal child, having strayed, been stolen or sold trom nored. At least we wanted someone to embrace us and the land of her fatheri, having squandered her mother's maybe congratulate us because we had survived. If they gifts and having laid down in cruel gutters, had at last felt the urge, they could thank us for having returned. arisen and directed herself back to the velcoming arms of the family where she would be bathed, clothed with fine raiment and seated at the welcoming table.

40 Culture Connections

Article 8:"Africa's Nobel Laureate" by Barbara Summers and Malaika Adero, Africa Report July/Aug. 1987 the direction of technological transfor- With the award of theNobel Prize mation. Stxm the only differences be- tween poiple will be cultural differ- for Literature to Wole Soyinka, one ences." of Nigeria's premier writers,Africa's What, then, is the nile of the artist? rich literary tradition has finally What is the resixinsibill,'if the writer to society? Politics deals with paradox received international recognition. and artists are uniquely equipped to deal Shortly after his play, "Death and with opposites. and extremes. "Artists the King's Horseman," was provide consciousness," says Soyinka. "The writer has no choice, I think, but to performed in New York, Soyinka reinforcethoseculturaldistinctions talked about the role of the writer even while utilizing tools which areuni- within the politics of culture and the versal." He must use the unique to cri- tique the very direction in which the impact of the Nobel on his career. whole world remorselesslyisbeing pulled. Literature by and about African people African-Americanswho, So yinka thus received the highest non-commer- contends, are in fact "part and parcel of Africa's it cial "stamp of approval" ever. With the American society," tind useful to resurgence in black literature in the "maintain a kind of cultural distinction Nobel 19130sand especially Alice Walker's from the majority European-American blockbuster The Color Purplewriters culture." "Poets, painters, and drama- and publishers have been eyeing each tists are looking to Africa for images and Laureate other with cautious curiosity prospect- symbols, seeking certain ritualistic pat- ing for that next color of money and suc- terns in order to redefine and re-exam- cess. ine the temporary conditions of our con- But Soyinka has no intentions of going temporary society. BY BARBARA SUMMERS Hollywood or high hat with the Nobel. "A lot more of that will be taking with MALAIKA ADE.RO Ile is adamant when he says that the place," he feels. problem of the prize, "the aspect of rec- l'his does not negate his opinicm that Since the Nobel, he says his life is ognition," is a "problem of the outside there are major cultural differences be- hell, the hell of Other people."I world, the European world." In Africa, tween Africans on the continent and in tiave lost even the tattered remains of he insists, there is a strong literary tra- the diaspora. As a theatrical director, my privacy.' to powerful institutions arid dition, both oral and written, with mas- Soyinka had to come to grips with the heads of state and ordinary people terworks especially in poetry. Ile sees fact that "over the centuriesMrican- whose "claims are always backed by a the major significance of the Nobel as Americans have acquired certain char- very grxxl reason," he says. Although "extending the literary family" beyond acteristics, certain rhythmic patterns, his sweeping arm includes us in the defi- Euro-American culture. even vocal patterns, that differfrom nition of his hell, he is gracif nis and volu- As a young African, he grew up in those of Africans who never left the ter- ble as we talk on a recent Friday. Waves colonial Nigeria mirrored by English lit- ritory." Cultural exchange, he main of eloquence,sprightly aid eleprit, erature. If he could make such drastic tains, is "not au automatic tran,ition v.;,,sh through his hands and over his leaps in identificatic in, he sees no Teaseni "It is a team ning prok.ess.- face Mach sometimes spar kles and why whites or any orh. else cannot sur- According to Soyinka, "'Nei e is no other times ripples ui though, lid comet' mount their cultural biases and enter way kit 1 duck Aniericans caiipretend tration. into his African wen Id.Ile is impatient that the materialist outlook of American with "intelk'ctual laziness'' and "self-cre- societ y--the sense of making ithas Pie award of the Nobel Prize for lat- ated barriers" that hinder the free trade not atfected them. l'he sense of com- era t ure to Nigerian author Wole Slryinka of ideas. munity which many Africans possess eludes African.Americans in its deepest in October l981i1111Iked a significant Just as all the economic., of the world breakthrough in the politics of eultuie. are interielated, he says, -11wre is a sense. They have no choice, having to column) dem iminator anti nig various tind their survival in a vet, very difficult I hi% dip lid ii is ',printed u.t:h 01I cultures of the world. Whether we like it (1111111;11milieu. city Sun, the Nrle Y,14. iJPi do 4,', 'Did r "If you savthatiii LAnnwth.,111,-; (..pyrwht i'07 hi. tIt or not, the whole world is progressing ii 41

4 Session 2 Article 8 (cont'd.) should be invited to abandon this coun- "If you have genuine revolutionary human dignity, he feels. try, the result of their sweat, to transfer societies in which there is full participa- Similarities among Afri(2n peoples to a kind of homeland in Africa, I would tion, where people are not treated as are more real than differences. Says disagree with that. We need to look to- thievesthis new form of internal colo- Soyinka, "The African world is not lim- ward black America for certain areas of nialismthen people will march shoul- ited by the African continent." Obvious expertise before we look to Europe. Es- der to shoulder with theirleaders. elements of an African aestheticfor pecially in the fields of technology and When the heads of state involve the example, in music, architecture, and hu- medicine, we should invite the brains of people in the country's fortunes and man beautyrange "from the sublime black America to congenial areas in Af- destinies instead of directing the coun- to the ridiculous," with black beauty- rica." try's resources to protect their own po- queen competitions falling toward the Congenial areas? Soyinka mentions sitions, these leaders will have nothing low end of the scale. The very structure Senegal, Kenya, and Tanzania. What to fear." But it is fear which prevents of our primary social grouping, the com- about Nigeria? these countries from organizing a libera- munal family, today retains the essen- Twenty years ago, during the disas- tion army to confront South Africa. "As tials of its African origin, he feels. trous civil war, Soyinka was arrested long as African leaders are more con- Soyinka's participation in national and and remained imprisoned for over two cerned with protecting their own turf, international writers organizations has years, most of that time in solitary con- unity against South Africa will not hap- kept him busy and successful ("I was finement. Pain seems to slide into non- used to five figures, but the prize is six

chalance as he shrugs off that turn of The role of the artist in the siege ot figures...still, not really that much"), events in our conversation. "A writer South Africa? His position on cultural just the opposite of an invisible man. But takes risks," he says. "One day in boycotts? The questions are simple. It the extra glare of the Nobel has been prison, one day being decorated by the is the answers which are "very, very fa t head of state." The only way he could complex." Soyinka tells of being invited sustain himself in such isolation was to to South Africa by a group of young "deliberately consign the outside world black people, "living in the thick of the "It is obvious that the to oblivion." "I recognized the fact that battle, day to day." "I packed my bags politics of culture for the nextI didn't know how long and said, 'Of course, I'll go. I'm ready to depends directly on the this was the entirety of my existence. It conie if you can get me a visa.'His visa politics of was not a question oflosinghope. I did was rejected and so he did not go. He not evenentertainhope. I lived from day says, "Others believe that South Africa government." to day." should be boycotted totally. Economi- It is obvious that the politics of culture cally,yes.But culturally,itdoesn't Where does he intend to regroup and depends directly on the politics of gov- make sense to me." recoup? In his home town of Abeokuta, erninent. And it is equally obvious that Soyinka's opinions of the women's a rocky, quiet place which, he says, "has "too often nasty types have held the movementareequallyvehement. refused to expand in the aggressive, reins of power," Soyinka says. But Soy- "Women have always been women chaotic ways of Lagos and Ibadan." inka feels that the present Babangida re- where I conic from. Women drove out a With a Nobel laureate in residence, gime has made definite overtures to in- powerful king all in a day's business," he though, change may not be far behind. tellectuals and artists. says. Ile is quick to point out that he is Perhaps no further away than the next At times the writer, that specialist quoting a Nigerian woman author when mail delivery. Such is the power of the with ciniumin tools, feels the whole bur- he says that w(milen artists toid certain word that in Nigeria, correspondence to den of tire world on his shoulders. "Pie manifestatii ins of the Eon )-Ainerican \Vole Soyinka needs no address. iesult that his very creative powers movement "repulsive." In African America, he is not---yet-- ;ire totally asphyxiated. That is danger- "Africans must develop their own as well-known. As performances and ous. By extending the horizons of per- feminist tradithnis based oil the material publications increase. commercial expo- ception of his society, the writer is al- conditions ot tio.ir existence and theii- sure, such as l,incoln Center's recent ready contributing enormously h) the relationship to the rest of it'tyitoh production of "Death and the King's wellbeing of the community." i1( it JUSt )py,he lb nrse man" and academw recognitin, A well-tx.ing predicated on dishon- diffel'etices would probably will certainly help repair such ignorance. esty,injustice, and inhumanity, how- go a long way in explaining why- de- Direct,intensified exchange between ever, cannot stand, says Soyinka, and spite the barebreasted physicality ot artists also will circulate Soymka's work artists cannot "accept a doulth. stan- sonic African 5( iciet ies rp+.11 sexu- mu] that of other Africans. dard." "We musthavethemot al ality tamp:int in the We.:1 has ht phi( e In America, Afrk ans must make a strength to (TititT,C off ()MI Rick up in African writing, lie claims that "Atn leap past the entertainer icons of this e:a-as I\lany African leaders are WntetS out Africans in genet ;11 ,Ite neon culture to find the sourceof our .11inil ot their own people, afraid to ex Lit Mine private. They ihject the cult Wisdom. Across great cultunil divarles, tend ight s, to erwourage a creative par if eviNe ;ill,I eve,il .111. hi dlr., Wiy, somewhere we all speak the sanw Liii thipatot y government, he says. they 1101111.1W guage, I 42 Culture Connections

Harassment, torture, and detention Article 9: "Sarafinar: The Music of Liberation" begin to unfold as part of the children's by Daphne Topouzis, Africa Report, Jan.Feb. 1988. daily routine. A boy whose father is at- tacked by security police dogs asks: "What would you do if your father came home with no pants and blood dripping "Sarafina!": down his legs?" Sarafina begins to emerge as a seri- ous and committed activist with little The Music of Liberation time for teenage play and carefree fun. No other play about South Africa has had as much In a snin voice, she tells the story of impact on its audiences as Mbongeni Ngema's the s.,age rape of a black woman by a "Saraf ina!" A brilliant interplay of mbagangathe music white police officer and launches a fron- tal attack on apartheid: "This whole of the townshipsdance, and song, combined with a place is filthy," she says with a stone- powerful political message, the production is preparing cold expression on her face. "It smells of to take Broadway by storm. the burning bodies of the informers. It smells of the government lies. It stinks BY DAPHNE TOPOUZIS opened at the Market Theater in Johan- of their jails. It stinks of their army. It nesburg. stinks of their state of emergency." Standing on an armored truck be- New York was next. The play was Flashbacks into the history of the hind a chain-link fence topped with almost immediately sold out at the Lin- black struggle eventually lead to the barbed wire, four musicians, dressed in coln Center Theater and is now going story of Victoria Mxenge, a human South African military gear and armed strong at Broadway's Cort Theater. rights attorney and member of the with guitars and trumpets, open fire Critics predict "Sarafina!" will be Broad- United Democratic Front whose de- w.:;) a slick mbaqanga tune. Next, 20 way's hit of the season. fense work in the Natal treason trials te:...agers in black and white school uni- The year is 1976. The setting is the cost her her life, murdered in August forms and spiffy bowler hats fill the Morris Isaacson High School, the "par- 1985 in front of her children by "un- stage to defy apartheid with a dazzling liament" of black students in the town- known masked men." display of song and dance, ship of Soweto. As an ordinary school Sarafma's vivid account of Mxenge's Written and directed by Mbongeni day begins, we are gradually introduced tragic fate is only matched by the cast's Ngema ("Woza Albert!" and "Asina- ) the main characters of the play, most reenactment of the Soweto uprising of mali!," see Africa Riport, July-August of whom are addressed by mischievous June. 1976, when, after refusing to ac- 1987), with music by Hugh Masekela, nicknames: Colgate, Crocodile, Silence, cept Afrikaans ("the language of oppres- "Sarafina!" has been acclaimed as onc of Florsheim, Teaspexin, and Schoolmis- sors") as the medium of instruction, the most original, exuberant, and ine- tress "It's a pity." hundreds of schoolchildren were massa- sistibk. shows to reach New York City. Their laughter, tet nage sensibility, cred by the South African police. Subtitled "The Music (4 Liberation," the and playful fighting are irresistibly en- And yet, "Sarafina!" is not merely a play celebrates the spirit of resistance gaging and infectious. Initially, the hero- play about oppressionoppression is and resilience of South Africa's black ine, Sarafina, conies across as a "pretty the context, not the focus of the show school children, using mbaqanga, the mama," the most sought-after girl in the and certainly not its final word. With music of the townships, as the medium. schoola girl who has boys on their "Sarafina!," Ngema has taken "Asina- The idea for the play crystallized dur- knees singing, "You break me heart in mali!" one step further, leaving apart- ing a conversation between Ngema and pieces. You make I wanna cry." heid behnd in order to bring out the Winnie Mandela, in which the resistance. The jovial and carefree atmosphere of power, positiveness, and resilience. of leader underscored the. strength of the the classroom is regdarly and brutally the children of South Africa. The fact childreninSouth Africa'sliberation interrupted with the grim realities of that the story line is somewhat thin is struggle. Subsequently, in a small Leni- apartheid: security identificati( m check- virtually irrelevant. don studio, Hugh Masekela and Ngema ups before class and the beating of the began working on a score revolving mistress, under an absurd pretext, for " 'Sarafina!' celebrates around the power of mbaqanga music. "subversive" teaching. Colgate wittily Upon his return to South Africa, the recounts how the omnipresent arnwd the spirit of resistance playwright set up auditions throughout soldiers have taken the place of educa- and resilience of South the country to select his cast. Nine boys tion inspectors and have rewritten the Africa's children, using and eleven girls aged 16 to20were cho- school syllabus. The smell of gunpow- mbaganga, the music of sen, and after eight months of training in der "has become our perfume," he adds the black townships, as voice, acting, and dance at the old Plan- with a smik. that fails to hide the tragic the medium." tatxm Hotel in Fordsburg, "Sarafina!" expression on his taut face. -j 43 Session 2

Article 9 (cont'd.)

kaki'

"Their laughter, teenage sensibility, and row, " their fists clenched in the air. edly lies in the fact that it has introduced playful fighting are irresistibly engaging Sarafinais detained andtortured a new dimension to a familiar, though by and infectious" twice, only to return stronger and more no means exhausted,subject.Like In fact, what is remarkable about this committed to the cause. On her initia- other South African plays, "Sarafina!" is play is that the music and dancing com- tive, the class chooses to devote the narrated rather than dramatized, but it municate the story line with even more annual school revue to Nelson Mandela, is narrated through every song and intensity and passion than any script with Sarafina as the protagonist. Mase- through each child's body, movement, could have. Mbaqanga both reinforces kela's "Bring Him Back Home" is sung and voice. It is not acted out, but re- the spirit of resistance and smoothes out in melodic whispers while the spotlight enacted by children who have lived the grief and frustration of the school- rests on her as she delivers Mandela's throu0 what they are communicating. children's uneasy endurance of apart- homecoming speech. Yet,if "Sarafina!" succeeds in com- heid. Similarly, dance is used not only to As tension recedes, the cast per- municating a grim reality with humor, communicate the children's vitality, but forms an explosive version of "Wololo," infectious optimism, and uplifting spirit, to articulate what is not expli-itly stated. which sets in motion every muscle and the spectator does not leave with his he unfailingly uplifting feel of the every musicalnoteavailable.Both conscience at rest. The continuous bat- music and the pulsating dancing carry a times I saw the play, the audience in- tle between the tragic truth and the clear message all by themselves. In one vited itself to dance and applaud through youthfulconvictionthatchangeis of the most moving parts of the play, the this last number, mesmerized by this around the corner remains troubling children cast off their uniforms and slip bewitching blend of music, dance, and for the cast and the audience alike. The into colorful traditional African dress to energy. children's burden cannot help but be- perform "Freedom is coming tomor- The originality of this play undouht- corfie the spectator's guilt.

44 o 0 BEST COPY liNAILACU Session 3: Economic Connections

Goal: To establish greater awareness among participants of the connections between the U.S. and Africa on the basis of economics and neocolonialism.

Session Length: Approximately 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Activities: Participants share their findings about what economic commodities in their local area are of African origin. They learn about some of the economic ties that bind Africa, Europe, and the U.S. both historically and today. They recognize connections between the marginalized communities in the U.S. and in Africa from an economic perspective. They discuss readings On the common struggles of Africans for economic self- determination. They announce up-coming Africa-related events; share findings on the local Africa resource network. They select the issue to be presented for Session 4, set the agenda, and designate responsibilities.

Suggested Equipment and Materials: African commodities and foods brought by participants easel and newsprint to mark participants' questions, responsibilities a table to display any Africa-related literature a bulletin board to pin up a map of Africa, relevant articles and announcements thumb tacks, scissors, tape video cassette player

4 5 ;.) Session 3

Session Outline:

1.Identifying Objects of African Origin in your Community (20 minutes)

Africa's Wealth in our Homes: Although we may not be aware of it, products from Africa have become a part of our daily lives in the United States. Some, such as diamonds, gold, fur, and ivory have become symbolic of our image of wealth as a society. In a group exercise, draw a "map" of a typical household and identify all items of African origin. Don't limit yourself solely to finished products. In many cases, raw materials or minerals used by manufacturers come from the African continent. Here's a list to get you started: Firestone tires (rubber cinnamon, vanilla, cloves plantations) sugar, dates, fruits, wine African violets (other tea, cocoa, coffee medicinal plants, flowers, dyes) peanuts, cashew nuts, palm oil Gucci leather bags/suitcases (leather hides) zoo animals erasers (gum arabic) mahogany, wood products, wood carvings Izod shirts (shirt factories in Mauritius) music, musical instruments colorful woven "Kenya" bags, manganese, uranium, sisal bauxite, petroleum, copper, chrome, furs, ivory, gold, diamonds, phosphate gems

Negative Images: Some "African" items we regularly encounter have contributed to racial stereotyping of Africa as well as people of African origin. Images of pickaninnies, golliwogs, Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, still popular in the U.S., contain racial slurs that many of us have grown to accept without giving it much thought. A few other African "imports" that might he considered negative include:

Safari outfits from Banana Republic store, African "safari" game parks Images of Africans as cannihals in comic hooks Taizan and other I lollywood movies that depict Afri( d AIDS as an "African" disease "Afric an" killer bees (they're at. tually from Bratih

( an you think of others?

4 6 Economic Connections

Brainstorming exercise: Launch a commodity awareness campaign. Think of ways to spread broader awareness of commodities' origins among fellow consumers and shop-keepers. For example, speak up about the boycott of diamonds from South Africa, Shell oil, African furs and ivory to shop and gas station owners! Let them know that you and your colleagues will boycott the station or store.

2.Discussion of Session 3 readings Africa before the Europeans (article 1) (15 minutes):

many of us in the U.S. grow up believing that African civilization did not begin until Africa was "discovered" and explored by Europeans. Yet kingdoms, empires, and civilizations throughout the African continent predate those of Europe. For example, the world's oldest Christian empire hails from Africa: the kingdom of Ethiopia, originating in the ancient city of Aksum, endured for almost 3,000 years. Ethiopia's emperor, referred to as the "King of Kings, Lion of Judah, Elect of God" claimed direct descendance from the union of the Queen of Sheba with King Solomon of Israel. In article 1 below we learn about Kilwa (in what is known today as Tanzania), a wealthy trading city that maintained sophisticated economic relationships with other African ports, the Persian Gulf, Arabia, India, and even China.

Discussion: What obstacles prevent us in the U.S. from learning more about Africa's rich history? How can such obstacles be overcome? From Colonialism to Neocolonialism (articles 2-6) (20 minutes):

Discussion: In these readings, we've seen examples of neocolonialism (definition: the survival of colonial-like exploitation by a foreign power of a region that has ostensibly achieved independence) and dependency on Western foreign support in the African context. Many development experts maintain that similar forces of new colonialism operate in poverty-stricken regions or marginalized communities in the United States. What parallels exist? (use flipchart paper to mark down comments) What factors contribute to maintaining these conditions of dependency?

47 Session 3

A Role Play to Understand the Multinational Corporation (MNCs) (30 minutes):

In today's interdependent world, all nations great and small have to come to terms with some level of foreign influence on their affairs. What options do African nations have when it comes to deciding what role for foreign involvement is best? This role play portrays a situation where a MNC seeks to expand its operations to an African country and the ensuing debate between the interested parties How to Play:

1)Participants select an African nation (read about it in the country basic data section at the end of this book) 2)Participants then choose the type of agricultural commodity the MNC wants to develop (e.g., cotton, coffee, gum arabic (for rubber), cocoa, tea...) in the chosen nation

3)Participants decide on the name to give to this U.S.-based MNC 4)Then participants select who in the group will play the following roles:

Role #1: Representative of the MNC.

You're a representative from the U.S.-based main office.Your company is very interested in expanding its activities in thic African country for several reasons: profits are substantially higher in the Third World than in industrialized nations. your company will be able to corner the local market on the commodity in question. your company can take advantage of lower wages, weak environmental laws, and government restrictions on union activity.

Role #2: Representative of the government You've been educated in the U.S., and have been a government employee all your professional life, and are currently wrestling with a national budget plagued by hefty debt payments to international creditors. From your point of view, inviting the MNC to open up activities in your country is advantageous, because: it will provide new wage-paying jobs. it will bring new and advanced technology (cultivating, processing, and marketing) into your country. it will lead to better access to export markets for your country. it will bring foreign exchange to your country for payment of the foreign debt.

Role #3: Farmer from the region targeted by the MNC You've spent your life c ultivating and living off of the land together with your family and generations before you. You use labor-intensive techniques, and tend to cultivate (1 variety of crops for local consumption by the community. Only rarely will you go to the market to sell any excess of your products. It's not been a very profitable lifestyle, but you and your community have survived. The MNC has promised you a lot of incentives

-.6 Economic Connections

to cultivate the new commodity. Nevertheless, you're resistant to the MNC for the following reasons: cultivating one crop involves changing the work patterns you've developed as a subsistence farmer all your life. you can't help but fear being driven off the land. cultivating only one crop will not feed the family. such cultivating process will deplete the soil and call for the use of expensive fertilizer.

Role #4: Community representative from the region targeted by the MNC You've benefited from a Western-value based education and are concerned about the social well-being of this region. You know that in the past, MNCs have had some negative effects on the communities that they've operated in. You're opposed to the entry of the MNC because: there is a good chance that unemployment will increase with the reliance on mechanization. replacing a wage system with the local subsistence system could be inadequate. the community will run a higher risk of hunger, malnutrition, and the inadequate or unequal distribution of goods. too much control of the commtmty's economic processes lie beyond the hands of the local community.

51 After participants study their parts, they begin a 10 minute debate. What is the outcome of the debate? Will the MNC open operations? flow did the participants feel playing their roles? With whom did the power of decision-making lie? What would be the ideal strategy and role for foreign business interests? Redefining Foreign Aid and Development (articles 7-9):

Discussion: The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee has the following philosophy of international development assktance: "Ut.1SC is an established social action agency committed to the e«monlic developr:Tnt and social change in Third World countries. Its programs are rooted in and inspired by liberal religious principles which affirm the dignity and worth of every person and the interdependence of all people. Lit 1SC recognizes that we live in an interdependent world, and resources nnist be shared. 1)evelopment provides tools, options and experiences so that people an better their own lives. And development recogni/es the value of traditional systems and providesulturally sensitive grassroots strategies for social change.- Do you subs( ribe to (MSC's philosophy of assistan(e to African communities? I )is, the positive ond negative aspec ts of this kind of aid. Session 3

3.Updates on the local African resource network (10 minutes) The facilitator asks participants tc announce: progress on the list of African resources in the area (people; the local network of African arts; area organizations and coalitions; and relevant libraries and resource centers). recent articles and media coverage on Africa (clippings should be shared on a bulletin board). up-coming Africa-related events (speakers, movies, exhibits, films, festivals, etc.)

4.Setting the agenda for Session 4: Issue Connections (10 minutes)

Before leaving, all participants should know what their responsibilities are. They should: decide on the issue of the group's choice Session 4 provides information on several issues that concern us both domestically and internationally. The group should select one issue: children and youth, environment, food and hunger, or health. If consensus cannot be achieved, the group may prefer to extend the program to 7 sessions, and can select two issues (the group's choice will depend on participants' skilis, background; interest, and knowledge) set a time, place and duration for Session 4 designate (a) facilitator(s) if necessary designate participant responsible for researching* (see note below) the local context of the issue selected for Session 4 (this could mean preparing a short presentation or inviting a local authority on the issue to speak to the group) assign reading of the overview of the articles for the selected issue to all participants designate participants responsible for reporting on certain readings, if ail participants aren't able to read all the articles for the issue selected for Session 4 nominate person(s) who will bring African-style refreshments to the next meeting.

f inding out about an issue in your community may mean "research" beyond the information readily av6ilable in this handbook. Thi, doesn't mean hours of poring over books, but more interactive information-collecting processes, such as: meetings and interviews with reporters, policy makers, local officials, public relations office, neighborhood associations, coalitions, advocacy groups attending city council hearings or town meetings survey phone calls to different agencies trips to the library (to look at (eference books, annual, ref.))rts, bulletin lx)ards) Economic Connections

Overview of the Readings for Session 3: Economic Connections

Centuries ago, African empires flourished as possibly stagnate with the old ways, or to follow camel caravans journeyed across the Sahara other countries in a modernization process desert, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian ocean fraught with inequity and inhumanity. on trade routes that connected them with the Even after the slave trade was abolished, Greek and Roman Empires, Arab emirates, the colonial rule continued to thrive, reaching a Indian subcontinent, and even China. Yet today, pinnacle at the end of the 1800s, when European as African nations appr ,ach their third decade of politicians sitting in Europe's chandeliered political independence, we hear of how Africa is chambers laid claim to the entire continent. unable to govern itself, to feed itself, indeed, to Article 3 provides historical background on how survive without foreign assistance. European nations sliced up the African "pie," The readings that follow center on the eco- and the impact of these boundaries on the conti- nomic relationships between Africa, Europe and nent today. According to article 4, ties between the U.S., particularly on neocolonialism and its African nations and their former ruling colonial role in the foreign aid "game." How did Africa power remain strong, as in the case of France. move from a continent of autonomous empires The author contends that African heads of state to colonialism and the present condition of are more likely to appear for meetings with dependency? Where does the African debt come French officials than represent their nation's from? What alternatives do African nations have? interests at meetings of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). A description of an African trading city in the 14th and 15th centuries is the subject of arti- We're likely to equate foreign aid with gifts cle 1. Only much later did European seafaring of food and money. In reality, however, most powers establish trading posts along coastal ar- U.S. foreign assistance is either military or allo- eas and river mouths. Armed with myths of racial cated in the form of loans to be repaid with in- superiority, religious fervor, and military equip- terest. Grants represent only a tiny percentage of ment, foreigners have continued to interfere in the aid budget. Aid was initially established as a African affairs for centuries. To ensure control, mechanism to fight the threat of communism. they brought with them violence and a system of Even today, it is still most often given for strate- slavery much more inhumane than its indige- gic reasons to help align countries on the donor's nous African counterpart. By providing incen- side. Africa has consistently received the lowest tives for slavery and trading guns, described in levels of aid of any developing region. Ironically, article 2, the European traders were able to pit Africa is currently scheduled to pay back African against African. $1 billion more on loans to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) than it is receiving in IMF Today, African nations approach their third loans. decade of political independence, but large- scale foreign influence continues to bring to question the level of economic independence these nations have. On a macro-level, prices African nations receive for their natural resources and agricultural products are controlled by a larger world market. In most African countries, the presence of a multitude of foreign-funded "development" projects attests to on-going de- pendence on outside agencies. Such realities can lead to a dependency condition known as neocolonialism. A poem by a Ghanaian (pre- ceding article 3) states the dilemma of "progress" African nations are facing: whether to stay and

51 Session 3

"When Foreign Aid Fails" (article 5), talks of Against the mounting criticism of the "debt notorious "white elephant" projects funded by trap," neocolonialism and foreign aid, certain large multilateral funders particularly the positive initiatives have emerged. If African na- World Bank and the IMF and of difficult tions cannot stand up against the world market lessons learned in the past. For much of the individually, collectively they can. Regional 1960s and 1970s, expensive, high-tech projects economic organizations which include just were built on a capitalist philosophy modeled about all of Africa's nations are steadily gaining after the Western industrialized world. clout (see pages 236-238). SADCC, described in article 7, is an excellent example of collective A quarter century of sometimes irresponsible economic bargaining organized to counter the lending has led to a debt crisis of phenomenal South African destabilization campaign. proportions in Africa. Article 6 provides further background on where this debt comes from and People's initiatives, such as those described what it means for Africa's future, as countries in article 8, show that, given minimal materials slash their social programs (nutrition, health and and the freedom to act collectively, African re- education programs) to keep up with debt pay- sourcefulness can lead tc the development of ments. The author reiterates recent U N. findings food cooperatives, credit unions, and other that the highest price of the debt burden is paid community self-improvement measures. by Africa's children. Alternatives such as "debt With its 50-year legacy of providing aid, the forgiveness" and "loans for debt" are currently Unitarian Universalist Service Committee heatedly debated by African governments and (UUSC) has espoused a unique philosophy of foreign lending institutions, who have prescribed funding local African community-based groups. strict remedies of economic reform (e.g., the Unlike other funders, UUSC does not have of- world Bank's structural adjustment programs), fices in Africa or fund foreign technical assis- usually at enormous social costs. What is clear is tants. The story of "Vive le Paysan" (article 9), a that the same debt which represents an insur- UUSC "'Aded farmers' cooperative in Burkina mountable burden to an individual African Faso L.,.!monstrates the power of local autonomy economy is a mere drop in the bucket for the and decision-making that characterize UUSC- world economy. funded programs.

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52 BEST COPY AVAlLABU 58 Economic Connections

Article 1:from A Guide to African History by Basil Davidson.

EAST AFRICAN GLORY In the year 1331 an educated man from the city of Fez in became as famous for its gold, among the countries of the East, Monx-co traveled down the long east coast of Africa.Hisname as Ghana was among the countries of the West. was Ibn Battuta. Along the coast of East Africa he found peace Gold from Mozambique and Zimbabwe, as we now call and wellbeing. He passed through many important trading those countries, began to leave the seaports of East Africa in the cities and some smaller towns. He was made welcome by rulers tenth century. A few hundred years later the traders of Kilwa and businessmen and teachers. But the famous city of Kilwa had charge of this gold trade. They became very rich. They pleased him more than any other. "Kilwa," he wrote,Is one of made all traders from other countries pay heavy taxes on what the most beautiful and well-c onsuucted towns in the world." was sold and bought. Kilwa grew and became a clean and Today only a shabby vilfage stands there. Yet beyond the comfortable city. village can still be found the walls and towers of ruined palaces There were many other big trading cit iesL ig enough to and large houses and mosques, whnh is what Moslems call be called city-states or even city-empires because they con- their c hurches. A great palace has been dug out of the bushes trolled large areas. There were also many smaller ones. Their that covered it for hundreds of years.Itis a strange and rulers were in touch with many large countries of the Far East. beautiful ruin on a cliff over the Indian Ocean. Many other Around the year 1400, for example, one African city sent a ruins stand nearby. But the strangest thing about Kilwa and the giraffe to the emperor of China. We know this happened towns nearby is that there is little to be found alnnit them in the becauie there is a Chinese painting of this gitaffe, and the new history books. Even when the ities are dt'sl iibed, Ihey are painting has words on it whit h tell the stor y. of the gift. A few said to be not African, but the work of people hom Arabia or years later the Chinese emperor sent back gifts with a friendly Persia. fleet of many ships and thousands of sailors Iiistory books that say this ,Ire out of date, and they ate The uading that went on across the Indian Oc ean was the wiong. People who have studied these c 'ties on the east toast work of many different peoples. The Swahili welt. die people say that the cities were an itnportant part of Aft ica's life On the African side. They wet e very important in Africa's between the years 1000 and 17M. And these cit les were Attic an, history. There were Swahili ports who wrote in the Arabic or, to be more exact, Swahili. This is the name of the people of language and in their native language. Storytellers sang of the the coast of Kenya and Tanganyika and the island of lan/ibar. adventures of famot. men. ad« s brought line pots and jars I In 1964 Tanganyika and /antibat Joined to tot in the Republic from China and India and Persia and displayed thern so that of Tanzania.' their friends and customers could enjoy seeing them. The story of these great c ities goes fat, lam bac k in time. Then trouble came to these trading cities. In 1497, Vasco More than 2,0(X) years ago, at the beginning of the Iron Age itt da Gama, a famous sailor from Portugal, sailed around the ennal-southem Afric a, small trading villages grew up along Cape of Good Hope, which is at the souther n end of Africa. thisc oast. They were mar ketplac es fotthe goods traded Other Portuguese captains who followed Vas«) da Gama between East Afric a and other «ninnies along the Indian attacked and robbed city after c ity. They destroyed the Indian Ocean, espec ially Atabia. In these trading villages the sailors Ocean ttade. and traders did business and visited with Mric an friends and 'I he cities on the southeastern coast, especially Kilwa, families, stayed and lived with them, married and tnade their never really got over this time of pirate raids. Tlw cities of the own homes. TIwse facts are found in an Egyptian-Greek northern coast came through better. The pirates did not attack guidebook on trading and sailing in the east coast vels. 'Ile them as violently, and in time they were able to grow again. guide was probably written in the first century A.D., which is .aterin the 1700'sthe language of the Swahili began the time right after the birth of Christ. to be widely written. Men wrote about the events of their own About 1,200 years ago, many people from southern Arabia day. They also wrote about the glories of the past. They were moved to the islands along the east mast of Africa. '1 hey not, we may remember, the only people in Africa writing in brought their Mosletn religion with them. Soon they married their own language. Ear across on the other side of Africa, the and made homes among the people of the coast. educated people of the western Sudan were doing the same. If At the same time, trade increased all around the Indian most African people did not know how to writeand, living in Ocean. There were busy seaports all the way from southern lose tribal groups, they had no need for writingit is still China to Kilwa and the nearby c ities. Things made in China impottant to remember those pet)tile who did know how to began to rear h Kilwa. east Aft ic an ivory began to rear h China. write andho, like the Swchili lieoph.. used this knowledge Trading also went on with India and the «mntries of the well. Persian Gulf and Arabia. Then African people far inland from the Indian 0( can began to offer gold for the things they needed from other ountries, the most important of whir h was wtton for lothing. The cities of the coast took the gold and sold it to other «ration's. Gold becatne more itnportant than ivory for tiading, though ivory was still in demand. Southeast Africa

5 3 Session 3

Article 2:from Through African Eyes by Lcon E. Clark. Slaves, Guns, More Slaves

One question that always arises when dis- cussing the slave trade is this: how could Africans sell their own people? To begin with, a form of slavery had existed in Africa for 500 years before the coming of the Europeans, but African slavery was far more humane than what developed under the trans-Atlantic system. Traditional African slaves were usually prisoners of war who were often returned to their own people for a price, but were sometimes sold as slaves to work for others. More often than not, however, such slaves were allowed to earn money, own land, and intermarry with the local population. They also developed skills like boat-building that made them important and therefore accepted members of society. This type of integration never took place under European and American slavery. Nevertheless, the fact that slavery already existed in Africa made it possible for Europeans to offer merchandise and expect to receive people in return. Some African chiefs and kings sold their prisoners of war to the Europeans; in exchange they often received guns, which greatly added io their power. The chiefs without guns were then put at a distinct disadvantage. Almost overnight, it became necessary for a chief to possess guns in order to maintain his power. Otherwise his people would be taken by opposing chiefs. And since the guns came from the Europeans, and the Europeans demanded slaves in exchange, more and more African chiefs began to engage in the selling of prisoners. Guns, and therefore slavery, became a necessary part of survival. In a very real sense, then, Africans were forced by this vicious cycle to sell other Africans. Moreover, the Europeans comixqed among themselves for slaves, which escalated the entire enterprise even further.If the English, for example, gave guns to a cooperative chief, then the Dutch, the French, or the Portuguese felt that they had to give guns to their "friends," for otherwise the English would get all the slaves. The net result of this arms race was a great increase in hostilities among Africans. The Europeans, thenincreasedwarfare; they did not decrease it, as is sometimes thought. More warfare, after all, resulted in more prisoners and therefote more slavesexactly what the Europeans wanted. The selection that follows shows the escalation trap that many African traders fell into. The first two parts, "Slaves" and "Guns," are adapted from the writings of William Bosman, a Dutch slave trader who worked in West Africa at the end of the seventeenth century. The last part of the selection. "More Slaves," is adapted from a first-hand account written by a Swedish traveler, C.B. Wadstrom, in Ow late eighteenth century.

54 Economic Connections

"Towards What." from The Development Puzzle by Nance Lui Gyson.

The following poem is by a Ghanaian, Dei-Anang, and points up one of the manyconflicts of developrnent Here we stand Poised between two civilizations Backward? To days of drum and festal dances in the shade of sun-kist palms. Or forward? Forward! Toward? The slums, where man is dumped upon man?... The factory To grind hard hours In an inhuman mill In one long ceaseless spell?

41. OP. 0.40.11141. ob. "" Gli...41P" oa

Article 3:"How Europeans Sliced up Africa" by Glenn Frankel, The Washington Post, Jan. 6, 1985. How Europeans Sliced Up Africa Borders. Drawn a Century Ago Assured Today's Tensions

By Glenn Frankel days when Europe carved up Africa cess and one that threatened several HARARE, Zimbabwe like a Christmas turkey, with each timestoplungetheEuropean Africa is quietly marking an participant fighting for his favorite powers into war. German Chancellor important centennial be- piece. Many of the problems that Otto von Bismarck, who abhorred tween November and February, but haunt Africa today have their origins chaos and wanted to ensure Ger- itis not an occasion for trumpets, at that diplomatic table. many a piece of the spoils, decided it speeches or champagne. Theconferencewasabrief was time to lay down some ground It is the 100th anniversary of the breathingspellinwhat became rules. His French and British coun- Berlin Conference, an extraordinary known as the "scramble for Africa." terparts, who were the main com- conclave of European diplomats that After nibbling at the edges of the petitors in Africa, agreed. divided Africa into spheres of influ- continent for several centuries, the Fourteenwesternnationsat- ence and ushered in an era of co- Europeans in the 1870s began a tendedthethree-monthsession. lonial rule whose effects still can be mad rush into the interior. Armed Conspicuous by their absence were seen across the continent. with superior weapons, Bibles and those who had the most at stake At a time when African famine Is makeshift treaties, imperial agents the Africans. But there was little hy- again on the front page and when laid claim to more than 10 million pocrisy: no one pretended the lines the West is viewing the continent square miles of territory and 100 were drawn for any interests other and its daunting problems with a million people in the space of a dec- than those of the countries at the mixture of sympathy, horror and dis- ade. table. The interests of Africans were dain, it is instructive to recall those It was a haphazard, chaotic pro- never a factor. 55 Session 3 "The Europeans caine and as- surnsi commandn(African histnry," wrote British historian Basil David- son, "and the solutions they found were solutions for themselves, not for Africans." The Africa of a century ago con- FRENCH sisted of several hundred indepen- SOMALILAND dent states, some large and powerful BRITISH and well advanced, others smaller, SOMALILAND weaker and more primitive. When theEuropeansfinisheddrawing Poniuourst their lines, these states had been GUINEA SIERRA LEOM ITALIAN condensed into about 40 pieces of SOWIALILANG LIERIA territory. SIGTISH It was not an easy or neat pro- GOLD COAST EAST AFRICA cess. Ethnic groups were cleaved GERMAN into fragments .the Ovambo were PARTITION OF AFRICA EAST AFRICA split in ha:,by the boundary line that FOLLOWING THE 1884 NYASALAND cause the British thought it best to RERUN CONFERENCE placate Bismarck. Similarly, Portu- BRITISH ED SPANISH MADAGASCAR gal was given reign over territory 1111111 GERMAN '40GtsTTN.' 22 tunes larger than itself mostly IM FRENCH BELGIAN because Lisbon's British allies used MOZAMBIQUE the Portugese as a tool to deny Afri- MGERMAN PORTUGUESE SWAZILAND can land to their principal competi- BECHUANALAND INDEPENDENT tors in Paris. Belgium's King Leo- 0 ITALIAN BASUTOLAND pold won the grand prize: the min- &Noce lo,orn Twroy AN., of OfjrielH,Yv UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA eral-rich lease to what became the Belgian Congo. TUNISIA At first, Africans paid little at- tentiontothe new lines, MOROCC,

which seemed to have every- WESTERN ALGERIA LIBYA thing to do with European rivalries SAHARA WIRRAL ACTITCPTE and little to do with them. But grad- 4/- REPUBLIC ually the paper lines on the map be- came real borders, not only to the MAURITANIA Europeans but to the Africans them- SENEGAL selves.Africa'sacquiescence be- WARM BURKINA Africans together, became a tragi- GIRNESAISSAU OWN comic monument to their endurimg WERRA LEONE separation. MUM But borders alone do not make na- .rwoawGMT tions, and this has been one of the CAMEROON cruelest lessons recent history has TANEANiA taught Africa. In countries such as EQUATORIAL 1100401 Angola, Uganda, Burundi, Nigeria and even South Africa, the concept ot h.ttionhood is at best only margin- I ally understoccl. Most of these coun- I. tries lack a George Washington 1 someone from the political or cul- = INDEPENDENT' 11:41:4 tural past whom everyone can ad- .. SOUTHcv\SWAZILAND. mire and who provides the glue to AFRICA hold diverse groups together. LASODICI 8 Lacking that glue, Africa has be- a come atomized into smaller, conflict- ing g:oups. People identify them- too, are part of the harvest of malad- both are wrong, but the Westerners selves by tribe, ideology, profession, justed borders and nations that exist who during the last three decades religion or economic class, seldom mostly on paper. have been so free with their advice by nation. In analyzing Africa's woes, Afri- and criticism al the new Africa cans themselves tend to blame their should not forget that it was their Thus itis not too surprising problems on European colonialism. ancestors wbodesigned, con- that in the 27 years since Westerners, on the other hand, tend stnicted and launched the conti- Ghana became the first co- to treat the continent as a blank nent's modern history 100 years ago lonial state to gain independence, slate whose real history only began in Berlin. Africa has suffered through a dozen at independence and whose prob- 'TheWashingtral Post wars, 70 military coups and the as- lems can be laid at the feet of cor- sassination el 13 heads ofstate. It mpt African leaders and misplaced January 6, 1985 has 5 million refugees more than priorities. 56 anyother continent and they, Both, of course, are right, and Usedby permission Economic Connections

Article 4:"The French in Africa: Old Ecole Ties" by James Brooke, The New York Times, Dec. 25, 1988. The French in Africa: Old Ecole Ties

By JAMES BROOKE colony. "France delivers." continent is one of the few regions of swim is The New York Times When the bills are added up loansthe world where the use of the French CASABLANCA, Morocco, Dec. 19 to the Ivory Coast, troops in Chad,is expanding. French television pro- Staged in the throne room of a palacetraining for 200 African Olympic ath-grams reach wider audientp, and in here, the family photo of the annualletes France emerges as the richtwocountries,Portuguese-speaking French-African summit meet.ng pre-uncle for much of sub-Saharan Africa,Guinea-Bissau and Spanish-speaking dented a vignette of modern Africa:a region that includes some of theEquatorial Guinea, linguists predict President Francois Mitterrand sur-world's poorest countries. that French could easily become the rounded by 21 African heads of state In 1987, France was the largest aiddominant language within two genera- and government. donor. Its aid, $2.5 billion, was threetions. Surrounded by French-speaking By contrast, only nine African lead-times the United States' and six timesnations, each country has hundreds of ers turned out last May for the 25th an-the aid from Britain, France's historicstudents studying French in courses niversary meeting of the Organizationrival for influence in Africa. Measuredsubsidized by the French Government. of African Unity, a pan-African group. as a percentage of gross national prod- But French glory in Africa may be Three decades after the flags of inde-uct, France gave sub-Saharaa Africaundermined by economics. The prices pendent nations started running upnine times the aid that the Unitedof African commodities States did in 1986. crude oil, flagpoles across Africa, one of the for- coffee and cocoa, among them have mer colonial rulers, France, has re- France also leads in education. Inslumped sharply in recent years. Ar- worked its role to become the most im-1988, 75,162 Africans studied at Frenchrears on debts are mounting, pur- portant and some say the most wel-universities twice the number atchases of French goods are dropping American schools and seven times the come foreign actor on the continenL and economicactivityisslowing In much of sub-Saharan Africa,number at British universities. throughout Africa. France is the largest aid donor, largest In the military arena, France since Much of the economic growth in 12 educator and largest trading punier.1970 has doubled the number of agree-former French colonies has been Wilt If Cuba withdraws its 50,000 troopsments with African nations to 26. Eachon a stable currency the C.F.A., -or from Angola as it agreed to do lastyear, about 200 African officers un-African, franc. Since 1948, France has week, the largest contingent of foreigndergo training in France. In return,guaranteed afixedparityof one troops in Africa in the 1990's mostabout 1,000 French officers serve as ad-French franc to 50 African francs. A likely will be French. visers to 11 African armies, and about 8,000 French troops are stationed in sixfranc zone the bloc of former colo- Reflecting the continent's tattered nies where the African currency is the economic state, Africa's independentAfrican countries: the Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Gabon, theuniversal legal tender was once re- nations increasingly cling to the out- viled as a neo-colonialist institution. stretched hand of this former colonialIvory Coast and Senegal. In a region of political instability, aNow it has a waiting list of former Por- ruler. One yardstick is the annual sum- tuguese and British colonies. mit meeting. Started in 1971 as an in-number of African leaders owe their survival to French intervention; since But with export earnings dropping, formal gathering for France and her the African franc zone went into deficit former colonies, the first summit meet-1960, French troops have inter iehed in Africa 17 times. In 1985 for the first time. Now, pressure ing drew delegations from 10 African for devaluntion has come from such in- countries. Indeed, the French-African love af- fair is such that none of the black Af-ternational lenders as the World Bank The 15th meeting, which ended here and the International Monetary Fund. Dec. 16, drew delegations from 34 Af-rican delegates at the recent meeting questioned France's flourishing trade The French economic presence in Af- rican countries, including 16 former rica is shrinking. After dropping stead- French colonies, 8 former British colo-"with South Africa. ily In the 1980's, French trade with the nies and all the former African colo- Instead, they praised Paris' decisionbloc of countries that use the African nies of Belgium, Portugal and Spain.in June to cancel one-third of the debtfranc now accounts for only 1.5 percent Didier Ratsiraka of Madagascar is theowed it by sub-Saharan nations. Theof France's foreign trade. And in a only French-speaking African leader toAfricans asked Mr. Mitterrand to bemilestone ofsorts, Japan over look continue to boycott the meetings. Hetheir advocate before other industrialFrance in 1987 to become the conti- calls the French neo-colonialists. countries on the problems of debt andnent's largest supplier of new cars. "We love Spain, but they never re-low commodity prices. spond," said a television reporter from France has reaped also linguistic Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanishand economic dividends in Africa. The

5 7 k.) j Session 3

Article 5: "When Foreign Aid Fails" by Jack Shepherd, The Atlantic Monthly.

Twenty yean of Western assistance Jaye done little to help, and mai to barns, the Africans' ability to feed olemselves WHEN FOREIGN AID FAILS BY jACKSHEPHE RD

tuarrunota INY PHLIPPE WEIIIMEOM

DUlUNG THE PAST FEW most sub-Saharan nations months Americans emergency food aid will be have witnessed an needed throughout this year cnormous outpouring of to combat what is being emergency food aid into Af- called the worst famine of rica. But while relief work- the century. ers toil in the dusty feeding Everyone also agret;s/hat camps of that beleaguered African nations and relia or- continent, bureaucrats in ganizations must start work- Western capitals are asking -. ing together to create the questions that reach far be- conditions for the recovery. yond the current starvation of Africa's land, agriculture, P.4 to the basic issue of Africa's -131L. and people. But the United -4 survival. Some of these 1 States and the international questions are troubling: development agencies don't Has aid from the West agree with Africans or with been wasted on ill-con- each other about what has ceived projects that have caused Africa's plight, or on largely failed? what should be done about Has this aid actually con- it. tributed toor even wors- Most Africans claim that enedthe problems it was the causes are external to intended to alleviate? Africa: the low priccs for the If past projects have continent's export crops

failed, what kind of long- 41PMkses (such as coffee, tea, cocoa), terth development assis- the high cost of imported tance should Africa receive? energy (up 757 percent be- The answers to these tween 1960 and 1978), and questions carry profound the increase in Africa's debt implications. They will lead 12:1- from $5.7 billion in 1970 to to policies that will in turn more than $51.3 billion by determine how fast, and in 1983. The gap between Af- what manner, Africa recov- rica's export revenues and ers. They will shape the levels of support the World Bank, its import expenditures reached $10.7 billion in 1983, and the United States, and other international donors will give the outflow for repayment of debts is now greater than the to African development projects that are intended to help inflow of loans. According to the World Bank and the In- Africa's farmers return to their land and grow their own ternational Monetary Fund (and others), Africans must food. And they will affect the internal economic and politi- continue to grow cash crops in order to earn foreign ex- cal policies of at least twenty-six African nations that now change that will enable them to repay their debts. But the need emergency food aid and long-term assistance. falling prices of cash cropsprices that, Africans claim, Everyone agrees that Africa is in immediate peril. Some are controlled by Western marketsrestrict Afiica's abilir 150 million Africansperhaps one person in every three to repay debts and to import necessary items like food. below the Saharaare in dire need of emergency food. The World Bank, the IMF, international relief agencies, Five million African children dicd from hunger-related and most Western governments, including the United causes in 1984, and millions of Africans face permanent States government, say that conditions isuide sub-Saharan physical and mental damage from chronic malnutrition. In Africa cause the problem. They cite policies of many Af-

6 4 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Economic Connections

rican governments which, by holding down food prices in cieswere large, mechanized, and highly capitalized. the cities, favor the urban CORSUMCf OYU the rural produc- Moreover, investment in food production often favored er, the lack of incentives to peasant farmers; and a fragile crops consumed by people in the cities: wheat, rice, and and deteriorating natural environment. Also, the popula- Supt. tion growth rate in sub-Saharan Africa averages 3.2 percent A vast portion of the aid went to what some donors now per year and has reached 4.1 percent in Kenya, the Ivory admit were "easy options"projects that drew on donor Coast, and Botswana (those countries' populations will expertise and promised a rapid rate of return. Some of the double in seventeen years), and the area's mral-to-urban schemes involved tractors, chemical fertilizers, irrigation, migration late is eight percent a year. As a result, whereas and large-scale state farms. Money also went into highly in 1950 only three African cities had populations of more visible projects such as highways, hospitals in urban areas, than 500,000, now twenty-nine cities are that large and and convention halls. But deep plowing and the use of several have more than a million inhabitants. This urban- chemical fertilizers did not increase yields, and perhaps ization has also changed African eating habits; city dwell- even threatened an African farming system that had ers have come to prefer imported wheat and rice to tradi- evolved over centuries. The Green Revolution, so suc- tional foods like yams, cassava, and millet. cessful in parts of Asia, did not transplant well to Africa, with its fragile soils, variable climates, and need for irriga- tion. Irrigation projects tended to produce a great deal of ON ONF KEY ISSUL, HOWEVER, DONORS AND AFRICANS food but at a cost of $20,000 a hectare, and sometimes they do agree: the aid provided during the past two dec- drew off farm labor better used elsewhere, or spread schis- ades has helped little, and the existing aid pro- tosomiasis and other waterborne diseases. Furthermore, as grams need reappraisal. Before the colonial period African the London-based organization Earthscan recently report- agriculture was geared to self-sufficiency in food produc- ed, irrigated land in Africa becomes barren when it accu- tion. Most societies fed themselves, although famines mulates salt or when poor drainage leads to waterlogging. were not unheard of; the fim recorded famine in Ethiopia, Earthscan's study concIndcii that for every acre successful- for example, occurred in the ninth century. But when hun- ly irrigated during the 1970s in Africa, another acre of ger came, people dipped into reserves or migrated. Afri- farmland became useless and was abandoned. can farmers, tilling fragile and easily destroyed soils, also A sampling of major agricultural projects might include a practiced terracing, crop rotation, green manuring, and scheme started at Mopti, along the Niger River, in West mixed farming. Africa, nine years ago. A capital-intensive irrigation proj- During almost a century of colonial rule African agricul- ect, it was designed to increase rice production. But pro- ture was transformed. Colonial governments favored large- duction fell, from fifty bags per hectare to fifteen bags, be- scale plantation operations that produced cash crops for cause of an infestation of wild rice and the low resistance of the benefit of the colonial power. Independent African imported rice seeds to irregular and inadvertent flooding. farmers got pushed onto marginal land or, more often, into In Tanzania a Canadian-aided wheat scheme begun in soil-poor native reserves; some had to work on the large 1970 has cost some $44 million. Sixty thousand acres of cash-crop farms or in town. Still, many African nations land were taken from a pastoral people, the Barbaig, who were self-sufficient with respect to food, or were even ex- were pushed onto marginal areas that have by now been porting food, in the early 1960s. overgrazed by their cattle. Moreover, according to a report With independence, however, African governments quoted by Colin Hines and Barbara Dinham in Me Ecolo- promoted industrialization at the expense of food produc- gist, "Technology being applied to these large-scale fully tion, while continuing the colonial pattern of producing mechanized operations is alarmingly similar to the tech- cash crops to earn foreign exchange. Food imports in- nology used in western Canada which contributed to the creased in the two decades after most of Africa became in- catastrophic soil erosions (dust bowls) of the 1930s." The dependent, and as world prices for cash crops fell and pop- Tanzanian farms were laid out prairie style, and rainstorms ulations grew rapidly and debts rose, many new African cut huge gullies through the fields. governments found themselves struggling to feed their During the 1970s the Sudan started up several sugar op- people. erations, with the hope of exporting sugar to richer Arab During the 1970s African governments inaugurated a neighbors. 'No small operations have been successful, but range of projects aimed at increasing domestic-food pro- four others are bogged down in technical and managerial duction. The ones most widely favoredfunded by the problems and cost overruns. One of the largest sugar oper- United States Agency for International Development ations in the world got under way in 1974 in Kenana. The (USAID), the World Bank, and other international agen- cost had been estimated at $150 million; the final bill for the start-up was $613 million. The scheme called for a for- led Skpied issexior motif& at the Comes Eatimme t for Ix- serwioaa Poo, slam As isspecialist ow U.S. *rigs play ad ty-megawatt electrical station, a network of conduits and food aid I. Vries. lie is air easier of sigit hob, eithsthag The Poh- canals up to twenty miles long, a pumping station to lift ties of Starvation, said iivarigarai air &Wpm drsogit as/ Iva. the Nile waters 150 feet from the canals to the fields, and a au of IM-1974. factory to crush 170,000 tons of sugarcane a day. Roads and J 59 Session 3

transport were also needed to move the sugar a thousand affected by starvation today. The amount is now more than miles to Port Sudan. But power shortages crippled the $7.77 billion a year (beyond the cost of emergency aid). pumping station and the factory. Fuel costs made transpor- The results have been dismal. In sub-Saharan Africa per tation expensive, and what irrigation took place spread capita food production decreased in the 1970s by an aver- schistosomiasis. In the end the Sudanese government may age of 1.2 percent a year. Production of major food crops have to subsidize its sugar-cxport program. fell 14 percentand continues to fall, by two percent a Not all Western development projects have failed. In yearwhile the volume of food imports increased by an Guinca-Bissau, for example, a United States aid project average of 9.5 percent annually. By 1981 sub-Saharan Afri- helped hundreds of small farmers to increase their rice ca required 3.7 million tons of food aid each year. No-- the yields by 400 to 900 percent in just two years. Nearly all United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) the rice is consumed locally. reports that the region will need 9.6 million tons of food Nor have all the failures been Western. Soviet economic aid in 1985. Put another way, by the end of this year one in aid to Africa has been so uniformly unsuccessful that the five Africansthe equivalent of the entire urban popula- Russians have cut their already minuscule programs and tionwill be living solely on imported food aid. given priority to the sale of arms and energy, which gener- What happened? The simplest answer is that only a atei the return of hard currency. During the 1960s and early small proportion of economic aid was actually invested in 1970s, however, the Soviets offered big projects to thc Af- Africa's agriculture. Of $7.5 billion given during the 1970s ricans. At Diamou, Mali, for example, the Russians buik a to eight West African countries, for example, only 24 per- cement factory with a capacity of 50,000 tons a yearand cent was spent on agriculture and less than 12 percent then discovered that the road and rail systems could not reached rural areas. Even less got to smallholders, who are handle this output and that therc were no markets nearby thought to be Africa's most productive farmers. anyway. A Russian meat-canning plant in Somalia operat- The World Bank, in a report issued last September, said ed at only 5.3 percent of capacity, because few cattle were that donor nations had pressured African governments dur- available (Africans generally regard cattle as investments ing the 1970s to take on projects that were expensive, in- against future hardship) and because Somalis prefer fresh appropriate in design and selection, and too large, and that meat to canned. A Soviet fish-processing plant also failed, "contributed little to economic growth or to generating because it was too large and too far from the sea. foreign exchange to service the debt." These projects Western development assistance, however, unlike that which the Bank called "white elephants"had been se- from the Communist bloc, has focused on African agricul- lected for their potential in enhancing a nation's political ture. The failure to feed Africa is largely its failure. During prestige (a large state-farms scheme in Zambia, for exam- the 1970s thc West poured some $22.5 billion in economic ple) and without regard for the economic rate of return development aid into sub-Saharan Africathe area most (the sugar-production plan in the Sudan).

ulius K. Nyerere, President of Tanzania: "... growth must come out of our own roots, not through the grafting on to those roots of something which is alien to our society. We shall draw sustenance from universal human ideas and from the practical experiences of other peoples; but we start from a full accept- ance of our African-ness and a belief that in our own past there is very much which is useful for our future... President Nyerere, . . A serious attack on the problems of poverty and intolerable disparities of wealth demands a change in the whole economic activity. in a 1975 address:2Instead of aiming at the maximisation of wealth, and the power over others which comes with it, we have to direct our efforts towards the crecion of reasonable standards of living for all people. This applies to the rich and poor nationally and internationally. Nations which are already wealthy have to accept that they are members of the world, with the right to a fair share of the world's resources but no more. They have to bend their minds, and their economic and political systems, to a,hieving a fair inteinal distribution of their existing wealth. They should not expect to continue to deal with problems of comparative poverty within their own nation at the expense of people abroad who are poorer than the poorest. And the poor nations have to face facts too. They need to stop trying to ape the rich. They have to accept that "closing the gap" does not mean, and cannot mean, attaining for themselves a western style or level of consumption ...... Eradicatinghuman poverty demands careful planning and phased action to move the industrialised world and the industrial sectors of the poor nations towards producing for human need and not human greed ... 60 Gb Economic Connections

Article 6:"Sentenced to Debt,"Africa News,April 18,,1988.

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Food and livestock production declined in the last decade as Africa turned to cash crops for foreign exchInge. Sentenced to Debt Afew years ago, Hollywood cashed in on America's con- cern for its beleaguered family farmerswith a spate of movies including The River, Places in the Heart and Country. What the films had in common were their portrayals of farmers up against a system they could not alter or control or evenin most casesunderstand. In Country, Sam Shepherd's character confronts file local banker with a di- lemma that is well-known across the American heartland: when grain prices were high, banks What had seemed to be a hand-in- money from foreign governments recommended that family farmers hand arrangement to usher in an and commercial lenders for the expand their operations by buying industry boom turned sour, and development of its commodities expensive machinery and other farmers like those represented by industries during the 1970s. For forms of technology on credit; but Shepherd were left holding the bag. many years, rich farmland was given when prices fell anc it became Similarly, but on a far grinder over to up-to-date and out-of-place impossible for landowners to make scale, sub-Saharan Africa was factories; people turned away from loan payments, the banks bailed out.encouraged to borrow large sums of food crops to priduce the cash crops

61

BEST COPY AVAILABLE Session 3 the "developed" world craved; and represent them - like the Interna- nation would make regular payments the continent's skin was peeled back tional Monetary Fund and World under the supervision of the Devel- to yield metals and minerals prized Bank - have left Africa holding a opment Bank. The scheme worries in the West. decidedly empty bag. "If the conti- international creditors, however, who Money disappeared along the way. nent survives its current crisis, it will fear that it would set a dangerous African political anc.: business leaders be a tribute to the resourceftdness of precedent for rnega-debtors in Latin got more than their share, as did Africans and nothing else," she says. America. hard-to-trace Western contractors to "They are getting precious little help Even if the Development Bank whom projects were steered by from outside." proposals do not pass international cronies with political clout. Yes and no. Without doubt, Africa muster, they have underscored for But it is a mistake to assign Africa's will bear by far the greatest share of creditors the desperate conditions of current debt crisis solely - or even responsibility for its own survival. Tosub-Saharan Africa's poorest nations, principally - to corruption and mis- that end, schemes deemed radical by and the debate is on. management. The harsh realities of Western creditors are being proposed At a United Nations-organized world commodities markets, along by, among other organizations, the conference in Khartoum, Sudan last with natural disasters, war, and African Development Bank .md the month, the subject under discussion soaring international interest rates, South-South Commission, headed by was "the human dimension of have contributed to Africa's current Tanzania's Julius Nyerere. Africa's economic recovery." Repre- condition. But there is also some hope that sentatives of debtor nations and In her new book called A Fate Africa won't have to go it alone, if international lenders came together Worse Than Debt, Susan George only because the Fund, the Bank and to assess the costs of IMF- and World writes: "The sad truth is that if Africaother lenders find the debtors' Bank-mandated programs that have, dropped off the map, international proposals unpalatable enough to according to the debtors, left Africa business would scarcely notice. warrent a response. The UN Secre- poorer, less politically stable and Africa represents a mere 4% of world tary-General's Advisory Group on more reliant than ever on grants and trade, and though it remains a Financial Flows for Africa put out a loans from the West. potentially rich continent, those who highly publicized paper on debt relief At the end of the conference, Senior exploit it can usually find the same in February, and a call issued at an World Bank Economist Stephen resources elsewhere, often with less Organization of African Unity O'Brien admitted that the Bank hassle (e.g. uranium in Australia) meeting last December to cancel all "didn't know enough" about the and lower political risk (e.g. as outstanding debt may have been the human costs "when we first entered caused by apartheid)." final push the West needed to shake into this process of helping African George explains that Africa's primeits complacency. governments design adjustment foreign exchange earners are not only At the urging of African Develop- programs," which have led to the being found elsewhere, but are, in ment Bank President Babacar removal of food, health and educa- many cases, being substituted for or N'diaye, Zaire may, within the next tion subsidies and other drastic done without altogether. Fiber-ootic two months, present a test case for a cutbacks in social services provided phones lines are rapidly reducing the new form of debt relief to the Paris by most African debtors (see accom- demand for Zambian copper. PlasticsClub of commercial creditors. Zaire panying stories). and other synthetics are replacing has successfully rescheduled pay- The Khartoum Declaration, issued natural fibers like hemp and sisal. ments on its unwieldy debt - now by the conference, states that "nutri- Coffee and cocoa are treated as approaching $6 billion - eight times tion imbalances are as crucial as trade luxury items in the West if they in ten years. and is gearing up for its imbalances. High infant mortality become too expensive. And health ninth attempt. Because Zaire's requires just as immediate and as concerns are causing a scale-back in indebtedness is largely, if not en- serious attention as high rates ot the demand for products as basic as tirely, the result of internal corruptioninflation or huge budget deficits .... sugar. and because the central African 1 Therefore, a basic test for all stabiliza- Classic economic models of supplynatior,'s prediliction for frequent tion, adjustment and development and demand apply: as Africa's rescheduling of payments is well- programs is whether they will commoditiesthe raw materials on known - it is a prime candidate for improve the human condition from which the continent has depended forthe Development Bank's new pro- their inception or on the contrary foreign exchange for centuries - are gram, which will guarantee steady worsen it." less and less sought after, prices drop.repayment of loan principal in As the two following reports warn, And when prices drop, neither exchange for below-market intercst African leaders are growing impa- governments nor individuals earn rates. Zaire, along with any of the 14 tient with adjustment programs that enough money to supply basic needs.other African countries currently demand imending sacrifice from a Farmers who gave up on food poised to join the program, would be continent which is, in tact, a net production to grow cash crops, and' allowed to convert its debt into exporter m funds to the West (see who therefore came to denend on securities that carry long-term graph, page 5). The costs of servic- imported food items, are ieft with maturities with fixed interest rates ing sub-Saharan Africa's estimated valueless crops and no money to buy predicated on the country's perceived$150 billion debtincluding immeas- food. ability to pay. The total debt would urable losses of human potential George maintains that Western be repaid at maturity from a redemp-are, increasingly, seen as too high to creditors and the organizations that tion fund, into which the debtor be borne. 62 6 3 Economic Connections

Article 7:Washington Office on Africa Education Fund, "Southern African Development Coordination Conference SADCC" Fact Sheet.

WASHINGTON OFFICE ON AFRICA EDUCATIONAL FUND 110 Maryland Avenue, NEWahington, DC 20002 202/546-7961 FACT SdEE.

SADCC: The Southern African Development Coordination Conference What is SADCC?

The Southern African Development Coordination Con- ference (SADCC) (pronounced "saddick") is an associ- ation of nine majortty-ruled states of southern Africa. Through regional cooperation SADCC works to ac- celerate economic growth, improve the living condi- tions of the people of southern Africa, and reduce the dependence of member states on South Africa. SADCC is primarily an economic grouping of states with a variety of ideologies, and which have contacts with countries from all blocs. It seeks cooperation and support from the interna- tional community as a whole.

Who is SADCC?

The Member States of SADCC are Angola* Botswana* Lesotho Maiawi Mozambique' The forging of links between member states in order to Swaziland Tanzania' create genuine and equitable regional integration; Zambia' The mobilization of resources to promote the imple- Zimbabwe' ment;ition of national, interstate and regional policies, The liberation movements of sou:hern Africa recognized by Concerted action to secure international cooperation the Organization of Afri,:an Unity (the AfricanNational within the framework of SADCC's strategy of economic Congress, the Pan African Congress and the South West liheration. Africa People's Organization) are invited to SADCC Summit meetings as observers. At the inaugural meeting of SADCC, President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia said: What Are the Objectives of SADCC? Let us now face the economic challenge Let us form a powerful front against poverty and all of Its off - The reduction of economic dependence, particularly on shoots of hunger, ignorance, disease, crime and the Republic of South Africa: exploitation of man by man. Let us form an African 63 Session 3

Movement to wage a militant struggle against poverty stellation oNsouthern African states.'' South Africa seeks to Let this Summit be our workshop for sharpening our profit by forcingitsneighbors, especially land-locked tools, forging new weapons, working out a new Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana, to use its transportation strategy and tactics for fighting poverty and improving routes and to trade with it. SADOC, however, envisions that the quality of life of our peoples. its members will obtain goods, services and !ransportation from one another, breaking their forced dependence on When Did SADCC Begin? South Africa and curtailing South Africa's profits and domination. South Africa has felt threatened, also, by the In May 1979 the Foreign Ministers of the Front Line prospect that economically viable majority-ruled states on States* met in Botswana to discuss economic cooperation. its borders will weaken its ability to maintain apartheid. In July 1979, a conference was convened at Arusha, "The economic succ ess of the countries represented

Tanzania, to consider euonomic policies and objectives . . will have an epoch making impact within South andit was agreed toinvite the other majority-ruled Africa and will certainly deal a mortal blow to the countries in souti- ern Africa to participate in drawing up a policy of apartheid. Our success is important to the regional plan for the development of southern Africa. people of South Africa and, therefore, to the liberation SADCC was formally launched by the Lusaka Declar- of the entire continent." (President Kenneth Kaunda, ation, Southern Africa: Toward Economic Liberation Lusaka. 4/1/80) which was adopted by the Lusaka Surninit of the nine majority-ruled countries of southern Africa in April 1980. South Africa has responded to SADCC's peaceful The Summit also adopted a Program of Action covering efforts with military and economic attacks. South Africa food and agriculture, industry, manpower development, is attempting to cripple development, self-reliance, and and energy. The Heads of State identified transport and interdependence and to perpetuate its domination of communications as the main priority for SADCC coop- commerce, finance, manufacturing and transportation. eration. Estimated losses to member states, as a result of South African destablUatIon, total $17 billion for the period How Does SADCC Work? 1980-1986. South African, mercenary and surrogate forces (UNITA in Angola, Renamo in Mozambique) have sabo- SADCC makes decisions by consensus, depending taged road, rail, pipeline and port facilities. Schools and on discussions between heads of state (the Summit) or clinics have been destroyed. Attacks have forced the ministers (the Council of Ministers) to reach agreement on abandonment of essential health, relief and rural develop- priorities and programs which will be of benefit to the region ment projects. A million people have been forced to flee and to the member states. their homes. Thousands have been killed, maimed and The implementation of SADCC programs Is decen- wounded. tralized. Each member state coordinates the work of SADCC in particular areas, for example: transport and SADCC and the United States? communications (Mozambique), food security (Zimbabwe), agricultural research (Botswana), fisheries, wildlife and In general, the U.S. response to SADCC, particularly forestry (Mo.lawi), soil and water conservation (Lesotho), under the "Reagan doctrine," has been based on per- manpower development (Swaziland), industrial develop- ceptions of Soviet intentions to dominate southern Africa ment (Tanzania), energy conservation and development and has been designed "to stop the spread of com- (Angola), and mining (Zambia). munism." U.S. policy is defined, also, it) light of existing Although SADCC has mobilized some local resources economic interests in South Africa. The U.S. has sought to for projects, it has had tc ;eek fundingabout $5 billion a involve South Africa in regional economic development yearfrom the I nterne.tonal community. It organizes an and has opposed SADCC's reduction of dependence on annual conference with donors at whi 1 prioritic.--; and South Africa and its condemnation of South African projects are presented. SADCC has been open tu dis- destabilization. U.S, support for SADCC projects has cussion, suggestion and criticism, but has sought to lirnt been a small $30 million annually. However, while the extent to which donors may impose their own priorities. funding SAOCC, the U.S. has also provided $15 million In military aid to UNITA and contributed to its attacks SADCC and South Africa? In Angola. The vital Angolan Benguela railway, which figures largely in SADCC's plans for a regional transporta- SADCC is a threat to South Africa's plans to dominate tion system, has been sabotaged repeatedly by UNITA. southern Africa, and a rejection of its apartheid-led "con- The U.S. has restricted Its aid to SADCC, for example, refusing to allow Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania to benefit from a grant for sorghum development. 'The six rrontline States form a political grouping which overlaps but is not synonymous with SADCC Frontline State.; L,re si ,ect ;n the list in cniumn one of the front page 64 Economic Connections

Article 8:"Working for our own Needs," by Bill Rau, Bread for the World .

ovegetables, corn and fruit ripen in the community's fields. Water from a deep well r:gularly "Our problem is not flows despite prolonged drought. In western Zimbabwe, people assert greater control government; our problem Ver the events and forces which determine their well-being. is the war. We are free In northern Senegal, fields and pastures are green and lush. Here also drought k a recurring to travel and preach the and raise food for event, but people in this area have joined together to reclaim "desert" land gospel. Religion is themselves and for sale. stronger than before Bread for the World and others have pointed to the structual causes of Africa's complex independence," problems (Background Papers Nos. 85 and 90). Many people have concluded because of the severit y. of the Ethiopian famine in 1984-85 that outsiders have the keyw ith money and Archbishop of Maple() Mozambique knowledgeto African development and that African people themselves eagerly await any type of Western aid. Such a conclusion is false.It obscures the creativity, determination and organizational skills of Africans in addressing the root causes of and finding solutions to their "Many Africans in posi- problems, as well as the need for outsiders to carefully target aid to support those efforts. This tions of power...are not background paper gives an indication of the scope and depth of problem-solving among groups genuinely interested in which are grassroots based and derive their legitimacy from popular action. making their people aware For example, women around M, zambique's capital of Maputo began small vegetable of their basic human gardens in the mid-1970s. The gardens expanded; more women joined in arid il,aper a ti% c. s were rights in society...." formed to reduce costs and share labor. These Green Zone cooperatives no, suppl mikh of All Africa Colference of Maputo's food. Hie go\ ernment has responded by channeling credit to these cooperau 0 and Churches stimulating similar Greeil /ones around other cities. In Burkina Faso tanners liae restored village grain banksa communal pri,:tice discourag .,.1 by colonial authorities--as a \say to enhance food seeurity and price stability .Conimitnit grain banks has e since becollle a central component of renewed rural development eflorts sup ported by the government. In Kenya, a reforestation program organited primarily by and for women is mecting i urdi needs for income. firewood and tree cover. Quietly hut firmly, the program is setting an exaIIi plc of community in vols ement and initiativ e w hich the goy ernment is corning to recognize as essential to deal with the country's environmental problems. These popular actions are not isolated self-improvement measures. Many grassroots mos ements are influencing national policies by suceessful examples awl intentional discuss Hi s and work with gove. -",ent ministries. The trend is tol,sard policies more lawrable to the need, of both rural and l isoor people.

People's Views of Problems The success and persistence of many grassroots Yet other groups have been able to cope with, movements across Africa has not occurred without and thrive on, these pressures. This has been the major tensions and challenges from governmental case among peasants in eastern Senegal, who for and international interests representing wealthy, more than 20 years have worked together to create powerful groups. Development strategies often pro- food, work and decision-making opportunities for mote agricultural production for overseas markets themselves. while neglecting local food needs and other aspects They have selectively used their own vast ex of rural well-being. At the same time, governments perience of the local environment and (arming have sought to expand control over production and systems to produce sufficient food for thernseRe., the actions of producers. Some grassroots and for sale. movements have been crushed by this combination They have struggled with the government of pressures, as occurred in Tanzania in the marketing agency to assure that they retain some mid-I960s when the government replaced a viable control over the disposal of their crops and the regional cooperative with its own bureaucratic prices they receive. organization. Session 3

Article 8 (coned.)

They have resisted attempts by government and for rebels fighting against the people of Mozambi- "We are suspicious, donors, such as the United States Agency for Inter- que and Angola is a fundamental cause of massive America: suspicious that national Development, to adopt "modern" hunger among people there. the White House is blinded agricultural techniques. These techniques have the Fourth, heavy debt burdens and reform pro- by the whiteness of the potential to increase production but, as the peasants grams imposed to facilitate repayment have con- oppressor in southern argue, at the expense of soil fertility, increased risks strained governmental actions in ways that have an Africa and has no enthu- of food shortages in rain-short seasons, and insidious impact on Africa's poor. In 1985 $1.9 siastic, practical concern dependence on outside agencies. billion more flowed out of sub-Saharan Africa as for the oppressed because The voice of the people has become stronger debt repayment than flowed in as credit and and more focused, often through church organiza- development assistance. The burden of repayment of their blackness. We tions, in recent years in identifying major, under- has been piaced squarely on low-income groups. As think it is in your long- lying causes of hunger and poverty. Among the social service spending has decreased, malnutrition term interest it is in reasons cited by Africans for the problems in the rates have increased among children in Zambia and the interests of justice, continent, the following are dominant. Ghana. Peasants in Kenya have lost land to planta- peace and order that Warfare is the major immediate cause of hunger tions which produce crops for export in order to instead of exporting Stinger in Africa today. Other factorse.g., deforestation, earn foreign exchange. Unemployment ravages both missiles...to the oppres- clinics without suppliesinteract with wars to inten- urban and rural people. sors and their surrogates, sify hunger problems, but these conflicts prevent The United States and other Western govern- you should be exporting people and their governments from seeking lasting ments and agencies all are involved in these prob- support to progressive solutions to those other problems. lems, as African people know. Africans see U.S. freedom lovers in South A second reason often cited is the absence of policies and actions as crucial to their development Africa and Namibia, and democracy. Without structures for participation in options and opportunities. However, those policies and accountability of political processes, poor peo- have too often done harm, have strengthened the front-line states. We ple are excluded from any discussion about develop- wealthier classes, sustained apartheid, and have expect Uncle Sam to ex- ment strategies and programs which affect their directly and indirectly maintained the structures that port democracy, justice lives. Development strategies which have not yielded underlie hunger and poverty. For many poor and peace." adequate food, water and jobs are being questioned, Africans, development is not only a process of Simon T. Farisani often privately or in small groups since many coun- dealing with internal problems but also with those Lutheran potor in South Africa tries' governments equate debate with criticism and created by external donors. Increasingly, local, seek to close off the opportunity for discussiou and grassroots efforts for change, exclusive of govern- experimentation. One concern among grassroots ment and donor inputs, are viewed as the most groups is that too often the enrichment of already viable option to assure self-reliance and self- prosperous and powerful people has occurred under determination. the rhetoric of "participatory" development because donors are not intentional enough in working with grassroots groups. As the elites acquire greater wealth, the level uf popular discontent grows, leading in turn to increased repression. For many people in Africa, policies and organizations which respond to the interests of rural and urban poor are fundamental to issues of equity, justice and change. A third reason that Africans cite for their conti- nent's problems is the existence 0, apartheid. South Africa's system of repres,ive rule causes hunger and misery; itis extremely violent and provokes violence in turn. South Africa's terrorism also extends well beond its borders. South Africa has attacked all of the neighboring independent countries in recent years. Those countries estimate that the cost in destroyed buildings, roads and bridges and lost pro ductivity now exceeds $20 billion, an amount in ex cess of all the outside deselopment assistance given to them since 1980. South Africa's military support f)f) Economic Connections WIMI

Article 9: "Village Group Creates New Opportunities with UUSC Support in Impoverished Region of Burkina Faso." UUSC Program Fact Sheet, 1988. Village group creates new opportunities with UUSC support in impoverished region of Burkina Faso

As a university student several and train 30 village health years ago, André Eugene Ilboudo DU MIL workers, I 0 community traveled home regularly to his rural village DE L'EAU development workers and in the Sapone region of Burkina Faso, 25 medical professionals to formerly called Upper Volta. As in the rest POUR TOUS ! provide basic health care in of this impoverished West African nation, two rural regions; the people of Sapone suffered from a host KOOM improve literacy for adults of debilitating conditions: hunger, and youth; drought, poor health care, illiteracy, few RIIBO conduct study tours for agricultural tools, and virtually no means TI SEKD FAA ! villagers from neighboring of storing what little water was available. areas to learn new tech- Ilboudo saw how these conditions niques for their own com- affected the thousands of residents in munity development; and Sapone's 90 villages. The long droughts The logo of Viva le Paysan depicts a farmer and the develop a program for Vive had severely curtailed food production in group's motto, in French and the local tribal language, le Paysan to become more what had been one of the most heavily "Millet and water for all!" self-sufficient. farmed regions of the country. Women had to walk several miles daily to collect language of the Mossi people. The group "A model grassroots organization" water from a communal well. Health care has dramatically improved food and water was minimal, with only a few nurses and resources in the area, and initiated numer- The underlying goal of the group, aides to care for thousands of people ous community development projects. Ilboudo said, is lo make us aware and More than 1,000 active members work in confident of our own strengths. Peasants "With the necessary tools 84 groups in 42 villages. Recently, Vive le must be able to master the environment in and materials, we can Paysan received national media atten- order to be responsible for our own well- reduce the spectre of famine tion, and government officials invited its being. To do that, our activities are organ- members to be advisors in developing a ized into five main areas: agriculture, to a sad memory." regional five-year plan. health, education, organizing and train- ing, and improving the pos'rtion of women In Burkina Faso, 18 out of every 100 Group receives UUSC support in development." With the necessary babies die before the age of one, and 34 tools and materials, he said, "we can percent die before they are four. 7 life The Unitarian Universalist Service reduce the spectre of famine to a sad expectancy of adults is 48. There is only Committee began working with Viva le memory. We already have the necessary one physician for every 48,500 people Paysan in 1985. With grants from the energy and determination." and the literacy rate is among the lowest London-based rock concert relief group Lou Witherite, UUSC's acting director in the world: nine percent. Band Aid, USA for Africa and the Food of international programs, visited the Ilboudo began discussing with other Industry Crusade Against Hunger, the group in Burkina Faso in December, 1987. workers how they might alleviate the hard- Service Comm ittE a is currently supporting "Vive le Paysan has emerged as a major ships so that they could, as he put it, projects to: community force, a dynamic organization 'transform (the villages) into a viable construct two reservoirs, which will that has nearly quadrupled in size in the situation." The meetings drew more and store water for thousands of villagers past year," she said. "It's become a model more people, providing a forum to and improve irrigation; grassroots organization. Recently, they articulate needs and solve problems. manufacture 87 special carts that began providing women with credit to start Today, eight years later, the group enable women to collect and transport small working cooperatives. The women has evolved into a highly effective grass- water more easily; have since opened a restaurant and roots organization of village and regional train youth in animal husbandry; begun manufacturing soap. With these farmers. They call themselves Associa- impruve the village fruit tree nursery; kinds of activities and bcai initiatives, tion Vive le Paysan (Long Live the Peas- build a community center; Vive le Paysan is making its goal of self- ant), or Wend-Na-Va Koada, in More, thE, refurbish a health complex in Saponé, sufficiency a reality."

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee is an independent membership organizaton founded in 1939, rooted in and inspired by liberal religious principles which affirm the supreme worth and dignity of every person, the interdependence of all people awl each s right to peace, justice and freedom. Through its staff and nationwide network of wilunteers, the Service Committee works fOr basic social change in the United States, and for health, women's rights, economic development and human rights in Africa, the Caribbean, Central America and India. 67 Session 4: Issue Connections

Goal: To establish greater awareness among participants of the linkages between the U.S. and Africa on an issue of concern to the group.

Session Length: Approximately 2 hours, 15 minutes.

This session encourages participants to look at current issues critical to local communities in the United States and to the African context (i.e., children and youth, environment, food and hunger, and health). Facts on each issue in the U.S. and in Africa are juxtaposed to provide a context for global understanding. The group's task is to clarify essential local-Africa linkages on the issue. Learning about these linkages, in turn, will indicate areas for local action. This knowledge will be useful for group decision-making in Session 6: Where do we go from here? For example, in learning about the environment, the group learns that hazardous waste dumping by U.S. companies, such as the New Jersey-based Waste Export Management Company, in certain African nations is a growing problem. If participants discover that the Waste Export Management Company has a local affiliate in their area, this is a point of potential leverage for community action to help negotiate for a healthier planet through safe disposal of hazardous waste.

Activities: Participants learn about the local angle of the issue of their choice. They share what they learned from the readings about the issue in the African context. Through an inquiry process, they may find that the same dynamics on the issue link their community here in the United States with those in Africa. They will reach conclusions about how the marginalization of certain population groups in U.S. communities concerning this issue is reflected in our approach to Africa on a global level. They will outline the kinds of action responses to the issues emerging from their analysis. They announce up-coming Africa-related events; share findings on the local Africa resource network. They set the agenda, and designate responsibilities for Session 5.

Suggested Equipment and Materials: African foods brought by participants easel and newsprint to mark participants' questions, responsibilities a table to display any Africa-related literature a bulletin board to pin up a map of Africa, relevant articles and announcements thumb tacks, scissors, tape video cassette player

68 Issue Connections

Session Outline:

This format should be adapted to the issue of the group's choice.

1.Presentation on the local angle of the issue (40 minutes) Facts about the U.S. context and ideas for local inquiry for the selected issue are provided in the introduction to the readings below as a starting point. A group participant or a speaker from the local area who is knowledgeable about the issue is invited to provide a presentation on the local angle (facts and figures) of the issue. Use of any relevant articles or handouts is greatly encouraged. Particularly relevant is information on how the issue affects different population groups on the local level, and what role is played by racism anddiscrimination against so- called "minority" cultures. This presentation (approx. 15 minutes long) will be followed by a question and answer period for participants (15 minutes). Using a flipchart, participants will then list the priority areas of local concern On the issue (10 minutes). (After completion of this activity may be the ideal moment to take a short break for refreshments).

2.Presentations on the readings (30 minutes) After consulting the facts on Africa contained in the introduction to the readings and briefing each other on the articles (if all participants have not already read them), participants will prepare a list (also on flipchart paper) of what they feel are priority areas of concern for Africa on the issue that they selected.

3.Discussion on possible linkages between Africa and the local context of the issue and appropriate action responses (30 minutes): Comparing the lists of local vs. Africa areas of concern, participants clarify the linkages that emerge. For example, if the issue under scrutiny is health care, and a priority area is prenatal programs, participants compare the needs in prenatal care in their local area to what they've learned about prenatal programs in Africa. What conclusions can you make? What kind of action response would the group want to advocate (e.g., become involved in the baby formula boycott)? Is the marginalization of certain population groups in U.S. communities reflected in our approach to Africa On a globallevel?

t 69 Session 4

4.Updates on the local African resource network (10 minutes): As with every session, the facilitator asks participants to announce: progress on the list of African resources in the area (people; the local network of African arts; area organizations and coalitions; and relevant libraries and resource centers) recent articles and media coverage on Africa (clippings should be shared on a bulletin board) up-coming Africa-related events (speakers, movies, exhibits, films, festivals, etc.)

5.Setting the agenda for Session 5: The Military Connection (10 minutes):

Before leaving, all participants should know what their responsibilities are for the next session. They should: set a time, place and duration for Session 5 designate (a) facilitator(s) if necessary designate participant responsible for researching the impact of military spending in the local area (this could mean preparing a short presentation or inviting a local authority on the issue to speak to the group) assign reading of the overview of the articles in Session 5 to all participants designate participants responsible for reporting on certain readings, if all participants aren't able to read all the articles for the issue selected for Session 5 nominate person(s) who will bring African-style refreshments to the next meeting

70 Session 4/Issue: Children and Youth

Facts about Children in the United States: The World Council of Churches stated that "the basic test of economic justice is what happens to the most vulnerable groups in society." Children are typically amongthe most vulnerable in any society. The U.S. is the only industrialized nation in which children make up the largest segmentof the poor. Other facts that tell of the plight of the nation'schildren are: The National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality says the lack of decent prenatal care causes some 40,000 low-birthweight babies in the U.S. to diebefore their first birthday. Overall infant mortality rate is 11 per 1000 live births; it is twice as high kr blacks as for whites. Black mothers are also twice as likely to give birth to a low-birthweight baby. (Zero Population Growth). Women who haven't graduated from high school have a fertihty rate almost 30 points higher than women with four or more years of college. (Zero Population Growth). According to Census Bureau figures, around 5 million or almost 25 percent of U.S. children under age 6 are poor; 12.8 million or 20.4 percent of children under 18 were poor in 1987. One in every two black children under age 6 is poor. A black baby born in Indianapolis, Detroit, or Washington, DC is more likely to die in the first year of life than a baby born in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Chile, Panama, Romania, or the Soviet Union. (Children's Defense Fund) Poor children often live in single-parent families; one out of two marriages today end in divorce; and one out of two female headed families live below the federal poverty line. Before World War II, government expenditures on education were two to three times as high as those for military defense. Now 45 percent more money is allocated to the military than to the education of the nation's children (Ruth Leger Sivard). Children, especially black urban youth, increasingly grow up in an environment that provides them with incentives to turn to crime, drug abuse, and violence. Access by blacks to higher education through federal grants and loans has steadily diminished. In any given day, 2,407 children are born out of wedlock, 2,989 see their parents divorced, 1,849 are abused, 3,288 run away from home, 1,629 are in adult jails, 9 die from guns, 17 die from poverty. (Children's Defense Fund) In any given day, 2,740 U.S. teenagers get pregnant, 1,105 have abortions, 369 miscarry, 1,293 give birth, 6 commit suicide, 1,385 drop out of high school. (Children's Defense Fund) The United States and South Africa are the only major industrialized nations that do not guarantee some form of job-protected maternity leave. (Children's Defense Fund) The U.S. ranks eighteenth among 142 nations in infant mortality (twenty-eighth if only black babies are counted), and twentieth in school-age population per teacher. It ranks first in terms of military expenditures, military aid to foreign countries, nuclear reactors, and nuclear tests. (Ruth Leger Sivard)

j 4 71 Session 4

Facts About Children in Africa: The overall infant mortality rate in Africa is 118 per 1,000 live births; only one in four children survive past age 5. An overwhelming proportion of children grow up in chronic malnutrition conditions, weakening resistance against diarrhea, parasites, malaria, and other diseases. According to a recent UNICEF report, children clearly pay the highest price for the debt crises in various African nations. In order to meet their debt payments to foreign lenders, government have had to slash their education and health budgets areas which most affect the livelihood of children. Despite governments' call for universal education, the primary education systems on the African continent are still largely inadequate: there is an average of 79 school-aged children per teacher; only 43 percent of the school age population is in school; less than half of the population is literate. Yet, education should be a priority for children all over Africa: research has shown that there is a strong negative relationship between how much education a woman receives and the number of children she bears during her lifetime. Men and women with more education tend to live longer healthier lives. The overwhelming proportion of Africa's refugees are children and women. In most African households, children represent an important labor resource: often parents don't allow their children (especially their daughters) to go to school because they need them to help around the house. An estimated 10,000 black South African children have been detained without trial. Many have suftered physical torture and psychiatric abuse (Defense for Children USA).

Ideas fo.' Local Inquiry: In South Africa, an estimated 70 percent of African school-age children are underweight, and up to 50,000 children may die of malnutrition each year (Defense for Children USA). What children suffer from hunger and poverty in your area (ethnic groups, women, children)? Who provides help for these children (organizations, government offices, churches)? What provisions for food assistance for children exist? Are the current programs efficient? What kinds ot prenatal and infant care services exist? What protection is there for children suffering from parental abuse or neglect? What programs are there for day care for single and working parents? Do they meet the need? What is the teen pregnancy rate? What teen sex education programs exist? What drug abuse and crime rates exist among youth in your area? Are there teen centers or community education programs that deal with youth drug abuse and crime? Are there examples of community, family, and peer institutions or traditions in Africa, that could provide us with alternative models for approaching the crisis in U.S. :amilies?

7 2 Issue: Children and Youth

What multicultural and global education programs in the school system? Do such programs adequately portray Africa? How could they be improved? What teachers and school administrators are particularly receptive to teaching about Africa? Are there any exchange programs that include Africa?

Through this inquiry, what conclusions can you make:

1)concerning specific problem areas relating to children at risk in your community?

2)concerning connections with Africa on children's welfare?

3) What kind of action in response to this issue would you recommend and participate in?

Recommended Videos:

A Week of Sweet Water This is one family's drama in Burkina Faso, West Africa. When drought comes, hard choices need to be made. By renewing the community tradition of working together, they can restore the potential of the land. The video also refers to the local tradition of female circumcision. (40 minutes) Available for rent free of charge from the Film Library, Church World Services, P.O. Box 968, 28606 Phillips St., Elkhart, IN 46515 (219) 264-3102.

Chain of Tears This is a documentary filmed oil location in the war-ravaged Front Line States of Mozambique and Angola as well as in South Africa's black townships, and provides a powerful and painful account of the plight of the children in southern Africa. (52 minutes) Available for rent free of charge from the Film Library, Church World Services, P.O. box 968, 28606 Phillips St., Elkhart, IN 46515 (219) 264-3102.

Children of Apartheid This disturbing Walter Cronkite documentary introduces us to South Africa's youth under the current State of Emergency. The film's portraits of the daughters of former SouthAfrica President P.W. Botha and imprisoned African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela dramatically highlights the differences between the two South Africas. (49 minutes) Available for rent free of charge from the Film Library, Church World Services, P.O. Box 968, 28606 Phillips St., Elkhart, IN 46515 (219) 264-3102.

7 Session 4

Overview of the Readings for Session 4: Children and Youth

What does it mean to grow up in Africa provides us with impressions from a young black today? While the pastoral scenes of children boy's point of view about growing up in a place coming of age in picturesque rural villages still where he, his family, his community, and his exist throughout Africa, an ever-increasing race are systematically excluded from access to number of children now grow up in the urban a lifestyle made available only to the white South centers. Major cities (those with populations African minority living in adjacent white above one million include: Abidjan, Algiers, settlements. Cairo, Cape Town, Dakar, Khartoum, Kinshasa, Lagos, Nairobi, Tripoli) have mushroomed up all The imposition of a European value-based educational system and work ethic has had a far- over Africa during the past few decades. Euro- reaching impact on Africa. These schools have pean colonizers, missionaries, foreign edu- trained the vast majority of African government cational systems, and modern technology have leaders, administrators, and civil servants of left their mark on Africa's youth. This collection today, and continues to train those of the future. of articles, poems, and book excerpts brings Yet, inevitably, to go to school and subsequently together many of the issues facing the Africa's to the university means breaking many of the ties young people. to family, community, and village. In general, only the infant travelling on the Article 3 presents the example of the iife of back of its mother or sister enjoys a free ride. By age four or five, that infant will have its own Kwasi Oduro, a young lecturer at the University of Ghana, and the first in his family to receive a share of the work around the house. As the West university degree and government job in the African proverb says, "Each extra mouth comes capital city Accra. His life is juxtaposed to that of attached to two extra hands." Rural African his family in their native village of Dawu. The women spend their days planting, hoeing, and author weaves the story of Oduro, his ties to his harvesting; bearing children, cooking meals, fetching water, and carrying firewood. An family (often based on guilt and resentment) and the lure of modernization into an economic African man's responsibilities include providing context. Those who live in the city, especially if for his wife (or wives) and children, and caring they're employed by the government, are for his extended family. School fees for his nephew, shelter for his widowed sister-in law, a considered wealthy, and are expected to share their resources with the less fortunate family job for his cousin; many requests such as these will come his way. members. The effect of colonization on Africa has Life in the big city may lure many in search of a means to survive, but, especially for challenged many such indigenous practices. For children, there are many dangers. Article 4 example, the conflict between the traditional way of life and the new "white man's religion," describes the Sudanese street children in Khartoum known as "shamasa" children Christianity, created a poignant drama in without protection from the sun. The author numerous African families. Article 1 takes the explains how these youngsters came to live on reader to colonial Cameroon where a confronta- the streets of Khartoum and includes an tion between a father and his adolescent son will interview with Muhammad, who has worked on be familiar to any parent. The age-old in- the streets for three years. The head of the tergenerational struggle is also symbolic ot the department of social welfare in Khartoum states forces bearing down on young Africans. that these boys are forced to lead a homeless These same forces of imposing an external existence for &Gnomic reasons. However, he value system on African communities is pushed does not errrhasize the role played by the to an extreme in South Africa with apartheid Sudanese civk war which has displaced rule. What does it mean to be black and growing thousands of families. up in a towmhip in that country? Article 2

74 Issue: Children and Youth

Schooling takes on many different forms in collection of personal accounts from women African society. Traditional apprenticeships, who have joined the Eritrean People's Liberation European school systems set up by the Front (EPLF) informs us that women are willing to colonizers, literacy and numeracy training fight for basic human necessities, such as programs, and religious schools are some education and health care. examples. Islamic education, too, heavily The urban life also beckons girls, especially influences the lives of many children. In Senegal, during periods of drought and hardship in the boys and girls start their day shortly after dawn, rural areas. They may be able to stay with sitting under large shade trees writing Arabic extended family members, but more often script on wooden boards and reciting passages poverty, hunger, prostitution, and unwanted from the Qu'ran. They are students of the pregnancies await them. A shelter and basic Koranic school where a "Malan" (Arabic for skills training program for such young women teacher or scholar) teaches them Lmsic Ar3bic has been established in Dakar by the Federation and Islamic belief. Article 5 provides an inside of Senegalese Women's Associations (article 9) look at the Koranic school system as well as a with support from UUSC. global picture of how Koranic schools perpetuate Islamic tradition. Growing up has its share of complexities and difficulties for every child. African families, with In Africa, poetry, whether oral or written, is traditions and dynamics that vary enormously regarded as a means of transferring values from from region to region, are going through a time one generation to the next. A poem by a Kenyan of transition. How will the tensions between writer (article 6) conveys a sense of loss over a traditional and modern lifestyles be played out? disappearing code of cultural values How will this affect relations between men and representative of the African "bush". The poet women, mothers and children? Because the questions the worth of teaching young people African family has a built-in day care system, the value of a "civilization" where "...men/With social security plan, and unemployment scheme, crippled legs, lifeless eyes/.../Wander about the it will undoubtedly remain a strong, if somewhat streets." changed, entity. Tradition and strongly upheld It is well known that women in Africa hold philosophical beliefs create an environment up more than their share of the sky. The where the obligations to the family will remain remaining articles focus on what it means to dominant over the needs of the individual even grow up for a young girl in Africa today. For in these times of change. Perhaps in terms of some girls, becoming a woman means, as with family, more than in any other aspect of this boys when they become men, undergoing the guide, we, in the industrialized nations, have a ritual of circumcision with her age cohort. Many great deal to learn from our African sisters and get married at an early age. But with education brothers. and exposure to modernized values, conflicts arise that are redefining traditional roles played by women in marriage, in the family, in work. This is particularly true in urban areas. Article 7 tells of the struggles that confront most African girls as they come of age, and of the structural solutions that they would like a chance to try to improve their lot. An example of women whose role has changed dramatically during the past two decades is described in article 8, which focuses on Eritrean women who discarded the veil and are "enjoying liberation" as soldiers and revolutionaries fighting for their country. A

75 Session 4

Article 1:from Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono

AUGUST My father however was not a stranger and I was well ac- quainted with what he could do with a stick. Whenever he went for either my mother or me, it always took us a week to re- Father Gilbert says I can read and write fluently. Now I cancover. I was a good way from his stick. He swished it in the air keep a diary like he does. Keeping a diary is a white man's and came towards me. I edged backwards. custom and what pleasure there is in it I do not know. But I 'Are you going to stop? I've not got legs to go chasing you. shall try it out. You know if I don't get you now I will wait for you for a While my master and benefactor was hearing confessions, I hundred years to give you your punishment. Now come here had a look into his diary. Ah, it is a grain-store for memories. and get it over with.' These white men can preserve everything. In Father Gilbert's 'I haven't done anything to be beaten for, father,' I pro- diary I found the kick he gave me when he caught me mim- tested. icking him in the sacristy. I felt my bottom burning all over 'Aaaaaaaaaaakiaaaaayl' he roared. 'You dare to say you again. It is strange, I thought I had forgotten all about it. ... haven't done anything? If you weren't such a glutton, if you hadn't the blood of the gluttons that flows through your mother's veins you wouldn't have been in Fia to fight like the little rat you are over the bits of sugar that cursed white man My name is Toundi Ondoua. I am the son of Toundi and of gives you. You wouldn't have got your arm twisted, your Zama. When the Father baptized me he gave me the name of mother wouldn't have had a fight and I wouldn't have wanted Joseph. I am Maka by my mother and Ndjem by my father. to split open Tinati's old father's head.... I warn you, you had My ancestors were cannibals. Since the white men came webetter stop. If you go one more step backwards, that will be an have learnt other men must not be looked upon as animals. insult to me. I will take it as a sign that you are capable of They say in the village that I was the cause of my father's taking your mother to bed.' death because I ran away to a white priest on the day before I stopped. He flung himself on me and the cane swished initiation when I should have met the famous serpent who down on to my bare shoulders. I twisted like a worm in the watches over all the men of my race. Father Gilbert believes it sun. was the Holy Spirit that led me to him. In fact I just wanted to 'Turn round and put up your arms. I don't want to knock get close to the white man with hair like the beard on a maize your eye out.' cob who dressed in woman's clothes and gave little black boys 'Let me off, father,' I begged, 'I won't do it again.' sugar lumps. I was in a gang of heathen boys who followed the 'You always say that when I start to give you a thrashing. missionary about as he went from hut to hut trying to make But today I'm going to go on thrashing and thrashing until converts to the new religion. He knew a few words of Ndjem I'm not angry any more.' but his pronunciation was so bad that the way he said them, I couldn't cry out because that might have attracted the they all had obscene meanings. This amused everybody and his neighbours. My friends would have thought me a girl. I would success was assured.He threw the little lumpsof sugar to us like have lost my place in the group of 'boys-who-are-soon-to- throwing corn to chickens. What a battle to get hold of one of be-men'. My father gave me another blow that I dodged those little white lumps! They were worth all the scraped knees, neatly. swollen eyes and painful cuts. Sometimes these distributions of 'If you dodge again it means you are capable of taking my sugar turned into brawls between our parents. One day my mother, your grandmother, to bed.' mother got into a fight with the mother of my friend Tinati My father always used this blackmail to stop me from get- because he had twisted my arm to make me let go of two lumps ting away and to make me submit to his blows. of sugar which I had won at the cost of a bleeding nose. That 'I have not insulted you and I am not capable of taking my battle nearly came to bloodshed. My father had to be re- mother to bed or yours and I won't be beaten any more, so strained by the neighbours from splitting open the head of there.' Tinati's father, while Tinati's father was threatening to put his 'How dare you speak to me like that' A drop of my own assegai through my father's stomach. When they had both been liquid speaking to me like that! Unless you stand still at once, I calmed down, my father, armed with a cane, invited me to shall curse you.' follow him behind the house. My father was choking. 1 had never seen him so furious. I 'You, Toundi, arc the cause of this whole business. Your went on backing away from him. He came on after me, down greediness will be the ruin of us. Anyone would think you behind the huts, for a good hundred yards. don't have enough to eat at home. So on the day before your 'Very well then,' he said. 'We'll see where you spend the initiation you have to cross a stream to go begging lumps of night. I will tell your mother you have insultedus both. Your sugar from some white man-woman who is a complete stranger way back into the house will pass through my anus.' to you.'

76 Issue: Children and Youth

Article 1: (coned.)

With that he turned his back. I did not know where I could his teeth so his mouth looked like a crescent moon. I stood go. I had an uncle I did not like because of his scabies.His wife shyly by the door. He made signs that I should come closer and smelt of bad fish t.nd so did he. I hated going into their house. he offered me what was left of his meal. I found it strange and It was growing dark. You could begin to see the flashing light delicious. We continued a conversation by signs. I knew I had of the fireflies, The thud of mortars announced the preparation been accepted. of the evening mttal. I went back softly behind our ho'tse and That is how I became Father Gilbert's boy. peered through the cracks in the mud wall. My father had his My father heard the news next day. I was afraid of how back :o me. My unpleasant uncle was facing him. They were angry he would be . .. Iexplained to the priest, still using signs. eating. .. . The aroma of porcupine made my mouth water. It He was amused. He gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder. I bad been caught in one of my father's traps and we had found felt protected. it half eaten by ants two days later. My mother was famous in In the afternoon my father came. All he said to me was that I the village for her cooking of porcupine. was still his son, the drop of his liquid and that he bore me no 'The very first of the season,' said my uncle with his mouth grudge. If I came home, everything would be forgotten. I knew full. just how much trust I could put in a speech like this made in My father did not speak but pointed with his finger above his front of the white man. I put my tongue out at him. The look head to where the skulls of the animals he bad taken in his came into his eye that always came when he was goiog to 'teach traps were hung up in a row. me how to behave'. But I was not afraid while Father Gilbert 'You can eat it all up,' said my mother, 'I've kept some for was there. Father Gilbert's eyes seemed to cast a spell over my Toundi in the pot.' father. He lowered his head and went out crestfallen. My father leapt up. stammering with rage. I saw there would My mother came to see me that night. She was crying. We be a storm. cried tugether. She told me I had done well to leave my father's 'Bring Toundi's share here,' he shouted. 'He's not to have house and that my father did not love me as a father ought to any of this porcupine. I will teach him to disobey me.' love his son. She said that she gave me her blessing and that if 'But he hasn't had anything since this morning. What will he ever I fell ill I had only to bathe in a stream and I wouldbe eat when he gets in?' cured. 'Nothing at all,' said my father. Fathei Gilbert gave me a pair of khaki shorts and a red `If you want to make him obedient,' added my uncle, 'take jersey. All the boys in Fia were so impressed by these that thly away his food ... this porcupine is really delicious.' came to ask Father Gilbert to take them on as well. My mother got up and fetched the pot. I saw my father's hand and my uncle's hand go in. Then I heard my mother crying. For the first time in my life I thought of killing my father. I went back to Fia ... and after hesitating for a long while I knocked at the white priest's door. I found him in the middle of his dinner. He was very surprised. I tried to explain through signs that I wanted to go away with him. He laughed with all

77 Session 4

Article 2:"Living Under Apa-theid" (Reprinted form Children's Express). Your World: An International Paper for Young Pec, )le. Living Under Apartheid by Michael Ford, 11; Samantha Mandor, 12; and Kimberly Wilson, 12. Reprinted from CHILDREN'S EXPRE SS

How would you like to be called a -nigger"? How would you like to grow up segregated from everybody else, just because your skin is a differ- ent color? There are thousands of children grow- ing up and living like that under apartheid in South Africa. We interviewed Mark Mathaballe who wrote a book about apartheid called Kaffir Boy. He wanted to tell the world about South African apartheid, from a kid's point of view. It's basically about him, as a kid growing up. When we met with Mathabane he told us more ol his story. in South Africa I was born in a 15x15 foot shack," he said."Islept on a piece of cardboard under the kitchen table with my sibl- ings, because we had no bed. During the bitter winter months, my mcther would reinforce our one thin blanket with pieces of newspaper because it was so cold. We often had no food, so we had to beg and beg for scraps of food at the garbage didn't like school because black school was We.then asked him about Mrs. Smith, the white clump in order to stay alive." iust so horrible. They whipped you every day for woman his grandmother worked for. "She liked not having books or for missing lessons. I would me," he told us, "and she began giving me a book Mark-said that he was beaten a lot and he had come back unable to sit because I'd been whip- here and there, like Treasure Island.I think the to hide a lot from the police. The police did awful ped. And I would say, 'What's the use? Fortu- books that she gave me made me start to dream things to his parents; they humiliated them, hurt nately I stayed there, and I learned that if I could and to think that maybe there was a worid out them, imprisoned them. Mark saw what they did become more educated, I could fight more effec- there that was very differentmuch better than He was really confused. He left that the police tive,/ lot my rights. the world in the ghetto. And I think that it made were supposed to protect you, not hurt you. Mark's alternatives to going to school would me not lose hope. She was also the woman that Every now and then in the middle of the night, have been hanging out with bad boys and getting gave me my first tennis racket.' the police would come and make a raid. If Mark into trouble. Some of the black South African kids Mark struggled and got to the United States by wouldn't answer the door, they'd bust it open and who didn't go to school got into crime and prostitu- means of a tennis scholarship. "I went to South beat him. They'd,arreel hie father for being urh tion. They had to make money for their families Carolina to a college called Limestone, and first employed, but it was hard for his father to get a because they were poor. lived there." Now Mark Mathabane lives in North job. They wvuld just turn down blacks for jobs Carolina, where he's a writer and lectures about because they were black or poor. 1 would go to the golf course when I was little," he said, " or I would sell nawsoapers or clean South Africa. 'We took care of each other though" Mark cars, but I loved playing sports. So .ve would play Mathabane said, "We loved each other very much. "My definition of apartheid," he told us, "is the soccer and tonnis. Arid that made me stay out of And I knew I would always protect my sisters and denial of freedom and equal opportunity to people. trouble. brothers, because I knew that though they could I find this very terrible, because we all have a right take everything away from us, the one thing they We wondered about whether or not Mark to freedom. We all have to give each other a could not take away was our love for each other.' Mathabane ever went to white neighborhoods. He chance because we are all talented, and we can told us about the first time he visited one. all do something for which we will be proud, if Schooling was very important to Mark's mother, only we have the opportunity. because she didn't go to school. She said, IfI thought I had arrived in outer space. Every- have to give up everything, you're going to thing was just so different. The homes were big. Mark Mathabane wants American kios to know school." There were paved streets. Everybody was happy. about apartheid and the South Africans. "I hope And I said, 'My Godl This is strange,' because I that the young people in America become involved Mark thought that was really great xible of had expected to find people killing each other. In in the struggle that the young people in South her He wanted to go because it was so important all the movies we saw, white people were always Africa are fighting. You should try to write to them, :o his mother. She slaved for him to go to school. killing each other and the poor Indians. So I to send them books, to tell them that you do care. It took months and months for him to register for thoughtI would find people going around on Because someday you will be the leadors of school. He and his mother left every morning in horses and shooting each other. Americaand these children will be the leaders the cold winter to go to the police station. They of South Africa. walked barefoot on broken bottles. At the police Instead I found some of the prettiest places I station they kept on asking for his birth certificate. began to ask myself, why are we living in such They needed it to enroll him in school. A white horrible places, and they are livingin such nun finally got them the birth certificate. And his paradises? It was that curio. 'y that led me to mother held it like it was a gold nugget' revolt against the apartheid system," 78

LI Issue: Children and Youth

Article 3:"Torn by Tradition and Modernity." by Blaine Harden, The Washington Post National Weekly Edition, Dec. 5-11, 1988. Torn by Tradition and Modernity In Africa, family ties are binding too tightly by Blaine Harden Washington Post Foreign Service

Dawu, Ghana Kwasi Oduro, the only member "My guilt is an expression of my failure to of his family with a university degree and a measure up to their expectations," he says. government job in the capital, is needed here at "Sometimes you crawl back home with certain home. gestures. The crawling back can only happen to the in this upcountry village of mud houses and bad guilty." water, his kin want a piece of what they imagine to After more than a year's absence, Oduro went be Oduro's prosperity. home in October. It was a bittersweet, expensive and His father needs money to pay a hospital so a emotionally draining homecoming of a sort that is "computer can test my blood to know the particular replayed millions of times every weekend across this place where the sick is." His mother needs money to continent as the African extended family recalls its install wiring that would, for the first time, bring own. electricity to her house. His sister, '..alhappily married The extended system hooks into the hearts to a polygamous village subchief, needs money for and pocketbooks of almost every African man and school fees for her five children. His aunt, who is woman. Unlike tribal loyalty, which divides Africa believed to have magical powers and has professed in along ethnic lines while dictating patterns of public to being a witch, needs money for a dentist. government patronage and sometimes boiling over The list of needs, bubbling up from the ranks of into civil war, family loyalty operates on a smaller, distant cousins, goes on and on. At times, Oduro, 38, more intimate stage a stage populated exclusively a lecturer in sociology at the University of Ghana, by blood relatives. says he despises his extended family. With its labyrinthine web of rights and duties, the His $83-a-month university salary is not enough extended family is a day care, social security and to feed, clothe, and educate his own five children, welfare system. It babysits the children of working who live with him and his wife in the capital, Accra. parents and keeps the elderly from feeling useless. It The demands of the folks back home, Oduro says, fill feeds the unemployed and gives refuge to the him with "dread." disabled and mentally ill. "They are vultures," he says"I say they are It pays for all this by redistributing resources pickpockets. They are very cunning. They want between haves and have-nots. Money, medicines and money from you and they know how to get it. They manufactured goods filter out to the village. Country will tell you lies calculated to soften your heart. Your cousins come knocking on doors in the city in search grandmother talks to you about some chest trouble of familial favors. This system of commerce and and you give her money and the next thing you know welfare does not follow free-market precepts, Marxist she is drinking gin." dogma or the rule of law. It is governed by ties of blood, of tradition, of guilt. At other times, his cynicism gives way to guilt. Oduro's family, especially his mother, sacrificed to As independent Africa stumbles through three put him through school. Fie owes them. There is a decades of hard times with corrupt leaders saying in his tribe, the Ashanti: "If your elders take bleeding national economies, commodity prices care of you while you are cutting your teeth, you skidding downward on world markets and the av- must in turn take care of them while they are losing erage African growing poorer each year -- the ex- theirs." tended family functions as a kind of homemade glue, holding together the world's most impoverished and politically brittle continent.

79 Session 4

"There is really no alternative in Africa to the "I suppose I should be thorough and dislodge all extended family," says Akilagpa Sawyyer, vice- of these traditional obligations and call them chancellor of the University of Ghana and a well- humbug. If I decide for my urban family, I would be known social commentator in this country. "Its saved a lot of headache," says Oduro. functioning is a major way to distinguish African "But I cannot turn out anybody if there is space to society from that of Europe or the United States. And sleep. You don't know what they will go to the village it is not going to go away. Every single person you and say. That sort of thing counts a lot. I am not so meet in Africa who has got anything is sharing it with worried about this talk of witchcraft. That is not what his kin." worries me at all. What worries me is my own Most African governments, despite socialist conscience." rhetoric and well-intentioned laws, cannot afford Oduro is a compact, w-:II-muscled man, with a social security or unemployment benefits. Here in rounded face, a touch of gray in his hair, and a Ghana, for example, the government has an elaborate booming voice toughened by long hours of unemployment benefit program. But the program monologue in large lecture halls. exists only on paper. Since it was introduced in 1972, As a student at the University of Ghana, he was government figures show that a total of three an activist who led strikes that three times closed claimants have been paid. down the school. One of the strikes, in the late "Compared to what African governments can do, 1970s, precipitated the fall of a military government the family is a marvelous welfare system," says in Ghana. Bernard Travallion, a British adviser to Ghana's "He caused a lot of trouble, but he has calmed government for development planning. "To dismantle down," recalls vice-chancellor Sawyyer. He now it without an alternative would be a disaster." describes Oduro as one of the university's most Yet, as the journey home of Kwasi Oduro sug- energetic and popular lecturers. gests, the extended family in Ghana, and across Oduro describes himself as riven among obli- Africa, is under immense stress. Like a bridge that has gations to his own children in Accra, to teaching at borne too much high speed traffic for too many years, the university and to his extended family here. its foundations are cracking. Decades of western education and urban migration have lured family "In my situation, there are too many norms members into different worlds. The rural old and the competing to guide my life," Oduro says. "The source urban young are separated by hundreds of miles of of my trouble is that I have made a decision to bad roads and centuries of development. combine all of them." At the University of Ghana in Accra, where Though frayed by cultural stress and inimical to Kwasi Oduro lives on campus in a house provided by western concepts of efficiency, the extended family the university, there is a nuclear physics research has proven itself adaptable to Africa's deepening laboratory. Here in Dawu, 100 miles upcountry, poverty and political instability. fetishes hang in each house to ward off evil. A remarkable demonstration of this adaptability When Oduro goes home he does not bring along occurred in Ghana five years ago when neighboring his city-bred children; the village wa',gives them Nigeria, in a fit of xenophobia, ordered the expulsion diarrhea, and village cousins steal their food. Nor of more than 1.3 million Ghanaian workers. does he, a nondrinking born-awin Christian, bring The mass deportation came at a time of severe home the traditional bottle of schnapps that his drought and economic hardship in this country of 14 uncles pour on the ground as a libation to the million people. (It was an invasion analogous to 20 ancestors. million American expatriates returning in 14 days to Yet, he constantly worries about what his kin the United States at the height of the Great back home are say ig about him. Depression.) Eleven of his kin are camped out in his three- Anticipating social upheaval and feaiing strva- bedroom house in Accra, not counting his wife and tion, western relief agencies drew up emergency five children. The number has gone as high as 18. plans to erect camps for returnees. Within two weeks, They are job-seekers and refugees from this village. however, the deportees disappeared, absorbed bac k Most are described by Oduro as "cousins of a sort." into their extended families like water into a sponge. 1hey pay no rent; they often eat for free. What was potentialiy the greatest single disaster in Ghana's history was defused before donors could figure out what to do about it.

80 Issue: Children and Youth

After six hours in a van on roads that deteriorated the late 19th century, the Ashanti Empire was one of from good to bumpy to barbarous, Oduro is dropped the most religiously intricate, commercially astute off here in his home village late on a Friday and militarily adventurous civilizations on the afternoon. continent. Dawu has a population of about 1,500 people The Ashanti traded in gold, ivory and slaves. when everyone's working-age children come home While subjugating neighboring tribes, they ruled from the cities. Except at Christmas and Easter, they themselves with a monarchy that had a strong don't come home all that often. They drift back on component of participatory democracy. The symbol the odd weekend to meet family obligations. Like tens of Ashanti unity was the Golden Stool, which by of thousands of ancestral villages across rural Africa, legend descended from heaven only 25 miles from Dawu is semi-abandoned and sleepy, with more than this village, at Kumasi, the Ashanti capital. No one, its share of the very old and the very young. not even the Ashanti kir ig, was allowed to sit on the There is one unpaved street in the village and gold-encrusted stool; it was the soul of the nation. one shop, a kiosk that sells cigarettes, soap and Although the modern world has brought changes, bread. When Oduro arrives home, the kiosk appears many traditions remain. The most important among to have been freshly painted. It bears a portrait of these is the Ashanti concept of matri,ineal descent, a Michael Jackson and the slogan, "No Hurry in Life." complex practice common among the peoples of The surrounding houses are made of reddish mud central and west Africa. Family property can be with rusted tin roofs. Greenish trails of sewage leak inherited only from the mother's side of the family. In from beneath each house into shallow ditches that the Ashanti tribe, it is much better to have a rich crisscross the village. Between the houses, cocoa fruit mother than a rich father. A father's wealth goes to (plucked from trees that surround Dawu) dries on his sisters' children, but a mother's wealth goes to her woven mats in the sun. own children. When Oduro entered his mother's house, he Even in the late afternoon, it is very hot the humid air heavy with the sweet fermenting aroma of knew his father would not be there. He has never lived there. The only kin entitled to live in the house cocoa and the biting odor of excrement. are the "products" of his grandmother's and his Oduro has left his wife, Margaret, back in Accra mother's wombs. Oduro's father lives down the road with their children. Instead, he has brought home in his mother's house. Maternal uncles, who manage Stella Adgei, 27, who works with him as a researcher family property and family affairs, loom large in the at the university. He and Stella have been seeing each life of every Ashanti. That is why, when Oduro came other for a long time. Last year he met her parents for home, someone ran to the forest to fetch them, drinks, proposed marriage, and received their blessing. Although there has been no formal While waiting for his uncles, Oduro drinks the ceremony, Oduro has told a few of his university welcome water his mother brought him. Stella, a city colleagues that Stella is his second wife. woman who grew up in Accra and who had never before come home with Oduro, rejects it, fearing He has not, however, m9ntioned his second gastroenteritis. marriage to his first wife. Margaret does not like Stella. The two have met only once, and it was not nleasant. Margaret charged into Oduro's office at the oepartrnent of Sociology and ripped Stella's dress. When Oduro climbs the broken front steps and walks into his family's house, a structure he was born and raised in, his mother greets him with a curtsy and immediately turns away to fetch water. It is an Ashanti tradition that water must be offere / to guests before inquiries are made. Tradition, too, demands that Oduro's satchel bag be carried immediately to the bedroom in which he was born and that his ma- ternal uncles be sent for. Going home to rural Africa means succumbing to, if not suffocating in, the traditions of one's elders. This is especially true among the Ashanti, Ghana's largest tribe. Before the British subdued their nation in

81 Session 4

Article 4:"Sudanese Kids Flock to City Streets" by Tym Lenderking,The Christian Science Monitor, May9, 1986, p. 12.

Sudanese kids flock to city streets Rising numbers fuel fears they will pose a major social problem

By Tym Lenderking squares, outside public offices, along main thorough- S2ecial to The Christian Science Monitor fares, ragged and dusty youths almost all of them Khartoum, Sudan boys roam, beg. or ioiter. The Sudanese call them shamasa "children with- Their presence is not threatening, but there is increas- out protection from the sun." There are perhaps 5,000 ofing concern that the longer they remain here, without them living in poverty on the streets of Khartoum. adult or personal direction, the more threatening "We never used to have this problem of street chil-physically and socially their presence will be. dren," sighs Ahmed Musa, a longtime resident of Khar- The term shamasa, in its common usage in Khartoum, toum, Sudan's capital. "But nowadays you find them allrefers only to those children who have come from the over town, wandering around with surrounding provinces and have no nothing to do. We are very worried that in the capital. There are count- if something significant isn't done soon, Afamilyless others, including girls, who wander we are going to have a major social and beg, but who have homes to return problem on our hands." to at night. The shamasa, completely Migration to urban centers is com- alone, are seen as a separate and more, mon in developing countries. In Sudan, P-1 serious problem. however, this movement has been in- "We can't afford to let these boys tensified by successive years of drought live aimlessly here. Many of them are and famine in the countryside. While stillstrong andtheirpersonalities the larger towns are absorbing influxes undamaged. The sooner we get them off of rural people, Khartoum has become a the streets and back home, the better," particular magnet for youths. says Osman Abdin, the head of the de- "Most of these kids don't come here partrnent of social welfare in the Khar- because their families are rejecting or toum regional government. abusive; it's just poverty," says Marie The assistance programs that have de la Soudiere, a consultant for vagrant emerged thus far all less than a year children at the United Nations Chil- old focus on two goals: family reuni- dren's Fund (UNICEF) in Khartoum. fication and vocational training. There "They feel that the city has something are few doubts that the former is the to offer them." best solution and that for many kids, it Ms. de la Soudier? estimaies that will work. But at a time when funding there has been a tenfold increase in the Mose boy: sinHoflb home for new projects is very low, the reunifi- shamasa population in the last two cation process costs about $60 a child, years. Consequently, it is only recently that the problemaccording to a New York-based UNICEF spokesperson. has attracted enough attention to cause concern. In The process begins at Sabah, a group cofounded by an neighboring Ethiopia, the problem is even worse -- artAmerican couple and a Yugoslav resident of Khartoum. estimated 15,000 children roam the city streets there. There, kids are fed, examined, and screened before being 11-aditionally, the extended family in Africa hasreferred to Amal, a Sudanese agency that actually served as a fallback in time of distress. A poor familyoversees the move. The whole program is flnanced by might giVe a child to relatives to raise. The eccnomicthe Emergency Operations Unit of UNICEF. lb date, 85 malaise and severe food shortages of the last two boys have been returned to their families. however, have undermined this option. Fbr some boys, though, reunification is an impossibil- "Now," says de la Soudiere, "a child is just anotherity. Southerners, who make up perhaps 30 percent of the mouth to feed." shamasa population, cannot return to the south because Khartoum is feeling the consequences of these extraof civil war there; others have either lost contact with mouths. Throughout the city, in markets and publictheir families or simply don't want to return. Issue: Children and Youth

Article 4 (cont'd.)

Did you try to find work again? Just passing time I didn't. I had a friend who worked in a restaurant, ai.d he would bring me food, and then I just learned to Muhammad Ah Hassan, a 15-year-old boy, has spent tak care of myself. three years in Khartoum. He comes from a village in How did you feel when you first arrived here? central Sudam He comes regularly to Sabah, a group I felt good and bad. It was exciting to come, but I that helps street civAlren, for a morning meal. didn't really have a choice. There was nowhere else to go. Even my school closed down because there weren't Why did you come to Khartoum? enough teachers. I figured life would be better here. The problem was that my parents wanted to leave the And is it? village and go to a better farming area, but they left me There are many problems here. If I could go back to with my aunt. Most of the people in the village didn't my family, I would. I have AO other clothes, and you have enough to eat, so a lot left and headed south or always have to worry about protecting yourself. Some- toward Khartoum. My aunt had her own family to look times it's the older boys, sometimes it's the police You after, so I left for El Obeid, but I cculdn't find anything don't feel safe at night. there, so I rode on the roof of a train to Khartoum. How do you spend your days? Did you come alone? I just walk around with my friends oralone. Some- I knew of other boys going to Khartoum, but I didn't timeswe try to get into the cinema or go swimming in the really go with them. rive:, but otherwise there is nothing much to do. Alot of What did you expect to do when you arrived? kids sniff benzine to pass the time. I thought I could work for two months, earn some What do you want to do in the future? money, then go back to my village. I did not intend to The main thing is to go back to school. I stopped going stay here. In fact, I did work for a while washing cars, to school before I left my village three years ago. I am and I earned 45 pounds [roughly $101, but it was stolen attending the school at Sabah, and if I have a chance I by other boys. ThI had nothing again, and I heard that would like to learn auto mechanics. I think I could be a my family was in Darfur (the westernmost pi-ovincel but mechanic back in El Obeid, but I need some help getting I didn't want to go looking for them since Il.ad nothing to started. We have no way to do anything like that on our show for my time in Khartoum. own here.

Artic:e 5: from "New Days for Old Ways" by Daniel Wagner,IDRC Reports.

In 1981, Prof. Daniel A Wagner of the Uni- simply mimic the teacher, repeating versity of Pennsylvania (U.S.A.) and Prof. phrases they do not yet understand, Abdulhamid Lodi of Mohamed V Universirythe older students with some know- NEW (Morocco) undertook a comparative study ledge of Arabic concentrate on more of traditional Islamic education in five coun- difficult passages (or suras). tries of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. A man inhismid-50s, Se-igne Funded by the Ford Foundation, the U.S.Abdoulaye no longer teaches the DAYS Social Science Research Council, and IDRC, younger ch'Idren, but provides indivi- the study aimed to provide descriptive and analytical perspectives on Ouranic schools. dual lessons for the small number of The following article is primarily extractedolder adolescents who intend to follow from two papers prepared by Dr. Wagnerin the footsteps of rieir master. Those FOR as a result of the study. who choose to become Ouranic school teachers gain on the-lob experience Diourbel, Senegal. Shortly after by teaching the scores of younger OLD dawn, Serigne Abdoulaye, the children who are learning the basics of master teacher, arrives at the Arabic and the Ouran In recent years, iangu the traditional Islamic school however, fewer and fewer such ap Boys and girls, some as young as three prenlices have dectded to become WAYS years old, soon begin to take their Ouran lc masters places in long tin-roofed rooms or in The scerw in this Diourbel ongu the outside courtyard. On their wooden being repealed in much of the T hird DANIEL A. WAGNER slates are written 25 to 30 lines of World Senegal shares one key cultural Arabic script. Almost imperceptibly the element with about half the countries room begins to hum as the 50 or more arid hall the population of the develop Islamic education children, holding up their slates, start 'no world a faith in Islam, One of in a to chant the (Jay's lessons. Class has every five people in the world embraces changing world begun Islam, and the Islamic tradition has These children are learning passages ma ritained and regenerateditself from the aura n, the holy book of the a,;ross generations for over 14 cen world's Muslim.; While the youngest tunes Within lois heritage, the Islamic 83 Session 4

Article 5 (cont'd.) religious school has been the accept-this purpose by volunteers. And while hoods, represented by their own ed and most widespread means ofsome children make better progress sengnes in villages, used the schools anti cultural reproduction Thesethan others, it is clear that all children as a way of gaining access to converts, schools began with the founding oflearn enough to feel part of the dual land, and economic and social power. Islam in the 7th century and spreadcultural galaxy of Islamic Indonesia The alliance between the brother- with Islamic conquests to Spain in the and the Islamic Arabic-speaking world hoods, the colonial government, and West, to Asia Minor in the East and, Modern teaching methods are mak-agriculture has diminished since later, deep into Africa and to the east- ing some inroads in Indonesia's Oura- Senegal's independence, due to the ern reaches of Indonesia. nic schools, particularly in the cities Indeath of various religiousleader-. The traditional Ouranic school in-one school next to a Jakarta mosque,crop diversification, and increased structs child( en in elements of Islamic for example, a visitor could overhear urban migration. The traditional Quranic boll& and custom, basic literacy ineach of the teenaged stude ts chant schools have also felt the changes. Arabic, and advanced Islamic studies. Mg his particular passage loudly, help The Senegalese are finding that Islamic InArabic, the word Ouran implies ing toiririftice a cacophony of sounds sc.00ling must adapt or lose its stu- "recitation" and recitation of the Ouran The teacher had adapted foreigndents to the French-language public is a central goal of practicing Muslims. language learning techniquesto school system. Serigne Abdoulaye's In order to recite properly, MuslimQuranic study: Each student hadschool, for example, has almost no children are taught to memorize as headphones, a cassette recorder, andfunds as fewer children accept the much of the Ouran as possible, a tapes of all the suras of the Ouran This traditional mode of teachingNew memory challenge of considerable year. confided the teacher one of hisschools and teachers have begun to magnitude. requiring six to eight years students might win the national cham- replace the old of full-time study for complete mastery pionshipforrapid and accurate Al one such modernized school But if, spite of a central focus on the Ouranic recitation. (referred to as an "Islamic instituteil, in study of Ouranic texts, the schools Islam anved in Senegal in the 11th the island city of Saint Louis tote learn- have adapted tothe culturalcon- century with the slow but continuousing 6nd recitation are still considered straints of each society To the casual arrival of traders and occasional mili- reasonable ways for young children to observer these traditional schools may tary incursions from North Africa Thebegin Ouranic study After two or three appear to have changed little over the process ofIslamization took manyyears of memorizing, however, children centuriesbut,inreality,they are centuries, but was undoubtedly spurred are given comprehensIve training in undergoing significant transformations on by thc arrival of European slavereading and writingArabicCom- TRADI f ION AND CHANGE traders in the 16.th century. Lasting munity support for the institute is hiah. IN THREE COUNTRIES more than 200 years the slave trade Besides modern classrooms the school disrupted the social and economichas a large meeting hallThat poor Indonesia is the largest and most structure of the country The main con people choose to make arr economic populous Muslim country in the world sequences were the rise cif Islam as an investment ofthiskind shows the About 95 percent of Indonesia's pop- indigenous anticolonial force and thestrength of their conviction that Isiam ulation of 1 40 million are Muslims, and ascendancy of several large Islamic is central to their livesIt is also indica- almost 20 million children attend the brotherhoods which had each devel tive of the increased sense of com- country'sIslamic schoolsIslamic oped around a,10,yt religiOus figuremunity felt by the Senegalese toward educationisprovidedtr( Ohlry the and his descendants Middle Eastern Muslims government and through private In the 19th century the brotherhoods Serigne Ahdoolaye hims0 has de gious schools callet made aseriC.',of accommodationscided to send his children to the mod schook are de,,condedripa,r from with the French colonial admini:,tra ernized Islamic schools it is a statement the earlier traditions of Hindu Buddhist tion to produce the important groundnutthat captures the thinking of many monaste'y schools and the head crop for export 1 he crop necessitatedparents arid teachers Within a single te

84 ./

BEST COPY AVAILABLE Issue: Children and Youth

Article 5 (contd.)

Rote learning, recitation, and the rudi- them a brighter future Second. with Ouranic schools are thus continuing ments of literacy were the rule. Only a fewer Ouranic teachers, and with anto play important educational, social few exceptional adolescents went on increasing school-aged population and economic roles in Islamic societies for further study to become Ouranic the Islamic school authorities have intoday's world The part Ouranic scholars and teachers at the med- been filling teaching positions with schools will play in the current Islamic rasahs (institutes for more advanced Egyptian school teachers trained inawakening is uncertain, but the fact studies) in arger towns modern secular schools remains that millions of children attend Because of Yemen's low literacy Most of the traditional schools now these schools for all or part of their for- rates, the religious scholars were the have younger, better trained teachers mal education The Islamic school is controllers and arbiters of most loca Many have begun to use secularone of the most culturally embedded legalissues. Since tnerevolution, primers to learn Arabic and are ex- and least understood institutions that however, the government has made a panding enrollmentinthe primarytouches the lives of the rural poor of concerted effort to increase public school yearsThus,thetraditional the Third World Its role in the develop- school enrollment This has had two school system has begun adapting toment process is only lust beginnning related effects on the separate Islamic some of the pressures of moderniza- to be known school system.First, fewer adoles- tion. and is providing a culturally and cents have gone on to become Ouranic religiously valued alternative for Muslim school teachers because attending families who do not wish to break with Wag-)er D AInG.ger,'; ecaCanien ancy modern public high schools offers their religious traditions i,teracyn tri75,r0 ,rr D Wdgnt-r (E,c1) Chod In!ernotIcrna, f..)eveomenl S J,...:sSev-bass /,r1 presS)..andtsrapi,c educ at,onhad- (c)flioedagog,ar7cco"t(-^,po,.a', HL;sencS., hN Post.eta cic0s I In!w "oT. ;',11.t,. ?`4 n.

. (.4F

THE FUTURE OF TRADITIONS For many Thiru World govern- have also brought them into dire,:t ments. budgets for education are at competition with modern secular the top of the list in terms of cost Itschool systems. forcing adaptations should not be surprising therefore. in both systems that they are beginning to reassess Many researchers agree that na the utility and productiv,ry of edoca tionai literacy programs in a nurnbe, tional programs of countries have achieved oniy The achievement of literacyis limited success in recent decades perhaps the most agreed upon goaland that a closer relationship be ofallcontemporary educationaltween these programs and cultural, systemsinterestingly, for a great indigenous forms of schooling could number of childreninthe Thirdbe beneficial More information World literacy skills are acquiredneeded about these schools flow only throu i indigenous SC hools evertoavoid wasting financla which have generally been igoored resources while taking advantage by deveiopment planners of cultural resources Their involve Contemporary Islamicsc.hools mentineducationpolicies anq arE? an important exarroie of inoigi, progrcirn,' might enable develoo nous education Like other forms of ment planners and policymakers indigenous schooling these schools inCrE'ciSelitr!rai ni area,' whirf. ontinue to attract large numbers of tow t. children( hangesri ri irnt w,irs livE,s ri)ony itildrprn

85 t.) Session 4

Article 6:from "I Speak for the Bush " by Everett Standa. From: Blackburn, Horsfall, and Wanjala, eds. Attachments to the Sun. I speak for the bush

When my friend sees me Teach me, my friend, the trick, He swells and pants like a frog So that my eyes may not Because I talk the wisdom of the bush! See those whose houses have no walls He says we from the bush But emptiness all around; Do not understand civilized ways Show me the wax you use For we tell our women To seal your ears To keep the hem of their dresses To stop hearing the cry of the hungry; Below the knee. Teach me the new wisdom We from the bush, my friend insists, Do not know how to 'enjoy': Which tells men When we come to the civilized city, To talk about money and not love, Like nuns, we stay away from nightclubs When they meet women; Where women belong to no men Tell your God to convert And men belong to no women. Me to the faith of the indifferent, And these civilized people The faith of those Quarrel and fight like hungry lions! Who will never listen until They are shaken with blows. But, my friend, why do men With crippled legs, lifeless eyes, I speak for the bush: Wooden legs, empty stomachs You speak for the civilized-- Wander about the streets Will you hearme'? Of this civilized world? Everett Standa

Article 7:"W;)men in Africa: UntilDeathUs Do Part." by Debby Taylor, New Internationalist Sept. 1984. Women in Africa: until death us do part

Women eNerywhere work harder than men. But nent for centuries. But Iran't hear the in Africa they work hardest of allbearing the weight any longer. And asIsink to my knees so Africa sinks down too. burden of family survival without sharing the Look at me working. I would say: knee- benefits of economic power. The result: poverty deep in the south Senegal paddy fields whet e I alone grow all of our rice crop; or itself is locked together with sexual inequality. bent lAw (wer the dusty land in Tanzania where I keep on tending our maize, sor- And Africa will stay poor until its women are ghum and milletnalf as long again atter the free. Debbie Taylor pleads their case. men has e gone home. or on thetingles eilL!t: ill ldIrC where fent-fifths ot OW food hs A, A. no, Attica It I had breathmen and make them see how dull are the ins hAnsk

enough I would curseothe l))1the esesif inv children, how slow Is thes blink cN. I knosI'Mnot Ann Women 11,11 111,11SIM hIIIC Me. R111, i.ti' in,lkinc.lieand turn their heads, how thin ;ire theiresetswheredre N106%11112 1101111! ic wom.in I twist spit at the sun hashin. arms. And I would show them the palms ofof the s'.otlsh's work. earning one.tenth 111..) On me. meielless, 11141/11142., et:11 11,15III 1111 hands,the soles of nis feet. the skin ititsMoline, (,1111111.1. olle-1111111lIetithillits nls llte,111thermg t111spirit and turning ms my kneesscarred hystones and splinterspropert.I know the facts. ButI know I skin rough and dark, Hack as the balk ot,ind thornsinid ins breasts and hells work haidest ot all the ;tea(i tree stretched hs 15 years inmothethood And hdrd1)11 1111',IsletsIll111,11,1. 111 Atm Attua, what hase thes done tiI would tell those men a stors that ssi mid ,111,1111110 (11111.1, If I had strength enough I would sarismake them understand atlast \Os msBuIlls1,i Andlita/11. aims. back and thighs 1111 childrenfarIlskII1 l.111d and seIl Atm.,'Is thing !whitening and strdln111111,dome fruIt ot all II)their constete capitalsand I would Altleil is (hung hecIllSe iii Me. I11MII,lwork m the fieldsthe arebossed ;Ind stand befoie their ranks of white fakedtell them.I hase heen carrving this own.bent bsthen winkloadBut imne has 86 Issue: Children and Youth

Article 7 (cont'd.) brought rt e to my knees. They do half of Turn your minds backwards, I'd beg My inan sou has e stripped of his sense Lit all field .w irk. But I do half as much again;them, those men with their secretaries andbelonging. You stopped him from doing and haltf all work with our animals; andreports. Remember how Africa was whenthe tInngs that a man should. You toi bade all of the threshing and winnowing. Then you landed, beaching your ships on our his hunting and wiirring and peacemaking home to sweep courtyards, wash clothing.shores. You found fields with no fences, and put fences up in the path of his scs the. fetch water, cook supper. Yes, it is hard forwork with no profit, crops without owners. You taueht him that a inan either e,oris them. And I'm sorry. But it's hardest of all Of course life was tough then. It's neverwages of stands idle. liut there are tew who for me. been easy: sun always too hot, rain alwaysearn wages m our shattered continent. Some days,I would tell them thosetoo late. Childbirth was painful and babiesSome you reward, sure, with power and men with their suits and statistics - my sonsstill died. But he used to help me and we land rights. But most you've left with noth- and my daughters go hungry while ourwere together.I had time for singing and ing to live for, snatching some solace in the granary N halffilled with food. Whcn thesuckling my children, and rights to the land bars and the brothels. rains come at last, sweeping their blessedthatI weeded each summer; and when I And how can I blame him for refusing to grey curtains across the parched red dust ofraised my voiceitwas heard. And ofhelp me? His scorn for my work makes him my Upper Volta fields, my days are so longcourse he still beat me when I cursed toofeel like he's human: his pride is a jewel in that I can't make my arms lift the pestle toloudly. But I knew him, he knew me, andthe deep of humiliation. grind grain for our porridge, we were together. Are you listening up thereinyour That is my choice. To work or to eat. If I With your guns and your greed youdes- chronic and black armchairs? I'm explain- I cook troyed a wholecontinent. Your bullets rip- ing why Africa is dying. work there is no time to cook. If pt...d through. his shining black flesh. Your In Botswana's barren scrubland he wants there is no time to work . InG han iiand Botswima, in Gambia and Zambiaevels pistols emptied themselye, into my belly payment for ploughing, and spanning his here itthe sme st.: Food r ork, Nou fenced our best land and calledit oxen is all that a man does. In Uganda he Work or food. Look at your statistic yours. And you took hint and chained hOnmostly refuses all eropwork, deriding the Hies will tell sou that on the wide plains ofand made him your servant: made hinteffortI make to grow food. While Gam- Zambia the foodI grow is not what the growcoffee on land that raised millet, andbia's [nail's turned his back on tradition. land will Odd. but only as muehis ms cocoa and tca where sye harvested corn.refusing to take up his scythe to clear l;:nd. hands can weed and ins hack cars.I his isYou sent him to burrow away from theAfrica, Africa. my mati is a burden: one why Africa is dying. sunlight, to die in your tunnels in search ofmore to he carried on my aching back. From behindtheirwidedesksthey yourgold.And youthrewhim in ('an't you see what vou'se done with would look at my children. an uneven row thousands in the hulls of your tall ships;your planning and plunder' You's e CR' of dusts angled limbs and tight black curls.spat on him, cowed him and sold him likeated two half-men where there once is:is a and at me in rov new brown skirt and ms.meat. This is why Africa's (tong. whole one. One half-man leans languid faded scarlet scarf. Their eyebrows would Those men with their pink lips, sipping;Indlostin our villages, stripped ofhis raise and I'd know what their tooughts their coffee; would they' still he listening tospirititid reason for lis ing. Pus one vou were. Where is ins man, then? Why can'tth: end of my story? Open your historycallfitmer': send in teachers to teach lum he help me'? Ile is wby Africa's dying. hooks, retrace your footsteps. Know thatto taim (while I am out growing the rood): Africa, oh Africa, what hase they done Africa has had More good food-growinglend him mono. for tractors and tillers to my man'? Once I could admire him asland taken for cash crops than any othet I while I, in out grom.ing the food), promise the protector of our land; the one who cut contownt. Know that Africa's woman hashim fortunesifhe'd onlsraisecotton through the jungle, cleating a space for ourlost her land-rights more than itoman Ft (while I am out grilmong the ;trod). bus oui crops, the one who drove away invaders,any other (ontinent. Know thatintheland from him to add to sour ranches who led our animals to gra/mg andst kr. placehete half the world'sgold is mined ss Ink.I am out glowing the foo) ) who hunted ;:nd brought hack our meat . we do not csen Mist: a sole 111hl.1 VIM Call 'worker'I ic., 10.1 Where is he now, the person who was But the worst thing sou lil IAtik:a ss irsIlldge,forgottentheplacess heti: once my partner, at. Adam to my Eve, withtodi% idcits hiothC1 nom sisteiandeightlenths ot Africa 11s:esIle sleeps in a whom I was proud to say 'we" womantromMan YOU 1/4,111h: Horndoonnots ,a stone's throw from the mine, Look at him now. puffed and pompoucountries ss here a man winks tot mimesor under corrugated iron a bus-ride from in the city, plasing with his power, turning and his manhood'shis ssagcs at the end otthe factory; or within slabs of whitecurt- his bai:k on the people who raised hint; orthe week, where a ssoman's espected tocrete a car-nde front the office. hat oveI eyes in the shade of a thorn tree,Maintain hls 11011st:hold And men At first he comes home once a year for a drowsy and ."ocile. afraid of the sum or make laws and own land ;Ind hold posse! visit, sendsmoneymonthly,dreams weasmi, -.ad stumbling and stinking ot beer You did not respect outtradoionit slim dreams of childhood. But soon he's tot got- red-eyed and angry, kicking his woman: or mgin winkLind and In 'Allanten his debt to his %Wage. And now I'm herded like cattle to cut down their sugarwe grew and Nhat \sL' 11111t2t1Ied alone in one third of our households. Inv to pick their tobacco, collect their ribber.ss,:nted to haw:hum us all In door ajar for a man who nes er comes carry their cotton. But allSo 1 111 achiesed was disision. destiift They took him away from me, took lointrUn and heat him; imprisoned his spirit, took him and chewed him and sucked out his goodness, stole all his strength; then spat him out and sent him home. Session 4

Article 8:"The Veil or the Gun." Voice of Eritrean Wo ?en, Spring 1987 THE VEIL OR THE GUN

"In Eritrea, women have taken off their veils its marks on Amna. On her face one can and are enjoying liberation. They have taken see fine stitches. Wounded in a battle in up arms and are defending their country.", 1980, today she has a new face.It was a writes Eidel Beti, in a Swiss magazine called woman doctor, who joined the front after "Femina", reporting on her recent trip to the finishing her studies abroad, that liberated areas of Eritrea.In the article performed the plastic surgery which gave entitled, "The Veil or The Gun", Eidel Beti Amna a new face. Amna can only see wrote the following reportage: through one eye.After her injury, she participated in an intensive medical "Amna opened the door and entered the car training program, becoming one of the I was in.From afar, there is nothing that 1500 barefoot Joctors rendering medical distinguishes her from the male fighters. services to the fighters in the trenches. On the road, through the light of the vehicle, we witnessed fighters wearing the In Nacfa, I met Tebles. The 25 year old same khaki uniforms and armed with Tebles, is the leader of a military company kalishnikovs going up and down from the composed of 250 men and womer fighter, trenches. Women like Amna constitute In 1975, when anyone suspected of one-third of the liberation army. sympathizing with the front was being Explaining the reasons for her joining the killed by the Derg, she decided to leave front, she said, joined the EPLF to Asmara and join the front. Today, based destroy Ethiopia's oppressive rule and to on the education and military training she build revolution.' Having joined the front received in the front, Tebles has become in 1978, at the age of 17. the war has loft one of the best leaders.Tebles, along with Issue: Children and Youth

Article 8 (coned.)

the fighters she leads, participated in 18 Mother Zeineb. She has written several major battles, and has been wounded twice. poems about the sufferings and hopes (of One of the battles she participated in was women and the Eritrean people in general) the battle of Barentu. Last year, after which the youth are learning from.In one seizing Barentu and capturing important of her poems, Mother Zeineb says: weapons and adding to the number of (its 10,000) prisoners war, the EPLF withdrew from Barentu. 'As the days pass In the EPLF, women do not only learn how our suffering increases to use arms. 75% of the women who join 1,ut it does not alter the front are illiterates.After joining the our determination. front, however, they have been able to read Tell Mengistu and write as well as know their new rights to stop the crimes which ensure their equality with men. This he is committing cultural revolution is slowly making its against our land impact on the general population as well. and people. For the past ten years, the EPLF has been Tell the Big Powers educating and distributing information to help in seeking regarding the dangers of [female] a solution. circumcision. Today, this campaign has 25 years of war reaped results.Five months ago, laws is a sacrifice prohibiting the practice of circumcision of an entire generation.' was passed by the people in the proince of Sahel.

lit a resettlement camp, west of Nacfa, I My visit concluded with a celebration of met a midwife who was giving lessons to a Women's Day. On the window of the car gathering of women. She was explaining that was taking me back to the Sudan, was the use and importance of sanitary napkins. a picture of Zahra. Her face was covered It seems that the advice of midwives has with the barrel of a gun. Martyred at the wide acceptance. Maternal mortality which age of 20, her look haunts me. Her used to be at 27% has now decreased expression seems to say, as Mother Zeineb tremendously. wrote in her po n, 'Tell Mengistu'." For many Eritreans, the liberation of women is a process being realized in a war Women's household responsibilities in our clouded with the smoke of napalm. Now, society should not be underrated. Starting from it has become a precious goal. Even under the task of caring for their children's health to the difficult conditions, it still opens an the exhausting household chores of fetching opportunity for women and the betterment water, collecting firewood, grinding grain, cooking etc., women are responsible for the of their liing conditions. maintenance of their families. Women also contribute a major roleinagricultural I met Mot der Zeineb, who was one of production. While carrying their infant on their first v.orr m to realize that revolution is the backs, women work in cultivating the land, process tam will liberate women from fertilizing, weeding, harvesting and threshing. sexual oppression.She lives in the vicinity Although a woman carries all these of Nacfa.'Before, we used to live like responsibilities, she has no part in the decision- animals, but now, Nke are able to take off mak ing process in the family.In fact, because our veik, choose our own marriage partner, a woman is considered thriftless, she is nut even to own land, to speak, to learn and participate in political meetings.", said Session 4

Article 8 (cont'd.)

allowed to take grain out of her own storage. In its turn, the National Union of Eritrean In conclusion, we have tried to explain that the Women in collaboration with the EPLF Medical factors that determine health status are Department, has trained 218 traditional inseparably intertwined with the socio-economic midwives, who are now providing their services and political conditions. Thus, in order to in their villages. The NUEW has plans to train improve the health situation and bring about more women to provide rural health services in fundamental social change, we have to first get the near future. As seen in practice, this rid of the obstacle which is colonialism. The method is laying the foundation for a public EPLF, while waging the armed struggle, has health program which will truly serve the taken active steps to improve the health status people now and in the future. of the people, and provide them with adequate health services. For a long time now, the EPLF has been implementing its program for the provision of basic health services to all areas.

9 ti Issue: Children and Youth

Article 9:"Training Program Brightens Future for Young Senegalese Women" by Shannon A. Horst, Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 10, 1987. '

Trainhig program 4 brightens future foryoung Senegalesewomen

Senegalese development worker Fatou Dlakhete By Shannon A. Horst 'Since the last drought, the rains do not come, the crops Staff writer of The Quishan Science Monitor do not grow, and there is nothing to do in the villages," said Boston Fatou Diakhete, a Senegalese development worker from Times are changing in Dakar Senegal. Dakar who was in Boston recently. Fbr many village girls, a job in the city - once a rite of Parents have no choice but to allow the older children to passage from youth to womanhood - has become the onlygo to the cities in search of work. The boys, she says, often means of survival for them and their families. travel abroad, but the girls are more likely to end up in They are strearrang into the city from the thirsty, unpro-Dakar, the capital. ductive fields of rural Senegal. They come leaking for work The future for many of these girls - some of whom are as - promising to send money and goods to those they leaveyoung as 12 years old - holds greater poverty than they behind. have already known, prostitution, and un- The city was once a relatively safe place, wanted pregnancy. For the most desperate, where a girl - sometimes accompanied by her saysMs.Diakhete,"itincludesirfanti- mother - would come to work after the hai -'Since the last cide." vest season. drought, the rains In 1984, however, a program was launched It is now crawling with people eager todo not come, the in Dakar that provides these girls with art exploit young girls who arrive alone. The alternative. destitution of their villages has left thesecrops do not grow, Under the auspices of the Federation of the girls hungering, not only for food, but alsoand there is SenegaleseWomen'sAssociation(FAFS), for clothes,shelter, and things prettynothing to do in Diakhete directs Le Foyer (home or hearth) - things. a shelter andjob-skills training program in the But the city, already overflowing with un-the villages.' heart of Dakar. Among many projects in the sldlled workers, has few jobs to give them, - Fatou Diakhetedeveloping world designed to ease the bur- and there is no family protection amid this dens of rapid urbanization, Le Foyer is of teeming, licentious landscape. IlffililkidditabiaA44.1tafaffiSii4AW gr eat significame. Throughout the nations of the developing world this Besides mee'..ing the immediate needs of its charges, it scene is painted over and over again, faster and in greater offers them a Toad back to their villages: skills to help their numbers than ever before. It is particularly bleak in manycommunities begin producing once again. African countries where the disastrous drought of 1983-85 FAFS, a nine-year-old association that promotes con- has left the people without the resources to replenish their sciousness-raising and solidarity among some 80 women's lives. -43-ES1 COPY-AVAILASLE_____ 91 groups throughout Senegal, started the One group of young women from the Session 4 project in 1982, working with the Unitar-program, all from the same rural region, ianUniversalistServiceCommitteehas already met with their villages and (UUSC), a social action agency with moredevised a project to raise chickens. (cont'd.)than 40 years' experience in development FAFS offered to provide the seed Article 9 projects. money without requiring that it be repaid After about two years of refiningin full. the plans, the two groups launched Le But, according to Diakhete, "The vil- Foyer. lagers have insisted that they be required Within a safe, residential atmosphere,to repay 100 percent of the loan." Until the project offers its trainees "life skills"the loan is paid, a small portion of the -among themfamily araspicauvortrat ,p,zristmaprofits from the project planning,nutrition, and will go to FAFS; the rest childcare; employmentLe Foyer offers (its will be reinvested in the skills - literacy, cooldng, participants] a road community. dressmak'ng; and devel- FAFS and UUSC intend opment pl 'nt skills-back to their vil- for the project to be self- needs asses-.nent, basiclages: skills to help sufficient someday. marketing and cost analy- A chicken-raising proj- sis, and cooperative their communities ect set up just outside Da- management. begin producing kar provides the girls with There are now 20 resi- once again, hands-on training and has dent trainees and 80 non- already begun bringing in resident trainees from the IIMEIMUIMISM25316M3a small income. vicinity of Le Foyer and some 60 trainees And a promising feasibility study for a in another quarter of Dalcar. dairy project has been carried out, says Le Fbyer was originally conceived as aLouise Witherite, a UUSC official who program to give the girls basic skills withhas worked closely with Le Fbyer. which to work and survive in the city But perhaps most important, as far as But "from the very start it has beenDiakhete is concerned, is that Le Foyer be modified to meet the needs of the girls -able to teach the girls agroforestry - a as they see them," says Diakhete. Duringhighly successful method of mixing refor- the project's design stage, FAFS membersestation with crop production. FAFS has surveyed some potential participants toalready purchased some land and hopes find out what they felt they needed andto set up an agricultural training center wanted. linked to Le Foyer. "The overwhelming majority wanted Armed with agroforestry skills, the to go back to their village and take whatgirls would be better able to help their they had learned," says Diakhete. villages begin producing food again; and "We asked them, 'What must be doneteen-age boys and girls would be needed for you to be able to go home and helpat home to work the fields. other girls from getting involved in the At least for the time being, both the trek to the city?' And they told us, 'Teachgovernment and the Senegalese people u.s to create activities and training thathave accepted the fate of the villages and we can use at home." the plight of the young people who seek refuge in the The project is now preparing to gradu-city, says Diakhete. ate its first young charges - by sending She says FAFS and UUSC hope "that now that we them back to their villages. have our first experiences, we can take them to the government and help it see success at the village level." Much of Le Foyer's current and future success, as well as the success of four other development projects in Dakar and the surrounding area, depends on Diakhete. Beside running development projects, Diakhete, who is married and has one child, is a medical secretary and Ole treasurer of FAFS. She works not only with FAFS, but also with OEF (formerly the Overseas Education Rind), a Washington- based group that focuses on the needs of women in,the developing world. "She has excellent management skills- most impor- tantly the ability to delegate responsibility. And she is blessed with a boss who encourages her to getas much experience in the development field as she can,"says Ms. Witherite, the UUSC official. That experience includes trips to other countries for seminars and training, such as her recent trip to the 92 United States. "We often tease her around the office," says Wither- BUT C011 it:ALABLE ite, "about being a woman with eight different hats." Session 4/Issue: Environment

Facts About the Environment in the United States Changing weather patterns, exposure to hazardous substances, contaminated water and high energy bills have increased our awareness of our influence on the planet's environment. We realize that each of us plays a role in nurturing the environment we live in. The population in the United States represents less than 5% of the world population. However (facts below are from Time magazine): U.S. residents own 135 million (1/3 world total) cars, increasingly of the large gas- guzzling variety. Auto fuel-efficiency requirements are still at a low of 26 miles per gallon. North Americans use 1/4 of the world's energy each year. They produce the largest amount of trash per capita (each person produces 3 1/2 pounds of trash a day); most is paper trash. Only 5-10% of trash gets recycled in the U.S. (30% in West Germany; 60% in Japan). There are no national goals and standards for recycling programs. If forced to, companies will adopt manufacturing processes that decrease the amount of waste created. 3M (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.) cut waste generation in half by using fewer toxic chemicals, separating out wastes that can be reused, and substituting alternative raw materials for hazardous substances, saving $420 million . Restrictions on the export of waste and ocean dumping are still minimal. According to the Council on Economic Priorities, 8 of 10 U.S. residents live near one of the nation's more than 22,000 identified toxic waste sites.

Facts About the Environment in Africa Although many African states have established a "Dumpwatch" system, the wide- spread and lucrative business of taking on hazardous waste from industrialized nations on African soil is still hard to control. Tropical forests in regions throughout Africa are being cut down for timber export without restriction. For example, 90% of the original vegetation in Madagascar has disappeared. Public awareness of the dangers of toxic waste is low. Yet dumping such waste will destroy the livelihood of thousands of fishermen, farmers, and jeopardize people's health in entire regions of African nations. Numerous ghost companies registered in Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland are responsible for hazardous waste dumping; through investigative research, many can be traced to U.S. companies. Pressure on the land by agriculture and growing population has led to massive soil degradation and desertification throughout Africa. Alternative fuel sources to replace rapidly dwindling wood supplies are actively being experimented throughout Africa's Sahelian countries. Among the world's regions, Africa's energy consumption rate is the lowest.

9 i -11-.'41 Session 4

Ideas for Local Inquiry: Environment What are the main environmental issues in your area? What population is most affected by exposure to hazardous materials (ethnic groups, women, children)? What local organizations, government offices work on environment issues in your area? Are current environmental management programs efficient? What environmental review processes exist for manufacturers, plants, and businesses? What kinds of local recycling programs exist? What obstacles have they encountered? What kinds of environmental education programs exist? Are land degradation, unsound mining practices, water contamination and deforestation a problem in your community? How do these compare to environmental issues in Africa? What companies in your area produce hazardous waste, and how is it disposed of? Where is hazardous waste exported to? Are any of the companies involved in hazardous waste management also involved with companies who export waste to Africa? Discuss ways that hazardous waste disposal could be regulated and actions your group could take (i.e. letters to corporations and elected officials) How are environmental issues portrayed in the local press? Does the coverage reinforce the notion about hazardous waste that "it's okay if it's not in my backyard"? what cooperative, citizens' initiatives concerning global environmental safety have been undertaken? Have there been any applicable proposals for debt-for-nature swaps? Alternative energy? Recycling? Tree-planting campaigns?

Through this inquiry, what conclusions can you make

1)concerning environmental and waste management in your community:

2)concerning connections with Africa on the environment and waste management?

3)What kind of action in response to this issue would you recommend?

Recommended Videos

Trees of Hope In the African Sahel and elsewhere on the continent, the extensive use of firewooe has led to large-scale deforestation. The village woodlot in Niger offers hope for the land and for the people who depend on wood for fuel. (20 minutes) Available for rent free of charge from the Film Library, Church World Services, P.O. Box 968, 28606 Philhps St., Flkhart, IN 46515, (219) 2fi4-3102.

4 -.1 Issue: Environment

Overview of the Readings for Session 4/Issue: Environment

Africa is a huge and complex continent again. Once cleared land has been overused and embracing ecosystems ranging from negligibly abandoned, it degrades rapidly to scrub brush or productive deserts to humid equatorial rain desert. This process changes large tracts of forest forests. Each ecosystem presents its own climatic to desert, and increases the unusable land mass. restraints and requires different human The use of living fences for reforestation and adaptations in lifestyle. In recent times, however, crop protection is described in article 3; this these ecosystems have experienced common community-based solution requires low environmental stresses. The readings below investment and may prove highly successful. address some of these issues and their Assuring adequate water supplies is an on- implications for both the peoples of Africa and going problem in areas stricken by large-scale the world at iarge. desertification and deforestation. Article 4 The East and West African Sahelian and describes alternatives that emphasize small-scale Sudanic regions experience seasonal droughts rojects. Water projects of this sort can capital- caused by equatoirial rainfall patterns. The peo- ize on resources and technologies that have ex- ple of these regions have adapted to the condi- isted locally since before the turn of the century tions over the centuries. Article 1, the poem "The and that, due to colonial control and lack of Dry Season" by Kwesi Brew, expresses the upkeep, have fallen out of use. sentiments of the people who must periodically Wildlife conservation in Africa tends to be a cope with decreasing resources. It suggests that well-published and somewhat controversial drought was not always the ordained prede- issue. We learn of a new modernized breed of cessor of famine it is assumed to be today. wildlife poacher in article 5; corruption in both In pre-colonial Africa the inhabitants of the the African nations and our own contributes to arid savannah lived in a dynamic equilibrium these problems. Note that in this case, those with the environment; their modes of life poaching wildlife are also controversial political reflected this adaptation. Today, the pressures of figures in their countries. Article 6 discusses the short range development, economic concerns, plight of the elephant. It presents some of the and population growth, have contributed to the ramifications of the issue ranging from interna- upset of these systems. The result: problems such tional political appeals to the specific environ- as deforestation, overgrazing and subsequent mental requirements of the elephant. desertification. "West Africa's Spreading Desert" (article 2), describes this situation and the impacts of international aid on the populations in the Sahel (the name of the region of mostly landlocked countries in West Africa). Emerging hand-in-hand with desertification is deforestation the large-scale loss of forests. African forests are being cut down at an ever- increasing rate to satisfy demands for fuel, export to industrialized nations, building materials, and agricultural land. The cleared land is farmed by agriculturalists ot grazed by pastoralists in search of more productive land to support their growing populations. Land cieared of forests often cannot produce what the concentrations of people require of it. Not too long after it is cleared and settled, the land becomes nutrient poor; production falls, and people are forced to move Session 4

many regions of the African continent are In the last few decades, the problem of toxic rich in mineral resources. Mining, therefore, is chemicals has spread to Africa. The issue ranges another complex environmental issue, spanning from a question of which, if any, pesticides to ecological, economic, and political boundaries. use on crops, to what to do with toxic wastes. Mining can be seen as both a help and a Article 9 looks at the issue of toxic waste hindrance to environmental conservation. On dumping in Africa, a problem originating in the one hand, it decimates the land; on the industrialized nations that has raised havoc in other, it affects much smaller, more contained several African nations. This problem has been areas than deforestation or intensive agriculture. exposed only recently anc: has no immediate Minerals also tend to return a higher profit than answers; much toxic waste export is done under crops. Article 8 describes some of the political false names, fake labeling, and through financial factors involved in the mining of such minerals transactions that are difficult to trace. The article as cobalt, manganese, and chrysotile asbestos. gives some history on the issue, and implicates specific American corporations in the practice of dumping. The environmental situation in Africa is a crucial issue; the aspects mentioned here, while only part of the picture, are particularly important to us because they are global and affect us all. The African environments that are being decimated are tied to world weather systems; they are not isolated. Loss of these ecosystems will decrease, not increase, produc- ';1Wit F 1 I1,1 e tivity. And, in the long run, the result is not kA.A\ A I progress. Leadership in African and industrial- telorm======Ris ized nations must take environmental factors into account more than they do now. There are answers, and in this section, we have focused on alternatives of African origin, because, ulti- mately, this is where they must be found. rts was Ims r laIN 4 *Mr dw EMI MANI.. AAArawir41.141. 4141141 AAA,'

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9 6 Issue: Environment

Article 1:"The Dry Season" by Kwesi Brew. From: Blackburn, Horsfall, and Wanjala, eds. , Attachments to the Sun

The dry season

The year is withering; the wind Blows down the leaves; Men stand under the eaves And overhear the secrets Of the cold dry wind, Of the half-bare trees. The grasses are tall and tinted, Straw-gold hues of dryness, And the contradicting awryness, Of the dusty roads a-scatter With pools of colourful leaves, With ghosts of the dreaming year. And soon, soon the fires, The fires will begin to burn, The hawk will flutter and turn On its wings and swoop for the mouse, The dogs will run for the hare, The hare for its little life. Kwesi Brew

97 Session 4

Article 2:"West Africa's Spreading Desert" by Colin Nickerson, Boston Globe, July 8, 1984. West Africa's spreading desert Thousands die as 16-year drought continues; man contributes to the problem by Colin Nickerson The Sahel region Globe Staff Nowhere is the situation worse than in the Sahel MINDELO, Cape Verde Located on the outskirts of region, comprised of eight west and central African nations one of Africa's loveliest cities, the sun-baked slum called Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Upper Bidonville is inhabited almost entirely by peasants who Volta [Burkina Fasol, Niger and Chad where the drought have fled the drought-ravaged countryside of this has persisted for at least 16 years. archipelago nation. Joao Antonio Comes came here in For those Subsaharan countries, "drought has become 1973, after his corn crop shriveled and died for the fifth a permanent phenomenon," in the words of Aristedes year in a row. Pereira, president of Cape Verde and outgoing head of the "I am a farmer, but there is nothing left to farm," said international Committee for Drought Control. the 47-year-old Comes last fall as he stood in the doorway Recurring droughLs have always plagued West Africa, of the one-room shack built of flattened oil drums that but thk :me is especially severe and prolonged. Moreover, serves as home for himself, his wife, their 10 children and a it arpears to be spreading rapidly into central and southern pink-eyed goat. 'The drought has taken everything." jca, where the Red Cross tallied 100,000 "drought- Africa is well into the second decade of what may be elated" deaths in 1983. the worst drought in history. Thousand have died and Meeting earlier this year in Nairobi, Kenya, millions of acres of crop and grazing lands have been meteorologists from around the world agreed on only one turned to desert. Yet, no one really knows what is causing thing: no one really knows how the present drought started the terr:ble dry spell or when it will end. One of the few or when it will end. things experts do agree on is that Africa's drought has become "self-sustaining," feeding on the very damage it Some speculate that a world-wide climatic shift is creates. occurring, and that the spread of desert in Africa is related to the spread of deserts in South America, Australia, and They also agree that the natural disaster has been the soutlwtestern United States. compounded by human practices. Specifically, the overgrazing of cattle on marginal land has promoted the Others theorize that the increased reflection of sunlight spread of desert. In addition, African governments have off lands denuded of vegetation has created atmospheric adopted policies that encourage the intensive cultivation of conditions that inhibit cloud formation so less rain falls. cash crops for export and actually discourage the growing Still others say that the nearly three decades of abundant of grains to feed hungry villagers. rainfall that preceded the drought was the true aberration and that long dry spells are just part of the region's normal Indeed many agricultural experts believe that some of weather pattern. the effects of the drought, even in the hard-hit Sahel region, can be alleviated by a return to traditional agricultural "This is not necessarily an abnormal occurrence," said practices. climatologist Reid Bryson, director of the University of Wisconsin's Institute for Environmental Studies. "This could "The Sahel has always been a marginal arca; it is not be part of a natural cycle." Iowa, and never will be," said Michael Scott, director of overseas programs for Oxfam-America. "But neither does it Bryson thinks the present drought was triggered by a have to exist in a perpetual state of crisis. A natural disaster minor climatic shift that has left the northern hemisphere doesn't always have to be a human disaster." somewhat cooler than usual. Such shifts occur every few decades, he said. Twenty-four African nations are in the grip of the devastating dry spell that began in the western corner of the "During cooler decades, the monsoons !seasonal rainsl continent in 1968. As a result, fully one-quarter of Africa's are weaker in that part of the world," he said. "I expect 513 million inhabitants depend on emergency grain ship- we'll soon see droughts in India and Pakistan for the same ments from abroad for survival, according to the United reasons." Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). Bryson, an authority on world weather patterns, is The drought is changing the face of the continent. among those who believe the present drought will last Right now, about 20 percent of Africa is covered by desert. many years. But if land-use patterns don't change drastically, sc:ientists "Reliable rains will not return to the Sahel until after and other experts warn, half of the continent will be arid the turn of the century," he said. wasteland in 50 years.

98 Issue: Environment

Article 2 (cont'd.) wind blowing off the Sahara. This hastens the expansion of desert into crop and grazing lands. Other well-intentioned programs have just plain Population and economics backfired. But abnormally low rainfall is not the only reason that With international assistance, many deep-bore water vast sections of the Sahel are turning irrevocably to desert. wells have been dug throughout the region. These were Nor is it the sole reason that hunger is a fact of life in much intended to provide a reliable replacement for the shallow, of Africa. Overgrazing and other myopic agricultural seasonal wells traditionally used by nomadic herdsmen. combined with rapid population growth and practices However, so they won't deplete the water table, the economic policies that have emphasized the production of new wells are spaced far apart. Instead of roaming in cash crops for ex t. on instead of grains for consumption at search of graze and water, as in the past, herdsmen home have all played a role in transforming crisis into congregate their cattle around the deep-bore wells. The catastrophe. surrounding land is soon stripped of vegetation, incapable "The problems are extraordinarily complex," said of supporting the animals. Leonard Berry, provost of Clark University in Worcester "I've seen these wells ringed by thousands of dead and former chairman of the National Research Council's cattle," said Scott. °They have plenty of water but no graze, Advisory Committee on the Sahel. "It has been a long, cu- and the next deep well is too far away for the weak animals mulative process of things going from bad to worse." to reach." Despite staggering amounts of foreign aid (of the $8 At the same time, many Sahelian governments are billion of international aid that goes annually to Africa, pursuing agricultural policies that promote the cultivation some $1.8 is earmarked for the eight Sahelian countries), of cash crops for export to Europe (thus earning badly much of it intended to boost agricultural self-sufficiency, needed foreign exchange revenue) instead of grains to feed many experts say the Sahel is in tougher shape now than the villages. ever before. Small farmers, unable to make a living growing grain, One indication of this is the continent's increasing have been squeezed off the better lands and onto poor reliance on food from abroad. Ten years ago, the Sahelian fields once used for grazing. This, in turn, has forced the nations needed to import 1.5 million metric tons of grain to region's 5 million nomadic herdsmen to drive their cattle stave off famine. Billions of dollars and countless agricul- onto even more marginal lands. Overgrazing on these lands tural development schemes later, the same countries will has speeded up the process of desertification. need to import twice as much grain 3 million metric tons if widespread starvation is to be averted in 1984, Oxfam, Worldwatch and other organizations believe according to some studies. that programs must be designed to encourage a return to small-scale, traditional agriculture that feeds local And while food production has increased it a rate of populations and is less destructive of the land. Also, the only 1.2 percent a year in recent decades, the population is international community has to continue financing an- increasing at a rate of 3 percent. The planet's poorest tidesertification projects, such as sand dune fixation, continent also has the fastest expanding population in reforestation, and the building of dams and wells to prevent history. the run-offof topsoSl when the rains do fall. "The fertility of Africa's people is outstripping the Meanwhile, water remains Africa's most precious fertility of Africa's soil," said Edward Wolf, a researcher for substance: the life of the continent revolves around the Worldwatch, a Washington-based environmental group. quest for it. Meanwhile, each year some 1.8 million acres of crop On the Cape Verde island of Fogo, Firmina Pina- and grazing land are Irretrievably lost" to desert in the Cardoso, 23 years old and pregnant with her fifth child, Sahel region while another 5 million acres become so rises before daybreak and pads two miles from her rude badly degraded that they are useless for growing crops or stone cabin on a parched mountainside to the nearest supporting livestock, according to the United Nations FAO. public well. There she fills a six-gallon metal container Mortality rates down with water for cooking, washing and drinking. She makes the journey at least twice a day. Ironically, the same relief efforts that have increased longevity and raised the standard of living among Africa's "The water is everything," she said. "Without it we poorest people are partly responsible for the Sahel's die." decline. Pina-Cardoso hoisted the heavy container to her head Emergency food and health programs have cut infant and began the long trip home, bare feet kicking up puffs of mortality rates and increased the average lifespan, moaning red dust from the lifeless earth. more people live longer. And more people means that more of the Sahel's scarce trees are being rut away for cooking fires. As a result, the region's thin topsoil, without tree roots to hold it in, is whisked away hy the "harmattan"

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Article 3:"Protecting the Garden" by Hamado Ouangranua, IDRC Reports, Oct. 1988. Digging furrows in the Sahelian sun is hard work, but Joscoh Dakouri, the oldest of the market gardent:s visiting the co-op says: "There's nothing complicated about the work. The seeds are no problem the PROTECTING THE GARDEN plant grows wild all around here. If the seeds are sown in June or July, you don't The province of Sanguié, in the West even have to water them. Digging is hard, African country of Burkina Faso, has a but you only have to do it once. I know this species, Acacia nilotica. Afterwards, long tradition of market gardening. To you just have to trim the extra growth and protect crops from wind and browsing use it to fill the gaps." animals, farmers often construct fences Living fences are a lifetime investment. There is no need to replace stakes or find using dead millet stalks. Over the past two straw to weave into mats. Careful pruning years, though, farmers have become is basically all the care required. The familiar with an alternative "living hedges also have many secondary advan- fences". An experiment in which a tree tages. If used in conjunction with a wind- break, for example, they can help to called Acacia nilotica is grown in the form conserve moisture and reforest the land. of hed8:s bas produced impressive results. Their leaves provide the fields with valu- And the advantages of this kind of fence able organic matter, and their roots pre- vent erosion. have been amply demonstrated at the In addition to the members of the farmers' cooperative in the village of cooperative, several villagers have adopt- Guido. ed this method themselves. Paul Kinda's hedge is just six months old. He has been HAMADO OUANGRAOUA determined, each farmer was given a sec-experimenting with sisal hedges for 30 tion of earth to dig, plant, and tend. Notyears, but finds them unsatisfactory. A year all the farmers were enthusilstic, hut noneago he planted Acacia nilotica in bunches, shirked his responsibility. but this did not prove successful. He is Acacia nilotica, the local tree speciesnow using the method recommended by ust outside the village of (;uido,used in the hedge, is thorny and growsthe forestry extension worker. about 30 market gardeners liverapidly. It doesn't require much care; in Eugene Bemardin is just one of his many on the hillside bordering a reser-fact, most of the farmers haven't had toneighbours to follow suit In fact, the vil- voir of milky,clay-coloUredwater at all since the hedge was planted.lage nursery has absolutely no Acacia water. Sheep, cattle, and goatsIf planting is done at the beginning of thenilotica left in stock! graze under denuded cherryrainy season (June-July), watering isn'tCost advantage trees and shca trees whosenecessary. If done later, light watering for ciowns have been yellowed bythe first few months is sufficient. The use of living fences obviously in- thc dust of the African harmattan winds. When the hedge was planted, the youngvokes a monetary advantage as well. The For generations, the gardeners have pro- plants were protected and helped along byprice per metre of wire mesh fence, for ex- tected their crops with millet stalk fences. the old structure of millet stalks, nowamplo, is high: 1400 CFA francs (CAS6). But experiments with living fences over infested with termites. "You have to pruneAnd in the case of the Boassa market the past two years are giving positivethe hedge and plug any gaps that appeargardenus who installed woven mats all results and could make millet stalk fences as the plants grow," explains Rafael San-around their plots, they had to borrow a thing of the past. Living fences now ex-dingo, one of the farmers. His 14-year-old60 000 CFA (CAS260) from a local NGO. tend 400 rry:tres along the west side of the son adds that millet fences require a lot of Minor obstacles remain, however, such plot belonging to the Guido farmers'work, and the stalks cannot then be usedas the supply of plastic pots, WhiCh are cooperative. FOr 1 community that hasas heating fuel or fertilizer, or for othervital to the development Of farm nurseries. always placed great value on individuali-domestic purposes. Forestry researcher Goudouma Zigani, the ty, this collective effort is a noteworthy Salif Kabori is a farmer who has comeproject manager from the Ministry of the achievement. from Boassa to see the living fences forEnvironment, feels that this is a priority if Mathieu Bagnama, forestry extensionhiroself. He knows the value of safeguard-production costs are to be kept down. worker fr m the neighboring village ofing his agricultural investment: "Without Lastly, other methods of cultivating the Rio, is in ...arge of providing informationprotection, itis pointless to grow any-land and planting the hedges are currently be . and follow-up on the living fence experi-thing Animals will eat it all This year, weing tried in Gonse, near the capital. "In six ment. His relationship with the villagers is asked our extension workers for wire fenc-months, we will have the results of these ex- good. The fact that he shares their cultureing, but they advised us to work with lessperiments. We hope to find a solution that enables him to understand their strongexpensive materials until our profits areinvolves as little inconvenience am; expense points and avoid offending them onlarger. We decided to protect our gardensas possible for the farmers," says Mr Zigani.II touchy issues. He has thus been able towith 'seckos (mats). Some We made out turn their individualism to advantage,of long grasses, and some we bought. Butllamado Ouangraoua is a journalist from assigning each person a share of the work. now I think we'll build a hedge like thisBurkina Faso He writes for Carrefour atricain, Once the layout of the hedge had been onc a weekly gostrnment publication 100 Issue: Environment

Article 4:"The Crucial Resource Water" by David K. Willis, Christian Science Monitor, Africa Blueprint for Survival, Sept. 12, 1986. The cmcialresource WATER

Khartoum. Sudan "Drought cycles are coming rn -refrequently St, IA up on a grimy wall now," he says. "Every year Chadians in the north insidetheofficesof the plant millet, sorghum, and maize (corn)-- and United Nations Children's nothing grows." His solution: Intensify a process al- Fund hereisa winsome ready begun in Niger and Mali to make maximum poster showing a small girl use of existing ground-level water reservoirs in dry wearing a large turban. seasons. He ticks off the methods: Above her is a questiom Chad, Niger, and Mali all have water in their "What Do You Want to Be wadis, or small oasis valleys. Chad's Kanem region When You Grow Up?" has 500 to 600 wadis, but only 150 are being used The answer, below her, is simple: to supply mini-irrigation networks. More unused "Alive!" wadis lie in the Biltine and Lake Fittri areas. To stay alive in Africa today means having ac- The World Food Program is trying to persuade cess to water. People will stay in a village with more farmers to develop wadi water by offering to water but almost no food. They will leave a village pay food to whoever digs mini-canals to lead the with some food but no water. water away. "Without water it's impossible to have develop. "I've seen wheat growing in wadis in February ment," says UNICEF director ,lamesSarrin (the dry season) three feet high," Wickens says. N'Djamena. Chad. "I've seen citrus fruits and grapes...." To most Westerners, the African famine has Wickens also says many more garden plots for been caused by lack of water drought. Actual vegetables should be started on empty riverbeds, causes are more deeply rooted: decades of misman- where water is still available below the surface.I agement by African and Western governments, too saw such plots in the bed of the Chari River in much priirity given to cash crops for export. civil N'Djamena. wars, corruption, apathy, and a failure to respond "While the drought continues, we have to use to the gradual breaking down of the traditional water reserves while they're available," he says. "slash and burn" method of cultivation under pres- "Lake Chad is drying up. The Chan and Logone sure of record rates of population growth. But ade- Rivers are shrinking. quate,clean,drinkable waterisvital. A new blueprint for finding, conserving, and efficiently "Wadi farming and the rest is simple technology. using African water is urgently needed. manual labor. All we need are foodaid supplies to Ideas for such a blueprint come from Jamie pay workers, and seeds...." Wickens, an American who heads the UN World Drilling also goes ahead in Chad. UNICErs Food Program in N'Djamena, and Samir Basta, an James Sarr has just signed a $1 million contract Egyptian who is UNICEF director in Sudan. On an with a French company for 100 new boreholes and upper floor of a UN building in N'Djarnena. Mr. is trying to convince the United States Agency for Wickens worries that rainfed farming can no International Development that a $1.8 million con- longer sustain people across the seven mainland tract for more drilling is cost-effective. countries of the Sahel.

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BEST COPY AVAILABLE 1 Session 4

Article 4 (cont'd.)

In Khartoum, Samir Basta, tall and genial has Eventually harness rivers such as the horse launched the biggest water project in Sudan. usi.:7 shoe-shapedNiger, whose delta has enormous UNICEF funds. water resources. "We need to drill more, and that means more So far, sufficient money, ideas, and deter= truck-mounted drilling rigs," he said. "We've al- nation have been lacking. Much more work lb ready turned over to the government a dozen big needed such as the effort by Oxfarn, the British rigs, which we still repair and maintain...." relief agency, to provide refugee camps with water Drilling for water is complex and expensive. Peo- in eastern Sudan and Wollo Province, Ethiopia. ple dam!? for joy when water springs from the The richer countries of the world spent $360 bil- desert, but they art, disappointed if holes are empty, lion on arms in 1980. Experts say that the money or if water isn't drinkable, or runs out. from just 10 days of that spending would meet the Yet in a country as vast as Sudan (22 million annual budget set up by the UN World Water and people in an area as big as Western Europe), Mr. Sanitation Decade (1981-90). Basta sees ro choice but to keep drilling. A US Once wells are dug, the wells, pipes, and pumps truck-mounted drill, however, with equipment for need to be maintained and repaired. But govern wet and dry conditions, and for sand and rock, ments lack the funds. can cost $250,000. About one-third of UNICEF's Cities, with their slum health hazards, receive Sudanese budget goes for water projects. most of the money spent for water in poorer coun In other parts of Africa, as well, blueprints need tries. Now rural areas need more attention. Partic to be found to: ularly active in rural areas are UNICEF and the aid Dig and repair more wells, by hand or drill. agencies of Scandinavia, the Netherlands. Canada Build more stone terraces and mini-catchment and West Germany. areas to hold on to brief, sharp, heavy tropical rains

102 Issue: Environment

Article 5:"War Policies Threaten Wildlife." Africa News, Nov. 14, 1988.

War Policies Threaten Wildlife ixlaeoplethree Americans and part of a "significant international SV three South Africans have been group trafficking in theblack market arrested in Connecticut and charged for rhino horns." The black rhino with conspiring to import rhino horns involved in the Connecticut horns and other game trophies from transaction were apparently taken endangered and protected species from rhinos killed by SADF troops in into the US. In addition, the six Angola and sold on the black market. imported MC-47 machineguns into Less than 20 'years ago, the black this country from South Africa. The rhino herd in Africa numbered about chairs were filed by the U.S. 65,000. By 1985, there were about Attorneys office in Connecticut after 11,000 of the endangered animalsleft, a nine-month investigationinto the and this year, the count stands at activities of the six. Indictments are fewer than 4,000. Rhinos, elephants expected to be handed down within aand other game species are being week to ten days. decimated across the continentby Two of the accused are members of poachers, and in southern Africa, the South African Defense Force and their trophies are sold to financethe are stationed in Namibia.They are activities of rebel groups like Unita believed by the U.S. Attorney to be and Remano.

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Article 6:"Fight Intensifies in Africa on Slaughter of Elephants" by Thomas Palmer, Boston Globe, Nov. 23, 1988. Fight intensifies in Africa onslaughter of elephants By Thomas Palmer Ill-trained, low-paid game the effects poaching is having on Globe Staff wardens, often equipped only social behavior and reproductive AMBOSELI NATIONAL with old Lee-Enfield rifles, try to patterns." PARK, Kenya - The great. gray fight the poachers. Many war- According to the foundation, creatures move regally, as if in dens drive conspicuous vehicles poaching is causing a "crash" in slow motion, acrosq Africa's over the thousands of square elephant numbers. Africa's esti- plain, delighting tourists with miles they must patrol. mated elephant population in their trumpeting and flapping "I'm not the original bush- 1979 was 1.3 million; today It Is of ears. man, and I could avoid them for- under 750.000. But lifeless,mutilated ele- ever," said Truman P. Young, re- In May, the African Wildlife phant carcasses, evidence of search ecologist who is examin- Foundation proclaimed 1988 poaching, Increasingly lot the ing ways to protect wildlife on Ke- "Year of the Elephant." Presi- land. nya's vast, private ranches. dent Reagan this fall signed a An estimated 70,C00 ele- Poachers have not stalked bill, supported by the World Wild- phants are slaughtered annual Amboseli's 600 to 700 elephants life Fund, that places sanctions ly, as an intense conflict esca- since the 1970s, largely because on any country dealing in Illegal lates between the outlaws, who of the heavy presence of re- ivory. hunt elephants for their ivory searchers and tourists. The law also prohibits ivory tusks, and conservationist But elsewhere across Africa imports into the United States groups worldwide seeking to poachers create carnage by saw- from nations not among the 96 save them. ing the faces of thetr victims to that adhere to the Convention an "I don't mean to be a chau- secure the tusks, which are then International Trade in Endan- vinist for elephants." research- sold at more than $50 a pound on gtred Species. known as CITES. er and author Cynthia Moss the black market. Many people do not think that said iii an interview last week Researchers like Moss and CITES will be able to control the in the Nairobi office of the Afri- Joyce H. Poole, who have con- illegal market. can Wildlife Foundation, "but ducted a 16-year study of the Am- Many of those involved say they deserve something Ix tter bosell elephant population, em- there should be a worldwide ban than they're getting." phasize the extraordinary conse- on trading ivory products. The Shockwaves were felt in and quences of the death of one ele- new US legislation provides for a out of Africa earlier this month phant. ban on all sales by January 1990 when five rare white rhinoceros Elephants live in matriar- if there is no reduction in trading were shot to death in .Kenya's chal families associated with of illegal ivory. ,heavily guarded Meru National larger groups, and the young are "We're all convinced that ... Park, horns sawed off for their al- extremely dependent until they It won't work and trade will be leged aphrodisiacal quality or for are at least 10 for basic elements banned," said Ed Wilson, a repre- use as dagger handles in the Ara- such as food, protection from sentative of the World Wildlife bian peninsula. predators lnd shade from the Fund in Nairobi. "Poachers strikeagain."The equatorial sun. Even between "The elephant has become Standard newspaper screamed ages 6 and 10, a motherless ele- such a crisis that some of the ma eight daysago."Ten elephants phant has only a ,50 percent jor fund-raising organizations killed in Tsavo." chance of surviving. have set up a committee to moni- The Kenya government Females do noi breed until tor this." said E.U. Curtis Boh- thrown on the defensive by these they are in their early teens, len, senior vice president of the attacks on the basic resources of males until they are about 35. World Wildlife Fund. its lucrative tourist industry, de And itIs the bigger, older ele- An "action plan" to save Afri- nled the Standard's reportBut phants the ones with larger ca's elephants has been drawn 'one of the many wildlife special- tusks - that poachers prefer. up and accepted in principle by ,ists in Nairobi said that poachers wildlife groups. They will investi- had killed at least three ele And research has shown gate the ivory trade and complete phants, possibly more. that elephants grieve over the a report, with recommendations. Poachers are increasingly loss of their relatives, with last- in July. forming guerrilla armies. They ing effects on the stability of the Part of the strategy is aware- carry high-powered automatic family. ness. "There's an alarming igno- weapons, sometimes airlift their "They're so tightly bonded, rance even in the States," said treasures, and have reportedly these animals," said Poole. Stanley-Price. "Some people operated in numbers of 50 or more. We're Just very concerned a bou t don't even connect ivory with ele-

104 . _phants."____ Issue: Environment

Article 7:"Lake Victoria's Ecosystem, Vital to Millions, May be Unraveling" by William Booth, The Washington Post, June 5, 1989. Lake Victoria's Ecosystem, Vital to Millions, May Be Unraveling

By William Booth wasimpom PetseaWoe The greatest freshwater lake in from the bacteria lurking at the bot- lake for their daily needs," said Africa, once a living aquarium filled tom of the lake to the fisherman Hecky. "Without the fish, they don't with hundreds of species of exotic casting his net from a dugout ca- eat protein." fish, may be poised on the brinic of noebegan with the idea among The scientificteam, whichin- an ecological collapse that would British colonists of attracting tour- cludes researchers from Kenya, Is- rob millions of lakeshore people of ists through sport fishing. rael, Canada and the United States, dieir major source of protein. suspects that other factors may be at The huge Nile perch seemed a An International team ofre- work in the collapse of the lake. good candidate and in the early searchers has reported that Lake They believe that overfishing, pol- 1960s the British stocked Lake Vic- Victoria, the third largest lake in lution and even acid rain may be con- toria with Nile perch. In 20 years, is doMinated by just tributing to fish kills and depletion of the world, the eating machine spread to every three species of fish, including an corner of the lake. As the Nile oxygen in Lake Victoria. introduced predator cailed the Nile "Perhaps it isn't a simple case of perch population exploded, it sent perch. Unlike the perch familiar in an introduced species eating up all some 350 species of native fish into American waters, the Nile perch the natives. Maybe it's ,:-.3re insid- a tailspin. Many of these natives are ious than that," Kaufman said. can grow six feet long and weigh from a rich and diverse fish family WaSsmorcom por several hundred pounds. A relent- In the past, portions of the lake calledthecichlids,whichhad became anaerobic from time to less carnivore at the top of t`1,. food evolved to occupy dozens of niches chain, the Nile perch has so devas- time. But never for long. A fishing in the food web, and had done so in tated native fish species that it has survey done in 1970 found large an extremely short period of evolu- resorted to feeding onits own collectionsof nativefishatall tionary time. young. depths, including bottom-dwellingAn introduced With the introduction of Nilecatfish. But recent surveys in De- As troubling, the scientists re- perch, the lake's ecosystem began cember and March showed the bot-predator, the Nile ported that the bottom third of the to unravelin unexpected ways. tom third of the lake to be lifeless. lake is now anaerobic. With little or Blue-green algae began to flourish, perch, has One reason may be that sulfates no oxygen below a depth of 110 as the native tilapia fish that once feet, the lake's deepest region is a are raining into the lake, and thisdevastated native grazed on the algae were consumed virtual dead zone where no fish can pollutionis feeding bacteria that survive. At its deepest, the lake is by the perch. "The production of use sulfur to digest the moundsoffish species, and the algae may have doubled," said Rob- 270 feet deep. dead organic matter that amass on ert Hecky, a scientist at the Fresh- lake's deepest The profound disruption of Lake the bottom of the lake. The bacter- water Institute in Winnipeg, and a Victoria and its food web extends to ia, in turn, rob the lake's bottom ofregion, with little or member of the international team. oxygen as they digest the dead fish an estimated 8 million Africans who As Nile perch spread, local fish- and algae on the lake floor. no oxygen, is a live along the shoreline in Kenya, erman began shifting their harvest For all the pessimism, there re- Tanzania and Uganda. The deteri- from native tilapia to Nile perch. virtual dead zone mains some hope, accordingto oration of native fish stocks has The perch is a tasty, meaty fish. Kaufman. During their last trip to overturned traditional fishing and Traditionally, Lake Victoria fish- where no fish can the lake, the scientists discovered forced the Africans to depend on erman either sold their tilapia catch that there was a narrow layer ofsurvive. the introduced peed, a fishery that for that day's consumption or pre- water just above the anaerobic zone is proving to be highly unstable in served the little fish by drying them other lakes in Africa. in the sun. ,Nile perch are too bigthat contained just enough oxygen for many native cichlids, but not "As an ecologist, it's hard for me and too oily to dry, so they must be enough to support the Nile perch. to believe that the system can last smoked over charcoal fires. To feed In future expeditions, the scien- for long," said William Cooper, a the tires, the people have cut down tists hope to survey this refuge with zoology professor at Michigan State the unding forests, extending University and a leader of an inter- a remote-operated submersible, and the ecological catastrophe out of they hope to find rich concentra- national expedition to Lake Victoria the water and up to the slopes sponsored hy the National Oceanic tions of fish just out of reach of the around the lake. Nile perch. and Atmospheric Administration. At present, perch populations are Les Kaufman, a fish specialist at strong. But experts fear the fish the New England Aquarium in Bos- will soon deplete its prey and then ton, said, "We feel confident thatits population will crash, sending something very profound is happen- the fishing industry into a bust that ing. The guts of the lake are in could, as fish stocks recover, be- trouble." come a cycle of booms and busts. The cascade of ecological conse- "It's hard for us to imagine how de- quences, which touches the lake's pendent the Africans are on the biggest and smallest inhabitants 105 Session 4

Article 8:"Unnecessary Dependence" by Steve Askin, Africa News, Sept.19, 1988.

Mozambique could carry the cobalt Unnecessary Dependence America needs for producing high- ARARE- A new study by a leading Jourdan proposes a program of strength alloys. Hmining expert concludes that US. "positive sanction? to help these nations Similar transport issues explain the dependence on South African minerals is rebuild while embargoing South Africa. otherwise "baffling" inclusion of being exaggerated by opponents of The "frontline states" of southern Africa, chrysotile asbestos on the list of ten. sanctions against South Mrica. Jourdan reports, already produce several Canada supplies most of the chrysotile Strategic minerals are specifically of the minerals, and they could poten- asbestos the U.S. buys, but the U.S. relies exempted from the existing U.S. ban on tially supply most of the ten. on landlocked Zimbabwe for a special South African imports, and the exclusion He argues further that even without grade used in missile manufacturing. is maintained in the stronger sanctions new production, South Africa is an iliabwe is already rapidly moving bills now before Congress. essential source for only two items on the exports away from South African routes, To be exempt, a mineral must be exemption list: chromium/ferrochrome and hopes to meet US. demand via certified by the president to be "essential and platinum group metals. And even Mozambique's Beira port. for the economy, public health or de- those, he says, can be replaced at minimal The world's main antimony produc- fense" of the U.S. and not be available cost if the U.S. invests in mine expansion ers, China and Bolivia, provide almost from "alternative reliable suppliers." here in Zimbabwe, a leading chromite half of U.S. imports and could replace Minerals economist Paul Jourdan of producer that also has major platinum South Africa's 14% share. Zimbabwe's Institute of Mining Research reserves. South Africa ranks a distant fourth says the Reagan administration's designa- On the other South African minerals among manganese suppliers. It is tion of ten minerals supplied by South deemed essential by the White House, important only for ferromanganese, Africa as "strategic" is so "blatantly Jourdan used U.S. Bureau of Mines data which the U.S. can produce by refining ludicrous" as to provoke suspicion "that to arrre that: imported manganese metal in its own the apartheid regime has significant U.S. allies Australia and Zaire are under-used smelters. support in the State Department." already the main producers of industrial As rutile is merely one of several ores Jourdan's report, entitled "U.S. Mineral diamonds. Although a South African bearing titanium, it should not have been Dependence on South Africa: Exploding company, De Beers, dominates the world singled out as "strategic." Canada and the Myth," has just been published by the market, the U.S. can bypass the cartel and Australia are the main titanium produc- institute. buy directly from producers. ers, and their vast reserves can meet U.S. Jourdan says the provision exempting Cobalt, lot a South African product, demands. the South African minerals from import is listed only because the main producers, The U.S. is the world's leading bans, based on South Africa being the Zaire and Zambia, export via South producer of kyanite, a perfect substitute only reliable supplies, is particularly Africa. If securing supplies were a top for the Andalusite now imported from ironic. He points to Pretoria's use of priority, Jourdan suggests, the U.S. wouldSouth Africa for use in making bricks for military force to sabotage potential press the US.Lbackeci Unita rebels to stop high temperature blast furnaces. competitors in the region and estimates , sabotagingAngola's Benguela railroad, The U.S. produces most of its own that South African destabilization has cost the cheapest and most direct export route vanadium and can replace South African black-led neighbors, including Zim- for Zambian and Zairian exports. Even exports, a scant 9% of U.S. consumption, babwe, $45 billion in lost mine produc- with Benguela shut down, alternate rail from other sources. tion alone. lines from Zaire through Tanzania or - SteveAskirt

106 Issue: Environment

Article 9:"The Deadly Trade: Toxic Waste Dumping in Africa" by Howard Schissel, Africa Report, Sept: Oct. 1988.

The dumping of toxic waste, industnal can states had signed or were negotiating dumping activities.Such resolutions, and pharmaceutical residues, and waste disposal contracts, another less al- however, might just turn out to be picus even deadly radioactive materials in truistic .-:pect of North-South relations, intentions because the potential pecu- Africa overshadowed all other issues in rarely i.iisedin international develop- niary gains from waste dumping are a Lome during the June conference of the ment fora, was brought sharply into focus powerful temptation for many in the in- Economic Community of West African in Lome. dustrialized world and Africa. States (Ecowas). Ecowas leaders agreed to make it a In fact, President Mathieu Kérékou of This issuecertain sources talk of acriminal offense to facilitate the dumping Benin gave a detailed explanation in veritable scandalemerged with shock-of dangerous waste and urged the indus- Lomé of his country's plans to import ing brutality in early 1988 as it was gradu- trial countries to tighten controls on ex-toxic waste, denying rumors that it was ally discovered that Africa was becomingporters of such products. Moreover, nuclear residues. This, however, did not the prime hunting grounds for the shad- member-states were requested to take dampen the outrage of neighboring Togo owy world of waste disposal merchants, all necessary measures to stop dumping and Nigeria. Despite pronouncements who generally use the euphemistic term, and promulgate legislative safeguards from Benin officials that the contracts "international waste management indus- against such detrimental practices. were frozen, there is yet to be an inde- try," to cover up their malversations. Nigerian President Ibrahim Babangida pendent confirmation that the deal has As it became clear that at least 10 Afri- went one step further by tabling a mo- been definitively torpedoed. Howard Schissel is a Pans-based freelance Jour- tion, rapidly approved by his peers. to Waste disposal is a big and profitable nalist specwlising in French-speaking Africa as establish a regional system known as business.Eachyear,theindustrial well as questions relating to African natural re. sources. "Dumpwatch,"designedtomonitorworldthe United States is tops in the Shady international companles seeking to profit from the disposal of the industrialized world's waste have been taking advantage of loopholes in legislation and cupidity on the part of leadership to inflict a new plague on the African continent. Governmental vigilance and public awareness are required if a potentially deadly threat to Africa's fragile environmentand ultimately to its peoples is to be averted. THE DEADLY TRADE: Toxic Waste Dumping in Africa

By HOWARD SCHISSEL

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107 Session 4

Article 9 (Cont'd.) leagueproduces hundreds of millions tionship with francophone Africa as a pany up to $1((X) to first incinerate and of tons of waste. The treatment of these means of disposing of unwanted waste then recycie the waste in accordance waste materials, depending on their tox- materials. Occasionally, leaks filtered out with Common Market norms. Instead, icity, can be an extremely expensive en- about waste dumping in Africa:It wasthe waste was to be dumped near the deavor It can range from some $200 a revealed in 1979, for example, that antown of Fujin in the northwestern part of ton to around $1000. Extremely poison- American company, the Colorado-based the country close to the Senegalese bor- ousmaterials,likethepolychloro- Ned log Technology Group Inc., had of-derand it is rumored on land belonging biphenyl (PCB) uncovered in Nigeria in fered Sierra Leone $25 million to use its to a close relative of President Vieira. June, can fetch as much as $3000 a ton. territoryfor waste disposal.Under The dump site is close to an EEC- Obviously, there are fortunes to be mounting pressure, then-President funded fishing and agricultural Noject and made by "enterprising" and unscrupulous Siaka Stevens was forced to backtrack on threatened to pollute the entire icgin. businessmen who know how to take ad- the deal. According to a French source: "You could vantage of gray zones in international leg- In 1978, a nasty affair surfaced in Zim- not have picked a worse spot than Fanm islation and play up to the cupidity of cer- babwe. Hazardous waste from Americ2n because the soil is extremely porous and tain officials. The waste disposal business armed forces agencies was exported by marshy and it rains a lot too, so the drums is populated by discreet brokers and in- the Colbert brothersrecently sen- of waste would have quickly leaked with terrnediaries, complaisant shipping tenced to prison for fraudulent businesstheir contents seeping into the water ta- firms, and sundry ghost companies regis- practices--to Zimbabwe under the falseble." tered in such places as the Isle of Man, label of "cleaning fluids." The uproar caused by these revela- Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and of course, These incidents hardly blunted the of- tions forced the Guinean authorities to Switzerland. fensive of waste disposal merchants incancel the deal as well as a second, The industrialized countries are liter- Africa. Since the summer of 1987, nu-smaller arrangement with British and ally choking on their own garbage. Waste merous contracts have been signed withAmerican waste disposal firms. landfills in the United States have be-African states. One of the main waste Down the coast in Guinea-Conakry, come difficult to carry out as environ- disposal networks is the nebulous Italo- complaints that vegetation cn the island mental groups tend to keep close watch Swiss Intercontract-Jelly Wax group, of Kassa, just opposite the capital, Cona- on such activities and local communities which initialled or tried to negotiate deals kry, was turning brown and fetid fumes too have become sensitive to the issue. with Guinea-Bissau, Djibouti, and Sene- were making the air unbreatheable, pro- In Europe and Japan, where space is gal. Other prime movers are the Gibral- voked an Jficial investigation. To general so much more limited, it is practically im- tar-i.egistered Sesco Ltd., the Liechten- amazement, it was learned that 85,000 possible to bury toxic waste and local au- stein-registered Bawerk, the New Jer- tons of incinerator ash from Philadelphia thorities often block projects to buildsey-based Waste Export Management was dumped in abandoned mines on the waste incinerator units. Last year's odys- Co., and Norway's Bulk Handling Inc. island, after having been rejected by Pan- sey of a garbage barge from New York In September 1987, Djibouti turned ama and Haiti. Citytovarious Caribbean and Latin down 2,1(X) tons of chemical waste that In a ploy similar to the one utilized in American ports before being ignornini-was shipped from the Italian port of Car- Zimbabwe, the waste was relabled as ously returned to sender was a caricature rara under Jelly Wax's aegis. The Italian "road building materials" by the Norwe- of the waste disposal industry. Green Party warned that vessels loaded gian company, Bulk Handling Inc., part of To the merchants of muck, the Thirdwith toxic trash were leaving Italian ports the Klaveness group that has various in- World appears an ideal spot to dumpin ever growing numbers. Few tookterests in the country. Its SIAG affiliate waste products. Many countries haveheed, however, of this caveat.It wasimported the "road building materials." vast tracts of unused land for such pur-only when Intercontract signed a mega-The government of President Lansana poses. Public opinion in these countries iswaste disposal deal with Guinea-Bissau Conte reacted swiftly and harshly by ar- largely unaware of the dangers involved. that the full dimensions of the wasteresting Norway's honorary consulin Government authorities either turn antrade in Africa started bubbling to theConakry. thereby forcing the Norwe- unconcerned blind eye or can be pro- surface. gians to p!--embark the hazardous waste vided with sufficient incentives to keep The Brussels-based lobbying group, products. these affairs under wraps. As one Com- Entente Europeenne pour l'Environrnent Nigeria vociferously protested when mon Market official remarked: "What we(EEE), blew the whistle. Under thedetails of a contract to dispose toxic cannot dump safely in our own backyardterms of the contract, Guinea-Bissau waste in Benin were made public. Benin we should not allow to be dumped un-was to receive up to 500,0(X) tons of was reported to have signed a contract safely in somebody else's." But financialpharmaceutical and industrial waste from with the Gibraltar-registered Sesco Ltd. considerations plead otherwise. Switzerland at a price of $40 per ton. For to take between 1 and 5 million tons of Toxic waste dumping in Africa has cer- impecunious Guinea-Bissau, the pros- diverse waste a year, albeit non-nuclear. tainly been going on since the mid-1970s. pects of earning up to $2.0 million seemed The dumping site was to be near the hi, Although information is sparse,itap- like a windfall. But it was really Intercon- tohcal center of the Fon empire at Abo- pears that the French were among thetract that would have been the big win- mey, about 60 miles north of the capital, pnncipal culpnts, using their special rela- ner, because it would have cost the corn- Cotonou. From afinancial viewpoint, 108 issue: Environment

Article 9 (cont'd.) Benin got a raw deal, receiving underwould send itall over the West African contract terms a mere $2.50 per ton. coastline. This is a sure scenario for eco- Politically, the deal hit a raw nerve. logical disaster. Abomey has traditionally been the hot- The color of money often seems to bed of dissent against the Berun su- transcend political and ideological hues in premo, so dumping the waste thereAfrica. Adverse publicity forced the self- could be the ultimate insult to the opposi- styled Marxist government in Congo to tion. Protests arose and in March, armyscuttle plans to stock some 1 million tons officers from Abomey were arrested andof toxic waste in the country. The site accused of plotting a coup. Of all the Afri-ostensibly chosen was the Diosso gorge, can states involved in the toxic wastenear the Pointe Noire oil center. Congo trade, Benin undoubtedly has the most was to receive $37 a ton from the Liech- equivocal attitude. tenstein-reOsteredfirmBauwerk to It did not take long for Nigeria to bestock this West German and Benelux shocked by the news that toxic wastewaste material. A second scheme with fromItalyhadbeensurreptitiously the New Jersey-based Waste Export brought into the country for stockage atManagement Co. involved stocking 1 the port of Koko in Bendel state. Themillion tons of solvent and pesticides. waste was shipped by the Livorno-basedThe government axed the two deals, ar- companies specially set up for the opera- resting officials accused of complicity in tion. the arrangement. When the story broke in Italy, the Ni- Environmental protection activists in gerian embassy in Rome did not even Europe feel that the cases of toxic waste inform the federal government in Lagosdumping uncovered to date in Africa of the scam. It was Nigerian students incould just be the tip of the iceberg. The Italy who phoned the Lagos daily,77u, entire sorry saga sheds a harsh light on Guardian, who triggered off a reactioncertain unspeakable international busi- by President Babangida's regime. It was ness practices, the criminally careless at- discovered that the waste haphazardlytitude of numerous Western companies stocked under the hot tropical sun wasonly too glad to get rid of their own deadly extremely deadly: Not only was there muck, the loopholes in international legis- PCB, but also asbestos fiber and perhaps lation, and the incompetence, complicity, dioxine.During the summer,these and cupidity of some administrations in drums of toxic pnxiucts were shipped newly independent African states. back to Italy. Action must be rapidly taken to curb Environmental experts reckon that ifthis trade in deadly toxic waste to Africa such a dangerous compound like PCBand other parts of the Third World. New seeps into the water table, it would enterinternational rules can at least establish the food chain and be practically impos- guidelines on toxic waste trade. How- sible to remove for many years. Thisever, as in the illegal drug trade, the would destroy the livelihood of thousands profits to be made are so gigantic that of fishermen and farmers and throw intowaste schemers will invariably manage to jeopardy the health of tens of thousandsdevise new ways and means of carrying of people. out their deadly commerce. Hence, when theLondon-based Westerncountries must rapidly newsletter, .itnea Analy.us,disclosed tighten up their own legislation on toxic that a Bnnsh firm was to stock up to 10waste exports. France, for its part, did ;Tullio!) ttnis of assorted waste products,Ao early in the summer Above all, Afn- on the uny Equatonal Guinean island ofcan states themselves must put bite Pagalu, some 281/ miles off Libreville ininto their bark in such a way that the the heart of the fish-rich Gulf of Guinea,continent rapidly loses its appeal as a alarm bells rang. The island is of volcanicwaste haven. The vigilance of fledgling ongin and its sin] is like a sponge. It is riot public opinion in Afnca is essential too in hard to imagine that the effects of sun,the preservation of the continent's envi- rain, and salt water would cause leaks inrinunent and maintaining pressure on the drums, with the waste matenakgovernments so that the waste met- chillits and their accomplices are kept at siiaking into the ground and eventually () reaching the sea where strong currentsbay. 109 1 A. I Session 4/Issue: Food and Hunger

Facts About Food and Hunger in the United States Over the past decade, malnutrition and hunger have become growing problems in the United States. Contributing factors are the growing number of people suffering from poverty, unequal distribution of wealth, homelessness, unemployment, and emergency food needs. These factors call to question a community's ability to provide adequate food supply for its inhabitants. At the same time, agribusiness has flourished, taking its toll in the ruin of many small-scale farming enterprises. The following provides evidence of the current trends relating to hunger in the United States: The wealthiest 10% of people in the U.S. own 83.2% of the nation's wealth (Census Bureau). 35 million U.S. citizens were poor in 1988, roughly one in every seven people. 12.8 million or 39.4 percent of all poor people in 1987 had incomes below half of the poverty line (Census Bureau). Minority poverty is on the rise: the proportion of poor white Americans dropped from 11 percent in 1986 (22.2 million) to 10.5 percent last year (21.4 million). The propor- tion of poor black families rose from 31.1 percent (8.98 million) to 33.1 percent (9.68 million). The 1987 median income for white families was $32,374 against $18,098 for black families. Poverty among blacks more than three times as common. A similar trend exists among Hispanics (Census Bureau). In the past six years there has been an ever-increasing demand for emergency food. Almost 20% of emergency food needs go unmet in the 25 major U.S. cities (Project Bread Hunger Hotline). Hunger now persists in the areas where production is highest (see Larry Brown and H.F. Pizer: "Hunger in the Heartland" on pages 116-118). At the same time, Second Harvest, a national clearinghouse that distributes food, claims as much as 140 million tons of edible food a year never reach anyone's table. In 1985, the National Physicians' Task Force on Hunger in America estimated that 1 of 12 people go hungry for some period of time each month (Project Bread Hunger Hotline). f ederal food assistance programs are serving fewer people. The number of poor people increased by 4 million between 1980 and 1985. The number of food stamp recipients, however, remained the same through thoHe years and declined in 1986 (Project Bread Hunger Hotline). A U.S. Department of Agriculture survey found that only 12% of low-income house- holds are able to afford their full recommended daily nutritional allowances, even with maximum Food Stamp allotments. One of every three acres of American farmland grows crops for export. (Citizens Net- work for Foreign Affairs).

110 Issue: Food and Hun er

Facts About Food and Hunger in Africa While massive famine situations are frequently the result of environmental conditions (droughts, locusts) and man-made conditions (war), chronic iiunger and malnutrition in Africa can also be attributed to Africa's internationa: debt, unequal distribution of wealth, exploitation of the small farmer, neglect of women's roles as primary food producers, and growing export crop agribusiness. Consider these facts: While average per capita annual income in Africa is $769, this figure is much lower for farmers. On the average, Africans consume 2,230 calories/day (at least 1,250 calories less than people in the U.S. (Sivard: World Military and Social Expenditures) To pay off debts with foreign exchange, many African nations use their best farmlands to produce export crops such as cacao (for chocolate), coffee, tea, pineapples, peanuts, and cotton. This is often done at the expense of African farmers being able to grow crops for their own consumption, and has led to staggering malnutrition rates and dependence on food assistance in regions that have previously been self-sufficient. During the 1980s prices for Africa's agricultural exports have fallen by 25 percent. Agribusiness interests operational in Africa are often the same as those who have taken over agricultural production in the U.S. (see the following list of companies).

Agribusiness in Africa: Some Key U.S. Companies Abbott Laboratories (Kenya, South Africa, RJR Nabisco (South Africa) Zaire, Zambia) Pfizer, Inc. (Angola, Ghana, Morocco, Allis Chalmers Corp. (South Africa) Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, American Cyanamid Co. (Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe) South Africa) Procter and Gamble Co. (Morocco) Arbor Acres Farm, Inc. (Nigeria, Zambia, Standard Commercial Tobacco Co., Inc. Zimbabwe) (Malawi) Borden, Inc. (South Africa) Union Carbide Corp. (Algeria, Gabon, Colgate-Palmolive (Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, Zambia) Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe) C.P.C. International, Inc. (Kenya, Morocco) Universal Leaf Tobacco Co. (Zimbabwe) Deere & Co. (South Africa) Upjohn Co. (Zaire) Dibrell Bros., Inc. (Zimbabwe) U.S. Wheat Associates (Morocco) Dow Chemicals Co. (Ivory Coast, Liberia, Source: Directory of American Firms Morocco) Operating in Foreign Countries. (Major libraries have business reports you can FMC Corp. (Cameroon) consult for up-dates on activities of these N.J. Heinz & Co. (Ghana, Zimbabwe) companies) International Minerals & Chemicals (Zimbabwe) Kellog Co. (South Africa) King Ranch (Morocco) Monsanto Co. (Kenya)

111 Ideas for Local Inquiry: Food and Hunger Who suffers from hunger in your area? What population is most affected by hunger (ethnic groups, womel, children)? Who provides food emergency relief (organizations, government offices, churches)? How is access to foco assistance limited? Is the current program efficient? How is food relief delivered? How does this compare to food relief in Africa? Is there any organizajon that redistributes leftover food from supermarkets and restau- rants? Is there a Meals on Wheels program? How are relief recipients portrayed in the local press? Are there any similarities with media coverage on hunger victims in Africa? What agribusinesses operate in your area? Are any of them the same as those listed for Africa? What policies do these businesses pursue? Have they displaced family farms in your area? Are there government subsidies for farmers? Can malnutrition in your area be connected to these agricultural policies? Do the issues raised by the article "Hunger in the Heartland" on pages 116-118 hold true for your area? What kind of local subsistence food production is there? Are there any gardening or food cooperatives? How do they function?

Through this inquiry, what conclusions can you make:

1)concerning specific problem areas relating to hunger in your community?

2) concerning connections betweer your community and Africa on hunger and agriculture?

3) What kind of action in response to this issue would you recommend and participate in?

11 2 Issue: Food and Hunger

Recommended Videos:

With These Hands (33 minutes) and Man-Made Famine (50 minutes) Lack of support for Africa's women farmers represent a major cause of food shortages. Three women from Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Zimbabwe tell their stories, exploring the problem with some possible solutions. The longer version of this video is especially recommended for audiences interested in issues pertaining to the lives of African women and their families. Available for rent free of charge from the Film Library, Church World Services, P.O. Box 968, 28606 Phillips St., Elkhart, IN 46515 (219) 264-3102.

The Politics of Food: The Food Machine (20 minutes) and The Avoidable Famine (20 minutes) An introduction to the global effects of agribusiness and the causes and effects of the farm crisis in the United States and the Sudan. In the Sudan the changes in farming methods have affected both the economy and the society. Available for rent free of charge from the Film Library, Church World Services, P.O. Box 968, 28606 Phillips St., Elkhart, IN 46515 (219) 264-3102.

Consuming Hunger (a series of three 29-minute videos) These three videos look at questions concerning attitudes among the affluent towards hunger and famine: Getting the Story Why did it take so long for Western Television to cover the famine in Ethiopia? Shaping the Image: What happened to the images of starving Africans once they became part of our television culture? Selling the Feeling: What did Hands Across America megaevent tell us about hunger in America and how were the images of our own homeless and hungry used? Available from UUSC Citizen Action Department, 78 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108, (617) 7422120; or from the Maryknoll World Video Library, Maryknoll, NY 10545, (914) 9417590. Session 4

Overview of the Readings for Session 4/Issue: Food and Hunger

To many Americans, the word Africa is syn- Article 4 shows the connection between onymous with famine. The media have led us to famine and conflict areas and the response of the believe that famine is the status quo of the United States government and the United African continent, that there will always be Nations. The article mentions the leadership of hunger there. Africa is often depicted as a dry Rep. Mickey Leland, killed in an aircraft acci- and barren place, unable to support its popula- dent during a recent fact-finding trip between tion. In actuality, the famines of Africa are not Ethiopia and the Sudan. Famine and war put at caused by inhospitable conditions alone. They risk a population group labeled "refugees", are the product of many interwoven, often man- perhaps the people most susceptible to famine made causes. and dependant on food aid. They also stand to gain the most from peace and self-sufficiency. "Hunger in the Heartland" (article 1), chal- According to UNHCR reports, present refugee lenges the myth of equating Africa with hunger, populations on the African continent may reach when hunger exists here at home in the U.S., as many as 10 million. African refugees, the even ;n the breadbasket of America. Our re- product of national conflicts, live in every sponsibility is to look beyond a simplistic defini- section of the continent. tion of famine as not enough food, and explore some of its man-made root causes, its effects, Cash cropping, the practice of growing and alternatives to avoiding massive hunger in products to be sold rather than for local con- the future. sumption, is another contributing factor in the perpetuation of famine. A legacy of colonialism "A Quiet Hunger" (article 2), the personal in Africa, cash cropping ws once heralded as relction of a Western visitor in Burkina Faso an innovative ally of progress. But cash crops (West Africa) to the hunger he witnessed during grown for export, such as coffee, tea, sugar, and his stay, serves as an introduction to thi:u com- tobacco, do not directly benefit small farmers plex issue, by exposing the exploitation of the and often harm them. Land given to cash crop- famine victim by the media, and the string of ping cannot be used for subsistence farming and events that can lead to hunger and starvation on the labor needed for these farms is labor taken a continent that basically has the means to feed from the home plots. The need for cash ,)ften itself. draws men from their homes and leaves women A major factor in the development of famine with almost all of the food producing responsi- conditions is war. In this situation, food bility. Entire regions of Kenya's fertile Rift Valley frequently becomes a weapon to coerce the are now devoted to coffee and tea production for hungry. Whereas Western donors may view the export to help meet the nation's debt payments. provision of food-aid as a politically neutral As a result, these regions no longer produce issue, evidence of its unequal allocation and the enough food products to support the laboring dependency it has created show that it too, be- populations. Article 5 is a brief exploration of the comes a tool of wa and conflict. Peter Davies, cyclical nature of development and cash crop in article 3, urges readers to wake up to the re- problems. ality d the civil war in Sudan, where all too eas- ily international assistance and food relief agen- cies become entangled in playing into the hands of one or the other of the warring parties. instead, attention should focus on promoting peace. 50 U.S. voluntary humanitarian and de- velopment agencies, as the Coalition for Peace in the Horn of Africa, are calling on the U.S. government to end the supply of arms to the region.

1 1 4 Issue: Food and Hunger

The remainder of the section concentrates on moving beyond famine. Article 6 is a fact sheet describing the FEWS, Famine Early Warning System. This system is an on-going project designed to identify conditions that could lead to famine before they become critical. FEWS researchers have compiled information on environmental conditions and production in eight African countries; these data are used by U.S. researchers, African government officials, and other research institutions to determine what action is needed to avert a famine situation. Government planners within countries must begin by supporting the farmers. Adequate food production is key to national self sufficiency. And yet the "greening of Africa" still remains elusive. Agricultural policy makers are only beginning to realize that schemes designed in the industrialized world are not applicable to Africa, wheveas schemes based on traditional African practices often are. J.D.H. Lambert (article 7) proposes a new approach to agricultural development one that begins by considering the people as the primary resource. An example of Lambert's approach is described in article 8, which documents a project in Mali aimed at creating an information network by linking farmers with scientists and researchers. Women's role in African society is men- tioned in many readings in this publication; recognition of their importance as food pro- ducers is crucial to the population's survival. At least 80 percent of the food grown in Africa is pruced by African women. Until recently, agri- cultural policy makers did not recognize women as food producers. Article 9, "Empowering Africa's Farmers," discusses the history of development projects aimed at men rather then women. Projects that instruct men in agriculture cannot be expected to improve subsistence output if men are not the primary food producers.

1 1 5 REST (Try AVAILABLE Session 4

Article 1:"Hunger in the Heartland" by Dr. J. Larry Brown and H.F. Pizer, Seeds. Hunger in the Heartland -I'veseenmalnourishedchild- Even in the breadbasket of America, ren," LaVont went on, whose Londi- tions \vent unnoticed betause their empty baskets wait for food. parents didn't have the mov to take them to the doctor About 1,CtX) Larry Brozen and ITF: Pizer weren't allow oitostart school List year because the\ didn't Dr. Larry Brown, of the the Harz,ar,f have the required school physit.al. Phyician['askForce en Hunxer in We hear rumors of I he parents didn't ha\ e the money America, led a team of' iozefts ot phys:- to spend on the do, tor's \ isit.I he (:arts which crt!.serosse,the country to economic recov- te,,, hers say the\ ha \hungr study the problew of h:,nyer. The 1.1:4 len in theirLisstkiom,111 thi. nine segrilent of the trip was :n the AIN! west . ery...that's not hap- We lettto see the hi 1,1 N'Il li,cdAt ult. homt, ,,t There is a special irony in the pening in Peoria. \ is, \\t ;net a grandmother raising presence of hunger in the ii Id r en ot herLie, eased breadbasket of our nation. Liai terflisabled and 111 t,111:11 tarnifies 11ottinc_the The crops spring so abun- Midwestern NIrsria\ is was \ ,111,IntiV try dantly from the fertile land that mil- honion are churih steeples and silos Ing to support thetl I markthetalleststructures, lions of tons of grain are stored at that '11.:1111% th,in ,/10 government expense, and the farms reminding the traveler o. tstl in .itu- ,1!-t,111,.i' and food stamps. of the heartland produce millions of tions that bind the people \ \c,r,indson, t\ \\ some surplus dairy products even as the Our first stop was the Peoria !-.,alva- .itters.11,H federal government institutes a pro- non Army, where two young \lid- nut it', not gram in which dairy farmers must wester nets, John Colgan and John h tincinvlot inr.nt hArd slaughter their cows to curtail excess A rnold, briefed us on the unemploy- torthr.in ; production.Netwithintheverv ment situation. "At one time anyone shadow of this vast productive sys- who wanted a job could get one Rut taken b\ MC?? H :th \ h 1'1 r, tem Americans, some the families now thousandsofbreadwinners who once worked theland,go have been ISid off and can't t yen find bread and w ate! hungry. work at minimum wage. They've At the net house told (.,1,111i's !it' ti 'I; I1c,Its Illinois and Nlissouri were the final beenlaidoffattheCaterpi;lar, lls stops on our 1.4-state itinerary. While Hiram Walker and Pabst plants." In Havc Ht.!) t we were impatient to be finished nearby Canton, they said, Interna- \ car old d,1114htct tcd tr, to w ith the \vork we had begun nearly tionalHarvester had shut down rontln nit t.,od two years before, w e knew it was completely, and coal mining had don't 1,1st essential to see the LILT ot hum!,er in been dramatically cut back. Many ti, tobil the Midwest. tor most of us it waS people had given up and dropped II(' in...onceivable that there Lould be out of the work force, no longer .1, thr.1)1101 hw...r hunger inAmerica smodel rural counted as unemployed. hamlets and towns, pla( es svnonv "We hear rumors of economic III( )1.I',.1th WhOlt.0IIIC Vol lit' and recovem" Arnold said, "butI can sported -hirt.., set. we, middlk-, lass :i \ ing. assure You that's not happening in short slcr..r.,4. I ht Peoria `tVIt' ot their dress ,ti.d il to. 1014it fow it Plays in Peoria Marjorie La Font, a nurse with the their yok.e. reniind,d ils our 10, .i destination was Peoria, CI com- Food and Nutrition Service, told ot ni,n in flit' hr..irtt thr `,1,,i\\ u.st munity thatlits always, heralded making home visits to some of the first to tr....trt ho itselfasthe AmericanCity. Oil ncedv tdmilics in the area Scernr.d to r.t,itornI,,. r.nt . h Located m the middle ot Illinois,it -When I star ted had. in 1972 we hau in Ow flit. lacks a seaport or major riverwav to hunttofind hungry families. tarnie . I lett the tarn) ii I tin.' rt, Hie 1. I ttl it1 Ater thatinearliertimes might hay.. loday,\ye are °very, helmed.tax- it I its Ott I tormedthe(rossroadstorcorn- payers who workedtosupport pdlar A lot '0 th.iriii nlerce. re'day, Petirla 1`, ',11M,itnded assistance programs are now In lint' \tore tine unto 1t'ar by fields of (kin, and grain, ',Vern hit- help \Vt' st,lt tel ,ItHt,'`111cto ingly k.ndless al ttn, rlantt'd by sulid '1,1110 1 1 6 1 g. 4, Issue: Food and Hunger

Article 1 (coned.) In the nearby hamlet of Hayti, the his disability, he was ineligible for of tm triends are losing hope. Stmle- health center director described how SSI,and thefamily was living primarily on food stamps. "About all times I wonder, 'Where isall the their slots tor the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program had we can get with them is milk and Ch-isnanity I grew up learning about? Where is all the w:holesome- been cut back, forcing them to drop hash." ness I used to hear about?'" some of the high-risk children. To The next morning we had no time In the Midwest the wtimen otten oftset the impact of budget cuts, the to check in at our hotel, so, luggage do most of the talking.In public center hati opened an emergency in hand, we dashed into three taxis forums the men slink back, shy and food distnbution program. Al- and headed for our first appoint- inarticulateis though it is unmanly though clearly still an unorthodox ment of the dayin a St. Louis slum. to reveal one's woes. Bill Davis broke practice, by now it was not uncom- We stoppedatthe Darst-Webbe the string ot women speakers. mon to hear of health facilities taking Housing Project, a series of red brick 'I'm one of the 'new poor,'" he up the task of giving out food. "No buildings that looks like anv other admitted. "I have six children. Both one eke around here is doing it," large housing project built in the me and my wife worked for %:ears the director continued. "We're just 1950s, Huge green garbage bins until our plant closed. We take cold about out of resources, but we're fenced off the asphalt streets and showers becausethehotwater doing the hest we can." sidewalks. Our destination was the heater broke and we don't have the Catholic Guardian Angel Center, money to buy another one. Fhe roof operating out of one end of the proj- leaks when it rains. We worry that Meanwhile, Gordon ect, When theytirst opened the the children don't get enough to Harper, a Harvard psy- Center the volunteors passed out eat." As he sat down, his body lan- chiatriA, had taken free bread every day. Soon there guage said, "No time for questions, another team to Wash- were too many mouths to feed, so I just wanted to tell someone what ington County, one of the poorest i they started a food pantry. we've been going through." thenation. The lead and barite Evelyn Webb, who administers The rolls at a local food pantry, we mines are shut down; unemploy- the program, told us that area resi- learned, were up more than 7,Pit per- ment is verv high. dents, mt.ny of whom are poor them- cent in three years. People told us Prior to our visit, Catholic workers selves, donate tinned goods and that the pattern was similar for all in Washington County had reported other items for the hungrv. "Some the food pantries in the area. that hunger was a very serious prob- people donate water because they Die hungryinPeoriahave a lem, and our doctors wished to see have little else to give," she said. veneer of comfort: their clothes are for themselves.Traveling with "There are people in nearby houses not tattered, their homes look well. priests from St. Joachim's Church, who have no utilities, no food." kept, most families still have a car. they walked down dirt roads and Webb paused to ponder the implica- The appearances just do not match hoppedacrossstreamstovisit tions of her next point. "Things keep the reality. homes, They found living conditions getting worse. We just had to put Missouri, the Show Me State reminiscent of Appalachia: families more locks on the garbage bins so Our launching point in Missouri living in rusty trailers off to the side the mothers and children couldn't was Caruthersville, a town of 9,000 ot small clearings, scrawny dogs run- raidthe receptacles at night. We in the "Bootheel," named for the ning alomzside children who hauled didn't want them getting sick on rot- part of the state that protrudes into t,,r m cmptv lard cans. ted food." neighboring Arkansas. Itis a rich I lie fAllott tarnilv, seven child- At Notre Dame Parish we spoke and fertile plain whose main crops ren, w.th., and husband, lived in out. with church workers who had begun are soybeans, cotton and rice. At the ot tho,e small trailers. Ne.t door sat toOd pantry. "We started seeing so anothertrailer,rustedom.,ind many families new to poverty and time of our visit, however, declining hunger that we had to do some- farmpriceshad devasatedthe slowly bein4 i.annibalued tortire- already weak 'ocal economy and the WOOd arid hollding materials. Insula- thing," one of the priests explained. "File (;ene.,ral Motors plant laid off re ion was suffering some of the tionandwiring couldbeseen worst poverty in the nation. through holes in the wallsInside many employees, a rillrlibe'r of them We became aware of the lingering the Eckhoff's 'mall living arca was a even lost their homes." history of racism in th.' area as we lightweight wood stove that had cost Beulah Campbell, the full- stopped along the street to speak about ':..,NI and was not expected to blooded Cherokee w ()map who op- with residents of a black community. last ant ithi r winter. eratestilt'tacility,confirmed Ole In a limousine, circhng the b1(k, LillianEckhoffpointedtothe ,riost'swords."Fvervone coines was the white owner ot the shaLks three-year-old and said, "She's the lvotiletl, children, the elderly. housing local black iam dies. f Ic had sickly unIt she ain't got a ,. pld she's We di 1111111her (4 people come to see what the "strangers" got diarrhea we ,o'rvt'd In the' first year. 0 were doing in town Mr. Fckhott had been disabled in hopelessness. No Matter a mining accident years before and WhAf pi'tple do, the pit gets deeper. was now unable to work. Despite Ita tallith' in,ike. eu oxtm It1 or

1 1 7 Session 4

Article 1 (cont'd.) Missouri State University, and the dollars a month, the government We had to put commentary at the end ot the paper deducts it horn their assistance. It's caught my eve: discouraging, you know.- At St. Pat- locks on the gar- "As we sit above the caves filled rick's Center one ot the nuns spoke with government stored food, and eloquently about the sense ot dis- bage bins so the as we shudderattherittriear couragement that hits people who warheads implanted in our fields, cannot find work. "The unemployed mothers and child- we are faced with the travesty that who come in every day to look at even in the Breadbasket of America ;oh listings find that the labor pool ren couldn't raid there are empty baskets waiting for tor the day tills up quickly. The peo- them at night. food." ple lett area residue ot willing bodies iccrpte,i ic:thrernti-,lonot.11a(trultati l'uhlt,h- and discouraged spirits.'" had seen enough, we had grown ingCotr m Living Hungry in America by Ott in the reception area Sat sev- tond of the ethausting work and the l)r I.nrry Browrj.101,1 H IPI:Cr C,v,vrtsht, eral men, each hoping the telephone people we had met. 1487 tqt 1 140:0rt, l'h1.)and If F would ring to otter a job. Si.ty-year- Firsttospeak was Fdie Mae citroicti oirthe rac v ot theHorror,/ .i,/ioo/ot iftalth,trid,ha,r ot the Physic lot old Mr. (;rittith sat silently, until I liinvoun,a middle-aged woman 11,4 FoNt Ilun:et a.' I a .Seed. t placedmyselfne tohim and who announced that she had a , e,btor 5, a 1,1114,-1,..5,1'. opk,ned up the conversation, Ph.D. in poverty. earned it 01'er ,nt and the ailthl"0,I "What do vou do, sir" I began. the last twenty yea rs. P is tor pov- UT "I'm in the engineering business. erty. If is for hell and hunger. D is for determination. I'm a mother of Well, I mean I graduated with a Mas- O. ter'sin Engineering from Tulane three, one child is epileptic.I have about 20 years ago." He had run a high blood pressure, and I've had a chain of convenience stores for the stroke. Life hasn't been easy for me last eighteen years. The chain went or mv children, but each day I hope out of business; bankruptcy wiped that it will improve." 0 out his pension, and Griffith had Reverend Larry Rice pointed to nothing to show for his years of the irony in holding a hunger hear- work. ing at a memorial to the war dead. At the Salvation Army Children's "We spend money on weapons Center the staff said that feeding while the real 'soldiers' die in the problems "are prominent among streets of this city...Our church gives children who come here. About half frozen food away to keep it from spoiling. I've seen people tear it open of them are below the fifth percentile on the sidewalk and eat it frozen. for their size. Some seem to take no op pleasure from eating and avoid eye They couldn't wait until they got it contact while they eat, others eat vor- home." aciously. Many come here in the ur work was concluded. 11111(11111th winter because their homes lack heat It was not difficult to find as well as food." substantial hunger. One A St. Louis Counts, social worker could see it in the homes said that children are being referred of0 poor neighborhoods, in inner-city tor foster care because the parents health centers, in shelters for the can't provide enough food. In the homeless and, of course, at the soup winter this can mean 25 to 30 addi- kitchens. Ve had seen children who tional placements a month. "One were not growing and had talked fa Mily we have hi re,- the social with unemployed parents who wor- worker said,"just had their kids ried about their inability to feed their taken away because they had no babics. We had to,ind elderly people food. I he parents came to the shelter living on rice or beans, and for tor help.It took us a month to get periods ot time, on nothing at all. the kids back.I he father is a master As I headed ott to the airport, 1 bet who worked tor 2', %var.,. someone handed me a document LOW,. We ended our visit to 'st that I shiftedintotrybriefcase. \\101pliblit hearing at the ler Opening it later on the plane,I saw MemorialIt was tvith some relict it w.is a report on hunger in the small %ve 11114k4 that preparedtorthe ,Aent city 111 Warrensberg,lustoutside Although we were tired and hilt We KansasC. ity l'he study had been conducted by a professor at Central 1 1 8 II. ) i .1. 4, ,i Issue: Food and Hunger

Article 2:"A Quiet Hunger" by Chris Brazier, The New Internationalist, Sept. 1985,. But there, in the village, I made friends - even though I was there myself as part of a team filming for television. I laughed with people, asked about their lives and told them what I could of my own. They asked about my 'village' - who worked in my fields if I spent all my time writing, and how did I manage to eat if I didn't have any land? I cuddled their children and watched their faces. And then I went back to my hut to realise that, while I could just fly away from this dusty land, for Mariama and Hassita there was no escape. They were left with that gnawing worry about next month's meals, abo4 the millet shrinking in the granary and the rains that were six weeks late. Once I had flown back to the Western whirligig of consumption and comfort, there was one question that people always asked me first 'but what did you eat?'It's a common-sense query if food is short, then how do all the aid workers and the journalists get by? The answer, of course, is that there was plenty of food in Burkina Faso, just as Inere is in Ethiopia- if you have the money to pay for it. Just three miles away from the village I stayed in was a town where there were not only grain and vegetables on sale, but meat, too, French bread, and Western dnned food. It is poverty that starves people to death or stupefaction: not a callous whim of nature. This idea that nature causes famines has great intuitive power - it appeals to our sense of drama and myth, this blight on the land beyond all human control. But droughts and Shipping bags of grain when disaster strikes is necessary, but floods only kill the poor, only tip over the it never solves the problem. Chris Brazier visits an African people who have already been pushed to the village to discover a quiet hunger that will last long after the brink. Hunger is not a one-act drama. It is a war dust of the latest emergency has settledand suggests some of attrition that wears people down over the ways to assuage it. years, a war of which we witness only the final battle. To an Asian it might mean selling a little more land each year to pay offdebts to HE widow leant back against the mud The widow lives in a village that has never villagemoneylender. To aLatin yet experienced famine. Lying in the south-the Twall of her compound and gestured at the American it might mean coaxing life from east of Burkina Faso a good two hundred bowl of baobab leaves in front of her. 'Since marginal soil that becomes more degraded our millet ran out,' she said, 'we've been miles away from the famine regions of thewith every planting. To an African it might Sahel - it will probably never hit our head- living on those.' Suddenly the tranquillity of mean the gap between the last harvest and the the scene, so striking after the flurry oflines. Yet there are few people in it who feelnext becoming wider every year. activity in the other family compounds, tookfree of the fear of hunger, of worry about the And the stars of this drama are not only the on a sinister aspect, as if it were haunted by grain dwindling in the family store. And theirvictims shaking their fists at the unrelenting the ghosts of her hunger. daily grappling with those worries shook meheavens. There is the local entrepreneur who Her face still looked young. But she was far more deeply than any of those distressingbuys up grain at harvest time and then sells it too resigned, or perhaps too poor, to wear thepictures from Ethiopia and Sudan. Because,back at an inflated price to the same farmers headscarf that the other village women for all their power, those television images ofwhen their food runs short. There is the favoured, and the child that pulled at herhollowed faces and emaciated limbs are likegovernment which puts all ;t: energy into breast was listless. 'I work the land alone butbulletins from another planet It's hard toexport crops for the Wes:, wh.:ch sees for my eldest son. He's a good boy but we sense them as real people, feeling just as wedevelopment as a matter of prestige, building can't do enough on our own, and the lack ofwould feel in the same situation. Insteaddams and cathedrals in the desert instead of food makes us weak. Sometimes I gather they're passive victims in a medieval canvas,mills and wells for the villages. There are the wood and sell it to buy a little millet And Ias a camera operator frames them on theaid agencies and international organisations ask other people to help my children with edge of death. Sandwiched between :heerswhichignorewomen.Therearethe their vain. But what kind of life is that? Ifand the sports highlights, how can we bepoliticians with no commitment to social only we had millet I would be calm.' expected to get a full sense of their humanity?justice. There are the Western banks and the NEW INTERIVATIONALIST, SEPTEMBER I 953 119

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Article 2 (cont'.) International Monetary Fund, which force So growing more food does not, in itself, Vegetarianism is not in itself a solution. developing countries to act as laboratories end hunger. And, as if to back that up, recentBut it does at least provide an opportunity to for monetarist experiments so extreme that studies indicate that the diseases of poverty -talk to pewle about the food issue, to raise even Reagan and Thatcher would never dare such as diarrhoea and dysentery - contributetheir awareness of the problem. And those inflict them on leir own countries. There are even more to malnutrition than the lack ofopportunities crop up all too rarely in the the superpowers which peddle their arms and food, particularly in children. What has to go years when there isn't an Ethiopia or a Biafra then use conflict in the poor world as part of in tandem with growing more food is ain the headlines. their global chess match. And, ultimately, commitment to sharing out what food there is In fact raising people's awareness may be there is you and me for allowing this unholy much more fairly. the most vital thing we can do. There is a fund machine to continue crunching on. When my mother and father were childrenof good will out there at the moment just Recognising that the world food problem is they too were urged to eat the rest of theirwaiting to be tapped - theLive Aid not just caused by lack of rain may make it meals. But the spectre called up in front ofphenomenon has at least given people the harder to understand. But it ought also to them was China, which had suffered faminessense that they have a part to play. But at the bring some hope. Because it means there is caused by drought and flood at a rate of moremoment it tends to stop at the idea of something we can do about it. than one a year for centuries. But theemergency food aid, which barely papers World leaders are not going to wake upCommunistsmadefeedingtheirvastover the cracks in the system - just as tomorrow converted to the cause of social populationthetoppriorityaftertheVictorian mill-owners used to set up charities justice, nor will global accountants suddenly Revolution. They learned to live with theirto alleviate the misery that they'd caused in see that the welfare programmes and food climate by using flood water to irrigate thethe first place. subsidies which seem like frills to them can droughts, and they made food a basic human Bob Geldof has enough spirit to rail at be life and death to a woman like the widow. right instead of an act of commerce. Thegovernments for their refusal to take the And the solution to world hunger depends result is that, whatever you might think of itsfamine seriously. And he could fuel his anger very largely on the progress we make in our social system as a whole, China now feeds 22by looking at the graphs on Page 10 which own societiesinpursuit of justice andper cent of the world's population on justshow that the West gives food aid not when it equality. seven per cent of the world's land. is most needed, but when that food can't be 'But what has social justice got to do with Changing their priorities at home is onesold for a high price on the world market. To it?' you might ask. 'Doesn't the solution lie inthing, but developing countries also have, forhis credit, too, he has begun to see the need agriculture?' Some people certainly claim once, somethinr to bargain with in the worldfor long-term development aid. But if only he that it does The World Bank's answer, forat large. The debts they have incurred areand that vast audience behind him could take instance, is for the Third World to grow more now so large that, ironically, the Westernthings just a little further, could recvtnise crops for export to the West and thus earn the financial system actually depends on them.that it is the governments we vote in, the foreign exchange to buy development as wellThe threat of default thus gives at least someeconomics we condone, the lifestyles we as food. But it doesn't take an economicdeveloping countries a power that they havelead, which ultimately produce hunger. genius to see that if poor countries grow morenever had before: some genuine leverage on Back in the village the rains have come at cotton or coffee they will be competingthe global economic system. And althoughlast. They are weeding thefields now, against each other for the same customers -Fidel Castro's campaign for all Third Worldscraping carefully around each millet seed- the more they produce, the faster prices willdebtors to default is unlikely to succeed, he is ling as it struggles upwards into the light. fall. certainly right that the Latin AmericanWatchinglastyear'sgraindisappear. Another answer we are often offered is thatnations who owe the most have to standWaiting for the world to wake up. scientific progress in agriculture will enabletogether - and stand together, too, on behalf us to grow more food for the hungry. This is aof Africa, whose debts are not huge enough to compelling ideaand not just because we allgive them the same power, but whose have some residual faith in technology as arepayments are just as crippling. cure-all. When I was a child, India was the Third World governments, then, have symbol of hunger in much the same way astheir part to play. But where do you and I fit Ethiopia is now. My grandmother conjuredin? For a start we can eat less meat.I up starving Indians in the corner of the roomoriginally became a vegetarian seven years to spur me into eating the food on my plate.ago because I realised that pumping grain Yettodayhigh-yieldstrainsofrice,into cattle was a grotesquely inefficient way developed in laboratories, together with theof using the planet's food resources: an intensive use of irrigation and fertiliser, haveaverage of 16 kilos of grain and beans, for meant that India produces enough in theoryinstance, are fed to cattle to produce just one to feed all its people. kilo of beef. And I still see refusing meat as an A miracle of science it may be. but it hasn'tact of protest, a conscientious objection to a eradicated hungerthe poor still suffer fromsystem with waste at one end and starvation malnutritionallover India,while theirat the other. As much as 40 per cent of the government sells grain to Russia. Even theworld's grain is fed to livestock, as well as 40- latestofficialfigures show that lndianr50 per cent of its fish and 25-40 per cent of its receive on average only 93 per cent of thedairy produce. And crops in Latin America calories they need. And, since there arestill go to cattle destined for the meat-heavy millions of people there who eat very well,'dietsf the US - rather than to the local poor that figure is a confession that there are manywho need it so badly. millions more who are severely under- nourished. BEST COPY AVAILABLE 120 Issue: Food and Hunger

Article 3:"Paradox of Humanitarian Assistance," by Peter J. Davies, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 9, 1988. Paradox of Humanitarian Assistance When Food Is a Weapon, Those in Need Will Starve By PETER J. DAVIES A moral question: How can children, placed. Major human-rights abuses by both ( A meeting between Prime Minister Sadek women and men be allowed to starve, as in sides have taken their toll. More than a Mahdi and John Carang, the rebel army's the Sudan today, when food is available in million people are at risk of starvation. leader, scheduled to take place in Uganda, the country and there is no drought? The The tragedy illustrates the paradox of has again been postponed.) answer is sovereignty. Food is being used much of today's humanitarian assistance While the lives of people will not be as a weapon by both sides in a devastating whether in the southern Sudan, northern secure until the warfare ceases, there is a civil war. Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan or Mo- desperate need in the interim for stepped- Photographs of emaciated people lead zambique. Conflicts that produce suffering up aid. (The U.S. government commitment many to conclude that the cause of death - isolate those in need from those rendering of $1.5 million is welcome, though modest.) dealing hungcr ia a lack of food. The real assistance. Withholding food or channeling And voluntary agencies are attempting culprit is the warfare raging between the it to those considered friends have become to get food and medicine to the starving government of the Sudan and the rebel strltegiesintheconflictsthemselves. despite enormous obstacles imposed by Sudanese People's Liberation Army When humanitarian imperatives are com- local officials. (SPLA) in the southern region over politi- promised by political considerations, the A number of private U.S. agencies cal, economic, cultural and especially reli- human consequences are staggering. Each many of them members of InterAction, a gious differences. side claims that food will benefit the other's coalition of private U.S. voluntary humani- The relief agenciesespecially Ameri- soldiers rather than civilians. tarian and development agenciesare ex- can, French, British, Irish, Canadian and Furthermore, as in other conflict set- ploring how to provide additional assist- Scandinavianhave known for months tings, providing aidinthe Sudan has ance even before the conflict ends. About that the situation was desperate and that become risky, with losses of personnel. 50 groups have formed the Coalition for thousands of children were dying, They supplies and vehicles. Private agencies, Peace in the Horn of Africa, which is call - have been pressing the Sudanese authori- which seek lo provide aid without political, ing on the U.S. government to end the ties and the SPLA to allow them to get geographical, religious or other biasthat supply of arms to the region, promote a food, medicines and shelter to the displaced is, to be impartialare experiencing diffi- cease-fire in the Sudan and assist civilians who are fleeing the war zone. In fact, as culty in gaining access to the hungry on caught in the cross-fire. far back as October, 1986 the U.S. State one or both sides. Action on many fronts will be needed Department wrote a group of American Most needed today is an end to the before starvationishalted. The moral church-based relief agencies: "As soon destructive war. Without peace, the recon- challenge to the international community as security permits, we are willing to co- structionnot to say developmentof the is to help bring the violence to an end and operate with all neutral, competent relief southern Sudan will remain an impossible assist in the reconstruction and develop- organizations that can ensure our aid will dream. The Horn of Africa may be where, ment of a region that has known more than n. q be used to support combatants." among all the world's conflict settings, the its share of tragedy. The terrible suffering I have just returned from the Sudan, most people starve. of innocent children, women and men must where I met with Sudanese and inter- With a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq War in stop. Let us not rest until the challenge has national relief -agency representatives. place, the time is ripe to focus on the Horn been met. The answer to my questions was always of Africa. We must encourage and build on the same. The Sudan government and the the Sudanese government and SPLA lead- Peter J. Davies is the president and chief SPLA will not let us distribute food in their ers' efforts, as fragile as they are, to meet. executive officer of InterAction. areas, ostensibly for security reasons. "We cannot guarantee your safety," they say. Only after thousands died and Sudanese officials, along with U.N. and U.S. govern- ment teams, visited the border towns did relief agencies receive permission to ship limited supplies of food and medicines to the starving. Estimates are that as many as 100,000, mostly children below 5 years old, have already died. What, then, are the constraints on the United Nations, the U S. and other govet n- ments and the private voluntary -relief agencies that inhibit them from taking the necessary steps, in concert with Sudanese authorities, to prevent this tragedy? The roots of the conflict go deep. Since a 17-year civil war, which ended in 1972, was reignited in 1983, tens of thousands of southern Sudanese have been killed, more than half of the southern population dis- K AL, The Economist, Landon

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Article 4:"The Seeds of War." Africa News, Oct. 19, 1988. regions," Gerard Silole, Ethiopian director of Save the Children told The Seeds of War Washington Report onAfrica, "rainfall has been less than at any time in history." And rebels fighting for the armers in Angola's Bie province tions officials warn that the problem independence of the afflicted areas Fdon't plant corn in the fields could be worse than in 1983-85, when are expected to launch a new offen- anymore. It grows against the 100,000 Mozambicans died. sive later this month. houses because the fields are too In making an appeal for aid at the Swarms of locusts in Eritrea arc dangerous. Rebels affiliated with United Nations on October 2, threatening what little harvest re- Jonas Savimbi's U.S.-backed UNITA Ethiopia's Foreign Minister, Barhanu mains after the failure of the mid- movement are planting as well - Bayih, forecasts slightly better season rains, reports Scott Jones, a bi- they bury mines on the footpaths conditions for his country than the ologist recently returned from the that line the rows of corn. 1984-85 crisis. "We are not expecting war-torn region. The Eritrean Relief "As a result," Dr. Peggy Du lam, it to be as bad as last time," the Association (ERA) and local farmers told the House Select Committee 3n foreign minister said at a press have been using hand sprayers to Hunger this month, "this fertile conference. "In Ethiopia we have combat the insects, but this method is country ... is lying largely fallow both large rains and small rains, and slow and dangerous on the steep and there [isi hunger in this rich we had the small rains this year. It is slopes of the Eritrean highlands. province ... which used to be the big rain that failed." Despite the threat to their own known as the breadbasket of An- The government and international crops from swarms moving south, gola." Nor can food be easily relief agencies are better placed to Jones says, the Ethiopian government delivered to the estimated one handle a crisis now, he said. Trans- has been reluctant to allow aerial million people facing starvation. portation routes and equipment are spraying by the Desert Locust "The railroad is frequently at- improved, foreign aid workers are in Control Organization in areas held by tacked," said the board member of the country (last time they had to be the Eritrean People's Liberation the African American Institute, brought in after the crisis had Front. "roads are mined and convoys erupted), and the government's early The U.S. has begun to respond to the attacked." warning system is functioning much crisis. One hundred and fifteen thou- Dulany, who visited Angola better. sand tons of emergency food aid- earlier this year, was testifying Still, over six million Ethiopians in with a price tag of $37.6 million- will before hearings convened to assess the Tigre and Eritrea areas are be shipped to Ethiopia, though that the depth of the current hunger believed to be threatened with will supply only one eighth of the crisis threatening Africa. And the starvation - almost as many as dur- total food that will be needed to avert verdict looks grim. ing famine three years ago. "In some widespread famine. In a new report on Africa's food shortfall, the Select Committee esti- mates that 13 to 14 million people in Angola, Mozambique, Sudan and Ethiopia arc at risk of starvation as a result of severe drought and war. 41Tr" Chairman Mickey Leland (D-TX) blames "civil war and conflict with the Republic of South Africa" for the "perilous situation" in Mozambique and Angola. Portions of Ethiopia arc experiencing 100% crop failure due to drought, locust infestation and civil ex....4.MM. ...Yr./ strife. In Sudan, the "violence and 111111331t chaos" caused by civil war and L4'4,4%4474' tb:".." I roving bandits have "sharply rt.!- 141 duced local harvesting of crops id disrupted traditional trade," the 4 committee concludes. \. The major problem in Mozambique, at according to the report, is "the distri- bution of the food and the non-food emergency assistance. An estimated 1.2 million people in need arc largely 64r1.4 -1.;41 .41144, inaccessible due to the insurgency . . ;:: .31 "f campaign of RENAMO." United Na- Ploughing barley in Ad Gedoun, a highland village near Eritraz. Scott Jones 122 126 Issue: Food and Hunger

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The United States, is the largest single donor to Mozambique. In fiscal year 1987, disaster and famine relief Hunger Snapshot totaled $75 million - including a $1.2 Mozambique: million grant to the International 4.61 million people at risk; 1.8 million displaced, and 420,000 have sought Committee of the Red Cross for food refuge across the nation's borders. Food deficit: 427,000 metric tons of grain, delivery in areas of conflict - ap- 91,470 metric tons of non-cereal foods. US. response: 151,594 metric tons food proximately one third of the interna- assistance - 127,000 grain. $5.54 million in non-food disaster aid has been tional response. provided. U.N. officials urge donors not to provide additional food assistance And action may be considered on to Mozambique without corresponding contibutions for distribution. Sudan following an Agency for Angola: International Development (AID) 2.73 million people at risk, 690,000 displaced. Food deficit: 214,000 metric briefing this week. tons grain, 43,284 tons non-cereal foods. U.S. response: 12,410 metric tons The situation is more complex in emergency food aid through the World Food Programme. 24,000 metric tons Angola, where Leland and other of emergency food aid will be provided through UNICEF. members of the Select Committee are Ethiopia: at odds with the Reagan 5 to 6 million people at risk. Food deficit: Grain - 950,00 tons. U.S. Re- administration's support for UNITA sponse: 115,000 tons of emergency food aid, plus 28,500 metric tons of mixed and its reluctance to trust Angola's cereal. response to the situation. Sudan: "This famine presents the U.S. 1.2 million people at risk. F. )od deficit: 71,000 metric tons. U.S. Response: government with difficult questions,"3,011 tons of grain. Chairman Leland remarked in his Source: House Select Committee on Ilunger Situation Report #12, October 1,1987. opening statements at the recent hearings. "Shall we meet our humani- tarian obligations to the starving cialy the large numbers of urban of the need will take place before any people of southern Africa despite the destitute." further congressional action. Such an political complications?" Stacy also challenged the accuracy analysis may be provided by Cana- Deputy Assistant Secretary of Stateof a June 15 United Nations report dian CARE, which has a grant to Ray Stacy outlined the administrationthat estimates Angola requires study the situation. position. 242,000 metric tons in food aid and But Leland argued in his opening "We do not believe that all food $115 million in other assistance. statement that the delay may be shortages in Angola can be blamed "While these numbers arc plausible," costly for the one million destitute on warfare and lost oil revenues," he he said, there is no "explanation of Angolans. testified. "It is clear that the govern- how these figures were derived." "Shall we provide necessary ment of Angola has the wherewithal The likely outcome, according to a assistance now before thousands to assume greater responsibility for Hunger Subcommitte sta f f member, starve?" he asked. "The record must Angola's at-risk populations, espe- isthat an "independent assessment" be clear that we chose to act."

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Article 5:"Cash Crops." Earthwatch #21, 1985.

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4 ., , ..rd,.04 ;'''. il. -n,._.7::::-;;;VTi..;, ?:-::;# '2''' -\.,,, %,4i- , , 44.1_, ', 4 7 , ...Vt. 4., It 1".-,.'.. . . ie IV i: ,*;;* 4> ' ::s r .4 t!! '-t 4 .., , owir.4 ILr''' :2.,v 4---- -. . , t, - :'"re' 11 16. i f . .,4%,,,r.i. -444,7: 4' 1 i 't .110 ". ..?.....",114.--.....k*,..., S. 4,16.,11111:4.,"' ,.4..rir ..... ,Is, .., 46 r ,,..-.s.,41 1 , r % ,-, 10 ..4.5 . . .."0. ,..'S'-'v 0 it ,-.'7 s . 41 iv - ..,...11,', ,,,,,; # Harvesting a miserable crop of millet in Burkina Faso (Upper Volta) last November, after another failed harvest. Cash crops In the rural sector, one of the key elements expressed in a high dollar, have increas- The subsistence farmers, peasants who in development has been cash crops for ingly meant that nearly every cent earned grow food to eat, and maybe to sell a export: peanuts, coffee, tea, cotton, sugar by exporting the cash crops which were small surplus on the market, have been ai,c1 so on. Sub-Saharan African nations, intended to finance development has had pushed northwards into the semi-arid it was said, needed foreign currency to to go towards debts and oil and imported zone where the soil is poorer and the rain- import industrialized products and tech- food. The Organization for African Unity fall less. The organic content of the soil is nology, and as the years went by this more (OAU) calculates that 6o per cent of Afri- low, and yields drop off rapidly after a few and more came to mean imports of food ca's export revenue now goes on debt years. Traditionally, the land is then left and oil. repayments. fallow, sometimes for seven years or Today, this development strategy lies Sudan is one of the worst affected more, while vegetation and livestock in ruins. Sub-Saharan Africa has indeed countries, where in 1983 external public droppings replenish the humus content. invested in cash crops, but as with most long-term debt was $7 billion, more than Now, under the pressures of peasants mineral commodities, market prices have seven times its 1983 export earnings. driven from the south by increased cash- fallen. In some cases, as the European ex- But the real evil of this over-emphasis cropping, fallow becomes less and less colonial powers have done with sugar, on cash crops has been not in economic common, and the soilis farmed until quotas and tariff barriers have been erec- hut in environmental terms. In the Sahel, yields drop towards zero When drought ted against the same cash crops we have the best land lies to the south, where the comes, as come itwill, the degraded, encouraged. The dollar has risen dramati- peanuts and cotton and other export dusty soil blows away in the wind. cally against African currencies, so debts crops are grown, either as dryland farm- In Niger, for example, average grain have become increasingly hard to service, ing or under irrigation. Poor planning rields fell from 500 kilogrammes/hectare let alone repay. andmanagement,often based on in 1920 to 350 kg/ha in 1978. And in the Together, low export prices, rising oil inadequate drainage, has kept down Kordofan province of thc Sudan, over thc importbills,and highinterestrates yields in irrigated cropland, and led to 12 years from 1961 to 1973, sorghum salinization and waterlogging. 124

1. U Issue: Food and Hunger

Article 5 (cont'd.) yields per hectare fell by 55 per cent, and decades. The same does not apply in So the subdesert pastures face desertifi- millet yields by 87 per cent. Africa, with its greater annual variations cation: without the protective plant cover As World Bank tigures show, grain in rainfall, where wheat, or a higher-yield- the little rain that does fall washes off and production in 24 drought-affected Afri- ing variety of maize, may be very success- evaporates instead of being retained in can countries has been falling steadily, ful for four or five years and fail com- the soil. Desertification: the man-made down from I so kg/ha in I970 to under pletely in the years of lower rainfall which process in which good land goes bad, and too kg/ha today. This is in marked con- will surely come sooner or later. vulnerable soil becomes useless sand. trast to the situation in Asia and Latin In the Sahel, cash crops and other fac- The plight of Afar nomads in Ethiopia America where, over the 19605 and 1970s, tors have pushed growing numbers of illustrates the point. Much of their best grain production per person rose by to- 15 subsistence farmers north into the semi- grazing land, in the arid Awash Valley to per cent. In Sub-Saharan Africa, it fell by arid zone, where they start to cultivate the east of Wollo's central highlands, has over 20 per cent. land unsuitable for permanent agri- gone to grow irrigated cotton and sugar The problem is compounded culture. This is the pastoral zone where for export. In May last year many of the everywhere in Africa by rapidly rising nomadic and transhumant peoples tradi- Afar moved their herds west, to land populations. Annual growth ratesin tionally grazed their cattle, goats, sheep which has traditionally provided them Africa of between z and 4 per cent a year anc. camels. With the best pasture now with emergency grazing, in the Borkena are threatening to double populations permanently under the hoe, with rising Valley. But this land has now been settled, within the next quarter century, human populations and increasing herd under an otherwise well-planned develop- throughout the region. sizes due to vaccination programmes and ment scheme, by peasants from the over- more boreholes, and with government farmed, over-grazed and over-populated policies often directed towards seden- hills of central Wollo, the heart of the Population growth in selected tarization, the nomads are forced to over- present famine. African countries graze their land, especially within a day or Thetraditional agricultural and two of villages and waterholes. environmental safety valves had been 7 When drought comes, even if there is destroyed by development. The result was col water, there is no grazing. The herds die, not just starvation, butsince nomads 2,0 c c - and the people die, or move destitute into are usuallyarmedviolentconflict 2 7 - the cities. between settlers and herdsmen. 740 3 i9:12 0.N 0 E- a -o

Burkina Feiss() (Upper Volta) 6.9 2.6 16.5

Chad 5.1 2.1 11.3 Ethiopia 32.8 2 4 79.8 Kenya 20.2 4,0 72,8 Mali 7.8 2.4 21.6 Mauritania I 9 2.8 5.4 Mozambique 13.8 2.7 37.1 Niger 6 5 2.9 19.0 Nigeria 90.9 3.2 258.6 Senegal 6.7 3 o 15.9 Somalia s.9 2.6 12.8 Sudan 21.7 3.0 51.3 Tanzania 21.9 3 2 60.0

Sourte Ppulauon Referena Bureau

The growing reliance on cash crops is usually coupled with a diminution in the number of crop species grown, and with a narrower spectrum of varieties within each crop species. Sahelian dryland farm- ing traditionally grew a range of species. especially sorghum and millet. If one spe- cies or one variety was hit by unfavour- able weather, another was not Vanety meant secun iy. In North America or Europe, a crop All over the Sahel, over-farming has degraded the soil. which does well for two or three years will almoci certainly do well over several in drought, it blows away in dust-storms 125 Session 4 Article 6:Tulane Un!versity School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) fact sheet. Famine Early Warning System (FEWS)

The Famine Early Warning System The field staff includes one public health Reporting (FEWS) is designed to identify and preempt advisor in each of the seven countries and Reports will be generated twice monthly problems in the food supply system that four field trainers/supervisors. The public with information sent to the Task Force for lead to famine conditions. The FEWS also health advisois will gather secondary data, African Famine, WHO personnel in each tracks conditions in areas with nutritional recording the information on microcomputers. country, national government officials in emergencies, thus providing early indica- Each report will be a record of the conditions each country, and other organizations with tions that can prevent the degeneration of at a particular geographic entity for a direct interest in aiding the relief efforts. critical situations and provide a sound basis particular two-week period. The field Traditionally disaster warning systems for monitoring interventions. trainers/supervisors are respoosible for have concentrated on the proximate cause Purpose orienting and providing technical assistance of the hazard; usually some part of the and back-up for the public health advisors. physical environment. The FEWS will add The purpose of the FEWS is to provide The field staff of the FEWS project will be information on how the social system is sufficient data for decision makers to make phased in during the first 30-45 days of the responding to environmental conditions informed decisions. The growing need for project. vis-a-vis the food supply system and data more detailed, comprehensive health and The FEWS staff at Tulane will provide on basic physical quality of life indicators population information in those Sahelian the following specific back-up duties: (morbidity, mortality, and nutritional countries currently experiencing severe I. Support the field team in all logistical status). food shortages has been the impetus for A standardized format will be used in this project. While the FEWS represents and technical areas. each of the countries for reporting purposes. the best effort possible, itis understood 2. Provide specific technical responses to that the data collected will be of wide field and AID/Washington personnel. At the end of the six-month period, project staff at Tulane will make recommendations variability and reliability. 3. Develop appropriate methodologies for implementation of the FEWS data on the feasibility of maintaining this Goal collection system. reporting activity on a sustained basis. If The goal of the FEWS is to construct a such a project proves feasible, a long-term comprehensive data set that will provide famine/nutrition surveillance system will sufficient forewarning of potential crises to be considered. enable decision makers to preempt those critical situations with appropriate and timely responses. The information collected by the FEWS is not meant to provide a Field U.S. comprehensive diagnosis of any particular critical situation. In no way should the FEWS reporting be considered to supplant regular and existing reporting efforts. The FEWS will attempt to assist those efforts. It is meant only to help identify potentially 0 No% mi. critical situations. Once the alarm is raised nor.1.401/1 ) nt Mu 1111 ) for a particular area, a more intensive effort can be targeted to address the critical situation. 0/1, 'WIWI RAP Implementation 101, It. Nwit K.1 The Agency for International Develop- c, Inr".11"it' ) ment (All)) has contracted with Tulanc University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Department of Rio RIP statistics and Epidemiology to develop and test the health and population component of this systm. This six month project began (..11111 7 August 19, 1985, and will gather critical .1t. data in ('had, Ethiopia, Mali Mauritania, to!. Niger, Somalia and Sudan. A preliminary set of demographic, health, nutrition and "special warning" indicators has been developed. Individuals contributing to this effort have included professionals Fur further information from the World Health Organization lulene University (WHO), AID, Centers for Disease Control School of Public Ifealth and Tropical Medicine (('DC), and other disaster specialists from Department of Biostatislics and Epidemiology 1430 Tulane Avenue Europe and Africa. These indicators will Nov Orleans, Louisiana 70112 U S A provide the categories for the information phone 1504) 585 5164 gathered by the lick! staff. Wes 1561043 (P1IIM UT) 126 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Issue: Food and Hunger

Article 7:"Tradition Keeps Pace" by J.D.H. Lambert, UN Development Forum, June 1986. Agriculture ricultural procedures; a lack of ap- turalists, who are reluctant to adapt propriate research on food crops; techniques worse than the ones they poor, or indppropriate, institutional are already using, are generally not Tradition development and infrastructurein offered by visiting experts. An im- agriculture and related improved portant aspect of traditional agricul- land use systems and distribution ture is the diversity between and also mechanisms; inability to identify within primitive cultivars. Varieties keeps pace producers' real problems; and bu- have been carefully selected to en- reaucratic rigidity coupled with in- able the crop to survive the rigours ternational trade and political con- of local climate and pests and thus straints on one hand and individual provide the low but steady yields by J.D.H. Lambert greed on the other. essential in subsistence agriculture. No simple solution, no single These cultivars with their genetic technology can reverse decades of variation are a valuable resource for Thedeteriorating perform- neglect of food production in Africa. all plant breeders. ance of the agricultural sec- However, one recurring consensus in In most rural areas in the Third tor in sub-Saharan Africa has the recent famine debate has been World, farmers have been cultivat- been a matter of major concern the need to initiate programmes to ing the land for centuries. Some for more than a decade. It is the rebuild the agt icultural base in much cultures, communities or tribes have only region of the world where per of Africa. Before we jump to the failed while others have succeeded capita food production has been conclusion that mechanization, fer- in developing adapted cropping sys- declining steadily and some indi- tilizers and pesticides, as used by the tems. In the tropics thc productive cations exist that production per developed countries, are the answer traditional farming systems have hectare is declining also. The re- we should first identify and examine successfully minimized risk and cent drought of 1983/84 has had the successful indigenous (subsist- maximized return by intercropping, further devastating effects on Af- ence) agricultural systems. and using low levels of technology rican agriculture. 'The term subsistence agriculture and resources. Many of the charac- The media, particularlytelevi- is generally interpreted as a labour teristics of traditional agro- sion, has brought the current African intensive system with low produc- ecosystems are more desirable than problem into the homes of the more tivity as practiced by poor farmers in those of monocrop systems. In gen- affluent. Many organizations, inter- regions where thesoilisover- eral, interrropped systems are more national and national, governmental farmed. This interpretation is highly productive, utilize soil resources and and private, have responded to the misleading. Visiting experts may as- photosynthetically active radiation challenge of this emergency by sume that because local agriculture more efficiently, resist insect pests, providing food and transportation to looks primitive it does not satisfy the plant pathogens and weeds better, bring food to the starving. The basic needs of the people. However, produce a more varied and nutritious acute, desperate situation hasits if examined objectivelyit can be diet, better btilize local .resources long term expectations, and not only readily seen that many traditional and nonhybrid, open-pollinated, lo- in Africa but also in other areas of agricultural practices are often well cally adapted insect resistant seeds, the Third %dd. These expectations suited to local needs and conditions. and contribute to economic stability. can be redirected only by under- Energy inputs in the form of ma- Although today in much of Africa standing the underlying physical and chinery and fossil fuel comprise a the small holders or traditional farm- socio-economic, cultural and politi- major investment and are basically ers are generally confined to farm- cal mechanisms in these areas in the only suitcd to a monocropping cash ing low-quality, marginal soUs with context of the drought and famine crop form of agriculture. little capital or government support problems and by developing better For decades in sub-Sahelian West their systems are comp I ble with and more appropriate management Africa traditional farmers have inter- their environment and c.tn provide practices and technology according cropped millet, sorghum and cow- valuable information for the devel- to this understanding. peas; in Ethiopia it is tef, wheat and opment of additional yield-sustain- The present emergencies are but horse beans.Efforts to persuade ing systems. symptoms of more fundamental such farmers to adopt modern, more In the management and manipula- problems which are global rather profitable methods of farming have tion of agro-ecosystems, land, wa- than local and holistic rather than for the most part failed. Such meth- ter, labour and energy can be sub- monosectoral in nature. To ignore ods have evolved in temperate re- stituted for one another within cer. the local symptoms without con- gions where their successes (high tarn limits.Substituting any other fronting the origins of the problem yields) are accomplished by the use factorforanother prov ides some would be both incommensurate and of massive inputs of machinery, fer- tie vsibility in the uttliration and man- short-sighted. tilizer and pesticides. agement of these resources. Mulch- Many factors have been blamed Documentation on the reasons for ing may improve rwrer quality land for the critical shortage of food and the failure of small holders to to makeitas productive as high energy: environmental limitations; change is lacking. The explanation quality land. 'lerraces are effective in insufficient price incentives for ag- that such farmers are superb agricul- riesentingsoilerosionHandmade

127 Session 4

Article 7 (cont'd.)

rot.k walls have permitted both dry eludedin any policy discussions. populations, low status of farming, land ars.d irrigated agriculture to be Other international agencies. World inadequate storage facilities. practiced successfullyDepending Bank, IFAD and the Consultative Traditional farmers have a wealth on land-form: alluvial bottornland, Group for International Agricultural of biological and environmental degree of slope broad-based or steep Research have now recognized that knowledge to contribute to crop im- back slope terrace systems, allow for traditional agricultural systems have provement and low-resource tech- optimal land-use, water control and a role in future agricultural strate- nology input schemes. By docu- energy inputs. The resultis high gies. menting such information from a energy outputs, i.e. increased crop An integral component inany number of selected localities in Afri. yields. new future agr:cultural development ea we would focus on how the A number of small farmer agricul- strategy for Africa must include a traditionalsystems of agriculture tural projects are being funded by thorough examination and inventory have provided and can continue to national aid agencies (IDRC. SIDA. of traditional small holder farmer provide the basic needs of the loc,i' ODA. etc.). Such programmes have agriculturalpractices. Thereisa population; and how new technolo focused on documenting present day need to identify those that are pro- gies could increase outputs and practices,identifying bottlenecks ductive, determine why they are, thereby contribute to providing the and problem areas, and introducing where productivity can be improved trasic food needs of the total popula- appropriate technologies to reduce and the cost, and the feasibility of tion problems and improve yields. How- transferring such knowledge to other What must be conve)ed is that ever, unless Iam mistaken, very geographical areas with similar traditional agricultureisthebasic littleis known of these successes ecological conditions. strength of the African countries and outside of reports in scientific jour- In such labour-intensive produc- should no longer be neglected for a nals and Workshop Proceedings. tive traditional agricultural systems cash crop economy. Imported Past African devetopment strate- we should specifically document: labour-saving technologies are more gies have not accorded adequate Different cropping systems often than not inappropriate. Over priority to the traditional agricultural (monocropping,intercropping,re- cultivation without sensible land use sector and the potential role of the lay/sequential cropping, agrofores- management accelerates the prob- smallholders as thc backbone of the try) and their suitability regarding lem of soil degradation and declin- African economy. This has inhibited land-form, environmental re- ing productivity. the farmers from realizing a produc- sources, labour and energy used. Efficient use of local resources tivity level commensurate with their Soil types and moisture regimes. (biological and environmental) potentialEven where socio- Water control systemsirrigation plus relevant technologies where economic pressures have driven and,or drainage appropriate would be fer more small farmers to greater use of mar- Time and energy inputs into pre- beneficial. The central issuein ginal and drought-prone lands they paring land,planting.fertilizing, sustainable agricultureisnot have been able to utilize the meagre weeding, harvesting for thc different achieving maximum yield;itis resources and sustain a living. cropping systems long-term stabilization. Tradi- Future technical assistance must Crop yields, energy and protein tional farmers have an attitude he compatible with local culture and outputs per hectare. toward nature of co-existence not have a low technical complexity. Grain storage systems, insect pest of exploitation. Traditional ag- Programmes should focus on staple and plant pathogen problems. riculture has a major role to play food crops which have been tradi- Genetic trasis of insect pest and in any developing country's econo- tionally grown and consumed in the plant pathogen resistence in pm and my it should not be ignored any countries concerned. Such tradi- post harvest production. longer. 0 tional food crops remain the staples Potential increases in yields with of African diet and form the back- improved water controls, soil ero- bone of national food supply sys- sion control techniques, mulching, Mit Lambert is a profe5sor t the tems. weed control. Department of Biology, Carleton Olivet - The recent North-South Institute Barriers to increased agricultural Sity, Ottawa, Canada. and Inter Pares Conference "Aher production. These will include sub- the cameras leave: the long term sidies to maintain artificially low crisisinAfrica" recognizedthat food prices, poor roads and trans- subsistence farmers should hein- portation facilities, declining rural

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

1 )8 Issue: Food and Hunger

Article 8:"'Understand the Farmers Before Intervening' Malian Researchers on Innovation." IDRC Reports, Oct. 1988. 'UNDERSTAND THE FARMERS DENIS MARCHAND 4 t's hard to imagine. but two BEFORE INTERVENING' years ago I left my cattle out in the bush for the whole dry sea- son with a herdsman to watch MALIAN RESEARCHERS ON INNOVHION over them for mr," recalls Mr. Makam Diara, the first farmer in the Malian village of Sakoro to corral his cattle. 'They went looking for food and water and then came back when the rains came. But sometimes they were too weak or too late to do the farm work on time. "Now I keep them on my land. They stay in the enclosure during the night and for part of the day. I feed them on what's left over from the harvest. They're healthy and well cared for, and ready to work when the rains come. And they provide fertilizer that my fields really need." Every day. Mr Diara takes his .10 milk ir and draft animals out of the enclosure and cleans it. He saves the manure and food scraps and later spreads thr mixture on fal- low land or fields under cultivation. During most of the day, thr cattle feed brisok,. on maize and sorghum stubble in the fields They drink from the stream and grate IL' 74 nearby. under the watchful es e of Diara's 10-year-old son Like mostofhiscounterpartsin southern Mali. Mr Diara used to he asub sistence farmer who practiced shifting agriculture. After clearing a plot of land. he would burn off all remaining vegetation and grow sorghum and cowpeas until the soil was exhausted. When harvests became too small to adequately feed his tamily, he would abandon the plot and clear another Today. the use of organic fertilizer and better soil management allow Mr Diara to grow not only maize and millet for his own use, but cotton which he sells to the Malian Textile Development Company Anticipat ing good harvests for the next few years, he has built himself a granary to protect his crop from rain, moisture, and rodents Like Mr Mara, several other farmers from sakoro and the surrounding area have charged their planting and stockrais- ing methods. They are using slash-and- .4 !MI6.. burn less and less, working their fields $ omit with a plough, and fertilizing for better 'Isf harvests Small farmers are growing millet, . 410" " ., sorghum./MIR',peanuts. and canton on ...... ir -, - . - land they had previously exhausted In less ,-I# N.- L... A.., V '14 z"....""",,, 4'4' ofl . than twoyears, SaIMM'sgrain production - idlie4c 4.,..4. »I,_,,,,ns, has gone from half a tonne to2';tonnes ' 4111w A. * ` ..-x-lib"-qa.41. '... :414% per hectare Cattle are kept in collective Makain Diara in front of his animal enclosure, Dvnis Mitt hind or private corrals. 129 1 33 BEST COPYAVAILABLE Seseon 4

Article 8 (cont'd.)

This change iii farming habits and atti- cial constraints on the region. Transport tudes is the result of sustained efforts costs, for example. can paralyze a project initiated in the early 1980s by the Rural completely. Why should a farmer grow Fconomics Institute of Mali's Ministry of vegetables if he can't take his crop to mar- .Agrtculture The purpose of the agricul- ket because of poor roads', And why con- tural development program it set up was sider dairy farming if you don't have thc to encourage the growth of maize and the financial resources to buy and feed cattle, use of manure and compost in the Bigouni- let alone care for them properly.o" sikasso area, which suffers from frequent Mr Doucoure stresses that innovation A.N drespells and an alarming shortage of generally involves financial riskIt must he food recognized that in a situation of permanent Mr Moulave Sangare, a livestock officer hardship. the farmer's ins estment is based ss ith the dv, ision of rural production sys- on the resources available ata given tems research, describes the project We moment, not on hypothetical profit. His es eren't trying to implement anything or her goal is not to maximize output but resolutionary. Our main goal was to set up to ensure a livelihood for the family. an information exchange between two regardless of production conditions groups of people the farmers, who have When the research team arrived in the practical experience and knowhow, Sakoro, even those farmers who had and the researchers, whose strong point is ploughs were not using them The reason scientific theory. That's why the members for this, explains agronomist Mamadou of this extensive research project on farm- Abdul Kadai, was that no one had shown ing systems, the first of its kind in Africa them how' "With no technical advice or to he funded by IDRC, began by listening training, the farmers were taking too long ihoulaye Sangart agrroliiIlq and to the farmers instead of telling them what to plough the fields, and missing the first IIIVSOICk officer /Wetting It, larmers is to do They established a dialogue with the rains which are so important to crops. Or essential farmers right from the outset and made they would plough too deep and the seeds generationIt's important to cealire boss them equal partners." would rot with the result that, for all these cultures function, and the deep- For Mr Sangare, any development strate- intents and purposes, the crops were lost seated reasons behind their a( non. gy that does not take into account the So the ploughs. which had been donated Although it isn't unuual for new farm- farmers' environment goals is destined hy expatriaws or international organiza- ing methods to he rejected h the farmers . to fail tions, were simply put asideNo one neither is it unusual for the research team Thus. in Sakoro and three other similar wanted to risk losing a crop just to try out to modify its approach in order to collect village's . the farmers have become part of a new technology." the information it needs for its ss ork the prof ess. from program planning to Progress might seem slow to some information that cannot he found on A es aluation The research team mem- experts. but itis dc-finitely occurring research station The know ledge- and test hers an agronomist, an economist, a so- at a pace that suits the farmers, who, af- obtained right on tin farm make-it ciologist and a livestock officer meet ter all, are thc ones taking the risks New p issible to identif new thrusts andif ss ith the farmers on a regular basis (under techniques heing tested in Sakoro. necessar ree amp original plans the only tree in the area 1. taking note of Flahoula. and Monzondougou are the talk "Farming ss sterns researc h is .1 londif their impressions and comments, and their of the region People from neighboring vil- briuge betm eenbasicreseart h and suggestions as to the Cause Of poor yields. lages watch the changes taking place and development.- says Mr sangare. for w hum The team also works with the farmers tryto find out more about the new the systems approach is vital to enlight m order to identify their needs and aspira- methods from friends and relatives Some ened decision-making It pros ides input tions, and the social economic, and cul- aregettingveryinterestingresults tor the conduct of basicresearch and tural constraints they face which goes to show that farmers are not encourages development In addit n ns the «frding to Mr Sangarethis multi- alw ays resistant to change multidisc iplinare approat h eliminates the dis t. iplinar approach has shown that the For Mr Kadai, fItt: agronomist new tech. prejudice,of someloc aland foreign rural populace is not homogeneous, hut nologies are rejected because thee fad to experts w ho think that things art so hJel ere dis erse Farge roadside villages do nig take into account the physical and eco- that an thing thes do w ill impros e the sit have the Same problems as the small nomic environmentinquestion and nation isi dated v illagi s surrounded by countrs because of a complete lack of understand Us en if solutions AreAid for MC t As( side And wealthy farmers don't have the ing of the social dynamics of the target the must be adapted to the realitiesit sj WC (Ont erns as poor ones populations"These villagers live ina eat hregion st. hit hare. oftens yrs Project ec onomist Ilamachs Douc i flirt different ens irmment Thee ha e their different underlines the importance of economics own methods torraising crops and in tec hnologs adoption"It is important animals Their logie and w AV Of life are to know w hether the proposed technique, based on persf mal experience and i iral tra 01111, WWIbil#111 is ti Pt Cill.11 are leasihle and in keeping with the- (man ditions handed doss n from generation to h11,1'11 tH iffoltr,,,i/I 1 30

1 A. J t Issue: Food and Hunger

Article 9:"Empowering Africa's Farmers."Africa News, Oct.17, 1988,pp.6-8. ment of Women. Other funds will be earmarked for ctent US. Agency for International Development Empowering Africa's Farmers programs that are directed towards here is a difference, says Nigerian Sirleaf is among a growing numberwomen in Africa and for new pro- Tnovelist Buchi Ernecheta, betweenof individuals and institutions callinggrams "to ensure that women will African women and their counter- upon African governments and regularly and effectively be inte- parts in the West. "You 'feminists,'" international donors to include grated into Agency programmatic ob- she declared at a literature conferencewomen in every phase of financial jectives." in April, "fought for the right to planning. Because women "manage "Women: Key to African Food Se- work. I am an African woman. I have all aspects of the food system from curity" points out that longstanding always worked." production to consumption," Sirleaf traditionsboth in Africa and in the While a women's rights activist in says, they "cannot be mentioned aid community could make im- the West might flinch at Emecheta's merely in the footnotes and subpara- plementation of new projects for definition of Western feminism, no graphs of modem plans for African women difficult. And, partly because one can argue with the fact that as an agricultural development.... They "the unfavorable economic climate African woman, she represents a will be the agents of meaningful worldwide has worked against hard-working group of people. development and food security in theundertaking alternative or untested Women produce 80% development initia- of sub-Saharan tives," the report says, Africa's food. They current African agricultural develop- work 14 to 18 hours ..-- per day, bear and care - ment programs "tend for children and head to favor men." one third of all "Better growing African households, techniques, agricul- according to a pam- tural machinery, phlet issued by Advo- improved seeds, cates for African Food fertilizers am' pesti- Security, a United Na- cides are usually in- tions-based task force troduced only for made up of 35 men. Extension religious and relief services fail to reach organizations. female farmers. The pamphlet, Women are denied "Women: Key to credit to purchase African Food Secu- materials needed to rity," says that improve production. women in Africa: Women's lack of constitute 47% of access to productive the continent's land is exacerbated by agricultural labor land being taken over force, but do two by men for cash crop thirds of the food pro- production." Women duction work; arc thus "displaced Yowl Hadar/Wodd Bankand marginalized," spend from 20 to Women produce 80% of sub-Sarahan Africa's food. They work 14 to 18 hours per day, 30 hours a week bear and care for children and head one third of all African households the report says, by a transporting water, development process fuel and food for household needs futurebut only if they are given in which men gain access to new tech- including as much as six hours a day proper education, training, resources,nologies more easily than women. just collecting water; and support and decent prices." If women are not consulted and begin their working lives five or After a concerted lobbying effort trained at a level coranensurate with six years earlier than men. by various grassroots development their dominant role in agricultural Former Liberian Finance Minister organizations, the US. Congress and family matters, the report con- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told a recent passed a bill late last month that will cludes, development efforts become United Nations symposium on allocate $800,000 to the United "counter-productive for African "Lessening the Burden for Women" Nations Voluntary Fund for the women, and as a result, the entire that women "are African agriculture; Decade of Women and $200,000 to community." they are the embodiment of subsis- the UN International Research and The report gives several examples: tence and survival agriculture." Training Institute for the Advance- One African country decided to 131 .1. 3i 11ESTCOPY AVAILABLE Session 4 continent's food situation has deterio- DebtIndicators In Developing Countries, 1975 to 1987 rated in the 1980s as "African econo- Country Group and mies have failed either to produce Debt Indicator 1975 1980 1981 1902 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987e food or to generate enough revenue to buy it." All Developing Countries The same factors that produce food Debt service Mice 13.7 16.2 17.9 21.0 19.7 193 21.8 223 21.0 Debt-GNP ratio: insecurity have taken a grim toll on 15.7 2a7 724 263 31.4 33.0 35.9 36.5 37.6 the continent's children. In a news Highly lndebWd Countries conference held during the UN's Debt service ratio: 24.0 22.1 30.7 36.8 34.7 33.4 33.9 372 32_7 mid-term review of its program of Debt-GNP ratio: 16.1 233 25.6 32.4 45.4 473 493 54.1 55.9 action on the African economic crisis Lowakconie Africa (see Africa News, October 3) Unicef Debt-service ratio: 10.2 13.6 14.6 14.2 14.2 15.1 17.9 19.9 34.7 Director James Grant said 10,000 Debt-GNP ratio: 23.2 39.8 44.2 48.0 55.1 62.0 66.9 72.1 76.2 African children die every day from a a. Estimated. cluster of preventable causes. This death rate which represents the loss Sourer World Bank of eight African children per minute, Africa's external debt, which now tops $200 billion, is a crushing burden for the continent's will probably not go down until poorest nations. With debt-servicing ratios that eat up their Gross National Products, many African governments have money to African countries cannot afford to extend vital social services to their most vulnerable people,/ spend on education, health care, including women and children. women's cooperatives and other increase crop yields by introducing was insensitive to Muslim traditions developmental structures. As the draught animals for tilling, work tra- preventing women from working poorest groups in Africa, women and ditionally done by men. Because with a man. children are most drastically affected women, who were responsible for Across much of the continent, by government austerity measures cultivating and harvesting the cmps, where cash crop production has that force reductions in social serv- were not trained to work with the expanded, men's incomes have ices. animals, they continued to cultivate increased while food production and their vegetable gardens by hand. But women's incomes have declined. The 1he primary obstacle faced by gov- they also had to hoe the large tracts ofextra time women spent in the cash Ternments in Africa when it comes crop fields, controlled by men, gives to spending on social programs is the A quarter of Africa's population them less time for growing and servicing of massive debts. Some processing food for their families and African governments, like Mozambi- - 100 million people - do not eat for sale in the marketplace. que's, would have to allocate over enough to live productive lives. 100% of their GNPs to debt service in Many Africans do not obtain t last month's International order to keep up with payments. And AMonetary Fund/World Bank although some donor countries - not- enough energy from their diets to meeting in Berlin, the World Bank ably Japan and France - have sug- prevent serious health risks or unveiled a "call to action" on "The gested innovative plans aimed at per- stunted growth. Challenge of Hunger in Africa." The manently reducing Africa's debt, the report said that a quarter of Africa's' U.S. and others say they will agree to population - 100 million people - do reschedule some debt but not to for- land plowed by the animals, leaving not eat enough them less e.ne to devote to vegetable to live produc- .111111M growing. Family nutrition, and tive lives. income earned through the sale of Further, many of surplus produce, both diminished. these "food In another country, large tracts of insecure" land were cleared for irrigated Africans "do not agriculture, and the women were notobtain enough consulted beforehand. All of the treesenergy from were cut down, depriving women of their diets to their main source of fuel and of the prevent serious fruits, nuts and herbs they used for health risks or family needs or processed and sold tostunted growth." earn income. Food insecu- An international non-governmen-rity has several 181. tal organization, targeting Muslim causes - includ- refugee women in east Africa, ing war, natural brought in a male technical instruct- disaster and gov.. or to improve cultivation techniques. ernment mis- all I Though farming was principally the management. B. Wolif/United Nations women's responsibility, only the The report says Unlike most of their rural counterparts, some urban women earn hard men received training. The agency that the cu rrency by selling goods in street markets.

1 i 2 .A.Jc Issue: Food and Hunger

Article 9 (cont'd.) give it. Therefore, heavily indebted bound, is not typical in heavily in- they have pooled resources and act- countries can hope, at best, to re- debted nations, especially those that ivities in finding indigenous reme- ceive more money in the short term are wracked by war, famine, drought dies. When faced with a lack of shel- while adding to a crushing obliga- and locust infestations. ter, they have resorted to ingenious tion. In the meantime, at the family level,usc of local materials or expansion in More and more government African women "have proved resil- the extended family system. Often deprived of education and formal Women cannot be mentioned merely in footnotes andsubparagraphs trainin& they have relied, with good They will be results, on common sense and judg- of modern plans for African agricultural development. ... ment." agents of meaningful development andfood security in the future. But, Sirleaf warns, this resourceful- ness does not spring from a bottom- officials and development experts, lent and capable of innovative re- less well, and African economic including representatives of the sponses to those conditions imposed recovery may rely on women being World Bank and IMF, are grappling by structural adjustments which have given a more decisive policy-making with ways to build into structural affected their well-being,"says Ellen role. "The time has come," Sirleaf adjustment programs components Johnson Sirleaf. says, "to look beyond the stage of that address the poorest of the poor. "When prices moved against them, adjustment to the structural change Ghana, for example, has launched a they have been able to shift produc- which the concept applies.... The program to "mitigate the social costs tion to alternatives and consumption key for Africa lies in a focus on of adjustment." But Ghana's econ- habits to acceptable substitutes. WhenAfrica's farmers, 85% of whom are omy, which appears to be on the re- social services are reduced or denied, women."

J1 Session 4/Issue: Health

Facts About Health in the United States: Numerous factors are leading to a crisis in the health care field in the United States today. These factors include prohibitive costs of health services, legal battles, the AIDS epidemic, and constant tensions between deciding whether or not to emphasize curative over preventativecare. Ever- increasing numbers of people have no health insurance; and nursing remainsone of the most underpaid professions in the U.S. today. Some Census Bureau facts relating to health include: While the U.S. ranks first in terms of military expenditure, the U.S. ranks 17th in the world in preventing infant deaths, down from 16th in 1980. Access to adequate health care is limited to those who can afford costly health insurance. Black infants continue to die at nearly twice the rate of white infants. The number of children born at low birthweights increased in 1983 for the first time in 14 years. Lifetime medical costs for underweight babies can run as high as $400,000; prenatal care that prevents babies being born too small can cost as little as $400.

Facts About Health in Africa: Dumping of hazardous waste and pharmaceuticals by industrialized nations endangers the health of thousands of people throughout the African continent. Aggressive marketing of baby formula by firms such as Nest lé and American Home Products continues to take its toll in infant deaths. Due to inadequate education by people throughout the world, Africans are often the scapegoat for the AIDS epidemic. African medical specialists are now researching the vast amount of traditional medicines that exist throughout the continent. In Africa, governments spend an average of $8 a year per person on health ($674 in U.S.) On the average, thee is one physicpan for every 7,573 people in Africa (474 in U.S.). This figure varies enormously when you consider that physicians tend to practice in the urban areas. The infant mortality rate is, on the average, 118 per 1000 live births (11 in U.S.) Life expectancy in Africa is 49 years (75 yrs. in U.S.) Only 36 percent of the people in Africa have access to safe drinking water. Water k frequently contaminated by bacteria that cause serious intestinal disorders.

1 i4 Issue: Health

Ideas for Local Inquiry: Health Who suffers most from inadequate health care in your area(ethnic groups, the elderly, women, children)? Who p lvides health services for these population groups (organizations,hospitals, government offices)? Are the current programsefficient? What AIDS education programs are available in your area? Howdo these programs portray Africa? How do they reach the mostafflicted population groups? How is AIDS portrayed in the local media? What kinds of prenatal health services exist for pregnant mothers? Dothey reach the population most in need of care? Do mothers tend to breastfeed their infants or use babyformula instead? Are there any differences in infant feeding preferences by mothers of different ethnic groups, education levels, or income levels? How are infant formulas marketed athospitals and other places in your community? Are the factors contributing to the health crisis in the United Statesmentioned above true for your community? Are there others that arespecific to your area? How is racism and discrimination against "minority" culturesreflected in access to health care in your area? How are they similar to some of the problemsof access to health services in Africa? What kinds of nutrition education programs exist in your area? Canmalnutrition in your area be connected to inadequate nutritioneducation?

Through this inquiry, what conclusions can you make:

1)concerning specific problem areas relating to the health crisis in yourcommunity?

2)concerning connections with Africa on health issues?

3) What kind of action in response to this issue would yourecommend and participate in?

Recommended Videos:

Child Survival Revolution Low-cost highly effective primary health care for children is nowavailable thanks to improved technology and community-based efforts. Examples cited in this video arefrom all over the world. (12 minutes). Available for rent free of charge from the Film Library, Church World Services,P.O. Box 968, 28606 Phillips St., Elkhalt, IN 46515, (219) 264-3102.

A Time to Heal Shows how the people of Eritrea, living under long-term war conditions havedeveloped a highly effective health care program using barefoct doctors and undergroundhospitals. (20 mintit(. ). Available from UUSC Citizen Action Department, 78 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108, (617) 7422120; or from the Eritrean Relief Committee, 475Riverside Dr. #769, New York, NY 10115, (212) 870-2727.

135 1 Session 4

Overview of the Readings for Session 4/ Issue: Health

The articles below explore a few of the main Population growth is an issue that has health issues on the African continent. The captured the attention of many policy makers in overall health situation in Africa is bleak, Africa and elsewhere. In article 3, Djibril Dia llo, especially when compared to health standards in a widely respected African scholar, presents a the United States. Life expectancy in Africa is 49 view of overpopulation as a symptom ofa years; it is 75 years in the U.S. Infant mortality deeper societal situation rather than an isolated rates in Africa are about 118 per 1000 live births; problem. In his opinion, population has become in the U.S., the ratio is 11 per 1000. In Africa, a myth which is used to obscure the greater there is one physician for every 7,573 people, issues. Article 4 presents the statistics weare with great differences between urban and rural more accustomed to seeing in regard to the regions; in the U.S., there is one physician for population issue. every 474 people. Western intervention in the health field has The situation is particularly staggering when had some unexpected effects, as in thecase of one considers the health of Africa's children. infant feeding. Breastfeeding is now generally Article 1 compares the daily death rate of African recognized as the most healthy way to nourish children and pregnant mothers to that of 40 an infant. But Western manufacturers of infant jumbo jets filled with children and 4 more of formula have aggressively promoted their prod- pregnant women crashing every single day. Our ucts to African mothers as a "modern" and outrage increases when we find out that these therefore superior alternative to breastfeeding. deaths are all preventable, that the technology In article 5, Mama Watoto discovers just how (but often not the financial resources or political inconvenient the use of infant formula can he, will) is there. The author includes scathing and is part of the Kenyan Ministry of Health criticism of debt payments and military spending campaign against infant formula use. which take priority over health in African government budgets. Health education is the fir5t step towards building a healthy society. Article 6 "Juma to the Article 2, "The Ghanaian Concept of Rescue," is a description of a comic book Disease," presents a backdrop to health in designed to educate the school children of Africa, by offering a holistic African perspective Kenya. The project organizers at the Mazingira on disease that may be difficult for a North Institute, feel that this approach educates not American to understand. The key question in this only the children of today, but also tH parents of discussion of disease is not how a particular tomorrow. person becomes ill, the focus of Western medicine, but why. This article questions Article 7, a story of midwives in Zimbabwe, whether the health professional should attend to could have been called "Tradition to the Res- the greater why, and treat the entire person, or cue." Faced with an extremely limited health focus on the how, and treat only the body and budget, Zimbabwe, !ike many other African the symptoms. nations, has turned to indigenous resources. Traditional midwives can provide improved services at a lower cost than a team of health professionals could; they understand their pa- tients' needs and can more easily gain their trust. The government is now providing appropriate conventional training to supplement the midwives' traditional skills. This will give Zim- babwe an immediate, effective method to reduce high infant and maternal mortality rates.

1 36 Issue: Health

AIDS, the disease that grips the attention of health professionals and lay people worldwide, is more often than not directly associated with Africa. Most of us have accepted the idea that AIDS originated in Africa. Article 8 is a review of a book by Richard and RosalindChirimuuta that questions the validity of that assumption. A more conventional approach is taken in article 9, which discusses the effects of the epidemic and the mechanisms of its expansion. Article 10 presents the initiatives different African nations have taken to teach their populations about AIDS. As Bishop Sarpong says in article 2, "There is no hunger, there is no disease, there is no poverty. There are persons who are hungry, per- sons who are sick, persons who are poor."The examples in this section demonstrate the importance of that distinction, and argue for "people-focused" basic health strategies, rather than for the abstract concept of curing illnesses. Only by giving the health sector priority in the national agenda, and by continually involving people and their opinions can there be improved health conditions in Africa. At the same time, listening to the perspectives Africans provide can enhance our understanding of our own health.

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A health extension worker on a consultation in the Palau region,Renin

1 4 1 BEST COPY AVA:LA?tr Session 4

Article 1:"Child Survival: A Moral Imperative," Africa News, May 1, 1989.

four of the 33 countries with the / world's highest rates of mortality in 4t'd children under five (U5MR) are in Africa. These countries share a eu median U5MR of 209 deaths per 1,000 live births, meaning that on average, one child in five born will not live until its fifth birthday. In many places, of course, the average is exceeded: a Malian child under five, for instance, has almost a '..161/4 one in three chance of dying. Only one African country, Mauritius, ranks ors'among the nations with 30 or fewer '41 child deaths per 1,000, a group that d' includes the U.S. and other industri- -42-.74 - aiN alized countries. ;&111ILIL- $P- Maternal mortality rates in Africa ---.411aer,-..., are also sobering. In the U.S., ap- proximately nine women per 100,000 die during pregnancy or childbirth. That statistic itself is a poor 20th in the world, behind most industrialized nations. But in Ethiopia, the ratio is 3,500 per 100,000; in Benin, 1,680; in Nigeria, 1,500; and in Somalia, 1,100 United Nations women out of 100,000 die because of Maternal and child survival rates improve when women limit their families to fewer than five children. enLimerisk of a woman dying in childbirth in America is CHILD SURVIVAL about one in 8,000," says Dr. Ade- tokunbo Lucas, a Carnegie Corpora- tion human resources program specialist. "In Africa, the lifetime risk is about one in 21. Pregnancy is the A Moral Imperative most risky thing that an African woman can undertake." Most experts are now beginning to ry to envision a nightmare world Even so, the numbers are stagger- recognize the strong links between Tin which 40 jumbo jets filled with ing. Every year, three and a half maternal and child health. But for children and four more filled with million children in developing many years, according to Lucas, pregnant women crash every day of countries die from diseases for which "there had been no major interest in the year, killing all on board. The vaccines are available, and another that high-risk period when a woman horrifying carnage is compounded bythree and a half million are disabled is pregnant and then in labor." the fact that everyone on the ground by those same diseases. At that rate, it Child survival programs emphasize knows the planes have mechanical would take only one year for half the such practices as mothers monitoring problems and there are people who population of New Jersey to die and their babies' growth for early signs of know how to fix them, but there isno the other half to be disabled. failure to thrive, breast-feeding as a money for parts. Half a million women - one every method to promote both good health It is easy to imagine the interna- minute - die each year in pregnancy for the baby and birth control for tional outrage- and the mobilization or while giving birth, and over 99% ofmothers, and immunization. While of funds - that wouldaccompany those deaths take place in the Third Lucas agrees that family planning such a scenario. Yet deathson this World. The World Health Organiza- and child survival efforts are impor- scale are occurring in the developing tion (WHO) estimates that for every tant, he says they "won't help chil- world, and most of them are prevent- woman who dies in pregnancy or dren dying in the first month or in able. If there is iittle outrage, itmay childbirth, ten to 15 more are left birth or who are damaged in the be because, unlike a plane crash, the handicapped, many as a result of pregnancy period." For these chil- drama of a child's death ina remote illegal abortions. dren, he says, a concentration on African village is played outon a Africa bears the overwhelming maternal health is the key to survival. very intimate stage. burden of these statistics. Twenty- And of course, the death of a mother

1 38 14 Issue: Health during pregnancy or childbirth also her health and to her safety." in which they will receive aid from reduces the survival chances and the One of the most promising devel- various sources, rural clinics are quality of life of her previous chil- opments in the field of maternal and expected to charge enough for their &en. child health over the past five years services to pay their operating costs. According to Lucas, a successful has come from Africa itself. In Another premise of the Bamako family planning approach must be September 1987, African health plan is that health delivery systems in multi-faceted. It should ensure that ministers meeting in Bamako, Mali Africa have for too long been pat- pnr. lant women receive adequate adopted the Bamako Initiative, whichterned after Western models instead mcal care, including nutritional has as its goal the extension of of dealing with conditions in Africa. counseling to guard against the primary health care to all mothers The results of such practices can be complications that can be caused by and children by the mid-1990s. In seen in many African dispensaries, conditions like anemia, which is a 1988, the Organization of African where, says Adetokunbo Lucas, the Unity gave its strong support to the shelves are stocked with "ridicu- major killer of new mothers. Women lously expensive drugs that treat one should be assured of access to back- initiative, and since then, the United up services such as Caesarean Nations Children's Fund (Uniceff andin a million, while common antibiot- the World Health Organization have ics are not available." sections and blood transfusions. And The WHO has drawn up guidelines above all, women should be allowed drawn up guidelines for implementa- to take control of their own pregnan- tion. More than 20 African nations for a group of essential medicines are now in the process of puttingthe that should always be available cies. They must be able to decide not everywhere and suggests that coun- to have too many babies and not to initiative in motion, though it is still in its planning stages. tries devise management plans for become pregnant too young or too drug ordering and distribution. old. The Bamako effort is, in part, an attempt to rebuild Africa's system of A recently published update on the There are still many places in the Bamako effort's early progress is world where girls marry and begin rural health centers, which has collapsed in the face of severely encouraging. It notes that a pilot having babies before they reach mid- project in the Pahou district of Benin adolescence. Although campaigns to reduced support from central govern- ments. Village health workers have has recovered 250% of its initial limit marriages of young girls have outlay in five years of operation and often encountered resistance on withdrawn from the countryside religious or cultural grounds, Lucas because they cannot thinks each country in Africa should get basic medicines set a minimum age for marriage as a and supplies, Immunization: basic health measure. "In one study because they have On the Road to Universal Coverage in northern Nigeria," he says, "6% of no support or the women who delivered in the supervision from Percentage of one-year-old children fully hospital were under 15 years old, but regional hospitals immunized in selected African countries. they accounted for 30% of the which are them- selves operating at TB DPr Po4lo Measles deaths." 1981/1986-7 1981/1466.7 1981/1986-7 1981/19864 WHO statistics indicate that if far below the necessary care Algeria 59/95 33/66 30/66 17/59 women became pregnant only Botswana 80/99 64/86 71/88 68/91 between the ages of 20 and 39, the levels, if they are Burkina Faso 16/67 2/334 2/34 23/68 functioning at all 10/28 6/16 7/15 7/13 maternal mortality rate would be 81/84 56/77 54/77 49/79 reduced by 11%, and it would drop and because com- Mauritania 57/91 18/32 18/61 45/69 munities have been Mozambique 46/59 56/51 32/38 32/46 an additional 5% if women stopped Rwanda 51/85 77/78 15/80 42/63 having babies at age 34. If women unable to pay them. Sierra Leone 35/73 15/30 13/30 28/50 The loss of village Tanzania 78/95 58/81 49/80 76/78 had no more than four children, 18/36 23/39 health centers has Zaire 34/54 18/36 they could decrease their chances of diptherik patussis (whoopulg cough), tetanus dying in pregnancy or childbirth by cut millions of rural Source: Union 4%. Africans off from Rebecca Kohler/ Ahics News Lucas also believes that even the primary medical Unicef director JamesGrant saysimmunization has been one of the poorest countries in Africa can afford services. But it has great successes of this decade. Grant predicts that the goal of universal immunization against six major childhood diseases will be to supply women with vitamins, not stopped them anti-malaria medicines and nutri- from spending reached by 1990. money on health tional advice through their child- has plowed two-thirds of those funds bearing years. But this is another care: many have turned to traditional healers or to drugs of dubious safety back into the project. A revolving area in which he stresses the drug fund managed by the French woman's duty to take control. "If one and efficacy to treat their ailments, and studies show that rural Africans aid agency Medecins Sans Frontiers is so poor as to not be able to afford a (Doctors Without Borders) in the balanced diet for the woman, then spend a significant portion of their incomes on medicines. A basic Timbuktu region of Mali has earned that is not the time for her to get $60,000 in five years and spent half of pregnant," he says. 'Pregnancy premise of the Bamako Initiative is to channel that money into community- that to replenish drug stocks. should be a deliberate act to be The update also identifies several undertaken at the most opportune based efforts to fund clinics and to stock them with widely used drugs areas of concern, includingthe time in a woman's life, and not a possibility of corruption. "If payment thing to be done without regard to and vitamins. After an initial period 1 19 Session 4

is made directly for drugs," it says, targeted for 1990 - and the establish- have some hard choices to make "health workers may be given an ment of revolving drug funds at the about where they will spend the incentive to overprescribe, and if national and district levels. The cost money they do have. payment is linked to treatment, to donors for the first three years of Carnegie's Lucas says that in underprescription could result." the plan's implementation - during addition to indices of a country's Bonuses for health workers have beenwhich 130-200 million people will be fiscal health such as the Dow Jones suggested as a way around these served - will be $180 million, or 50-75 Index, the Financial Times Index and problems. cents per person per year. the Gross National Product, each Perhaps more importantly, the nation ought to have a "compassion report says that concerted efforts The greatest threat to major ad- index" to reveal its expenditures on will have to be made in training - vances in health care that would health, education and other welfare not only to teach people how to otherwise seem achievable may be services in proportion to what is provide health services to being spent on defense. each community, but to teach "We can't mandate that a the community how to country spend X number of manage its health center. One Trends in Social vs. Military dollars per head," Lucas lesson learned from the pilot says, "but we can set a com- projects has been that the Spending passion index and monitor communities are reluctant to it." Health services, he says, deplete the funds raised Central government expenditure on education, health and "protect and defend the through sales of drugs, defence as a percentage of total government expenditure for selected African countries. people in the same way that especially since their govern- military services are sup- ments have yet to produce posed to protect and defend clear guidelines specifying Education Health Defence them." which expenditures are ap- 1972 19861972 19861972 1986 Both Unicef and WHO propriate and prudent. agree. In a written statement "There is a serious risk," Botswana 10.1 17.7 6.1 5.0 0.0 6.4 Burkina Faso 20.6 17.7 8.2 6 2 11.5 19.2 prepared for hearings last says the report, "that funds ana 10.1 23.9 6.3 8.3 7.9 6.5 month in Washington, D.C. left in bank accounts will Ken ya 21.9 19.7 7.9 6.4 6.0 8.7 of the House of Representa- devaluate and possibly even Lesotho 22.4 15.5 7.3 6.9 0.0 9.6 tives Select Committee on revert to the national treas- Malawi 15.8 11.0 5.5 6.9 3.1 6.0 Hunger, WHO's director ury." Mauritius 13.5 13.4 10.3 7.7 0.8 0.8 Morocco 19.2 16.6 4.8 2.8 12.3 16.4 general, Dr. Hiroshi In addition, many African Tunisia 30.5 14.3 7.4 6.5 4.9 7.9 Nakajima, said inequitable countries have been unwill- Uganda 15.3- 15.0 53 2.4 23.1 26.3 Zaire access to health services ing to build a component into 15.2 0.8 2.3 1.8 11.1 5.2 results in tensions that "will their Bamako plans that Source: World Banknot be conducive to world would ensure the care of in- Rebecca Kohler/ Africa Newspeace." digents. "They argue," the In many African countries, military spending has increased over the Unicef's State of the World's report notes, "that enough past decade, despite economic austerity programs that have mandated Children draws a more direct protection exists through cuts in essential social services. parallel between militariza- extended families, tad- tion and the worldwide itional mechanisms and community Africa's debt crisis. With increasing decline in living standards. "So organizations to cover health costs forpercentages of national revenues overwhelming are the resources now the neediest people." going toward debt repayment, there directed to the military that some What makes the Bamako Initiative has been a sharp decline in the degree of demilitarization has become enrouraging, despite the problems amount of revenue allocated by almost a pre-condition - in the great that have yet to be ironed out, is that individual countries to health and majority of countries - for the meet- it extends beyond the supply of es- education. The world's developing ing of all other human needs." In sential drugs to rural areas. The nations have slashed spending on Africa, countries like Kenya and effort's aim, according to a summary health by 50% per head in the last Tanzania, which because of rising in Unicef's 1989 State of the World's few years and on education by 25%, population rates can ill afford to Children report, "is to strengthen and according to Unicef. The poor suffer divert funds from social services into extend maternal and child health caremost when spending cuts are made, their military budgets, have lowered and to promote community involve- and poor women and children suffer social spending dramatically while ment in decisions about local health more than anyone. "It is time," says raising defense appropriations. priorities." Unicef director James Grant, "to strip According to Unicef, if military During the initi.itive's critical early away the niceties of economic par- spending by the industrialized years, outside donors will be asked tolance and say that what has hap- countries alone was reduced by only supply drugs to communities free of pened is simply an outrage against a 5%, that would release the $50 billion chArge. The proceeds from sales of large section of humanity." needed each year to cvercome the these supplies will go toward the But along with plans like the worst aspects of global poverty by the expansion of maternal and child Bamako Initiative that seek to rectify year 2000. health services, the maintenance of the outrage in simple but significant Despite the debt crisis and the universal immunization- a goal ways, it is clear that African nations worldwide increase in military 140 Issue: Health spending, many gains have been House Select Committee on Hunger. Under the Ghanaian plan, obstetri- made - especially in the field of child "It is to the credit of everyone in- cians will have to practice for one survival - in this decade. Just nine volved - especially the countries of year in a rural area of the country years ago, for instance, the develop- , the developingworld - that so much before being granted an obstetrical ing world lost a million more chil- has been accomplished," he said. degree, and the hope is that they will dren to diseases that can be pre- not only be better able to cope with vented by immunization than it did Ihe push for child survival in real conditions in Ghana, but will last year and this is in spite of a TAfrica has been a g,lobal one, serve as teachers and leaders boom in birth rates. In the past five drawing national health ministries, throughout their careers. years, "immunization coverage in the local and international non-govern- Lucas admits that one still-unre- developing world has risen to mental agencies and foundations, as solved question is how to keep approximately 50%" from about 10%, well as Unicef and WHO together in experienced obstetricians working in according to james Grant. He says an effort to beat back the effects of the countryside. He urges countries immunization levels in Africa may debt and structural adjustment for to examine their entire healthcare reach 75% by the end of 1990 - a rate the sake of children's lives. systems and to upgrade basic services comparable to that of Boston or New Most experts agree that the key to along the lines of the Bamako Initia- York City, and one that is considered the success of any effort lies in the tive. There are, he says, complex to offer virtually universal protection. degree to which it is cooperative at itsreasons why skilled professionals Grant often cites the progress madehighest and lowest levels. Carnegie's leave rural areas, and health minis- against diarrheal diseases in assess- Adetokunbo Lucas says projects that tries need to establish a dialogue with ments of the last decade's successes. help "caregivers work more closely physicians and nurses to understand Many children's lives, he says, have with each other, fromthe birth their concerns. He hopes the effort been saved through a low-cost, low- attendant in the village to the Carnegie is funding can develop technology treatment known as oral university professor," should form reasonable, built-in incentives to keep rehydration therapy (ORT), which the backbone of health delivery its trainees working where they are helps ensure that the nutrients and efforts. needed most. minerals children need to survive are One important feature of family If Adetokunbo Lucas, James Grant replaced after diarrheal episodes. In health care, Lucas says, is mobiliza- and others are correct, efforts like 1980, he notes, only 2%-3% of the tion of the community. If the commu- PolioPlus and the push for univer- world's parents had access to and nity is involved in the delivery of sally available oral rehydration knowledge of ORT. Today, that care, in the identification of priorities therapy will be the wave of the future percentage has increased twenty five-and in fundraising, people will have for child survival throughout devel- fold. "The result," Grant said, "is the a large stake in a project's success. countries. It is true that control saving of 750,000 to one million "We quite often treat communities as (Tingo a number of serious health threats, children's lives each year." passive receptacles of health care, such as malaria and AIDS, is not so Another effort that has proven to rather than having them as full easily achieved. But with low-cost, be a success is Rotary International's partners," Lucas says. "But whose low-tech methods and/or sustain- PolioPlus program. Just five years health is it? It's their health." able, cooperative, intelligently ago, the group pledged to raise $120 Lucas believes that if basic knowl- planned and adequately funded aid million worldwide to help eradicate edge about nutrition, family planningefforts, Africa canbeat many killers polio by the year 2000. Working with and health is shared at the village that have largely lost their ferocity in rotary dubs in both industrialized level, the benefits will be enormous inthe industrialized world. and developing nations, Rotary the long run. "We don't need skilled The question, though, is whether International has now raised $230 nutritionists going to every house," that will happen. We know how to million from donors in 164 countries. he says. prevent most of the major diseases of As an example of its outreach, the As an experiment in more effective childhood; we know how to make group is implementing a two year practical instruction for the medical pregnancy and childbirth less risky "marketing plan" in Cote d'Ivoire to establishment, Carnegie is funding a for mother and baby; we know how create a demand for immunization. program to train obstetricians for to feed people; and we know that if Local Rotarians produced publicity practice in rural Ghana. The project iswe are willing to give up some materials and vaccination cards; the a cooperative effort by Ghana's two military hardware, we can ensure international group stands ready to university medical schools - at Accra that the entire world's population supply vaccines for ten full years. and Kumasithe American and enjoys a favorable place on the "Polio will be eradicated by the Royal Colleges of Physicians and "compassion index." What we don't year 2000," says James Grant, "and Surgeons and Michigan State Univer- know yet is whether we have the will millions of tomorrow's children will sity. Previously, Ghanaians had to to care for each other. owe their health to Rotary." leave the country for some of their But James Grant supplies reasons While acknowledging that "the obstetncal training - meaning that to care in his introduction to The State number of children dying remains most served internships and residen- of the World's Children: "...the protm- unacceptably high," U.S. Agency for cies in large U.S. dty hospitals with tion of the most vulnerable," he International Development Senior the latest equipment and returned tn writes, "is both a moral imperative Assistant Administrator Nyle Brady Ghana unprepared to practice in and a practical pre-condition for praised recent advancements in child under-staffed, under-funded hospi- sustained economic and social survival while testifying before the tals and rural clinics. progress." 141 Session 4

Article 2:"The Ghanaian Concept of Disease" by Bishop Peter Sarpong, Contact, the bi-monthly bulletin of the Christian Medical Commission of the World Council of Churches, April 1985. Answering 'Why' THE GHANAIAN CONCEPT OF DISEASE By Bishop Peter Sarpong

Modern medicine has done much to control never get sick but that does not take away the and contain disease.Itis continually finding conviction that disease is evil. new answers to communicable disease. Yellow Although all disease is evil, the Ghanaian often fever, for example, is no longer a threat to life; makes a distinction among various diseases. with one injection one can become immune to There is, first of all, the disease that one ac- the disease for the next ten years. Diseases quires before he is born: A baby may be born whose causes are known scientifically are blind or somehow deformed. If this happens cured through medicine or surgery. But modern the cause is usually thought to be the sin- medicine is often helpless against many kinds fulness, moral misbehaviour or stupid action of cancer; even a less cc,mplex disease like (intentional or unintentional) of the child's jaundice still kills thousands throughout the parents or of some other person. Such children world. were, in the past, quickly done away with at Disease,therefore,remains an enigma.It birth, for they carry with them the evidence of causes death, which is even a greater mystery sin. Being abnormal, they were unacceptable than disease. Theories about the causes of right from the beinning. disease range from the fantastic to the highly Adults, too, become sick. Of the sicknesses religious or completely scientific. that adults get, there are two kinds: one is unclean, the other is not categorized. (There is, The Ghanaian View of Disease of course, no such thing as a 'clean' disease.) The unclean diseases such as epilepsy, leprosy, The traditional Ghanaian has his own ideas smallpox, insanity, excessive diarrhoea, and about disease and, like any other human being, swelling of the body are by their very nature, avoids illness. When the traditional Ghanaian falls sick or when a friend or family member dreadful. Unclean diseases are a disgrace to the persons who contract them and to their gets sick, there is sadness because of the pain of the experience, but also because of the relatives. Because of this, relatives hide the vic- possibility that illness will end in death. tim of an unclean disease if it is at all possible, thus often aggravating his condition. Before So the Ghanaian dreads disease and believes anyone outside the family is aware that a per- that disease is almost never natural. A person son is suffering from leprosy, the disease has of ripe age can be sick and die, but this is caused its damage. So, even with the avail- believed to be a natural death due to old age. ability of modern medicine, it becomes very difficult to help such people. When disease strikes suddenly, it cannot be normal. When disease takes away the life of a healthy young person, there must surely be Whatever type of disease one is dealing with, something wrong, and when disease appears the viclim is never abandoned by his or her to be incurable and becomes chronic, it must relatives. To abandon a relative who is suffer surely be due to something that the victim or ing from a disease, no matter how disgraceful, some other agent has done or willed to some- is to commit a very grave social sin. Indeed, it one. To be sick,therefore, appears to the means one is liable to contract the disease traditional Ghanaian to be abnormal. He knows oneself. The relatives ofa sick person are that there are only a few people, if any, who bound to be near him, even to eat with him 142 ... Issue: Health

Aiticle 2 (cont'd.) from the same plate. This is meant to give con- clans. When such people persistently offend solation which in turn may be part of the heal- God, it is thought that God will one day show ing process. His power by inflicting punishment on the leader's people in the form of disease. While The implications of such an attidude towards a such diseases can affect individuals, they are sick person are obvious for the practice of often said to be communal. So epidemics and scientific medicine. We know from scientific pestilences or a great increase in infant deaths evidence that certain diseases are highly con- are often attributed to the direct intervention of tagious. Nobody needs to be convinced that to the AH Holy God who hates man's misdeeds. go near a tuberculous person is to risk contrac- ting tuberculosis. But time and time again in In Ghana, as in many parts of Africa, there are Ghana families feel bound to eat with their no priests or temples, as such, of God. God is relations who are suffering from tuberculosis not worshipped as are the divinities, nor is he (which in Ashanti is called nsarnanwa: the venerated communally : but when a disease or disease of the ghosts). an epidemic is thought to have been caused by God, then the whole nation or tribe or com- Preventive medicine in such cases has to in- munity which issuffering rallies around its volve educating people to realise that such communal head and makes a joint sacrifice to social imperatives arereal threats to their God to appease him. In such situations, people health. Many diseases could be prevented if think that the western type of medicine is in- relatives did not consider it an obligation to go adequate. The disease is spiritually and divinely near a sick family member or to stay with him caused, and likewise, the remedy must be and even share food from the same plate. spiritual and divine. Health is equated with being at peace with Another belief about sickness is that the sick God. For as a matter of fact, whatever the person should never be ridiculed or laughed at. causeofdisease,itcan be traced back Sickness is a curse. It may result from many ultimately to God. The divinities and ancestors causes, but even when it is clearly thought to can act to cause disease, but they more or less be the fault of the sick they should not be are deputies for God. Even evil witches and laughed at. One has the right to be annoyed, to sorcerers could not perform their acts if God be stern and even to suggest that the afflicted did not allow it. person deserves to be sick; but to ridicule is quite a different thing. In spite of everything, one has to show sympathy, and if the patient ANSWERING WHY makes amends and is cured, he or she should To offer a summary of what has been dis- be forgiven. In any case, one is never absolutely cussed so far: the Ghanaian, like other Africans, sure whether the disease has been caused adopts a philosophical approach to disease. throughthepatient'spersonalmisdeeds. Man is meant to enjoy good health, but man is Disease can he caused by an act unwittingly perpetually ill. There must be a cause for this, done by the patient or another person. but the cause is not always obvious. An epidemic cannot come about without THE SPIRITUAL ASPECT OF SICKNESS cause. God is good. If he allows dozens or hun In Ghanaian traditional thought, diseases can dreds of people to die in a community, then be caused and are often brought about by God there must be a reason. The reason cannot be Himself. There are certain patterns of behaviour the wickedness of God, soit must be the which God is supposed to abhor. Such pat wickedness of man himself. If it is not God who terns of behaviour are connected especially is annoyed, then it must be the divinities or the with chiefs and heads of tribal groups and ancestral spirits. 141 Session 4

Article 2 (cont'd.)

The Ghanaian knows very well that there are The plain truth is that man has never found natural causes of happenings. He knows that the answer to the question: "Why ?". All our there are certain rules of cause and effect scientific explanations answer the question: which are inevitable. There is no mystery about "How ?". Causes of death or illness are often them. They require no explanation beyond the explained by the western-trained person on the normal. What isexplained by recourse to basis of how they happen, but not why. sorcerers and witches are the particular condi- tions in a chain of causation which relate an in- If a tree is blown over by the wind and falls on dividual to natural happenings. someone, itis understandable. But this par- ticular tree has stood for a long time. Similar To give an example, une may explain scien- winds have often blown. People pass under tifically to a mother that her child died of a the tree every day. Why should that particular sickness caused by a hepatitis virus which he wind blow and cause the tree to fall at a par- got from someone carrying the virus. The ticular moment when a particular person is mother has no problem with this explanation. passing by? The answer for many Ghanaians is She accepts it. But her questions may remain that only witchcraft could have brought these unanswered. Why did the infection enter the random happenings tcgether in time and place. body of her child? Many people went near that So long as the "whys" of happenings are not sick person, why did they not get jaundiced, adequately explained, the Ghanaian, like his too? The doctor who explains her child's death counterparts all over Africa, will find it difficult to her has handled many such patients. Why to abandon his traditional view of the concept has the doctor not got jaundice and died? And and causes of disease. why do others who get jaundice recover? For the woman, the scientific explanation has onlj/ succeeded in revealing that witches really exist and are indeed powerful. Belief in witchcraft serves to explain the particular and changeable conditions of an event and not the universal conditions. The witch is only the agent for bringing together unrelated circumstances.

144 / 1 U Issue: Health

Article 3:"Overpopulation and Other Myths about Africa" by Djibril Dia llo, Chri.4tian Science Monitor, April 22, 1986.

Overpopulation and other myths about Africa By Djibril 1)iallo Djibril Dia llo, a Senegalese national, is chief spokesman fortheUnited Nations()thee for Emergency Operations in Africa.

F all the in yths'about Africa prevailicg in the West, none ispropagatedwith morI vigor and 3regularity than the notionthat overpopulationis central cause of African poverty. The recent famine is given propagators of this myth fresh ammunition it h which to press home their argument All myths aredangerous, especiallywhen they Tome the basis of policy. But the overpopulation myth particularly harmful because it often preempts deeper .(ibnig into the complex causes of under&velopment. Moreover, the frequent repetition of this myth by out- der;actually contributes to resistance tofamily ;inning programs After centuries of foreign donUna- in. many Afhcans are deeply suspicious of any all paigns designed to alter the way they live and ,have Thus, even African governments committed to wer population growth rates are very careful about .u, they present these goals to the public. Foreign pronouncements on the subject do not make cir task any easier. A brilliantly lucid example of this was provided ccntly in Kenya. Just as the Kenyan government was ,ncluding careful negotiations with the United States ency for International Development to launch a major arketing drive for contraceptives in the rural areas, lildren in the central highland areas suddenly stopped 4,ing their free milk drinks at school. The reason came clear a few days later when a man appeared in lint charged with spreading the rumor that the milk

14i Session 4

Article 3 (cont'd.)

td been treated with contraceptive chemicals. The Overpopulation is but one myth that abounds about tplication behind the rumor was that the authorities Africa. Another one that seems to have taken root in the tshed to reduce the population increase of the ethnic wake of the famine is that higher food prices make peas- oups living in the region. ants boost food production dramatically. In any event, there is little agreement among Africans But the factis that price increases alone will those who know the continent well that overpopula- accomplish little if all-weather roads do not exist along )n is thaeritical ,issue it is made out to be. Indeed, in which peasants can transport their food to market. Nor any African regial14 air problem is underpopulation: will higher prices mean more production if the growers ie people. 4re so thinly spread over large areas that it is can't get credit to buy fertilizers, if land is used for spec- ten difficult to create a meaningful infrastructure to ulative rather than agricultural purposes, or if steps are omote the interaction crucial to development. not taken to preserve or rehabilitate the soil. Lloyd Timberlake, a respected writer familiar with Even so, it is sometimes found, the main beneficiaries o continent's diverse landscape, recently published an of higher food prices are not producers but traders, who cellent study, "Africa in Crisis," in which he states, buy cheap at harvest time and sell dear later. he fact that African nations cannot feed themselves Myths sooner or later are punctured by reality. In Af- es not prove that the continent is overpopulated." re rica's case, unfortunately, it is mostly later, because of ikes the point that while industrialized countries like the historic neglect of the continent in the world press. Switzerland, Japan, and the Netherlands are not self- Regrettably, even when the famine of 1984-85 forced Af- sufficient in food, this does not have to be the case for rica upon the world consciousness and provoked con- Africa. Chad alone could feed the whole Sahel. cerned scrutiny of the causes of hunger, many myths Key figures seem to undermine the myth's credibility. have been left intact partly because the news media ne- Africa's average population densityis only 16 per glected to report on what Africans were saying and square kilometer,against China's 100 per square thinking about the hotly debated food and development kilometer and India's 225. Furthermore, Africa has more policies. arable land per capita than any other developing region. Innumerable Western experts were quoted on what Africans also point to the case of India, condemned by Africa needs to do to fight famine. But rarely, if ever, did many experts in the 1960s to perpetual hunger. Today the media seek the views of African planners, leaders, India is producing the bulk of its own food. In their quest scholars,orpublicofficials,nottomentionour for appropriate solutions to their own food prethea- agronomists or peasant farmers. ments, more and more Africans are making their way to So there is a danger here that instead of genuine edu- India to study breakthroughs there. cation about Africa, the world press has helped form Given India's and indeed China's -- example, one opinions and set the stage for new plans of action to which Africans themselves have contributed only their assent the assent, at best, of unequal partners. This course will result in a new round of policies out . of harmony with primary African needs and likely to az.brazdkr) fail.Thislapseinmediacoveragereflectsthe Unfortunately, the view that outside longstanding tendency in development and investment circles to treat Africa as if it were unable to formulate ef- experts some of whom arrive in fective policies on its own. African capitals with briefcases bulging Unfortunately, the view that outside experts sonic with solutions for problems they do not of whom arrive in African capitals with briefcases bulging with solutions for problems they do not fully un- fully understand know best has carried derstand know best has carried considerable weight, considerable weight, even in Africa itself. even in Africa itself. This has led to a readiness to accept guidam..e from those who do not take into consideration the needs and complexities of our diverse societies and fragile ecol- ogies. The result is that even many Africans begin to re- peat the myths conceived in distant lands. There are no easy ways out of the predicament. It is can see that population in its isolated context does not very difficult to counter simplistic myths with complex provide the clue to a country's ability to feed itself, and explanations of the continent's interrelated problems that population policies are meaningless unless coupled But beginning can be made by the media, some ele- with specific measures to promote economic growth. ments of which are continuing to keep Africa's critical Rapid population growth is a concern of,,African problems in the limelight. In this continuing coverage, leaders. In fact many nations are trying to.encourage thky would do inestimable service to Africa and to their family planning. liut they try always to pursue such own nations if they were at least partly guided in their plans in ways derived from African cultures themselves. reporting by the views of the African people themselves

146 Issue: Health

Article 4:"The Population Crunch," by Sadik Nafis, AfricaReport,July-Aug. 1988. THE POPULATION CRUNCH The executive director of the United Nations Population Fund warns that if current trends in Africa's population growth continue, the continent's development efforts will be overwhelmed, threatening thevery basisthe environmentupon which economicgrowth depends.

BY NAFIS SADIK

Nairobi, Kenya's capital, is a throb- mortality and increasing life expectancy. Nevertheless,as Mugabe clearly bing, thriving town at the heart of But they mean problems .Or other areas recognizes, there is no point in rushing Africa. A center of government,fi- of development. African leaders know at it. Hard-sell tactics do not go down nance, development, and international better dun to equate sheer numbers well in Africa. African society tradition- affairs,it draws statesmen, business- with national strength. The problem, as ally favors families of four or more, a men, diplomats, and tourists from all they point out, from Senegal to Swwzi- mindset reinforced by the "wabenzi," over the world. land, is that they must find the means of the new rich who flaunt their wealth, A hundred years ago, Nairobi did not coping with all these new faces at the their wives, and their many children. In exist. At the turn of the century, it was national table and find them quickly be- the end, people will have small families an army camp, a railroad station, and a fore social, political, and economic sys- not because governments say so, but bazaar, linked by a muddy road. The tems collapse under the strain. because they can see the point. army camp and its redcoats are long Zimbabwe, one of Africa's recent suc- Nigeria's Minister of Health, Dr. Oh- gone; the station is still there, but most cess stories, could support four times koye Ransome-Kuti, says, "There is a travellers hardly notice it on their way to its present population from its own re- very high unmet need for family plan- the airport.The bazaar, on the other sources, apparently putting the popula- ning. The economic situation in Nigeria hand, is thriving,and gows bigger al- tion crunch far into the distance. But on has brought it home to our people tliat if most while you look at it. currentestimates,Zimbabwe could they want to have their children edu- Nairobi, in fact, grew by six times be- reach that limit in 40 years. The govern- cated and well-fed, then they have to tween 1950 and 1979. "I am tired of ment's response is firm. "While we do begin to do something about the chil- being pointed out at international con- not propose in some crude arbitrary dren they are going to have." ferences as the leader of the nation with manner to limit population growth, we The optimists still argue that Africa is the world's highest population growth," must seek to achieve a definable rela- rich. If Africa's resources were devel- said Kenya's President Daniel amp Moi tionship between population growth and oped for the benefit of all its people, they not so long ago. No wonder: On current the capacity of our country to proviik. say, there would be no population prob- estimates, Kenya's total population will materialrequirements,"saidPrime lem. But as Nigeria and Zambia, among double in less than 20 years. By then, Minister Robert Mugabe in 1985. others, have discovered, the mere in- Nairobi could well be three times its Zimbabwe'snationalconservation flux of oil or copper dollars guarantees presentsize. No country has ever strategy accordingly calls for "replace- ruithing. Cautiously planned economies, grownatthis paceeven Kenya, ment-level" fertility by 2015, in order to as in Tanzania, have found the national where the growth rate has been rising achieve a stable population of 23 million capital tied up in trying to provide the steadily for decades. It has now proba- by 2075. In a country where women tra- basics of life for a burgeening popula- bly reached a peak, but growth will go ditionally have four or more children, ar- tion.Meanwhile,industrial develop- on. From 20 million, Kenya could well guments in favor of "stopping at two" ment and the infrastructure it requires have 70 million people by 2025. will have to be very persuasive. And the are severely undercapitalized. Kenya is one of 42 Affican countries persuasion must be done quickly: The Development isnot an overnight where population can be expected to generation which will be having babies thing. It takes time to put in place all the double in 15 years or less. lAx)ked at 40 years from now is already on the many elements which go to make up the one via", these figures are welcome evi- way. For Mugabe and other African mix. And with the best will in the world, dence of success in cutting down infant leaders, the population uroblem is here Africa does not have the time. Rapid and now. Lii 147 Session 4

Article 4 (cont'd.)

population growth overwhelms devel- or proper drainage, the Mathares of Af- military governments. lie is quite clear, opmentefforts,howevercarefully rica condemn millions to live among even passionate, in his belief that the planned. their own waste, shortening their lives health needs of the poor must be ad- There is another twist to the story. and the lives of their children. dressed, and believes that this is an es- The combination of rapid population The children are already at a severe sential step on the road to smaller fami- growth and the grinding poverty of disadvantage. They are four times more lies. much of the continent combine to likely to die in infancy than their c( iunter- With the help of U.S. AlD, t.TNFPA, threaten the environmentthe very parts elsewhere, if they survive, they and Unicef, he has begun an ambitious land, air, and water on which all else have little chance of escaping their par- plan to establish or refurbish health cen- depends. The threat is accentuated by ents' poverty. ters in the slums and suburbs of Nige- the drive to mobilize Africa's natural About one-third of Mathare Valley's ria's teeming cities, and to reach out into capitalits timber, mineral, and agri- adults are single mothers, a poignant ex- the remote rural areas with health care cultural potential. ample of how the populatioA poverty for mothers and children. He includes All over the continent, forests are trap selects its victims. Women carry family planning as an essential element disappearing under the axe and the bull- more than their share of the environ- and he realizes the need for encourage- dozer, cleared for subsistence farming, mental burden. As fetchers of wood and ment, especially among the men. Loud- commercial logging, and export crops. carriersof water,farmers,cooks, speaker vans tour the suburbs playing Crucial watersheds are crumbling, as in waste disposal experts, designers, and songs and broadcasting speeches in fa- the Ethiopian highlands. The great riv- builders, they are in a very real sense vor of the smaller family, and the over- ers they serve, like the Nile and the the managers of the rnicro-environment worked nurses and doctors who staff Niger, are shrinkirig, even as the num- in which they live. the clinics have been told to add family bers of people who depend upon them But theyespecially the vior among planning to their list of services. are growing. themare also the most vulnerable of Nigeria, like ten other African coun- Industrial development will not pro- groups. Their work is barely recognized tries in the last year, Nis recently an- vide an answer to this constant degrada- in national statistics and is heavily under- nounced a population policy. It includes tion.Indeed,industrial development valued in economic terms. The result is a strong component for information, ed- contributes its own burden to the envi- that there is little ..otection for them ucation, and communication.All suc- ronment. There are now grave doubts because there is i.tle perceived need cessfulpopulationpolicies havethe about the wisdom of huge projects like for protection. What development as- whole-hearted support of all sectors ( the Aswan or the blta dams, or of sistance there is tends to go to men, the conununity, from natiiinal leaders ii large-scale export agribusiness, as in which may be marginally useful, but may ordinary men and winnili in the villages the Niger's or the Nile's headwaters. also have the effect of undermining al- and towns. It is the ordinary people who Nigeria's belt of mangrove forest, which ready existing systems, created and op- make the final decisicnis atxxit family protected its et iiistline for centunes, has erated by women. size.It is to the ordinary polite that disappeared under urban sprawl and Governments of all political shades Waders must turn to gain acceptance for coastal development. n( 1w accept,like Z=bia*s President the idea of smaller, healthier families Industnal devehipment draws people Kenneth Kaunda, that whatever the through birth-spacing. to the cities, which, like Nairobi, are path to naticinal development, it must Above all, the people must be con- gniming under the strain. In slums like include some attention to tx)puhitimi vinced that birth-spacing is not a foreign Mathare Valley on the outskirts of Nai- growth and some limit on the explosive idea corning from outside-it is an Afri- robi, populatt,ni is growing at over 10 growth of major cities. They are also can iffactice dating from the tin w before percent a year. These are often young coming to believe that to solve popula- African societies were invaded and colo- poi*, drawn to the city by the hope of thin pniblems, direct attention must be nized. Encouraging nu 'dein forms of

a better life. liut they are also refugees, paid to the economW and siicial needs tii birth spacing, as a means to 1 strong people driven off the laml by poverty the majority of the pripulatiini, the vast and healthy Wilily, will find an inunedi- and overcrowding. numbers who throng the slums and ate resix nise front the mothers and fa- Slums and shanty towns like Mat hare shanties or try to find a living on the thers of the new African peoples. arefoundineveryAfricancity land. Among those wilt) niust be con vu iced pet ched on hillsides or river banks, in Nigeria's Ransiime-Kuti is a pediatri- tlw importance of social deveh pntitiit swamps or gullies, using land no one cian by thunuig. Ile has a natural sympa- pi ()gramsarethedown. s,govern- else wants. They are a visible and grow- thy fin- the vast masses who were lett ments, and public and private lending ing threat to the envinniment, :4( ocul as iut when Nigeria's oil wealth was being institutions. All acknowledge the need well as physical. Without ninning water divided under successive civilian and

I 48

4 , Issue: Health

Article 4 (cont'd.)

for slower population growth, but few countriesteachers, priests, non-gov- allow social programs to function. Social take real account of the realities of suc- ernmental organizations, and social ac- development programs are at last being cessful programs. tivists of all kindshave been arguing recognized as crucial for Africa's future. They are beginning to accept how- for years that their programs are essen- For the millions of ordinary people and ever, that education, health, family plan- tial. Now there is a chance that they their families in African countries, it is ning, and women's programs are not op- might be heard. not a moment too soon. tional extras or luxuries, but essential "Structural adjustment" programs to components in the development mix. mchor the development plans of the This will be an important breakthrough, poorest countries firmly in economic re- nr. Saks Sadik is executive &recto/ al the United because of their influence on national ality will include a social elementor at Nations Papulation Fund. and local leaders in African countries. least will not exclude it. Plans for repay- The social development agencies, ment of Africa's massive debt will still such as WHO, Unicef. and UNFPA, and their counterparts in the developing

1 49

REST COPY AVAILABLE Session 4

Article 5:"Mama Watoto," Contact , the bi-monthly bulletin of the Christian Medical Commission of the World Council of Churches, Oct. 1983.

Amorning in thelige ofMama Wato Co who isaboet bo Pepore aboithrfeed according Cottle GooroaPORMULA! flrtt beilOes test if cold Watt/ 2ten* Vt not the teat trutethe outsidt of 'Lust lostbi.'ordivon% Ktthe.n salt to Gilt 0e. TeXt off the. teat n It inside, out , rub the msadt, with salt ..

NI0 a rinse tht ihsielt of. bottle 4with plertt4 oftald water +5 let out all tiut posselk.Theh Wish with het water*ueo litte Looshim gecko or itteritht, broth us th ebotte b rush (d tht brush.eoer3,tiog,%.)

"welsh I scrvo hones oefore.efloct tt c-Jeanbottles i-teorts in o per, of cold water piccr9 up the. bottle. 45 that comeletel., couttS the IxtileS. Sod f,rc fv11 S peep* re next f eed + Jo hot %Al th the Odom tou h the nulcor iheolkerhi n S. LeAlkit iv cool in the po 0;- +ht_ bottte

1 50

BESTCOPY AVAILABLE Issue: Health

Article 5 (cont'd.)

ilVip Scoop into powder' toKint care nit tO tsuc.htItvel'ot off u.,ItiN 01'icIton Knife, put itinto a measurins5u3......

fall'em pour o lott.111. i'tdtti3MIS 1$ koHERE iroEts boilltd wetter 'into +ft jugyt. Aesug m% unt.1% rrtredurt IS wroth f- ekt tutbicall41irtset a red hot Jorn;n4 netalt C-rtanyi: Gneduallm add mot . %that,- "te rrine, 4veti,e time ,eis r unni loo foist until te.yre:41.t amount isPI in c honeNc obtasnt miKsnfo tut ! 'Ms is NoTthe FORMULA For Sue cessi!I

1 5 1 RFST COPY AVARARIF Session 4

Article 6:"Juma to the Rescue: Health Education for East African Children" by Anis Wasilewski, /DRC Reports, Oct. 1988. JUMA TO THE RESCUE HEALTH EDUCATION FOR EAST AFRICAN CHILDREN

ANIA WASILEWSKI

uma awoke one morning and In Kenya, health education is not part children are thinking," says Ms Kassim- looked for his baby sister to of the school curriculum. And yet Kenyan Lakha. From these responses the editors see how she was feeling. children are"living these issues" plan the next issue. Kadogo, who was only one diarrhealdiseases,unsafe drinking Before the magazine is distributed, it is and a half years old, had been water according to Shaheen Kassim- pretested in both an urban and a rural very sick with diarrhea for the Lakha, a member of the editorial team of school for comprehension. The contest is past day. Juma's mother knew Mazingira Institute, the Nairobi-based non- also pretested "to make sure it's doable all about the special drink and governmental organization that publishes and not too time-consuming," says Ms had stayed awake to give it to Kadogo the magazine. Kassim-Lakha. many times during the night." The mortality rate for young Kenyan In 1986, IDRC funded an evaluation ot This is the opening paragraph from a children is high: for every 1000 live births, the impact of the magazine on children's Kenyan children's health learning package 121 children die before age S. Waterborne health-related behaviour and attitudes, called The Mazingira Magazinewhich diarrheal diseases are responsible for many using the contest as a survey mechanism. tries to teach Kenyan and Ugandan chil- of these deaths. Only 28 percent of Over 2500 schoolchildreninupper dren that "good healthis everyone's Kenya's population has access to safe primary school (standards 5, (' and 7) sent right". The annual publication is an in- drinking water, and 55 percent of Kenya's replies. Students and head teachers in both novative approach to health education. It rural population lives below the absolute rural and urban schools w ere also inter- contains stories and comic strips about oral poverty level. In such an environment, viewed. rehydration therapy (a treatment against basic health education for example, The researchers found there was a dehydration caused by diarrhea), water learning the importance of clean drinking definite difference in knowledge between treatment, safe latrines, and rainwater water iscrucialifchildrenareto the control group (which had received catchment Educational board games that survive. copies of an earlier issue on environment ) can be played with stones or pebbles. and When the Mazingira learning package andthe experimental group (which contests that enable researchers to find out was launched in 199, it concentrated on received the issue on water and sanitation). how much children have actually learned environmental issues. In 1983, however, However, the survey did not provide a from the magazine are also included. its focus was switched to health issues. clear indication as to whether exposure to Inthisfictitioth story, Juma's aunt Each of the 12 700 primary schools in the magazine also elicited improved health arrives at the house and tells him they must Kenya (and some in the Kampala district behaviour in the experimental group. not feed Kadogo anything until the diar- of Uganda) receives 10 copies of the "It's very difficult for children to make rhea stops. Juma replies, "Oh no! I learned 16-page colour magazine once a year. This behavioural changes in the home," says Ms in school that we must give those with of course isn't enough for students to have Kassim-Lakha. "We're not disappointed. diarrhea something to eat so that they can their own personal copy, but Mazingira These are tomorrow's parents and hope- become well and stay strong." Aunty is can't afford to print more. fully the behavioural changes will be in- skeptical but she "could feel how much "We recommend that teachers pin it up,troduced then." The students in standards Juma believed in what he was saying and and put it in the library and, morc im 5 to are between 12 and 15 years old. she was very proud that Juma had the portantly, use it as class material," says MsAccording to Ms Kassim-Lakha "It will chance to go to school and learn new Kassim-Lakha. only be two to four years before these girls things." Rather than simply writing what theybecome parents." Juma then prepares an uji (finely ground think is suitable for a young readership, the maizt porridge for Kadogo. 1k tells his editorial team asks the children to answer aunt that -Giving Kadogo food will not certain questions printed in the contestA nia is a teraer/editor in II1R(''s stop the diarrhea but if she eats a little bit section of the magazine. For example:Hurnan Resource's l)iurston many. times during the day, then some of "Where does your family fetch water the nutrients will remain in her and make from? What was a common cure for diar- her feel better." He also continues to give rhea in the old days?" The children mail her the "special drink" Oral Rehydra- their answers to the editors and the top .10 tion Solution. That evening Kadogo is receive prizes such as gilt tokens that can much better and by the next week she is be exchanged for books The children's healthy again"She had not lost any answers "give us insights into what the weight so she WM active and ready to play with Juma again

1 5 2 Issue: Health

Article 7:"Chosen to Deliver" by Michele Chandler, Africa News, May 30, 1988. "Chosen To Deliver" HARARE It was daybreak when traditional midwife Re- becca Mulakaza arrived at the one-room house in Nyamande village. Inside the house, 28-year-old Mildred Katare's labor pains were coming quickly. The closest hospital was 25 miles south in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital. The nearest clinic was a three- mile walk down the narrow dirt path that is the village's main road. Mulakaza pulled out a small bag And so, apparently, do the women recommend the most respected folk containing the tools of her trade: they serve: although formal health midwives for the program. some string, a razor blade, alcohol care is increasingly available in And the classes have made a and a jar of Vaseline. She washed her Zimbabwe, an estimated 807c of all difference in the quality of care hands with water drawn from an babies born here are delivered by midwives give, says Royce Nambela, outside well and calmly went to midwives. the nurse in charge of the Chinamora work. Four hours later, when Mu- Mulakaza, 59, says she first learned clinic near Nyamande village. "The lakaza told Katare "to sit up on the her skills by watching other mid- traditional midwives were doing bed and push the baby out," Katare's wives at work and in "vivid dreams." deliveries before, but with the wrong baby girl, Wendy, was born. But since 1983, she and approxi- methods," says Nambela, whose clinic After delivery, Mulakaza cut the mately 10,000 other midwives have serves 6,500 people. umbilical cord with the freshly-boiled completed a ten-week, government- By tradition, for example, the razor, tied it with a clean string and run course designed to teach them newborn's freshly-cut umbilical cord dabbed alcohol on the stump. She simple medical techniques. is rubbed with animal feces to help it oiled the baby with Vaseline, bathed "The feeling was that since the dry. This practice has been blamed for the tired mother and later accompa- midwives were doing so many several cases of infant tetanus at the nied the pair to the community clinic deliveries, the government might as Chinamora clinic. for their post-birth examination. well optimize their services," Sparks During their course, folk midwives This year, Mulakaza who has says. "They wanted to help the are taught to use alcohol to sterilize been a traditional midwife in her midwives do their deliveries better, the navel areaand according to rural community since 1962has to teach them hygiene and how to Nambela, no cases of infant tetanus delivered 16 babies. And because of identify an abnormal pregnancy that have been seen at the clinic this year. the Zimbabwe government's newly should be sent to a clinic." "That also indicates the midwives intensified interest in the health care After finishing the class, the mid- really understand what they've of mothers and infants, the midwife's wives receive badges that read learned and have changed their techniques combine age-old practices "Vanyarnukuta," which translates frompractices," Nambela says. with basic modern medical knowl- the local Shona language as "the aunt Part of the reason for the continu- edge. who delivers the babies." By then, theing importance of the midwives is Zimbabwe's folk midwives are the women have learned why they must that in the rural areaswhere 80% of subject of a nine-month study com- sterilize the makeshift instruments all Zimbabweans livehealth care is pleted in December by Michigan they use, the importance of wasl ng still hard to come by. Nationwide, State University researcher Barbara their hands before attending to o Zimbabwe averages one physician Sparks. The majority of the midwives woman giving birth, and methods forper 8,000 people, but the government Sparks interviewed were older diagnosing potentially difficult preg- estimates that there is only one married women who delivered nancies. And the training doesn't stopphysician per 100,000 people in rural babies in their extended families. there. To make sure they retain the areas. And whik hundreds of nurse- "They perform a tremendous new skills, the midwives must also run clinics have been built since servicr," Sparks, an assistant profes- attend monthly review sessions. independence, they are sometimes sor of obstethcs and gynecology at The courseswhich are designed inaccessible to the country's rural MSU's College of Osteopathic with the help of Zimbabwe physicianspopulation because of a lack of ready Medicine, says "They believe their are taught at local clinics by state- transportation. Rather than face a work is important." certified nurses. Community residentslong ride to a clinic on a bumpy dirt

1 51 Session 4

Article 7 (cont'd.) road in an ox-drawn cart or wheel- "We think the midwives are doing four hours. While there are barrow, some women elect to have a good job because they're getting thesome positive things, ... their babies at home. women to go to the hospital after the some things are very dan- Many other women also choose birth. Before, that may not have been gerous, and that concerns midwives because they want to happening," said a ministry spokes- me." perpetuate traditions. "A lot of woman. On the positive side, more women are culturally more comfort- But along with the popularity of and more midwives are able delivering in their homes," folk midwives, longstanding super- completint, :he Sparks says. "The women l'inter- stitions have persisted. Beliefs in government's training viewed said they wanted to deal withwitches and other evil-doers are program. their pain in privacy. They didn't ingrained in traditional Zimbabwe But although they are want people to see them making society and rural women often fear gaining in stature as profes- funny faces." that the midwives are actually sionals, the women are not Another bonus, as far as the witches who will intentionally cause usually paid much for their mothers are concerned, is that difficulties in the delivery process. services. Often they are supportive friends - often female For that reason, midwives are almost given no more than $10or relativesare allowed to be in a exclusively summoned very shortly sugar, soap, milk or bread women's home during the delivery, a before the birth. in lieu of cash. But as practice forbidden in many Zim- "They tell their husbands to come midwife Joyce Gabriellea babwe hospitals. and get me when it is time for the 39-year-old who lives on a Women here also appear to be pains," says Enrieda Shoniwa, 55, commercially-owned farm more at ease when their labor is who has been a traditional midwife near Raffingora, 200 miles from attended by a traditional midwife. in Nyamande village since 1960. Harare - explained, they consider According to a 1984 study done by a "Before that, they do not talk about their work an obligation to the University of Zimbabwe psychiatry it." community. professor, 100 of 104 rural women There have been complaints about "I was chosen to deliver the babies. and 35 of 40 in the cities wanted a untrained midwives attending have to do it," she says, adding, "I'll folk midwife with them during severely complicated deliveries. be delivering babies until I die." hospital and clinic births, even Sometimes their judgments have - Michele Chandler though they know that is not usually resulted in the deaths of mothers and allowed. infants. "I've seen one untrained For the most part, folk midwives midwife manage two women, both in have the somewhat cautious support labor and pushing, side-by-side," of Zimbabwe's medical community. says Sparks. I've also seen a four- "In most cases, they are okay, be- pound, premature baby wrapped in a cause 90% of all pregnant women willwet blanket who had not been fed for deliver normally, no matter what," one Harare physician says. Dr. Jonathan Kasule, the head of obstetrics and gyne- cology at the University of Zimbabwe, adds, "In rural areas, they do serve a pur- pose, even though there is no "0 official interaction between 4, the hospital and the tradi- tional birth attendants. But I don't think they'll ever be integrated formally." a Increasing numbers of women have come to hospi- tals and clinics for postnatal . visits since the start of the midwives' training program, , Avow the ministry of health Sir reports. Midwife loyce Gabrielle, Michyle Chandler 154

BE3i COPY AVAILABLE Issue: Health

Article 8:"AIDS: African Origin Disputed." Africa News, June 13, 1988.

African Origin Disputed

sk the average person where AIDS but there are indications that the inci- of Nature, a British scientific periodical, Afirst started and the answer will dence of the disease in Africa has been Carel Mulder of the University of Massa- likely be "Africa." seriously overestimated. chusetts Medical School writes that In recent years, much of the scientific as In the highly charged atmosphere of differences in the viruses identified in well as the popular literature dealing withAIDS discussions, such allegations are monkeys and in humans indicate that the origins of the human immunodefi- inevitably controversial. No country, "the human viruses cannot have origi- ciency virus (HIV) - which is believed to region or people wants to be "blamed" nated from African green monkeys in causeAIDS-has pointed to Africa as the for spreading a deadly plague - and no recent times, as had been predicted by incubator of the disease. researcher wants to be accused of sloppy many people." Mulder says that claim That view will be debated this week at science. But African scientists like David "was usually based on what was very an international conference on AIDS in Gazi of Zimbabwe have welcomed the probably a case of mistaken identity" - Stockholm, as increasing numbers of challenge to the prevailing Western view.the identification of the monkey virus African scientists take issue with the That is not to say that all Western with its human variant. research assumptions and methods scientists have accepted the A1DS-from- The idea that AIDS is bound to be an that led to the theory of AIDS' African Africa theory. An October 1985 article in African catastrophe is also being chal- origins. the British medical journal The biricet lenged. In February, U.S. Agency .or The case against those assumptions published the results of a West German International Development official Gary has been made most comprehensively study of blood serum collected from overMerritt told a Boston scientific con- by Richard and Rosalind Chirimuuta, 3,000 central, west and east Africans sinceference that the success of important whose book, A:4s, Africa arid Racism, 19Sl. "It would seem," the researchers public health campaigns in Africa will was published recently in Britain. concluded, "that the epidemic of AIDS inbe threatened if AIDS gets all the atten- 'Be Chirimuutas argue that Western Africa started at about the same time as, tion. researchers have been more influenced or even later than, the epidemic in Aithough admitting that AIDS is than they realire by a pervasive racism America and Europe." already a "tragedy" in some African that associates black people with "dirt, A year later, the Iriti,h Medh.al Pieria/ countriesas it is in the United States disease, ignorance and an animal-like published another West German study. Merritt said that concern about the sexual promiscuity.' The result, the This time, more than 6,0(X) African blood disease should Iv matched by an equal Chirimuutas say, is conclusions that samples were tested for HIV antibodies. emphasis on "child immunization and have been reached by flawed research The findings, the researchers said, "do notother programs that are just beginning to methods, questionable data and support the hypothesis of the disease catch fire very rapidly in sub-Saharan unscientific, illogical leaps from originating in Africa." Africa." observations to conclusions. The widespread theory that the African None of the critics of the conventional Not only has Africa been ac epted, green monkey somehow transmitted the view of AIDS in Africa suggest that the without sufficient evidence, as the AIDS virus to humans is also coining problem is minimal. But the Chirimuutas birthplace of AIDS, say the chirimuutas, under closer scrutiny In the June 2 issue argue persuasively that AIDS has been

1ri '3 Session 4

Article 8 (coned.)

say further that this "is a minimal estimate, and it is comparable with or higher than the rate in San Francisco or New York." The Chirimuutas marv.2l at that about 75% conclusion. "On the basis of a three week study," they write, "with limited diagnos- (Of the cam resorted from theAmencas,GO% are from the Untt'd Stales ) tic facilities, an unscientific method and a sample size of less than 30 pa..ents, Kinshasa's AIDS problem is worse than San Francisco's." The Chirimuutas cite possible explana- tions for what they believe are inflated estimates of the number of African AIDS cases. Among them are studies suggest- ing that AIDS tests on Africans have an unusually high false positive rate - perhaps because diseases endemic in parts of Africa, such as malaria, may SOURCE The Wand Heel, Organeetra. trigger a false result. Whatever the accuracy of any theories about AIDS, the Chirimuutas build a seen where it did not necessarily exist. But the Chirimuutas suggest that strong case for reevaluating the data. "I Among their most scathing attacks is a scientific publications have been as think it's a very serious book," says critique of a series last year in thc British Victoria Brittain, an editor at London's guilty as the press of indulging their Guardian. "It deserves very careful Guardian. authors' fancies. To support that study." "In 1980," writes reporter Peter claim, they cite a July 1984 article in Murtagh in an article on Kenya, "some of If nothing else, a conscientious ques- The Lancet by prominent AIDS tioning of former assumptions might the prostitutes were tested for AIDS at researchers. The study's authors make Africans feel less like scapegoats for their local sexually transmitted disease visited Zaire, where they evaluated the clinic. At that time, none was HIV a problem too critical to be treated as a clinical symptoms of some two dozen political tool. positive. Three years later, 53 per cent hospital patients, but did not do were...." sophisticated diagnostic tests because The Chirimuutas point out that AIDS of "limited facilities." The researchers was first recognized in the United States concluded that the average rate of in 1981, and that the AIDS blood test AIDS infection in Kinshasa, Zaire's was only introduced in 1984. capital, is "about 17 per 100,000." They

Article 9:"AIDS: New Threat to the Third World," by Lori Heise, Seeds, April 1988. AIDS: NewThreat to Third World

Lori Ileise munodeticiency syndrome (AIDS), within a decade 5 to 30 million peo- threatens to have an impact of equal ple could be dead or dying of AIDS. epidemics measure in parts o the third world. Assessing the scope of AIDS in have been as profound an Unless brought under control, AIDS developing countries is particularly agent for societal change could undermine decades of prog- difficult. Many third world govern- aswars.rhe smallpox ress toward improved health and mentsgiven competing priorities virus that Corte, loosed tq'on the sustained economic development and limited resourceslack the diag- Aztecs was largely responsible for By 1986, only five N'ears after the nostic equipment and funds neces- Spam's conquest of this mighty em- virus was first identified, the World sary for AIDS surveillance. Others pire. !he plague that ravaged 14th lealthOrganitatinn I())e,,t, tear that acknowledging All )!-; case, ,enturv Furope ruptured the bonds inated that betweenand 10 million could ieopardiic the touristreve- Of hmdalisin,1.11",t1t11,i',the power people worldwide %coreI 11V k nues aild toreign investmcnt upon 'oaloni4 ht'tVt't'll rt',I(illt (Indhil nets `norapidlistheintei hon IlL htheir economies depend h`ti(IV disease. a(quired im spreading that cl )prniei ts that studies trom s,,veral Atrican cities 156 Issue: Health

Article 9 (coned.)

A deadly virus could unravel decades of development.

have documented a 2 to 20 percent accompany othersexuallytrans- transfusions in the absence of other rate of HIV infection among healthy mitteddiseases(STD's)increase remedies and the reuse of unsterile adults, with women being exposed chances of infection. Sadly, STDs are needles are practices of underde- as often as men. This compares to a far more endemic in the Third World veloped or overtaxed health care sys- figure of 0.15 percent among U.S. thaninindustrial countries and tems that encourage the spread of military volunteersthe best com- treatment is less accessible. AIDS. parable nationwide figure for Amer- Many third world governments Unhygienic conditions resulting icans in the same age groupsand also do not have the equipment or from poverty may intensify the im- a figure of 2.9 percent for volunteers the money necessary to test blood pact of AIDS in many developing from New York, New Jersey and before transfusions, a form of HIV countries. It has been proposed that Pennsylvania. transmission largely eliminated in third world peoplesindeed poor Thus the infection rate in sot le the United States and Europe. The people in generalmay be more sus- Africancitiesis about 100 times United States spends $80 to 1(X) mil- ceptible to AIDS because of prior and higher than in the United States as lion a year ($6 to 8 per unit of blood) repeated exposures to other infec- a whole, and five times higher than to protect its citizens from a rela- tions that overtax their immune in the New York region. And AIDS tively small risk of contracting HIV systems. in Africa is no longer confined to the from transfusions. In Africa today Indeed, the poor in developing cities. In some rural areas, especially the risk to blood recipients may' be countriesmore at risk and less able near main roads, from two to tive as high as one in ten, vet in many to protect themselves from in- percent of healthy adults and ot areas blokid is still not screened. fection will likelybe dispropor- pregnant women now test IIIV posi- Unfortunately,conditionsalso tionately affected by AIDS, just as ti conspire to make transfusions more poor, urban blacks and Hispanics are 'Together these studies lead WI i0 common in tropical Africa than in in the United States. to estimate that two million or more industrialized nations. Severe ane- InAfrica,certain demographic Africans carry the virus, making Af- mias, long delays between obstetric characteristics may combine with rica the hardest hit continent in the or other bleeding and arrival at hos- poverty to make AIDS particularly world. pital, and many serious road acci- difficult to control. Forty percent of dents make the amount of blood the continent's population is in its AIDS Spreads in the Third World needed by African hospitals as much sexually active years, a higher per- Unlike the industrial world where as three times greater than that re- centage than anywhere in the world. AIDS isprimarily communkated quired by general hospitals in the The proportion of Afric,.,n children throughhomosexualintercourse industrial world. moving from prepuberty into the and the sharing of needles between )evelopmg countries desperately years ot se\ ual activity is lit- wise drug addicts, an estimated three- need a quick, me\ pensive blood test greater. fourthsot AIDS transmissionin tor I that is not ,....ensitive to hem. Africa occuN through heterosexual I hereis hope thatatest newly contactI he remaining transmission developed by DuPont may be availa- occurs from mc ier to child during ble tor distribution this year. pregnancy or birth, and through Inaddlnlin,underdevelopment exchange (It infected blood during promotes many torms of behavior transfusions or rt'llSt' Ot. Ilt'l'ditn by that increase risks tor transmission health care providers. ot the virus. For eample, lad. itt eco I he overall rate ot transnw.sion ..yportunity rtirdl likely to remain greater in theI hird pi din( al insecurity, tamine, ,tod W.11 World than in indwatial countries operate to inaca,0 the number ot beca use OtL Crt,1111rl'ailtP",titIitt' ,eual partner, ot developing (vorld there. !wow, ii iis1iI ak nig poisons and I III \,11111)10,researt hers belie\ ,eparatin,r, tamilies that the genital son, that ',Himont\ .d \ l't t

157 Session 4

Article 10: "In Our Own Way: Third World Spreads the Word on AIDS" by Marty Rad lett, Panoscope, May 1988. from the AIDS virus in Africa and Zambia's AIDS tee-shirt club "IN OUR OWN other parts of the world. Kaunda The Kenyan pop group, The Students at the David Secondary Technical School in Lusaka WAY": Third Mushrooms, has put the AIDS message to music at the request of the ministry joined the country's AIDS offensive by World spreads of health and thc Kenyan Red Cross. forming an "Anti-A1DS" club. the word on The song has been recorded in English Members vow to abstain from sex until and Swahili and 2,000 copies have marriageandtoprotectrelatives, AIDS been given away free to radio and friends and classmates by educaUng television stations, disc jockeys, and themabout the disease, encouraging Marty Rad lett thc public transport system. them topractiseresponsible sexual behaviour and to avoid prostitution. The AIDS prevention message is "AIDSKills,LifeisPrecious"is broadcast with a disco beatin From pulpit and podium printed on members' tee-shirts. The Zaire and Guinea-Bissau; handed out club has the support of the Ministry of in leaflets during Brazilian Carnival; An overwhelming majority of Health, and the students hope the idea preached from the pulpit and taught to Ugandans, 92%,regularly attend spreads to other schools su "young schoolchildren in Uganda; written on church services one of the best people ..keep themselves and their the tee shirtsofZambiankids; places to reach the whole family with a friends safe from this deadly disease". dramatised in gatherings of prostitutes message about the disease that, where in Kenya;andhand-deliveredby itspreads heterosexually, can infect "Women of the night" join former drug users in Ncw York City to adults,teenagersand(where the the addicts, mostly black and Hispanic, mother is infected) babies. The Roman the fight still at risk. Designed and delivered by Catholic and Anglican ministries have A group of prostitute; in Nairobi, %,k it people from the communities which adapted the official government slogan HIV infection rates over O in 19S'7, theyare meant tohelp,successful "Love Carefully" to "Love Faithfully". decided they needed to learn how to Third World AIDS campaigns prove The Baptist Church distributes a "Good control and prevent AIDS once againthat whenitcomes to News Bible"withaspecialinsert dramatic results. Kenya's chief nursing development, the real experts are the advising readers that the bible answers officer Eli/abeth Ngugi spent many communities themselves. questions about AIDSby preaching months meeting and getting to know sexual chastity and faithfulness, and to the women w holiveinrun-down respond to people with AIDS with apartment buildings and cater largely I'op music says prevention compassion. to truckdriver;who travel troill Secondary school teachers are using The lyrics of Franco Luambo's recent Mombasa into Uganda and beyond. puppets, role-playing, songs, posters The wonien elected a eommatee ot pop record "Attention na Sida" and play-actingin the classroom to ReV, are of AIDS) is not aimed just at those who had the best knowledge ot educate about AIDS. The purpose of young disco dancers. The lyrics urge condom use and AIDS prevention to the special teaching kit, supplied by the clergy, teachers and parents to use their shaTe their knowledge and motivate ministryofeducation, the AIDS influence to teaeh society about AIDS. others to use and pronhoe emmtbmis Programme UNICEF Parents ''do not cover your faces (be Control and Group andindividual counselling Kampala,is to inform young pupils to disc WO, their ashamed)",thesingerpleads,"tell allowedwomen these young one; all sou knock. about about the risks and responsibilitie, of problems and consider solution, sex beforethe y become sexual I y and against AIDS". Reluctance otthe women to discuss ,q:tive. In some cases, temale teachers An AIDS song contest in sex Openly was overcome through a and male Guinea-Bissau paeked a spot-Ls such= meet separately \kith girls song which was sung atpublic teachers with boys so that pupils meetings, and the proiect uses andattracted 23contestants.'Me ot an al 1extklises paid holiday feel free to ask questions about sex and raleplaying and dramatisatwnwith reproduction without embarrassment. to Lisbon sangintheloeal dialect great success. about Maria, the girl se ith the beautiful All aspects of the AIDS epidemic are The result\1/4 ,isa remarkable riseIII hods "w ho said s es lo all men...alter covered. Students learn the facts and ondom use. 50 01 the women insist they also learn the consequences of lyo. 0110;caps, she flecarne so their clients use condoms all the time thin spreading rumours or refusing to care and arother 4W; repott oecasional use. tamily menilms: the quarrel In doeloping countries wt1,1'0 torill The r;te of new HIV ink% lions has illiteraey rates may be high, music 11,LS NOIllefamilythatretcms an AIDS decline I signnit iantly. And the omen thepotentialtorea:h theentire pati,mt does not give a pioper burial have been encouraging their Liklitsto population e,:pcLiall teenagers and n...1);hbours talk about their bad misc l'ontiMIls with all their partners soung adults, the group inost atrisk k.11,1\ lour, and -the fumly breaks apart bl'k.allC OW). Lan 110lolqler MINI 14 are for each other Session 5: The Military Connection

Goal: To establish greater awareness among participants of the linkages between the U.S. and Africa on militarism. Session Length: Approximately 2 hours, 15 minutes. In a manner similar to Session 4, this session encourages participants to look at military spending and its relationship to local communities in the United States and to the African context. Facts on militarism in the U.S. and in Africa are juxtaposed to provide a context for global understanding. Militarism has been selected as a topic of special scrutiny, because it's an area where an educated population and redirected leadership in the U.S. can make an significant difference in creating conditions for peace both here and in Africa. For example, the land mines that have been planted by insurgent forces in fields, along paths, near wells and villages in Angola, maiming thousands of civilians (particularly women and children) have been supplied to the South Africa-supported UNITA rebel forces by the U.S. This particular anti- personnel weapon, called the Claymore mine, was manufactured in Shreveport, Louisiana. It was used extensively in Vietnam. In Angola, it is a weapon not used between armies, but by rebel forces against the people with enormous psychological impact. U.S.-manufactured Stinger missiles have also been supplied on a regular basis to UNITA. This situation bears a striking resemblance to U.S. aid to the contra rebels in Nicaragua. U.S. taxpayers can apply pressure to put an end to the perpetuation of the cycles of war and ensuing poverty and famine encouraged by U.S. military assistance.

Activities: Participants learn about how military spending affects their own local community. They share what they learned from the readings about militarism in the African context. Through an inquiry process, they may find that similar dynamics on military spending link their community here in the United States with those in Africa. They will outline the kinds of action responses to the issues emerging from their analysis. They announce up-coming Africa-related events; share findings on the local Africa resource network. They set the agenda for Session 6, and designate responsibilities.

Suggested Equipment and Materii%is: African foods brought oy participants easel and newsprint to mark participants' questions, responsibilities a table to display any Africa-related literature a bulletin board to pin up a map of Africa, relevant artic.ICS and announ( ements thumb tacks, scissors, tape video player

A J 159 Session 5

Recommended Videos:

Women and Children First the Human Cost of the Arms Race This video makes connections between runaway military spending and increased poverty among women and children in the United States and worldwide. (21 minutes) Available for rent free of charge from the Film Library, Church World Services, P.O. Box 968, 28606 Phillips St., Elkhart, IN 46515 (219) 264-3102.

Witness to Apartheid In this video, victims of South Africa's institutionalized racism those who dare tell their stories. A very graphic, moving presentation. (36 or 56 minutes) Available for rent free of charge from the Film Library, Church World Services, P.O. Box 968, 28606 Phillips St., Elkhart, IN 46515 (219) 264-3102.

Destructive Engagement This explosive docunientary criss-crosses the Front Line States Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique, Botswana, and Zambia in an unprecedented investigation of South Africa's regional war. (52 minutes) Available for rent free of charge from the Film Library, Church World Services, P.O. Box 968, 28606 Phillips St., Elkhart, IN 46515 (219) 264-3102.

160 RF1 COPY AVAILABLE The Military Connection

Session Outline:

1.Presentation on how military spending affects the local community (40 minutes) Facts about the impact of military spending in the U.S. and ideas for local inquiry are provided in the introduction to the readings below. A group participant or a speaker from the local area is invited to provide a presentation on how militarism (i.e. defense spending) affects the local community. Useof any relevant articles or handouts is greatly encouraged. Particularly relevant is information on how militarism affects different population groups on the local level, and what role is played by racism and discrimination against so- called "minority" cultures. This presentation (approx. 15 minutes long) will be followed by a question answer period for participants (15 minutes). Using a flipchart, participants will then list the priority areas of local concern on the issue (10 minutes). (After completion of this activity may be the ideal moment to take a short break for refreshments).

2.Presentations on the readings (30 minutes): After consulting the facts on Africa contained in the introduction to the readings and briefing each other on the articles (if all participants have not already read them), participants will prepare a list (also on flipchart paper) of what they feel are priority areas of concern for militarism in Africa.

3.Discussion on possible linkages between Africa and the local context on militarism and appropriate action responses (30 minutes) Comparing the lists of local vs. Africa areas of concern, the participants clarify the linkages that emerge. What kinds of action responses would be responsive to these concerns?

4.Updates on the local African resource network (10 minutes) As with every session, the facilitator asks participants to announce: progress on the list of African resources in the area (people; the local networkof African area organizations and coalitions; and relevant libraries and resource centers).

i nt articles and media coverage on Africa (clippings should be shared on a bulletin board). up-coming Africa-related events (speakers, movies, exhibits, films, festivals, etc.)

.5. Serting the agenda for Session 6: Where do we go from here? (10 minutes) Before leaving, all participants should know what their responsibilities are for the next session. They should: set a time, place and duration for Session 6 designate facilitator(s) if necessary assign reading of the session activities to all participants nominate person(s) who will bring African-style refreshments to the next meeting.

I 161 Session 5

Facts About the Military in the United States: Since World War II, the U.S. economy has relied heavily on the defense industry. Ina ..ased dependency on the military sector has led to the promotion of militaristic responses to situations of conflict both domestically and overseas, a tendency to seek military solutions to social problems. This is true for U.S. policy in Africa and other parts of the Third World, as much as for gang wars and drug- related violence in our urban areas. Ruth Leger Sivard's World Military and Social Expenditures reveals to us the following facts concerning militarism: Annual expenditures on the military in the U.S. throughout the 1980s has been between $225 to $250 billion, the highest level of military expenditures in the world. Increasingly, the U.S. Government has put money into military research: a 1988 estimate by the National Science Foundation estimated that $47 billion went into military research, while $4 billion and $17 billion respectively went to space and civilian research. Over $4 billion are spent each year through U.S. firms to provide security assistance to developing nations, stimulating our economy at the same time that we strengthen strategic global alliances. (Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs). From 1970 to 1980, the overall budget deficit grew steadily, proportionately with the increase in the national defense budget.

The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) andRuth Leger Sivard (RLS), have outlined the following alternatives to spending for military purposes:

I Elimination of the National Boards for the diseases, preventing one million deaths a Promotion of Rifle Practice: This Board year ($1,436,000,000). (RLS) no longer serves a military purpose and I The cost of two fighter aircraft equals the has become identified with handgun cost of installing 300,000 hand pumps to peddlers. Savings, $4 million a year give villages access to safe water in enough to buy nearly 10 million mid- Africa ($45,000,000). (RLS) afternoon snacks for preschoolers in child care. (CDF) 0 One nuclear weapon test equals the cost of training 40,000 community health 0 Stop Forgiving Loans for Foreign Military workers in Africa ($12,000,000). (RLS) Sales: Each year we "forgive" about $4 billion in loans to foreign governments to 0 The cost of two infantry combat vehicles cover weapons purchased from us. equals that of a year's supply of nutrition Ceasing to export "forgiveness" would supplements for 5,000 pregnant women save about $4 billion a year enough to at risk ($1,000,000). (RLS) fund Head Start for every poor three- and The cost of operating a B-1 bomber for four-year-old child. (CDE) one hour equals that of community- The cost of 50 MX "Peacekeepers" based maternal health care in 10 African equals a year's cost of U.S. health villages to reduce maternal deaths by programs for long-term home care for half in a decade ($21,000). (RLS) about 1 million chronically-ill children 0 The cost of 9mm personal defense and elderly in the U.S. ($4,540,000,000). weapon a military pistol equals (RLS) that of a year's supply of vitamin A 0 The cost of a Trident submarine equals capsules for 1,000 pre-school children at that of a 5-year program for universal risk ($212). (RLS) child immunization against 6 deadly

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±.) Facts About the Military in Africa: More than half of African nations are military-controlled ;overnments.This means key political leadership is exercised by military officers, the existence of a state of marital law, extrajudicial authority exercised by security force3, lack of central political control over armed forces, or occupation byforeign military forces. Cameroon, Chad, Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, as well as "freedom fighters" (such as Jonas Savimbi and UNITA in Angola) are recipients of U.S. military assistance. (Other major suppliers include the Soviet Union, France, Great Britain, West Germany, Italy, and China). U.S. and/or NATO Allies have forces in twelve African nations. Atrocities in the Southern Africa Frontline States, Western Sahara, and the Horn are made worse through military supplies from U.S. Developing nations (particularly certain African nations such as Zaire) supply 72% of our strategic minerals and other rawmaterials critical to our industry and security (Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs). On the whole, public expenditures for the military are higher thanfor education and health for African nations.

b BEST COPY AVAILABLE Session 5

Ideas for Local Inquiry: Military Instead of Social Programs Spending

What military 'installations exist in your local area? What kind of installationsare they? Who works at these installations? Have any people been displaced in order to accommodate these military installations? Who are they? Are any weapons manufactured in your area? What kind of %.'eapons are they? Areany of these weapons expoqed? Do any of them end up in Africa? What would happen if the money put into defense would be channeled into jobs, housing, education, health care? Who would benefit? Who would suffer in your community (in terms of lost jobs) from such a change? Does this represent an alternative future for your community? Are there any firms with Department of Defense contracts? What kinds of research/consulting services do they do? How are they beneficial/harmful to your community? Do any of their activities relate to Africa? Are there any war toys manufacturers in your area? How do they advertise their products? How is the military portrayed in the local media? Is there an alternative press that addresses military issues? What kinds of organizations and coalitions exist that are opposing military presence in your community? What success have they had in organizing? What kinds of obstacles have they erwountered? Do the kinds of alternatives mentioned by the Children's Defense Fund and Ruth Leger Sivard make sense for your community to advocate? How are social problems in your community connected to the military presence?

Through this inquiry, what conclusions can you make:

1)concerning specific problem areas relating to military expenditures in your community?

2)concerning connections with Africa on militarism?

3)What kind of action in response to this issue would you recommend and participate in? II

111 1111 -.6sfbesost rqselle II 66 ,41411illia 112111-Sebes* Se Orql. 11. Sea assii &SID 11.seibee 11000

164 The Militar Connection

Overview of the Readings for Session 5:The Military Connection

In stark contrast to the Africa where demonstrates the extent of United States gov- hospitality, charity, and close family ties are ernment intervention on African soil. highly valued, there is another Africa: one of The continent's wealthiest nation, South irvasions, civil wars, conflicts Of varying Africa, continues to harbor a white minority intensity, and coups d'etat. Militarization the regime that withholds the most basic human has process of building up military forces rights from its black majority population. Possi- become a way of life in areas all over Africa. bilities for a non-violent solution to abolishing More than half of the 54 countries and apartheid remain unclear. The struggle for the disputed territories in Africa are under military right to speak one's own language, to exchange rule. African nations continue to allocate an books and ideas, to obta:n equal pay for equal overwhelming percentage of their constrained work, and to own land are the powerful roots budgets to their military forces rather than edu- from which the South African people's Freedom cation and health forces (teachers and nurses). Charter and the African National Congress War always takes its highest toll on civilian pop- (ANC) have grown. ulations, who are forced to leave their homes, Through military and police coercion and a land and livelihood on a moment's notice to system of pass laws and race classification, the seek safety on paths often littered with explosive South African regime has forced the removal of land mines. War and conflict have led to as massive numbers of South African blacks to many as 10 million refugees andhundreds of prisons, townships, house arrest, and the barren thousands of victims of famine and starvation on Bantustans, the "Bantu homelands." Basic in- the African continent. formation about apartheid is found in article 1. Pre-colonial Africa may have had a history of The glossary helps clarify some concepts basic to regional, ethnic, and religious conflicts, and of understanding apartheid. indigenous empire-building. However, colonial Excerpts from Alan Paton's landmark novel conquest, made possible with the introduction of (article 2) remind us how little has changed in Africa. guns, has clearly exacerbated warfare in South Africa over the past four decades. Paton The past century alone has seen the delineation decries the violation of a land and its people: of mostly artificial national borders, massive "Cry the beloved country for the unborn child changes in the distribution of resources and that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love wealth, the imposition of Westernized political the earth too deeply." These words haunt us as systems, and ready accessibility of sophisticated much today as when they were written in 1948. weaponry. The stubborn unwillingness to release Even today, industrialized nations are all but Nelson Mandela (ANC leader jailed for 27 neutral in situations of conflict in Africa. With years), declaration of a state of emergency, ban colorful images of military pomp and notorious of foreign journalists, afflicted national economy, military leaders (e.g. Col. Moammar al Qaddafi and recent transition of power from Pieter W. and (di Amin), the media has done much to Botha to Frederik W. de Klerk, clearly demon- sensationalize though rarely accurately strate that all is not calm within the white mi- explain the role militarization plays on the nority regime. A rising number of white South continent. With the exception perhaps of African men refuse to serve in the army and Southern African, the international media only choose to go to jail rather than be forced to occasionally highlights the horrors of war; con- defend apartheid. The "End Conscription Cam- flicts in less known weas, such as the Western paign" described in article 3, is an example of Sahara ar j Chad, hardly exist in the eyes of the dissenting white South Africans who are also at world. President 13wh's pledge to support Jonas the core of the fight against apartheid rule. Savimbi and the UNITA terrorist "freedom fighters" in Angola before his inauguration day

165 Session 5

South African militarization extends to and a fair distribution of scarceresources, the neighboring countries known as the Frontline Sudanese people have taken to heavy internal States. The brutal destabilization campaign in fighting, armed with importedweapons. Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Angola (article 4) is managed by South Africa-backed The Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict described in terrorist organizations such as UNITA and article 9 has the dubious distinction as the RENAMO, which, both directly and indirectly longest ongoing war in Africa 28 years, have received military assistance from the claiming more than 500,000 lives. Eritrea, for- United States. Peasant farmers, children, and the merly an Italian colony, was illegally annexed to elderly are most often the victims of this kind of Ethiopia by Emperor Haile Selassi in 1962,upon terror. which the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), one of the best organized movements for In 1989, newspapers, journals, and television self-determination in Africa, took up armed i;etworks heralded the forthcoming resistance. An entire generation of Eritreans has independence of Africa's "last colony," Namibia. grown up in wartime conditions. Children attend Namibia's history, its original occupation by the schools in underground caverns and farmers German Empire, make for a "troubled past" cultivate at night and camouflage their homes to described in article 5. South Africa has spent protect them from air attacks by Ethiopian fighter over $1 million a day to maintain its economic planes. A resolution to the conflict may benear, and military domination in Namibia. As as Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam and Namibia's first general elections approaches, Eritrean representatives have agreed to negotiate Sam Nujoma, president of the Namibian with the mediation of former President Carter. independence movement SWAPO (South-West African People's Organization) who has spent 30 The war in the Western Sahara may be the years in exile, has great hopes for the future. world's least publicized conflict. It has been ongoing since 1973. At the heart of the dispute is Significant pressure on the apartheid regime control of precious minerals (particularly phos- comes from outside the region. Article 6 phate) under desert soil, the discovery of which describes the U.S. lobby against apartheid has increased tenfold the stakes for control ofa Stronger economic sanctions, broader education once forgotten region. With the help of France, of members of Congress and the U.S. population, the U.S. and Israel, Morocco has built fortified, and continuation of boycotts are foremost on guarded walls to enclose the mining centers in their agenda. territories belonging to the Western Sahara. Over Not only southern Africa, but also the Horn the past few years, hopes for a resolution of this of Africa has become increasingly conflict- conflict have risen and fallen, as Morocco and the Polisario (representing the Western Sahara ridden. Article 7 provides an overview of thewar zones in this region. A Sudanese scholar (article people) periodically declare their readiness to 8) explains the key factors that led to the civil negotiate and then fall back to fighting. war and massive starvation in Sudan, Africa's Iconically, the U.S. and European nations, largest nation. These include the unequal the most vociferous preachers of human rights, distribution of development resources (a trend play a key role in supplying certain governments that began under colonial rule), reinforced by or "freedom fighters" with military advisors, international interference, and racial and hardware, and even troops. The provision of religious tensions. The government has food, too, has become a weapon in the military consistently provided much-needed resources to game. Such facts force us to look at the role that develop an infrastructure to the north of Sudan. we, as United States citizens, must play in Meanwhile, long-neglected cities, towns and advocating a peaceful and conflict-frec. Africa. villages in southern Sudan have deteriorated toa point where they are almost uninhabitable. Although the solution lies in restructuring the government to reflect a commitment to pluralism

166 ThelatagConnection

Article 1:The Washington Office on Africa Education Fund."Understanding Apartheid," "Apartheid's Grand Design: The Bantustans," and "Glossary." SouthAfrica Information Packet. UNDERSTANDING APARTHEID

Definition white government controis every black person through a sophisticated computer network requiringall blacks Apartheid (pronounced apart-hate) is a word mean- over the age of 16 to carry a "passbook" at ell times. ing 'apart' or 'separate.' It is the system of legalized The passbook contains fingerprints, a photograph, and racism in the Republic of South Africa. Under apartheid, employment records. If it is not produced upon demand, all persons in South Africa are classified by the colorof blacks are jailed and fined. More than 13 million their skin into the following races: African; White Africans have been convicted of pass law offenses (Persons of European descent); Colored(persons of since the National Party came to powe, in 1948 racial& mixed descent); and Asian (mostly persons of almost 1,000 every day! Indian descent). Although there are only 4.5 million whites, under the repressive system of apartheid, they control every aspect of life for the 24 million blacks (including Africans, Coloreds, and Asians). The whites gained control over blacks in South Africa by taking their land. Today under apartheid, the most History fertile and mineral rich land, 87 percent of the country, is set aside for the white minority, while 13 percent of the Since 1652, when whites first entered South Africa, poorest land isleft for the black majority. Under they have inflicted racial oppression on the blacks living apartheid laws no black is allowed to own land in areas there. The whites are comprised of two main groups: restricted for whites only. Some blacks are allowed to The Afrikaners (those of Dutch ancestry) and the live in black townships near the urban areas, but they English (those of British ancestry). Because of superior are not allowed to purchase land. Blacks who have weapons, the Europeans were able to winthe continual purchased land that is later designated a "black spot" in wars they waged against the Africanpopulation. The a "white area" are stripped of their ownership and whites stripped the blacks of their land and livelihood. forcibly removed to areas designated for Africk' is. Their From the beginning all black resistance was brutally communities are bulldozed or burned. crushed, and blacks were forced to submit to laws The areas designated to Africans have been divided established and controlled by the whites. By 1948, the into ten barren reservations called "bantustans." These National Party, dominated by the Afrikaners, was elected bantustans are in remote rural areas where there are no to power by the white minority on a platform of further cities, no jobs, no access to health or educational strengthening white supremacy. Under this govern- facilities, and the land cannot support even minimal ment, South Africa has institutionalized its oppressive farming. At present approximately 50 percent of the apartheid policies to maintain total white control. African population lives in the bantustans. Of the ten bantustans, the apartheid government has declared a phony "independence" for four of them, thus stripping Apartheid in action blacks of rghts to citizenship in their own country. Under apartheid blacks are denied allpolitical, economic and social rights. By law they are denied the Exploited Labor right to vote, to receive a decent education or decent employment. They are forced to live in inferior housing Since the land which was their livelihood was taken, and have inferior hospitals. They are told where they the blacks have been forced to work in an economy may live, whom they may marry, on whatbuses they geared only toward white profit. The apartheid economy may ride and which churches they mayattend. The could not run without cheap black labor, but the blacks 167

't ' Session 5

Article 1 (cont'd.) receive no benefits from that economy. Black workers Blacks who do find jobs often work under very unsafe are paid less than one-third of what whites are paid for conditions and are not allowed to supervise whites. Yet, doing the same job. Over 60 percent of urban black blacks have not had the means to work for better families earn less than the white government says is conditions. Independent black trade unions were illegal necessary to survive. Rural blacks are even worse off. until 1978. Since then, the growing strength of black Since there is little work in the bantustans, Africans are trade unions has forced some government conces- forced to leave their families and look for work in the sions, but strikes and boycotts are stilI often suppressed "white areas" in order to survive. They work in the by force. Labor leaders are harassed, detained, and mines, factories, farms, and homes of white South sometimes tortured or killed while in detention by the Africa, while living outside the "white areas" in single- South African police. sex dormatories. These workers often work for 11 months out of the year and see their families for only 1 month. Apartheid destroys black family life In South Africa. APARTHEID'S GRAND DESIGN: the bantustans

"The Bantustans are to us what concentration camps and ovens were to the Jews." The Rev. Sipo Mzimela, exiled South African pastor

The South African government's policy is to preserve The South African gov- white power through its legalized system of racism ernment forces blacks known as apartheid. The grand design of apartheid is to live in these bantu- the long term plan to forcibly remove blacks from their stans through a policy homes and place them in barren reserves, called of forced removals. Be- "bantustans." All blacks who are considered "unneces- tween 1960 and 1984, sary" to the apartheid labor system are forced to live in the South Africa govern- these desolate and forgotten wastelands which make ment has removeauver up only 13 percent of South Africa's land. Thus, although 31/2 million b!=icks from whites make up only 16 the "white areas" to the bantustans. If communities percent of the total pop- resist a government-planned removal, even though ulation, they control 87 they legally own the land on which they live, they are percent of the land. The taken from their homeoften at gunpointand their white-controlled land in- homes, churches and schools are bulldozed to the cludes all of the coun- ground by the government. Entire families are taken to try's most fertile farms, their designated bantustan and dumped there on small cities and rich mineral plots of land with only a tin toilet to mark their new deposits. The 13 per- "address." cent of the land which makes up the bantu- stans is barren, soil- eroded and not suitable for farming or cattle raising 1 68 The Military Connection

Article 1 (cont'd.)

The white South African government's strategy is to divide the black people by their ethnic origin and force them into ten separate bantustans. Blacks cannot leave these bantustans without permission from the white government. The white government has declared four of these bantustans "independent" (Venda, Ciskei, Transkei, Bophuthatswana) and stripped the black citizens of their South African citizenship. No country in the world has recognized these bantustans as legitimate governments. Their so-called "leaders" are hand picked and paid by the South African government, imbabwe which controls their defense, economic pol- TIE 'BANTU IIIMELANOS' icy and monetary sys- HOMELAND PEOPLE tem. The bantustan 1 imitators's\ Isms "officials" have only an 2 Loam bra Sstla advisory role, no real 6 3 INA* INN* idTiET power or control. They land are simply a front to 4 lazaakele a hop Johameiburg ... hide the true character 5 Vaela VaMa *.... of the bantustans as 6 Swazi bearl Kyrnberley o".. concentration camps. 7Mri Math Saba ebernicnien The bantustans are Durba 6 Mazda Zola '' economic disaster ar- 9 Treadle' Zhou eas. South Africa at- SO Ciskei Shwa tempts to hide this fact by showcasing certain

1:br I Ekzabelh areas such as Sun City Atlantic Cape Town Indian Ocean in Bophuthatswana. This Ocean is a huge entertairment resort area where many Map of bantustans Map SECHABA US entertainers have performed. The gov- ernment of South Africa spends millions to recruit performers such as Frank Sinatra and others to help legitimize its bantustan policy.

Impact on workers Apartheid has created a labor system in which Africans must "migrate" from the bantustans to work and live in the "white areas" away from their families. The system is designed to create a pool of cheap labor and to ensure a steady flow of black labor from the rural areas to the urban areas. The government ensures that there are no jobs in the bantustans or any viable means for blacks to support themselves. Therefore, blacks are forced to accept any job offered to them no matter what the working conditions or salary level. For blacks who find jobs in the "white areas," living conditions are oppressive. Workers are forced to live in single-sex hostels away from their families. They can

1 69 BEST -COPY AVAILABLE Session 5

Article 1 (cont'd.)

only return tu their families once or twice a year. These hostels are cramped and disease-ridden and destroy workers' dignity. Workers must support themselves and GLOSSARY their far-off families on their meager salaries. If they lose their jobs they are dumped back in the bantustans. This policy ensures a poorly paid, steady supply of black African National Congress (ANC)South African ;abor for white South Africa. liberation movement founded in 1912 to struggle for a free and just South Africa. Banned by the government Impact on families and forced underground in 1961. AfrikaansA dialect of the Dutch language spoken Another tragedy of forced removals is that it not only by Afrikaners in South Africa. means the loss of jobs or the prospects of getting one, but it also destroys black families. Even if the entire AfrikanersWhite South Africans of Dutch descent family is resettled onto a bantustan, the conditions there who established the apartheid system. Afrikaners make are so squalid that the men must return to the "white up 60 percent of the white population. areas" to find work to prevent their families from ApartheidSouth Africa's system of legalized starving. The daily economic reality for the vast majority racism. Apartheid denies all civil and human rights to of people lett living in the bantustans (mainly women the black majority and ensures the supremacy of and children) is the struggle to survive on the meager whites. corn and millet produced on poor and eroded land. Half of the children In the bantustans die before they B anningA form of house arrest by which the reach the age of five. These areas contain no government silences itscritics. Banned individuals adequate housing, education, or health facilities. cannot be published or quoted, and their movements Many women and children, in an effort to escape are restrained. these conditions, ignore the stringent "pass laws" B antustans Name for barren wastelands making prohibiting them from joining their husbands and fathers up only 13 percenr of South Africa's land, which the in the "white areas" and settle in large squatter camps South African government has declared the only places on the edges of urban centers. The government's where Africans can live permanently. response has been swift and brutal. Squatter camps have been teargassed, bulldozed to the ground with the BantuWhite South Africa's racist term for black inhab tants beaten, arrested, fined and dumped backin people, the majority of the population. the desolate bantustans. But men and women continue B lack Consciousness MovementA movement to take this risk to find jobs or to be near their loved ones banned by the South African government which stresses pride in African heritage. It insists that blacks Political impact must take the initiative in their struggle for fret.Jom.

The bantustan policy of the South African govern- B lack SpotLand in rural areas occupied by blacks, ment is a political version of the "divide and rule" sometimes for generations, in "whites only" areas of strategy. The purpose of the policy is to divide the black South Africa. These communities are the first target of population into ethnic groups and separate them from forced removals. each other to prevent them from mounting political B lack TownshipThe "blacks only" part of urban opposition to apartheid. The government intends to areas in South Africa. Townships are far from jobs, move all the blacks out of "white South Africa" to the overcrowded with poor housing, little electricity or bantustans by the year 2000, in order to make South plumbing, and no seiage system. Africa a totally white country where blacks can claim no political rights at all. The bantustan policy also serves to DivestmentThe withdrawal of funds from corpora- break institutional ties which hold the black population tions and banks which support apartheid by doing togetherfamily, schools, and the church. This makes business in or with South Africa. it difficult for the blacks to launch a united struggle Forced RemovalsThe South African police will against apartheid. drag :lacks off their land, often at gunpoint, and The bantustan policy is being used for expanding and bulldoze communities declared to be "while" areas. maintaining white supremacy in South Africa while Over 3.5 million blacks have been forcibly removed preventing political action by blacks. since 1960 1 70 The Military Connection

Article 1 (cont'd.)

FRELIMO Front for the Liberation of Mozambique. Pass Laws/Influx Control LawsLaws which con- Governing party in Mozambique which freed it from trol the movement of blacks. These laws forbid blacks to Portuguese rule in 1975. live in "white" areas and help the white government control workers. Frontline StatesCountries neighboring South Af- rica which present a united front against apartheid. PretoriaThe capital city of white South Africa. Also These states include: Angola (an-GO-lah), Botswana refers to the South African government. (boat-SWA-nah),Mozambique(mow-zam-BEEK), Tan- Race ClassificationApartheid laws divide South zania (tan-zah-NEE-ah), Zambia (ZAM-bee-ah) and Africans into four racial groups: Africanspeople of Zimbabwe (zim-BOB-way). African descent (72 percent of the population), Col- HomelandSouth African government's term for oredspeople of mixed race (9 percent of the popu- portions of land designated for t.,',acks; bantustan. lation), whitespeople of European descent (16 per- cent of the population), and Asiansmostly persons of Lesotho(leh-S00-too) a small country completely Indian descent (about 3 percent of the population). surrounded by South Africa. Sharpeville MassacreOn March 21, 1960 ,the Liberation MovementsMovementsin Southern police shot and killed 69 blacks who were peacefully Africa which are dedicated to fignt for justice and demonstrating 3gainst the pass laws. political freedom. South West Africa People's Organization Migrant LaborersThose forced to leave their (SWAP0)The liberation movement fighting to free homes and families in rural bantustans to find employ- Namibia since 1966. ment in urban centers of "white" South Africt. SowetoA black township outside of Johannesburg. MPLA Popular Movement for the Liberation of Over 2 million blacks live in this impoverished township. Angola; the governing party in Angola which freed it from Portuguese rule in 1975. Soweto UprisingOn June 16, 1976, South African police gunned down students in Soweto who were MNR Mozambique National Resistance. A South peacefully demonstrating against apartheid education. Africa-supported terrorist group infamous for cutting off This began a series of protests and clashes with police peoples' ears, noses and lips, sometimes murdering around the country; over 600 people were killed. them, as well as burning crops and bombing bridges. Subsistence FarmingRaising only enough food to Namibia (nah-M1B-ee-ah)The country which meet basic needs. Most people who live in bantustans South Africa's military has occupied since 1915. Na- cannot grow enough food to maintain good health. mibia was formerly called South West Africa. Sullivan PrinciplesA "fair employment code" for National PartyThe ruling party in South Africa led US businesses operating in South Africa, started by by the Afrikaners.It came to power in 1948 on a Rev. Leon Sullivan in 1976 while he was on the Board of platform of white supremacy, legalized apartheid and General Motors. The code is used by the corporations stripped blacks of all rights. to hide their support for apartheid. Nkomati Peace AccordBy supporting the MNR Swaziland (SWA-zee-land) A small, land-locked and carrying out sabotage against its neighbors, South nation between South Africa and Mozambique. Africa has forced Mozambique to sign agreements which forbidit to militarily support ANC and PAC. UNITANational Union for the Total Independence However, South Africa has not carried out its promise to of Angola A South Africa-supported group created to end support for the MNR mercenaries overthrow and destabilize the government of Angola Pan Africanist Congress (PAC)South African liberation movement founded in 1959 based on black nationalism. Banned by the government in 1961. PassbookA document all blacks must carry at all times. Whites are not required to have one Failure to carry a passbook results in arrest and jailfor blacks.

17 1 Session 5

Article 2:From Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton.

CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY

And some cry for the cutting up of South Africa without this off our lives, and knock that off our lives, and hedge our- delay into separate areas, where white can live without black, selves about with safety and precaution. And our lives will and black without white, where black can farm their own shrink, but they shall be the lives of superior being1; andwe land and mine their own minerals and administer their own shall live with fear, but at least it will not be a fear of the laws. And others cry away with the compound system that unknown. And the conscience shall be thrust down; the light brings men to the towns without their wives and children, of life shall not be extinguished, but be put under a bushel, and lpreaks up the tribe and the house and the man, and to be preserved for a generation that will live by it again, they ask for the establishment of villages for the labourers in some day not yet come; and how it will come, and when in mines and industry. it will come, we shall not think about at alL And the churches cry too. The English-speaking churches cry for more education, and more opportunity, and for a removal of the restrictions on native labour and enterprise. They are holdinic a meeting in Parkwold tonight, as they And the Afrikaans-speaking churches want to see the native held one last night in Turffontein, and will hold one tomor- people given opportunity to develop along their own lines, row night in Mayfair. And the people will ask for more anti remind their own people that the decay of family reli- police, and for heavier sentences for native housebreakers, gion, where the servants took part in family devotions, has and for the death pwalty for all who carry weapons when contributed in part to the moral decay of the native people. they break in. And some will ask for a new native policy But there is to be no equality in church or state. that will show the natives who is the master, and for a curb a on the activities of Kafferboeties and Communists. And the Left Club is holding a meeting too, on "A Long- Yes, there are a hundred, and a thousand voices crying. term Policy for Native Crime," and has invited both Euro- But what does one do, when one cries this thing, and one pean and non-European speakers to present a symposium. cries another? Who knows how we shall fashion a land of And the Cathedral Guild is holding a meeting too, and the peace where black outnumbers white so greatly? Some say subject is "The Real Causes of Native Crime." But there that the earth has bounty enough for all, and that more for one does not mean less for another, that the advance of one will b;; a gloom over it, for the speaker of the evening, Mr. does not mean the decline of another. They say that poor- Arthur Jarvis, has just been shot dead in his house at Park- paid labour means a poor nation, and that better-paid wold. labour means greater markets and greater scope for indus- try and manufacture. And others say that this is a danger, Cry, the beloved country, fcr the unborn child that is the for better-paid labour will not only buy more but will also inher;tor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. read more, think more, ask more, and will not be content Let him not laugh too gladly wIrn the water runs through to be forever voicelen and inferior. his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes Who knows how we shall fashion such a land? For we red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the fear not only the Ion of our ponenions, but the loss of our birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart superiority and the loss of our whiteness. Some say it is true to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of ail if he that crime is bad, but would this not be worse? Is it not gives too much. better to hold what we have, and to pay the price of it with fear? And others say, can such fear be endurecl? For is it not this fear that drives men to ponder these things at all? a We do not know, we do not know. We shall live from day to day, and put more locks on the doors, and get a fine fierce dog when the fine fierce bitch next door has pups, and hold on to our handbags more tenaciously; and the beauty of the trees by night, and the raptures of lovers under the stus, these things we shall forego. We shall forego the comng home drunken through the midnight streets, and the evenscinf walk over the star-lit veld. We shall be careful, and The Military Connection

Article 3:"Not I, Says the Brother of the Soldier" by Carmel Rickard, Africa News, Aug. 22, 1988.

When 143 young white men declared publicly this month that upholding the "sacred and inviolable" principles he had they will not serve in the South African 1)efense Force (SADO, expected to serve. "My experience in the Iblackl townships among the reasons they cited were the experiences of South shaUered any such illusions," he said. Louw recounted, as African soldiers in Namibia and Angola. an example, that he had been ordered to drivehis armored The announcement was made at simultaneous press vehicle into a crowd of people to provoke them to offer conferences around the country during the annual military call- resistance." up of _conscripts; it followed by a weak the sentencing of draftee Some of the most vivid testimony at the press conference David Bruce to six years in prison for refusing military service. was from conscripts who had served inNamibia and Angola. In an angry response, the minister of defense, General Mag- Etienne Marais, 26, one of several of the men who come from nus Malan, accused the End Conscription Campaign, which well-known Afrikaans families, was a rifleman in Namibia helpid coordinate the refusals, 9 threatening state security. and Angola from 1984 to 1982. Among the instances of ftlan said the group is the vanguard of those forces that are "intimidation and degradation" he says he witnessed was intent on wrecking the prwent dispensation and its renewal." the "shooting of a 13-year-old (Namibian] girl in cold blood" He warned that "no citizen can decide of his or her free will and the eight-hour torture of a 16-year-old Angolan girl. which laws to rmat. National security is the top priority for Marais also said that collecting body parts of Namibian South Africamais above political prejudice." and Angolan fighters as souvenirs is common, as is brutality Those rejecting military service argue that the SADF is itself towards civilians. He urged fellow corscripts to "break the pursuing narrow political aims. Stephen Louw, a,ge 23, said the silence" and disclose their own experiences. two years he had already served in the army which he had once based on reporiin$ by Thandeka Gclubule thought to make a careertaught him that the SADF is not and Gaye Davis of the Weekly Mil

I n an essay he thought one of his what the way of life must be. country." best, "Lament for a Young Soldier," "Or did he go to fight because his This week, the grieving brother Alan Paton recalled attending the friends were going to fight? Or asked these same questions and, funeral of a young man killed in because he loved his country and answering them, said he could not Angola. didn't want to leave it? continue in the SADF. This week, the brother of that "One is not supposed to askthese Pietermaritzburg doctor Mark "young soldier" was one of 143 questions. The asking of them is Patrick was one of 18 Natal conscripts military conscripts who publicly supposed, in some queer way, to who issued a joint statement explain- declared that the.) would not serve inshow that one does not love one's ing that they were not prepared to the South African serve in the army. Defense Force. "I have now Paton wrote of chosen the side in seeing the family South Africa that is and the brother struggling to replace who grieved, o: apartheid with the being moved to principles of non- weep with them. racialism and demo- "There is one cracy. This means question that is that I can never not asked aloud again participate in here, and ihat is the SADF," he said. fee what did he His brother Tim- die. But it is in the othy joined the minds of many of SADF in January those who have 1979 and became a come to mourn commissioned for a young officer. soldier, and for He also volun- those who he has teered to serve in left behind," he northern Namibia wrote. and died 180 miles "Did he die for inside Angola. the maintenance "He was painted of our way of life? black and was I mean, for the wearing a Unita White way of life, uniform," Paton for it is the White wrote. people of South Contact/UMW Nations - Carmel Rickard, Africa who say South African soldiers in condiut training. Some tonscripts are saying 'no more.' Weekly Mail 17;1 173 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Session 5

Article 4:"War Against Neighbors." by Cherri Waters,Response, Journal of United Methodist Women,June 1988. War Against Neighbors

by CHERRI D. WATERS

why do Angola and (RENAMO), the guerrilla move- radios, food, medicine, and uni- Mozambique have ments that have brought chaos to forms; and funnels assistance to the highest infant Angola and Mozambique. It has them from abroad. mortality rates in the disrupted the oil supplies of An- Atfirst, UNITA deniedits world? Why are hundreds of gola,Botswana, Lesotho, Ma- relationship with South Africa. thousands of people in these lawi, Mozambique, and Zim- Since Jonas Savimbi, leader of countries displaced and at risk of babwe, as well as the trade and UNITA, was an honored guest at starving to death this year? Why transportation routes ot every P.W. Botha's inauguration as are these countries still at war country in the region. Its actions South Africa's president in Sep- more than a decade after their have precipitated a military coup tember 1984, such denials have independence struggles ended? in Lesothothe first coup to been meaningless. Mr. Savimbi The answer: South Africa's pol- occur in southern Africa. An,1 has been seen almost nightly on icy of destabilizing the political hundreds of thousands of people South African televis!on. He was and economic systems of its throughout the region have quoted in a June, 1987 New York neighbors. South Africa calls this starved to death because famine Times article with a statement of policy its total strategy to defend has become a weapon of war. support for Botha and a rebuke to apartheid. This total strategy But South Africa'sprincipal Black South African leaders who means that South Africa intends targets have been Angola and refuse to negotiate with the apar- to mobilize the full force of its Mozambiquethe countriesin theid regime. political, economic, diplomatic, the best position to advance the Since its first invasion in Au- and military might against neigh- goal of diminishing regional de- gust 1975, South Africa has boring states.Inits stubborn pendence on South Africa. Esti- launched at least 11 major inva- commitment to maintain apar- mates are that South Africa's sions and countless smaller theid, South Africa will use any destabilization and aggression forays against Angola. In addi- means, both direct and indirect, have cost Angola and Mozam- tion, South Africa has established including surrogate forces in- bique more than $1.6 billion in a permanent military presence in herited from the colonial wars direct destruction of roads, southern Angola. and Ian Smith's Rhodesia. bridges, houses, schools, hospi- UNITA and South African Not one of the Black majority- tals, and churches. Certainly, it troops have become virtually in- ruled countries of southern Africa would be impossible to place a distinguishable. Many of South has been spared the brunt of monetary value on the innocent Africa's invasions of Angola have South African destabilization. lives that have been lost in these been designed to secure UNITA Since 1980, South Africa has in- countries. positions. South African troops vaded Angola, Botswana,Le- In the case of Angola, South frequently pose as UNITA forces sotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Africa has joined with UNITA in in order to obscure Pretoria's Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It has waging war supposedly against responsibility for an attack and to triedto assassinate the prime the Angolan government. Since create an inflated impression of minister of Lesotho and Zim- 1979, South Africa has provided UNITA's strength. In some cases babwe, and it is implicated in the massive financial aid and military South Africa conducts joint oper- death of the president of Mozam- support to UNITA. Pretoria trains ations with the rebels. The 32nd bique. It backs the National the UNITA rebels; provides them Battalion, a unit infamous for its Union for the Total Independence with material aid, including acts of indiscriminate terrorism, is of Angola (UNITA) and the Mo- weapons, ammunition, vehicles, an example. A captured 32nd zambican National Resistance

174 The Military Connection

Article 4: (cont'd.)

Battalion soldier is reported to Churches. I saw churches, Compounding this tragedy for have admitted that "the 32nd and schools, and factories that had the people of southern Africa is UNITA had different spheres of been reduced to rubble by South the harmful policy of the United operation, but we had the same African bombing. There are States government. The Reagan bossSouth Africa." roads, bridges, and rail lines that Administration on a number of For Mozambique, the total have been made impassable by occasions has vetoed United Na- strategy has meant both direct repeated rebel attacks. tions Security Council resolutions attacks and support for the Mo- Angola used to be self-suffi- condemning South African ag- zambican National Resistance cient in food production. It is now gression.After several unsuc- (RENAMO). Between 1981 and one of the six hungriest countries cessful attempts, the Administra- 1983, South Africa made at least a in the world. Hundreds of chil- tion and conservative members of dozen strikes against Mozam- dren have been orphaned. Every- Congress succeeded in repealing bique. While some of these raids whereIvisited,Isaw men, restrictions on United States sup- were aimed at the African Na- women, and children who have port for the rebel forces in Ango- tional Congress of South Africa, lost limbs to the anti-personnel la. In early 1986 Reagan resumed (ANC) others were clearly meant mines planted in theirfields. U.S. covert aid to UNITA. Ac- only to cause economic disrup- There are 20,000 amputees cording to press reports,this tionin Mozambique and the more per capita than in any other aidincluding highly sophi >ti- region. A December, 1982 attack country in the world. Hundreds cated Stinger missilesis being on an oil depot in Beira, Mozam- of thousands of families are refu- funneled thrcugh South Africa bique, for example, precipitated a gees in neighboring countries. despite the international arms fuel crisis in Zimbabwe. In May More have become internal refu- embargo. The Reagan Adminis- 1983 South Africa rocketeda gees, fleeing the ravages of war in tration has been unresponsive to suburb of Maputo, killingsix their villages. And no one has any the pleas of the southern African people, only one of whom had idea how many civilians or sol- nations for help in defending African National Congress con- diers have died. themselves against South Africa; nections. In October, 1983 a Similarly, RENAMO, in its inrebuildingtheir devastated South African commando group campaign ofterror,iskilling economies; and in caring for their bombed the ANC office in Mapu- peasant farmers, burning crops, starving and wounded citizens, to, wounding five people. and pillaging villages. More than whc have been the real victims of RENAMO in Mozambique was 1.8million people have been apartheid's wane actually created by the Rhode- internally displaced; and 420,000 sians and the Portuguese in 1976. are refugees in the bordering In June 1980 South Africa began countries. Nearly 4.5 million peo- Dr. Watersisspecial assistant to giving the rebel movement ple,in a nation with a total Congressmin George W. Crockett, money, supplies, and training. population of 14 million,face Jr. (I)), Mimigan. Acting on South Africa's orders, acute malnutrition and starva- RENAMO drastically escalated its tion. activities against Mozarnbique's RENAMO has destroyed 484 civilian population. By the end of health posts since 1982, 42 per- 1983, RENAMO had virtually cent of the total, depriving more destroyed the economy. With than 2 million people of access to South African assistance, it sys- health care.It has attacked 40 tematically sabotaged railways, percent of the pnmary schools, roads, and electricity transmis- leaving 300,000 children without sion lines. an education. It has killed, South Africa and UNITA have wounded, and kidnapped local focused primarily on destroying alth care workers, halting vac- Angola's economy and terroriz- cination efforts throughout the ing itspopulation.In August country. The Anglican Church 1986, I visited Angola as a consul- has lost 50 congregations and the tant to the Africa Committee of Baptist Church has lost 80,000 out the National Council of of 200,000 members due to at- tacks. 175 Session 5

Article 5:"A Troubled Past." Africa News, April 17, 1989. government functions such as defense, foreign affairs, immigration ard law and order from Windhoek to etoria - took over Namibia's departments of revenue, commerce A Troubled Past and industry, mining and health. istory has a tragic way of repeat- South Africa's system of apartheid, South Africa also extended to Hing itself in Namibia. The fight- applied in South West Africa, was a Namibia its "homelands" policy, ing that broke out this month is part breach of the League mandate to under which Africans were to be- of a long saga of conflict between protect the "well-being" of South come "citizens" of separate, nomi- Namibians and occupying armies West Africans. The court sidestepped nally independent states. With a pop- that punctuates the p'ast century. the question by ruling that Liberia ulation ten times that of Namibia's In 1884, Namibia, then called South and Ethiopia had no standing to white and mixed-race peoples, West Africa, was declared a German bring the case. Africans were to occupy eight protectorate. Six years later, it became Diplomatic initiatives to resolve homelands, or bantustans, compris- a crown colony. Africans who Namibia's status picked up some mo- ing 40% of the available land. opposed colonial control were mentum in the 1960s, but they were punished brutallyover 60,0(X) largely symbolic. In October 1.966, the None of these actions \vent unpro- members of the Herero ethnic group UN General Assembly.reyoked the tested in Namibia, where several alone were killed by German troops old League mandate and, under groups opposed to South Afncan rule from 1904-1907. Sixty percent of the Resolution 2145, assumed nominal had formed. entire southern and central Namibian control of South West Africa. The UN The South West African National population was exterminated before also resolved, two years later, to Union (Swanu) was launched in 1939 German rule ended in 1915 with an rename the territory Namibia. And in with a membership predominantly invasion from South Africa by Allied 1969, the Security Council endorsed drawn from the Herero, Namibia's troops. the revocation of the League man- second-largest ethnic group. The T:le newly formed League of date. South West Africa People's Organiza- Natiins appointed South Atnca, a The following year, the Security tion (Swap()) was established one British protectorate, to administer Council asked the ICJ for an advisory year later as a successor to the three- South West Africa. Uoder the League opinion on South Africa's continued Year-old Ovamboland People': Or- mandate, South Africa was instructed refusal to hand over control of ganization, which had been formed to "promote the material and moral Namibia. This time, the court said in the north to mobilize the territory's vell-being and the social progress of South Africa's presence in Namibia largest group, the Ovambo. the inhabitants of the territory." was illegal and ruled that Pretoria The spark that reignited mass In 1933, the League blocked a South must "put an end to its occupation of protest was the Pretoria government's African attempt to ar:nex South West the territory." rejection of the 1CJ's decisioo that Africa, but was unable to stop But in the meantime, Pretoria was South Africa's rule was illegal. Na- Pretoria from maintaining the raciallytightening its de facto control. mibians were already brimming with discriminatory laws introduced by During the late 1960s, South Africa resentment of the contract labor the Germans and extending its own - which had already transferred key svstem. Previous attempts to force an apartheid policies to the terri- end to the system had been tory. crushed by the authorities. After World War Two, when Namibian frustrations culmi- the 1.eague was supplanted by Lfur.,4,, Namibia nated in a December 1971 stnke

the United Nations, "mandated" Angola CLut,, among contract laborers territories became UN trust Cl1drol%a1l` throughout the terntory. Rail- terntories in preparation for NIor.6o ways, mines, and most heavy their transition to independence. . industries came to a stands till. ('''"4"t 1,r.Jars,:a Alone among the countrks ad- Jrin,It,' The South African government ministering mandates, South I .arr r- responded by arresting and Africa refused to change its imprisoning leading strikers and terntory to a trusteeship. Atlantic sending the rank-and-file back In 1950, the International Ocean to the homelands, When the Court of Justice (IQ ruled that N homelands themselves erupted, the League 1,hindate was still it, ir E3ctswana Pretoria dispatched troops into force under UN supervision, and the northern regions, and, that while South Africa was not finally, declared a state of obligated to place South West emergency in the north. Africa under UN trusteeship, The UN Security Council re-

neither did it have the right to I sprmded by asking Secretary- simply swallow the territory. General Kurt Waldheim to Unsatisfkd with the ruling, South Africa initiate contacts with all parties Liberia and Ethiopia petitioned in the conflict "so as to enable the ICJ in 1960. They argued that Africa News Map/ Rebel.1 Kohlerthe people of Namibia to excl.- I 76 The Military Connection

Article 5: (cont'd.)

cise their right of self-determination Turnhalle plan, white towns would elections for a constituent assembly. and independence." The UN identi- remain under white control and The majority of those elected to the fied three prerequisites to a settle- South African troops would stay in assembly were from the Democratic ment:South Africa must make clear Namibia after independence. Swapo, Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), which was its intentions for Namibian independ-declared by the UN General Assem- made up of groups that had partici- ence; there must be an end to racial bly the "so'authentic representa- pated in the Turnhalle conference. discrimination in the territory; and tive" of Namibians, rejected the Charges of election fraud were the homelands policy must be constitution out of hand. rampant, and the international com- jettisoned. International pressure on South munity declared the electionsand In a move apparently intended to Africa continued to mount. In 1977, the assemblyinvalid. Nevertheless, show that Namibians were not ruled the five Western members of the Pretoria accepted the results and without representation, South Africa Security Council formed a "Contact named the members of the constitu- set up an advisory council with Group" to try to negotiate an interna-ent assembly to a national advisory members from the territory's various tionally acceptable solution. Tho U.S., council. regions. The National Convention of Britain, France, Canada and West Throughout 1979, negotiations Non-Whitesa coalition that in- Germany, using concerted high-level continued over details of implemen- cluded Swapo and Swanurejected pressure, coaxed major concessions tation, including the composiiion of the council as illegitimate. from both South Africa and Swapo. the UN Transitional Assistance Pressure on South Africa to negoti- Along the way, the negotiations Group (Untag), the force designated

ate Namibia's independence in- . suffered several setbacks, the most to supervise elections. creased with the departure of Portu- significant being the May 1978 South Hopes for implementation were guese colonial rulers from neighbor- African attack on a Namibian refugee raised in 1980, when Angola pro- ing Angola in 1974. The Angolan camp near Cassinga, Angola. Ap- posed that a demilitarized zone be government invited Swapo's external proximately 750 people died, most of established along the Namibia/ wing to transfer its principal base of them women and children, accordingAngola border during the period of operations from Zambia to Angola. to international observers who transition to independence. South With access to Namibia's long north- visited the scene. Africa's chief demand was that ern border, Swapo was able to Nevertheless, a compromise Swapo forces be withdrawn north of intensify its guerrilla campaign. independence plan was adopted by the DMZ while South African troops South Africa expanded the strength the Security Council in September were gradually sent home from of its dreaded counterinsurgency 1978 as Resolution 435. In a major Namibia.

units in the north to a repOrted 45,000 1 concession to Pretoria, South Africa In early 1981, a meeting was held in troops. At the same time, Pretoria was granted continued administra- Geneva to draw up a timetable for threw its support behind the Angolan tive authority over the territory implementation of Resolution 435. rebel movement Unita, led by Jonas during the one-year independence But South Africa withdrew from Savimbi, and in 1975, South African process. The plan calls for UN- negotiations on the timetable in an troops crossed into Angola to inter- supervised elections of a constituent apparent attempt to buy time for its vene in the fighting on Unita's behalf. assembly that will drait a "internal solution." Critics of South The intervention, laur .hed from constitution for the territory. The :African rule, including the major Namibia in violation of the League status of Walvis Bay, Namibia's church organizations in Namibia, mandatewhich prohibited Na- largest portover which South charged that Pretoria was stepping mibia's use as a military base of African claims sovereigntyis up its exploitation of the territory's operationsweakened South omitted from Resolution 435, al- valuable minerals, and that with Africa's position with the UN. though a separate Security Council every year of South African control, South Afri;:a, meanwhile, at- resolution says the port should be in an independent Namibia would be tempted an "internal settlement" to Namibian territory. poorer. the Namibian question. The result However, implementation of the With an eye on the change in U.S. was the 1L/75 I'urnhalle constitutional UN plan proved even more difficult administrations from Jimmy Carter to conference, a gathering ot 146 than negotiating it haci been. In Ronald Reagan, South Africa intensi- delegates from Namibia's various December 1978, ignoring an interna- fied the effort to win domestic and ethnic groups. The conference desig- tional outcry, South Africa conductedinternational acceptance for a DTA- nated December 31, 1978 as the target led government. But the effort date for Namibian independence and stumbled, in part because the DTA produced a compromise constitution was unable to demonstrate broad under which separate ethnic govern- public support among either black or ments would draft social policies for white Namibians. their own people. Under the

177 Session 5

Article 5: (cont'd.)

By 1982, the Reagan administration had eclipsed the Contact Group effort and launched a diplomatic initiative with a different focus. The U.S. proposed, and Pretoria quickly agreed to. a regional approach that linked withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola to implementation of the Narnibian independence plan. Negotiations proceeded, but suffered a number of setbacks. In 1985, Angola suspended its participa- tion after the Reagan administration was reported to have approved a $15 million covert aid plan for Unita. Last year, U.S.-mediated talks between Angola, Cuba and South Africa began to show new promise after South Africa suffered a military setback in Angola. A large-scale combined Cuban/Angolan/Swapo offensive forced South African troops, who invaded southeast- ern Angola ihadn support of Unita, to ab.indon several forward positions along the Angola/Namibia border. In December, the parties signed the southwest African peace accord, which includes a timetable for the Cuban troop pill-out from Angela and ait agreement for implementation of the UN independence plan for Namibia.

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1 78

BEST COPY AVAILABLE IM The MilitaConnection

Article 6:"Loblo!'ing Against Apartheid" by William Howard, Africa Report. March/April 1988. Lobbying Against Apartheid Having provided the backbone for the grassroots campaign which culminated in the passage of national sanctions legislation, American lobbying organizations are looking to new strategies to move the anti-apartheid effort forward in this election year.

BY WILLIAM HOWARD

Ahandfui of organizations, gener- the country, and focusing on other re- ally working v,ith small, dedicated gional issues such as fighting aid to the staffs and minuscule budgets,have Unita rebels in Angola and urging more managed to hold their own in a fight help for the government of Mozam- against a host of major corporations who biqu.!. have the considerable power of many Still at the local level, Knight said that conservative members of Congress be- while working to introduce municipal hind them. and state laws in areas where no such Not unlike some modern fiction writ- legislation exists, the groups are seek- ten in the mold of David and Goliath, the ing to persuade local governments that battleground is the effort to end apart- have proven sympathetic to their efforts heid in South Africa, and the combat- to strengthen laws, thus imposing selec- ants, a select number of lobbying groups tive purchase rules on quasi-govern- "TransAfrica is focusing on the presiden- mental agencies and other bodies and ranged against a corporate world mx- tial campaign, hoping to help elect a can- IOUs tr -naintain its profits and preroga- didate whose South African policy will forcing them to forgo purchase of goods tives. match Ns own" with South African content. With campus protests to force 'rust specific barriers. Obviously we can't win The normal means tor these poops, ees to divest their shares in companies New Jersey twice." which typically have less than a dozen d. 'Mg business in South Africa a fading Having succeededinestablishing full-time staffers, is to maintain a regular memory, and many others sated ou the laws in over 19 states, 13 counties, and stream of maileducational newslet- South A' m sanctions issue by Th.? 70 cities that prohibit investment of pub- ters, legislative updates, and appeals for passage (itnational "comprehensivt." lic monies in South Africa, the U.S. anti- support on specific issuesto keep sanctions legislation, some have begun apartheid lobby is working at refining its U.S. -southern Africa issues on the polit- to gloat that the sanctions movemem goals. ical, corporate, and sociA agendas. and lobbying efforts aimed at pressuring Dividing their labor,thus avoiding "Because of our lin-uted resources, the ( r S. to is, kte Pretoiia are a declin- costly duplication, the major groups are we often pick people who w..e pivotal in ing force. working specifically on public education committees, and we take the lobbying At the American Committee on Af- right into their districts," said Jackie MEW rica, Richard KniOit said, "I doii't think Wilson, legislative directi.: of the Wash- the campaign is at its peak. like it was "Some have begun to ington Office on Africa, a group founded when ther? were meetings and demon- gloat that the sanctions in 1972 which devotes its efforts to influ- strations on television every day," re- movement and lobbying encing federal law on trade and invest- femng to the period from 1983 to I 9Sti, ment in South Africa. when the campus divestment move- efforts aimed at Explaining hcr group's liibbying tech- ment was most active. But, he says, the pressuring the U.S. to nique. Wilson said, "We are constantly sanctions nivement is "still a senous isolate Pretoria are a mailing out fact sheets, and calling up force." "In Congress, we just won the declining force." staffers, asking if they have received elimination of the foreip tax write-off them." By monitoring the voting rec- for companies doing )usiness in SI itith ords of members of Congress and from Africa." um South African issues, lobbying Con- the feedback her group gets from con- Knight adds, "We have already won a gress for more thorough bans on com- qessional staffers. Wilson said, "We lot of battles, but states where we ha- merce with and investment in South Af- produce a swing list to determine where ven't gotten sanctions legislation passed rica,targetingspecificcorporations people stand, and whose vote we are are going to be more difficult because of through shareholder resolutions and likely to sway." demonstrations in an effort to force "We give that list to the menity.rs of Waham Ilonnrd is a Orr lantr bournahst hasrd in Neu 141t them to sever their business ties with Cithgress who are sympathetic to us. 1 79 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Session 5

Article 6 (cont'd.)

Generally they ask us for it, and they to reduce or eliminate their involvement work on a personal basis to sway their in South Africa, primarily through share- colleagues in Congress," she said. In holder resolutions, but also through sit- "There are very serious limits to any the House of Representatives, Wilson in type protests at corperate offices. real impact than any bilateral policy can said, there is an "increasingly diverse Surveying the results of the cnrporate have," Robinson said,explaining his corps of sponsors of legislation in the campaign, Smith said, "Six of the top 20 group's strategy for arriving at global house, Democrat and Republican, black pension funds in the country are in- sanctions. "An important step is to have and white." volved in sponsoring shareholder reso- the U.S. show leadership in bringing its This,shefelt,was because her lutions." allies and partners to Lmpose ss fictions rt-oup, which was founded by a large While the efforts of his organization together." "This is n9t an action, we number of predorninantly Protestant and others "cover every company that understand, that the Congress can take, church groups working together to "at- would have business in South Africa," the president must carry it out," Robin- tack the root causes" of misery and op- Smith said, "the foc-us is on compani:is son. pression in southern Africa, had been successful in mobilizing church mem- bers in specific congressional districts to express their co incerns locally. Like other activists and lobbyists, Wilson expressed the belief that the perceived lullin public protests and other actions that brought the anti- apartheid issue into the living rooms of America was merely a cyclical matter. gnentum got lost, partly out of the media's complicity in the South Afri- can press ban," she said. Citing examples of what she said were the faiures of the mainstream American press to cover South Africa thoroughly, she said, "Many journalists repo in on the situation in Namibia only by interviewing South African ii)urnal- ists." Others, she said, had failed to cover the continuing crisis in South Af- rica, "not reporting the truth because thiy are afraid (>f wt.at the South Africaii reaction will be." "If Nicarapa seals off the presi., like South Africa, my God, we "The perceived lull in public protests that brought the anti-apartheid issue Into the living will land the Marines. But South Afnca rooms of America is merely a cyclical matter" does it and nobody makes a peep," she that are active in strategic sectors," like At TransAfrica, the black American added. banking or petrochemicals,to name lobby for Africa and the Caribbean, the Tim Smith, director of the Interfaith two, present focus is on U.S. electoral poli- Center on Corp irateResponsibility "The climate for American corpora- tics. Trans Africa's director, Randall Ro- ICCR), a New York-based church or- tions doing business in South Africa is binson, explained, "There is a near- ganization, denies that there has been not looking up," Smith said. "Virtually term and a long-term objective. The any loss in momentum atall.:.aving. every major company,if not making near-term is to hrm up the sanctions we "Virtually every major co impany that still plans to withdraw, is continuing to eval- already have, with the understanding do K)), business in South Africa is recei uate the sit uat i in and is won-king on coin the South African government will ing a sharehe Mei reso dont in this year tingency plans for withdrawal.It any not capitulate to anything less than asking them to cut ties, including an end thing, there has been an increase in global sanctions," the group's ultimate

to) licensing arrangements," pressure, hut as for coverage, it is not in objective. As its name implies. the ICCR the bignewspapers as much at ntrates fiircing S. cum) wan( ins pre sent," he added.

1 /10 The Military Connection

Article 7:"Africa War Zcnes: The Horn." Prepared by Teresa Smith, Association of Concerned Africa Scholars. Africa Peace Tour Report, Africa Peace Committee, 1987. AFRICA WAR ZONES: The Horn

Eritrea and Ethiopia figray and Ethiopia Nfrica's longest war, which began in 1961, isThe other war in Ethiopia that contributed to oeing fought by people of Eritreafor themassive starvationisbeing wagedin independence from Ethiopia. TigrayProvince wheretheTigrayPeoples Liberation Front (TPLF)isseeking greater Er:trea,formerlyanItaliancolony,hasa autonomy from the central government, history separate from Ethiopia's but is covetedalthough not independence aswithEritrea. byEthiopia becauseitcomprises Ethiopia's . he relationship being fought against by the entirecoastandaccesstotheRedSea. TPLF hasrootsinafeudal system which Eritrea had a chance for independence at theexisted of ficially until the overthrow of Hailie end of A orld A ar11, but it was annexed bySelassie in 1974 but which continues to have Ethiopia with the help of the United States,political and cultural reality. which was then an ally of Ethiopia's EmperorAnother struggle, which has had evenless Hailie Selassie. Eritrea, which has a publicity than the two just mentioned, is that population of about 3.5 million,is consideredof the Oromo people, who have formed the by Ethiopiatobea province. Ethiopia'sOromo Liberation Front (OLF).The Oromo population, apart from Eritrea,isabout40comprise themajorityof the Ethiopian population and are seeking to get their share ofnationalpoliticaland economicpower, The Eritrean struggle is being waged by thewhich is now controlled by the Amharic people. EritreanPeople'sLiberationFront(EPLF), probably one of the best organized movements Inall cases, the movements are seeking to for self-determination in Africa. The redressinequitieswhich weremaintained Ethiopian centralgovernmenthaslaunchedunder the emperor, who in turn owed a great numerous assaults on the EPLF, on occasiondeal of his power to support from the A est, involving 10,000 to 20,000 troops.The regionthe dominant colonial and post-colonial power is subject to continual air attacks which havein Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. literally driven Eritreans to live underground in a nwriber of places. These three conflicts combineto make up what might be described as the hard core of It was this war that contributed greatly to thewarfare in the Horn of Africa, with resolution starvs2tion in Ethiopia during the 1983 to 1985 made more difficult by the continuing famine, when itis estimated that more thanmanipulation ofoutsidenations,principally 500,000 died in Ethiopia and Eritrea. the United States and the Soviet Unicn. These wars create a situation ripe for more famine, waiting only for another drought.

1 81 Session 5

Article 7 (cont'd.)

United States involvementinEthiopia was been irregular, and bandits are also through direct military and economic aid for contributing to the chaos in the south. Up to 2 the emperor andhissuccessorsuntil1977 millionpeoplearecontinuallysubjectto when the new leadership, headed by Mengistumalnutrition and starvation as a result of the Haile-Mariam, brought inthe Soviet Union. war. The United States would liketo return to TheUnitedStatesprovides economicand military bases inEthiopia because oftheir military assistance to the central government, proximity to oil shipping lanes.The U.S. and in1987 amounting to $79 million.Aid has Russia seem to want Eritrea to remain bonded decreased, however, as Sudan has moved to to Ethiopia as a matter of control, however. improve relations with Libya and the Soviet TheU.S.suppliedEritreanswithfoodaid Union.The U.S. values Sudan for its oil, its during the famine but apparently does notvast agricultural potential and its use as a provide military aid, seeing the EPLF as amilitary staging area and a place for military usefulthorninthe sideofthecentral manuevers.Sudan, with a population of just government but not a group that should be 21 million, is Africa's largest nation aided sufficiently to prevail.The U.S. alsogeographically, being about one-third the size supports World Bank loans and other aidto of the United States.. Ethiopia, with the idea that Ethiopia someday come back into the fold of the West. Somalia and Kenya

For its part, the Soviet Union has provided Somalia and Kenyatogetherrepresentthe more than $1 billion in arms to the central UnitedStates'principalmilitaryaccessin government and inturn has access to naval East Africa to the oil shipping lanes and the and air bases and receives favorable exchange Indian Ocean. oncoffee,goldandotherproductsfrom Ethiopia. The United States became an ally of Somalia when theSovietsshiftedfromSomaliato ThepeopleofEritrea and Ethiopiaare Ethiopia in 1977 and in 1987 supplies Somalia therefore in much the same situation as thosewith $57 million in economic and military aid. in other parts of the world in which "greatSomalia's contention with Ethiopia over their powers" createsufferingas theyviefor common border turned violent again early in militaryadvantage,whichisperceivedas 1987, but outright war has not been underway essential to economic advantage. since 1978.

Sudan Kenya has not experienced open warfare since independence was achieved in 1963. Sudan, as created by colonial powers, However, repression is increasing, and Kenya combines an Arab oriented north, whichis dominant, arid a black-African oriented south. seems headed for rebellion such as that which The south has a long nistory of exploitation by expelled Ferdinand Marcos from the the north and has been short-changed in health Phillippines.And asinthePhilippines,the U.S. is allied with the repressive government, care, education and public works. which is receiving $57 million in economic and Oil has been discovered in the south, and this military aid from the U.S. in 1987. has resulted in further pressure for An alternative policy for the United States in exploitation.A part of the oppression is the imposition of Islamic law, which in the south is the Horn would:I.End U.S. use of military an at front to the majority of the people, whobases in the Horn; 2. Halt arms shipments into practice traditional religions and Christianity. the region; 3. Urge negotiations in international forums on the conflictsinthe Thr...5e conditions have led to rebellion, which region. has formed around the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA). Thefightinghas

182 The Militar Connection

Article 8:"Why the Violence?" from War Wounds by Abdul Rahman Abu Zayd Ahmed.

WHY THE VIOLENCE? ABDUL RAHMAN ABU ZAI'D AHMED

Professor Abdul Rahman Abu Zayd Ahmed was one of the founders develop and share all available resources was madt dramatically and eventually Vice-Chancellor of the CM% eriity of Juba. From 1976- clear by the recent drought and famine in northern Sudan. 1982, he was deeply ins olved, not onb with educational des elopments As the nest century approaches, and as water resources and the in the south, but also with the major political es ents and leaders of the cultivable land mass of northern Sudan shrink through drought and time. He went on to become Secretary-General of the National Council for Higher Education, and in 1985 took up his current position as desertif ication, the only hope for the nation is for all regions to work Vice-Chancellor of Omdurman Ahlia L nh ersity . together to exploit their particular resources for the good of the country as a whole.yet. saluable time and treasure have been Within the pages of War Wounds, the reader m, illt 'rid personal ss asted for many years by neglecting the regions outside the testimonials by individuals who are keen observ ers of the present north-central Nile Valley . situation in southern Sudan. Their statements are a w Imes, to the The result of erratic. ignorant and frivolous of ummplemented tragic results of a conflict which has divided our country tor the policies is the present pos erty and misery of the entire Sudanese ,econd time in the span of three decades. people. In order to understand correctly the background and parameters Although the cities, tow ns and v Wages of northern Sudan are not of this crisis and hence to address it With appropriate measures, exactly models ot development. the cities and tow ns and s Wages of certain fallacies and misleading perceptions must he put to rest. southern Sudan have detenorated to the point vkhere they are Many a northern Sudanese, including politicians and informed practically unsuitable bir habitation. Ev en the capital cities ot the writers, will tell you that the problem in southern Sudan is not one three southern regions are suf fering in an appalling manner. ot race or religious bias, but one of sinister international interference Dealing with the problems (the Arabic word "mustahdar targeted is used dail) to prove How does this explanation of vs hy we are in the present dilemma that Sudan is an object of external ill-intent ). The claim is not shared help us deal w ith the problem as a vv).eI and the immediate by most southern Sudanese who see the conflict primarily in racial problems of affected indis iduals and populations .) and religious terms. There must he an honest acceptance of Susian as a sum of This view of the conflict coloured the entire literature rit the first complex. conflicting elements. Anya-Nya movement in theI %Os and early I970s. The Sudan The Government must be restructured so that the prmciples ot a People's Liberation Movement ( SPLM tION merely presents a neW democratic system are guaranteed; namely , pluralism, basic human articulation of the same ideas ahout the conflict. rights for all. equality before the law and in all nanon,d endeas ours. The basic cause All regions must have equal opportunity to develop. There Must be My contention isthat racial and religious tactors are genumc a national acknow ledement that the south (and other neglected problems in the struggle to build a um) ied !Iudanese nation, hut they regions) represent a t inure source of v.ealth for the nation since [herr are not the ilasic :allse of the present cs it War. I.et us MM. C on then manpower, water. land and forests are stalls needed tor the to address the more profound reason w hy differences, common to development of the nation as a whole. many societies, have h. en e vaggerated to the punt v. here violence All regions of the Soda!) must he open to all people ot the Sudan became the chosen method ot conflict respollm: and resolution, ss Ith full rights of resmence. work and acquismon of prolk1-1, as I believe the War, seen ohieins elv must tx attributed primarily. well as equality ot opportunity w ith the indigenous people of the ti compar use underdev elopment Iic lack I )1 development in the region.The n..tional wealth must be distributed equitably . sonth gis es rise to numetous and legitimate complaints.The ResoutTes a reglon must be des eloped accordingto an southern Sudan has not re, co,ed its tan share ot development agreed national agenda and available to all crti/ens, no matter from resources or attention. either under colonial rule or since wnere they come. intkpenclenc e Cultural and linguistici.laratACriqut:s ot eserregion should Val IOW. re,1,,011 go. en tor this state ot .illarrs are not convincing, recerve equal attention and ent ouragement lbthe relevant because southern Sudan istic h in resources winch require only government institutions and pm ate or ganisations. The educational

determined el toils to utilise ihem for the benefit ot the people ot the system should he uniform throughout the douurtr urn its maim area and the entire nation.The need lor the who1.e country to

181 Session 5

Article 8 (coned.) ingredients, with allowance for regional variations.Proportional In three decades the Sudan has lived through tvvo tragic ciil representation in the national institutions must be guaranteed. wars. We are now more than a match for the Lebanese and the Irish. A great deal of discussion has taken place about the question of During these wars we have destroy ed immense w ealih. lost saluahle Sudanese identity.Unfortunately. this is an issue like the other opportunities for growth, and inflicted permanent injury to the issues crucial to national harmony. which requires sensitke and national psyche with nothing to show for our deeds. imaginative handling.The acculturation process is one of The present civil war, however, is different from the one that historical, spiritual and emotional dimensions, and the question of preceded it.It is ioore sinkter and more dangerous beLause of the identity is intimately related to that process. We cannot hope to involvement of outside powers and the availability of mole decree a feeling of "Sudanese-ness" even if there is a national destructive firepower at a time when the Sudan is beset with consenses on the need for a unified Sudanese identity .This can enormous problems of drought. desertification. agonising only be achieved through a long process of education, w hich should institutional disruption and a st:iggering international debt most of not overlook the aivantage of maintaiinng diversity vb !thin unity. which are compounded by the fact and requirements of the war). The importance of initiating the long process of acquisition of a These problems are crying for a determined nationa; effort in national identity is not to eliminate differences, hut to ensure that order to find solutions. It is absolutely essential, therefore, to bring those differences are not the occasion for discrimination and do not the civil war to an end as a first step towards economic and social

lead to violent conflict: the) should rather serv e to promote health and recover\ . integration by giv ing various groups confidence in one another and enriching the intik idual Sudanese and the Sudanese society and nation.

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I tl,1 -4 a/U BEST COPY AVAILABLE The Militar Connection

Article 9:"Rebels in Ethiopia Work to Modernize Eritrea" by John Kifner, The New York Times, Aug. 21, 1988. Rebels in Ethiopia Work to Modernize Eritrea

By JOHN KIFNER speetia I.TNew York Times OROTTA, Ethiopia By day, this Starting from scratch, the Eritrean magnifying device, were performing narrow valley carved into the steep rebels have built an impressive, self- microsurgery on a man's eardrum, ruined by artillery fire. mountains seems nearly deserted, the sufficient network of medical clinics, refugee relief centers, factories and Dr. Tekeste Fekadu, the military only movement herds of goats scram- health director said, "Behind the lines, bling among the rocks. But as dusk schools. we have a clinic at the battalion level, falls and the danger of Ethiopian M1G A conversation with a rebel official division hospital with mobile surgical bombers fades with the light, the valley inevitably begins with astatistics- units, regional hospitals and then the springs to life. packed review of the table of organiza- central hospital here, with a unit for tion, and a listof accomplishments, prostheses Convoys of big Mercedes trucks pull usually coupled with the cheerful ad- "We have 35 certified doctors, 37 out of hiding places under trees, ferry- mission that they are wily making a assistant doctors we have trained our- ing food and supplies, their headlights dent in an overwhelmina Problem. selves who can do simple operation& catching camels lurching arrogantly in "We make intravenous solutions, 150 nurses, 65 lab technicians and over the brush. Men and women carrying capsules,tablets,ointments,tinc- 1,700 barefoot doctors," he said. "To flashlights and Kalashnikov rifles staff tures," said Sennay Kifleyesus, a phar- compensate for the lack of helicopter checkpoints neatly marked with stop macist running a hidden plant here evacuation, we carry the casualties out on our backs, but our mortality rate signs showing an upraised palm. that produces the rebels' drugs and medicine. He went on with a list of from stomach injuries compares fa- In a hospital dug into the side of the "four main types of antibiotics, vita- vorably with the Americans in Viet- mountain, rambling along in a corridor mins, especially C and B-complex, anti- nam. We have learned a lot " nearly three miles long, doctors in malaria pills important because it's green surgical gowns are operating on very common aspirin, a basic list of woundedguerrillasand civilians. 182 items." 'A Very Small Dent' Workshops tucked into the ravines re- "We're not fully self-sufficient yet," pair everything from electric genera- he added apologetically,shining a In Vast Illiteracy tors to captured Soviet 1-55 tanks, and flashlight on the rocky paths between Andebrhan W. Giorgis, the Harvard- his laboratories. "Right now, we supply educated deputy chairman ofthe tiny factories turn out plastic sandals, about 40 percent of our needs." sthoolbooks and spaghetti. rebels' education department, who Is trying to deal with a 90 percent Illit- War Began 27 Years Ago eracy rate in the population of roughly This is the headquarters of the En- In Shipping Containers, 3.5 million, uid: "We have 165 schools, trean People's Liberation Front, one of some 1,780 teachers, and 27,000 stu- the world's most remarkable guerrilla Modern Laboratories dents We have devised a three-year organlzatinns, locked in a 27-year-long Around a rock and behind a bush a program for adult education of read- ing.writing,arithmetic, elementary war to break away from Ethiopia. door opens unto an interconnected hygiene and some physical and social But even as the fighting continues, series of cargo shipping containers, sciences " the guerrillas, led by one-time campus painted white, that are now laboratory Marxists, are also struggling to mod- rooms where workers in futuristic ster But he added, "This is a very small ile coveralls and hoods check the drug' ernize a backward, traditionalist soci- dent ety. They are teaching an overwhelm- for purity. Elaborate machines mi Playing with a kitten, he offered the compounds and spew out pills. obligatory glass of tea from a thermos ingly illiterate people to read and write, "Our medical department is in two building a primary health care system on the porch of the Zero School here, sections, civilian and military," said the central boarding school operated in a land ravaged by famine and dis- Dr Assefaw iekeste, the director of by the rebel I ront ease, championing the rights of women civilian healt.n services, showing a visi- who had been waled as chattel and in- The school, taking its name from the tor through tentsfilledwith quiet radio CMJV for a nearby rebel head- troducing new technology. women and children who had lost legs quarters, began in 1976 with 100 stu- In the bist few munths, the Ent reans to land mines. dents1 odit oisa complex of six have broken a nine-yeallonk; stale "The central hospital here is at the si hook. ine hiding one for fine arts, and mate uf I ret ':h warfare, uverruning the top of the pyramid; it has 400 inpa ha, 4,600 students and 200 teacher main Ethic Aan Ai my headquarters in nts at the moment," he said. "We Unlike Ihe guerrillas of Afghanistan, the north And threatening the Soviet have sex regional hospitals in areas we control in the central highlands, 23 re- who are fighting to maintain a tradi. backed ngirnc of Lieut Col Mengistie gional health centers, 32 health centers, Ilona! way of life in the faceof that Halle M iriam. Despite the Eritrean 208 village clinics, which can serve 500 So% ri too ked i egime's attempt to im gains they control nearly three-quar- to 1,000 people." pose modernism, the Eritrean rebels ters of the territory, although not the "We have trained more than a thou are determined to create a new society major cities there is no end in sight sandbarefootdoctors,"he added, No% he e is this more apparent than in in bash then call for equality for women, tradi- to a war that has claimed hundreds of referring to those trained tionally confined to the kitchen and not thousands of lives medical techniques. The tour entered what appeared to allowed to speak in public Now, wear. No outside power supports the En be a stone hut that turned into a spot. Ins shorts and carrying Kalashnikovs, treans, and other African nations op- less operating thrater where a team of women make up nearly a third of the pose secession for fear that trihale.m doctors, peering into a sophisticated front-line guerrilla fighters would splinter !hum too

J. BEST COPY AVAILABLE Session 5

Article 9 (conrd.)

In a part of the world where ties of 'The United Nations plan called for a Mr. lsseyas, the rebel leader, said tribe and religion define identity, the federation in which Eritrea would have "It's a misunderstanding when people rebel front is trying to build this new an independent parliament, but within try to talk about the E.P.L.F. as bemg a society in a staggeringly diverse terri- a decade the Emperor had annexed totally Marxist organization " tory about one-tenth of Ethiopia Eritrea. A military coup dethroned the In an interview at a base hidden in that has nine languages and a people Emperor in 1974, and three years later themountaintops,thesoft-spoken, largely divided into Moslems of the Ethiopiaswitchedallegiance from lanky Mr. lsseyas looked puzzled fat a lowlands and Christians of the high- Washington to Moscow. But Colonel moment when asked what the rebels' lands. blengistu and his fellow officers, known major accomplishment had been as the Dergue or Committee, were no "We have been abletosurvive less determined to hang onto Eritrea. against all sorts of odds that's the Nationalism Traced The Emperor's moves touched off first thing," he said. "We have learned To Italian Colonization mounting discontent, and thefirst to do things after a long prncess a shots of rebellion were fired in Septem- repetition of mistakes, confrontations. Ironically enough, the fierce sense of ber 1961. The initial revolt, which be- setbacks but we have developed a Eritrean nationalism, Eritreans them- came known as the Eritrean Libera- proficiency in doing our jobs." selves say, comes from having been don Front, was composed largely of colonized by Italy. traditional and tribal leaders, with a Italy founded its colony here in 1890, strongly Moslem cast. 'We Have Come intending to use it as a springboard for The rebellion was joined later by A Long Way' further conquests in Africa. Small fac- younger, more educatedEritreans, tories and, later, automobile repair ga- largely urban. Many of them were In the darkening valleys below., the rages were built, along with a network Christians, and a number were campus rebels were moving out, four-wheel- of roads hewn through the steep moun- radicals at Haile Selassie University in drive Toyotas bumping alongthe tains. The local people were brought in Addis Ababa. stream beds. Many stopped at road- as laborers and apprentices. As the Eritreans fought the central blocks so men and sometimes Government, they also fought each women could give a traditional "Italy played a role in bringing peo- other In an increasingly fierce civil war greeting of a hug and striking of shoul- ple together and making them feel the within the civil war, with the more ders. same," said the Secretary General of modernist, leftist People's Liberation Near the hospitals, men missing the the rebelfront, lueyas Aferworki, Front triumphing by 1981. lower parts of a le-exercised, walking when asked about the roots of Eritrean with the aid of ski poles nationalism. "We have come a long way," said Dr Outside Support Auefaw, the civilian health director, who has been in the field for 10 years. Awarded by the U.N. Is Said to Dry Up "Today when I go to the front line,I will take a car and the necessary equip- And Then Annexed In itsinitial stages, the Eritrean ment. Before I would take a donkey. We separatists received money from some After Italy's defeat in World War II never had houses like this; we slept Arab nations and military training under a tree. and a brief period of British rule, the from Cuba because they were opposing "Our struggle has been a very iso- United Nations awarded Eritreato a Western-backed Government. Both lated one," he went on "No super Ethiopia and Emperor Haile Selassie these sources dried up when both the in 1952. This was done largely at the power supports us. To the Soviets we Government and the rebels turned left. are agents of imperialism, to the West insistence of the United States, which Recently, Colonel Mengistu has as- we are Marxists. But there is some maintained a communications base serted that the rebels are backed by near Asmara and wanted to keep the good about isolation. IIsteels us We Arabs, which could raise the featof are self-sufficient." Red Sea ports of Massawa and Assab Christian Ethiopians. The Eritreans in the hands of its main ally in the area deny this, saying most of their support comes from contributions by Eritrean expatriates

The' pLi it Itilt.0

I 86 The Military Connection

Article 10: "Africa War Zones: Western Sahara/Chad." Prepared by Teresa Smith, Association of Concerned Africa Scholars. Africa Peace Tour Report, Africa Peace Committee, 1987. AFRICA WAR ZONES: Western Sahara/Chad

W estern Sahara

The war in estern Sahara is one in which theMeanwhile, two neighboring states, Morocco 11. est, throughMorocco,is attemptingtoand Mauritania, put forward claims on the retain favorable access to valuable resourcesterritory. Spain promised to reach a f phosphates, oil and fisheries, among others. iegotiated agreement with the Polisario Front thatwouldbringindependenceto Western Moroccoisalso viewed asa keymilitarySahara. InOctober1975 theWorld Court outpostfortheUnitedStatesinnorthernruled on Western Sahara, dismissing the claims Africa.This contributes to the willingness ofof Morocco and Mauritania to sovereignty over theU.S.tosupportMorocco'sdesignson the territory. V. estern Sahara, a nation about the sizeof Colorado, with a population of about 500,000. Nevertheless, in defiance ofits pledges and obligations, Spain struck a deal in November, From 1884 to1975, W estern Sanara was a 1975 withMorocco and Mauritania--the colony of Spain, which hela a lirnitea interestMadrid Accords--which divided Western in the area untilitdiscovered that WesternSahara between them. ThePolisariothen Sahara'swaterswere amongtheworld'sturned their struggle against the new richest fisheries. Offshore and subsoil occupying forces.In1979, with an economy petroleum deposits were foundinthelatedevastated by the burdens of war, Mauritania 1950s and 1960s, as were superior,withdrew.Morocco then moved to annex by ranium-gradephosphatesandoneoftheforce thP whole of the territory. world's largest fresh water acquifers. The War At the same time these discoveries were being made, a movement for self-determination wasMorocco, under the rule of King Hasan, has growing among the people of 1k estern Sahara,thrown itself into overwhelming the Polisario. known as the Sahrawi.The Sahrawi have aThe central Morcoccan strategy is the distinct history, which includes 50 years ofcreation of walls in the desert that bring more successful resistance before the Spanish wereand more of V estern Sahara under Moroccan finally able to create a colony in the region. control. The walls, which are heavily fortified, mined and guarded by radar, have ThedrivetorestoreWesternSaharatobeen constructed with the help of France, the Sahrawi control began with student protests inU.S. and Israel. the1960s,whichtheSpanishbrutallyput down, killing hundreds and detaining leaders.These walls are concentratedinnorth and In1973,the Sahrawi formedthePolisariowestern regions, enclosing the key phosphate Front, which undertook armed struggle to oustmining center at 13u Craa.The Moroccans he Spanish.In 1975 the United Nations foundhave invested $50 million in port facilities in that the people of Western Saharathe area and have increasea phosphate mining categoricallysupported the Polisario andto approach levels reached while the area was wanted independence. under Spanish cJntrol. Session 5

Article 10 (cont'd.) Chad Inside the walls, state of emergency Chad is a vast nation, equal to the size of the legislation suspends all civil rightsand makes west coast of the United States, formerly a visible opposition to the occupation French colony but still under substantial impossible. Disappearanceand torture is control by France, and the United States. systematic as well. Chad's population of 4.5 million is The war has pushed some 240,000 Sahrawi concentrated in the southern region, which has refugees into Algeria. richagriculturalpotential,producinglarge cotton crops for Western Europe and Japan. The U.S.is deeply comnitted to Morocco'sOil has also been discovered in the south near attempt to control Western Sahara. In1987, Lake Chad and Esso Exploration is planning for the U.S. provided Morocco with $109 million inits exploitation. military and economic aid. $32 million of this total was in free weapons. Over the course of HissenHabre,anorthernminorityleader, after several revolts and military campaigns, Morocco's war effort, the U.S. has provided became president of Chad in 1982. From 1982 $1.5 billion in military aid. to 1986, the U.S. and France sent millions of In return, Morocco provides the U.S. militarydollars in arms and equipment to the Habre with basing rights, communication and landing regime to counter offensives by opponents and facilities fortheCentral Command (Rapidby Libya, which has occupied a uranimum-rich Deployment) and tne U.S. fleet operating in strip along the border since 1972. theAtlanticand Mediterranean, not to mention selling fruit and vegetables to U.S. In1987, theU.S.provided Chad with $17 Europe-based NATO forces. Moroccoalso millionineconomic andmilitaryaidand channels assistance to and hosts the foreignair-lifted military supplies to help Chad turn headquarters of UNITA, the contra-style force back a Libyan assault.At the same time, allied with South Africa, supported by the U.S. France bombed Libyan troops in retaliationfor inAngola. MoroccohaspurchasedSouth Libyan bombings,showingitsintentionto African tanks. Currently, Morocco is maintain its presence in Chad. searching for assistance to enable it to acquire Apart from Habre's small clan, no Chadianhas a new squadron of F-16 fighter planes and to benefitted from this war or past warswhich build another wall. havehelpedkeep Chadthesixthpoorest nation inthe world.Many southern groups The Sahrawi Republic (SADI), the provisional fled their farms or were killed whenHabre government of the Polisario, is recognized by cametopower. But Habresuccessfully 69 nations and is a memberof the offered amnesty to southern rebels startingin Organization ofAfrican Unity (OAU). The 1985,andmanyrefugeeshavereturned. OAU has elaborated a peace planforthe Despite Habre's recent efforts at region, OAU Resolution 104 (1983), which was reconciliation, his rule has been characterized endorsed by consensus at the United Nations in by political killings and frequent humanrights the same year.Currently the U.N. Secretary violations. Lieneral is undertaking efforts to bring the two parties(Morocco and the Polisario) to A U.S.policythatwould benefitWestern regotiate its implementation.But, Morocco Sahara and Chadwould:I.Haltweapons refuses to cooperate. Unfortunately, with the shipmentstobothnations; 2. Condition assurance ofU.S. assistance, plans to build economic aid and financialinvolvement on more walls move ahead, with the likelihood protection of human rights; 3.In the case of that war will spread into neighboring countries. Western Sahara, support the peace planof the OAU. For more information on Western Sahara or for This paper was prepared by Teresa K. Smith Chad please contact the local organizer Peace (AssociationofConcernedAfricaScholars) the AfriuA Peace Tour or write: Africa Fathers and and Todd Perry. Committee, c/o Maryknoll Brothers, Maryknoll, NY 10562. J,{ Session 6: Where do we go from here?

Goal: To establish an action plan that celebrates participants' learning from Sessions 1-5. The activities in this session will help the group develop an action plan that reflects and cele- brates the group's learning in Sessions 1-5 about the linkages between their community and Africa. The Busy Person's Guide to Social Action (pp. 1648) provides general action planning guidelines.

Activities: Participants clarify and define the linkages they have discovered between their local community and the African context. They analyze the assets that they have among themselves and within their community, and the identified networks. They brainstorm a list of possible responses in terms of activities and events that highlight the linkages, and discuss the pros and cons of each potential activity or event. They decide which activity(ies) or event(s) would be most effective and feasible. The group draws up an action plan, delegates tasks, sets dates, responsibilities, linkages with other groups in their community.

Suggested Equipment and Materials: African foods brought by participants easel and newsprint to mark participants' comments, responsibilities a table to display any Africa-related literature a bulletin board to pin up a map of Africa, relevant articles and announcements thumb tacks, scissors, tape compiled list of media contacts and African resource network in the local area cassette player

Session Outline

1.It's Time to Write some new Song3! "Songs are sneaky things. They can slip across borders. Proliferate in prisons. Penetrate hard shells." (Pete Seeger). Play an inspiring song to set the tone for this session. Choose your own or play a selection from the "New Songs" cassetteby Jim Dunn (available from The People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, 1444 North Johnson St., New Orleans, LA 70116 (504) 944-2354 or contact UUSC).

2. What is Social Action? Social action is only effective if it is tailored to people's characteristics, skills, and pref- erences. Once the issues and problems have been identified, wehave to determine each person's and the group's action possibilities. Copy the following pages for use as ,1 handout; the information on Modes of Action and Transformation Roles sets the tone for deciding on group action by providing an idea of the breadth of what is called social action.

t 189 A. I.) Session 6

Modes of Action: What can I do?

Personal Lifestyle Choices: Make choices about my personal life in light of my declared values.

Service: participate in action to address the effects of an identified problem.

Advocacy: speak out about the problem to those who could make a difference.

Organizing: get others involved in changing the situation both those affected and those who have resources and power.

Transformation Roles: How can what I do change unjust structures?

According to economist and futurist James Robertson, the process of social transformation involves many people acting out of a shared vision in all arenas of life (family, business, school, church and synagogue, professional, civic and government...) in one or more of the six transformation roles according to our own gifts and circumstances.

Building the new value system: A just society exhibits a new set of values (respect for each person, solidarity among all peoples, stewardship, non-violence, cooperation, participation). For these values to replace those of exploitation, patriarchy, competition, violence, consumerism, and exclusion, they must be internalized by many people. This calls on the skills of teachers, parents, preachers, artists, musicians, poets, and everyone involved in human development.

Choosing a lifestyle congruent with your declared values: A just economic society calls us to make lifestyle choices accordingly: living simply, reordering priorities to make way for a more just distribution of goods and modeling in the way we live the value system we espouse. Unless we do this there will be diminished potential for change, and for meeting the needs of those suffering from want.

Enabling alternative structures to emerge: Some people have to create new structures that will bring about the just society the new ways of working and organizing the production and delivery of goods and services. Some are the innovators; others help get the resources to implement the new ideas volunteering at the local food co-op, investing in self-help credit unions, helping get orders for a new alternative press.

Transforming existing institutions from within: New values for the just society must re- shape the patterns of acting and relating within existing institutions. Decision-making in offices, classrooms, agencies, and churches must become more participatory, involving all who are atte,cted. Reward systems must become more just, according to race and gender. Conflicts must be settled nonviolently. Cooperation has to replace competition. f uturist Robert Theobald, says: "To get revolutionary change, be revolutionary." Once people have experienced a new way the effects will ripple out and spread.

A Where do we go from here?

Strategies for getting from here to there: People must design the process of change, i.e., the strategies and tactics that will change patterns of behavior and the laws of the land. People must organize to participate in the strategies, e.g., voting long-term commit- ments to issues all call for members to contribute time, effort and money to organizing the constituency for change and mobilizing the effort in the economic and political arenas.

Opposing what goes in the wrong direction: One part of working for change is preventing policies and action that reinforce the status quo or take us backward. So one of the transformation roles calls on change agents to say "No!" to injustice even as they work for justice. Once situations have been identified as unjust there is no such thing as being neutral. To be silent is to stand on the side of the status quo -- the unjust rea!ity, and to be complicit in it. As Edmund Burke put it, "All that is necessary for the forces of evil to triumph is for enough good people to be s:lent." (Adapted from the Economic Literacy Project: Empowering Women (or Action, produced by the Religious Network for Equality for Women)

191 Session 6

3.Moving from Information to Action The steps between receiving information and implementing ar-tion are important in determining what action is the best possible response to the kinds of linkages the participants discovered. Too often groups of people involved in social action are overly eager to step into action, or they b ,come side- tracked by endless discussions on what should be done (a phenomenon that Dr. Martin Linke, King, Jr. called "paralysis by analysis"). To be effective, action must be firmly grounded in a realistic framework. During the process of reaching consensus, broken down below into 12 steps, the facilitator should make sure that the decision-making includes all group members and any questions are clarified. Having a blackboard or newsprint on hand will help the group keep track of progress made during each step of the process.

A 12-step process for group consensus-building:

Step #1: The group brainstorms a list of linkages between their local area and Africa, according to the session topics (culture, economics, health, hunger, children and youth, environment, military spending). Where do related phenomena exist locally and in Africa? What are some common obstacles and goals?

Step #2: The group decides which linkages are the strongest and most clear in their impact on the local level and ir the African context. For what linkage can an action or event help redirect policy and public attention concerning local and African issues in a positive manner? Step #3: The group brain ;torms on common (win-win) actions or events that would help resolve some of the negative impacts of issues for both the U.S. and Africa. (Consult the Brainstorming List of Activities and Events below for ideas). Step #4: Questions that some group members may raise about the linkages and possible actions are solicited by the facilitator and clarified. Step #5: The group discusses the pros and cons of the different action that they listed under Step #3. Are they realistic? Here the group's assets should be taken into account (see 4. Worksheet: How to Calculate Your Group Assets of the session outline below). Step #6: One (or several) group members are called upon by the facilitator to make a proposal for what appears to be the most realistic action (or actions) for the group to undertake. Step #7: The group discusses the feasibility of the proposal made in Step #6. What considerations must be taken into account in implementing this proposal?

Step #8: Other group members are called upon by the facilitator to modify the proposal made in Step #6, if necessary.

Step #9: The facilitator tests for consensus among the group: (a) he/she restates the proposal (b) he/she calls for concerns about the proposal from the group (c) he/she calls for objections, reservations within the group consensus (d) he/she calls for blocks from among the group members (e) he/she attempts to incorporate objections of blockers into the proposal

1 92 Where do we go from here?

Step #1 0: After the test for consensus, the facilitator makes an official call for consensus, through a show of verbal and/or visual agreement. (If consensus is reached, the group moves on to Step #11; if not, they go back to Step #9). Step #11: With the help of the Action Plan Worksheet (see item #5 below) the group develops and action plan to implement the proposal that they reached consensus on. Step #12: Tasks in implementing the proposal are assigned to the different group members (again, consult the Action Plan Worksheet below).

A

1 9 i Session 6

4. Worksheet: How To Calculate Your Group Assets Before implementing an action plan, group members should take inventory of the assets they can work with. The fo!lowing is a worksheet for the group to complete: People time and talents: The key assets to effective action are members' and friends' availability, skills, and interests. Instead of designing a program and then looking for skills to match, groups tend to be more successful if they inventory skills and then shape a program around them this builds on a community's existing strengths. Useful skills to list include: community organizing, journalism, teaching, training, theater and puppetry, music and dance, accounting, bookkeeping, grant-writing, banking, legal work, health, business planning, advertising, graphic design, contracting, small business, computer, information science, home business, and many others.

Name Skills A ./ailability

Facilities: What facilities do you own or have the right to use? Think about church buildings, office space, convents, schools, storage space, meeting and conference facilities, school gym, outdoor recreational facilities, houses or apartment buildings, etc. When are these properties being used? Mostly on Sundays and a few nights a week? Are any of these properties in a key community location? List any particular advantages these facilities offer. Which facilities are not being used to their fullest capacity? Make a list:

Facility/Room Times Available Possible Uses

194 Where do we o from here?

Equipment: What equipment does your group own or rent? Can it be put to more intensive use? A good typewriter or word processor could cut costs and time. Use of a vanmight ease transporta'ion problems. A storefront could become an income-generating resale shop. Your storage space may be valuable too. Here's a short list to help you inventory such equipment: Office equipment (typewriter, addressing machine, computer, mimeograph, photocopy machine, printing equipment, lay-out table, other):

Video and audio equipment:

Other equipment (from schools, community centers, warehouses, nursing homes, localretail stores and other services):

Linkage to existing programs: Working with existing community action programs could significantly strengthen group activities. It is useful to inventory all your "friends and allies." As an on-going assignment (defined in Session 1), the group has been collecting information about the African resource network in the local area. Which ones can be useful to help implement the action? Also consider organizations and programs, such as coalitions on African issues, peace groups, environmental programs, Third World crafts cooperatives, food co-ops, meal programs, recycling programs, day care centers, shelters for women and children,credit unions, health care programs, Third World education programs, church-affiliated coalitions.

Organization How we could collaborate

I 195 Session 6

5. An Action Plan Worksheet Organizing action takes planning, making all those involved responsible for different aspects of the whole, and keeping track of the action plan's progress. Below is a worksheet to complete for developing a realistic action plan:

1) What activity has the group decided on?

2) What problem(s) in the local community and Africa does this activity address?

3) Who wii: benefit from the activity? How will these people benefit? Who is your constituency? Who are you accountable to?

4) What timeframe is there for the implementation of the activity?

5) What obstacles should we expect to look out for? (Money problems, people, attitudes, lack of clarity, commitment, time.)

6) What people/organizations will be involved in making this activity possible?

7) What kinds of resources (equipment, materials, tools, facilities, vehicles, money, skills) will be needed for this activity?

8) Where is the activity going to take place?

.. 196 Where do we go from here? 1IM. 4111=1.

9) Implementation plan: How is the activity to be done?

prior to the activity (preparation) task who when

during the activity (implementation plan)

task who when

after the activity (follow-up)

task who when

197 Session 6

6. Spreading the Word About Findings As an on-going assignment (defined in Session 1), the group identified the local media network and its coverage of African issues. Information and contacts gained during this inquiry will helpyou spread the word about the group's program For example, the local-global connections that will have emerged from the self-study will be of interest to the local media. It may be most efficientto designate a media liaison person from among the group's members. Ways to communicate with the media include: press releases (you can find a sample press release and information on how to write one yourself in the Busy Person's Guide to Social Action,p. 32) flyers, circulars, brochures newsletters Public Information Announcements (PIA) radio and television interviews public speaking at schools, nursing homes, community centers action alerts (about boycotts, for example) demonstrations, vigils street theater puppet shows cultural events public access television The gr,)up's media liaison person may want to inform the community about thetypes of activities theoup plans to undertake. Here are a few helpful hints for writing promotional copy. :

1.Have a "you" orientation (readers' needs come first)

2.Slogans help readers and listeners remember (something like: 'Africa:you can't live without it!")

3.Carefully arrange your "selling" points (relate Africa to the local context)

4.Avoid sexism and jargon

5.Use grarhics

6. Keep sentences and paragraphs short and clear

7.Don't forget to state the obvious (this is especially trueas far as Africa is concerned!)

8.Add an additional inducement to get public to participate

9.Good copy should be: interesting, specific, simple, concise, believable, relevant, and persuasive. (According to a Yale University study, the twelvemost persuasive words are: discovery, easy, guarantee, health, love,money, new, proven, results, safety, save, you.)

(Adapted from Gery Blake and Robert W. Bly, How to Promoteyour own l3usiness. New York: NAL Penguin Inc. 1983)

198_ 4 Where do we go from here?

A Brainstorming List and Sample Ideas for Action: A list of some examples of action undertaken by groups ofpeople, concerned about their communities and those in Africa, are presented below. The listof activities and events should stimulate thinking of what the group can do. The readings include an example of how to organize anAlternative Trade Organization (selling African products, for example), a fact sheetand sample letter of protest on the Nest lé and American Home Products boycott, along with information onthe Coca-Cola in South Africa boycott. 1

General: Cultural: Aworcness campaign on U.S./South African arts exhibits and shops, support Africa involvement (rallies, vigils, for artists' cooperatives, demonstrations) Black History Month activities on linking Benefits, fundraisers (musicians, cultural local community with Africa events) Culture kits (collection of objects from Building exchanges between people in different countries) U.S. and in Africa Hands-on museum/exhibits Celebration of World Days (e.g. Wodd Story tellers: African folk tales Hunger Day, World Health Day) Street theater, puppet shows, simulations, Educational events at churches role plays, mini-skits Joining or developing a Peace Corps Partnership Program Economic: Lobbying campaigns of local and national Advocacy of local-African links in local government officials government and businesses News features, letters to the editor, Boycotts, pickets, action alerts, petitions magazine articles, newsletters, press releases of U.S. companies with unethical policies in Organization of sessions on what North the U.S. and Africa Americans can learn from Africa Identification of markets for Africa Partnerships with local African coalitions products (student groups, divestment campaigns) Program to encourage purchase of goods Poster drawing contests from Africa Presentations in nursing homes, jails, schools, community centers (speakers, slide shows, videos, films) Resource center, speakers bureau, calendar of events concerning Africa Sister city, adopt-a-community, grassroots exchange programs Travel exchanges Work with local offices of international associations (UN Associations, World Affairs (Touncils, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer groups, bread for the World, and other religious, non-profit groups)

1 99 Session 6

Children and Youth: Food and Hunger: Assessment of school curriculum on Advocacy of food programs and Africa (train teachers) legislation supporting family farms Boycott companies which contribute to "Buy Local" program and directory unjust practices against children, e.g. Nestle, Community education program about American Home Products) food assistance here and in Africa Child care exchange Community gardens, land trusts, land use Day care training programs planning Exchange programs between U.S. and Food pantries, banks, buying clubs African students, children Food Stamp rights education programs Provision of day care to worker's children Identification of new markets for farm Teen programs on Africa products, e.g. organic foods Youth employment and training programs Public farmer support activities, e.g. Sponsor Children of War tour presence at farm auctions, foreclosures Religious Education programs at local Rural support group for distressed farmers religious institutions Health Care Environment: AIDS awareness through theater Advocacy of stricter federal policies on Health care screening programs energy, fuel consumption, waste disposal, Linking health care expenditures to occan dumping economic development strategies CreatiJn of new and end-use industries Nutrition education for mothers for waste products, e.g. ethanol Pre-natal care services Environmental awareness campaigns on dumping, reforestation locally and in Africa Presentations on Africa in hospitals, nursing homes Loan programs, tax credits for energy conservation Military Organize against toxic waste Boycott companies that contribute to Organize for city-wide recycling pick-up unjust economic and labor practices, e.g. (paper, glass, cans) United Farm Workers-organized boycott of Protect wildlife campaign table grapes Recycle/exchange clothes and household Don't do business with banks making goods, thrift stores, rummage sales loans to South Africa or other countries that Start-up a "buy back," "cash for trash" violate human rights station Education campaign about effects of U.S. Weatherization programs military policy and hardware in Africa Encouragement of socially responsible investment Opposition to inappropriate businec;c activity or development

I Where do we go from here?

Article 1: "Start a Third World Shop: Alternative Trade Organizations Mix Businessand Justice" by Jim Goetsch, Seeds.

One of the ways UUSC staff in Boston canbe helpful to the users of the Introductory Guide to Africa is to provide information on the typesof social action that are being organized throughout the country. The following articles areexamples of what some groups of people, concerned about their communities and those in Africa,have been doing. They include an example of how to organize an Alternative Trade Organization(selling African products, for example), a fact sheet on the Nest 16 and American HomeProducts boycott, a sample letter to the Nest lé and AHP offices, and a fact sheet onthe Coca-Cola boycott. Start A Third WorldShop Alternative trade organizations mix businessand justice

By Jim (.30etSch For the pa..t year the House 1Nli aii.4 Means Committee has For Profit or Nonprofit? been studying the -business- of charity. The distinc- Before you make that first sale, you should determine tom between small business ipul niwprota Charity hasuanisned whether your ATO vill be for-protit or nonprofit, tax as more businesses add the "humanelement- to the proilt exempt or not. .ind more ,ionpronts eek tojress the roots ot In weighing the decision of whether to start a for-profit dis by entering the mainstream. One dez,elopment is the Alter- or nonprofit ATO, you should considerthese diff2rences: itatav Trade Organization .4T0) The basic purpose ot ATO Small businesses can be successful selling items pro- is to aid ,Pnalf protinceN in ,iezy/oping countries ryimporting duced exclusively by what the IRS calls "the poor, dis- and selling their products. The bulk ot the intIttell the ATO earn: tressed or troubled" hut it entails risk. returried to the third :corhi producer. The amount can range A small business is required to pay minimum wage toall trot)t a third to rperCent at earnings. ATO's emphasize educat- involved, while a nonprofit can accept volunteer help. ing buyers about Londrtion: in the countriestrom which the A nonprofit business may have to pay income taxes even good.:come .1:faxitruziN prow: 1.; not anATO if its purpose is to help only the poor and needy, unless ATO s are not )low some such as the Chi,rchofthe substantially all of its work is performed for free. Brethren's SERRV Self Help Handcrafts haz.e t'ecti around since Nonprofits should also know that while tax exempt sta- WWII), they are blo,soming into an exciting example of a new tus does have some restrictions, it allows You to accept opproach to world trade. Total .;ales for all ATO's (U.S.and grants, donations and discounts on postage. However, European) is estimated at S still a mere drop in the import taxes and shipping costs are not waived for non- dollar economic world. protits. This "how-to- guide zoos written by Jim Goet:ch fourider of Charting Your Progress Friends of the Third World, an A10 in Indiana. Once your decision to start an ATO is made itsmission established, and products, producers and marl.etschosen, Making the Right Choices method for monitoring the success The easiest and most important p:ace to start iswith a You must next create a mksion statement that explains s;our goals,objectives and of the operation. strategies. A basic budget stating yourprojected income In a traditional business money is thekeY.I lowever, I fere are seven key questions nonprofit groups can make up tor the lack of -apital with and expenses is also vital. r example', you should answer before beginning: donated labor and other "m-kind" resource's. F a church could be asked to donate spaceand large ATO What is the basic purpose? reading the Who do we serve? committee can save advertising expenses by sv ord to friends. You rnust remember, howeve% that even Where are our potential markets' Volunteers don't work "t,,r nothing."' They ne ed motiva- Who are our major competitors' tlOrl. `tour cause, written in WM' n11,,SIOn statement, must What problems and restmtions aftect our aim Ines' nt ing enough to recruit an adequate group ot peo- flow will we evaluate' suLcess or failure' be con What resources do et e nemi (people, money, ma term k, ple

It preparing sue h a plan *Veins daunting, fetne'nlherthat Careful Planning Is Crucial and numerous All hu,iness invok es risk, but good planning ian make a good plan requires good communication it manageable. Any project, profit or nonprotit,needs to re'Vls Ions. elop a "business plan" and continually evaluate it 201 Session 6

Article 1 (cont'd.)

Two 4ivens in business are people and legal existence., ATO's have tended to market handmade crafts, clothing Large projects can be started with only a couple of commit- and food from cooperatives or individuals. Most have ted people. But it's important to remember that if you are developed contacts with one or more producers and then short on people with needed skills your project will be tried to find a market. This method is the opposite of the short on results. Have as one of your main goals enlarging traditional business approach which seeks a market then yJiur pool of volunteers or workers. The general rule fordevelops a product or contacts an existing producer. This nonpront groups is that you can get by on less money ifdifference in approach is a key difference between tradi- you have more people. tional busihess and ATO's. Just as important to note is that You have to comply with government regulations. Your ATO's emphasize direct contact with their producers, ATO will be required to report to citv, county, state and avoiding the "middlemen". national agencies. Do not assume that because you are a While there are more producers and products than mar- non-profit organization, you don't have to report to thekets, a variety of low cost market surveying methods exist IRS. that can be used to test the product you choose. For exam- In general, the needs of an ATO can be most easily met ple, a simple price check of similar products is helpful. by incorporating or affiliating with an existing group. Experience has shown that the more practical the product, Most of the existing ATO's will share their general oper-the easier to find the market. Paid ads are not generally ating styles and catalogs and a few will share their businesseffective for new, small projects. Try informal advertising plans or contacts with suppliers. For those who want to such as stories in neighborhood newspapers, mailings and open a retail outlet, most ATO's will sell to you wholesale word of mouth to advertise your ATO. or on consignment. One possible source of suppliers is the ATO's are more successful when they match a specific directory of producers available from the Crafts Center, product to a consumer: i.e. organic foods to natural food 20()l 0 Street, NW, Washington D.C. 20036. coops or African bookbags to international students. You can market your goods in as many ways as there Marketing Your Product are ATO's. Products can be sold on consignment; through The process of choosing suppliers can be a learningSunday school or church bazaars; at home parties; in cata- experience on both sides. A balance must be derived logs; at conference tables, or even out of a bus or van. The between a product that will sell and producers in need.key is to match the audience to the product. You should Generally the more needy the producer, the more problemsalso decide if you want to share space with other retailers there will be in supply. Many ATO's designate a portion ofor get your own fulltime storefront. ATO retailers can also sales toward technical assistance and losses. The more per-consider shared or fulltime storefronts. sonal the contact with the producer, the bctter.

Alternative Trade Organizations

Dry Creek Cooperative Co-op America Arll^c,ton, :::Ot Trading 2100 Ai Street NW c o Paige Whittaker Suite 110 One World Trading Co. RIF 2 Bo !IA Wa.hington, IX 2X,,s1 I'll lior ITO rept st ,,,sJksurv TN 37140 ',tar rrertocs PA 1s4`,1 Equal Exchange Third World Handart PO Bo's 2652 Pueblo to People Arizona Cambridge %IA i12: 301 Montrow Blvd 44; 1, 2 DO 4th Street II ou stun, N 701'41 Tuoion, 45705 Friends of the Third World, Inc. SELFHELP Crafts Third World Handarts n1 I We.t WV. nt. 7 4 Main cdreet Bo% I California Fort WaNyne, IN 1h0412 Akron, PA I -;01 4h5 N Anaheim Blvd Orange, c 4:ne%8 Jubilee Crafts SERRY Self.Help 1011 W Apsles 5treet Handcrafts Third World Shoppe of Philadelphia.ri14144 ',011 \hun ,;rrevt, Ft. Wayne roBox Wivne -,,trcvt Mayan Crafts Wird,or M1) Fort Wa%,ne IN 4ni4i12 1101 N Highland ';tre,,t ROOT ;(41

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202 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Where do we re from here?

Article 2: "Sample Letters to Nest lé and American Home Products" and "Nest lé and AHP Boycott Fact Sheet". Minneapolis: Action for Corporate Accountability, 1989. SAMPLE LETTERS TO NESTLE AND AMERICAN HOMEPRODUCTS

Mr. J. R. Stafford, Chairman and CEO American Home Products 685 Third Avenue New York, NY 10017

Mr. C. Alan MacDonald, President Nestle Company 100 Manhattanville Rd. Purchase, NY 10577

Dear

Begin,if you like, with a short paragraph about you, and why you are concerned about the issue . This personal element will make your letter more effective.

l/We join with the World Health Assembly, UNICEF, andmembers of church, healthand consumer organizations all over the world who call upon the Nestle company to stopinducing sales by dumping supplies of infant formula in hospitals and maternity wards.

l/we know that Bottle Baby Disease, a disease causedby aggressive promotion of infant formula which persuades women tobottle feed instead of breastfeed, continues to be a grave problemfor many of the world's children. Bottle Baby Disease is characterizedby malnutrition, dehydration and infection, and it can mean death or permanentill-health for thousands of children every year.

Please be advised that l/we plan to boycott allNastla/AP products if you do not stop supplying hospitalsand maternity wards with free supplies of formula and bring your company'spractices into full compliance with the WHO/UNICEF InternationalCode of Marketing of Breast-milkSubstitutes.

Sincerely,

your name(s)

Please send a copy of your letter, and any response youget, to Action for Corporate Accountability, 3255 HennepinAve. S., Suite 230, Minneapolis, MN 55408. 203 Session 6

Article 2 (coned.)

1. What is the problem addressed by Action for Corporate Accountability's Infant Health Campaign? The problem is Bottle Baby Diseasesevere malnutrition and diarrhea, leading to death or life long handicapssuffered by infants whose mothers have been persuaded by the aggressive marketing schemes of the infant formula industry to abandon breastfeeding and use artificial milk to feed their babies. Health experts estimate that from one to three million infants die each year from Bottle Baby Disease. In poor areas, where living conditions are unsanitary, illiteracy high and incomes low, safe preparation of infant formula is nearly impossible.Mixed with bacteria-laden water and over-diluted to make it last longer, the expensive artificial milk becomes a daily dose of disease and malnutrition. The worst offenders are the industry leaders: Swiss-based Nestle and the U.S. - based American Home Products.

2.Hasn't there already been a boycott against Nestle about this issue? Yes, a seven year boycott against Nestle ended in 1984 when Nestle promised to comply with the World Health Organization's Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and some future clarifications of a section of the Code dealing with the industry practice of providing supplies of formula to hospitals. Because of the Nestle Boycott the entire industry changed some of its worst promotional practices, and the Boycott itself was hailed as "the most important victory in the history of the international consumer movement." 3. What is the WHO Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes? The Code was enacted by the World Health Assembly in 1981. The U.S., under the newly- elected Reagan administration, was the only country to vote against the Code. The Code addresses the problem of Bottle Baby Disease by restricting the ways in which infant formula can be promoted.It recognizes that infant formula is a potentially dangerous product and, therefore, must be not be marketed inappropriately. It asks for governments, health authorities, non-governmental organizations like ours, and the infant formula industry to work to see that the Code's Articles are implemented. 4. What's the problem with giving supplies of formula to hospitals? Providing supplies of formula to hospital maternity wards is now and has always been one of the most effective promotional devices known to the industry and one of the most dangerous to infants. The industry knows that any free handout to a consumer dramatically incrcases the likelihood that the consumer will use the product. And this form of promotion through the health care system takes on a precrived hospital stamp of approval. When the mother begins to use the formula instead of breastfeeding, her own milk begins to dry up and she and her newborn become "hooked." Because this marketing technique interferes so dangerously with the initiation of breastfeeding, the World Health Assembly called for an end to the practice. 5. Why is Action's focus back on Nestle? Nestle broke its promise and continues to market infant formula in ways that endanger infant health. The World Health Assembly has clarified the section of the Code concerned with supplies by resolving that the industry practice of delivering free supplies of formula to hospital maternity wards presents a danger to infants and shou:d stop. UNICEF has issued a similar statement. However, Nestle has refused to stop the practice. G. And what about American Home Products? The U.S.-based multinational corporation, American Home Products, has been identified by monitors for the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) as one of the worst violators of th,.. WHO Code. Despite meetings with church organizations, letter and postcard-writing campatgns, and repeated attempts at dialogue with AIIP, the corporation refuses to acknowledge its responsibility to end its aggressive promotion. 7. What is the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN)? IBFAN is a coalition of over 150 citizen groups in nearly 70 countries, working for bctter infant and child health through the promotion of breastfeeding and the elimination of dangerous marketing of commercial infant foods, bottles and nipples. Action is a member of and provides a central office for IBFAN; there are central offices also in Geneva, Switzerland and Penang, Malaysia

Amon for Corporate Accountahilar3255 Hennepin Ave S Suite 230Minne.Tolis, MN 55409 (612) 821.1571

204_ 1.i Where do we go from here?

Article 3:"Coke Sweetens Apartheid," Coca-Cola boycott fact sheet

S EETEN AP ID

Cok Boycott Campaign 92 Piedmont Menus Monte, OA 30303(404) 51144460 Apell 1989

'To be engaged in making a profit ofany sort in South Africa is to be making a profit from an immoral and unjust system of oppression.' - American Friends Service Committee, 1982

THE DIVESTMENT MOVEMENT Divestment is an effective non-violent strategy to bring about fundamental change. The United States currently has sanction efforts in effect world-wide. The international movement for divestment from South Africa began in the early 1960's and has continued to grow. In the U.S. 121 state and local governments support the South African divestment movement through divestment legislation.Similar efforts, such as the 1986 South African sanctions bill, are being promoted nationally. While some corporations have totally disengaged from South Africa, others, such as Shell, IBM, and Coca-Cola, have only made sham efforts to avoid public criticism. WHY BOYCOTT COCA-COLA? National and international name recognition, visibility, and affordability have made Coca-Cola soft-drinks accessible to all segments of society and all societies world wide. With 69% of the market. Coca-Cola is the dominant name in the South African soft-drink industry. Its support for humanitarian causes at home contradicts Coca-Cola's support for apartheid abroad. Therefore, a boycott of Coca-Cola soft-drinks is a call for consciousness to the company to prov ide leadership in the business community for total economic disengagement. HAS THE COCA-COLA COMPANY DISINVESTED FROM SOUTH AFRICA? We ay 'no': Coca-Cola has not economically disengaged from South Africa, withdrawn licenses, franchises, or trademark rights, and its products are still readily available in South Africa. Coca-Cola says "yes': As of November 1986, the Coca-Cola Company claims, 'We no longer have assets or employees in South Africa, and we pay no taxes to the South African government.' YOU CAN STILL BUY A COKE IN SOUTH AFRICA! IS COCA-COLA STILL PROFITING FROM APARTHEID? Royalties: Licensing, franchising, and trademark rights bring in royalites. Swazi Investments: Relocation of its syrup plant from South Africa to Swaziland is meaningless as long as: 1) Swaziland is subject to South Africa's economic and political control; and 2) Coca-Cola's major market for the syrup is not Swaziland's minute population of 750 thousand, but South Africa's population of 35 million. Trade: Coca-Cola trades with the apartheid regime by selling its syrup from Swaziland to South African bottlers. All trade between Swaziland and South Africa requires special trade arrangements with the South African apartheid government. Availability: Coca-Cola products monopolize 69% of the soft-drink market in South Africa. Promotion: In spite of its 'disinvestment,' Coca-Cola aggressively promotes its products in South Africa. Th is is clearly seen in their boast of the steady growth in the number of spazas, back yard black township vendors. Token sim: Coca-Cola boasts of black 'empowerment,' yet by only offering 11% of their shares in Amal- gamated Beverage Industries to blacks. they have created a token black middle class which thcy can easily manipulate. 20S

prq ropyAVAILABLE Session 6

Article 3 (cont'd.) IS APARTHEID PROFITING FROM COCA-COLA? Image: Coca-Cola's presence in South Africa legitimizes the presence of other international companies despite sanctions. This enhances the image the apartheid government tries to project. Revenue: Coca-Cola sells its syrup and leases its trademark to 15 independent South African distributors, who in turn sell Coca-Cola. These sales generate the revenue that enables apartheid to oppress and kill South African men, women and children.

BOYCOTT COCA-COLA SOFT-DRINKS

What are Coca-Cola products? Soft-drillers: Foods: Entertainment Coca-Cola Minute Maid juices and ades Columbia Pictures TAB Five Alive beverages Tfi-Star Pictures Sprite Bright and Early beverages Columbia Pictures Television Mellow Yellow Hi-C fruit drinks Embassy Television Fresca MarylandClub coffee Columbia Pictures Pay Television Ramblin Root Beer Butter-Nutt coffee Columbia Pictures Publications Mr. PRA) MAX energy drink RCA/Columbia Home Video Hi-C sodas Belmont Springs Spring Water Walter Reade Theatres Fanta Nemasket Spring Water Santiba Minute Maid sodas What can YOU do? 1. Write to Coca-Cola asking them to remove their products from South Africa, and send a copy of your letter to the Coke Boycott Campaign. Write to: Carl Ware Senior Vice President Urban Affairs The Coca-Cola Company P.O. Drawer 1734 Atlanta, GA 30301 2. Boycott Coca-Cola soft-drinks. 3. Create Toke-Free Zones." (A coke free zone is an area fromwhich Coca-Cola products have been removed through the initiative of campaign supporters. For example, a college crnpus or a restaurant that no longer sells Coca-Cola soft- drinks.) 4. Educate and organize your friends and community to jointhe Coke Boycott Campaign. 5. Support and advertise the Campaign. 6. Write the Campaign for more information!

Boycott Co-Sponsors and Endorsors: (partial l.ng) American Friends Service Committe Capital District Coalition Against Apartheid and Rnism American Committee on Africa Colorado Coalition vs. Apartheid Georgia Coalition for Divestmentin South Africa Florida State University Student Anti-Apartheid Committee National 'Lack United Front National Lawyers Guild WPshington Office on Africa New Afrikan People's Organization ACTWU-Southern Region Student Coalition Against Apartheid and Racism Atlanta Committee on Latin America U.S. Out of Southern Africa Network/All People's Congress American Federation of State, Counry, and Municipal Employees War Resisters League (AFSCME) SANE/FREEZE ALGERIA Area In square kilometers (miles): 2,381,741 (919,595) Climate: medlterranean to arid Capital (population): Algiers (1,721,607) Population: 23,135,000 Life expectancy at birth: 60 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 85 Languages: Arabic. French, Berber dialects

WESTERN Rellgion(s): Muslim SAHARA School-ago population in school: 60% Adult literacy rate: 50% Government type: socialist republic Independence date: July 3, 1968: from France Head of state: Col. Bendjedid Chad li Per capita GNP: $2,590 Natural resources: crude oil, natural gas. Iron ore, phosphates, uranium, !ead, zinc, mercury. fish Agriculture: wheat, grains, olives, grapes, dates, citrus fruits, livestock

ANGOLA Aiea in square kilometers (miles): 1,246,700 (481,354) Climate: tropical and subtropical Population: 9,150,000 Capital (population): Luanda (1,200,000) Life expectancy at birth: 42 yrs, Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): '144 Languages: official: Portuguese, also: Ovlmbundu, Kimbundu, Bakongo, Bantu languages Rellgion(s): 84% traditional indigenous, 12% Roman Catholic, 4% Protestant School-age population In school: 36% Adult literacy rate: 39% Government type: socialist republic, one-party rule Independence date: Nov. 11, 1975; frorn Portugal Hood of state: President Jose ..:.douardo dos Santos Pr capita GNP: S470 Natural resources: oil, dkimonds, manganese, gold, uranium Agriculture: cotfee, sisai, corn, cotton, fish, sugar, manioc, tobacco, bananas, plantains 207 BENIN Area In square kilometers (miles): 112,622 (43,484) Climate: tropical Capital (population): Porto-Novo (208258) Population: 4,095,000 Life expectancy at birth: 47 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 145 '...3nguages: official: French; also: Fon-Ewe, Yoruba, Adja, Bariba, others Rellgion(s): 70% traditional indigenous; 18% Muslim; 12% Christian School-age population in school: 38% Adult literacy rate: 28% Government type: people's republic under military rule Independence date: Aug. 1, 1960: trom France Head of state: President General Mathieu Kérékou Per capita GNP: $270 Natural resources: none known In commercial quantities Agriculture: palm products, cotton, corn yams, cassava, cocoa, coffee

BOTSWANA Area in square kilometdrs (miles): 600,372 (231,805) Climate: arid and semiarid Capital (population): Gaborone (79,030) Population: 1,155,000 Ufe expectancy at birth: 56 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 liv births): 64 Languages: official: Setswana, English: also: Khoisan Rellgion(s): 85% traditional Indigenous, 15% Christian School-age population in school: 56% Adult literacy rate: 71% Government type: parliamentary republic Independence date: Sept. 30, 1966: from Great Britain Head of state: President Quett K.J. Masire Per capita GNP: $840 Natural resources: diamonds, copper, nickel, salt, soda ash, potash, coal Agriculture: livestock, sorghum, corn, millet, cowpeas, beans

208 I. BURKINA FASO Area In square kilometers (miles): 274200 (105,792) Climate: tropical to arid Capital (population): Ouagadougou (345,150) Population: 7,195,000 Llfe expectancy at birth: 45 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 160 Languages: official: French; also: Mossi, Fula Bobo, Mande, Lobl, Gurunsi, others Rellgion(s): 65% traditional Indigenous; 25% Muslim; 10% Christian School-age population in school: 12% Adult literacy rate: 13% Government type: people's republic Independence date: Aug. 5, 1960; from France Head of state: Prime Minister (Captain) Bialse Campaore VORY Per capita GNP: $150 COAST Natural resources: manganese, limestone, marble, uranium, bauxite Agriculture: millet, sorghum, corn, rice, livestock, peanuts, sugar cane, cotton

BURUNDI Area In square kilometers (miles): 27,834 (10,745) Climate: tropical to temperate Capital (population): Bujumbura (229,980) Population: 5,000,000 life expectancy at birth: 47 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 119 Languages: official: Kirundi, French; also: Kiswahill, others Rellgion(s): 60% Chrtstian; 38% traditional RWA indigenous, 2% Muslim _J School-age populailon In school: 23% Hujumbura BURUNDI Adult literacy rate: 34% Government type: republic under military ZAIRE rule TANZANIA independence date: July 1, 1962; from Belgium Head of state: Pres. Maj. Pierre Buyoya Per capita GNP: $240 Natural resources: nickel, uranium, gold cobalt, copper, platinum Agriculture: coffee, tea, cotton, food crop3, hides, palm oil

209

4. CAMEROON Area In square kilometers (miles): 475,442 (183,569) Climate: tropicci to semiarid Capital (population): Yaoundé (561,000) Population: 10,145,000 Life expectancy at birth: 51 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 103 Languages: official: English. French; also: Fula, Ewondo, Dua la, BamIlke, Bassa, Ball, others Religion(s): 50% traditional indigenous; 33% Christian; 17% Muslim School-age population In school: 56% CHAD Adult literacy rate: 56% Government type: republic NIGERIA independence date: Jan. 1, 1960; from CENTRAL France and Great 3Britain AFRICAN REPUBIIC Head of state: President Paul Biya Per capita GNP: $910 Natural resources: timber, oil, bauxite, iron ore, rubber Agriculture: coffee, cocoa, food crops, cotton, bananas, peanuts, tobacco, tea EQUATORIAL GUINEA CONGO GABON

CAPE VERDE Area In square kilometers (miles): 4,033 (1,557) Climate: temperate Capital (population): Praia (37,500) Population: 335,000 life expectancy at birth: 65 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 ilve births): 82 Languages: official: Portuguese; also: Kriolu Religion(s): 65% Catholic; 35% traditional indigenous School-ago population .n school: n/a Adult literacy rate: 48% Government type: republic independence date: July 5, 1975; from Portugal Head of state: President Aristides Pereira CAPE VERDE Per capita GNP: $460 A k Natural resources: fish, salt Praia C> Agriculture: corn, beans, manioc, sweet potatoes, bananas

GUINE BISSAU

210 CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Area In square kilometers (miles): 622,984 (240,535) Climate: tropical to semiarid CHAD Capital (population): Bangui (387,103) Population: 2,785,000 SUDAN Life expectancy at birth: 45 yrs. CENTRAL Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): AFRICAN REPUBLIC 136 Languages: official: French; also: Sangho. CAMEROON Banda, Baya. Mangia , M'Baka Bangui Rellgion(s): 40% Protestant; 28% Catholic: 24% traditional Indigenous; 8% Muslim School-age population In school: 41% ZAIRE Adult literacy rate: 40% CONGO Government type: republic under military rule independence date: Aug. 13, 1960; from France Head of state: General André-DieudonnO Kolingba Per capita GNP: $290 Natural resources: diamonds, uranium, timber Agriculture: coffee, cotton, peanuts, rood C/, crops, livestock

CHAD Area In square kilometers (miles): 1,284,634 (495,755) Climate: arid to semiarid Capital (population): N' Djamena (303,000) Population: 5265,000 Life expectancy at birth: 43 yrs. LIBYA Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 142 Languages: official: French; also: Chadian Arabic. Fula, Hausa, Kotoko, Kanembou, Sara Maba, others RwIlgion(s): 52% Muslim; 43% traditional indigenous; 5% Christian NIGER School-age population In school: 21%

i Adult literacy rate: 25% Government type: republic independence date: Aug. 11, 1960, from SUDAN France "..GERIA Head of state: President Hissene Habré Per capita GNP: $120 Natural resources: petroleum, uranium, AMEROON natron, kaolin Agriculture: food crops, cotton, cattle, fish, sligar CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

2 1 1 COMOROS Area In square kilometers (miles): 2,171 (838) Climate: tropical, marine Capital (population): Moronl (20,112) Population: 484,000 Life expectancy at birth: 56 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 93 Languages: official: Arabic, French; also: Comoran, Kiswahill, English, Malagasy Religion(s): 86% Muslim; 14% Catholic School-age population in school: n/a Adult literacy rate: 60% Government type: Islamic republic Independence date: July 6, 1975; from France Head of state: President Ahmed Abdullah Abderemane COMOROS Per capita GNP: $320 Moroni Natural resources: none known In commercial quantities Agriculture: perfume essences, copra, coconuts, cloves, vanilla, cinnamon, yams, rice, bananas

MADAGASCAR r-

CONGO Area In square kilometers (miles): 342,000 (132,047) Climate: tropical Capital (population): Brazzaville (595,102) Population: 2,000,000 Life expectancy at birth: 48 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 112 Languages: official: French; also: Lingala, Klkongo, Teke, Sangho, M' Bochl, others Rellgion(s): 48% tradltional Indigenous; 50% Chrlstian; 2% MusIlm School-age population in school: n/a Adult literacy rate: 63% Government type: socialist republic under military rule Independence date. Aug. 15, 1960: from ANGOLA France (CABINDA) Head of state: President (Colonel) Denis Sassou Ng uesso Per capita GNP: S990 Natural resources: wood, potash, petroleum, natural gas Agriculture, cocoa, coffee, tobacco, palm kernels, sugarcane, rice, peanuts

212 DJIBOUTI Area In square kilometers (miles): 23,310 (8,880) Climate: arid to semiarid Capital (population): Djibouti (150,000) Population: 361,000 Life expectancy at birth: 49 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): n/a Languages: official: Arabic, French; also: Somali, Afar Religion(s): 94% Muslim; 6% Christian School-age population In school: n/a Adult literacy rate: 20% Government type: republic independence date: June 27, 1977; from France Head of state: President Hassan Gouled Aptidon Per capita GNP: $480 Natural resources: none known In commercial quantities AgrictIre: goats, sheep, camels, cattle, cortee

EGYPT Area In square kilometers (miles): 997,738 (385,229) Climate: hot, arid Capital (population): Cairo (6,205,000) Population: 50,540,030 Life expectancy at birth: 58 yrs. infant modality rate (per 1,000 live births): 94 Languages: Arabic, some English Religion(s): 90% Muslim; 10% other School-age population in school: 52% Adult literacy rate: 44% Government type: republic Independence date: Feb. 22, 1922: from Great Britain Head of state: President Lt. General Mohammed Hosnl Mubarak Por capita GNP: $760 Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, lead, zinc Agriculture: cotton, rice, onions, beans, citrus fruits, wheat, corn, barley, sugar cane, fish, livestock

213 EQUATORIAL GUINEA Area in square kilometers (miles): 28,051 (10,831) Climate: equatorial, tropical, hot, humid Capital (population): Malabo (30,710) Population: 400,000 Life expectancy at birth: 44 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 134 Languages: official: Spanish; also: Fang, Benge, Combe, Bujeba, Balengue, Fernandino, Bubl, pidgin English Religion(s): 60% Catholic; 20% Protestant; 20% traditional Indigenous School-age populntIon in school: 66% Adult literacy rate: 40% Government type: republic under military rule Malabo (Eq. Guinea) Independence date: Oct. 12, 1968; from Spain Head of state: Lt. Colonel Teodoro Obiang EQUATORIAL GUINEA Ngeuma Mbasogo Per capita GNP: $417 Natural resources: gold, timber, fish Agriculture: cocoa, coffee, rice, yams, banana:,

ERITREA* Area in square kilometers (miles): 129,874 (50,000) Climate: temperate to arid Capital (population): Asmara (300,000) Population: 3,500,000 Ufe expectancy at birth: 43 yrs. Infant modality rate (per 1,000 live births): 84 Languages: Tigrinya, Tigre, Arabic, others Religion(s): 48% Christian; 48% Muslim; 4% traditional indigenous School-age population in school: n/a Adult literacy rat: 12% Head of Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF): Sec. Gen. issayas Affeworkl Per capita GNP: n/a Natural resources: some mineral deposits (gold. iron, copper, lignite) Agriculture: coffee, cotton, maize, wheat, teff, millet, livestock, sorghum, oil seeds Eritrea has been engaged In armed conflict for independence from Ethiopia since 1961 Originally colonized by Italy, Eritrea was federated under the Ethiopian crown by U N resolution 390A In 1952, Relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia deteriorated until Emperor Haile Selassi declared Eritrea a province of Ethiopia and dissolved the Erttrean parliament in 1962 214 ETHIOPIA Area in square kilometers (miles): 1223,600 (472,435) Climate: temperate to arid Capital (population): Addis Ababa (1408,068) Population: 45,170,000 Life expectancy at birth: 43 yrs. Infant modality rate (per 1,000 live births): 168 Languages: official: Amharic; also: figrinya, Oromo, Somali, Arabic, Italian, English, others Religion(s): 40% Muslim; 40% Ethiopian Orthodox Christian; 20% traditional Indigenous School-age population in school: 19% Adult literacy rate: 15% Government type: socialist republic Independence date: none (brief occupa- tion by Italy) Head of state: Mengistu Haile Mariam Per capita GNP: $120 Natural resources: potash, salt, gold, cop- per, platinum Agriculture: cereals, coffee, oil seeds, livestock

GABON Area In square kilometers (miles): 267,667 (103,347) Climate: tropical Capital (population): Libreville (350,0(X)) Population: 1,370,000 Life expectancy at birth: 49 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 112 Languages: official: French; also: Fang, Eshira, Bopounou, Batake, Okande, Myene

- Religion(s): 55% Christian; 44% traditional Indigenous; 1% Muslim School-age population in school: 72% Adult literacy rate: 62% Government type: republic; one-party EQUATORIAL GUINEA presidential regime Independence date: Aug 17, 1960; `ram Librevilh CONGO France Head of state: President El Had) Ornai Bongo Per c apita GNP: S3,080 Natural resources: timber, petroleum, iron ore, manganese, uranium, gold, zinc Agriculture: cocoa, coffee, palm oil

215 PFST COPY AVAILARE THE GAMBIA Area in square kilometers (miles): 11295 (4,361) Climate: subtropical Capital (population): Banjul (49,181) Population: 800,000 Life expectancy at birth: 40 yrs. Infant mortality rat. (per 1,000 live blrihs): 180 Languages: official: English; also: Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, Sarakola, Dula Religion(s): 85% Muslim; 14% Christian; 1% traditional indigenous School-age population in school: 31% Adult literacy rate: 25% Government type: republic independence date: February 18, 1965; from Great Britain Head of state: Pres. (Sir) Alhaji Dawda Kalraba Jawara Banjul Per capita GNP: $250 GUINEA B1SSA Natural resources: fish, limenite, zircon, rutile Agriculture: peanuts, rice, cotton, millet, sor- ghum, fish, palm kernels, livestock

GHANA Area in square kilometers (miles): 238,829 (92,098) Climate: tropical to semiarid Capital (population): Accra (998,800) Population: 13,630,000 Life expectancy at birth: 53 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 78 Languages: official: English; also: Fantl, Asante, Twi, Ewe, Ga, Akan, Mole- Dagbani, Hausa, others Religlon(s): 45% traditional indigenous; 43% Christian; 12% Muslim School-age population in school: 47% Adult literacy rale: 53% Government type: republic under military rule independence date: March 6, 1957; from Great Britain Head of state: Flight Lt. Jerry Rawlings Per capita GNP: $390 Natural resources: gold, diamonds, bauxite, manganese, fish, timber, oil Agriculture: cocoa, coconuts, coffee, food crops, rubber

216 tfur" "ez1.47 GUINEA Area in square kilometers (miles): 246,857 (94,926) Climate: tropical Capital (population): Conakry (763,000) Population: 6,330,000 Life expectancy at birth: 40 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 152 Languages: official: French; also: Fula, Mandinka, Susu, others Religion(s): 75% Muslim; 24% traditional In- digenous; 1% Christian School-age population In school: 17% Adult literacy rate: 28% Government type: republic under military rule independence date: Oct 2, 1958; from THE GAMBI France GUINEA BISSA Head of state: President (Col.) Lansana Conté Per capita GNP: $290 Natural resources: bauxite, iron ore, dia- monds, gold, water power Agriculture: rice, cassava, millet, corn, cof- fee, bananas, palm products, pineapples

GUINEA-BISSAU Area in square kilometers (miles): 36,125 (13,948) Climate: tropical Capital (population): Bissau (109,486) Population: 905,000 Life expectancy at birth: 39 yrs, Infant mortality rate (por 1,000 Ilve births): 149 Languages: official: Portuguese; also: Krio lo, Fula, Mandlnka, Balante, others Religion(s): 65% traditional Indigenous: 32% Muslim; 3% Christian School-age population in school: n/a Adult literacy rate: 31% Government type: republic under military rule Independence date: Sept. 24, 1973; from Portugal Head of state: President (Maj.) Joao Bernardo Vleira GUINEA BISSAU Per capita GNP: $170 Natural resources: bauxite, timber shrin fish Agriculture: peanuts, rice, palm kernels groundnuts

217 IVORY COAST Area in square kilometers (miles): 320,763 (123,847) Climate: tropical Capital (population): Abidjan (1,686,100) Population: 10,680,000 Ufe expectancy at birth: 49 yrs. Infant modality rate (per 1,000 live births): 94 Languages: official: French; also: Dioula, Agni, Baoulé, Kru, Senufo, Mandinka, others Rellgion(s): 66% traditional indigenous; 22% Muslim; 12% Christian School-age population in school: 41% Adult literacy rate: 43% Government type: republic Independence date: Aug. 7, 1960; from France Head of state: President Felix Houphouèt- Boigny Per capita GNP: $730 Natural resources: timber Agriculture: coffee, cocoa, bananas, palm oil, corn, millet, cotton, rubber

KENYA Area in square kilometers (miles): 582,646 (224,961) Climate: tropical to arid Capital (population): Nairobi (1200,000) Population: 24,555,030 life expectancy at birth: 54 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 61 Languages: official: English, Kiswahill; also: Kikuyu, Kikamba, Kalenjin, Maasal, Luhya, Luo, Kisil, Nandi, Somali, others Religion(s): 35% traditional indigenous; 37% Protestant; 22% Catholic; 6% Muslim School-age population in school: 62% Adult literacy rate: 59% Government typo: one-party republic independence date: Dec. 12, 1Y: ), frorn Great Britain Head of stat: President Daniel arap NIol Per capita GNP: $300 Natural resources: wildlife, soda ash Agriculture: corn, wheat, rice, sugar cane, coffee, tea, sisal, livestock

218

L24 LESOTHO Area in square kilometers (miles): 30,355 (11,720) Climate: temperate Capital (population): Maseru (75,000) Population: 1,575,000 Life expectancy at birth: 51 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 100 Languages: official: English, Sesotho; also: Xhosa, Zulu Religion(s): 75% Christian; 25% traditional Indigenous School-age population in school: 62% SWAZILAND Adult literacy rate: 74% Government type: constitutional monarchy independence date: Oct. 4, 1966; from Great Britain Maseru Head of state: King Moshoeshoe II LESOTHO Per capita GNP: $370 Natural resources: diamonds SOUTH Agriculture: mohair, corn, wheat, sorghum, AFRICA foc i crops, sheep, cattle

LIBERIA Area in square kilometers (miles): 111 369 (43,000) Climate: tropical Capital (population): Monrovia (425,000) Population: 2290,000 life expectancy at birth: 50 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): IVORY 130 SIERRA LEONE / COAST Languages: official: English; also: Kpelle, Bassa, Dan, Val, Loma, Kru, Giebo, Mano, Monrovia Go la LIBERIA Religion(s): 75% traditional Indigenous: 15% Muslim; 10% Christian School-age population in school: 44% Adult literacy rate: 35% Government type: republic Independence date: July 26, 1847, by settler government of freed American slaves Head of stale: President Samuel Kanyon Doe Per capita GNP: S460 Natural resources: iron ore, rutlbor timber diamonds Agriculture: rubber, rice, palm oil, cassava, coffee, cocoa, sugar

219 RFST COPY AVAILABLE LIBYA Area in square kilometers (miles): 1,775,500 (685,524) Climate: hot, arid Capital (population): Tripoli (1,223,000); Hun (declared administrative capital) Population: 3,930,000 Life expectancy at birth: 59 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 84 Languages: official: Arabic, some Italian, Berber dialects Religlon(s): Muslim School-age population In school: 80% Adult literacy rate: 67% Government type: Islamic people's republic Independence date: Dec. 24, 1951; from Great Britain, France Head of state: Col. Moammor al Qaddafl Per capita GNP: $6,260 Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, flsh Agriculture: wheat, barley, olives, dates, cit- rus fruits, peanuts, livestock

MADAGASCAR Area In square kilometers (miles): 587,041 (226,658) Climate: tropical and moderate Capital (population): Antananarivo (703,000) Population: 10,375,000 Life expectancy at birth: 50 yrs. Infart mortality rate (pet 1,000 ilve births): 63 Languages: official: Malagasy: also: French, others Religion(s): 50% traditional indigenous; 42% Christian; 8% Muslim School-age population In school: 61% Adult literacy rate: 68% Government type: socialist republic under military control Independence date: June 26, 1960; from France Antananarivo. Head of state: President (Col.) Didier Ratsiraka Per capita GNP: $230 MADAGASCAR Natural resources: graphite, chrome, coal. bauxite, limenite, tar sands, semiprecious stones, timber, mica, nickel Agriculture: rice, livestock, coffee, Toliary vanilla, sugar, cloves, cotton, sisal, peanuts, tobacco 220 MALAWI Area in square kilometers (miles): 118,484 (45,747) Climate: subtropical Capital (population): Lilongwe (103,000) Population: 7405,000 LIND expectancy at birth: 45 yrs, Infant modality rate (per 1,000 live births): 161 Languages: official: Chichewa, English; also: Nyanja, Yao, Sena, Tumbuka Religlon(s): 60% traditional Indigenous; 20% Christian; 20% Muslim School-age population in school: 35% Adult literacy rate: 41% Government type: one-party republic Independence date: July 6, 1964; from Great Britain Head of state: President-for-Life H. Kamuzu Banda Per capita GNP: $160 Natural resources: limestone, uranium Agriculture: tobacco, tea, sugar, corn, peanuts

MALI Area in square kilometers (miles): 1,240,142 (478,767) Climate: tropical to arid Capital (population): Bamako (502,000) Population: 7,985,000 Life expectancy at birth: 42 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 174 Languages: official: French; also: Bambara, Mandurka, Voltaic, Tamajaq, Dogon, Fula, Songhai Rellgion(s): 90% Muslim; 9% traditional indig- enous; 1% Christian School-age population In school: 13% Adult literacy rate: 17% Government type: republic independence date: June 20,1960: from France Head of state: President (Gen.) Moussa Traoré Per capita GNP: $180 Natural resources: bauxite, Iron ore, manga- nese, lithium, phosphate, kaolin, salt. limestone, gold Agriculture: millet, sorghum, corn, rice, sugar, cotton, peanuts, livestock 221 ov e MAURITANIA Area In square kilometers (miles): 1,030,700 (397,956) Climate: arld to semiarid Capital (population): Nouakchott (250000) Population: 2,000.000 Life expectancy at birth: 45 yrs. Infant mnrialify rate (per 1,000 live births): 137 Languages: official: Arabic, French; also: Hasanya, Bambara, Fula, Sarakole, Wolof, Berber dialects, Pulaar WESTERN Rellgion(s): Muslim SAHARA School-age population In school: 25% Adult literacy rate: 17% Government type: Islamic military republic MAURITANIA Independence date: Nov. 28, 1960; from MALI France Head of state: President Col. Maaoulya Nouakchott Ouid Sid Ahmed Taya Per capita GNP: $420 SENEGAL Natural resources: iron ore, gypsum, fish, copper THE GAMBIA Agriculture: livestock, millet, corn, wheat, dates, rice, peanuts

MAURITIUS Area in square kilometers (miles): 2,045 (788) Climate: subtropical, marine Capital (population): Port Louis (146,844) Population: 1,600,000 Indian Life expectancy at birth: 67 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 26 Languages: official: English; also: French, Ocean Creole. Hindi, Urdu Religion(s): 51% Hindu; 30% Christian; 16% Muslim; 3% other School-age population in school: 63% Adult literacy rate: 83% Government type: republic, recognizes British monarch as chief of state independence date: March 12, 1968; from Great Britain MADAGASCAR Head of state: Gov.-Gen. Veerasamy Ringadoo Per capita GNP: $1,200 Natural resources: none known in commer- cial quantifies Port Louis Agriculture: sugar, tea, tobacco c> MAURITIUS

222 MOROCCO Area in square kilometers (miles): 446,550 (172,414) Climate: mediterranean to arld Capital (population): Rabat (901,500) Population: 23,915,000 Life expectancy at birth: 58 yrs. Infant modality rate (per 1,000 live births): 95 Languages: official: Arabic. French: also: Berber dialects Rellgion(s): 99% Muslim; 1% other School-age population in school: 39% WESTERN Adult literacy rate: 33% SAHARA Government type: constitutional monarchy independence date: March 2, 1956; from France Head of state: HM King Hassan II Per capita GNP: $590 Natural resources: phosphates. Iron, coal, manganese, lead, cobalt, silver, copper, oil shale, fish .0'Agriculture: wheat, sugar beets, barley, ltvestock, wine, vegetables, olives

MOZAMBIQUE Area in square kilometers (miles): 783,030 (308,642) Climate: tropical to subtropical Capital (population): Maputo (850,000) Population: 14.210,000 Life expectancy at birth: 47 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live birth.: 125 Languages: official: Portuguese: also: Yoo, Tumbuka, Batonga, Makua Religlon(s): 67% traditional Indigenous; 22% Christian: 11% Muslim School-age population In school: 27% Adult literacy rate: 38% Government type: people's republic independence date: June 25, 1975: from Portugal Hood of state: President Joaquin-) Chissano Per capita GNP: $210 Natural resources: coal, Iron ore, tantall'e, flourite, timber SOUTH Agriculture: cotton, tobacco, cashews, sugar, tea, copra, s4sal, food crops AFRICA

223 NAMIBIA* Area in square kilometers (miles): 824,292 (318,261) Climate: arid; semiarid Capital (population): Wndhoek (88.700) Population: 1,180,000 Life expectancy at birth:48 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live oirths): 112 Languages: official: English. Afrikaans; also: Ouambo, Kavango, Noma, Herero Religion(s): 55% traditional indigenous; 45% Christian School-ago population in school: 74% Adult literacy rats: 72% Head of state: Admin.-Gen. Louis Pienaar; U N. Commissioner: Bernt Carlsson; SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma Natural rsourcs: diamonds, copper, lead, zinc, uranium, sliver, cadmium, lithium, coal, possi- ble oil reserves, fish Agriculture: corn, millet, sorghum, livestock The target date for Narnibids Independence from South Africa is currentty being negotiated. Namibia was a German colony until the end of World War I when the region was turned over to South Africa Since 1976, the U. N. has recognized the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO)as sole repre- sentative of the Namibian people. After recent dis- cussions between the U.S., Cuba, South Africa, and Angola, a 3-phase independence process was Ini- tiated. U.N. peacekeeping forces are overseeing the trarsltion to Namibian independence.

NIGER Area In square kilometers (miles): 1,267,000 (489,191) Climate: arid to semiarid Capital (population): Niamey (399,100) Population: 6,820,000 Life expectancy at birth: 44 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 137 Languages: official: French; also: Hausa, Djerma, Fula, Tamajaq, Kanuri Religion(s): 95% Muslim; 5% traditional indigenous and Christian School-age population in school: 13% Adult literacy rate: 14% Government typo: republic under military control Independence date: Aug 3, 1960; fTOM Agader France NIGER Head of state: President (Gen ) All Seibou Per capita GNP: 5260 Natural feSOLUCes: uranium, coal, Iron, tin, phosphates Zinder Agriculture: millet, sorghum, peanuts, beans, cotton BURKINA FASO NICERM

224 ti NIGERIA Area in square kilometers (miles): 923,768 (356,699) Climate: tropical to semiarid Capital (population): Lagos (2,700,000) Population: 107,250.000 Ufe expectancy at birth: 50 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 129 Languages: official: English; also: Hausa, Yoruba, lbo, (the Nigerian government recognizes 250 languages) Religlon(s): 47% Muslim; 34% Christian; 19% traditional Indigenous School-age population in school: 46% Adult literacy rate: 42% Government type: federal republic under military government control independence date: Oct. 1, 1960: from Great Brita In Head of state: President Ibrahim Babangida Per capita GNP: S640 Natural resources: oil, minerals. timber Agriculture: cotton, cocoa, rubber, yams, cassava, sorghum, palm kernels, millet, corn, rice, livestock

RWANDA Area in square kilometers (miles): 26,338 (10,169) Climate: temperate Capital (population): Kigali (156,703) Population: 6,505,030 Ufe expectancy at birth: 48 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 124 Languages: official: French, Kinyarwanda, also: Kiswahill Rellgion(s): 54% Christian; 45% traditional Indigenous; 1% Muslim School-age population in school: 34% Adult literacy rate: 57% Government typo: republic Independence date: July 1, 1962; from Belgium Head of state: President (Maj. Gen.) Juvenoi Habyarimana Per capita GNP: $290 Natural resources: tungsten, tln, cassiterite Agriculture: coffee, tea. pyrethrum, beuils, potatoes

225 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE Area in square kilometers (miles'. 964 (372) Climate: tropical NIGERIA Capital (population): Sem Tome (25,003) Population: 111.000 Life expectancy at birth: 65 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live birihs): 50 Languages: official: Portuguese; other: Kriolu Religlon(s): 80% Christian; 20% traditional Indigenous School-age population in school: n/a Adult literacy rate: 58% EQUATORIAL GUINEA Government type: republic SAO TOME & PRINCIPE Independence date: July 12, 1975; from Sad Tome C Portugal Hood of stare: President Manuel Pinto da Costa Per capita GNP: $340 Natural resources: fish Agriculture: cacao. coconut palms, coffee, bananas, palm kernels

SENEGAL Area In square kilometcis (mile s): 196,722 (75,955) Climate: tropical to semlarld Capital (population): Dakar (1,341,030) Population: 6,800,000 Life expectancy at birth: 44 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 138 Languages: official: French; also: Wolof, Fula, Oyola, Mandlnka, Sarakole, Serere Religion(s): 75% Muslim; 20% traditional Indlgenous; 5% Christian School-age population in school: 29% Adult literacy rate: 28% Government type: republic MAURITANIA Independence date: AprIl 4, 1960; from France Hood of state: President Abdou Diouf Per capita GNP: $420 Natural resources: fish, phosphates Agriculture: millet, sorghum, peanuts, manioc, rice, cotton GUINEA BI.SSAU

226 SEYCHELLES Area In square kilometers (miles): 443 (175) Climate: subtropical; marine Capital (population): Port Victoria (23,012) Population: 70,000 Life expectancy at birth: 70 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 26 SOMALIA Languages: official: English. French; other: Creole Religlon(s): 98% Christian; 2% other School-age population in school: n/a Adult literacy rate: 58% Government type: people's republic Independence date: June 28, 1976: from Great Britain SEYCHELLESHead of state: President France Albert Renó Per capita GNP: S1,938 Port Victoria D. Natural resources: fish c, Agriculture: vanilla, coconuts, cinnamon

TANZANIA

SIERRA LEONE Area In square kilometers (miles): 72,325 (27,952) Climate: tropical Capital (population): Freetown (500,0cr) Population: 3,900,000 expectancy at birth: 38 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1.000 live births): 198 Freetown Languages: official: English; also: Krio, Temne. SIERRA LEONE' Mende, Val, Kru, Fula, Mandinka LIBERIA Religion(s): 70% traditional indigenous: 25% Muslim; 5% Christian School-age population In school: 34% Adult literacy rate: 29% Government type: republic Independence date: AprIl 27, 1961: from Great Britain Head of state: President Josepo Sadu Momoh Per capita GNP: S310 Natural resources: diamonds, bauxite, n chromite, Iron ore Agriculture: coffee, cocoa ginger, rice plassava

227 4-ltiI ) prcTcnry AVAILABLE SOMALIA Area In square kilometers (miles): 637,657 (246.201) Climate: arid to semiarid Capital (population): Mogadishu(a(0mo) Population: 7,935,000 Life expectancy at birth: 41 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 ilve births): 153 Languages: official: Somali; also: Arabic, Ororno, Malan, English, others Religion(s): 99% Muslim; 1% other School-age population in school: 11% Adt.:t literacy rate: 12% Government type: people's republic under military rule independence date: July 1, 1960; from Italy Head of state: Mai. Gen. Mohamed Slad Barre Per capita GNP: $280 Natural resources: uranium, timber, flsh Agriculture: livestock, bananas, sugar cane, cotton, cereals

SOUTH AFRICA Area In square kilometers (miles): 1,222,042 (433,680) Climat: temperate, semiarid, arid Capital (population): Pretoria (administrative) (1,000.000); Cape Town (legislative) (1,700,000); Bloemfontein (judcial) (230,688) Population: 33,585,030 Life expectancy at birth: African women 60 yrs., White women 74 yrs.; African men 55 yrs; White men 67 rs, Infant mortality rote (per ipoo live births): Africans 90; Coloureds 62; Indians 24; Whites 13; Languages: official! Afrikaans. English; also. Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, Tswana, Rellgion(s): 81% Christian, 19% Hindu and Muslim School-ago population in scnool: 55%* AOZAMBIQUE Adult literacy rate: Africans 50%; Whites 85% Government type: republic, apartheid state .// SWAIIIAM) Independence date: May 31. 1910, from Great Britain Head of state: Pres. Frederik W deKlork Per capita GNP: $1,850' Natural resources: gold, diamonds, ail essentini minerals except oil, fish Agriculture: corn, wool, dairy products, wheat, sugar cane, tobacco, citrus fruits 'figures for Africans and Whites vary greatty 228 .._...... SUDAN Area in square kilometrs (miles): 2,505,813 (967,500) Climate: desert In north; tropical in south Capital (population): Khartoum (1,250,000) Population: 23,730,000 Life expectancy at birth: 48 yrs. Infant modality rrte (per 1,000 live births): 116 Languages: offic..3l: Arabic; also: Nuer, Dinka, Shilluki, Masalatls, Fur, Nubian, English Rellglon(s): 70% Muslim; 25% traditional indigenous; 5% Christian School-age population in school: 27% Adult literacy rate: 31% Government type: republic Independence date: Jan. 1, 1956; from Great Britain Head of state: Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir, 5-member Supreme Council Per capita GNP: $320 Natural resources: oil, iron ore, copper, chrome, other metals Agriculture: cotton, peanuts, sesame, gum arabic, sorghum, wheat

SWAZILAND Area In square kilometers (miles): 17,364 (6,704) Climate: temperate, semiarid Capital (population): Mbabane (33,000) Population: 700,000 Life expectancy at birth: 49 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 133 Languages: official: English, Siswati; also: Zulu, Sesotho, Ngunl Religion(s): 53% Christian; 47% traditional indigenous School-age population In schr)ol: 67% Adult literacy rate: 68% MOZAMBIQUE Government type: monarchy Independence date: Sept, 6, 1968; from Mbabane Great Britain SWAZILAND Head of state: King Mswati Ill Per capita GNP: $900 .5011In Natural resources: Iron ore, asbestos, cool AFRICA timber LESOTHO Agriculture: corn, livestock, sugar cone citrus fruits, cotton, rice, pineapples

229 TANZANIA Area in square kilometers (miles): 945,087 (364,900) Climate: tropical, arid, temperate Capital (population): Dar es Salaam (757,346) Population: 22,810,000 Life expectancy at birth: 51 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 111 Languages: official: KiswahIII; also: Chagga, Gogo, Ha, Haya, Luo, Maasal, Hindu, Arabic, English Dar es Salaam Religion(s): 40% traditional indigenous; 30% Christian; 30% Muslim School-age population In school: 44% Adult literacy rate: 85% Government type: republic Independence date: Dec. 9, 1961; from Great Britain Head of state: All Hassan Mwinyl Per capita GNP: $250 Natural resources: hydroelectric potential, iron, coal, gem stones, gold, natural gas Agriculture: cotton, coffee, sisal, tea, tobacco, wheat, cashews, livestock, cloves

TOGO Area In square kilometers (miles): 56,785 (21,925) Climate: tropical Capital (population): Lome (369,926) Population: 3,165,000 Life expectancy at birth: 51 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 107 Languages: official: French; also: Ewe, Mina, Dagomba, Kabye, others Religion(s): 60% traditional indigenous; 20% Christian; 20% Muslim School-age population in school: 49% Adult literacy rate: 41% Government type: republic under military rule independence date: April 27, 1960; from France Head of state: President (Gen.) Gnassingbe Eyadema Per capita GNP: $250 Natural resources: phosphates, limestone Agriculture: yams, manioc, millet, sorghum, cocoa, coffee, rice

230 J TUNISIA

Tunis I Area in square kilometers (miles): 163,610 (63,170) Climate: mediterranean, temperate to arid Capital (population): Tunis (550,404) Population: 7,500,000 Life expectancy at birth: 61 yrs, infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 79 Languages: official: Arabic: also: French, Berber dialects Religion(s): 99% Muslim; 1% other School-age population In school: 61% Adult literacy rate: 54% Government type: republic Independence date: March 20, 1956: from France Head of state: Pres, Zine el-Aldine Ben Ali Per capita GNP: $1,140 Natural resources: crude oil, natural gas, phosphates, iron ore, lead, zinc. Agriculture: wheat, barley, olives, citrus fruits, grapes, fish, livestock

UGANDA Area square kilometers (miles): 236,036 (93,104) Climate: tropical to semiarid Capital (population): Kampala (458,500) Population: 15,505,000 Life expectancy at birth: 50 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 110 Languages: official: English; also: Kiswahill, Luganda, Aleso, Soga, Luo, Lugbara, Nyakole, Nyoro, others Religlon(s): 50% Christian: 40% traditional indigenous; 10% Muslim School-age population In school: 38% ZAIRE Adult literacy rate: 57% Government type: republic Independence date: October 9,1962; from Great Britain Head of state: Pres. Yowerl Museveni Per capita GNP: $230 Natural resources: copper, other minerals Agriculture: coffee, tea, cotton

231 PM COPY AVAILABLE WESTERN SAHARA* Area In square kilometers (miles): 266,770 (102,703) Climate: temperate to arid Capital (population): El Aaiun (20,010) MOROCCO Population: 142,000 Life expectancy at birth: n/a Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): n/a El Aaiun Languages: official: Arabic: also: Spanish, Berber dialects WESTERN Religion(s): Musllm SAHARA School-age population In school: n/a Adult literacy rate: 20% Head of POLISARIO: Mohamed Abdelazlz Per capita GNP: n/a Natural resources: phosphate, Iron ore, fish Agriculture: camels, sheep, goats Due to its enormous phosphate and possible petroleum deposits, neighboring states have put claims on the Western Sahara since Spain roqied out in 1975. In 1979, Morocco moved to annex the whole territory by force, and still maintains control over the major northwest area. On Feb. 27, 1976, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Segula el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (POLISARIO) proclaimed SADR an independent state. Since 1984 SADR has been recognized as a member of the Organization of African Unity (0AU).

ZAIRE

Area In square kilometers (miles): 2,345,409 CENTRAL (905,568) AFRICAN REPUBIIC S UD A N \- Climate: equatorial. tropical Capital (population): Kinshasa (2,653,558) Population: 32,903,030 Life expectancy at birth: 50 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 106 Languages: offIcial. French; also: Kiswahili, Lingala, Azande, Luba, Chokwe, Songye, Kongo, Kuba, Lunda, Bemba, Arur, many others Rellgion(s): 50% Christian; 50% traditional indigenous

School-age population In school: 60% ANC01 A Adult literacy rate: 61% (('ABINDA) Government typo: republic under centralized presidential control Independence date: June 30, 1960; from Belgium Head of state: Pres. Marshal Mobutu SOs6 Séko Per capita GNP: $160 Natural resources: copper, cobalt, zinc, diamonds, manganese, tin, gold, rare metals, bauxite, iron, coal, hydroelectric potential, timber Agriculture: coffee, palm oil, rubber, tea, cotton, cocoa, manioc, bananas, plantains, corn, rice, sugar

0

232 35 ZAMBIA Area in square kilometers (miles): 752,614 (290.586) Climate: 'Topical to subtropical Capital (population): Lusaka (641,000) Population: 965,000 !Ye expectancy at birth: 52 Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 100 Languages: official: English; also: Bemba, Nyanja, Tonga, Loz1 Rellglon(s): 51% Christian; 48% tradl-tional Indigenous; 1% Hindu, Muslim School-age population in school: 56% TANZANIA Adult literacy rate: 76% ZAIRE Government type: republic Independence date: Oct. 24, 1964; from Great Britain ANGOLA Head of state: Pres. Kenneth David Kaunda Per capita GNP: $300 MALAWI Natural resources: copper, zinc, lead, cobalt, ZAMBIA coal Lusaka* Agriculture: corn, tobacco, cotton, peanuts, sugar cane MOZAMBIQUE

NAMIBIA ZIMBABWE f---BOTSWANA

ZIMBABWE Area in square kilometers (miles): 390,580 (150,873) Climate: subtropical Capital (population): Harare (656,000) Population: 8,800,000 Life expectancy at birth: 56 yrs. Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 80 Languages: official: English: also: Shona Ndebele Religion(s): 75% Christian; 24% traditional Indigenous; 1% Muslim School-age population In school: 79% Adult literacy rate: 74% Government type: republic Independence date: April 18, 1980; from Great Britain Head of state: President Robert Mugabe Per capita GNP: $620 Natural resources: gold, chrome ore, cool, copper, nickel, Iron ore, silver, asbestos Agriculture: tobacco, corn, sugar. cotton, livestock

233 Chronology of Key Events in African History BC 1331 1798 c.2900- 2877 Ibn Battuta visits Kilwa and finds Napoleon invades Egypt. First pyramid constructed at Giza it a strong and wealthy trading city. by Pharoah Cheops. e.1400 French African communes (Dakar. c.600 Wolof empire well-established in St. Louis. Gorée) granted represen- Iron-working brought to Africa. Senegal. tation in French parliament. c.575 1443 1804-1811 Ethiopia, using iron weapons, First slaves for Portugal taken Jihad of Fulani reformer, U,oinan becomes the most powerful state of directly from African peoples south dan Fodio. leads to Fulani the Middle East and North Africa. of Morocco; European slave trade hegemony over most of northern c.350 begins. Nigeria under Mohammad Belb,. Oi-igins of earliest known Iron 1493-1528 1807 Age culture south of Sahara (Nok Reign of Askia Mohammed I; British ban Atlantic slave trade Culture of Nigeria). Songhay empire at its height. followed by United States in 1808. 1482 Holland 1814, and France in 1818. Early trans-Saharan trade between First Portuguese fort and training 1821 the Sudan and North Africa by way post established on Guinea coast at Plan developed for freed slave colo- of Berber middlemen. San Jorge da Mina rElrnina). ny at Liberia. c.300 1505 1830 Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria be- Portuguese burn Kilwa, continue French begin wcupation 4d Algeria. come part of the Roman empire. ravages up the coast; Swahili city 1847 ports begin decline. Liberia becomes independent black AD e.1510 republic. c.400 Spanish colonies in tropical 18;s4 First settlements at site of Great America begin to be supplied with The French. under Louis Zimbabwe. slaves from Africa; the trans-Atlan- Faidherbe, begin clinquest of the 640 tic slave trade opens. Senegal basin. Arabs enter Egypt, take Babylon 1507- 1543 c.1863 (Cairo), 641. Reign of Bakongo King Afonso I. Tucolor empire of al-Ilajj [mar at c.750 1517 its height. Ghana empire in West Africa at Ottoman Turks complete conquest 1869 its height. of Egypt. Suez Canal opened. c.800 1575 1878 Swahili East Africa coastal culture Conquistador Paulos Dias de Cocoa production begun in A est in formative period. Novais sets up base at Loanda. de- Africa; a Ghanaian. Tetteah feats Bakongo armies, begins Portu- Quarshie, brings several pods to First Muslim settlements on east guese conquest of Angola. Ghana from Fernamlo P. coast off Kenyan seaboard at Lamu. c.1600 Niger delta peoples organize Zulus defeat British at Earliest southward penetration of themselves into trading states as Isandhlwana. Islam from Morocco and Central landward partners of European c. 1880 Maghreb. maritime traders. This develops Mandinka empire of Sam,a Toole into large and continuing sale of at its height. Origins of Yoruba and Hausa states captives for enslavement in the c.1881 in western and northern Nigeria. Americas. Mohammad Ahmad proclaims him c.1040- 1050 1637 selfMahdiin the Sudan: embarks Arnoravid ...mpire in northwest Africa Dutch take Elmina, end of on recovery (If indigenous power. and southern Spain at its height. Portuguese control on Gold Coast. 1884-1885 c.1140- 1200 1652 Berlin Conference of imperialist Almohad empire in North Africa First European settlement in South powers catalyzes colonial partition and southern Spain at its height. Africa; Dutch establish small settle- of Africa. c.1230-1255 ment at Cape of Good Hope as way c. 1899 Mali empire in West Africa at its station to the East. Anglo-AfrikanerlBoer) War begins. height under King Sundiata Keita. 1680 1910 c.1280 Ashanti (Asante) found strong state Union of South Africa constituted. Swahili ports engaged in long- in forest of central Ghana. 1916-1918 distance trade between inland gold 1787 Germany loses African colonies: and ivory producers. Sierra Leone founded. these are placed under French or British administration by the

4. Chronology of Key Events in African History 1925 Portuguese complete colonial Belgian Congo (now Zaire) becomes Military conflict between Somalia Occupation of inland Angola and independent; Prime Minister and Ethiopia in Ogaden area; Soma- Mozambique. Lumumba assassinated; katanga lis are repulsed by Ethiopians 1936 province (now Shaba) secedes. and backed by the USSR and Cuban Italy attacks and conquers UN intervenes to end Katangan re- troops. Ethiopia. volt and restore order. 1979 1941 1961 Civil War begins in Chad Italy evicted from Ethiopia; Tanzania becomes independent; involving Libya and eventually. (in Emperor Haile Selassie restored to Angolan nationalist uprising signals 1983) results in de facto partition of hk throne. beginning of anti-colonial wars in country. between Libyan-backed 1944 Portuguese Africa. and Frem.b-backed factions. Brazzaville (French Congo) confer- 1963 ence of colonial administratnrs. Military seizes power in Togo; Three tyrants forced out of power: called by Gen. de Gaulle. lays out first pokt-independence coup de;tot ldi Amin of Uganda toppled after plans for reorganization of French in sub-Saharan Africa. Tanzanian intervention; "Emperor- empire. Bokassa 1 (Central African Empire/ 1946 Organization of African Unity Republic) removed by French inter- First French post-war constitution (OAL..) founded at Addis Ababa. vention; Macias Nguema (Equatori- provides for African representation 1965 al Guinea) ousted, then executed. in the French parliament, and for Rhodesian whites rebel against after military coup. elected local (African) legislativ e as- Britain. declare unilateral inde- 1980 semblies. pendence under their own constitu- Robert Mugabe becomes prime 1948 tion. minister of Zimbabwe billowing col- Afrikaner National Party comes to 1966 lapse of white-led government. power in South Africa; apartheid Military coup ousts Kwame system, based on existing system of Nkrumah in Ghana. First military coup in Liberian histo- dkcrimination, becomes legalized. ry removes Pres. Tolbert;Tolbert 1952 First of four military coups ends ci- and various Liberian leaders killed. Free Officers overthrow Egyptian vilian rule in Nigeria; Prime Minis- 1981 King Farouk; Carnal Abdel Nasser ter Tafawa Balewa and other civil- Anwar Sadat, successor to becomes president in 1951 ian leaders assassinated. Nasser. assassinated in Egypt by 1931 1967-1970 Muslim fundamentalists. Algerians begin war of Nigerian civil war due to independence. secession of lbo-dominated Eritrean secessinnist factions enter 1955 "Biafra- (Eastern Nigeria). 20th year ill armed resistance to Gikuyti peasant uprising in Kenya 1967 Ethiopian rule. (Nlau-Mau) is defeated by British: Spain pulls out of Western 1983 an estimated 13,(X)0 African lives Sahara, leaving it to be divided be- Nigeria expels over one million are lost. tween Morocco and Mauritania: "illegal aliens- (mostly Ghanaians) 1936 guerilla war by Sahroui rebels in- from neighboring African countries. Suez War; following nationalization volves Moroccn. Mauritania. Alge- 1983,198.1 of Suez Canal by Pres. Nasser of ria, and Libya. South Africa initiates new Egypt. Britain. France. and Israel 1971 constitutional arrangements attak Egypt: political pressure by Gen. Idi Amin seizes power in which Coloreds and Indians are the U.S. endswar betOre canal is in lganda. begins eight years of given mominal representatitin in par- taken. brutal rule. liament and government: most boy- 1937 1974 cott referendum On new constitution Ghana becomes inikpendent. Emperor Haile Selassie of because blacks mot given any voice. 1958 Ethiopia deposed in military cnup. 1984 Constitution of Fifth French 1973 S 'kou Touré of Guinea (lies; Republicopens door for indcpcnd- Revolution in Portugal. African shortly thereafter Guinean military ence ill French African colonits: resistance leads to independence takes over in bloodless coup. (Yuinea votes -non-on constitut fon- Angola and Mozambique. 1985 al referendum arid gains immediate Libya occupies northern Anzio' (April) Nineteen blacks shot dead in d nd nce. Strip of Chad. in South Africa during demonstra- 1960 1976 tions attending commemoration of seventeen African states become Violent demonstrations fi y. blacks 25th anniversary ,of Sharpeville independent. in Soweto township spark disorders massacre; period of general unrest throtn-,hout South Africa. begins. Sharpeville massacre in South Afri- 1977- 1978 1985 Shaba 1 and 11: invasions of (July) State of emergency pro- ca; 69 blacks killed by police, many claimed by South African govern- more wounded. Zairian Shaba (ex-Katanga) Province friom Angola repulsed by. ment following period of unrest and Mobutu government with Moroccan violence; 600 people detained. help. 235 iw 4 j Profiles of African Regional Organizations ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States OFFICERS: President of the Council, Yao Grunttskv (Togo; Secretary General. N1omodu N1unu (Sierra Ixone DESCRIPTION: Economic communitY of 16 West African stales forming a solid geographical bloc stretching from Mauritania to FUND FOR ('OOPERATION. COMPENSATION AM) Niger and covering all coastal countries as far as Nigetio DEVELOPNIENT: Asenue du 24 Jansier. Lome. Togo1 cit... It aims to form a common market oser 15 years v4ith import 5.13° Managing Director. Mahanta Fall (Senegal) duties eliminated. Members losing import duty (particularly the poorer states) to he compensated from a Fund for Cooperation. Compensation and Development. Other aims are eventual free movement of people. services and capital. the harmonisation of OAU agriculturalpolicies,promotionof common proiects.loint development of economic and industrial policies and elimination Organisation of African Unity in disparities in lesels of development and common monetars DESCRIPTION: The most important and comprehensive of all From 2S Mils 1q79 no member state isas ,illossed to increase its Africa's political organisations. founded in 1963 to promote unitv customs tariff on goods from another member This isas the first and solidarity among African states. step tossards the total abolition of tariffs ss ohm the Communits Quotas .ind other restrictions on int ra-communiti trade %sere to he abohshed snhin ten seiir. All differences \soh emernal customs AIMS, OBJECTIVES: tariffs siould then he abolished in the ensuing hie scats Article 11 of the charter spells out the aims of the OAU: The IOit Heads ot State conteienee estaNished tree trade tor .fo promote unity and solidarity. among African states. unprocessed .igriculturai goods and handicr.ifts from Mai It-ts) ''To intensify and coordinate efforts to improse Ii mg standards An eit:ht Sear timetable tor liberalising trade in industiial products in Africa isas also establIshed. 3 'To defend sovereigntv. territorial integrilv and independence .1-he NS.; Heads ot State conference started studies on the of African states. formation ot a single LCOwAS monetar /one lo eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa. S. To promote international cooperation. hasing tegard to the ORGANISATION: Authoriti of I leads ot State and Goiernment charter ot the1 'ti meets once a searChairman drait.n from each state in turn Counol of Ministers consists of hit, repies,mt,01\ es Hon) e;R:h Okti.NIS ST1ON: ,AsscirN ot Head, ot State. meets ;itleast countr \ Sleets f \\ICC i Cat Eecutise Secreiariat: annuallticootdmate polices Resolutions passedis tiio thirds Nisxr iaFund for Cooperation.I mite.fo,20 malotit halt man is elc,ted iraditionaili the I icadif State from host nation holding .innual conteretke HISTORY: 'File idea tor a \(..,4 African communni goes back to President William Hillman otI lbet made the call in lot-) HISTORY: First proposals tor Atrican union go bads to the catii An ,,Crecin,:mt.ts sil.rned hetsicen Libelia. hotI. oast. (Ininea dais of Pan Aflica111,411 I hi:117,4 practftal steps to\%ards units anti Sierra I cone in FchrumIqn7;. hut this .,une to nothini:In v,ere taken atter the inderendLineit (lhana inIiir;" and ( tuiticu NW. Me I. conomi, Commission tot ,tnca sponsoied liP.;`, 1 hese tso otinnies toixther \kith nthei states then regional meetings .sy hich resulted on 4 Mai 10h-, in dtaft urticles independent md in Accia in April 1))5s. tot the first conteienceif of associatton for a West Attican economic communitsTht: ',IMO,I hes then dr at led a charter toi 'mon of African Heads of State met in Monrovia a year later, in April 196, and stalesin Nos emher ltt's1 his led to the Lhartet adopted H the signed a protocol. establishing the West African Regional Group Liintcren,.e statt siii Januarliii 1 his (isiOlitici (WARG) but none of its subsidiary organisations met. enarteris the politicallstadical toottitthe( 1.51 InApril1972. General Gowon ofNigeria and General ( mho wows itAil KM) ,11111:,kA (Al'istikuuug ittIht:11tisti Eyadema of Togo re-launched the idea, drew up proposals and ht:I rentli speaking states in the 'lila/vas toured in 12 countries, soliciting their plan from July to August ssomkcsi tust tor unit ihernselses1 he I111kIllt:L 11(11 1973. A meeting was then called at Lome, from 10-15 December totincd hi ( oast 'pre! S olta. Niger and l)ationies iii 1971. which studied a draft treaty. This \vas further examined :it a Sits ithsti °diet[tench sipeaktno eountriesheldthree meeting of experts and jurists in Accra in January 1974 and hy iintetenceshiLh ended sitth the tortnation it the the ministerial meeting ill Monrosia in January 1975 Attu) \hdagass 1.'nion. tiSi:Wernher19til Einalls . the treaty tor an Economic Community ot West African \leansshilti. President\\ illiarn 1 uhtnan ot I iheriaisis States YY as signed on 2s Itsti1975. byi 5 West African countries -inassani. ti'annot tor politi,..1 Union (( ,1 htil Even Senegal. YY hich had stood out tor a Yyider communi.y tot ki(11inliiIrl',01 indcpcnkliallAfuftan I hisv,as include Zaire and other cenmd African states. signed (11,401,0.0i al 1,1111,01011c inIil't'ti. ui kik iiiiia nitidi (.111(k1 The ratification of the protocols launching 1:Ct /% AS 55cic uottli.acnkc in Addis .V,,a1)0 ItifIti mid ,11 signed in Lome.I ogo on Nosember Prh onto eliteinStisI0(,1 Her,: .\tti, an states litumitheldinI ome on lotmed the N14)111,1%1,1 gtolip and tot assoilation that did not k.At t,he ,esellth (."\VAS iNosemociiIts4 the Headsit Yak talled tot the sieation rolitit ink:elation with:le:He in Jantiai% SpectalI um to assist the recitiers ot sub-Sahman Abut,' Ibit. etoup summoned the 1.1Liain i,sitl is Oit stat,si and ailk ,1,1( Hots , stalcs \IBuRs: I1ciiiti.litiikiii,I ,rso.( apt' Scf,1(... ( ftkl how. toi iiotganisallio, (iatilhia ((Italia ( «mica ( itntiva 1 wallsin 51a \ii+0; Role Selasikpcisiiadc.il the 11 Hider, ',dem sounttics Iattenti the Addis 11Iauntarna. NiCkl StalCi.(.11 Sierra It' omit'ilndIttu lcii's sit \baba ineetin,... OFFICES:I Se, otis e Secretariat PM141214s, ft King (teotgc Allii Headsit slate sititied the cliattei itht( iivanisation if 21, lit . sit Iitsicrk;ndefit Road. 1 ago., Nu.crld hi ttttS4lIcies 22 j, ;1 I( mAs , Ali it an InitsIn xl is lit f t'iti,uttt iii limit till Slutittisignt'd edtLitll li,010 isas 236... 4 Profiles of African Regional Organizations a slightly modified version of the documentapproyed in principle PTA by the Lagos conference. It incorporated bye principleslaid down at Monroviaabsolute equality of all states. non-interference in Preferential Trade Area for East and Southern internalaffairs.respecttorthesovereigntyof eachstate . Africa condemnation of sully ersise action by neighbouring statesand promotionofcooperation basedon tolerame and the DESCRIPTION: A preferential trade area tor the countries of nonacceptance of personal leadership I:astern and Southern Africa aiming to improve commercial and The establishment of the OAF led to the officialwinding up or economic cooperation and esentuall!; to create an economic the Casablanca and Monrosia groups. which meantthat there was community in the area. It is similar to the Economic Community no inner grouping of Englishspeaking statesBut the French for West African States( E('OWAS) in West Africa. continued to maintain their Afro-Malagasy group.which changed OCAM in from I. to l'AMCL in March 1964. and to ORGANISATION: Summit meetings at Heads of State level are Fehruars 1965.The Entente Council thefirstotallthe heldannually-thefirsttwoinDecember1952and 1953. Francophone groupings. has also been in esistence sineeMay Ministerial council meetings are also held regularly. A secretariat also 1959. ButtheFrench speakingstatesHist/Redhas e was establishedinLusaka A clearing house for payments participated fully in the OAU. between members was establishedatthe Reser\ e Bank in In May 1980 the first economic summit resolsed to take steps to Zimbabwe. establish an African Common Market by the year 2.0(1). The Lagos Plan of Action was ihe means to this end. HISTORY: The idea for an East African P.TA was first mooted in In February.1982 the Saharwi Arab Democratic Republic 1975 by the Economic Commission tor Africa E('A). It was the (Western Sahara) was admitted to the OA( following recognition partieular concern ot the ECA Esecutise Secretary. Adehayo by 26 out of the 50 members, hut its membership Vsas disputedtw Adedna A draft treaty tor the PTA was adopted on May 22. Mil Morocco and 19 countries which walked out ot the meeting This by IS states. The treaty was signed m December 21. 1981 hY nine led to a succession ot boycotts which pies e wedthe OALI from countries, with others joining later achies mg a quorum at the 19th summit \shish was due tobe held in 1 ripoli. Libya. In November I952 a setomd attempt tohold the MEMBERS: Burundi. Comoros, Djibouti.Ethiopia.kensa. summit in 1 ripoli was abandoned The summit wastinalls held in Lesotho.Slalawi.Mauntius,Rwanda.Somalia.Swaidand. June 1983 in Addis Ababa when the SADRtepresentatives Fanlania. Zarnhia, hinhabsse. agreed not to attend in order to asoid anorhetboYcott of the 19889. meeting OFFI('ES: Secretariat. POB 301151.1 usalsa. turirhr,iI el In Noy cinhei11.54 a delegation triri1/4+ \DR sst 11111Itted to Fetes. 4III27. the summit In lids 195R the summit passed the ..\,11, A6abadedaration iii FICERS: Seeretar General, Has Nomsete ss1iih teeonlIllItted !Fit:nisei\ esI., theI ago, PHI or Aoion. tirot passed in 1950It ssas mice1 I spand :Igf ieulture's share ot 1914, my esnnent to kers\ een .7,1 hs 11001

MEMBERS: (RIstates on accessionot\\ estern Saharaor February 10521

Algeria Madagascar Angola Malawi Benin (Dahomey) Mali Botswana Mauritania Burkina Faso Mauritius Burundi Morocco Cameroon Mozambique Cape Verde Niger Central African Empire Nigeria Chad Rwanda Comoro Islands Sao Tome and Principe Congo Senegal Côte d'Ivoire Seychelles Djibouti Sierra Leone Egypt Somalia Equatorial Guinea Sudan Eth!opla Swaziland Gabon Tanzania Gambia Togo Ghana Tunisia Guinea Uganda Gulnea-Bissau Western Sahara Kenya Zaire Lesotho Zambia Liberia Zimbabwe Libya

Addis OFFII.TS:Sectetary Atileon lInits 11.111 fYi Ho\ 1.74 1 AbabaI thioria OFFICERS: Secretary General: Salim Salim (Tanzania) AfF,T tort -HAMM 237 Profiles of African Regional Organizations

SADCC Organization: Members meet every three years; the Governing Council (composed of the President, Southern African Development Co-ordination five Vice-Presidents representing the five sub-regions Conference of Africa (North, South, East, West, and Central), the DESCRIPTION: Set up in.1 uk 19"9 to harmonise eeonomic Secretary General, and seven members) meets every development among the countries in Southern Afried and reduce year. Headquarters are in Dakar, Senegal. their dependence on South Africa Transport %%as seen as the most importantareatobedevelopedbecause astheLusaka History: FAVDO's establishment is based on Declaration had noted. -The dominance of South Africa has been these facts: (1) the twentieth century has brought high reinforced the transport sstem. Without the establishment of expectations and aspirations to the millions of people an adequate regional transport and communications sv stem other of Africa for self-determination, national indepen- areas of co-operation became impractical... But attention is also dence, freedom and social progress; (2) Africa's being paid to regional energ%planning. agriculture,disease control. manposver and developmenttraining, industrial resources and available technology are adequate to co-ordination and regional food Lecurn provide for the basic needs of every man, woman and child in Africa; (3) despite the materials and technical OR6..NISATION: A summit conferenee is called annuall% and is capacity to banish poverty, starvation and hunger, the attended b% Heads ot Stale or their representatives. 1 he Council vast majority of Africans live in abject poverty. of Ministers meets at least tv, ice a % e.irs th additional special meetings to co-ordinate regional polio in a partieular field, FAVDO's objectives are: (1) to establish effective communication links and solidarity among its mem- HISTORN: Thefirst meetingot the SouthernAfrican Development Cooidination Conference took place in Arusha. bers; (2) to establish a forum for mutual support and Tanzania on Jult 3 IY"q. iii response to tnc need for the southern cooperation among its members through effective ex- African states to tree thenl,,elses from their dependence on South change and sharing of experience, expertise, Afriea.Botssvana's PresidentSeretse Khama calledforthe resources and facilities; (3) to assist members in the establishment of a southern African communitt which ssollId identification and mobilization of resources for de- bring about a ne%% political and economic order in the region The velopment activities and provide guidelines for the conference skas attended b% Botsv amt. Angola, Mozambique . anzania and Zambial'he group %%as Her lowed b%I csotho. rational utilization of such resources; (4) to generate Sv,aziland. and /imbahio,eIn Arm] lOsi! resources to provide technical and professional assis- Leonomic summit %%ds held HII usaka. /ambia and adopted a tance to members of FAVDO, especially in the area 0.ritlegs entitled -Southern Attica. I Is at kis I cononn, of program management and institution building; (5) Liberation Ditferent .Atrican countries iAciRi git en iesponsibiliti to create an environment conducive to voluntary tor different economic' seetors inside the regiondl hole. A donors. conterence wis held in Maputo. Mozambique in development organization initiatives; (6) to support November 1980 attended bs repr esentati% es from 15 mdustiused and facilitate concerted initiatives by the African countries. The% pledged .Sh5Orn to he used tor 14' de% elopment people in areas of development priorities towards the protects riser the nevt Ilse tears solution of common problems; (7) to establish an ef- In Fehruar%l9",2 the Ministers ot1 Twigs mei to plan the fective channel of communication with governments establishment of a regional eneig\ polies.1 he summit in Jul% lOts2 confirmed that .Ss-urn had been pledged to d.:te1 hree small and inter-governmental organizations for the pur- development protects had been completed and -Is %%CR' under poses of advocacy and partnership in development; %%ay. About 311 others %%ere to he submitted to toicien aid donors (8) to create an information data bank and a clear- for appro. alAnother donorsconferenceinJanuar% Ik+53 inghouse process for disseminating information; (8) to resulted in further pledges ot $40i111 I-unding amounting to S221M had been secured bs .1uk encourage development projects that are culturally tor industrial prinects. and S-2q tor transport piorecis acceptable, environmentally sound, economically viable and sustainable. MEMBERS: Angola. Botswana, Lesotho. Malawi. Mozambique. Swaziland. Tanzania. Zambia and Zimbabv.e. Membership: open to all National African Volun- OFFICES: Private Bag 0095. Gaborone, Botswana Tel5 Ir413 tary development organizations working at the grass- Telex: 255'5. roots level; specialized African networks working at OFFICERS:ExecutiveSecretary:Dr SimbarasheMakom the subregional and regional level; and certain Inter- (Zimbakke national African Voluntary Development Organiza- tions who accept the obligation contained in the FAVDO: The Forum of African Voluntary constitution. Development Organisations Offices: FAVDO, B.P.12 085, Dakar, Senegal. Description: This regional organization was Tel: 221 22 44 95. established in May 1987 to affirm the role of African voluntary development organizations in Africa's Officers: President: Mazide NDiaye (Senegal). development and assure that any resolution of the African development crisis takes into account the perspective of these development organizations. 238 f A Taste of Africa Hot Plantain Crisps Ghana Many supermarkets now carry plantains alongsidebananas in the produce section. If yours doesn't, look in an ethnic or specialty grocery.

4 plantains Slice the plantains into rounds 4 tsp. lemon juice Y4inch thick, and sprinkle lemon 4 tsp. ground ginger juice over the pieces, stirring to mois- 4 tsp. cayenne pepper ten. In a separate bowl, combine the oil for frying ginger and pepper. Heat about 1/4 inch of oil in a heavy skillet until a test piece of plantain sputters. Roll plan- tain pieces a few at a time in the spice mixture to coat surfaces, then transfer to the skillet. Fry until outsides are crisp and golden. With a slotted spoon, remove plantain to an absorbent cloth for cooling. Serve hot.

Mtuzi wa Samaki Kenya Baked. Curried Fish Serves 4

2 lbs. white fish, bones removed Preheat oven to 350°. Lay the fish in 3 large yellow onions, sliced a baking pan. Heat oil to a moderate 2 tblsp. oil temperature, and fry the onion slices 2 chili peppers or 1 tsp. cayenne until transparent. Arrange over the PepPer fish. 3 cloves garlic Combine the remaining ingredients 4 medium-size tomatoes, or 6 oz. in a blender or food processor until tomato paste smooth. (Or crush chilies and garlic Y2 cup white vinegar with a mortar and pestle and mash 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom tomatoes well with a fork before com- Y2 tsp. cumin bining with other ingredients.) Pour V2 tsp. salt over fish, cover the pot, andsimmer about 30 minutes until fish is just cooked.

J 2 i9 A Taste of Africa

Vegetable Mafe Senegal Serves 6-8

2 large onions, finely chopped Brown the onions in moderately hot 4 tblsp. peanut oil oil in a large, heavy skillet or stew pot. 2 cups pumpkin, winter squash, Add the vegetables, one at a time, or sweet potatoes, peeled and sauteing each for a minute cr so be- chopped in chunks fore adding another. 4 turnips Stir in tomato sauce, along with 4 medium potatoes, quartered about a cup of water, reduce heat, and 2 large carrots, chopped in simmer until all the vegetables are chunks tender. Spoon out about half a cup of '/2 of a small cabbage, coarsely the hot broth and mix it with the pea- chopped nut butter to make a smooth paste. 2 large tomatoes, quartered Add to the pot, and simmer for an- 1 bunch of fresh leafy greens other 10-15 minutes. Serve over rice or (spinach, Swiss chard, turnip a stiff porridge (see recipes in the greens, etc.), or 1 small pack- Grains and Bread chapter). age frozen greens 2 chili peppers, or 1 tsp. cayenne PepPer 2 cups tomato sauce 3/4 cup peanut butter

Maacouda With Potatoes Tunisia Both Maacouda and Meshwiya (see recipe in this section) are typical Thnisian hors d'oeuvres.

I lb. potatoes Pre-heat the oven to 4500. Peel the 2 medium onions, finely potatoes and boil them until very soft; chopped then drain and mash them well. Over 3-4 oz. parsley, chopped low heat, saute the onions and parsley 2 tblsp. butter in butter. 1/2 tsp. salt Meanwhile, grease the sides and 14 tsp. pepper bottom of a 10-inch round pan. When 6 large eggs the onions are transparent, combine onions, parsley, butter, mashed pota- toes, salt and pepper. Beat the eggs and stir them in. Pour the mixture into the greased pan and bake for 20 min- utes. When slightly cooled, remove from the pan and slice.

24 0 A Taste of Africa

Dovi Zimbabwe Peanut Butter Stew Serves 4-6

2 medium onions, finely In a large stew pot over moderate chopped heat, saute onions in butter until 2 tblsp. butter golden brown. Add garlic, salt, and 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced and hot peppers. Stir for 2 or 3 minutes, crushed then add green peppers and chicken. 1 tsp salt When all the chicken pieces are brown g2 tsp. pepper on every side, mash tomatoeswith a 1 chili pepper or 1/2 tsp. cayenne fork and mix them into the stew, along Pep Per with about 2 cups of water. Reduce 2 green bell pemers, chopped heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes. 1 chicken, cut into pieLes Thin the peanut butter with a few 3-4 fresh or canned tomatoes spoons of hot broth and addhalf the 6 tblsp. smooth peanut butter resulting paste to the pot. Simmer 1/2 lb. spinach or pumpkin leaves until meat is well cooked. Meanwhile, boil spinach or pumpkin leaves for several minutes until tender. Drain, and toss with the remainder of the peanut butter paste. Serve stew and greens together.

I 0., 2,11 Networking Within UUSC and Beyond

Moving a group from study to action is of course the ultimate goal of theIntroductory Guide to Africa. Many groups will be taking on thisprogram in different parts of the United States simultaneously. It will be important to keep track of each other'sactivities, findings, and progress. UUSC's Citizen Action Department will be an important linkageto information about participants in the various areas. In this connection, UUSC will circulate periodicup-dates, articles, and action suggestions to those wishing to keep informed and activeon African issues. Contact us about your progress and resource needs. We also hope you will consider becominga member of UUSC. This program is one of many programs that have recentlybeen developed to reach out to Americans about Africa. Many of them, iike UUSC,are seeking to build a network of informed communities throughout the country. It may be useful tocontact any of these groups to see what network they have established in yourarea. Your group may want to link up with some of their activities, or use some materials made available through them.Organizations currently implementing such programs include:

Women to Women: US-Africa Dialogues OEF International 1815 H St. N.W. Suite 1100 Washington, D.C. 20006 (202)466-3430

African Hunger and Development Module Roosevelt Center for American Policy 316 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, D.C. (202)547-7227

AFRICA Video, Inner City Program The Africa Fund 198 Broadway New York, NY 10038 (212)962-1210

African Development Education Outreach Africare House 440 R St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001 (202)462-3614

Making a Difference Africa News Service P.O. Box 3851 Durham, N.C. 27702 (919)286-0747

Youth Talking to Youth on Poverty Issues in Africa Children's Express Foundation 20 Charles Street New York, NY 10014 (212)302-4988

242 Networking Within UUSC and Beyond

Africa Public Policy and Education Program Development Group for Alternative Policies 1400 I Street, N.W. Suite 520 Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 848-1566

Seeing Africa Through a New Perspective Development Institute African Studies Center/UCLA Los Angles, C. \ 90024-1310 (213) 825-3070

Breakthrough on Hunger Harvard Institute for International Development One Eliot Street Cambridge, MA 02138 (617) 495-2161

Global Exchange/Africa Exchange 2940 16th St., rm. 307 San Francisco, CA 94103 (415) 648-7015

Worldwise 2000, A Decade for Global Understanding International Development Conference 1401 New York Avenue, N.W. Suite 1100 Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 638-3111

International Development Education Program National Council of Negro Women 701 Fairfax Street Alexandria, VA 22314 (703) 684-5740

Project Bike-Aid Overseas Development Network P.O. Box 2306 Stanford, CA 94309 (415) 723-0802

The Africa Focus Project YMCA/United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service 101 North Wacker Drive Chicago, Illinois 60606 (412)227-3815

Sister Cities International Technical Assistance Program 120 S. Payne St. Alexandria, VA 22314 (703)836-3515

Eritrean Relief Committee 475 Riverside Dr. #769 New York, NY 10115 (212)870-2727

243 Networkin Within IJUSC and Be ond

U.S. - South Africa Sister Community Project 2601 Mission St., suite 400 San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 824-2938

Children of War Religious Task Force 85 South Oxford St. Brooklyn, NY 11217 (718) 858-6882

Anti-Apartheid Action Hotline (202) 546-0408 see also p. 183, Resolutions and Resources UUSC Social Responsibility Handbook at the UU church office

Mozambique Support Network 343 S. Dearborn, Suite 314 Chicago, IL 60604

African Studies Programs in U.S. colleges and universities:

Boston University African Studies Center 270 Bay State Rd. Boston, MA 02215 (617) 353-7303 or 3673/4

Indiana University African Studies Program Woodburn Hall 221 Bloomington, IN 47405 (812) 855-6825/8284

Michigan State University African Studies Center 100 International Center East Lansing, MI 48824-1035 (517) 353-1700

Stanford University Center for African Studies Institute for International Studies Littlefield Center, 300 Lausen Street Stanford, CA 94305-5013 (415) 723.0295

University of California lames S. Coleman African Studies Center 10244 Bunche Hall Los Angeles, CA 90024-1319 (213) 825-3686/3779

University of Florida Center for African Studies 427 Grinter Hall Gainesville, FL 32611 (904) 392-2183

kir

244 Networking Within UUSC and Beyond

University of Illinois Center for African Studies 1208 W. California, rm 101 Urbana, IL 61801 (217) 333-6335 films: 1-800-367-3456 outreach: (217) 244-5457

University of Wisconsin African Studies Program 1454 Van Hise Hall 1220 Linden Drive Madison, WI 53706 (608) 263-2171

Yale University Council on African Studies 85 Trumbull Street, Box 13A New Haven, CT 06520 (203) 432-3438/3437

For information on other programs in AfricanStudies in your area contact: The Director Association of African Studies Programs (AASP) Department of Government and International Studies University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 (803) 777-3108

Another idea for follow-up:

The Unitarian Universalist Assocation has recentlydeveloped a multimedia program on African Americans' Experience in Unitarian Universalism, entitled HowOpen the Door?

For more information, contact the UUA at: 25 Beacon St. Boston, MA 02108 (617) 742-2100

24r) Evaluation Form

Please use the outline below to evaluateyour experience with the six-session program and send your evaluation to UUSC, 78 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108. Thankyou!

I. Inputs a.group members (number, gender, ethnic origin, socio-economic background, interests, education level, profession, religious affiliation) b.materials (what kinds, source) c.facilities and equipment (types, source) for sessions d.financial resources (amounts, origin) e.coalitions, linkages with other organizations, people

H. Process a. How many meetings did participants attend? b.Did the group follow the session activitiesas outlined? c.What were the most/least effective aspects of session outlines? d. What were the most/least effective aspects of thegroup processes? Did all participate? e. What level of commitment to the programwas there for the members? Ill. Outputs a.activities/events (what kinds, length and scope of activities, number and kindsof people involved, publicity, effectiveness) b.short-run benefits c. long-run benefits d.future plans of the group e.unexpected outcomes Helpful Questions: 1.Did the six-session program builda stronger awareness about Africa and the role of Africa in your community? 2. Were the materials made available toyou adequate? 3 Which other materials wouldyou recommend using? 4.What modifications would you like tosee in the next edition of the Introductory Guide to Africa?

5.Did you feel satisfied with the U.S.-Africa linkages thatyou discovered? 6 Did you learn more about yourown community and its needs? 7. How did your choice of activities reflect the findings during thecommunity inquiry? 8.List the five things that worked best in the program. 9.List the five things that worked least in theprogram. 10. What could be improved in the program? How wouldyou suggest making such improvements? 246 Bibliography

Session 1: Building Connections with Africa

Magaia, Lina. Dumba Nengue: Run for Your Life: Peasant Tales of Tragedy inMozambique. New Jersey: Africa World Press, 1988, pp. 15-18. Clark, Leon E. Through African Eyes. New York: CITE Books, 1988, pp. 21-22. Hurston, Zora Neale. "How it Feels to be Colored Me." I Love MyselfWhen I am Laughing... New York: The Feminist Press, 1979, p. 153.

Session 2: Culture Connections "Proverbs from Kenya" and "Say it in Swahili". Your World: An International Paper for Young People. Washington, D.C.: Educational Resources International, Inc., vol. 3, No. 6, pp. 7, 8.

Amadu, Ma lam. "The Story of the Mouse." From Amadou's Bundle. London: HeinemannEducational Books, 1972, pp. 68-71. Alford, Terry. Prince Among Slaves. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977, pp. 27-30. Magubane, Bernard Makhosezwe. The Ties That Bind. New Jersey: Africa World Press, 1987, pp. 232- 234. "The African Diaspora in the Contemporary World: From Pan-Africanism to Trans-Africanism."African Diaspora Studies Newsletter, Vol. 1, No.1, 1984, p.3. Angelou, Maya. All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes. New York: Vintage Books, 1986, pp. 19-22. Walker, Alice. "xiv." From Once: Poems. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1968, p. 36. Summers, Barbara and Adero, Malaika. "Africa's Nobel Laureate." Africa Report,July/Aug. 1987, pp. 46-47. Topouzis, Daphne. Sarafinah The Music of Liberation." Africa Report, Jan./Feb. 1988, pp. 65-66.

Session 3: Economic Connections Davidson, Basil. A Guide to African History. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1965, pp. 29-35. Clark, Leon E. Through African Eyes. New York: CITE Books, 1988, pp. 80-81. Nance Lui Gyson. "Towards What." The Development Puzzle (6th edition), London: Centrefor World Development Education, 1979, p.8. Frankel, Glenn. "How Europeans Sliced up Africa." The Washington Post, Jan. 6, 1985. Brooke, James. "The French in Africa: Old Ecole Ties." The New York Times, Dec. 25, 1988. Bibliography

Shepherd, Jack. "When Foreign Aid Fails." The Atlantic Monthly, April 1985,pp. 41-45. "Sentenced to Debt." Africa News, April 18, 1988,pp. 1-3. Washington Office on Africa Education Fund. "Southern African Development Coordination Conference SADCC" Fact Sheet.

Rau, Bill. "Working for our own Needs." Background Paper No. 100, Washington,D.C. : Bread for the World, 1986.

"Vil!age Group Creates new Opportunities with UUSC Support in ImpoverishedRegion of Burkina Faso." Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Program Fact Sheet, 1988.

Session 4: Issue Connections

Children and Youth

Oyono, Ferdinand. Houseboy. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1960,pp. 9-13.

"Living Under Apartheid" (Reprinted form Children's Express). Your World: An InternationalPaper for Young People. Washington, D.C.: Educational Resources International, Inc., vol.2, No. 18, p 4. Harden, Blaine. "Torn by Tradition and Modernity." The Washington PostNational Weekly Edition, Dec. 5-11, 1988, pp. 6-8.

Lenderking, Tym. "Sudanese Kids Flock to City Streets." The ChristianScience Monitor, May 9, 1986 p. 12.

Wagner, Daniel. "New Days for Old Ways." IDRC Reports, July 1983,pp. 5-6.

Everett Standa. "I Speak for the Bush." From: Blackburn, Horsfall, and Wanjala, eds.Attachments to the Sun. London: Edward Arnold Ltd., 1978, pp. 2-3.

Taylor, Debby. "Women in Africa: Until Death Us Do Part."New Internationalist, Sept. 1984, pp. 1 2- 13.

"The Veil or the Gun." Voice of Eritrean Women, Spring 1987,pp. 11, 15. Horst, Shannon A. "Training Program Brightens Future for Young SenegaleseWomen." Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 10, 1987.

Environment

Brew,Nesi, "The Dry Season." From: Blackburn, I iorsfall, and Wanjala, eds. Attachmentsto the Sun. London: Edward Arnold, l.td., 1978,p. 75.

Nickerson, Colin. "West Africa's Spreading Desert." Boston Globe, Sci-TechSection, July 8, 1984. Ouangraoua, Hamado. "Protecting the Garden." IDRC Reports, Vol. 17, No. 4, Oct.1988, pp. 18-19. Wi His, David K. "The Crucial Resource Water." Christian Science Monitor, Africa Blueprint for Survival, Sept. 12, 1986.

248 A- 34 Bibliography

"War Policies Threaten Wildlife." Africa News, Nov. 14,1988, p.8. Palmer, Thomas. "Fight Intensifies in Africa on Slaughter ofElephants." Boston Globe, Nov. 23, 1988.

Booth, William. "Lake Victoria's Ecosystem, Vital toMillions, May be Unraveling." The Washington Post, June 5, 1989, p. 3. Askin, Steve. "Unnecessary Dependence." Africa News, Sept.19, 1988, p. 5. Schissel, Howard. "The Deadly Trade: Toxic Waste Dumping inAfrica." Africa Report, Sept.-Oct. 1988, pp. 47-49.

Food and Hunger

Brown, Dr. J. Larry and Pizer, H.F. "Hunger in theHeartland." Seeds, April 1988, pp. 12-14. Brazier, Chris. "A Quiet Hunger." The NewInternationalist, Sept. 1985, pp. 7-9. Davies, Peter J. "Paradox of Humanitarian Assistance." LosAngeles Times, Nov. 9, 1988. "The Seeds of War." Africa News, Oct. 19, 1988, pp. 10-11. "Cash Crops." Earthwatch #21, 1985, pp. 2-4. Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) fact sheet. Lambert, J.D.H. "Tradition Keeps Pace." UN Development Forum, June1986, pp. 8-9. "ljnderstand the Farmers Before Intervening' Malian Researchers on Innovation."IDRC Reports, Vol. 17, No. 4, Oct. 1988, pp. 22-23. "Empowering Africa's Farmers."Africa News, Oct. 17, 1988, pp.6-8.

Health "Child Survival: A Moral Imperative." Africa News, May 1, 1989. pp. 4-7.*

Sarpong, Bishop Peter. "The Ghanaian Concept of Disease."Contact, the bi-monthly bulletin of the Christian Medical Commission of the World Council of Churches, No. 84,April 1985, pp. 2-10. Diallo, Djibril. "Overpopulation and Other Myths about Africa," Christian ScienceMonitor, April 22, 1986. Nafis, Sadik. "The Population Crunch." Africa Report, July-Aug. 19, 3, pp. 26-27. "Mama Watoto." Contact, the bi-monthly bulletin of theChristian Medical Commission of the World Council of Churches, No. 93, Oct. 1983, p. 11.

24 9 Bibliography

Wasilewski, Anis. "Juma to the Rescue: Health Education for East AfricanChildren." IORC Reports, Oct. 1988, p.7.

Chandler, Michele. "Chosen to Deliver." Africa News, May 30,1988, pp. 1-3. "AIDS: African Origin Disputed." Africa News, June 13, 1988, p.11.

Heise, Lori. "AIDS: New Threat to the Third World." Seeds, April 1988,pp. 10-12.

Rad lett, Marty. "In Our Own Way: Third World Spreads the Wordon AIDS." Panoscope, No. 6, May 1988, pp. 7-8.

Session 5: The Military Connection

The Washington Office on Africa Education Fund. "UnderstandingApartheid, " "Apartheid's Grand Design: The Bantustans," and "Glossary." South Africa Information Packet.

Paton, Alan. Cry the Beloved Country. New York: Colher Books, 1948,pp. 78-80. Rickard, Carmel. "Not I, Says the Brother of the Soldier." AfricaNews, Aug. 22, 1988, p. 7.

Waters, Cherri. "War Against Neighbors." Response, Journal of UnitedMethodist Women, June 1988, pp. 9-11.

"Namibia: A Troubled Past." Africa News, April 17, 1989,pp. 3-4, 9, Howard, William. "Lobbying Against Apartheid." AfricaReport. March/April 1988, pp. 40-41. "Africa War Zones: The Horn." Prepared by Teresa Smith,Association of Concerned Africa Scholars. Africa f r.ace Tour Report, Africa Peace Committee,1987.

Abdul Rahman Abu Zayd Ahmed. "Why the Violence?"War Wounds, Virginia: Panos Press, 1988,pp. 8-15.

Kifner, John. "Rebels in Ethiopia Work to ModernizeEritrea." The New York Times, Aug. 21, 1988.

"Africa War Zones: Western Sahara/Chad." Prepared byTeresa Smith, Association of Concerned Africa Scholars. Africa Peace Tour Report, Africa PeaceCommittee, 1987.

Session 6: Where Do We Go From Here?

Goetsch, Jim. "Start a Third World Shop: Alternative TradeOrganizations Mix Business and justice." Seeds, Jan./Feb. 1989, pp. 24-25.

"Sample Letters to Nestle and American Home Products"and "Nestle and AHP Boycott Fact Sheet". Minneapolis: Action for Corporate Accountability, 1989.

"Coke Sweetens Apartheid" Coca-Cola Boycott Fact Sheet,Atlanta: American Friends Service Committee, 1988. Bibliography

Country Maps and Basic Data Rand McNally Universal World Atlas (new revised edition). Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., 1987.

Martin, Dr. Jane and Dr. Jo Sullivan. Global Studies: Africa (secondedition). Guilford: The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc., 1987. Ungar, Sanford J. Africa: The People and Politics of an Emerging Continent.New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1986. "World Development Indicators." World Development Report 1988. Washington, D.C.:World Bank, 1988.

Chronology of Key Events in African History

Levine, Toby Kleban ed. Viewer's Guide: The Africans. Washington, D.C.: GreaterWashington Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc., 1985. pp. 56-57.

Profiles of African Regional Organizations Rake, Alan, ed. New African Yearbook. London: IC Magazines Ltd., 1987-1988, pp. 10-18. Abstract from the Constitution of the Forum of African Voluntary Development Organisations (FAVDO).

A Taste of Africa

Recipes are reprinted from: Hultman, Tami, ed. The Africa News Cookbook: African Cooking for Western Kitchens. New York: Viking Penguin Book edition, 1986, pp. 23, 29, 44, 88, 106.

For Further Information The following book contains complete listings of books periodicals, and audiovisuals on Africa: Fenton, Thomas P. and May J. Heffron. Africa: A Directory of Resources. Maryknoll, NewYork: Orhis Books, 1987.

2 5 1 0 Unitarian Universalist Service Committee