Document Body Page Navigation Panel
Development
Time Page HEALTH
AIDS Conference ends on a hopeful note 6mins. 11secs. 3 The 13 th
International AIDS conference held in South
Africa ended with former President Nelson Mandela urging for cooperation and
understanding.
7.5m Zambians Survive On One Or Two Poor Meals A Day 4mins. 43secs. 5 The
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) has
revealed that over 7.5 million Zambians barely survive on one or two poor quality
meals a day.
80,000 Nigerian Women Afflicted by VVF, Says Minister 3mins. 8secs. 6 No
fewer than 80,000 Nigerian women have been afflicted by the
Vesicular Vagina Festula (VVF) ailment according to the country's Minister of
Women Affairs and Youth Development.
World Bank, NGO in fight against breast cancer 1min. 7secs. 10 MAMMOCARE
Ghana, gets a grant from The World Bank, for the
training of nurses to screen women in the country for breast cancer.
WOMEN AND YOUTH The Trauma of Exploited Children 7mins. 19secs. 7
The percentage of prevailing child labour globally is high and Africa
carries a huge burden of its children who are mercilessly
exploited. This report gives an insight into the issue and calls for immediate
action.
Breaking The Glass Ceiling 4mins. 7secs. 4 South African women still
battle for their rights, especially in the
corporate environment.
Baobab and Jazz 38 wage peace with Women's Human rights 1min 6secs. 10
Two organizations raise awareness for the international year of peace
among Nigerian youths
MEDIA Voices of Freedom 2000: What A Free Press Means To Me
4mins. 6
To celebrate the World Press Freedom Day 2000, the World Press Freedom
Committee asked people around the world what a free press
means to them.
Environment
POLLUTION Donors Pledge to Rebuild Leaky Chernobyl Shell 3mins. 42secs.
3
The site of the worst nuclear accident in history is to be rebuilt as
donors make pledges to pay the entire estimated cost of $768million.
Harare's Air pollution is worrying 3mins. 15secs. 5 Air pollution,
mainly derived from industrial, and vehicle emissions,
has exceeded the World Health Organisations recommended level of 50 milligram
per cubic metre in Harare, Zimbabwe 1
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Illegal Prospecting of Gold Poses Danger to the Environment 3mins. 5secs.
7 Illegal gold prospecting in the locality of Impapa, in the northern Mozambican
province of Niassa, is becoming a major threat to the local environment
Eliat-Aqaba Underwater Clean Up 2mins. 39secs. 9 Scuba divers from
Israel and Jordan joined together to clean up the
sea floor in some of the most popular swimming beaches in Eilat.
CONSERVATION Two Species of African Rhino On The Increase 6mins. 9secs
8
There are currently more rhino in Africa than at any time since the early
mid 1980s, says a report issued by the World Conservation
Union and the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Numbers…
POPULATION Emergency Contraception in Ghana 1 min. 7secs. 9
Only one-third of health care providers in two urban areas in Ghana had
heard of emergency contraception in 1997, despite efforts by
the government and the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana to introduce
the method the previous year.
Sterilization as Social Strategy? 3mins. 7secs. 9 By choosing to
be sterilized, women in southern India may be manipulating
cultural norms to increase their power within their extended household.
Dateline…
Transnational Crime – What can be done? 2mins. 8secs. 10 The
Vienna Declaration on Crime and Justice is expected to call for
the immediate adoption and ratification of the UN Convention Against Transnational
Organised Crime to be held in New York
Children's Section
Why the Wart Hog goes about on his Knees 3mins. 23secs. 11 The
Wart hog obeys orders, much to his disadvantage
Greedy Mhisi 5mins. 9secs. 11 Mhisi, the hyaena learns a thing or
two about only eating what
your stomach can hold
Parting Shots
Celebrate the wisdom of the African experience with the 12 following
unforgettable quotes 2
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News
Donors Pledge to Rebuild Leaky Chernobyl Shell 3min. 42secs. Work
to replace the leaky cement shell covering the ruined nuclear reactor at Chernobyl
can begin now
that Western nations have pledged to pay almost the entire estimated cost of
$768 million.
"We can get started quite soon and we can put all our efforts into it," German
Environment Minister Juergen Trittin said at the end of a conference of more
than 40 donor nations in Berlin.
Chernobyl, a Soviet-built nuclear power plant in the Ukraine, was the site
of the world's worst nuclear accident when an explosion and fire at one of its
reactors in April 1986 spewed radiation over much of
Europe.
Experts say the new cover – which will replace one the Soviets hastily constructed
over the ruined reactor – is needed to prevent new releases of radiation. But
Ukraine, still struggling to rebuild its economy after
the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, has pushed for outside help to pay
for the work. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher said he expected the "relatively
low" amount remaining – about $53
million – could be raised at a third donor conference in the future.
Ukraine was less receptive to German efforts to persuade it to give up plans
to replace the energy lost from shutting Chernobyl by building two new Russian-type
reactors. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma promised
in early June to shut down Chernobyl's last working reactor on December 15,
and wants additional international aid to help build the replacement plants.
CNN. com
AIDS Conference ends on a hopeful note 6min. 11secs. The 13th International
AIDS conference ended on Friday, July 10, just as it began, with a political
leader
calling for action to end the scourge of AIDS and HIV in Africa. But where current
President Thabo Mbeki stirred controversy, former President Nelson Mandela urged
a new dedication to cooperation and
understanding.
"We need bold initiatives to prevent new infections among young people, and
large-scale actions to prevent mother-to-child transmission," Mandela told thousands
of cheering delegates. "In the face of the
grave threat posed by HIV/ AIDS, we have to rise above our differences and combine
our efforts to save our people. History will judge us harshly if we fail to
do so now, and right now."
More than 12,000 scientists, doctors and AIDS advocates attended the weeklong
conference — the first held in Africa, where 70 percent of the world's 34 million
people with AIDS live. Along with dire predictions
of the widespread future global impact of AIDS on populations, economies and
social institutions made at the conference, researchers reported a number of
important discoveries and reasons for hope.
"We should have an effective vaccine in five to seven years," said Dr. Seth
Berkley of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. Promising research also
is being conducted on new anti-AIDS drugs designed to
boost the immune system while suppressing the virus to near undetectable levels.
Such life-sustaining drugs already have had dramatic results in the United States
and Europe. And drug companies have
pledged to provide the medications at lower cost for pilot programs in Africa.
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"Breaking the silence" has been a theme of this year's AIDS conference, and
authorities agree that the situation is slowly improving. Education programs
are resulting in more frank discussion between men and
women, and more testing.
"People are openly talking about HIV," said Dr. Saadiq Kariem of the University
of Capetown. "Women discuss their status, and men are coming out of their hiding
places." But with many Africans under the age
of 25 becoming infected every day, experts say the only way to lower the death
toll is to increase the budget for prevention efforts by a factor of 10 -and
to target Africa's youth with frank information about
safer sex.
"With no vaccine and no cure in sight, we stand to see hundreds of millions
of people lose their lives to AIDS before we're able to turn this pandemic around,"
said Sandy Thurman, White House AIDS policy
director.
The challenge now, Mandela exhorted delegates at the close of the conference,
is to "move from rhetoric to action, and action on an unprecedented scale."
CNN /The Associated Press/ Reuters
Breaking The Glass Ceiling 4mins. 7secs. Empowerment in the workplace
not only benefits women, but business too. The status of South African
women both in politics and business has changed drastically since the 1960s
when white males dominated management positions. The implementation of women-friendly
labour practices such as affirmative action
and the Employment Equity Act have helped in fast-tracking women's development.
South African labour policies have managed to transform many companies into
female-friendly firms by introducing paid
maternity and paternity leave, and making provisions for dealing with sexual
harassment.
"But," says a businesswoman (insisting on anonymity), "the atmosphere that management
thinks is tolerant and welcoming to all employees is actually corrosive to women.
The problem of improving the workplace
environment to suit working parents, which are still mainly women, is not discussed
since both management and women (especially women who do not want to be perceived
as different from men) pretend everything
is just fine. Women, therefore, feel there is a misunderstanding on how to manage
and motivate them since they feel they cannot perform to their full potential
if their special needs are not satisfied."
According to Felice Schwarts, president and founder of Catalyst, a research
and advisory non-profit organisation, the numbers game is not only frustrating
women but also harmful to business. "Treating
women as a business imperative will not only benefit women but it is the only
option for business survival."
However many labor consultants hold that many South African companies are yet
to create an ambience that encourages women to stay on the job. Poor reward
systems, lack of training, and lack of policies
which take women's welfare in to consideration characterize many of these companies.
"Most entry-level managers at the bottom of the ranks are women who work under
less qualified and less-talented men," says the anonymous businesswoman. "Very
disturbing is that companies search for
and recruit the talented women in business schools but let them languish shortly
after appointing them, hence the high turnover and women opting to work as consultants."
The Mail and Guardian (Johannesburg) 4
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7.5m Zambians Survive On One Or Two Poor Meals A Day 4min. 43secs. Over
7.5 million Zambians barely survive on one or two poor quality meals a day,
a report by the Catholic
Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) has revealed. The report conducted and
released in August by the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) monitoring project
of the CCJP, reveals that out of the
estimated Zambian population of 10 million, 72.9 per cent of the people live
in households that are food insecure.
The report cites economic reforms, through wage freeze, inflation, privatisation
and retrenchment, as having reduced the capacity of people to afford an adequate
diet to lead a healthy, active and normal life. It says
though the families may be considered to be having a meal a day, the meals are
poor and lack needed nutrients.
The CCJP SAP monitoring teams in their respective parishes conducted the country-wide
research on food security in the period October 1999 to February 2000. The report
also says that food insecurity in
the country has been manifesting itself through high incidence of malnutrition,
increasing mortality rates and high school dropouts among others.
"In addition, the fact that Zambia is importing 75 per cent of the food on
the market is a clear indication that food production has greatly declined in
the country and food insecurity is looming," read the report in part.
Commenting on the CCJP report, Programme Against Malnutrition (PAM) director,
Frida Luhila criticised the government for failing to take risk factors into
consideration when it embarked on SAP. She said this
has led to low entrepreneur programmes in rural areas which has created food
deficit in urban areas thus causing high prices of commodities. Luhila disclosed
that currently, levels of stunted growth in children
stand at 70 per cent in Zambia. "We need to prioritise agriculture for long
term investment so that all transformation can revolve around agriculture,"
she said.
The Post of Zambia
Harare's Air pollution is worrying 3min. 15secs. Air pollution, mainly
derived from industrial and vehicle emissions, has exceeded the World Health
Organisation recommended level of 50 milligram per cubic metre in Harare. A
senior health official, Fidelis Jaravani, told an environment seminar that Harare's
400,000 cars were mainly responsible for the rise in
air pollution, followed by industrial emissions, but did not give figures of
the pollution levels in the city, Zimbabwe's industrial hub.
He said the rise in the use of firewood for cooking and heating during the
just-ended winter season between May and July had also contributed to the increase
in air pollution in the city. Most low-income households,
unable to pay rising electricity bills, use firewood for both cooking and heating.
Environmentalists have vigorously campaigned for stiffer penalties for offenders,
blaming the rise in air and other forms of pollution
in the country on lack of specific environment control legislation and lax enforcement
of what exists of anti-pollution laws.
"Environmental legislation is contained in more than 18 different statutes
administered by eight different ministries, it is fragmented and ineffective,"
Charlene Hewat, a director of an environment lobby group,
Environment 2000, said. Zimbabwe levies low penalties for environmental damage,
and the unspecific legal provisions for such offences have resulted in cases
dragging for more than six years in court to be
settled. Pan Africa News Agency 5
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80,000 Nigerian Women Afflicted by VVF, Says Minister 3min. 8secs. No
fewer than 80,000 Nigerian women have been afflicted by the Vesicular Vagina
Festula (VVF) ailment,
the minister of Women Affairs and Youth Development, Hajia Aisha Ismail, has
said. The minister made the disclosure in Abuja at the weekend while receiving
in her office the Executive Director of the United
Nations Population Agency (UNPFA) Dr. Natis Sadiq. The disclosure came on the
heels of a call by a gender sensitive organisation, Group of 77 (G-77), for
the cancellation of the debts of third world countries
as a major step for the empowerment of women. Ismail made the call on behalf
of the G-77 at the just concluded 23 rd special session of the United Nations
General Assembly in New York known as "Beijing+ 5".
She said that women in developing countries have not been economically empowered
in spite of sweeping globalisation. The minister, therefore charged governments
in developing countries to evolve appropriate
programmes that would harness the opportunities presented by the trend of globalisation
to empower women.
Speaking further on the VVF scourge, Ismail blamed the incidence on poverty
and lamented that over the last two decades, the number of poor rural women
in Nigeria has doubled; "a trend that was aggravated
by rapid population growth."
She believes that "all efforts at poverty alleviation may fail unless they are
aimed at promoting the advancement of rural women not only as social welfare
beneficiaries but also as producers and income
earners in their own right". Further noting that, "it is only when women are
educated and economically empowered that they can play their roles effectively
as well as participate in politics, decision making and
other activities." This Day
Voices of Freedom 2000: What A Free Press Means To Me 4mins.
I belong to a family whose main activity was journalism as well as broadcasting.
Since I was a child, my
life has been strongly linked to free and private Broadcasting, conceived in
the service of freedom of expression. As a citizen, a broadcaster and a lawyer,
I feel democracy and the "State of Right" are
essential grounds for the existence of free societies, respectful of human dignity
and freedom of expression is essential for all this since it represents the
widest of intellectual Liberties.
The prevailing of freedom of expression is possible, among other important
reasons, due to the existence and diversity of the independent media. Pluralism
of ideas and opinions allows us to strengthen a freely
informed and participating public opinion. Only Freedom of information and opinion
allow big political, economic, social and cultural themes in a democratic society
to be widely discussed and at the time of
taking decisions, those who will be benefited or affected may state critics,
ideas or proposals, with no authoritarian impositions of sole reasons.
The lack of freedom of expression limits citizens' own Freedom and many times
this is only perceivable when the former no longer exist. Hence, it is essential
to be constantly struggling for its full prevailing. I am
proud and honoured to be another struggler at the International Association
of Broadcasting (IAB), an organisation which has been a tireless and passionate
defender of Freedom of Expression since 1946. I
have faced lots of problems, challenges and very difficult moments in almost
all the countries of the three Americas. Censorship, attempts and harassment
against journalists, broadcasters and editors are part of
a hard reality that threatens free press. Despite its enemies, Freedom always
triumphs. Dr. Hector Oscar Amengual, Director General, International Association
of Broadcasting, Montevideo, Uruguay 6
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Illegal Prospecting of Gold Poses Danger to the Environment 3mins. 5 secs.
Illegal gold prospecting in the locality of Impapa, in the northern Mozambican
province of Niassa, is
becoming a major threat to the local environment, according to government sources.
Illegal gold prospecting has been going on for years in Niassa. The Provincial
Environment Director Francisco Pangaya told the
country's news agency in the tourist resort of Bilene in the southern province
of Gaza that a committee to redress the situation is to be established soon.
The committee will analyse the impact of gold panning in the
area, and seek solutions to preserve its environment and natural resources.
Pangaya said that the committee could include staff from the provincial directorates
of Environment, and Mineral Resources and Energy, and this had to be done as
soon as possible since the situation is worsening.
One interim measure would be the expulsion of all illegal foreign prospectors,
he said, adding that Mozambicans should be issued with licences and organised
in associations that should work in co-ordination
with the local government in the management of the local environment.
News of a gold deposit in Niassa has brought a big rush of illegal panners from
neighbouring areas and far away. Within a short time, mini-towns have mushroomed
in the remote area. The illegal panning has caused
soil erosions, ravines, the diversion of the watercourses, and the destruction
of some forest resources in Impapa. There have also been unconfirmed reports
suggesting that the prospectors are using chemicals.
This has fuelled fears of water contamination. PanAfrican News Agency
The Trauma of Exploited Children 7mins. 19secs. Young children worldwide
are exploited shamelessly. The percentage of prevailing child labour globally
is
implausibly high. Africa carries a huge burden of its children who are merciless
exploited by the society. Children from ages 6-14 have been trapped in a tug
of war between poverty stricken huge families, whose
responsibilities lie on the shoulders of these innocent children and the society
hell-bent on exploiting them. Despite a worldwide campaign in which trade unions
form the centre of a vast international alliance, child
labour persists. Furthermore, latest figures show that it continues to claim
new victims.
Child trafficking is growing in Africa where the proportion of children at work
is higher than on any other continent. Out of the 132 million children in West
and Central Africa, 53 million are exploited for their
labour, according to the International Labour Organisation, ILO. According
to UNICEF, trafficking mirrors the geography of development in Africa: the principal
"suppliers" are Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali.
They send the children to Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon and Nigeria, passing through
countries such as Cameroon or Equatorial Guinea.
Trafficking occurs in industrialised countries too, where the number of clandestine
workshops is on the increase. The girls aged 14 and over are forced into prostitution
and domestics in their infancy and pre-teen
boys leased to cattlemen. In many regions eight-year-old girls, are taken from
rural areas to towns to do domestic work. Many work for over 12 hours daily,
and are subjected to physical, mental and sexual
abuse. Those taken from their countries also face isolation.
In Kenya, around three million children between 6 and 14 are working. From this,
a million work in the most intolerable form of child labour: in the tourism
sector where they are sexually exploited. Some work
in plantations and mines or are exposed to hazardous chemicals that could
make them physically impaired for the rest of their lives. Some others work
in domestic service, where they are often prone to physical,
sexual and psycho-social abuse. The rest are exposed in informal sectors, collecting
garbage, where they suffer degrading and often dangerous conditions. This is
in spite of the country's signed agreement with
ILO's programme "Elimination of Child Labour". 7
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The African commercial agriculture sector is also known to exploit child labour
mainly in plantations, farms and processing factories. ILO has launched a special
programme to remove children from hazardous and
exploitative tasks, initially to improve working conditions and ultimately to
eliminate child labour in agriculture throughout the sub-Saharan region.
Child labour is a brutal catalogue of depravity. Today's children are tomorrow's
future citizens who if given an opportunity of a normal childhood, education
and training could make the world a better place to live in.
Africa especially needs the hope that these young ones offer for the future.
However despite concerted worldwide efforts to focus on the sustainability of
action programmes, the final curtain on child labour
seems far-fetched. The future remains a race between the implementation of stringent
laws against child labour, and the global zeal to eradicate this soul haunting
dilemma.
Newslink Africa
Two Species of African Rhino On The Increase 6mins. 9secs. There are
currently more rhino in Africa than at any time since the early mid 1980s, says
a report issued by
the World Conservation Union and the World Wide Fund for Nature. According to
estimates issued in Gland, Switzerland, the two species of African rhinoceros,
the black rhino (Diceros bicornis) and the
white rhino (Ceratotherium simum) continued to increase in the wild.
The estimates, prepared by IUCN's African Rhino Specialist Group, showed there
were just over 13,000 African rhino in 1999 compared to 8,300 in 1992. Most
of this increase is due to the continued rapid
growth in the number of southern white rhino. The balance between white and
black rhino has shifted with 79 percent of African rhino in the wild in 1999
being white rhino, compared to only 30 percent in 1984, the
report says.
"Even though overall numbers are positive, there is no room for complacency,"
Dr. Martin Brooks, Chairman of IUCN's African Rhino Specialist Group, said.
"Numbers of two of the six African rhino subspecies
remain very low, and invasions of private land in Zimbabwe by war veterans and
squatters currently pose a threat to several significant populations," he added.
The demand for rhino horn for traditional Chinese medicine (not as an aphrodisiac,
as commonly believed) and for making decorative dagger handles in the Middle
East has for decades fuelled an illegal international
horn trade which has led to the poaching of thousands of rhinos. However, intensive
conservation efforts in several African countries have helped black rhino numbers
increase in the wild from a low of around 2,450
in 1992 to just over 2,700 by 1999, with a further 234 black rhino in captivity
world-wide. While the continuing increase in continental black rhino numbers
since 1995 is encouraging, the future of one of the
four black rhino subspecies, the western black rhino, is bleak with only about
10 animals remaining scattered across northern Cameroon.
The southern white rhino, rescued from near extinction a century ago, stands
as one of the world's greatest conservation success stories, up from approximately
20 to just over 10,300 by 1999. The report says that
94 percent of these were in South Africa while a further 721 were in captivity
world-wide. By contrast, the situation facing the other white rhino subspecies,
the northern white rhino, is critical and today only 24 to
31 exist in the wild in a single population in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Following a recent birth there are now 10 northern white rhino in captivity.
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The report attributes the increase in the number of the beasts to the implementation
of effective conservation strategies involving government agencies, local communities,
NGOs and private landowners in countries
like South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Swaziland and Tanzania. "One of
the greatest challenges facing the future of rhinos in both Africa and Asia
is maintaining sufficient conservation expenditure and
field effort," Brooks added. PanAfrican News Agency
Numbers…
Emergency Contraception in Ghana 1min. 7secs. Only one-third
of health care providers in two urban areas in Ghana had heard of emergency
contraception
in 1997, despite efforts by the government and the Planned Parenthood Association
of Ghana to introduce the method the previous year. Of the 112 providers who
had heard of emergency contraception, 94 were
aware that oral contraceptives could be used for this purpose. Nevertheless,
only 55 knew the correct products to use, four had accurate information about
the number of pills per dose, 20 were aware that the
first dose of pills had to be taken with 72 hours, 44 knew the correct number
of doses and 21 knew the correct spacing of doses. No respondent answered all
five questions correctly.
Family Planning Perspectives
Sterilization as Social Strategy? 3mins. 7secs. By choosing to be sterilized,
women in southern India may be manipulating cultural norms to increase their
power within their extended household. A 14-month anthropological study conducted
in 1994-1995 in the village of Gopalapalli, Andhra Pradesh revealed that 44%
of currently married women aged 15-49 had
been sterilized, including 32% of women aged 15-29 and 67% of those aged 30-39.
While the mean number of births among all women who had been sterilized was
3.6, those aged 15-29 had an average of
2.8 births.
Sterilized women who were interviewed indicated that they had decided to be
sterilized for themselves and that they would not have chosen to do so simply
for monetary compensation. When couples in southern
India marry, they typically live with the husband's family for 5-15 years, and
the wife submits to the greater authority of her mother-in-law. Women in Gopalapalli
who had been sterilized most often resided with
their mother-in-law; some had challenged her authority by choosing to be sterilized
against her wishes. By selecting a nonreversible contraceptive method after
having had her desired number of children, a woman
can indicate to her mother-in-law that she can no longer control her daughter-in-law's
fertility. Moreover, when a woman can no longer conceive, she has symbolically
moved closer to the status of mother-in-law
or senior woman, as a woman who has already reproduced and is no longer able
to do so is highly regarded. The investigators suggested that when these women
choose to be sterilized at a relatively young
age, they are manipulating cultural norms to gain prestige. International
Family Planning Perspectives
Noted…
Eliat-Aqaba Underwater Clean Up 2mins. 39 secs. On February 10,
2000, about 80 scuba divers from Israel and Jordan joined together to clean
up the sea
floor in some of the most popular swimming beaches in Eilat. The project was
the joint effort of the Ministry of the Environment and Friends of the Earth
Middle East. Nearly, four tons of garbage were 9
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drawn from the water by the volunteer divers. Participants also included instructors
and staff from diving clubs on both sides of the border, as well as from the
Nature and National Parks Protection Authority,
Eliat Field School, Interuniversity Institute, Kibbutz Nirim, Ma'ale Shaharut
youth diving club, local hotels and several additional companies, groups and
individuals. In addition to the cleanup itself, the project was
meant to increase public awareness of the sensitivity of this area and to enhance
cooperation between Eilat and Aqaba. When it comes to combining international
peace efforts with conservation, this clean up must
surely take the prize! Israel Environment Bulletin
World Bank, NGO in fight against breast cancer 1min. 7secs. The World
Bank, has given MAMMOCARE Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, a grant to
embark
on small projects training volunteer nurses to screen women in the country for
breast cancer. Following this, MAMMOCARE is to train 50 volunteer nurses in
the Upper East Region, who will also be responsible
for the Upper West Region. The Executive Director of MAMMOCARE Ghana, Mr. Frank
M. Ghaitey, disclosed that an additional 50 volunteer nurses will be trained,
in six months' time, to add up to 100
volunteer nurses. This, he said will enable them to serve the two regions adequately.
Mr. Ghaitey said the organisation has educated over five hundred thousand women
and screened about thirty thousand women.
Good work! Ghanaian Chronicle
Baobab and Jazz 38 wage peace with Women's Human rights 2000 is the
International Year for Peace. Women and children continue to suffer the most
when there is no
peace and their rights are infringed. Recognising the need to cultivate a culture
of peace amongst today's youth, Baobab, a non governmental women's rights organization
and Jazz 38 , a non governmental musical
youth group, are organizing a competition for youths. The competition includes
songwriting, T shirt design, and prose writing. All the creatives must express
the theme "Waging peace with Women's Human Rights
in Nigeria". While the entries close on August 15, we take this opportunity
to give two thumbs up to the organizers for their brilliant effort at awareness
raising.
CFC
Dateline…
Transnational Crime – What can be done? 2mins. 8secs. The planned
outcome of the 10 th UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of
Offenders
will be "The Vienna Declaration on Crime and Justice: Meeting the challenges
of the Twenty-first Century". It was due to be adopted at the closing session
on 17 April after two days of high-level discussion with
heads of government, justice ministers and attorneys-general.
Governments view international crime as the greatest non-military threat to
national security. Criminal organizations have never had it so good as they
can profit so easily from the globalisation of finance,
transport and information technology.
Trafficking is on the increase: in arms, drugs, nuclear material, illegal cash,
and in people. Criminal groups focus particularly on women and children for
economic slavery and prostitution, or illegal emigration.
Murder contracts are common, so also is the wide-scale bribery of public officials,
politicians and business leaders. 10
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September, 2000 September, 2000 September, 2000 September, 2000 September, 2000
The Vienna Declaration is expected to call for the immediate adoption and
ratification of the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime. It
will also emphasise the responsibility of each State to establish
and maintain a responsible, ethical and efficient criminal justice system. The
Declaration will be submitted to the UN Millennium Summit in New York on 6 September
2000.
The Courier
Children's Section
Why the Wart Hog goes about on his Knees 3min. 23secs. Wart hog
had made himself a lovely, spacious home in an old anteater hold. He had built
it up and made a
wide entrance, and thought it was quite the grandest hole in the area. But one
day Wart hog looked out and was horrified to see a lion stalking stealthily
towards his cave.
Thinking quickly, he pretended to be supporting the roof of his hole with
his strong back, pushing up with tusks. "Help" he cried to the lion, "I am going
to be crushed! The roof is caving in! Perhaps you had better
flee, O Lion!"
However, the lion had been caught out once before with a trick like this (remember
sly old Jackal?), and he was not going to be fooled a second time. He roared
so fiercely that Wart hog dropped to his knees,
trembling, and begged for mercy. Luckily for him, Lion was not really all that
hungry. Also, he was amused to think the slow-witted wart hog would try to copy
Jackal's trick. So he pardoned the wart hog and left,
saying, "Stay on your knees, you foolish beast!"
Wart hog took this to be an order and that is why, even today, you will see
Wart hog feeding on his knees, in a very undignified position, with his bottom
up in the air and his snout snuffling in the dust.
When Hippo was Hairy
Greedy Mhisi 5mins. 9secs. One day two hunters were returning home
with the day's kill cut in pieces, rolled up in reed matting and
carried on their heads. As they walked, little scraps of meat dropped out onto
the path behind them.
Chingaungau, the black-backed jackal, and Mhisi, the hyaena, were out hunting
that same day and it happened that they crossed the path just where a few pieces
of meat lay. Hungrily, they snapped them up
and then followed the path behind the hunters, gobbling up all the bits that
dropped.
At the village, Chingaugau and Mhisi hid behind some bushes and watched as the
hunters took their burden off their heads and stored it safely away in the granary
hut. This little round hut had a round window
half way up the wall, but no door.
As soon as the hunter had moved off out of sight, Chingaugau slipped quietly
up to the granary hut and climbed in easily through the window. Then he fell
upon the meat, calling to Mhisi to come quickly and join
the feast. Mhisi looked up at that little window and shook his head. 'No, Chingaungau,
I'll never be able to get in through there. You pass me some meat outside. '
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September, 2000 September, 2000 September, 2000 September, 2000 September, 2000
12
'No, no, ' protested Chingaungau. 'I'll help you get in'. He climbed outside
and helped push Mhisi in through the window. Mhisi ate and ate until he was
full, then wanted to jump out of the window. Chingaungaus
stopped him saying, 'Eat, my friend. You never know when you'll get another
free meal like this. '
So Mhisi ate again, until his stomach felt ready to burst. 'You're not quite
full, ' said Chingaungau, eyeing him critically. 'No, I think you can still
fit in a little more and you must not waste good food. '
Mhisi swallowed another piece of meat. Then Chingaungau persuaded him to eat
one more piece and then just one more. Satisfied that Mhisi's belly was full
as it could ever be without bursting, Chingaungau then
jumped out of the window. When Mhisis tried to follow, his stomach bulged and
swelled and stuck fast in that small opening. He could move neither backwards
nor forward and his wriggling only wedged him
more tightly as he frantically begged Chingaungau to help him.
Chingaungau merely glanced back over his shoulder and barked sharply twice as
he trotted away into the bush. This brought the village dogs running, yapping
and snarling, they attacked the intruder in the granary
hut, while Chingaungau made good his escape. Shangani Folk Tales
Parting Shots Celebrate the wisdom of the African experience
with the following unforgettable quotes:
On consequences
A stone thrown in a rage seldom reaches its target From Malawi
When you bring insect infected wood into your house, you invite lizards in
as well From Cape Verde Islandio
When the sea dries up, the sun should share in its shame From Ghana
On wisdom A corn field that does not grow weeds is surely not fit
enough to grow corn
From Ghana
Tickle the earth with a hoe and it rewards you with a rich harvest From
Sudan
On Patience Tolerance is not to be considered as a weakness
From Ethiopia
Patience is an egg that hatches many eggs From Zimbabwe
African Proverbs/ More African Proverbs 12
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