Category — Africa

Every once in a while, when you have been very good or have been very lucky, a piece of art, a musical composition or a poem that is mind blowing comes your way. When this happens, all you can do is sit and wonder and nod your head to say: without art, we are nothing, without music, we are nothing, without love, we are nothing. (My personal mantra and my reason for being).

Released by Sterns Africa in 2007, African Virtouses – The Classic Guinean Guitar Group, consists of music recorded in the 70s and 80s by Guinean guitar maestros – the Diabate Brothers – Papa, Sekou, Sire and Abdoulaye, yet I can’t get over how incredibly fresh and contemporary the music sounds.

Traditionally, Guinean musical instruments are the the kora, balafon (xylophone), and koni (lute). The aptly named, African Virtuoses in their own inimitable style, include the guitar as their means of creative expression. Here and there, one can hear flashes of Cuban, flamenco and Django Reinhardt musical influences. The overarching elegance is typically and distinctively Guinean however.

African Virtouses, I bow down to your greatness.

 Retweet This Post

Young black man: crime perpetrator/victim of crime
Black woman: crime perpetrator /victim of crime/mother of victim
Black man: crime perpetrator /victim of crime/father of victim

…and so on…

There are days when the only images one sees of black people on telly are the above or a combination of the above. I exaggerate, of course, but perhaps not by much. I am therefore looking forward to the next instalment of the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency this Sunday. The pilot was great fun. Jill Scott was superb.

Check out the trailer.

 Retweet This Post

Add, Edit, Distribute

Following on from Keguro…

A leadership that degrades its people is unfit to lead.
A leadership afraid of its people is unfit to lead.
A leadership indifferent to its people’s suffering is unfit to lead.
A leadership afraid of political critique is unfit to lead.
A leadership that betrays and dishonors the Constitution is unfit to lead.
A leadership that feeds on its people’s carcasses is unfit to lead.
A leadership that breaks its people’s bones is unfit to lead.
A leadership that eats while its people starve is unfit to lead.
A leadership that stands by and watches its police kill with impunity is unfit to lead.
A leadership that practices impunity is unfit to lead.

A leadership deaf and blind to its people’s needs is unfit to lead.

A leadership that stops peaceful protest is unfit to lead.

A leadership that curtails the freedoms of its people is unfit to lead.

A leadership that rides roughshod over its people’s rights is unfit to lead.

A leadership that lives in wealth while its people die in poverty is unfit to lead.

A leadership that doesn’t ensure equal rights for all is unfit to lead.

A leadership that allows and doesn’t combat corruption is unfit to lead.

 Retweet This Post

Heart filled with hurt which increases and grows
What they do to the voiceless this child knows

Sent here to protect soldiers with big egos
Of these men and pain this child knows

Come here to serve instead turmoil follows
The sickness of human nature this child knows

That one promises food laughing with his fellows
A full stomach won’t stop the ache this child knows

Viciously abused as if something she owes
Her life has forever been altered this child knows

Not a soul to save her when her blood flows
There will be no-one to turn to this child knows

Swaggering like earth owners and heroes
Nothing will happen to them this child knows

She wishes to fly far away from her woes
Nothing will ever change this child knows

Peacekeepers ‘abusing children’

For UN spokesman Nick Birnback to say that it “was impossible to ensure “zero incidents” within an organisation that has up to 200,000 personnel serving around the world” is a just a load of old cobblers.

This abuse of human rights is happening because the survivors are “orphans, children separated from their parents and families, and children in families dependent on humanitarian assistance”, according to the report by Save the Children (.pdf file) . In other words, voiceless people.

The very people that organisations such as the UN and Save the Children are meant to be supporting and caring for.

The poet, W. H. Auden wrote, “Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own table”. How true.

 Retweet This Post

I am extremely pleased, proud and honoured to present the International Carnival of Pozitivities (2.10).

The Carnival consists of interesting, moving and sometimes funny articles, poems and vidoes by people affected by HIV/AIDs. I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I did.

Forward to the Carnival,

We begin in Africa. Nata, in Botswana, is a village of 5000 people located on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans. Unfortunately, HIV/AIDS is having a devastating effect on the people of this small village. Botswana has the second highest HIV infection rate in Africa. Melody and Martha write entertainingly, and with lots of pictures, about the day the AIDS Fair came to Nata! posted at The Nata village blog. Melody and Martha also celebrate their blog’s 2nd anniversary. The Nata village blog is dedicated to the people of Nata who despite enormous losses and challenges still have the courage and determination to fight the ravages of this pandemic.

Giles Crouch, Slimconomy, writes about the many wild and weird claims made by people (unscrupulous and/or misguided) regarding the cure for HIV/AIDs and highlights the fact that the Internet has become the place where people can make declarations that have yet to be officially approved and especially with regard to herbal cures. “The Web means anything can be published. Any claims made. When people are suffering from a fatal disease, certainly any option will be investigated, herbs included”, he writes.

Steve Schalchlin is a songwriter, singer, pianist, actor, proto-blogger and internet legend amongst his many accomplishments. He writes about his recent performance in Chicago and writes that the group he performed for were “from the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, and I always love singing for medical students to remind them that patients are real people”. He hopes the students will remember ”we are vulnerable and we are scared and we usually feel helpless when caught up in the system. It’s hard enough to survive when you’re healthy in this world”.

Yerom presents a very funny video on Safer Sex. Rather risqué (be careful where you watch it) but hilarious, YouTube – AIDS/SIDA | L’avion (The Plane). In English, the text basically reads: “At least they had safe sex…”

“A recent study revealed that more than 30 percent of people living with HIV in New York City are 50 years old or older. Most have been infected for decades. But what’s worrying is the older adults who’re getting new infections”. Supermansaga presents a news report which highlights the worrying rise of HIV/AIDs among older people.

Deb Serani, Dr. Deb, presents a beautiful video – Love is Love is Love which shows us that there is no difference when it comes to love.

I love reading about road trips i.e. something going wrong with the car, the pit stops, the traveling companions etc and Shawn Decker in his blog entitled My Pet Virus does not disappoint. Shawn, who lives positively, writes about traveling with his wife Gwenn to “Milford, PA, to speak for the Pike County AIDS Awareness Day, and the 6-hour trek took close to 10 hours, delayed by traffic, rain and fog”. Despite the ups and down and the minor irritations, the trip is a success. Shawn writes “Gwenn and I spend a lot of time educating about HIV/AIDS and explaining that, by and large, we lead a pretty normal life with my pet virus”.

“I can honestly say that after 24 years of living with HIV I have been angry at it more than once. I have been angry for many reasons and I have been angry because HIV didn’t take me like it did so many others”, writes Mike in a very moving post. There is some hope, however. ”I know that some of my anger will diminish once the first signs of spring appear but some of them just don’t go away at the changing of the season. I can only hope that on most days the anger is balanced out with hope and dreams of what tomorrow may bring”.

Moffie tells it like it is in a post entitled: The HIV Closet. “If you are HIV + and not comfortable with your new state of health, you need to read this and absorb its content to your life…I don’t care if you are a Gay person, a Straight woman or Straight man: it is a part of you and a part of who you are. You might deny it, but to do so is not only futile, but is also very damaging to your own psyche. In the same way, HIV is now part of who you are. It will be with you until you die, and that is just the way it is.”

Brian Diggs of BlackAIDS.org writes about a presentation by Julian Bond, the NAACP Chairman speaking out on behalf of people living with HIV/AIDS. “A veteran civil rights advocate and former Georgia state representative and senator, Bond, 68, said he’s motivated to advocate on behalf of people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS because many of them are rendered silent by the stigma attached to the disease and “suffer alone” as a result.”

And on cue, the British Columbia People with AIDS Society write on HIV/AIDs stigma and calls for its end. ”Stigmatization is a social practice that brands an individual or group as disgraceful and devalues them because of some actual or perceived characteristic. It is a powerful force that negatively influences not only the way an individual or group is viewed, but also often the individual or group’s self-perception and self-image”.

The Alliance of AIDS Services, Carolina, is organising an AIDSWalk + Ride, Raleigh, NC, USA on Saturday May 8 to raise funds to support programs and services for persons living with HIV/AIDS in the region. Further information can be found on Ron’s blog, 2sides2ron.

Paul Kidd presents a video, We are the world posted at buggery.org.

Wille J. Phillips, talented author, artist and rap artist, debuts and guest writes over at 2sides2ron in a post which is the first in a series of chapters of Willie’s science-fiction martial arts novel, Godfist Legend: Zero7. Willie’s work is not HIV-related and offers a brief respite from the norm.

Bill Mann, poet also debuts and guests and presents a lovely poem at 2sides2ron. The poem is entitled “Resurrection of Renewal” and includes the following lines:

Coming of Spring
Revels a new call
Of awakening
A powerful resurrection.

The wonderfully named, Shadowstar ex Machina, aka, Willie J. Phillips guests also at 2sides2ron and presents a poem “Sometimes Forget”.

On his blog, dropdeadhappy, Mark Kokocki presents an article on shame written by guest writer, M. Dewayne Benson, comedian, poet, writer and POZ speaker. “What echoes in my ear is that everyone seems to feel shame on some level. Why is this? Certainly shame devalues us and our self esteem…As adults we should learn to accept and love who we are and what we have done! Otherwise we only hold ourselves back from change and/or progress in this life”.

Last but not least, Gug, GayUganda, writes about the complexity and strengths of the extended family in Africa. In the story of his uncle, who is terminally ill, Gug shows how differently people deal with death. Of his uncle he writes, “He is sick, and dying, and knows it. He has fallen back to his extended family, and they surround him. Reconciled to death’s appointment, he can even afford to crack morbid jokes, alarming and embarrassing the relatives who are distraught and fearful. But he is ready, and I hope when mine comes, I am as ready!”.

Gug also writes about Lesbians and HIV in Africa and the problems ‘of a hidden, closeted society…A society of the shadows”, where HIV prevention campaigns fail to address gay people because of “official inertia and homophobia”.

 Retweet This Post

Over the last few months, what we have seen of Africans (mainly Kenyans and occasionally Zimbabweans) on the BBC have been people in extreme situations. The images have either been of people dying or dead, people running away from vigilante groups or the police, people demonstrating or people (and especially and worryingly, children) looting and burning. Sometimes the images have been of people doing all the above, all at the same time.

Watching the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency based in Botswana on the BBC the other night was a relief as the story featured Africans getting on with their daily lives. Fancy that. The drama/comedy, gentle and funny, featured the utterly lovely Jill Scott as Mma Ramotswe, the detective and was lovingly directed by Anthony Minghella who unfortunately died a few weeks ago.

Credit must also go to the cinematographer who managed to capture the heat, dust, bright, vivid colours and the complex beauty of Africa. It was almost possible to taste this dust and feel the heat in far away (and wintry) London.

The story dealt with difficult issues including domestic violence and superstition from Mma Ramotswe’s point of view and here, the issue was all about Jill Scott’s amazing talent and the strength she brought to the character. Jill Scott had the Botswanian accent down to perfection and looked the part (being of ‘traditional build’). She was authentic and everything focused around her (the camera certainly loves her).

My only gripe was Jill Scott only sung once. She should have sung around the house, while driving, etc. Any excuse to hear Jill Scott sing.

 Retweet This Post

On International Women of Colour Day, I celebrate by highlighting the work of Magdalene Odundo, Professor of Ceramics at the University College for the Creative Arts.

I cherish the memory of a workshop I attended where Magdalene, soft spoken and charming, presented her work. We, the audience, gave a collective gasp of awe and admiration as we watched her hands adroitly create poetry from clay as she built a stunning pot from scratch – a process brilliantly executed in the most superbly simple way one could imagine.

Magdalene’s work has been exhibited in many places including the Crafts Council at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg and the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire. Her work is also found in museums worldwide including the Smithsonian, the Gardiner Museum and in private collections. Due to their uniqueness and excellence, the works are sold for quite large sums of money – in 2006, for example, a piece of art was sold for £28,405.

If you look closely at her work, you can see the various forms of women represented; among them, flaring hips, the belly of a pregnant woman and a graceful long neck with the head elegantly tilted back.

Magdalene and her superlative art make me want to stand on a spire and tell the world: This is who we are. See what we are capable of.

Viva Magdalene.

 Retweet This Post

This is the house that hate built

This is the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the machete
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the man
That used the machete
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the gun
That killed the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the policeman
That shot the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the politician
That gave the order
That shot the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the mob
That confronted the politician
That gave the order
That shot the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the priest
That calmed the mob
That confronted the politician
That gave the order
That shot the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the coffin
That carried the priest
That calmed the mob
That confronted the politician
That gave the order
That shot the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

These are the people
That mourned and wailed
That bore the coffin
That carried the priest
That calmed the mob
That confronted the politician
That gave the order
That shot the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built

 Retweet This Post