Like most post conflict societies, South Sudan faces a set of challenges including having to deal with high levels of insecurity. After more than 20 years of war, the new country is still fighting battles with renegade soldiers who broke ranks with the ruling SPLM and disarming
different elements that are a by product of the protracted conflict. But there is another cause of insecurity that has roots in the social-economic constructs of a deeply cultural society. Many young men have access to guns and are using them in cattle raids across the country. The young cattle raiders seek for cows in order to pay for their bride price. Marc Sommers who spent time researching this phenomenon says that there is an increasing inability by South Sudanese youth to meet rising dowry (bride price). This has led to many of them enlisting in militias to carry out cattle raids. Here is our chat below.
Marc Sommers is a 2011−12 fellow with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a visiting researcher with Boston University's African Studies Center. He is the author of Islands of Education: Schooling, Civil War and the Southern Sudanese (1983−2004), as well as Stuck: Rwandan Youth and the Struggle for Adulthood. Sommers is a former Jennings-Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace.
Many Parents and educators attribute success to intense focus on passing exams and moving on to the next level. Ultimately your success is measured by whether you completed high school and went on to college.What follows is not their business. But what happens in the real world is often different from what you learnt in school. There is no telling if the knowledge you gained will help you navigate life successfully. This brings into question another factor--the type of interactions with your peers--boys and girls. How much does that affect your future relationships? Listen to the full show below.
...says American consumers should be motivated by quality products not solely by altruism.
African garb and accessories were in fashion from as far back as the 80’s and ‘90’s – from Eddie Murphy’s film Coming to America to hip hop artists using Afrocentric themes in their videos--wearing Kente cloth and dashikis. Young people adopted Africa-influenced clothes and jewelry to celebrate the continent’s culture or to stand out among their peers.
American fashion designer Erika Freund says that enthusiasm for African fashion waned in recent years, but is making a comeback among U.S. consumers. Initially, she said, renewed interest was initiated by successful advertising campaigns that linked the purchase of African handicrafts and “fair trade” teas and coffees with emergency relief from poverty and hunger.
But Erika Freund, who operates her own successfully jewelry venture called Mituki, said most consumers today buy goods based on their beauty and quality – and that African garments and accessories are good enough to hold their own in the international marketplace.
“We see a lot of marketing around poverty…women’s groups,” she said. Instead, she said the background of the product, like the story of the artisans who create jewelry and other goods, should be “an added bonus.” And, those stories should not always conform to the current narrative of conflict and disease.
By focusing on the story alone, she said people tend to compromise on quality and thus spend little time in product development.
“The average consumer is not necessarily looking for a background story..or interested in altruism,” she said. The best way to create a sustainable image and reputation of Africa in the mind of the American consumer is to give them great products.
Erika started her own venture into the jewelry business after a stint as a volunteer social worker in Tanzania. She formed what has become a “socially active company”‘that creates jewelry from the innovative use of common resources, like banana bark, recycled aluminum and local textiles.
The banana tree is one of the most Africa’s most visible symbols. It has been used in many ways, but few thought that fashion—and jewelry would be one. But it’s the inspiration behind Erika’s brand name Mikuti—or “dried leaf,” in Kiswahili.
For almost two years, Erika has been working with artisans in Tanzania and Kenya to produce fashion accessories. She stressed that she pays fair trade prices for her products—providing jobs for the communities where the workshops are located. Erika said women who buy her signature bracelets, earrings and necklaces are motivated by two things: inspired craftsmanship and design.
In our third episode of HHC on the Voice of America,we decided to pay homage to JayZ and Beyonce--hip hop royalty in their own right. This dynamic duo welcomed a bouncing baby girl--Blue Ivy Carter. The newborn daughter already making history after Billboard magazine officially declared her the youngest person ever to grace the Billboard charts.Baby Blue Ivy Carter is credited as a collaborator on Jay-Z's newly recorded song, "Glory," which the rapper wrote about her.Blue's little baby cries can be heard at the end of the track. But we also paid homage to other artists that celebrated their children in song--including Will Smith whose memorable hit 'Just the two of us' was about Jaden Smith--all grown up--whose acting chops have earned him critical reviews and signs that he might following in his father's footsteps.
Experts say rapid population growth in Africa undermines economic development and hampers efforts for families to create a better standard of living. In the next decade some sub-Saharan African countries are projected to triple their population. Poverty persists in these societies, where many people live on less than a dollar a day. Part of the solution may lie in new efforts to ramp up education on family planning.
Womancare Global is trying to provide access to affordable reproductive health technologies. CEO Saundra Pelletier said her organization works to get family planning to markets where its shortages could potentially endanger entire families and communities. Many women in Africa as in the world over still lack access to contraceptives and other family health services, she said. An international conference on family planning in Senegal brought together participants to share research on how to best deliver family planning. The conference was co-sponsored by a number of international organizations, including USAID, UNFPA (U.N. population fund), WHO, the World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “The unmet need is still significant,” said Pelletier. “250 million women still have an unmet need for modern contraceptives -- so the conference was a call to action to look at every piece of the puzzle and how all these organizations can better integrate together.” Family planning is slowly becoming an accepted practice in many developing nations, but in Africa the rate is still low.
In some parts of the continent, however, the percentage of women in rural areas with access to maternal health intervention is relatively high. Location should not be a factor is a woman’s ability to receive important health services, Pelletier said. “Our fundamental core belief is that no matter where a woman is her access to reproductive health should be easy.” Experts say many factors, including a large rural population, have contributed to population growth in Africa. Cultural values stress the importance of large families, putting pressure on women to have children, even if it endangers their health. “When women are empowered about how many children they can have…and the spacing of those children, it’s not just her that benefits. It the other children in the family, it’s her significant other,” she said.
It is not just women who need education. In many rural and urban areas, men still maintain a strong control over family health decisions. Pelletier says they must be involved in any strategies that affect the family. “You also have to make sure you talk to the male constituents…. All these men dominate the decision making around healthcare for their families.” In 1994, delegates to an international meeting agreed that family planning should be an integral part of reproductive health.
The International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo issued a program of action that called for “the provision of universal access to reproductive health services, including family planning and sexual health.” But almost two decades after the conference, advocates say that there has been little progress. Experts say family planning services are needed now more than ever as the world population soars. It’s expected to reach nine billion by 2050.
A new Africa Development Bank commissioned report says that African countries are poised to become a dominant economic force in the next 50 years. The report however cautions that our economic future will depend on if we innovate around new technologies and natural and human resources. So are we on the right track,on the show we had a discussion with Mthuli Ncube chief economist at the ADB and radio/TV veteran reporter and African analyst Vincent Makori.
"Stigma remains the single most important barrier to public action. It is a main reason why too many people are afraid to see a doctor to determine whether they have the disease, or to seek treatment if so. It helps make AIDS the silent killer, because people fear the social disgrace of speaking about it, or taking easily available precautions. Stigma is a chief reason why the AIDS epidemic continues to devastate societies around the world" ....
This week on Upfront we discussed the issue of AIDS-related stigma. We had some interesting guests from the continent including Rodrick a South African AIDS activist and counselor who has been living with HIV for almost two decades.
I also reached out to my friend Kenyan professor and women's rights activist Dr.Pauline Muchina. We explore the issue with the view that women as caretakers are often at the receiving end of much of AIDS related stigma. AIDS Stigma refers to the prejudice and discrimination towards people living with HIV/AIDS.
Stigma makes dealing with HIV/AIDS much harder because it leads to rejection and discrimination.
In most societies including developed countries, stigma comes in many forms and manifests itself differently between communities and individuals.
Health experts say that stigma makes it more difficult for people trying to come to terms with and manage their illness on a personal level, but it also interferes with attempts to fight the AIDS epidemic as a whole.
Clarence Rodrick says that progress has been made in the attitudes of people since 1999, the year he went public about his HIV status. He says that one of the biggest setbacks in South Africa's fight against AIDS has been the public officials who are responsible for making health policy decisions. These individuals often lack the knowledge about HIV and some are guilty of the stigma that they should be fighting. The result is a government that takes slow, ineffective action against the epidemic.
One of the biggest problems in the HIV fight is the reluctance of people to go for HIV testing, treatment and care. They fear to be ostracized by their communities if they are found to be HIV positive. Thus many are not aware of their status until it is late and the retro viral treatments are less effective. Importantly,they risk spreading the virus to their partners.
Starting a successful business sure has its own perks but resting after a ten hour flight across the Atlantic is not one of them. Many business owners say that the success comes from maintaining a hands on approach to business management.Moreso when the company is in a growing phase and things are looking good. Birame Sock is aware of the challenges that come with being an entrepreneur--who is an innovator at the same time. But it helps that this is not her first foray in the ever changing field of technology. She is known as one of Africa's youngest technology innovators--developing new ideas from conception to deployment and profiting from them.
When I call her office in Miami Florida at 8am,she has just returned from Paris speaking at a woman's conference. She is busy working on her new venture myreceipts.com under the company she started a few years ago-Third Solutions. Birame came to the US for college over a decade ago. After graduation she started working for technology companies at the time when the wireless industry was witnessing unprecedented growth.
After selling her first company-Musicphone,Birame returned to the drawing board. Four years later she started myreciepts, a potentially ground breaking concept. Birame traces her entrepreneurial spirit to her childhood in West Africa,selling frozen juices to make a quick buck. She started Musicphone at the time when digital music was still a new technology. "It was sort of trying to prove things to myself...and learning throughout the process, i didn't necessarily have big goals" she says. But in a few years later we are all listening to music on our cellphones and ipods. So is Birame Sock our very own Steve Jobs? Here is our conversation!
