The title of this blog post is, incidentally, this year's World Aids Day theme. This theme is designed to inspire citizens across the world to hold their political leaders accountable for the promises they have made on AIDS.
Here in Africa, our leaders have helped set up so many Aids-related funds, NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) and institutions. For that, and myriad more, we laud them. But there is still so much that has to be done for our people and to our people.
The HIV prevalence rates are growing grimmer by the day.
According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 39.5 million people living with HIV, including 2.3 million children, and during 2006 some 4.3 million people became newly infected with the virus.
It is estimated that around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and die of AIDS before they are 35. (The sixty-four-thousand dollar question: how many of our youth can boast of a HIV free status?)
If these statistics are anything to go by, then our leaders should devote more of their time, energy and resources in addressing the Aids scourge and come up with better ways of combating the spread of the disease.
Our leaders should borrow a leaf from Senator Obama, if they must. The said US Senator took an HIV test in full public view when he visited Kenya sometime this year.
If our leaders decide to take a similar a stand, it will help accentuate (to the citizenry) the importance of knowing one's HIV status so that one can take better charge of life.
The line would run something like this: Mr. ***, my Member of Parliament, took a HIV test last week. This is two weeks after the president took such a test too. Therefore, it is equally important for me to know my status! .
The destinies of our nations are greatly hinged on our leaders' decisions, attitudes, what they take seriously and whether or not they live up to what they proclaim. This is proof enough that they should be epitomes of moral perfection and integrity.
With so many people looking up to you, Sirs, you have so much to deal with on your plates that you can not possibly afford to be complacent and vacillate on matters of national interest.
HIV/AIDS is one such matter. Our leaders ought to live up to what they promise the people they lead. Accountability is of utmost importance in this respect.
· We have been promised better health care: please make good your promise.
· We have been promised more campaigns to sensitize people on HIV/AIDS prevention: please deliver the goods.
· We have been promised more interactive approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention and education: please keep your promises.
· We have been promised more aid to the needy and poor who are HIV positive: please, please, please don't let us down.
· We have been promised anti-retroviral drugs that will be given free of charge: please, just know that millions of lives are hanging in the balance.
As we go into World Aids Day tomorrow let us endeavour to keep our promises and, as a result, build accountability.
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Thursday, November 30, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
My Son, Take It Slow: Aids is a Rapacious Prowler
As we mark the World Aids Day this year, we ought to think and rethink the strategies that we are using to combat the spread of the Aids virus. Above all, behaviour change should be accentuated and re-emphasized. This is simply because without behaviour change we are almost hitting a brick wall with bare fists.
My son, I am now an old woman,
I feel the ancestors beckoning to me,
My heart is punctured and frayed,
My body: old and frail.
In the years I have been around,
I've learnt so much 'bout the world,
I feel the time is ripe,
To share with you my arsenal.
In recent months, I've been watching you,
Watching you keenly; watching with eyes of steel,
My eyes have not slumbered in my watch,
My guard has not dropped in my sentry.
My son, I am afraid of what I see;
I am afraid of what I dream;
I am afraid of what I see in your eyes;
I am afraid of your zest and vim.
My son, I am afraid,
The more I think of what you are doing,
The more I age past my age,
The more people comment on how old I look.
These are dark days, my son,
Days your grandpa and I never dreamt of,
Days graced by pitch darkness,
Days I constantly try to wish away.
My son, don't get bored; keep still,
I am not vacillating, be sure of that,
Listen to me this once,
Listen to the drawl and drag in my voice.
This is the third month since I started my 'vigil',
My son, I see different ladies at your side every passing day:
Ladies fabulously endowed with 'well-rounded bums';
Ladies with earth-shattering smiles keep you company.
They call you 'Mr. Chics – the guy with the move',
Thanx to the innumerable sexual partners you keep,
This is sickening, my son:
Downright filthy and inglorious is what I call it.
My son, do you want to see me going to an early grave?
Do you want me to talk myself hoarse – and go insane in the process?
Do you want me to wet my pillow with tears into the wee hours?
Do you want me to see you crumbling like a fallen block of granite?
When Aids smiles at you, my son,
There'll be no turning back,
It will eat and gnaw at your every marrow,
It will turn you inside out – Please spare me the pain!
I don't want to imagine (but it's part of the nightmare I can't ward off),
The tall, handsome son I know,
Being reduced to an emaciated sculpture,
A sculpture with sores, boils and falling hair.
My son, Aids is for real,
It's prowling the neighbourhood with a vengeance,
Please sit down and rethink your behaviour,
An HIV free generation starts with you, my son.
Teachers, Hold The Cane Carefully: It is Lethal
Of late, there have been cases of teachers accused of inflicting untold suffering and injuries on students and pupils.
Instrument of torture? The good old cane.
One is left wondering what the intention of the teacher was prior to the 'accident'. Did the teacher intend to correct a misdoing (by use of corporal punishment) or to maim the student to show that he/she is in control of the class. These thoughts are doing their rounds in my head.
I remember when I was in school in the eighties, the cane was the trademark of any 'proper' school. In other words, cane and school were twin brothers. When I was in Standard Four, for instance, my Mathematics teacher used to 'burst' into class, a nyahunyo (Maasai whip made from car tyres) dangling under his arm and he would menacingly blurt, "Stand up...Tables!" By this he meant that we were to start reciting the Mathematical multiplication tables. Anyone showing signs of not knowing what was going on would be descended upon by his whip.
I was a victim of the swish of his whip almost everyday: numbers and mathematical signs were Greek to me. We got used to such treatment and never at one time thought that our rights (what were children's rights at that time – they were gathering dust in the United Nations books – or were they?) were being infringed.
When I was in Standard Eight, my English teacher decided that using the cane was a thing of the past and instead resorted to using his fists and legs. He would get into the classroom (the sight of him would send chills of terror down our spines) and we would stand in unison. Our greeting to him would reverberate throughout the block: "Good Morning Mr. Mbugua." He would look at us as if we had insulted him and, with the ferocity of a bull, he would come towards us.
For no reason at all, he would rain blow after blow on our small forms (especially around our stomachs) and no one would dare cry out for fear of stoking his latent fury. All that was in the name of corporal punishment. In retrospect, that was terrorism!
Sometimes I doubt whether some of that was punishment to rectify behaviour or an avenue for someone to vent his/her pent up heartaches on young, innocent and undeserving pupils.
Fast forward to the present...
Most of those dubious forms of corporal punishment have died down, thanks to Human Rights activism. 'Exploded' cases of a teacher punching and kicking a student are few and far between. But, of course, there are exceptions to every rule.
Carrying of canes, let alone using them, in schools is not allowed. This is a trend that is catching on in Africa. But sometimes you find some teachers carrying 'small canes' (literally folding them to fit in their coat pockets) for emergency, as some are heard to say. Circumstances for such 'emergencies' are as ambiguous as the word "emergency" itself.
Although this is the status quo that teachers in Africa are trying to come to terms with, we still hear of some isolated cases of teachers 'beating to the point of death', 'injuring', or even 'killing' students. The 'crimes' that warranted such outbursts range from not respecting the teacher (rudeness), failure to attempt assignment, an untoward brush with the teacher and so forth.
The Nyeri (a district in Kenya's Central Province where President Kibaki hails from) incident this week where a pupil collapsed after being punished, speaks volumes of such a state of affairs. I don't think that those were just 'some' inconsequential strokes on the bums. There must have been some brutality somewhere somehow.
I know of a case where a teacher was so irked by a student that, in a stroke of 'genius', he reached for his leather belt and let out his steam on the student. Unfortunately, the metallic buckle hit the student on the head with such a force that the next thing the teacher knew was the student reeling and falling to the ground, head first. He was rushed to hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival.
Although banning corporal punishment is not a cure-all, it sure will save our children from emotional trauma and fear. (I found out that a bigger percentage of the fear I had emanated from the crude forms of punishment I received when I was in school!).
This ban will also help mould students and pupils who can think on their feet (by this I mean that there is no coercion used to initiate decisions).
A better Africa is what we need and this is the way forward.
Instrument of torture? The good old cane.
One is left wondering what the intention of the teacher was prior to the 'accident'. Did the teacher intend to correct a misdoing (by use of corporal punishment) or to maim the student to show that he/she is in control of the class. These thoughts are doing their rounds in my head.
I remember when I was in school in the eighties, the cane was the trademark of any 'proper' school. In other words, cane and school were twin brothers. When I was in Standard Four, for instance, my Mathematics teacher used to 'burst' into class, a nyahunyo (Maasai whip made from car tyres) dangling under his arm and he would menacingly blurt, "Stand up...Tables!" By this he meant that we were to start reciting the Mathematical multiplication tables. Anyone showing signs of not knowing what was going on would be descended upon by his whip.
I was a victim of the swish of his whip almost everyday: numbers and mathematical signs were Greek to me. We got used to such treatment and never at one time thought that our rights (what were children's rights at that time – they were gathering dust in the United Nations books – or were they?) were being infringed.
When I was in Standard Eight, my English teacher decided that using the cane was a thing of the past and instead resorted to using his fists and legs. He would get into the classroom (the sight of him would send chills of terror down our spines) and we would stand in unison. Our greeting to him would reverberate throughout the block: "Good Morning Mr. Mbugua." He would look at us as if we had insulted him and, with the ferocity of a bull, he would come towards us.
For no reason at all, he would rain blow after blow on our small forms (especially around our stomachs) and no one would dare cry out for fear of stoking his latent fury. All that was in the name of corporal punishment. In retrospect, that was terrorism!
Sometimes I doubt whether some of that was punishment to rectify behaviour or an avenue for someone to vent his/her pent up heartaches on young, innocent and undeserving pupils.
Fast forward to the present...
Most of those dubious forms of corporal punishment have died down, thanks to Human Rights activism. 'Exploded' cases of a teacher punching and kicking a student are few and far between. But, of course, there are exceptions to every rule.
Carrying of canes, let alone using them, in schools is not allowed. This is a trend that is catching on in Africa. But sometimes you find some teachers carrying 'small canes' (literally folding them to fit in their coat pockets) for emergency, as some are heard to say. Circumstances for such 'emergencies' are as ambiguous as the word "emergency" itself.
Although this is the status quo that teachers in Africa are trying to come to terms with, we still hear of some isolated cases of teachers 'beating to the point of death', 'injuring', or even 'killing' students. The 'crimes' that warranted such outbursts range from not respecting the teacher (rudeness), failure to attempt assignment, an untoward brush with the teacher and so forth.
The Nyeri (a district in Kenya's Central Province where President Kibaki hails from) incident this week where a pupil collapsed after being punished, speaks volumes of such a state of affairs. I don't think that those were just 'some' inconsequential strokes on the bums. There must have been some brutality somewhere somehow.
I know of a case where a teacher was so irked by a student that, in a stroke of 'genius', he reached for his leather belt and let out his steam on the student. Unfortunately, the metallic buckle hit the student on the head with such a force that the next thing the teacher knew was the student reeling and falling to the ground, head first. He was rushed to hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival.
Although banning corporal punishment is not a cure-all, it sure will save our children from emotional trauma and fear. (I found out that a bigger percentage of the fear I had emanated from the crude forms of punishment I received when I was in school!).
This ban will also help mould students and pupils who can think on their feet (by this I mean that there is no coercion used to initiate decisions).
A better Africa is what we need and this is the way forward.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Yet Another 'Invention' from TANESCO: Now Power Cuts Up To 10 P.m.
President Kikwete in a sombre mood
The Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (TANESCO) yesterday announced an even 'grievous' loadshedding than the one that has been in place for months on end now. Homes and industries will see the advent of the new (what's new about the whole shebang!) rationing schedule as from tomorrow 20th November.
Among other things, the rationing schedule stipulates that loadshedding will run up to 10pm instead of the usual 6pm. This has been occasioned by:
i) The closure of dams (Mtera dam being one of them) due to drought. These dams were used for the generation of electricity.
ii) One of the 'kingpin' generators is out of kilter thus destabilizing the national power grid.
iii) The government being duped into buying an aeroplane's engine to serve as generators. Whether the government had a hand in this is still to come to the fore.
iv) Corruption in high places (TANESCO would never accede to this). How else would you explain the government's involvement with a company that has no physical address in the USA. The self-same company was not registered. The company was to deliver equipment to the government for the generation of electricity.
This rings closer home. It reminds me of the dubious Anglo Leasing deals that soiled the Kenyan government's hands!
Anyway, the 6am to 10pm power rationing will have serious economic ramifications (of course this is an obvious result given the situation!). With the Tanzania shilling plummeting, then the implications of this new development on the shilling could be combined to make a horror movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Please make sure your seat has strong legs or else...
Questions are doing their rounds in the heads of Tanzanians. They are asking: "Why didn't our esteemed government not do anything about the 'umeme' thing before things got out of hand. They knew things would turn out this way, or didn't they?"
However, others, instead of asking questions, are jumping to conclusions at the speed of lightning. With contorted faces, angry guttural voices and creased shirts and trousers (thanx to 'mgao wa umeme') they quip: "Maybe this is the Kasi Mpya, Nguvu Mpya and Ari Mpya that President Kikwete has brought onto the scene. If this is the tip of the iceberg, how, then, does the whole iceberg look like?"
Tougher Times Doing an Advent on Tanzanian Soil.
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