Quote of the day: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Reblogged from saspellingbee:

“If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.” Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Time to start dreaming again...

Red caps and tear gas

"Military police (aka red caps) patrol the streets of Kampala as civilians walk with their hands raised."

The last 3 weeks or so have been tense and unpredictable in Uganda. There have been demonstrations, deemed Walk-to-Work, over rising fuel and food costs. Inflation is also at an all time high.  The cost of everything has gone up. Before I could get Issa, a taxi driver I’ve been using for months, to come down on his prices. But now he says, “But madam, it’s the fuel. The cost is too high.” I get too weak to argue, even if I know the prices for foreigners and muzungus are already exaggerated to begin with.

Those participating in the Walk-to-Work protests, including opposition leaders, and innocent bystanders have been sprayed with tear gas, beaten, arrested…you name it. There have been some casualties as well, as police and protestors have clashed and police have fired live bullets. Everything I have seen and heard the last couple of weeks make me wonder about things. Things such as human rights, freedom of expression, respect, honesty, decency, impunity, accountability, police brutality, government negligence, poverty, repercussions of unemployment (especially among young men in a country with one of the highest youth populations), fear and ignorance…to name a few.

I have been hesitant to publish a blog post the last couple of weeks, for a number of reasons. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and asking a lot of questions – to myself, to colleagues, to friends…I’ve been observing, reading and listening. I’ll share another post soon with more “information” and my thoughts.

President Museveni swears in tomorrow, 12th May,  for his fourth term. It’s been declared a public holiday. Who’s attending the event? Possibly Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe and some other heads of state. The details have been kept secret. Who’s been invited?  Sudan’s president Omar el-Bashir. Interesting.

Peace.

LIB-Snapshots

I know…this post has been delayed for months! I wanted to make it absolutely perfect, but we can only work towards perfection. Truth be told I have delayed publishing this post for many reasons, but honestly I just haven’t found the words to express how my trip “home” was. Words can’t really do much justice, so I’m going to share a couple of pictures (some taken from my camera and most “borrowed” from my sisters. Thanks Toniemai and Willyann).

I had been counting down my trip to Liberia from the moment I arrived in Uganda. It wasn’t because I just wanted the first 6 months in Uganda to fly by, but I was simply looking forward to a moment I have been waiting for all my life. A moment in which I would inhale the atlantic ocean breeze, touch the soil of my ancestors and see the land of my father’s stories. As a Liberian-American, raised in neither locations, my first trip to Liberia couldn’t come sooner enough – December 17th couldn’t come sooner enough.

I flew out of the Entebbe airport, stopped over in Nairobi, and boarded the Kenya Airways flight to Robertsfield International Airport – Monrovia. Breathe in…breathe out…I FINALLY MADE IT!

It was hot and humid. I was sweaty. The food was so sweet. I hit the beaches and ate coconuts. I spent time with family – parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and my beautiful grandmother. I attended a family reunion. I drove around town. It was a wonderful 3 weeks and I can’t wait to go back.

J’adore ma famille! Liberia, je t’aime! On se revoit bientôt!

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Cote d’Ivoire: On the Brink of War

As I mentioned before, I’ve been closely following the developments coming out of the Cote d’Ivoire – where I lived for over 8 years – from infancy to my teenage years. My heart is heavy and I’m utterly devastated to hear that the situation has escalated to a possible new civil war. Laurent Gbagbo has refused to relinquish power ( absolute power corrupts absolutely) and his regime has unleashed a wave of violent attacks and repressive tactics on his own people…this is a sad moment for Cote d’Ivoire, Africa and the dream of democracy.

As Congressman Donald M. Payne, a ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights, said: “At risk is the people’s right to freely and fairly choose their leaders, live in safety and security, and to earn a living in a functioning economy. Ivorians are fighting – and dying, just as citizens in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya – to protect these rights. The world must not turn a blind eye to their struggles or wait until the country plunges into civil war to respond to this crisis.”

I couldn’t agree any more.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201103011018.html

Does the Ivorian crisis threaten stability in West Africa?

Check it: http://allafrica.com/stories/201102100129.html

In other more uplifting news coming out of West Africa, the Liberian president, Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, has been nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. Another Liberian woman and  peace activist, Leymah Roberta Gbowee, is another candidate for the prize. I remember seeing Leymah Gbowee in the summer of 2009 at a screening for the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which chronicles the story of thousands of Liberian women, both Christian and Muslim, who came together for one purpose: to bring an end to the war. They had enough, suffered enough and wanted peace. It’s a remarkable story of the power of women – mothers, aunts, sisters – to not only demand change, but in their own somewhat quiet and modest way, bring about real change.  

http://allafrica.com/stories/201102100303.html

http://www.praythedevilbacktohell.com/index.php

2010 – a wake up call

disasters in numbers_fullreport_2010

Statistics: Natural disasters in 2010
Occurrence : 373
Total deaths: 296,800  ( the January 12th earthquake in Haiti killed over 222,500 people alone – that’s about 75% of total deaths in 2010)
Total affected: 207 million
Estimated damage: US$109 billion

Source: Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED); United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR)

News headlines grabbing my attention

A woman wearing the Tunisian flag in central Tunis (Jan 2011).

It’s coming to the end of  January and we have already witnessed events in 2011 never thought possible (e.g. ousting of a dictator whose name  I feared even whispering in the gates of my American school in Tunisia). The revolution in Tunisia, sparked by one young man’s act of self-immolation, has inspired a wave of protests throughout the Middle East/North Africa – from Jordan to Egypt.

Below are news headlines on events and on-goings that I am paying a great amount of attention to:

All my life, I’ve been a traveller of sorts, a global nomad, not necessarily by choice. I grew up in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. My mother worked for the African Development Bank (ADB or la BAD) and my family moved to Abidjan in the 80s. We spent  5 memorable years in Zimbabwe then returned to Abidjan in 1995 (bad with dates…Willy correct me if I’m wrong). We left when we had to -  following a coup d’etat in 2002 that completely destabilized the country.

The results of the November 2010 elections in Cote d’Ivoire were understandably majorly disappointing. Cote d’Ivoire now has two presidents -  the incumbent Laurent Gbagbo (what really has he achieved during his decade-long grip on power?) and the internationally recognised winner Alassane Ouattara. These events have caused thousands of refugees to flee the country out of fear of a resurgence of the civil war - about 30,000 Ivorian refugees have sought refuge in Liberia alone since the crisis started.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/27/ivory.coast.politics/index.html

The ADB moved its headquarters from Abidjan to Tunis, Tunisia as a result of the coup in Cote d’Ivoire. I lived in Tunis my last two years of high school (11th and 12th grade). Many of my friends’ parents and families are still in Tunisia. I’m thinking of them everyday and praying for their safety.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2043123,00.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/26/ben-ali-international-warrant-tunisia_n_814385.html

As, I am currently living and working in Kampala, Uganda I’m closely monitoring the situation on the ground leading up to the Presidential elections slated for mid-February 2011. Here’s the latest security warnings from the US Embassy in Uganda.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/01/26/us.uganda.travel.warning/index.html

I’m glued.