tagged w/ Rwanda
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MY SNUGGIE WAS THE SINGLE GREATEST THING I PACKED. No lie. I use it every night and it is perfect for the nighttime weather here. If nothing else, it will spark up a really interesting conversation with the Africans you meet about American stupidity and materialism. And they will have a good laugh when you show them how to wear it. (“No, I swear it’s not a robe! Don’t you see? You wear it the other way!”)MY SNUGGIE WAS THE SINGLE GREATEST THING I PACKED. No lie. I use it every night and it... more
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For starters, many Rwandans seem to believe there’s no poverty in America. I’ve tried time and time again to explain that there is, but when I do I’m usually asked, “if everyone can have a job, why would anyone choose to be poor?” It’s really not that simple. And since they assume that everyone has access to jobs, many Rwandans also assume that if they were to make it to America they would have a comfortable sum of money.
But how do you explain that minimum wage is not living wage? Because as soon as I go that direction they ask why such a strong government like America’s would be so dumb as to make minimum wage too low to live on. It’s simply not possible that they would design such a thing.
That’s a really good point.For starters, many Rwandans seem to believe there’s no poverty in America.... more
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http://rtruth.blog.com/2011/09/06/the-birth-of-abortion-the-untold-story/
One of the most difficult concepts for Americans to accept is that there are human beings dedicated to coercive population control and genocide. Many readers will acknowledge that our government is helping to finance the Red Chinese program of forced abortion, forced sterilization, infanticide, and control of the numbers of live births. Most readers will accept the fact that our nation is helping to finance the United Nations’ world-wide “family planning program,” a form of population control. Most rational men and women, however, find it impossible to believe that such programs are really part of a “master plan” to kill off large segments of the world’s population.http://rtruth.blog.com/2011/09/06/the-birth-of-abortion-the-untold-story/
One of... more
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mab001
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added this
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9 months ago
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And then you see the bones. Both Ntarama and Nyamata kept the bones. The skulls astounded me the most. Some that have things poking out of them as if something had been forced through the head. In others, you see the sliced sections from the machetes. The most horrifying were the skulls with large gaping holes and smaller holes around them. These wounds were made by clubs that had nails on the ends of them, which were meant to cause more suffering. I’d never seen bones that showed the kind of brutalization that these bones had endured.And then you see the bones. Both Ntarama and Nyamata kept the bones. The skulls... more
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We also learned about a “holiday” called Umuganda (I actually arrived on this holiday on Saturday). On the last Saturday of every month, the whole city basically shuts down, including banks, businesses, and restaurants. Everyone gets together and addresses community issues that need to be fixed. For example, one community might notice that a local school needs some cleaning up, so they will plan to clean it, paint it, or anything else. And they do this together all throughout the city. It’s interesting because I hadn’t noticed until we started discussing this that Kigali is an impeccably clean city. There is no trash or plastic bags or anything of the sort on the ground anywhere. Apparently the government, especially Kagame, really encourages the people of Rwanda to keep their country clean. And it really is.We also learned about a “holiday” called Umuganda (I actually arrived on... more
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There really isn’t anything to say to parents jettisoning their children into a world away from them that doesn’t sound trite. This is what parenting is. It’s about raising a human to adulthood–instilling ethics, independence, a sense of purpose, an ability to play well in the sandbox with others.
And when you’ve done that, you watch them walk away. Not forever, of course. But as I stood with my husband on the other side of security, watching Hannah move out of sight, I wondered why it was me who felt so much less secure.
So I understood those parents in the elevator and the way they sort of blankly nodded at me, knowing there wasn’t really much more to say. You’ll see our son more than we will even if it’s just in the cafeteria. The ball’s in your court, and you damned well better not drop it.There really isn’t anything to say to parents jettisoning their children into a... more
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First of all, I’m not going to Rwanda on some sort of mission trip. I’m going for college. I am taking classes and learning from the country and its people in hopes that I’ll return to the United States a better person. If anything, I’m hoping that the Rwandan people will help me. It’s just frustrating that people think that I’m going to live in some shack in the middle of the jungle when the reality is that I’m going to be in the capital city of a country that has been making enormous progress in the last decade and a half.First of all, I’m not going to Rwanda on some sort of mission trip. I’m... more
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Close to the city of Kigali Rwanda (in Central Africa) in the jungle area, a team of anthropologist found a mysterious huge burial. The remains found there resemble gigantic creatures which have no similarity with human being. It was believed that they could have come from another planet and died as a result of catastrophe. Read More...
http://funnyandspicy.com/cremation-ground-of-giant-creatures-in-central-africaClose to the city of Kigali Rwanda (in Central Africa) in the jungle area, a team of... more
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"Charlie Sheen is the new Dorian Gray. I tried to get a transfusion of Tiger blood but he kept hitting me with his golf club." Stand-up comedian Chris Martin wades into the Adonis DNA gene pool March 13, 2011 at Underground Comedy at the New York Deli in Richmond, VA, presented by Brian Mann. John Reaves is the MC.
http://chrismartincomedy.com"Charlie Sheen is the new Dorian Gray. I tried to get a transfusion of Tiger... more
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"He puts the 'ha' in 'Stendhal Syndrome.'" MC Gradt Mutge introduces stand-up comedian Chris Martin at the Midnight Suggestion, presented by Johnny Hugel and Steady Sounds February 24, 2011 in Richmond, VA.
http://chrismartincomedy.com"He puts the 'ha' in 'Stendhal Syndrome.'" MC Gradt... more
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"I'm going to read the fictional memoirs of a lovable alcoholic. I haven't decided whether it's going to be Snooki or George W. Bush." Stand-up comedian Chris Martin eases into 2011 in this set February 23 at Strange Matter in Richmond, VA.
http://chrismartincomedy.com"I'm going to read the fictional memoirs of a lovable alcoholic. I... more
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Egypt is a country which does not have the luxury of abundant rains and therefore depends on the Nile for 90% of its sustenance. It is also the spiritual center for the people there as they believe the Gods sent floods during the time of the pharoahs which allowed them food and for the pharoahs to build their tombs. The waters of the great Nile were then seen by Egypt as belonging to no one but them. Religion and politics in the 21st century once again now stands in the way of an equitable agreement that will preserve the Nile's waters for all while also understanding it belongs to none.
Egypt's control of the Nile which amounts to 74% of its waters has been intact since the 1929 agreement with then colonial occupant Britain. This antiquated arrangement which gives Egypt access to the majority of the water simply cannot be sustained in modern times, yet Egypt's Mubarek and Bashir in Sudan have not budged in changing it. The agreement also calls for all upstream projects first needing the consent of Egypt and Sudan in order to go forward, however, Ethiopia which suffers from drought and sees the Blue Nile as sacred has challenged that by building dams for irrigation and a current larger hydropower dam.
Drought now plagues this area as well which has increased demand for water as well as greater demand for energy even though it has been noted that the Aswan Dam in Egypt has hurt the soil's health. Revenge tactics in now building an overabundance of dams that defeat the purpose of equitable sharing will not help any side in this if it does nothing to truly provide water to its people, especially in light of other factors such as climate change contributing to sea level rise.
Last May the upstream countries including Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and Ethiopia met giving Egypt and Sudan one year to give an answer regarding a more equitable sharing of the Nile's sacred waters. What could give them more clout in coming to an agreement is the independence vote in South Sudan which would see another country on their side in splitting Bashir's influence in Sudan.
There are many geopolitical angles taking shape regarding what has only amounted to a war of words to this point. It will then be interesting to see with South Sudan gaining independence along with the current events in Egypt how this all unfolds in perhaps now working to secure a fair and equitable agreement regarding the waters of the Nile while also respecting its history and sacred traditions in escaping what will otherwise be the beginning of the water wars of the 21st Century.Egypt is a country which does not have the luxury of abundant rains and therefore... more
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Not only did the film Beyond the Gates shoot on the actual site in Kigali depicted as a temporary safe haven during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, but a large number of the film's cast and crew were also survivors -- which created a unique situation on set.
"I went out there thinking that this would be a difficult movie to make," the film's star Hugh Dancy told Current. "I was steeling myself for it. And then I got out there, and two things happened. One, it was actually a joyful experience, because there was so many people who were welcoming, and just throwing themselves into the experience with such positivity. And then the second thing was that I actually talked to these people."
Dancy listened as extras, assistant directors, wardrobe assistants, transportation captains, and nurses on set recounted the "unbelievable lists of appalling things" that happened to their families during the genocide -- long laundry lists of relatives lost.
"And they related this in absence of any emotion, in a conversational tone," he said. "What choice did they have? I suppose I thought that if any one of us had suffered this much loss, that we would break. But it was so widespread, the amount of death, so huge. So many people had lost their families, their neighbors, and by default, their entire support networks. It's when you attempted to understand the enormity of why did this happen, or how did this happen, that I saw the beginnings of emotion."
Dancy didn't try to channel the depths of emotions expresed or not expressed, since his character had a unique blend of ignorance and empathy. Joe Connor had only been in Africa for a few months, and had never before experienced anything of the magnitude of the events depicted in the film. "I was tempted to be a bit more nuanced about what was getting through to him," Dancy said, "and to show the balance shifting, but that's not the same as the huge weight of trauma of the people around me. The extras had a better idea than me, because realistically, they weren't having to fake it. I was outgunned."
One of the complications, however, from having real Rwandans working on the film was that it meant some of those who participated in the genocide ended up working alongside some who survived.
Statistically, there were probably people involved on both sides," Dancy said. "It's a fact of the country. And you can't really ask. It's taboo to ask if someone had committed those crimes. They had instituted a blanket rule that everyone is Rwandan now -- no one is Hutu, no one is Tutsi, and to even talk about being one is kind of a crime."
That's because the current government believes to differentiate between Hutu and Tutsi would be a form of discrimination. "That helps you survive, but it doesn't help you move on," Dancy said. "At some point, you have to be able to look back at the past, but they're stymied for understandable reasons."
The filmmakers were stymied as well, especially when rumors floated around that particular people on the crew had been involved in the genocide in some way.
"At one point, some of the extras started singing, and that wasn't us directing them to sing, they just all knew that song," Dancy said. "And it may have been a song that the militia sang. And there would be people who it would be traumatic for them to hear that song sung. So we tried to handle that with sensitivity, to avoid that kind of tension."
The notion that the people of the country are all Rwandans comes up twice in the film -- once as a positive, and once as a negative. Father Christopher (played by John Hurt) encounters a man making a list of Tutsis, presumably for a list of potential targets, and the priest responds, "Here, we just call them Rwandans," meaning they it shouldn't make a difference which ethnic group to which they belong. Later in the film, after the massacre has begun and the Tutsis are seeking asylum, a French UN soldier blocks them from an evacutation, screaming, "No Rwandans." "They certainly weren't interested in figuring out which Rwandan was which," Dancy said.
Beyond the Gates was shot in Rwanda on the ten year anniversary of the genocide, and the fact that the country was still standing was "amazing," Dancy said.
"There we were," he said, "and we were working with Rwandans who gave themselves completely to the production, despite this terrible, terrible thing. And it must have been incredibly difficult for them. These people have been through horrific experiences, and yet they're not going to impose their gravitas on you when they could be having a good time. They were excited to be on a film set. It was wonderful to work with people who were determined to get it right, and determined to have their story be heard."
Beyond the Gates airs on Current TV on Friday, January 28 at 12 am ET/9 pm PT.Not only did the film Beyond the Gates shoot on the actual site in Kigali depicted as... more
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You can’t do a movie on genocide without showing a massacre – but how to do it? For Beyond the Gates, about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, director Michael Caton-Jones chose to treat it less like a message movie, and more like a thriller.
“It is a message film in some respects,” the film’s star Hugh Dancy told Current, “but if we start with, ‘This will be our message,’ we’re going to be doomed. The fact that the story is important does not mean it will tell itself. What drew me to the film was the script, and the shape of it, and the structure of it. I thought it did a brilliant job of building tension -- like in a good horror movie, without showing the monster.”You can’t do a movie on genocide without showing a massacre – but how to... more
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Beyond the Gates (known as Shooting Dogs in the U.K.) tackles a real-life incident from the 1994 Rwandan genocide, where a school in Kigali housed some 2,500 Tutsi refugees for a brief time before the UN abandoned them to be murdered by Hutu militias.
The Roman Catholic school, the École Technique Officelle, doubled as a base for the UN to supervise the peace between the Hutu and Tutsi, before the genocide started. As someone bearing witness to the events that take place, the well-intentioned English teacher Joe Connor, played by Hugh Dancy, becomes the conduit for the audience.
Beyond the Gates (known as Shooting Dogs in the U.K.) tackles a real-life incident... more
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Orphaned gorillas find a safe haven
From Jessica Ellis, CNN
December 17, 2010 5:19 a.m. EST
Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (CNN) --
In a remote, rural area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund has opened the country's first rehabilitation center for Grauer's gorillas.
Called GRACE (Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education), the center's goal is to teach orphaned gorillas how to survive in the wild as a new, self-sufficient "family," with the longer-term goal to release them into a natural habitat in a neighboring forest in the Congo Basin.
These young gorillas are physically and emotionally fragile, most having suffered from extremely traumatic conditions and experiences. Many have been violently taken from the forest by poachers, intent on selling them either as bush meat or for the animal trafficking trade.
CNN's Jessica Ellis and Ferre Dollar recently followed the first group of gorillas to be transported to the forested area from a temporary facility in Goma, in eastern DRC.
The pioneering young orphans were airlifted to GRACE by a helicopter donated by MONUC, the United Nations peacekeeping force in the DRC -- a first for a U.N. mission. Traveling by road would have been almost impossible due to poor infrastructure and potential trauma to the animals.
Mapendo, Amani, Kighoma and Ndjingala were all originally snatched from the forest and their families by poachers. They are all Grauer's gorillas, a subspecies related to the Mountain gorilla, but live exclusively in eastern DRC.
Sandy Jones is the confiscated gorilla rehabilitation manager for the Dian Fossey Fund and now the manager of GRACE. "All of the gorilla species are endangered because Congo is so unexplored they have not done a real census on how many Grauer's gorillas there are," she says.
"But at the rate at which we know they are being killed and the forest is being destroyed we are really concerned that if things aren't stopped and changed now they can be wiped out very soon."
This freshman class of GRACE gorillas range in age from between one and five years old. Mapendo, whose name means "love," was rescued in December 2007. She was confiscated along with a male gorilla but he only survived for two days.
When Amani -- which means "peace" -- was rescued a year ago she had a large wound on her leg. "It seemed obvious that her mother was shot and she was caught in the crossfire," Jones explains. "It took many weeks to heal but now she is walking perfectly normal."
Kighoma -- "drums" -- is the only male in the group. He arrived in May 2009, and Ndjingala was rescued earlier this year. She is only a year old and was named after the place from which she was taken.
"A lot of primates, when they are taken by poachers, they have ropes around their hips and it digs in and so they have bad wounds and Ndjingala suffered from that," Jones says.
The Dian Fossey gorilla fund and the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project have been caring for rescued gorillas in temporary quarters in Kinigi, in Rwanda, and in Goma.
Now they (the gorillas) are in the real forest and they are climbing and getting some forest food, so they are happy.
"What I know is that many of them have died," says Dr. Eddie Kambale of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project. "We may have, I can say, about 20% that have been taken from the forest."
The GRACE center is the first facility of its kind in east Central Africa. It has room for up to 30 young gorillas to live in species-typical groups and roam through 350 acres of natural habitat.
Kambale helped bring the four orphans from Goma to GRACE. "The gorillas are enjoying this place compared to where they were," he says.
"In Goma there was too much noise and dust from the road; here is less pollution so this will be good for their health. Now they are in the real forest and they are climbing and getting some forest food, so they are happy."
The remaining rescued Grauer's gorillas currently cared for by the Dian Fossey Fund and Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project will leave Kinigi on a second airlift scheduled for early next year.
"Having the gorillas here will help give the people a glimpse of the world of gorillas," says Debby Cox, of the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance.
Cox worked with the local community to build the infrastructure for GRACE. "When the local people see gorillas as so much like us -- they live in families, the infants need their mothers, they hug each other -- you immediately get an empathy coming," she says.
"So we need to work with the people in this area, and that helps create stability and that creates confidence too."
While for decades the world has only heard bad news from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, conservation is striking an increasingly important chord of awareness among the people.Orphaned gorillas find a safe haven
From Jessica Ellis, CNN
December 17, 2010 5:19... more
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Separated during a brutal attack on their village during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, Pastor Murekezi and his future wife would not see each other again until years later at a refugee camp. Once married, the couple has since decided to follow a higher calling to become leaders of the Free Methodist Church outside of Ndola, Zambia.Separated during a brutal attack on their village during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994,... more
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For those of you that did not know, over $4 Billion was spent by politicians campaigning for last week's mid-term election. That is a staggering figure whether it is a good or bad economy and I was wondering how many people we could actually help across the world with just half of that money?? Probably millions and millions.
Did you know that former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman spent $150 Million running for Governor of California and actually lost?
So I thought well lets just take Whitman's money and see what we could do with it instead of spending it on running for Governor. Of course she felt in the role of Governor that she would make a difference so I am not trying to suggest that her intentions were wrong but she did eventually lose. So lets see how we could have spent that money.
The list is amazing and includes things such as providing 500M school lunches to the children of Rwanda, plant 1.5B trees, provide 750K laptops to children of the world and many more.
What do you think? Should politicians reduce their campaign spending?
Full list here:
http://www.greenwala.com/community/blogs/all/11460-10-Charitable-Ways-Meg-Whitman-Could-Have-Spent-her-Campaign-MoneyFor those of you that did not know, over $4 Billion was spent by politicians... more
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Scientists: Serengeti on road to ruin
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/09/21/serengeti.migration.threat.road/index.html?hpt=C1
Photo: Conservationists say a proposed new road through the Serengeti National Park will disrupt migratory patterns of wildebeests
Serengeti on road to ruin, scientists warn
By Matthew Knight for CNN
September 21, 2010 11:07 a.m. EDT
London, England (CNN) -- Plans to build a highway through Tanzania's Serengeti National Park will destroy one of the world's last great wildlife sanctuaries, a group of conservation experts has warned.
Writing in the journal Nature, 27 scientists have called for a re-think on a proposed 50 kilometer (31 mile) road which they say will cause "environmental disaster."
Under plans approved by the Tanzanian government earlier this year, the trade route would bisect a northern part of the park, forming part of the 170 kilometer-long Arusha-Musoma highway slated to run from the Tanzanian coast to Lake Victoria, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Construction is expected to begin in 2012.
In "Road will ruin Serengeti," lead author Andrew Dobson, professor at the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University, says laying a track across the park would disrupt the annual migratory patterns of tens of thousands of zebras and gazelles, and 1.3 million wildebeest.
Using computer simulations the scientists estimate that if the wildebeests' access to the Mara river in Kenya is blocked their numbers "will fall to less than 300,000."
The ecosystem could flip into being a source of atmospheric CO2
--Scientists writing in 'Nature'
"This would lead to more grass fires, which would further diminish the quality of grazing by volatizing minerals, and the ecosystem could flip into being a source of atmospheric CO2," the scientists said.
In addition to simulations, the scientists also cite the experience of other park ecosystems where large mammal migration has been hindered by roads and fences.
In Canada's Banff National Park in Canada, "habitat fragmentation" has led to the "collapse of at least six of the last 24 terrestrial migratory species left in the world."
In Africa, the ecosystems of Etosha National Park in Namibia and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in Botswana have collapsed to "a less diverse and less productive state," the scientists said.
Scientists say a different route running south of the Serengeti should be considered to preserve the 1.2 million hectare UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This alternative route could utilize an existing network of gravel roads and would only be 50 kilometers longer than the proposed northern route, the scientists said.
While they acknowledge that Tanzania needs improved infrastructure to facilitate economic development, they argue that the road would damage wildlife tourism -- "a cornerstone" of the country's economy which was worth an estimated $824 million in 2005.
The Nature article adds weight to the growing pressure on the Tanzanian government to reconsider its position regarding the road.
Last month, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Zoological Society of London voiced their concerns and campaigns against the highway are gaining support on social networking sites Facebook ("Stop the Serengeti Highway") and Twitter ("SaveSerengeti").
Earlier this year, Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete tried to placate opponents of the project by announcing that the section of new road running through the Serengeti would not be tarmacked.
"I am also a conservation ally and I assure you I'm not going to allow something that will ruin the ecosystem to be built," President Kikwete said in an address to the nation in July.Scientists: Serengeti on road to ruin... more
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