tagged w/ Zimbabwe
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TenTogether.org is an awareness and fundraising campaign focused on organizing 1,000 Teams of 10 people per Team. Each Team member donates $10/month to Forgotten Voices International’s work empowering churches to care for children orphaned by AIDS in southern Africa. In addition, each team member commits to 10 hrs of service to a local project in the USA, thereby modeling the lessons they see in Africa.
That’s 10,000 people each donating a minimum of $10 a month by the end of 2010 on behalf of vulnerable children and those orphaned by the AIDS pandemic in Southern Africa. 10 People + $10 + 10 Hrs = Massive Impact!
Check out the site to learn more!TenTogether.org is an awareness and fundraising campaign focused on organizing 1,000... more
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Aleading black South African commentator has uttered the dreaded “Z” word, a sentiment that has been considered too terrible to think for ordinary people and considered near-treasonous in the upper reaches of the ruling African National Congress.
“Hardly a decade from now, Zimbabwe will be our destination, our reality,” wrote Barney Mthombothi in his column in this weekend’s Financial Mail, South Africa’s equivalent of The Economist.
Mr Mthombothi, one of his country’s finest journalists, was commenting in the course of an analysis on the dire situation in neighbouring Zimbabwe where, he said, life had become “hell on earth”.
The tragedy is not simply that Mugabe has destroyed his own country, Mr Mthombothi went on to say. “He has exported the cancer. He’s poisoned the well. He’s contaminated the politics of the region, especially South Africa. Our politicians have learnt from the master’s knee – the buck-passing, blame everything on imperialists and apartheid;
the reckless and incendiary language; the refusal to see reason or deal with reality even as it stares you in the face.
“Our people are increasingly suspicious or even frightened by the actions of their own government. It can no longer be trusted to do what’s right by them.”
Mr Mthombothi’s apocalyptic warning – mirrored by other heavyweight analysts – comes as the global spotlight zeroes in on South Africa, with scarcely 40 more days to go before the country flings its doors open to humanity as it hosts football’s World Cup.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/world-news/is-south-africa-turning-into-zimbabwe-1.1022908Aleading black South African commentator has uttered the dreaded “Z” word,... more
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Adoption is a complicated and wonderful process, which has blessed many of my friends and challenged others.Adoption is a complicated and wonderful process, which has blessed many of my friends... more
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Meet Joyce Mudenda, a widow and one of the many widows that the ministry of Forgotten Voices through, local churches in Ndola, has tremendously impacted when it comes to sustainable income generating activities; especially for those infected and or affected by HIV.Meet Joyce Mudenda, a widow and one of the many widows that the ministry of Forgotten... more
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In Africa, water borne diseases like cholera are still a problem and this mainly because of unclean water. Industrial development and population growth have not been marched with concerted efforts by local authorities in making sure every person is accorded with clean and safe water.In Africa, water borne diseases like cholera are still a problem and this mainly... more
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The fun thing about the UN General Assembly (last General Assembly post, I promise!) is that in addition to the many leaders of the free world, it also attracts a rogue's gallery of strongmen and ne'erdowells. Our UN baddies highlights reel includes everyone's favorite Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and one of Africa's most reviled big men, Robert Mugabe.
Ahmadinejad speaks at the UN - Video
Mugabe speaks at the UN (Video)
And also let's not forget the most controversial camper New York has seen in years: Col. Qadafi - written up by Current Comedy's Josh Heller.
Who's your favorite?
Also from the UN:
- UN General Assembly round-up
- What should America’s intl priorities be? – Did Obama’s address change anything?The fun thing about the UN General Assembly (last General Assembly post, I promise!)... more
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"I totally agree with the president," he said, state media report.
Homosexual acts are currently illegal in Zimbabwe. Mr Mugabe once said gays were "worse than pigs and dogs", sparking international condemnation.
Gay rights has become a controversial issue in several African countries in recent months.
Mr Tsvangirai joined his long-time rival Mr Mugabe in a power-sharing government a year ago but relations between the two men remain tense..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8588548.stm"I totally agree with the president," he said, state media report.... more
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Click on picture to see the video.
(CNN) -- Conservationists have welcomed the decision to reject a bid from Tanzania and Zambia to temporarily suspend a worldwide ban on trading in African elephant ivory so they can offload legal stockpiles in a one-off sale.
The 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meeting in Doha, Qatar, on Monday, voted to reject the proposal amid concerns about elephant poaching.
A petition from the two African countries to remove elephants from a list of animals "threatened with extinction" to allow trade in other parts of the animal was also thrown out.
"Poaching and illegal ivory markets in central and western Africa must be effectively suppressed before any further ivory sales take place," said Elisabeth McLellan, of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
"It's welcome news, but my anxieties remain about the increased levels of poaching in Africa," Save the Elephant's Dr. Ian Douglas-Hamilton told CNN.
He said burgeoning ivory markets in countries such as China and Japan would be key battlegrounds in the fight against the illegal trade in future.
"There are huge problems ahead for the elephants," he said. "I do see this huge demand which is emanating mainly from the prosperity of China. We have to win their hearts and minds for conservation and for the elephant so that they have more of an idea of sustainable use and not over-taxing populations."
CITES banned the international commercial ivory trade in 1989 after elephant populations dropped dramatically across the world due to widespread poaching.
But in 1997 and 2002 it permitted Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to sell limited stocks of ivory to Japan, in recognition of the fact that some southern African elephant populations were healthy and well managed.
Five years later at a CITES meeting at The Hague further sales of stockpiled ivory were permitted in return for a nine-year moratorium on further sales.
Both Zambia and Tanzania claimed elephant numbers in their territories were on the rise after years of decline. They also said the proceeds from the sale of government stockpiles would be put back into conservation and enforcement projects.
Tanzania had asked to sell almost 90,000 kilograms of ivory that would have generated as much as $20 million, according to the CITES Web site, while Zambia looked to offload more than 21,000 kilograms.
But wildlife experts in Kenya, part of a coalition of 23 African elephant range countries calling for an outright ban, say poaching has increased since the announcement of the last sale.
Kenya orphanage takes elephant babies
Video: Kenya's orphaned elephants
"There is no justification for downgrading the elephants from the endangered list.
--Ian Douglas-Hamilton
They argued the illegal trade in ivory has been turned into a lucrative business since poachers can launder their illegal ivory with the legal stockpiles.
"Though Zambia's anti-poaching enforcement measures are better than those of Tanzania, there is no justification for downgrading the elephants from the endangered list," said Douglas-Hamilton, an expert on Kenya's elephant population.
"Tanzania has increased poaching and increased illegal markets. Their main elephant population has decreased by some 30,000 in the last three years.
"In Zambia there were huge declines in the elephant population in the 1970s and 1980s. Whereas other elephant populations across Africa have recovered slightly since the introduction of the ivory trade ban, Zambia's never have. They remain the same.
"In the mid-1970s the population was something like 160,000. It is currently estimated to sit at around 26,000."
He added that the situation was particularly desperate in central Africa where there are estimated to be just 20,000 elephants left from a population numbering 1 million 30 years ago.
Last week, CITES members voted against adding Atlantic bluefin tuna to a list of banned exports.
The popular sushi staple has been the focus of international attention as East Atlantic and Mediterranean populations of the fish have decreased by an estimated nearly 61 percent in the last decade, according to International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
CNN's David McKenzie contributed to this report.Click on picture to see the video.
(CNN) -- Conservationists have welcomed the... more
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Reporting from Limpopo Province, South Africa
The baby rhino, an orphan, had barely been weaned. Her horn was only a few inches long. But that didn't stop the poachers from hacking it off.
David Uys, 33, had helped raise the rhino after her mother was killed by lightning. He called her Weerkind -- "orphan" in Afrikaans. He won't forget the sight of the bodies of the baby and two other rhinos, shot dead, their horns removed.
"I'm not a one for talking about emotions," Uys said quietly. "But it was like seeing one of your family members dead, the brutality of it."
The slain bull rhino, dubbed Longhorn, was about 35 and had a magnificent horn more than 2 1/2 feet long. The third rhino, Sister, had adopted Weerkind after her mother was killed. The three died together in November on this Limpopo province game ranch that is for tourists, not hunters, north of Pretoria.
"You're angry. You're furious. You're sad. You're crying," said Uys, the ranch manager. "Just a bundle of emotions, bursting inside."
A sharp surge in poaching in South Africa and Zimbabwe by organized gangs has devastated Zimbabwe's rhino population and threatens to wipe out South Africa's critically endangered black rhinos within a decade. South African rancher Pelham Jones warns that the more common white rhino won't be far behind unless something is done.
A report last year by the World Wildlife Fund, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and wildlife-trade monitoring network TRAFFIC said poaching had reached a 15-year high, pushing the animals close to extinction. About 1,500 rhino horns were traded illegally in the last three years, despite a long-standing ban on international trade.
Last year, 122 rhinos were killed in South Africa. Jones predicted that at the current poaching rate, 180 to 200 will be killed this year. A provisional 2009 estimate shows only 800 rhinos remaining in Zimbabwe, and 18,553 white and 1,570 black rhinos in South Africa, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, which maintains the ban on the trade of rhino horn.
Rhino ranchers, some of whom keep the animals to attract tourists while others rely on limited trophy hunting, are so wary about the involvement of organized crime in rhino killings that few are willing to talk publicly for fear of endangering animals on their properties. Interviews are given on condition that properties, even nearby towns, are not identified.
The ranch where Weerkind was born and killed is a lush green in the summer rainy season, with rocky hills looming into the sky. Birds with impossibly long tails seem weighed down in flight as they flutter near a pond. A red track cuts uphill through the acacia trees. Rain clouds gather, thunder grumbles, and a sudden drenching rain pours down, stopping abruptly half an hour later.
Up close, the rhinos look benign, almost bovine, ambling in the Limpopo sunshine, plucking grass, shadowed by a group of guards in camouflage carrying semiautomatics. Their small, thick-lashed eyes look sleepily docile. But their sheer size is awesome -- a rhino is almost as big as a car, weighing from 2,000 to 3,000 pounds. From a few yards away, they are terrifying.
Not for Uys, even though he's been charged countless times and once was knocked over and walked on. Afterward, he recalled, the bull looked almost apologetic.
Uys has spent his life with rhinos. At 18, he was a rhino guard, sleeping in the bush with them through violent summer thunderstorms and harsh winter nights.
"I was close enough to scratch their ears. They took me as part of the group."
When he did get charged, it was usually his own fault for getting too close, he says.
"Running away is the worst thing you can do," he said. "You can't outrun a rhino." If there's a tree or boulder, you scramble up. If there's thick enough bush, you stand your ground.
Once, photographing a newborn baby, he and a colleague were suddenly approached by the calf. The two men froze. If the mother saw them and charged, there was no bush, no trees, no boulders.
"They react to movement so if you stand completely still, they won't see you," Uys said. "The guy who was with me, his nerves didn't hold out, and he started running. The cow saw us and she came for us."
There was no time to think.
"I threw down my backpack. She smelled me there and took her fury out on the backpack," he said. It was one of his closest calls.
If you called Uys a rhino whisperer, he'd be offended by the cliche. But he does have a gift with the creatures.
The other day, he crouched low about 20 yards away from a male rhino named Benni, trying to get a look at his slightly injured foot. Another rhino, Bettie, suddenly ambled right up to him. Any sharp move would be disastrous. When she got close enough to nuzzle, he raised his hand. He pressed a fist gently just under her horn. Surprised, she wandered off to graze.
Game rancher Jones, who leads an action group of rhino owners to combat poaching, said incidents are reported every other day.
His phone beeps constantly with text messages alerting him to poaching incidents and sightings of suspected poachers.
"There's another one," he said, grabbing his phone.
The police, he said, are little help. In one recent case, they arrived four days after a group of rhinos was killed. In another, a police officer picked up an ax abandoned by the poachers, destroying any fingerprints.
The South African government disbanded the police force's endangered-species unit in 2003. The government last year promised to bring back a special-investigations unit -- but critics believe it's not enough to make a difference.
"This is our cultural heritage," Jones said. "People come to South Africa to see the Big Five, not the Big Four," he added, a reference to South Africa's five biggest wildlife draws: rhinos, elephants, lions, leopards and cape buffalo.
China's recent thrust into Africa in a rush for resources is a major factor in the illegal rhino horn and ivory trade, analysts believe, because China remains the largest market. Rhino horn, made of keratin, the same substance that forms fingernails, hooves, feathers and hair, has long been used in Chinese medicinal tonics.
Zimbabwe's collapse added to the problem, with corrupt government, army and wildlife officials reportedly involved in poaching and smuggling rhino horn and ivory. The airport in that country's capital, Harare, is reportedly a key transit hub.
In South Africa, Vietnamese diplomatic officials have allegedly been involved in rhino horn buying and smuggling. Reports in Vietnam that a government official was "cured" of cancer by rhino horn appear to have spurred Asian demand.
Many fear that the Asian market is so ancient and entrenched, there's not much a small group of farmers can do to save the species. Some support the idea of rhino farming -- regularly pruning horns, which grow back -- to meet the demand and drive down prices. Others argue that legalizing the trade would only fuel demand, putting the creatures at even more risk. After the killings of the baby rhino and two adults, Uys put his energies into Benni and Bettie. Benni, more unpredictable than Longhorn, sometimes charges unexpectedly. Bettie is docile and sweet. Uys worries about their survival almost as if they were his children, just as he once worried about Weerkind and her family.
"Longhorn and Weerkind and Sister were my passion. But since they have been poached, I have devoted all my time to [Benni and Bettie]. And now I think I love them just as much as I loved the others."
robyn.dixon@latimes.com
How to help: The Endangered Wildlife Trust is working to improve the protection of rhinos in southern Africa.Reporting from Limpopo Province, South Africa
The baby rhino, an orphan, had barely... more
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A new Zimbabwean law that forces companies to sell a majority stake in their businesses to indigenous people has come into effect.
Firms worth more than $500,000 (£332,000) run by non-indigenous people have five years to sell a 51% stake, upon the threat of jail sentences.
Harare-based economist John Robertson told the BBC's Network Africa programme that it was "a very bad idea".
He said it would only deter further badly-needed foreign investment.
"The government appears to have no wish at all to make the country attractive to the [overseas] investors," said Mr Robertson.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8542966.stmA new Zimbabwean law that forces companies to sell a majority stake in their... more
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The Red Cross on Thursday said at least 2.17 million Zimbabweans need food aid and the figures are set to rise because of an expected poor harvest this year.
"In some parts of the country, the food situation is as bad as many of our volunteers and staff have ever seen it," said Emma Kundishora, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society.
"In Masvingo, for example, the rains didn't come in time and the crops have already died."
A report by aid agencies last month said at least 11 percent of the staple maize crop planted in the 2009/2010 season had been declared "a complete write-off" because of poor rains.
The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said people living with or affected by HIV were the worst affected by the food crisis.
"Hunger is an especially brutal experience for these people. In recent years, for example, we have seen many people default on their anti-retroviral treatment because the drugs are too toxic without food," Kundishora said.
Both organisations extended their emergency food operation from December 2009 until October this year appealing to donors for 38.4 million Swiss francs (33.2 million US dollars).
The Red Cross operation aims to feed 222,000 people and provide volunteers to work with communities to re-establish water points, and to help them better prepare for future planting seasons through training and the distribution of farming inputs.The Red Cross on Thursday said at least 2.17 million Zimbabweans need food aid and the... more
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Well.....
I really dont even know what to say about this. Let me tell you that Mugabe is a hell of a guy to throw a birthday party for.....Well.....
I really dont even know what to say about this. Let me tell you that... more
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Zimbabwe ‘s National Aids Council says in a recent report that their country has more than 1.3 million children orphaned by AIDS and 50,000 households headed by children below the age of 18 whose parents died of the disease.Zimbabwe ‘s National Aids Council says in a recent report that their country has... more
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Check out this page and share it with your friends on facebook, making a difference is as easy as hitting the share button.Check out this page and share it with your friends on facebook, making a difference is... more
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The last two days of the trip were dedicated to seeing some of the sights of Zimbabwe – the Hwange National Park and Victoria Falls. Both are amazing in beauty and grand scale. It is hard not to fall in love with a place like this. However, what sticks in my mind is the people of Zimbabwe, who endure hardship that we can only begin to imagine with a dignity and courage that is truly humbling.The last two days of the trip were dedicated to seeing some of the sights of Zimbabwe... more
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It was an incredible experience to wake up to the sunrise over the top of the ridge, and to hear the sounds of the animals and little villages coming to life. The beauty of this place is breathtaking.It was an incredible experience to wake up to the sunrise over the top of the ridge,... more
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We stayed at a guest house near the Mtshabesi Hospital last night. This morning I met a young man staying in one of the other rooms. He is attending a school nearby. When I asked about his family, he told me that his family was well, but his mother some problems getting around and had a pronounced limp. When I asked him about the cause, he said that 12 years ago she was going down to the river to get water, and a crocodile emerged from the water and bit her on the leg. The crocodile was large, and would not let go, and she fought back in the water. The attack lasted about 10 minutes in all, and when his father appeared with a knife, they had the presence of mind to shove the knife down the crocodile’s throat, causing the reptile to release her.We stayed at a guest house near the Mtshabesi Hospital last night. This morning I met... more
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Today we visited Peterson, the little boy whose story has been featured on the FVI website before, and the inspiration for much of the work of Forgotten Voices. His story is a sad one, with the challenges of losing a mother and a sister to AIDS, and being left to live on his own as an orphan with the ravages of the dreaded disease. It is a wonder that he is still alive, and without the support of Forgotten Voices providing medicine and intervening to have him placed with relatives, he would have died several years ago. He is still very frail, and will eventually die of AIDS. In the meantime, he has been granted a life that has its share of joys and childhood playfulness.Today we visited Peterson, the little boy whose story has been featured on the FVI... more
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