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Connecting To Advance
A non-profit Malaria No More is using humor to keep malaria in the news. The actors include a broad range of stars including Ed Helms, John Mayer, Elizabeth Banks, BJ Novak and Nick Kroll. The organization want to use humor to raise awareness for malaria in Africa. A child in Africa dies from malaria every 30 seconds!
The actors have set up Malaria No More fan page on Facebook. I encourage you to join them. You can get a good laugh and help save a life.
The first lady of the the Democratic Republic of Congo’s has led thousands of women on a march against sexual violence.
Many of them carried banners with slogans such as “No to sexual terrorism”, according to the AFP news agency.
It is reported that some of the victims left the hospitals where they are recovering from sexual assults to join the march. Rape is a common episode in the African country and is even being used as a war tactic
Last week, the UN said government troops were raping and killing women in the same villages where hundreds were raped by rebels in July and August.
Bits & Pieces from the AP, BBC, AFP News and VOA.
Southern Sudan, a quasi-autonomous state within Africa’s largest country with a population of about 8 million people, is set to decide in January 2011 whether to remain part of the Government of National Unity or to become independent. For over five decades, the Muslim-dominated north and the south have not seen peace with each other. The reason for these civil wars are partly religious and ethnic differences and partly the desire to hold power on Sudan’s vast oil reserves.
There is every indication that the south is going to vote for its independence. The believe it is their right. It you look at the history of Sudan, there’s enough reason to believe that the long awaited freedom will not come easy.
This is very significant because already over 2 million people have died and several millions fled from their homes in Sudan over the 20- year Sudan’s civil war (according to the US State Department). Worst have happened in Sudan than perhaps ever conceived under Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Will the US respond to this African issue with the same urgency as though it was a WMD (weapon of mass destruction?). Will/ black leaders stand up and get the western leaders start talking about Sudan
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the man commonly referred to as the conscience of South Africa, announced a few days ago that he was retiring from public service in order to spend more time with his family. TalkAfrique takes this opportunity to pay tribute to Arch. Tutu for his service to South Africa, the African continent and humanity in general. It was Desmond Tutu’s firebrand criticism that built the foundation to eventually bring an end to South Africa’s horrible apartheid system. Archbishop Tutu is 79. It is our hope that he will have joy and peace in the many more years that he will be with us, and that his example will guide current and future leaders of the continent
Scientists from Scotland have reported a major breakthrough in fight against malaria.
The team from Edinburgh University in collaboration with a team in Portugal have discovered a gene that offers the drug resistance trait to the parasite. Drug-resistant plasmodium falciparum parasites are a major hindrance in the battle against the deadly disease. Chloroquine, the most commonly prescribed medicine against malaria has lost its effectiveness due to the proliferation of chloroquine resistant parasites.
Scientists think this is a major development in malaria research. Malarial kills one to three million people annually, mostly children. These findings may pave a way for a new class of anti-malarials.
The study has been published in Biomedical Central (Sept 2010)
When it comes to political agenda or manifesto, African matters are included in the ‘any other business (AOB)’. It is never part of the main discussion. Perhaps African American leaders and black politicians could play a significant role in reversing this trend. Anyone who has lived in this country can attest to the fact the Hispanic politicians never hide, never run away and never apologize when it comes to issues affecting Hispanics. What is even admirable is the realization that it does not matter whether a Hispanic politician has lived in the US for 1 or 999 years, they always come out and speak out forcefully when issues affecting Latinos worldwide are brought unto the table, even when the Latino leaders in question are not directly affected by the issue. 
A few months ago, after Arizona passed its tough immigration law, almost all Hispanic politicians reacted with vehemence. Some even compared the decision to apartheid, and I think they cannot be wrong. They reasoned that if the law affects one Latino citizen, then it affect all Latinos. They make a case to their people until the politician who supports such a bill is seen as anti-Latino 
It has always baffled me that we do not see African American or black leaders do the same when it comes to matters impacting the 800 million on the African continent. African American politicians andblack leaders in general speak narrowly, though very well, about issues touching the ‘African American’ in the US. Unlike their Latino counterparts who speak for Mexico, for example, as though they are Mexicans, black leaders address African American problems and that enough for them.
Several reasons can be attributed to this, one being the fact that Africans in the America do not constitute an indispensable voting block. Again the image of Africa in the Westerner makes it hard for one to associate himself with the African continent and African people. Most readers will agree with me that Bill & Melinda Gates, Bono and Oprah speak more proudly and frequently of Africa than most black politicians.
It is my hope that all African Americans: black leaders, black students, black musicians, and black pastors will realize, one day, that our destiny is tied together. The African American will not be accorded the respect and dignity he or she deserves in this country or elsewhere, until the current perception of Africa in the mind of the Westerner is erased. And this requires work, not only by the African people but also by the African American brothers and sisters.
