Two new flags will be flying high at the Olympic Games in Rio.
For the first time, South Sudan and Kosovo have been recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Kosovo, which was a province of the former Yugoslavia, will have 8 athletes competing; and a good shot for a medal in women's judo: Majlinda Kelmendi is considered a favorite. She's ranked first in the world in her weight class.
(PHOTO: Workers set up camp at Santiago's Rio Mapocho/Mason Bryan, The Santiago Times)Chile nears 1 month without mail service as postal worker protests continue. This week local branches of the 5 unions representing Correos de Chile voted on whether to continue their strike into a 2nd month, rejecting the union's offer. For a week the workers have set up camp on the banks of Santiago's Río Mapocho displaying banners outlining their demands; framing the issue as a division of the rich & the poor. The strike’s main slogan? “Si tocan a uno, nos tocan a todos,” it reads - if it affects 1 of us, it affects all of us. (Read more at The Santiago Times)
WHO convenes emergency talks on MERS virus
(PHOTO: Saudi men walk to the King Fahad hospital in the city of Hofuf, east of the capital Riyadh on June 16, 2013/Fayez Nureldine)The World Health Organization announced Friday it had convened emergency talks on the enigmatic, deadly MERS virus, which is striking hardest in Saudi Arabia. The move comes amid concern about the potential impact of October's Islamic hajj pilgrimage, when millions of people from around the globe will head to & from Saudi Arabia. WHO health security chief Keiji Fukuda said the MERS meeting would take place Tuesday as a telephone conference & he told reporters it was a "proactive move". The meeting could decide whether to label MERS an international health emergency, he added. The first recorded MERS death was in June 2012 in Saudi Arabia & the number of infections has ticked up, with almost 20 per month in April, May & June taking it to 79. (Read more at Xinhua)
LINKS TO OTHER STORIES
Dreams and nightmares - Chinese leaders have come to realize the country should become a great paladin of the free market & democracy & embrace them strongly, just as the West is rejecting them because it's realizing they're backfiring. This is the "Chinese Dream" - working better than the American dream. Or is it just too fanciful? By Francesco Sisci
The South: Busy at the polls - South Korea's parliamentary polls will indicate how potent a national backlash is against President Lee Myung-bak's conservatism, perceived cronyism & pro-conglomerate policies, while offering insight into December's presidential vote. Desire for change in the macho milieu of politics in Seoul can be seen in a proliferation of female candidates. By Aidan Foster-Carter
Pakistan climbs 'wind' league - Pakistan is turning to wind power to help ease its desperate shortage of energy,& the country could soon be among the world's top 20 producers. Workers & farmers, their land taken for the turbine towers, may be the last to benefit. By Zofeen Ebrahim
Turkey cuts Iran oil imports -Turkey is to slash its Iranian oil imports as it seeks exemptions from United States penalties linked to sanctions against Tehran. Less noticed, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the Iranian capital last week, signed deals aimed at doubling trade between the two countries. By Robert M. Cutler
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In the documentary above, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and VII photographers Antonin Kratochvil and Jessica Dimmock take a closer look at the US Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) that provides vouchers to low-income young mothers for the purchase of nutritious staple foods such as milk, fruit, eggs, cereal and rice. The documentary also takes a look at the sub-standard foods the US, as the world's largest food aid donor, sends to other countries.
One in every three malnourished children in the world are in India. In this documentary focusing on the state of Bihar, India Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and VII Photographer Stephanie Sinclair bring to our attention the magnitude of malnutrition in the world and the challenges of addressing the problem of malnutrition in a place like India where the problem is so large and more often than not goes unnoticed.
In the documentary above we see how a goverment and it's people can work to put an end to malnutrition in their country. Doctors without Borders and VII photographer John Stanmeyer bring us one such story from the state of Oaxaca in Mexico.
Venkatesh Mannar President, Micronutrient Initiative(HN, October 16, 2010) When we read in the media about world hunger, it must be understood that the issue is not simply one of food security. Hunger is about more than empty stomachs. It includes a lack of essential minerals and vitamins that thwarts brain and physical development, stunts growth, lowers physical immunity and starves muscles.
The diets of more than two billion people are deficient in essential nutrients.
With World Food Day upon us, the issue of undernutrition is gaining momentum and attention.
Undernutrition is a contributing factor to more than half the deaths of children under five in developing countries. The statistics are staggering:
- One quarter of child deaths from measles, diarrhoeal dehydration and malaria are attributable to inadequate vitamin A or zinc.
- Every year some 18 million babies are born mentally impaired because their mothers were deficient in iodine during pregnancy.
- Iron-deficiency anaemia, the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world, is undermining global productivity to the tune of billions of dollars by compromising both physical and intellectual capacity.
Thus beyond the provision of food, ensuring adequate nutrition is inexpensive and cost-effective and must play a central role in development plans and budgets if we have any hope of approaching our goals. It must have a prominent place in food security initiatives, within health sector activity and among social programmes. The private sector can also play a role.
We have models to successfully address hidden hunger, but the political will and financing do not yet match the potential. The latest Copenhagen Consensus – a panel of eight of the world’s most distinguished economists – determined that investments in micronutrient nutrition provided the very best return on investment in global development. An annual investment of US$1.2 billion over five years would result in annual benefits of US$15.3 billion, representing better health, fewer deaths and increased future earnings.
One of the greatest success stories in nutrition has been that of salt iodization, demonstrating how well government commitment, market opportunity and social responsibility can be combined to deliver essential nutrients to billions of people on a regular and consistent basis.
Iodine is so critical for human intelligence that improving daily dietary intake through the iodization of salt not only prevents millions of cases of preventable intellectual disability annually but increases population-wide IQ levels by as many as 13 points. Such nutritional power can fuel not only personal growth but also educational outcomes and, ultimately, economic success.
In 1990, less than 20 per cent of households in the developing world were consuming iodized salt. A worldwide push by UNICEF, Kiwanis International, the Micronutrient Initiative, salt producers and governments changed all of that. Canada was one of the leaders in funding this push and remains one of the largest contributors to the effort for Universal Salt Iodization.
Today, in 70 per cent of households, the daily pinch of salt is iodized. As a result, the number of countries in which iodine deficiency disorders are a public health concern has been reduced by more than half.
This success was due to the mobilization of many players from a broad range of backgrounds. We need to build on this to address the broader issue of nutrition security – a call to action to provide adequate nutrition to those who are most vulnerable. Together with more than 100 agencies, Canada’s Micronutrient Initiative has helped deliver the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Road Map. The Road Map encourages a better focus on nutrition within development programs, good research and monitoring into what works in nutrition and what needs to be improved, and long-term commitments from governments, both those that provide funding to programs and those that implement them.
As world leaders set their sights on the 2015 target date for the Millennium Development Goals, let’s remember that we must do more than fill hungry stomachs.
We have an opportunity and an obligation to nourish progress. We need a concentrated effort to ensure that the world's most vulnerable have access to nutritious food and to the vitamins and minerals they need to survive and have access to increased opportunities and a better future. The time to invest is now.
In the DR Congo where the land is fertile enough to grow plenty of food and graze animals, constant moving as a result of war keeps children and adults alike malnourished. In the documentary above Doctors without Borders and VII photographer Franco Pagetti bring to light the result of war on this fertile soil.
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 925 million (nearly 1 billion) people in the world are undernourished. Following last year’s hunger summit in November, FAO Director General Jacques Diouf was quoted as saying, “with a child dying every six seconds because of undernourishment related problems, hunger remains the world's largest tragedy and scandal” in a press release that called upon people, organizations and states at all levels to do their part in ending world hunger.
Given that today is World Food Day, you can start by signing this petition http://www.1billionhungry.org/ and joining the ranks of the outraged that are helping create a social media storm to address these tragic statistics. (Webcast to take place here: http://www.fao.org/webcast/.)
I am mad as hell, but I’m also a bit confused. In contrast, the World Health Organization reports that there are more than 1 billion overweight people in the world, of whom at least 300 million are overweight.
Overweight and undernourished.
While world hunger is on the decline and currently hovering at 925 million, it is still “unacceptably high”. In 2009, the number of undernourished people—with little access to food—exceeded 1 billion. Economists and other analysts at a handful of prominent nongovernmental organizations attribute the small decline to lower global food costs and improved economic conditions, but a walk or a drive around Washington D.C. and its Beltway neighborhoods might show a pudgier, less nutritious, reality.
So it’s a little ironic that while about 1 billion people in the world are hungry and undernourished, there’s another billion people who are stuffed and undernourished.
In other words, worldwide undernourishment is a huge and unfed problem. It’s like being at Marie Antoinette’s buffet where there’s only cake to feed the aristocrats and not a thing for the famished. There appears to be an ever-widening “food gap” between the developed nations who appear to be over-exposed to fodder, and those developing countries that do not have enough to go around.
One response is a revolution. A report out of Norway called “Viable Food Future” addresses undernourishment, obesity, poverty, climate change with a sort of food revolution that targets the food production process.
It says, “If the goal is not to follow the path of vanishing empires of the past, then we need to revisit our relation to the earth, our sense of solidarity, and the way we fulfill our basic needs”. With a view to small-scale food systems coupled with sustainable agricultural processes, the report presents opportunities to eradicate hunger, reduce obesity, cool the planet, and even improve employment for billions of people, and local economies.
A food revolution, indeed.
--- The author is Cynthia Thomet, a humanitarian, and co owner and doyenne of the award winning downtown Atlanta, Georgia; US restaurant, Lunacy Black Market. http://www.lunacyblackmarket.com/.
Most damage caused by malnutrition occurs before a child’s second birthday. This is the critical time when the child’s diet has profound, sustained impact on his or her health and on physical and mental development.
In places such as south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, research shows that the cost of purchasing nutritious food is prohibitive form most parents, making it virtually impossible to provide adequate nutrition.
Recent advances in nutrition science and nutrition programming create opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of malnutrition in the world’s most vulnerable regions.
Countries including Mexico, Thailand and Brazil have reduced childhood malnutrition through direct nutrition programs that ensure infants and young children from even the poorest families have access to quality foods such as milk and eggs. Through such programs substantial progress has been made to towards freeing children from consequences that come with malnutrition at an early age. At the same time there is growing political will in Asian and African countries to replicate successful programs.
The World Bank estimates that $12 billion a year is needed to scale up effective nutrition programs to meet current needs. Only $350 million were spent on direct nutrition programs in 2007.
There is not enough emphasis on the types of foods included in aid deliveries in other words, the quality of food. Most current food aid programs for developing countries rely almost exclusively on fortified cereals made from corn and soy blend (CSB), which may relieve a child’s hunger, but does not provide proper nourishment.
In 2009 Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres(MSF) medical teams treated 250,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition in 116 programs in 34 countries primarily with nutrient dense ready-to-use foods, which while more expensive than foods currently provided by the food aid system, actually work to prevent and cure severe malnutrition – and can be used on a very large scale. Currently MSF is operating nutrition programs in 36 countries
In addition to a diet that includes quality foods, micronutrients – key minerals and vitamins such as iodine, iron, vitamin A and Folate – enhance the nutritional value of food and have a profound impact on a child’s development and mother’s health. Doctors Without Borders and other organizations such as UNICEF collaborate with diverse groups of public and private organizations, forming alliances such as the Vitamin A Global Initiative (UNICEF) and work with governments to deliver key minerals and vitamins.
Families and communities are the key players in the battle against childhood malnutrition and must work together to assess, analyze and take action to solve any problems. The strategy is to empower community members to become their own agents of change. Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF's role is to work with governments to support participatory, community-based programs focusing on children’s survival, growth and development.
Also critical is the need to protect the rights of women and girls. Wherever women are discriminated against, there is greater malnutrition. Children born to mothers with no education are twice as likely to die in infancy as those born to mothers with even four years of schooling. Reproductive health, including birth spacing for at least three years, also reduces stunting and death.
The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes the right of all children to the highest attainable standard of health, and specifically the right to good nutrition. Governments have the legal responsibility to protect that right and it is in the best interest of all that they fulfill this obligation. Malnutrition is both a consequence and cause of poverty. Children’s nutrition and well being are the foundation of a healthy, productive society.
HUM youth contributors Gertrude Kitongo and Pokuaa Busumru-Banson were chosen to speak on a panel by The Elders at the Fortune Summit in Cape Town. It included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Graca Machel and Mary Robinson. Gertrude is a Kenyan national studying in Johannesburg. These are her thoughts on African leadership, as presented, in part, to the panel.
(HN, October 14, 2010) - According to Vince Lombardi, - leaders are not born. They are made through hard work. That's the price we have to pay to achieve that goal. If this is true - and I believe it is - then all of us have the potential to lead. And yet - looking at the world around us - and Africa in particular, it is disheartening to imagine that leadership is responsible for the miseries, violence and poverty that is so endemic.
As Africans the choices we make are what determine the legacy we leave behind. And Africa deserves better. Year by year, universities produce intelligent graduates with a good education; many governments have the ideals of good governance and in some instances, like in South African, we have a constitution in place that is the envy of the rest of the world; many countries aspire to live in unity and the people fly their flags with pride. So, where, when why and how, have we gone wrong?
When leaders are able to separate themselves from greed of self enrichment and begin focusing on people, only then have they found true purpose. Most leaders seem to have lost that. We need more people-centered leaders who are not only willing to give their time and energy to deliver on responsibilities and duty, but who also draw on the strengths of those around them and allow them to develop their own leadership potential.Leaders must earn there success based on service to others, and not at the expense of others. Authentic leaders are those whose word you can take to the bank, and whose leadership is based on justice and a generosity of spirit.
The mentoring of the next generation by the leadership of today is essential. And they need to be taught that leadership is all about service before self, and where the first priority is realizing that in order to get somewhere you have to have a map – a vision of a destination that looks different from the place where we are now.
I believe that it is only when humanity begins to look past its own poverty stricken mentality of blaming others for its woes that it will begin to fully grasp the truth that our present challenges need not be the realities of tomorrow. Hard work, humility and a sense of Ubuntu is the doctor’s prescription to effective governance.
Africa is generally poor, but for the first time there is a real sense of economic growth and improved governance in many parts of the continent. The turning point calls upon leaders to show the way for a new dawn into the light, so that all citizens will share in a positive vision and optimism and our nations can become demographic dividends and not a demographic burdens.
I am the next generation of leaders and totally agree that many are called and few are chosen.
How I got selected to attend the 2010 Fortune Global Forum
The journey began in May when Mr. Lekaota, a former CIDA student working with its Marketing Department, invited me to write a one page motivational piece to The Elders about Africa's main problem. I took to the challenge, and in less than 50 words, singled out poor leadership and greed.Richard Stengal, Managing Editor TIME Magazine (Far L), Spencer J Horne, Africa Leadership Academy (2nd L), Pokuaa Busumru-Banson, Wits University (3rd L), Graca Machel, President Foundation for Community Developments (C), Gertrude Kitongo, Cida City (3rd R), Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair The Elders Foundation (2nd R) and Mary Robinson, President Realizing Rights (Far R) attend the TIME/FORTUNE/CNN Global Forum in Cape Town.
I was one of the 10 CIDA students selected. Each of us was assigned to a different Elders member and I got the privilege of sharing a table with the Reverend Desmond Tutu. The theme of the night was 'How to Make Africa a Winning Continent.'
We were graced by the presence of eight distinct elders namely: Sir Richard Branson, Kofi Annan, Graca Machel, Mary Robinson, Jimmy Carter, Ela Bhatt - to mention but a few. And 10 students from the African Leadership Academy, University of Witwatersrand, CIDA City campus, the Science Technology, The Branson School of Entrepreneurship, the Oprah Winfrey Girls Leadership Academy and many more were represented among the 80 in total.
During the discussion, each table had to pick one representative to give a presentation; I was selected by my table. I have been quoted as saying that the traditional view is for the young to listen to their elders - but this time The Elders were listening to me. That ubuntu spirit is how we would make Africa a winning continent. Yes we can!
I used to volunteer at the Marketing Department and my boss, Nissan Chetty received the an email from The Elders confirming my selection to represent the youth in Africa at the Fortune Global Forum in Cape Town. This is how the whole journey began.
I was accompanied by Pokuaa - a Wits Law student from Ghana, and Spencer, a former African Leadership Academy student. We spoke on a panel with Ms Machel, the Reverend Tutu and Mary Robinson, with Richard Stengel of Time as our commentator.
We were asked what we were passionate about and what we would do if we were Elders. I said that I would grasp the opportunity to open up channels for education to everyone - regardless of their financial background. This is something I am quite keen on spearheading after graduation.
Since then I have been selected as one of the '100 Brightest Young Minds' in South Africa and am working hard to make Africa a winning continent.
Malnutrition, specifically undernutrition is a serious medical condition marked by a deficiency of essential proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals in a diet. It is especially burdensome and dangerous for young, growing children.
Malnutrition is different from hunger although they are often confused. The principles of good nutrition are well established: exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life then an introduction to an age-appropriate complementary diet.
Infants and young children need energy furnished by high-quality protein to maintain healthy growth and development such as milk, eggs, and fish, essential fats and carbohydrates, as well as vitamins and minerals.
Malnutrition plays a significant role in mortality because the immune systems of malnourished children are less resistant to common diseases – contributing to one-third of the eight million deaths of children under five years of age every year.
These are largely invisible children and invisible deaths, occurring in places we normally don’t hear much about. Every year the cycle of malnutrition continues with negative economic and community consequences. This is an ongoing medical emergency that requires urgent action and attention.
The story of malnutrition continues - tomorrow Part II: Tackling Childhood Malnutrition
(Photo credit: Franco Pagetti/VII) Democratic Republic of Congo, 2009 (HN, October 13, 2010) -- October 16th has been declared World Food Day which is observed in remembrance of the launching of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1945.
In November 1979, the FAO’s member countries launched World Food Day (WFD) at its 20th General Conference. The Hungarian Delegation, headed by the former Hungarian Minister of Agriculture and Food, Dr. Pal Romany had suggested the idea of celebrating the WFD across the world and ever since, this day has been observed every year in more than 150 countries, highlighting awareness of the issues behind poverty and hunger.
The Objectives of World Food Day are to:
Encourage the increase of agricultural food production and to stimulate national, bilateral, transnational and non-governmental initiatives to this end.
Catapult economic and technical coordination among developing nations.
Enhance and nurture the participation of rural people, particularly women and the under privileged, in decisions and events impacting their living conditions.
Expand public awareness of the issue of hunger in the world and who and how many people it affects worldwide.
Advocate the furtherance of agriculture technologies to the developing world.
Revitalize international and national collaboration in the combat against hunger, malnutrition and poverty; and support positive attention to accomplishments in food and agricultural development.
The Actual Worldwide Hunger Scenario Today:
According to the 2010 Global Hunger Index (GHI), out this past Monday on October 11th, malnutrition among children under two years of age is still one of the leading challenges to reducing global hunger and can cause lifelong harm to health, productivity and earning potential.
- Malnutrition is the result of an inadequate intake of food, either in terms of quality or quantity and of the poor utilization of nutrients due to infections or other illnesses, or a combination of these two factors.
- The state of malnutrition causes a lack of energy, protein and/or essential vitamins and minerals in human bodies.
GHI gives developing countries scores based on three indicators:
- the proportion of people who are undernourished;
- the proportion of children under five who are underweight; and,
- the child mortality rate of a country.
The worst possible score is 100, but in practice, anything over 25 is considered “alarming”.
Since 1990 the overall level of the index has fallen by almost a quarter - two-thirds of the 99 countries counted in 1990 have reduced their populations' hunger levels. Kuwait, Malaysia, Turkey and Mexico have been the most successful, cutting their scores by over 60%. Those where hunger has increased include North Korea, Comoros and Congo. Congo's GHI score fell by over 60%, the worst of any country. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia continue to suffer from the highest levels of hunger.
A New Committee on World Food Security Begins Now:
A five-day high-level intergovernmental meeting of the newly re-formed Committee on World Food Security (CFS) began on Monday in Rome. The meeting takes place against a background of recent increases in international food prices which pose additional challenges to global food security including production, distribution and availability of safe, quality food stocks.
“This week marks the launch of a strategically coordinated global effort to draw on the combined strengths of all stakeholders engaged in the fight against global hunger,” said World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, Josette Sheeran. “With recent volatility in commodity prices and increased global demand for food this comes not a moment too soon. The reformed CFS has an opportunity and a responsibility to rally nations of the world to respond effectively, efficiently and coherently to provide vital humanitarian assistance when disasters strike and build long-term food security.”
Beginning today HUMNews will focus on a variety of global food issues and will feature a different “Starved for Attention” film each day for the next seven days.
You can show your support for the millions of malnourished children around the world and demand that food aid meets the nutritional needs of young children by signing the “Starved for Attention” petition, here.
(PHOTO: USGS, Red shows 1/12/10 earthquake epicenter) (HN, Oct. 12, 2010) – Nine months ago, on January 12, 2010, the island nation of Haiti experienced a massive earthquake, killing almost 225,000 people and leaving more than a million people homeless.
Days after the quake struck, just outside of Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince, a journalist covering the devastation was quoted as saying: “Haiti will need to be completely rebuilt from the ground up, as even in good times, Haiti is an economic wreck, balancing precariously on the razor's edge of calamity."
And on a recent June 2010 return to the island nation, CNN journalists described Port au Prince as: “It looks like the earthquake happened yesterday.”
HURRY UP AND WAIT:
Within days of the calamity, several international appeals were launched and many countries responded to calls for humanitarian aid help; pledging funds and dispatching rescue and medical teams, engineers and support personnel to the devastated island nation.
(PHOTO: Relief supplies being unloaded after the 1/12/10 earthquake. Wikipedia) The US, Iceland, China, Qatar, Israel, South Korea, Jordan and many others were among the global neighbors who supplied communication systems, air, land, and sea transport facilities, hospitals, and electrical networks that had been damaged by the earthquake, which hampered rescue and aid efforts. Confusion over who was in charge, air traffic congestion, and problems with cargo transportation further complicated relief work in the early days.
Mass graves containing tens of thousands of bodies were centered outside of cities as morgues and hospitals were quickly overwhelmed with the dead. Getting enough supplies, medical care and sanitation became urgent needs; and a lack of aid distribution led to angry protests from humanitarian workers and survivors with looting and sporadic violence breaking out.
(PHOTO: Wikipedia, BelAir neighborhood, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti) Just ten days after the 7.2 quake struck, on January 22 the United Nations stated that the emergency phase of the relief operation was subsiding, and the next day the Haitian government called off the search for quake survivors.
One aspect that made the disaster response unique was the deployment of new technology: the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters provided satellite images of Haiti to be shared with rescue groups along with help from GeoEye; the curation site Ushahidi coordinated texts, messages and reports from multiple sources; social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter aggregated members asking for help; the Red Cross and other organizations set records for text message donations.
Also in the immediate aftermath of the quake US President Barack Obama asked former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to lead a major fundraising effort to help the Haitian people. Together they established the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF) - which has raised over $50 million from over 230,000 individuals and organizations, and has disbursed more than $4 million in grants to organizations on the ground in Haiti providing near-term relief and recovery assistance, designed to help the people of Haiti rebuild - and build back better.
Since the initial round of donations were pledged, on January 25th there was a one-day conference held in Montreal, Canada to assess the relief effort and make further plans. Haitian Prime Minister Jean Bellerive told the audience from 20 countries that Haiti would “need massive support for its recovery from the international community”.
Another donors' conference, delayed by almost 3 months, took place at UN headquarters in New York in March. The 26-member international Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission, headed by Bill Clinton and the Haitian Prime Minister didn't get together until last June 2010. That committee is set to oversee the $5.3 billion pledged internationally for the first two years of Haiti's reconstruction; but only ten percent of it has been delivered, mostly as forgiven debt to Haiti. The rest is stalled in more than 60 countries and organizations that pledged help.
Still, nine months later, international officials are looking at the long term planning needs of reconstruction while also continuing to deal with the daily task of managing the emergency situation.
Here’s where things stand at the moment:
(PHOTO: St. Felix Eves refugee camp, Haiti. Readyforanything.org) - As of October 1, there were over 1 million refugees living in 1300 tent cities throughout the country in what’s been called `treacherous’ humanitarian situation;
- As much as 98% of the rubble from the quake remains uncleared. An estimated 26 million cubic yards (20 million cubic meters) remain, making most of the capital impassable, and thousands of bodies remained in the rubble.
- The number of people living in relief camps of tents and tarps since the quake was 1.6 million, with almost no transitional housing had been built. Most of the camps have no electricity, running water, or sewage disposal, and the tents were beginning to fall apart. Crime in the camps was widespread, especially against women and girls.
- From 23 major charities, $1.1 billion has been collected for Haiti for relief efforts, but only two percent of the money has been released. According to a CBS report, $3.1 billion had been pledged for humanitarian aid and was used to pay for field hospitals, plastic tarps, bandages, and food, plus salaries, transportation and upkeep of relief workers. Incredibly, by May 2010, enough aid had been raised internationally to give each displaced family a check for $37,000.
(PHOTO: Wikipedia, Damaged buildings in Port-Au-Prince) The Haitian government said it was unable to tackle debris clean-up or the resettlement of homeless because it must prepare for hurricane season. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive has been quoted as saying, "The real priority of the government is to protect the population from the next hurricane season, and most of our effort right now is going right now in that direction."
And if natural disasters weren’t enough to slay the spirit of the Haitian people, a new UN Report out this week states that “Wars, natural disasters and poor government institutions have contributed to a continuous state of undernourishment” in some 22 nations, including Haiti.
The hearty island nation is no stranger to turmoil and chaos: anyone reading its history from the time of the colonial powers would conclude this. Haiti is the world's oldest black republic and the second-oldest republic in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States and did not receive U.S. diplomatic recognition until 1862. What should also come as no surprise to many is that before the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the nation needed help to survive, and now after the earthquake, the country is even more in need of help.
Refugees International, a U.S.-based non-governmental organization, made some startling claims in its latest field report, called "Haiti: Still Trapped in the Emergency Phase," just one day after former president Bill Clinton toured a Port-au-Prince camp. It says Haitians living in refugee camps set up after a devastating January earthquake are at risk of hunger, gang intimidation and rape.
“People are being threatened by gangs, and women are getting raped," said Refugees International President Michel Gabaudan in a release. "Practically no one is available to communicate with the people living in these squalid camps and find better ways to protect them."Refugees International says there are still 1,300 camps in Haiti, mostly run by the International Organization of Migration (IOM). Melanie Teff said Haitians still living in camps often have "no one to turn to for help."
"Young men come with weapons and rape the women. They haven't reported it, because the hospitals, the police — everything was destroyed in the earthquake," reports Hannah, a nurse who sleeps in a makeshift tent in a volatile camp outside of Port-au-Prince.
Bill Clinton, the co-chair of the commission overseeing Haiti's reconstruction, expressed frustration with the slow delivery of promised funds by donors who have delivered about $732 million of a promised $5.3 billion in funds for 2010-11, along with debt relief.
What’s needed according to Haitian officials, citizens and other experts are communication systems, project management, security, food, jobs, housing, mediation, regulatory easing to doing business, and political stability. According to Transparency International, an NGO which studies corruption levels worldwide in their annual Corruption Perceptions Index, Haiti has a particularly high level of corruption making the rebuilding job even harder.
INCREASINGLY, PRIVATE EFFORTS ABOUND:
As the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation struggles to rise up from one of the most destructive natural catastrophes in recent history, Haiti and the huge international aid operation assisting it are looking to private enterprise and investment to be the powerhouse of reconstruction.
Despite $11 billion pledged by donors, the aid commitments work out at $110 a year for each of Haiti's 10 million people, a per capita sum which paled in comparison with huge needs in housing, infrastructure, health and education, on top of daunting humanitarian costs.
To help Haiti, companies such as The Timberland Co. says it plans to plant 5 million trees in the next five years in Haiti and in China’s Horqin Desert, two regions “that have long suffered severe and widespread impacts from deforestation.” And to increase its efforts, the shoe marketer is also launching the Timberland Earthkeepers Virtual Forest Facebook application. Consumers can help Timberland plant additional trees in Haiti (above and beyond the five in five commitments) by creating a virtual forest on Facebook. The larger the virtual forest, the more real trees planted.
(PHOTO: NASA, deforestation on Haiti/Dominican Republic border)The environment is one of the most significant factors most experts point to as both a past problem and a future solution for the beleaguered country. In 1925, Haiti was lush, with 60% of its original forest covering the lands and mountainous regions. Since then, the population has cut down an estimated 98% of its original forest cover for use as fuel for cook stoves, and in the process has destroyed fertile farmland soils, contributing to desertification.
In addition to soil erosion, deforestation has caused periodic flooding, as seen with Hurricane Jeanne in September, 2004. While Jeanne was only a tropical storm at the time with weak winds, the rains caused large mudslides and coastal flooding which killed more than 1,500 people and left 200,000 starving and homeless. The UN and other nations dispatched several hundred troops in addition to those already stationed in Haiti to provide disaster relief assistance. Looting and desperation caused by hunger resulted in turmoil at food distribution centers.
Earlier that year in May, floods killed more than 3,000 people on Haiti's southern border with the Dominican Republic.
Haiti was again pummeled by tropical storms in late August and early September 2008. The storms – Tropical Storm Fay, Hurricane Gustav, Hurricane Hanna and Hurricane Ike – all produced heavy winds and rain in Haiti. Due to weak soil conditions, the country’s mountainous terrain, and the devastating coincidence of four storms within less than four weeks, valley and lowland areas throughout the country experienced massive flooding. A September 10, 2008 source listed 331 dead and 800,000 in need of humanitarian aid in light of the flood.
And, this, many experts agree, is just where Haiti’s reconstruction effort should begin – and could, in fact become a model for the rest of the world if done well.
(PHOTO: the Haiti Huddle 2010, Douglas Cohen) Last week’s Haiti Huddle 2010 an effort of Helping Hands for a Sustainable Haiti, an organization founded by Lisa McFadin and Thera N. Kalmijn at San Francisco’s Fort Mason, brought together development, humanitarian and investment experts from both the US, Haiti and from other countries tackled several crucial issues.
The groups’ main mission was to work on breaking the logjam of red tape which has seemingly kept 1.3 million people living in refugee camps for the past nine months by focusing on culturally-appropriate solutions for and by Haitians; and working on practical sustainable solution to recreate an environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable Haiti.
According to John Engle, of Haiti Partners, “Education and community infrastructure are the foundation to get to a meaningful development plan. The country must recognize what got us here. A lack of investment in education and lack of cultural sensitivity and in fact connectivity and communication is why little to no progress has been made in the emergency of what many Haitians are still dealing with.“
Sam Bloch, Country Coordinator in Haiti of Grass Roots United says, "There were literally hundreds of NGO's on the ground before the earthquake focusing on community empowerment, collaboration and providing basic resources. But even before the earthquake the fabric of this community was torn and broken. Starting now it must be re-woven. The Haitian community in country and in the larger Diaspora must re-unite and mobilize, in collaboration with all the organizations that pushed us aside after the disaster. We need to reconnect the service providers for such services as counseling, education, water, structures, food systems with community leaders.”
In fact one of the most important efforts that must be made according to Douglas Cohen, Founder of the Sustainable Haiti Coalition is, “Massive investments in education for longer term solutions, jobs, building schools, and revamping curriculum that includes wireless transmission for the whole country and which provides educational materials, and increases teachers’ salaries; paving the way to inter-active curricula; films, and video highlighting Haitian success stories, with Haitians implementing their own solutions.”
Other private efforts include electricity generators from E-Power, a $56.7 million Haitian-South Korean private investment that has forged ahead despite the January 12th earthquake; as well as an industrial park and garment manufacturing operation involving Sae-A Trading Company Limited, one of South Korea’s leading textile manufacturers, in a potential investment of between $10 million and $25 million being backed by the IFC and the U.S. State Department.
Last month, an Argentine entrepreneur announced a project with the Haiti-based WIN business group to build a $33 million, 240-room airport hotel in Port-au-Prince and there are government plans to create several special economic zones across the country. These would concentrate private businesses and investments in manufacturing, tourism and services, creating essential jobs and housing and driving development.
ELECTIONS COMING UP IN HAITI:
(PHOTO: Singer, activist Wyclef Jean, VIA Treehugger) In Haiti, campaigning for next month's November 28 presidential elections is well under way. Nineteen candidates are vying to lead the earthquake-ravaged nation; and with Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean out of the race there's no clear front-runner. It could be a contentious battle for one of the toughest political jobs in the world.
The next president will have to oversee the reconstruction and try to redirect what was already one of the most dysfunctional nations on earth. Before the quake, roughly 80 percent of the population lived in poverty. Roads, electrical lines, sewers and other infrastructure were in desperate need of repair. Now, they need to be completely rebuilt, along with most of the capital city.
Allegations of fraud in Haitian elections are practically inevitable, but this year's balloting faces additional challenges. The quake destroyed 40 percent of the polling stations in the country, killed tens of thousands of voters and displaced hundreds of thousands of others; and numerous people lost all their documents and no longer have voting cards.
(PHOTO: Haiti's Presidential Palace, Wikipedia) But whatever happens in Haiti’s elections, and whoever wins the crumbling Presidential palace, will have their hands full, eleven months later with the still critical priority of getting the lives of Haiti’s citizens along with the entire infrastructure of a long and storied nation, back on its feet again. And this, will certainly take a global village effort – private, NGO, corporate, government, and otherwise.
(HN, October 11, 2010) - When my friends offered that we spend part of a recent Sunday on an organized tour of Cape Town’s renowned Langa Township, I immediately jumped at the chance.
What a great idea to go around and not have to be the one to tell my guests about the place, I thought to myself. We drove from the relatively pristine Cape Town suburbs, where I’ve lived for the past 17 years, into the township that I’ve come to know well from several earlier visits.Artwork on sale in the township portrays life in Langa and its close proximity to Cape Town
Langa, which means ‘sun’ in isXhosa, is one of the many areas in South Africa that were designated for Black Africans before the apartheid era. It is the oldest of such suburbs in Cape Town and was the location of much resistance to apartheid. The first Township B&B by the name of Ma Neo (mother of Neo) was opened in 1999, and in 2005, Gugas'Thebe, a cultural centre, was inaugurated.
In the beginning this visit was nothing special to me because I grew up in a township in Kimberley and I still have relatives who are residents there. During my four years of working in the building industry, I would visit as often as I could.
On our arrival at Guga Sthebe we were greeted by a young female township resident who acted as our tour guide.
We proceeded to do a two-hour walk, stopping and viewing historic memorial monuments that were built by the community members of Langa.
As we walked, things became familiar to me again. We visited a hostel which now housed families but were originally built during the apartheid era to accommodate men who came from rural areas seeking employment. No women were allowed to live there at the time. These men left their families behind to live in the cities for a period of a year until they could go back home for a visit - usually during Christmas. Some would visit their families as infrequently as every two or three years. Some never returned back at all. There have been many tears shed in Langa.Langa women tell their story to Roxy, sitting on beds that accommodate several family members
During their time living in the hostels, the men would mingle with the community in the evenings and weekends, make new friends, and even start relationships with the women. Most would develop into committed relationships without marrying the local woman, and some would produce children. These men would then have two families to support - one in Langa and another in the rural area - hence the long periods without any visits.
After the abolishment of apartheid, the hostel dwelling rules were relaxed to allow families - opening the way for the women and their children to move in with the ‘husband’. You can imagine the chaos it could have created when the wife back home decided to come visit ‘her’ husband.
As we approached we could see the dilapidated state of the hostels - set out in a series of tall buildings with open windows and curtains blowing in the wind. Music blared out of the cars parked haphazardly around the hostels. Compared to the other quiet areas of the township, this area was abuzz with activity. People of all ages were walking around, and you could feel a high level of energy on this Sunday afternoon. There’s no landscaping, and washing lines are strewn randomly between the buildings.
The home that we visited was a communal living arrangement, as are all the other homes. There was just one door for people to come and go, and even though the sun was shining on this glorious spring day, it was dark inside.
The commune had an entrance room, a toilet and shower area, a tiny kitchen and a bedroom. At the entrance we met a beautiful young lady who seemed so shy. She was using a plastic medium sized bowl on a bench to hand wash clothes. This common area is used during the day for hand washing laundry, and as a passage way to the other parts of the commune.
The kitchen, which was probably no more than three square meters, is used for cooking and storage of sleeping mattresses. The bedroom had three single beds - one occupied by a man sleeping and another with two women sitting. They were uncomfortable speaking to us but yet seemed eager to share their stories. We learned that each bed was owned by a family – meaning a couple and their children. A sign in front of a clinic in Langa
The grown woman told us that she had three children aged 14, 12 and 6. All were born at the commune, and pretty much know of no life beyond Langa, The bed with the sleeping man was home to a family of five, and the other to a family of four. This was mind boggling to me - as well as to my guests.
My disbelief stemmed from the fact that, in this day and age in South Africa - the wealthiest nation on the African continent - we have families living in this type of misery.
I had many questions race through my mind and I voiced them. I asked about the children’s sleeping arrangements, and was told the mattress in the kitchen was brought in at night to accommodate all of them. Mornings are challenging as limited water and sanitation facilities make it difficult for children to get ready in time for school. I almost broke into tears when they told me that in winter there was no water heater and this forces the children to wake up even earlier to light the one primus stove shared by all families, to heat up water.
My curiosity with the cramped living arrangements almost got the better of me, and I stopped myself from asking wether she was not concerned about the children being exposed to sex given the sleeping arrangements. But I concluded that their children have probably already seen or heard more than most kids their age have.Langa women returning from church
I recalled the first six years of my life, when I lived with 10 other family members in a four-room home. The next year I lived in a 4 roomed home where my parents rented one room to house all six of us. Sleeping in the same room with grown people meant it was inevitable to see what goes on. Being the eldest, my brother and I washed outside, in the same washing basin to save time and paraffin. I found myself stopping my conversation with the woman as I recalled my childhood.A small church in Langa
I continued my conversation with the woman wanting to know if her family stayed in this arrangement because it was free. But she said they paid minimal rent and the sharing reduced the total cost. She spoke with resignation and acceptance of the situation.
She was a stoic woman and her main interest was for her children to be fed, have a place to sleep, and to attend school. She said she had to believe that her children would be safe in the confines of the township.
My immediate, natural reaction was to rescue the families and change the whole situation. If I had the magic lamp I knew what my wish would be for that moment.The crumbling hostel buildings which house several families per room, with laundry in the front
We proceeded to see what was described as the better part of the township, but I was still consumed with feelings that transported me back to my childhood. I had a moment of appreciating all that my parents did to get us out of the communal situation similar to what I had just witnessed. I had a breakthrough moment and realised that I had blocked out that part of my past life, and that the tour gave me the opportunity to embrace it.
-- Cape Town-based Roxy Marosa is host of the Roxy Marosa Showand runs several projects assisting people affected by HIV and Aids in South Africa. All photos: Michael Bociurkiw/HUMNEWS.
(HN, October 8, 2010) -- When The Belinda Stronach Foundation decided to help Aboriginal children in Canada gain increased access to the Internet and computer education tools, it first studied how children in developing countries used the laptops donated by the US-based NGO, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC).
The Founder and Chairman of OLPC, Nicholas Negroponte, and others from the MIT Media Lab have grown an organization that has now provided loaded devices - the "XO Laptop" - to about 1.85-million children around the world - including Uruguay, Mongolia, Ghana, Rwanda, and Haiti.
Farah Mohamed, the President of the Belinda Stronach Foundation, said it took six months of research before a customized fix for aboriginal children in Canada coud be found. She and her team spent much of that time studying lessons learned from Negroponte's work in other OLPC countries.
"You need to make sure that when you go into areas they want it. That's the absolute first lesson: that you can't thrust this type of programme on any kind of community," Mohamed said in an interview today with HUMNEWS. So to that end, she said, all the major aboriginal leadership groups were courted for their support.
Mohamed added that aboriginal children were selected because, aside from facing a large number of challenges - such as mental heath issues, obesity and isolation - they are the fastest-growing population group in the country.
Despite its wealth - Canada is in the top tier of the UN's Human Development Index - there are still pockets of poverty and isolation where Internet access is limited, Mohamed said. "This phenomenal computer - that has Internet access, a camera and loads so many programmes - reduces that barrier right off the top."
Another principle learned from Negroponte and weaved into the Canadian initiative is that all children in the selected groups get a laptop. "it's not about picking and choosing - there is complete saturation. You don't want to have the have and have-nots in a school," she said, adding that even non-Aboriginal children qualify for a laptop.Belinda Stronach
Under the Foundation's plan, up to 5,000 children between the ages of 6 and 12 will receive the OLPC laptop in Aboriginal communities across Canada. Each XO laptop is loaded with a suite of eight customized programs tailored specifically to the needs of Aboriginal children. They also come with customized educational software as well as more than 30 other programs developed by OLPC, and wireless capability.
Mohamed said several partners were approached - including Vale, ParticipACTION and the BMO Financial Group - to ensure that the programmes were customized for Canada. There is even a programme for financial literacy and another that presents books by Aboriginal authors in digital format.
She said recipients will even be encouraged to record their elders using the built-in camera in the laptop. "So with this little gadget, we are tackling issues around education, connectivity, community, health - and so much more."
The Canadian initiative is involving what Mohamed describes as a "very robust infrastructure" that involves the principals, teachers, and parents. A unique aspect is that, instead of OLPC or Foundation conducting training, Aboriginal adolescents will be hired to act as trainers and resource people.
(MAP: About.com) (HN, October 8, 2010) -- A UN employee that was part of a UN Security Council visit to Sudan's Darfur was kidnapped on Thursday night.
A UN peacekeeper was abducted in Sudan's Darfur region on Thursday night amid renewed clashes between rebels and government forces.
While the kidnapping was most likely motivated by money rather than by politics, the abduction raises concerns about deteriorating security conditions in Darfur, where separatists have been battling government forces for the last six years.
The UN worker, whose nationality has not yet been released, was abducted just hours after a United Nation's Security Council mission arrived in El Fasher, the capital city of Darfur. (Continue reading @ Christian Science Monitor)
Amb. Susan Rice of the United States, head of the Security Council delegation to Sudan, with other members in JubaThe Security Council delegation visiting Sudan yesterday stressed that the two referenda scheduled for January must be held on time, in a peaceful environment and according to the provisions of the peace agreement that ended the war between the north and the south.
“We are here to reinforce that message and the determination of the Council to support you and all parties to the CPA [Comprehensive Peace Agreement] in that process,” said Ambassador Susan Rice of the United States, who is heading the delegation.
On 9 January the inhabitants of southern Sudan will vote on whether to secede from the rest of the country, while the residents of the central area of Abyei will vote on whether to be part of the north or the south.
The referenda will be the final phase in the implementation of the CPA, which was signed in 2005 to end two decades of warfare between the northern-based Government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in the south.
The Council’s visit was a follow-up to last month’s high-level meeting on Sudan held under UN auspices in New York that produced a communiqué calling on the international community to respect the outcome of the referenda if they meet those stipulated criteria.
Ms. Rice noted that the “core responsibility” for successful implementation of the CPA remains in the hands of the regional Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS), the national Government in Khartoum, and the Sudanese people.
The delegation concluded its two-day stop in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, with a visit to the Dr. John Garang Unified Memorial Police Training Academy in the nearby town of Rejaf.
The visit to the police-training academy was significant because the Southern Sudan Police Service (SSPS) will play a central role in crowd control and the securing of polling centres and ballot boxes during the referenda.
“The UN has been one of the key components in the support that we are getting for the development of the police and in training these recruits […] from the 10 states,” said GoSS Minister for Internal Affairs Gier Chuang Aluong.
Since July, UN Police advisers have trained over 11,500 SSPS officers in referendum security procedures and regulations throughout southern Sudan, according to Rajesh Dewan, the Police Commissioner in the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).
An initial group of 5,400 police cadets who began to receive instruction at the Rejaf training facility in January is expected to graduate at the end of this month, and a second group of 4,000 cadets will subsequently start their training.
Wednesday, the Council delegation held a two-hour closed-door meeting with senior Southern Sudanese officials led by GoSS President Salva Kiir.
The delegation travelled to Darfur yesterday, from where they will proceed to Khartoum before completing their mission on Saturday.
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