THE VIEW FROM HERE: `The Start of the Holy Month of Ramadan in Cairo'

By Lamia Hassan in Cairo

Ramadan - Midan El-Jame (The Mosque Square) Helipolis, Cairo, Egypt PHOTO CREDIT: Bakar_88/FlickrThe streets of Cairo look festive with the huge Ramadan lanterns dangling from trees and buildings in every corner.  Vendors have set up their tables everywhere on the streets and in front of big shops for people to stop by and buy some of the usual Ramadan treats: nuts, qatayef (small pastries), pumpkins, and others. And, like every year, the streets are flooded with people in the last few days before Ramadan. On top of that many Cairenes were out of town for the summer break and had  started heading back into giddy Cairo just for before the holy month starts.

The appetite of urban Egyptians for shopping is always very high before Ramadan: many shelves in hyper-markets empty quickly as people tend to buy everything and store them like it’s their last day on earth. Consequently, many of the grocery and fruits/vegetables’ stores tend to increase prices as it is the time of the year where they make a big portion of their profits.  Everyone tries to make good business during Ramadan as people are always willing to buy.

The scene this year does not really look different than any of the previous years in terms of the spirit and shopping, although things have not been stable in the country every since the protests of last January that brought an end to the regime of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s former president.

People are out shopping and preparing for the festive month, not unlike every Ramadan. But, in fact there are three things that make this year different than previous ones:  it is the first time in years that we do not see a time change before Ramadan, that  Ramadan occurs  in the middle of the summer season, and most importantly, the first time many of us are observing the holy month without Mubarak as president.

During previous Ramadans, Egyptians were always accustomed to the government changing the time up to two or three times-a-year for day light saving – which was a welcome move to makes the fasting hours less. But this year, the Cabinet announced there would be no time change. This just adds a couple more hours to the day. Even jokes started coming out regarding this, with people claiming  they miss the time of Mubarak, when they used to break the fast at around 5PM instead of  7PM.

Also, as Ramadan this year started in the beginning of August, many people had to commence their summer vacation early to be able to enjoy some time out of congested and sweltering Cairo before the holy month starts. Although some decided that they will just enjoy their summer vacations while fasting by the beach.

But for many people the most dramatic difference is that this marks the first time in 30 years that Ramadan comes without Mubarak as the president of Egypt.

The political change has played out in a way many outsiders would not expect – on television. In the programs and Ramadan mosalsalat (television series) presented this year, it seems that politics are a very dominant theme in many shows. Ramadan is always known to be the peak season for television viewership and advertising revenues. That turns this period from a holy month dedicated to worship and family gatherings to a commercial race.

From comedy shows to talk shows and television series, it is clear from viewing previews of upcoming Ramadan programs, that many, if not most of them, involve politics. Pehaps this is no surprise as Mubarak’s era curtailed people’s involvement in politics,; after the 2011 revolution, everything seems to involve hardcore politics.

In the run-up to Ramadan many media analysts predicted that this season will see a decrease in the numbers of shows - especially mosalsalat. Last year saw 50 mosalsalat but  it seems that there is still a lot going on.

Many producers were not able to present their mosalsalat last year so they pushed them to this season, like El-Daly’s third season - starring Nour El-Sherif and Abed Karman, and starring Taim El-Hassan, who is known for his role as King Farouk in a television series with the same name.

In past years, it was common to see one production company presenting during Ramadan up to five mosalsalat. But, media analysts said that this year every producer might generate just one or two, as they are reluctant to take a risk and put all their money in projects while the country is still in turmoil.

Advertising revenues during Ramadan can account for up to half of the year’s ad income. But as the ad revenues dropped significantly since the revolution , analysts predicted that the ads may not be flooding the channels like previous Ramadans.

So perhaps, in the end, we can return to the spiritual and family holiday that Ramadan was meant to be.

Lamia Hassan is journalist based in Cairo, Egypt and a recent recipient of the 2011 African Journalist Environment Award for her piece entitled 'Washed Up'.  

THE VIEW FROM HERE: `Open Your Eyes. It’s Dark’

(PHOTO: HUMNEWS' Nina Guzman) By Nina Guzman

Open your eyes. It’s dark. The little amount of light around creates mysterious shadows that disguise reality. No one can be sure of what anything truly is. A simple silhouette could easily be imagined as a terrifying monster. A monster’s deep breaths could be misinterpreted as the sounds of the wind. A sort of panic sets in. You know it’s silly to worry about such a thing. Monsters aren’t real, or so you’ve been told. Everything just seems so different and hard to believe. How is it possible for anyone to know the truth about monsters when darkness conceals everything? America is set in a darkness similar to that of which the monsters live. Although the government and media control the amount of information that reaches the public, Americans need to see more in order to fully understand the world in which they live. It is important to look past this dark version that we have been fed and help everyone become aware of the different ways that everything can be seen.

The citizens of the United States live in a sheltered world. The government and the media work together keeping secrets and information that could potentially cause someone to see things differently from which are desired by our leaders. They believe that by keeping us in the “dark” from certain things, we will be a safer and more unified country. In part, this is true. If everyone were to see things the same way then there would be a whole lot less fighting in the world. But, no one will ever see things the same way. That’s what is so great about being your own person. You are allowed to have different views and interpret things however you choose to. Although you have this power of free will, being unaware of others will not be beneficial in the future. By becoming aware of what is happening to one another we can see things that we may not have understood in the past. This can help us grow and make better choices in the future.

Americans are fed information on one hundred and twenty one of the two hundred and thirty eight countries and territories in the world.  This means that nearly half of the world is being ignored and misrepresented. Everyone is determined to fight for world peace, but how are they supposed to achieve such a goal when they don’t even know that half of the countries on Earth even exist? News stations such as CNN, ABC, and NBC share stories solely about one half of the countries in the world. For example, people need to become aware that the children in Ethiopia aren’t the only ones starving but numerous other countries, such as Mauritania, are too. These news agencies are a start to where we can improve our futures. If they were to include all countries within their reports everyone could see the similarities that we all share. Arguments between races would end because they could see how alike they truly are. We are all humans that need to eat, sleep, and breathe, so in reality we have no reason to fight. No one is better than anyone else. It is hard for anyone to comprehend all of the desires across the planet when they don’t even know where millions of their fellow air-breathers live.

If schools were to teach children history about all of the countries instead of a select few, many things could be prevented. History can teach everyone enough to avoid making the same mistakes twice. Americans could become much more knowledgeable and well rounded by learning the cultures and traditions of new places, because with each country come new ideas, beliefs, and even languages. There are seven continents, two hundred and thirty eight countries, and over one thousand languages on the planet. American’s tend to think that the United States is the best country in the world and that we have nothing to change about ourselves or to learn from others. The truth is we aren’t the only country, and we can learn. We need to change the fact that we don’t know about certain nations like Malta, the Falkland Islands, or East Timor - because they can supply us with things, ideas and knowledge that we don’t have in our own country. No single nation can supply itself with everything it needs. We all need to work together whether it’s to ask Iran to help supply us with oil or Bulgaria to sell us iron, copper or steel.  

Americans are the one country in the world that does not seem to be making an effort to achieve this goal. Other people in other countries know multiple languages, including English, and are able to communicate with more people. Most Americans only know English. If we are supposed to be the best country in the world, than why are we lacking in meeting the other world nations half way? We can’t expect everyone else to make all the effort. A relationship is a two-way thing. We can’t just barge into another country and expect to take them over or tell them what to do. The current media and governmental bureaucracy that we learn our daily supply of information from is really just making our position in the world worse. News channels exaggerate mediocre stories in the same one hundred and twenty one countries they always talk about. They are lacking variety. If they paid more attention to the many ignored countries, and less attention to the well covered ones, they could create an equally balanced flow of news and information. We must learn to understand everyone’s ways of life. We can only learn to improve ourselves by observing others.

With every fact learned and every place visited - a new light becomes visible within our minds. We can step out of the darkness and finally see the reality. This light is shown across the mysterious silhouette in the shadows, quickly revealing that the imagined monster never actually existed, but was merely a ball of light. It also becomes clear that what was once thought to be the sound of a seemingly terrifying monster was actually the sounds of the seven billion people living on planet Earth with us. The ball of light can now grow bigger - helping everyone to see the big picture.  We all need to play our part in making the world a better place. And whether you’re a child in England or a grandparent in Tuvalu, you can learn something from every other human being. Knowledge can be found even in the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light.

---Nina Guzman is a high school senior from Crystal Lake, Illinois; who spent part of her summer with the HUMNEWS’ team.  She hopes to study at college as a student in Fall, 2012.

THE VIEW FROM HERE: “Conversations for Change”

(The author, reading) By Nejeed Kassam

Change. The word rung out across the theatre. The music started and opening credits appeared on the screen. I breathed a sigh of relief. The film had started and I walked out of the theatre; I actually had nothing to do for an hour.

The film was `Conversations for Change’; the venue, the historic Art Gallery of Ontario’s Jackman Theatre. And this was our ‘Red Carpet’ Premiere. The seats of the theatre were almost to capacity; the speeches, thank you(s), and awkward introductions were done. Each member of the audience’s face was, thankfully, mesmerized, glued to the inspiring faces on the massive screen.

Before I continue, I should probably say something about the film itself. `Conversations for Change’ is awesome—and I know that I’m biased. But I truly believe that it is something special. It is a documentary about youth social change in Canada. But, unlike so much of the work that’s out there already, much of which focuses on what young people are doing (profiling organizations, causes, campaigns etc.) - `Conversations for Change’ takes a different approach. The film examines why young Canadians make change: why so many amazing people dedicate themselves to something far beyond themselves, something that betters their local and global communities. The film asks a simple question: why do they do what they do? In searching for motivation, the film also explores these change-makers’ conceptions of the term ‘change’ itself, and offers advice and inspiration that they’ve picked up along their journeys.

Over the course of almost a year, we interviewed some of Canada’s leading social change-makers, from non-profit organizations, charities, and social enterprises. It was amazing because we got to chat to so many of the young leaders that are shaping our country.

Conversations for Change from Conversations for Change on Vimeo.

The film is being distributed 100% free online. We believe that, although the interviewees are all Canadians, their wisdom and stories are worldly, and thus applicable to young people (and older people) around the world! Plus, `Conversations for Change’, the film, is only the beginning of a campaign that we hope will stretch on for years. The campaign includes the book High on Life, which was published in 2010, and a slew of other initiatives set to launch in the coming months and years.

As I sat outside the theatre entrance, I couldn’t bear watching the movie again, I reflected on the past year, working on the film. Getting to this point was one of the most difficult journeys of my life. I worked hard, amazingly hard. I was thrown into situations that made me uncomfortable. I was forced to learn, a lot. And quickly. But it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, and something that I’d never give-up, not in a million years.

(The film maker, filming.) But maybe the craziest thing is, I was only one small part of the team, a Co-Producer of the film. There were so many amazing, talented, and hardworking people who gave themselves to this project. Sitting beside me outside the theatre was Alesha Porisky, the Director and other Co-Producer of the film. Truthfully, I can’t even imagine what was going through her mind as she waited outside the hall. This documentary had been her life, her vision…her baby. For every ounce of sweat, blood, or tears I had given, she had given a pound, or maybe a ton. But the film was finished, and, at least I hope, she was able to give a sigh of relief.

I know this has been quite a personal column, and I’m sure next week, I will once again write about something serious. But, `Conversations for Change’, I believe, is something special. But it’s nothing without those who watch it and those who are in it. It is the beginning of a great and utterly important conversation, about the future growth and development of our world. IT is THE conversation YOU must get involved in! Together, we can make CHANGE. Join us.

To learn more about Conversations for Change, please visit www.conversationsforchange.ca!

Today, that’s the `View From Here’  

To watch the film in its entirety, go to http://www.vimeo.com/25051169.

{END}

The View from Here: "If I Was Sane, I Would Have Fled"

Dr. Yusuf PHOTO: Mohammed Adow By Mohammed Adow Dr Mohammed Yusuf, is one of Somalia's unsung heros. He is the director and chief surgeon of the Madina Hospital, one of Mogadishu's few operational hospitals, and the country's top trauma medical facility. His work involves repairing broken limbs, intestines and uteruses. As a war in which the biggest casualties are civilians rages on outside, Dr Yusuf and his team work round the clock in the facility's emergency section. He believes he is not normal. "The difference between a robot and a human being are feelings," he observes. "I have grown numb to almost everything that goes on around me. Very few things move me," he told me as he did his early morning rounds. "If I was normal and had my feelings intact, I would have fled like the thousands fleeing my country every month," he says.  The only thing that keeps him going, he says, is the knowledge that he is saving lives. Dr Yusuf and his team at Madina operate on between 10 and 100 people a day, depending on whether there is fighting in the city. They range from patients who have bullets and shrapnel lodged in their guts to others who need amputations - at times of both legs and arms. As is the case with any hospital in a war-ravaged city, Madina is ill-equipped and poorly staffed. They use the most basic of equipment to help save the hundreds maimed in Somalia's seemingly endless war. When the Somali state fell in 1991, Dr Yusuf fled the free-for-all that ensued. For little over a decade, he worked and lived in Italy, Swaziland and Mozambique. He returned to Somalia in 2002. "I returned to help my people",  he says.   Today, a week can go by before the doctor sees his wife of the last 35 years. She, too, is a doctor and is involved in helping the sick in the Somali capital.  During the few hours I spent with him at the hospital, I realised Dr Yusuf's lack of emotion is not absolute. He is an angry man: angry at the conflict that keeps decimating his people, and angry at those who fight it. He also abhors the suffering civilians are frequently subjected to and the lack of meaningful intervention on their behalf. "In Libya, NATO is bombarding Gaddafi's strongholds on the pretext of defending civilians. Who do you ever hear speak of defending the defenceless Somalis?" he asks. He also points to examples that are closer to home. "The International Criminal Court is dragging Kenya's high and mighty to court for the country's post-election unrest that killed 1,500 people. In Somalia, the same number of people and even more die in just a single month. Where is [ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-] Ocampo?" he asks. One image, he says, will remain with him forever: "I will never forget the day I was forced to chop off the legs of a 23-year-old pregnant lady to save her life. I did it with the full knowledge that she will require the help of someone else for the rest of her life, but I has nothing else to do." Originally published by Al Jazeera on June 29, 2011 under Creative Commons Licensing

The View From Here: My husband has been cheating and has infected me with HIV

History will surely judge us harshly if we do not respond with all the energy and resources that we can bring to bear in the fight against HIV and Aids. Our attention to this issue cannot be distracted or diverted by problems that are apparently more pressing. – Nelson Mandela

In the battle against apartheid we scored a tremendous victory in the face of considerable evil. The solidarity of people from around the world strengthened us at some of our darkest moments. In the battle against HIV and Aids we need the same solidarity, the same passion, the same commitment and energy. – Desmond Tutu.

By Roxy Marosa

"Good morning Roxy. You probably don’t remember me, but I need to talk to you. My name is Melanie. I met you a few years ago at an event where you were a speaker talking about HIV.

A week ago I found out that I have HIV, and I don’t know how to deal with it. My husband has been cheating and has admitted to it, and he has infected me with HIV."

This is one of many calls I get almost on a daily basis, wives who are infected with HIV by their husbands. Many women find themselves in the dilemma of HIV infection in what is supposed to be, and society relates to as a union of trust and fidelity.

Sadly, HIV infection has become increasingly common in marriages, because partners take it for granted that the person they are married to will remain faithful to them, and in the case when they have not been faithful, they will protect them against getting infected with sexually transmitted infections like HIV. But this naivety is proving to put a partner’s health at risk.

Melanie is an executive, a mother of three children, and is married to a successful businessman.

I asked her how she found out about her positive HIV status. She says that her husband had gone for an HIV test due to a procedural requirement for the business. He did not believe the outcome of the test that read ‘REACTIVE’, meaning that he tested positive. Given that her husband tested positive she too opted for testing and came back with ‘REACTIVE’ to the HIV test.

The results were devastating to her husband, who was in disbelief of the outcome. He demanded to be re-tested. Considering herself as a realist, Melanie says she knew another test is a waste of time, emotion and hope for a result that will come out positive again. Being a realist, she says ‘most men cheat, and I have always had it in the back of my mind that my husband will cheat. With that in mind I have had conversations with him requesting him to use protection should he find himself in a compromising situation of not being able to control his sexual desire.’

This statement got my mind spinning. I asked Melanie what she thinks her husband was hearing from her requests. After some consideration she realises that her husband heard that she knows that he may have sexual relations with other women. She says her husband admits that culturally, young men are raised to believe that extra marital relationships are ok. Although it does not make it ok, this may encourage some women to get involved in casual relationships with married men.

Melanie was choked and deeply angry at her husband’s question of ‘but how does it happen?’ She says her reply to him was ‘so you have not been listening to me each time I talk to you about using protection when getting sexually involved with someone else?’ She says she knew if she was not going to get infected with HIV it would be another sexually transmitted infection, yet her husband seemed not to think about other possible infections.

Her devastation now was how to deal with living with the virus. She now had concern for her health, the future well-being of her children and informing her parents.

Another dilemma was telling her friends. She admits that although she has been the reasonable one amongst her friends, whenever they spoke about people living HIV, they had nasty things to say, and because she felt labelled as one of the HIV positive people they spoke about. Her concern for telling her parents was not as major because she is outspoken and her parents know her to be a brave woman who faces life challenges head on. However she could not guarantee what their actions would be at the news that she is now living with HIV. She trusts though that she will get support from them.

Melanie says she finds her husband’s action reckless and inconsiderate of himself, his family and his marriage, however she is willing to stand by him and support him in this difficult time. Melanie admits that her marriage life has been dedicated to her husband and children and little to herself. She considers this a wake-up call and says it is time she takes charge of her life and be responsible for her life.

I ask Melanie whether she expected her husband to be responsible for her life and she admits that she has been. She now realises and wants to teach people that each person is responsible for their own lives. I emphasise this point by telling her that at my workshops I tell people that to put your life in another person’s hands not knowing what goes through their minds, and not having control over what they do when you not around, is to turn your back on your life. Whatever happens with it, you only have yourself to blame.  

Melanie says she is stuck wanting to know the type of people her husband has been sleeping with. Her consideration is that they may be desperate students exploring their sexual life, or prostitutes. I asked her whether she is a student or a prostitute given that she now is positive. She then realises that there is no relevance to the type of person he slept with. This made it clear for me that people living with HIV were still labelled, and one of the labels included promiscuity. But although she had this realisation, she still wanted to know.

Many women deal with getting to compare themselves to the women their partners got or get involved with. It gives them a sense of competition, yet it can be self destructive when they start relating to those women as better than them, or equally less than them based on their looks and career. It may also put pressure on them to get to the ‘better’ level of the other women. This aggravates competitive anger, and it is in these moments that this behaviour also puts strain on the already compromised relationship with their partner. The strain then is like bicycle spokes, which ends dealing with the HIV positive status, trust, feelings of inadequacy, security in the relationship, vulnerability, fear of rejection, and the need to feel better than the other women.

I always advise people to know their CD4 cell count, so that they know if they need to go on treatment immediately. I also encourage them to ask their doctor whatever medical questions necessary, so that they can know exactly what is going on in their body, and what they can do to keep healthy.

Melanie called me two weeks after our initial talk and told me that her CD4 cell count is high. She sounded in a better spirits. I could hear people talking in the background while we discussed what is going on in her life now. She was expressive and made jokes. I had the sense that although she is on a journey of recovery for herself and her marriage, there is a lot to go through. I also realised that her life has taken a different turn from four weeks ago, and she says it makes her stomach turn, yet she feels that she is gearing herself up for a life greater than ever before.

In 2008, there were 33.4 million adults and children living with HIV, 22.4 million in sub-Saharan Africa alone. That same year there were 2.7 million new infections and about 2 million deaths, with the vast majority in sub-Saharan Africa. Most new infections are in low to middle income countries.

In South Africa there were 5.7 million people living with HIV and Aids, representing about 17 percent of the global caseload. There are as many as 2,000 new infections every day.

Roxy Marosa is the program designer and facilitator of public workshops - Having Internal Victory against HIV, Presenter of Siyainqoba Beat it Health Literacy Series on HIV and Aids. She is also the brand owner of the Natural skin care range Roxy Marosa Total Skin Health Care – www.roxymarosaproducts.co.za, and founder of Philanthropic organisation Read Regularly for a Child. Read all about her on www.roxymarosa.com