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Colombia. Music that Heals and Reconciles.

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 8:00

In Colombia, the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra has brought together the victims of armed conflict and various armed groups to learn music, create a choir and compose songs. Through music, they are healing the scars left by fifty years of war.

Luz Mery González Caicedo, who died last August, was one of the women whose soul was wounded by the war in Colombia. She bore the scars on her body. But her spirit remained strong. She was a physically fragile woman, but she had all the strength of God to bear the fruits of peace where war had sown pain, poverty, and death. She surrounded herself with women and took her place among them. She was a leader among her companions, a selfless human rights defender, and a tireless fighter for the vulnerable communities of her hometown of Medellín.

The Reconciliation and Peace Choir members learn the breathing techniques necessary for singing.

Intelligent, humane, and sensitive, with a vocation for service, she put all her energy and faith into regenerating the victims of war. She was kind, prepared, humble, and willing. She loved without measure, and she also had the ability to carry on when she was abandoned, for example when she was not given a steady job. Luz Mery Caicedo’s most acute pains were those that the armed men inflicted on her – suffering at the sight of so many Colombian children dying, pains that never stopped hurting her deeply, both when she closed her eyes and when she woke up. Luz Mery Caicedo’s transition from pain to the promotion of peace was manifested and developed in the Reconciliation and Peace Choir, the choir in which Luz Mery sang and charmed her audiences.

Reconciliation, integration, and peace
The Reconciliation and Peace Choir is the result of a pioneering program in Colombia. It was founded in 2019 at the initiative of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Medellín (Filarmed). It brought together former combatants and victims of the armed conflict in Colombia. Each of its members has a life story marked by the Colombian civil war, a conflict that began in 1964 and lasted until 2016, in a dispute for power between the government, paramilitary groups, drug traffickers and left-wing guerrillas such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The Choir during a concert. The Reconciliation and Peace Choir was founded in 2019 at the initiative of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Medellín (Filarmed).

Thanks to Filarmed, the members of the Reconciliation and Peace Choir have left behind the label of ‘victim’ or ‘ex-combatant’ to be known only by one name. They have broken down what divided them and become witnesses to integration, becoming craftsmen of a new country, singing together for reconciliation and the wellsprings of peace. Luz Mery was one of the backing vocalists. In the choir, the harmonious notes and lyrics are a symphony, in which the voices of the former attackers join those of the victims, the former receive forgiveness and the latter feel it welling up in their hearts.
The public remains enchanted because it experiences once again that peace is possible, that hell will never be able to take over a country, no matter how loudly the weapons of the violent continue to roar, that love wins in the end, that even in the midst of the worst horror, experiences and gestures of salvation can emerge. If those responsible for the war and those who suffered it can now embrace each other, sing together, follow the same notes, it is because forgiveness has the power to dispel fear and create brotherhood.

“I believe that forgiveness is possible through music”

The Philharmonic of Medellín is convinced of this. “The motto of the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra is ‘Music for Transformation’. This is why we believe that in addition to generating beauty, which we do with our shows, we have the responsibility to contribute to transformation through music”, says Maria Catalina Prieto, executive director of Filarmed.The Reconciliation and Peace Choir is like a family where no one is stigmatized – everyone is recognized, accepted, and loved as they are – and where, especially, all make their way through the difficulties of transforming pain and resentment into another type of pain, that of giving birth to a new humanity and new ways of living.

“I believe forgiveness is possible”
One of the choristers recalls: “I came because I think it’s beautiful to sing, but I didn’t believe in forgiveness. I didn’t think I could forgive”. Three months later, the girl was able to say: “I believe that forgiveness is possible through music, and this choir taught me to forgive”. In fact, within the choir (which meets every Saturday at two in the afternoon at the Palermo Theatre in Medellín), in addition to the dynamics of integration and coexistence, breathing techniques necessary for singing are taught; deep breathing is also taught to help achieve coexistence between victims and attackers. The breathing technique changes the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, reduces stress levels, fights anxiety, reduces the sensation of pain, and changes brain chemistry, thus modifying thoughts. The lyrics of the songs are the result of conversations between victims and attackers.

The lyrics of the songs are the result of conversations between victims and attackers.

They talk about identity and unity as a people, they refer to the need to forgive oneself and others, and they exalt the opportunity they have been given to be able to give themselves to each other.
Luz Mery Caicedo once said “They give us injections of joy”. And she said because she felt good: “I know we will be better every day”.
Jefferson is a typical example of this. “I fought in the war and now I have left all that behind me. This experience was something unique for me, something that I didn’t imagine I could experience. I feel joy, it seems to me that it is a dream come true, that people enjoy concerts with us”.
Together with him, María Isabel Palacio is one of the victims: “In less than six days, I lost my father and my brother, I also lost a nephew, I had to run away and hide twice. I was also kidnapped. But here we have found new life”.

“The Reconciliation and Peace Choir is like a family where no one is stigmatized – everyone is recognized, accepted, and loved as they are”

Libertad Vargas, one of the youngest members of the choir, added: “I’m here because I like to sing, I want to support reconciliation because we all deserve a second chance, and it seems to me that people who have gone through these things don’t deserve to be rejected and it’s never too late to try again”. Just as Reconciliation evolved through coexistence since people were able to get to know each other over time, it was also something sublime to see the progress they made as a choir, says director Maria Prieto: “At the beginning they sang just one voice and very much out of tune, but now they sing with two or three voices and their repertoire has expanded”. In turn, both during rehearsals and at the end of the concerts, when the members of the Reconciliation and Peace Choir look at each other – and gaze into each other’s eyes – they all agree that music has made them more human. (Photos: Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellín)

Fernando Féliz

Diversity of cultural and religious identity.

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 8:00

Pakistan has the second largest Muslim population after Indonesia.
Its population is young, with an average age of around 21 years, and is very diverse from an ethnic point of view with notable somatic and cultural varieties.

The largest ethnic group is made up of the Panjians who account for approximately 45% of the population, followed by the Pashtuns with 15%, the Sindhis with 14%, while the least numerous are the Sariaki and Baluchis.The country records one of the highest demographic growth rates in the world, as demonstrated by the fact that since independence it has gone from 65 million inhabitants in 1972, to 84 million in 1981, an estimated 176 million in 2009, and 250 million at present.
The majority of the population follows the Islamic faith, as is understandable from the historical evolution of the country, of which Sunnis are around 80% and Shiites are 20%. This factor, although constituting the strongest reason for state cohesion, does not exclude conflicts between a reformist vision and a traditionalist interpretation of Islam, causing frequent social and political clashes that periodically trouble the country. In addition to Islam, there are also small Christian and Hindu minorities.

Pakistan currently has a rural population of around 62% and villages represent the most widespread form of settlement. (Photo: Pixabay)

The country is also home to several million Afghan refugees who arrived in Pakistan in various stages at the time of the Soviet invasion of the country, the civil war, and the NATO invasion. This is due to the fact that the country, during the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan, in addition to offering logistical support to the Afghan guerrillas, then financed by Washington, received huge subsidies from the United States to welcome Afghan refugees, mainly Pashtuns.
Pakistan currently has a rural population of around 62% and villages represent the most widespread form of settlement. The territorial morphology also significantly affects the average population density, recording close on depopulation in the northern part, in the western part and partially in the South East. Thus, we go from fewer than 20 inhabitants per K/2 in Baluchistan, to around 360 inhabitants per K/2 in Punjab. Of the cities, Karachi is the most populous with over 15 million inhabitants. It is located on the coast along the Arabian Sea in the province of Sindh and was the country’s capital until 1959, before the creation of Islamabad.
Today, Karachi is building an important economic and financial centre in which the IT sector is also developing and where the most important Pakistani port is also present. It is followed by Lahore, on the Ravi River, the capital of Pakistani Punjab which with around 14 million inhabitants represents a cultural and commercial centre. The capital Islamabad, located on the Potwar plateau, has only one million inhabitants. The city, despite being the main political centre of the country, has never taken off from an economic point of view due also to its position which places it far from Postwar what constitutes the traditionally developed area of Pakistan. From a linguistic point of view, Urdu and English constitute the official languages even if spoken by only 8% of the population, while Punjabi, a recognized but unofficial language, is spoken by almost half of the population. This is followed by various regional idioms
in day-to-day use.

Session of the National Assembly of Pakistan. Pakistan is a federal parliamentary republic based on the 1973 constitution. Photo: VOA

From an institutional point of view, Pakistan is a federal parliamentary republic based on the 1973 constitution, comprising four main provinces (Punjab, Sindh, North-West Frontier Province, and Baluchistan), in addition to the Islamabad Capital Territory and those of the north, Gilgit, Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. The cultural identity of the provinces obviously precedes the formation of Pakistan and one of the most difficult tasks of the central state is to affirm the idea of a single Pakistani nation above regional particularisms.
The Parliament (Majlis-E-Shoora) is bicameral, and is made up of the National Assembly and the Senate, composed of 342 and 104 members, respectively. The representatives of the Assembly are directly elected by the people and hold office for five years, while those of the Senate hold office for six years. Regarding the latter, every three years the people vote to change half of the representation. The senators are elected from the four provincial assemblies, each of which elects 23 representatives; another eight are chosen by the members of the National Assembly representing the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA); the last four are instead chosen by all the members of the National Assembly to represent the federal capital Islamabad. The National Assembly also elects the prime minister who holds office for five years, while the president of the Republic is elected by an Electoral College which is a body composed of the Senate, the National Assembly, and the members of the Provincial Assemblies. The mandate of the President of the Republic lasts five years and can be renewed only once.

The military acts as arbiters of power even though the country has had its longest period of civilian government since 2008. File Archive

Despite its well-structured institutional framework, the country coexists in a state of indetermination between the military sphere and the political-civil sphere with the main elective institutions of the presidency and parliament which, although endowed with sovereignty, are in fact subordinated to the conditioning of the military leaders who continue to influence considerably foreign and national security policy, as well as the management of Pakistan’s nuclear program. The military, in fact, acts as arbiters of power even though the country has had its longest period of civilian government since 2008. Then there is the role of the ISI secret services which is also historically ambiguous both towards the executive and the rest of the military apparatus. In fact, the ISI, despite formally depending on the Prime Minister, maintains wide margins of independence. (Photos: Pixabay)
(F.R.)

Africa. Alternative Energies.

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 8:00

Many African governments continue to focus on fossil fuels. And, despite enormous potential, investment in renewable sources by multinationals is not taking off.
The next international climate conference is scheduled in Dubai from 30 November until December 12th.

Over the past two decades of the $2.8 trillion invested globally in renewable energy, only 2% has gone to projects in African countries. Despite Africa’s enormous potential in this sector, for the investments that matter, the oil and gas multinationals prefer to play it safe, financing mega-projects in Europe, North America and the Persian Gulf and allocating to the African continent – mainly to South Africa and states of the Maghreb – what remains of their budget.
The result is that the solar and wind sectors in which Africa should have made important steps forward some time ago, today do not cover even 10% of the clean energy capacity expressed by the continent.

African governments continue to focus on fossil fuels. File Swm

A reversal of this trend, although much more contained than expected, nevertheless occurred. In Nigeria, at the end of 2022, Shell completed the acquisition of the local solar energy producer Daystar Power in view of the start-up of a 400-megawatt (mW) project in the country. France’s Total is investing in the development of photovoltaic parks in Egypt, Burkina Faso, and Uganda. In Kenya, the Italian Eni has created an agri hub connected to its biorefinery in Gela and intends to replicate the model in Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Ivory Coast, and Rwanda.
Foreign investments in renewables in Africa, however, are not taking off, and there are a series of reasons behind this stalemate. The first concerns local networks for energy transmission. Especially in sub-Saharan countries these networks are obsolete and unable to absorb and manage large quantities of electricity deriving from intermittent renewable sources, such as wind and solar. Another factor that makes the African market unattractive is the absence of real competition on the continent. State-owned companies often represent the only customers for independent energy producers. This makes these private realities hostage to the choices of governments which, for their part, prove to be little or not at all inclined to abandon direct assignments in favour of transparent auctions for the assignment of supply services.

Solar panel in the Farm Gunsbewys, in southern Namibia. 123rf

The continuation of this established system is facilitated by antiquated regulatory frameworks which tend to hinder rather than incentivize private investment in the sector. To hope for a leap in quality, in addition to relying on financing and loans from bodies such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank, African countries must “create favourable environments for investment through innovative financing tools such as peer-to-peer trading (trading without intermediaries) or the pay-as-you-go model, auctions and all-inclusive tariffs in more solid and stronger regulatory frameworks than government guarantees” explains Nivedh Das Thaikoottathil, renewables & power analyst at Rystad Energy, an independent energy research company based in Oslo.
And he continues: “We also need more transparency on the part of governments, a more extensive liberalization of the energy sector, with greater participation of the private sector, and the modernization of networks and infrastructures for the transmission and distribution of electricity”.However, something has changed in the last decade. A progressive liberalization of the electricity market began in Ghana in 2011 and in Côte d’Ivoire in 2014. In Benin a law in this direction was introduced in 2020. But the continent continues to travel at double speed in the race for renewables. Those countries in which the big oil & gas companies know they can invest in large projects with a certain level of security remain firmly in the lead. Nivedh continues: “75% of investments in the last decade have gone to South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, and Kenya. These countries are chosen for the most favourable risk-return ratio, the stability of their domestic markets, political reforms and rapidly falling prices of renewables”.

Eni’s agri-hub, Wote, Makueni County. Courtesy: Eni

For the installation of a wind farm in South Africa, for example, there are convenient conditions, comparable to those of Finland and Portugal. And prices are even lower in Egypt and Morocco. Due to its characteristics – availability of large spaces, sun, and water sources – North Africa is the region that is doing the most on the hydrogen front. But although African clean energy is becoming increasingly competitive in terms of costs, the exploitation of fossil fuels continues to be considered more advantageous by African governments.
More than the long-term solutions proposed by choices oriented towards the use of renewable sources, the majority of the continent’s heads of state aim to immediately obtain the most from the oil and gas deposits at their disposal.
In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni is the most influential sponsor of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project, the pipeline that will connect his country to Tanzania and allow efficient marketing of crude oil. In Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara is looking to the Beeline offshore fields to give a boost to the national economy. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has declared that he wants to double the country’s crude oil production, which is already among the top African producers. Senegal and Mauritania are aiming for the GTA (Greater Tortue Ahmeyim) project for the offshore extraction of natural gas.
Among the issues at the centre of the latest United Nations Conference on Climate Change – Cop27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, 6-18 November 2022 – was the development of the carbon credit market, i.e., financial securities equivalent to one ton of CO2 not emitted or absorbed thanks to environmental protection projects. There are currently over 200 projects around the world focused on the use and development of CCS (carbon capture and storage) technologies for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide. The African continent itself stands out as one of the most sought-after destinations for energy multinationals to invest in compensation projects.
In May 2022, Italy’s Eni announced a $25 million investment to support the Egyptian government in implementing a pilot project for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide in the Meleiha gas field.

South Africa. A house with a solar geyser in a township in Willowmore in the Eastern Cape Province. 123rf

In 2021, the government of Congo and the French Total and Forêt Ressources Management signed a partnership agreement to create a 40,000-hectare forest on the Batéké plateaus through which the aim is to absorb over 10 million tonnes of CO2 in twenty years. Also in 2021, Shell and C-Quest Capital launched a project to distribute electric hobs to 1.5 million families living in villages spread across Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Uganda, and Kenya and thus generate 60 million carbon credits over ten years. However, more and more shadows are gathering on the transparency of the system. Behind many of these investments, greenwashing operations are emerging, that is, companies make public opinion believe that they are working to protect the environment even if this is not entirely true. Journalistic investigations have dismantled the calculation methodologies used by various certification bodies to evaluate and reward ‘virtuous’ companies. In the background, an issue remains to be clarified which was raised at the Egyptian COP but not sufficiently addressed: what proportion of these multi-million-dollar projects is actually left in the hands of the territories and communities on which the multinationals shower their investments? The introduction of more transparent and stringent criteria to guarantee a correct evaluation of the work of those who make green investments in search of carbon credits is one of the priorities to be placed at the centre of the next international climate conference scheduled in Dubai from 30 November until December 12th. (Open Photo: Egypt field with wind turbines. 123rf)

Rocco Bellantone

African Startup, an Expanding Universe.

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 8:00

The projects of young technological entrepreneurs in healthcare, agriculture, the environment, logistics, finance and e-commerce
are multiplying.

Agile, young, innovative. And certainly full of vitality. This is the startup sector in Africa. In recent years, ideas applied to technology – by Africans to solve African problems and needs – have multiplied.
So much so that we are now talking about African Silicon Valley(s). Hundreds of hubs developed especially in Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Egypt, and Morocco.
Six startups were nominated for the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer Lists last year, with branches ranging from healthcare to financial and insurance services to e-commerce.
It is, therefore, an expanding sector, not only from the point of view of creativity but also – obviously – from that of investments.
Venture capital investments, as reported by Forbes, should have reached 7 billion dollars this year.
Yet, according to the latest data, in the first quarter of 2023, African startups raised 57.2% less capital than last year. In 2022, the total investment raised was $6.5 billion.

Six startups were nominated for the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer Lists last year. 123rf

In any event, the energy of young entrepreneurs continues to expand, and if until about seven years ago, Africa did not have unicorn startups, i.e., those valued at over a billion dollars, by 2021 the continent was already home to seven of this type.
Google for Startups (GfS) recently announced new funds, announcing the 25 new African companies selected for the Black Founders Fund. A fund that this year reaches 4 million dollars.
It is a financing mechanism – now in its third year – which in the intentions of the US giant aims to overcome what has been defined as ‘Racial and systemic inequality in the financing of venture capital (VC)’. Of the startups selected, 72% are led or co-founded by women.
The sectors in which selected companies operate include a technology platform for mental health services, an artificial intelligence-based mobile technology to improve agriculture, banking, healthcare and insurance, logistics and transportation, retail, and a fintech that aims to become Africa’s first women-focused bank.
However, a sensitive question concerning startups is whether they will last and for how long; in short, their sustainability over time. In 2020 the failure rate ranged from 58.7% in Kenya to 75% in Ethiopia.The main reason (not only in Africa but globally) lies in the depletion of funds and, immediately following, in the lack of a market for products or services.It is therefore obvious that the initial evaluation – by innovators as well as by lenders – requires much more than a good idea and enthusiasm.

African Startup. Agile, young, innovative. And certainly, full of vitality. 123rf

The interesting thing, however, is that the report from which those data were extracted, The Better Africa, states that – from 2010 to 2018 – the startup closure rate for Africa in total was 54.20%., a much lower result than countries such as the United States, China, and India. While in 2022 in the MENA area (Middle East and North Africa) there was an increase of 24%.It is interesting to know this new generation of young entrepreneurs, born like their Western peers with a natural approach to technology and its means.
Starting from the lockdown period, the US broadcaster Voice Of Africa (VOA) has opened a series – obligatory title, StartUP Africa – in co-production with the main television stations in Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya, which tells the stories of the challenges, hopes and fears faced by young tech entrepreneurs across the continent.
The series includes how to turn ‘simple’ ideas into profitable businesses. It’s also a way to learn about the phases of their work, the ability to participate in business incubators, to network and exchange ideas within and outside their respective areas. And, not to be underestimated, it showcases a way to inspire and encourage other young talents. (Open Photo: 123rf)

Antonella Sinopoli

Pakistan. A Long Period of Instability.

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 8:00

A tortuous path towards independence. Contrasts with India. The Kashmir disputes. The power of the military. Economic crisis. Internal security issues. The next general election will be held in January 2024.

The young Islamic Republic of Pakistan, officially created in 1956 following the abolition of British rule, is geographically located in South Asia. The territory is mainly covered by high mountains, arid deserts and uncultivated plains located at sea level, which together comprise three fifths of the surface, while the remaining two fifths belong to the fertile alluvial plains formed by the Indus and its tributaries, located in the eastern part of the country.
The Indus is the largest watercourse, originating in China and flowing into Pakistan, touching all the provinces, except Baluchistan, and then flowing into the Arabian Sea. Baluchistan, located west of the Indus plain, constitutes an extension of the Iranian plateau and the Afghan Sulaiman Mountains.
To the west there are also the Hindu Kush chains which connect to the north with the Karakoram and, also to the north, but on the other face of the Indus valley, lies the Himalayan massif with the peaks of Nanga Prabat and K2 which exceed eight thousand meters in altitude.

The country borders Iran to the west, Afghanistan to the north and north-west, India to the east and south-east while to the south it is washed by the Arabian Sea which is part of the Indian Ocean.
Then there is the part of Kashmir administered by Pakistan which borders China to the north-east.
The border with Afghanistan, delimited by the well-known Durand line, is a very fragile border as it was drawn in 1893, when the country did not yet exist and its territory belonged to India, which was under British rule at that time. The agreement, signed by the then Emir of Afghanistan Abdur Rahman and the English emissary of British India, Sir Mortimer Durand, whose name the border bears, caused countless political problems in the following years as it clearly divided areas inhabited by tribal communities that had until then been homogeneous.
Of these, the Pashtun population was the one that suffered the greatest consequences as a significant part of it, which traditionally gravitated towards the markets of Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Tank, and Quetta, fell within the British Raj.

Lahore. The Badshahi Mosque, or “imperial mosque”. Built by the Emperor Aurangzeb between 1671 and 1673, it remains the largest mosque of the Mughal period; its courtyard can accommodate 100,000 worshipers. (Photo: CC BY-SA 4.0/Jalal.shahid)

The purpose of this division was essentially aimed at weakening the demographic weight of the Pashtuns within Afghanistan, compared to that of other ethnic groups, and consequently undermining the nation-state project then under construction, cantered precisely on the Pashtun element that had been dominant on the political level since the eighteenth century. On the Afghan side, on the other hand, it was believed that the alliance with the British would be useful in blocking the advance of the Russians who were of greater concern to the Emir than any possible threats from the British who promised the Afghans subsidies also in terms of weapons and war equipment.
However, to fully understand the history of Pakistan and the current dynamics, we need to look back in time and reach the period in which India came under British rule in 1857. It was at that time that the idea of an independent Islamic nation began to develop among the Muslim populations of the Indian area, albeit in an embryonic way, which remained in incubation for the following decades, and which began to show its first effects in 1900, at the moment in which Hindi was declared an official language by the colonial administration.The fear that Hindus, demographically more numerous, could attack Muslim culture and religion in the subcontinent, in fact, gave a strong boost to the cause of self-determination of Muslims who gave life to the Muslim League to protect the freedoms of the Muslim minority in India. But the real acceleration towards the affirmation of separatist doctrines occurred with the outbreak of the Second World War which saw the British colonial government of India go to war alongside the mother country.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah – politician and the founder of Pakistan (1876–1948). File Archive

The League, in fact, from that moment rejected the concept of unity of the Indian nation, recommending the creation of an autonomous Muslim state.
At the end of the conflict, Great Britain, finding itself short of resources to support its vast colonial empire, passed the Independence of India Act of 1947, through which it took the decision to leave India, arranging that, in the summer of the same year, India and Pakistan acquired independence on the dates of 14 and 15 August, respectively, as well as their simultaneous entry into the Commonwealth. It was a transitory situation which ended in 1956 with the definitive abolition of British rule. Independence, however, generated quite a few problems relating to territorial partition with sectarian violence and inter-religious clashes which caused the exodus of several million people. At the same time, a further conflict broke out in the impervious mountains of Kashmir caused by the provisions of the agreements regarding the (theoretical) right to choose, granted to the population, regarding which of the two new states they wanted to join. Since the area has a large Islamic majority, the choice for Pakistan was almost obvious.

Pakistan Independence Day at Razmak, North West Frontier, 15 August 1947. File Archive

This produced the Indian reaction and the consequent conflict with thousands of deaths and a decidedly unstable territorial structure considering that the bulk of the Muslim presence, attested in the Kashmir valley, falls under Indian sovereignty, while Pakistan was recognized as having a large, not very accessible, and sparsely populated portion of the region.
The new state, from a geographical point of view, was divided into two large portions: that of western Pakistan and that of eastern Bengal. The two regions were predominantly agricultural since the few industries that existed before 1947 had been inherited from India.
In 1948 the country once again fell into chaos following the decision taken by the governor of Dacca to adopt Urdu as the official language. This was followed by harsh protests in Bengal and the birth of the Bengali language movement which reached its peak of mobilization in 1952, provoking ferocious reactions from the Pakistani police who opened fire on the activists. The episode, certainly, did not weaken the tenor of the demands that were increasingly fuelled over the years, reinvigorating the independence movement which led Bengal to independence on 27 March 1971. This provoked a harsh reaction from Pakistan and the consequential conflict between army and Mukti Bahini. The Bangladeshi freedom fighters were supported by India which also declared itself open to accepting the refugees. (Photo: 123rf.com)

(F.R.)

Angola. MPLA Party and Family Affairs.

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 8:00

The country’s diamond, copper, gold, and manganese mines are in the hands of a circle of loyalists of President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, members of the ruling MPLA party.

Diamonds, copper, gold, manganese. A small circle of entrepreneurs and ‘friends’ of President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço and members of the ruling party Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) are in control of Angola’s mineral resources. Some, taking advantage of the privileged channels guaranteed by membership of the MPLA, have secured participation in companies within the diamond sector, in particular. Others have forged their way, thanks to friendships and degrees of kinship, with important figures on the Angolan political scene.In the year 2022, Angola produced approximately ten million carats, for a turnover of 1.4 billion dollars. Much of this production is concentrated in the eastern part of the country, in scattered sites on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia.
Here the MPLA’s tentacles extend through the Hipergesta holding. Formally established as an asset management company in 1997, the holding company was already on the rise during the long presidency of José Eduardo dos Santos (1992-2017).

President of Angola, João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço. UN Photo.

It is not a state company, but it is as if it were one since its doors are wide open within Endiama, the national company in the sector with which it shares several corporate shareholdings. This is the case of Sociedade Mineira do Lunhinga, which manages the Lunhinga deposit in the province of Lunda Norte, where 1.9 million carats are produced per year and also of Coerm, which controls the Mualengue mine in the province of Lunda Sul and the Luanguinga mine, in the province of Moxico on the border with Zambia.
There are about ten MPLA representatives in business with the holding company, as Africa Intelligence reveals. These politicians hold shares of between 5% and 15% in 9 mining concessions: Lunhinga, Mualengue, Luanguinga, Tchegi, Cálua, Cacuílo, Cassasala, Caipupa, and Lumaca.
The most prominent figures are the former Minister for Economic Coordination Manuel José Nunes Júnior, the Secretary for Planning and MPLA MP Joaquim António Carlos dos Reis Júnior and the MP Luzia Pereira de Sousa Inglês Van-Dúnem.
The president of the board of directors is Manuel Moisés Pinto, economic advisor to the Angolan vice president, Esperança Maria Eduardo Francisco da Costa. The group also includes the former president of the Court of Auditors, Exalgina Renée Gamboa, who resigned last February after the initiation of legal proceedings against her for embezzlement.In addition to diamonds, the Angolan government also aims to relaunch gold production after the inauguration last year of the country’s first refining plant in Viana, on the outskirts of the capital Luanda.

The National Bank of Angola. CC BY 2.0/ David Stanley

Among the most active businessmen in the sector is Luis Manuel da Fonseca Nunes. Governor of the province of Benguela and a member of the political bureau of the MPLA, he owns a 77% stake in the Sociedade Mineira do Chicuamone, which was granted prospecting permits in the Chicuamone mine through a ministerial decree of June 2022. Lawyer Alberto Cabongo de Já, uncle of Ambassador Alberto Cabongo Cassonga who is currently administrative secretary of the Economic Community of Central African States, is also a member of the MPLA. He owns 51% of the shares of the Tetelo copper mine, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, where construction began last May in the presence of the Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Pedro Azevedo. Cabongo de Já also owns 15% of Coola Mining, which heads the Coola project in the province of Huambo in the central part of the country, where there is a mine spread over an area of 8,000 km².
In June 2020 he decided to invest 5 million dollars there in search
of rare earth deposits.
Alexis Bayigamba, on the other hand, is a Rwandan entrepreneur close to President Paul Kagame, as well as brother-in-law of the former Angolan foreign minister Manuel Domingos Augusto. Last April, his company Triplets Bettencourt Diamantes was awarded exploration permits to find reserves of copper, bauxite, and zinc in the Tomboco mine, located in the northwestern province of Zaire. In addition to Tomboco, the company also operates in the Lumbala Nguimbo copper mine, in the province of Moxico as well as in the Capacassa diamond mine, near the city of Lucapa in the province of Lunda Norte. (Photo: Panorama of Luanda. 123rf.com)

Rocco Bellantone

Mali. The Art of Painting with Clay.

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 8:00

The Groupe Bogolan Kasobané, from Mali, revolutionized the art scene in their country when they abandoned Western painting techniques and, for the first time, applied to contemporary art a traditional Malian technique, Bogolan, which uses clay to paint on fabrics.

The word ‘Bogolan’ in the Bambara language means ‘made from the earth’. It refers to an ancient traditional painting technique from Mali, that uses cotton fabrics hand-dyed with vegetable dyes that react to contact with a type of clay with a high iron content. In addition to the materials, Bogolan is characterized by geometric patterns in shades of yellow and black, with touches of red, brown, and white, with the aim of communicating messages.Initially, Bogolan was practiced by women and was reserved for hunters, warriors, and healers. Several ethnic groups in Mali, such as the Dogon, Bobos, Senufos, Miniankas, Mainkés and Bambaras, practice this traditional art.

Groupe Bogolan Kasobané , Innovators and pioneers in the Bogolan fine arts movement.

In 1978, the Malian artist Kandioura Coulibaly (1954-2015) brought together five fellow artists – four men and one woman – and created the Groupe Bogolan Kasobané (G.B.K), to do historical research into the Bogolan technique, preserve it, revitalize it, expand it from villages to cities and make it not only an element of national identity but also a reference point and a school of thought for all of Africa. In the group’s name, the term ‘Kasobané’ means ‘no more prison, we are free’, to underline that the group does not use foreign materials, but only national ones, and that Bogolan painting has a place in contemporary Malian art. To achieve their goal, the group members carried out extensive research throughout Mali, living in villages for months and integrating into communities. In the villages, they learned the vocabulary of symbolic images and the meanings of the traditional colours and patterns used.
The G.B.K. has its studio in the capital Bamako and a gallery in Segou, 235 kilometres from the capital. It organizes numerous exhibitions in Mali and around the world and produces costumes and sets for cinema and theatre, as well as fashion fabrics and decorative items.

Tradition and contemporaneousness
The acronym of the G.B.K. group is the signature on each piece, together with the year of creation. This is because instead of making individual paintings, each artist contributed to the creation of the drawing. This is one of its originalities. In addition to being a distinctive element and a real challenge for the ego of each artist, this characteristic of the group is closely linked to its philosophy: the idea of community in African societies, the family mentality, discussing together and, if necessary, to set a work aside to pick up and finish it later. Every time Groupe Bogolan Kasobané decides to create a work, they discuss and decide together on the theme, its composition, and the sketch.

‘Ashanti fish’. Bogolan art has become a vehicle of identity.

Bogolan art has become a vehicle of identity and thought, thanks to the tradition associated with it. The mythology, cosmology and historical aspects of Mali’s ethnic groups are found in the symbolism of its works. One of G.B.K.’s emblematic works is the painting that depicts the Kurukan Fuga Charter, also known as the Mandingo Charter, which was the constitution of Mali and is considered the first human rights charter in history. With its promulgation, King Sundiata Queita sought to abolish slavery in the 13th century and to guarantee personal freedoms, freedom of expression and peace in the Mali Empire, which expanded beyond the current borders of the country that today bears its name. With this painting, the group wanted to demonstrate that Africa also contributed to the development of the world. In the painting we see a semicircle that is gradually breaking down, with a man representing the creator of the graph, Sundiata Queita. Bambara graphic symbols represent power, creation, dynamism, and good people.

‘The Origin of the Earth’. This painting depicts the creation of the world according to Dogon cosmogony.

Another of the group’s most famous canvases depicts a dark ochre human figure that takes up most of the painting. Inside, twenty-three brown hands with a white symbol on each of them taken from among Bambara ideograms representing elements such as water, air, fire and earth, and others. Above the bust, there are various figures that invite you to analyse the painting in detail: a horse, elephant, a snake, a man in a boat and a woman grinding, as well as many other elements. The work is titled ‘Man Is a Dangerous Animal’ and with it the artists want to remind us that man is a mammal, an animal too, who is destroying nature and therefore destroying himself, because if other living beings disappear, man will also disappear. Exploiting the ancestral dynamic of transmitting knowledge and advice from one generation to the next, Groupe Bogolan Kasobané produces works such as ‘The Origin of the Earth’. This painting depicts the creation of the world according to Dogon cosmogony, according to which a strong wind was unleashed on the universe, it became a tornado, and an egg was formed inside. Thanks to the vibration, the egg hatched, creating land, water, animals, plants, and human beings.

‘The Charter of Kurukan Fuga’, also known as the Mandingo Charter.

And, since it is thanks to women that Bogolan art was born and has spanned the centuries, there are also works that speak of their importance. The group’s founder, Kandioura Coulibaly, said: ‘The woman is the earth and we are on the earth. The woman is also water, and we emerge from the water’.
The importance of the G.B.K. is reflected in the current strength of the Bogolan technique. In Mali, it was disappearing but now it is contemporary art, keeping tradition as the protagonist. Its use in the group’s paintings has thrilled many young artists, who use it as a means of cultural identification and social communication in other ways, including fashion. Photos: Groupe Bogolan Kasobané. Open Photo: ‘Progress II’.

Fernando Féliz

The Philippines. Let’s Save the ‘Amazon of the Oceans’.

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 8:00

“It is not too late to save the ‘Amazon of the oceans’, the appeal of Edwin Gariguez, parish priest and director of Caritas in the island of Mindoro, in the centre of the Philippines, expresses the desires, dreams, hope of thousands of fishermen who want to preserve a marine ecosystem unique in the world, ‘a paradise in danger’.

That paradise, specifies the priest, “is first of all a work of God for the benefit of the people living there, it is the ‘common home’ in which man and creation live in harmony”.
For this reason, Father Edwin Gariguez is leading a campaign aimed at protecting the so-called ‘Verde Island Passage’ (VIP), a marine corridor right in the centre of the ‘Coral Triangle’, in the western Pacific, between the Philippine islands of Mindoro, and central Luzon, Marinduque.
The corridor has 36 Marine Protected Areas, and houses over 300 coral species, underwater rock canyons and reef formations, as well as 1,700 species of shore fish.

Father Edwin Gariguez, parish priest and director of Caritas in the island of Mindoro. (Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize)

According to the experts, the VIP has the highest concentration of marine biodiversity on the planet, and for this reason, it has been called ‘the Amazon of the oceans’.
Father Gariguez explains “This paradise is in danger due to questions of profit, incorrect political choices linked to energy supply, and due to the indifference of local administrators and the international community”.

Damage to creation and to man
The very short-sighted choices mainly concern the extraction, storage, and transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the provinces of Oriental Mindoro and Batangas, which overlook the strait. Fossil companies are on track to turn Batangas in the Philippines into an LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) import hub. Together with the Philippine government, they are preparing a massive rollout of LNG terminals and power plants. To realize their plans, the companies are willing to sacrifice the Philippines’ precious ocean life and the people who depend on it. As the government continues to choose fossil gas as a solution to the energy crisis, increasingly large ships carrying liquefied natural gas will use the Green Passage inlet. The first alarming sign of this threat, and its consequences, was the serious environmental disaster that occurred last February, when the tanker MT Princess Empress sank precisely in that marine corridor, after it experienced problems with its engine and began to drift due to rough sea.

Oil spill off the waters of Oriental Mindoro. (Photo: Presidential Communications Office)

The accident caused the spill of 800 thousand litres of industrial oil: a vast black stain still covers the stretch of sea and has smeared the coasts of the municipalities of Oriental Mindoro. Father Gariguez explains the consequences of the oil spill: “The accident has caused serious damage to the ecosystem and marine biodiversity of the area, the health of the inhabitants is threatened, the livelihoods of the fishermen have been disrupted, as well as tourism and other commercial undertakings”. Many associations and civil society groups have come together in the national forum, Eco-Convergence, to help the communities of the area affected by the serious environmental disaster that occurred last February. The funds collected by the Eco-Convergence forum will be used for relief and cleanup operations in Mindoro, in order to meet the needs of the affected population, in particular local fishermen, who have seen their activities and their survival compromised.

The care of the common home
At the centre of the forum, in which Gariguez is actively involved, are the teachings of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, Laudato Sì, which prophetically connects environmental, economic, social, cultural, and spiritual issues, which are synthesised in the expression “care for our common home”. Pope Francis urges society to move away from the myth of perennial progress at the expense of the Earth’s resources and calls on us to recognise that development which fails to respect the Earth is a false economy. The Encyclical Laudato sì underlines that we need a new definition of progress rooted in ‘integral ecology’, recognising that ‘everything is connected’. Father Gariguez reiterates: “Our mission is to take care of mother-Earth, the home where we live”.

Traditional Philippines boats. 123rf

As the Philippine government is planning to build another eight gas extraction plants, and seven terminals for the processing and storage of fuel, Father Gariguez, who has also been director of the Philippine national Caritas, has decided to get actively involved in the cause for the safeguard of the ‘Amazon of the oceans’; he is also travelling abroad to meet people and make them aware that this paradise in the Philippines is in danger. “The government of the Philippines is intensifying the development of infrastructure for the supply of natural gas to supplement electricity production. The aim is to transform the country into a leading LNG hub in Asia, as President Marcos Jr. said”, the priest explains. In a political framework that continues to see fossil gas as a solution to the energy crisis, the alliance with multinational oil companies and the financial support of European banking institutions remains fundamental. It is the logic of globalization which, with the two dynamics of exploitation and profit, can affect seriously, and upset the simple and peaceful life of communities, in various parts of the world.

Unheard appeals
According to a study carried out by the Centre for Environment and Energy Development (CEED), the extraction and transportation of fossil gas will increase water pollution, underwater noise pollution, sedimentation, and the destruction of coral reefs. Furthermore, with hundreds of cargo ships plying the stretch of sea, the possibility of accidents harmful to the environment and to the livelihood of the two million people who rely on the conservation of that ecosystem will rise terribly. Last May, Father Gariguez arrived in Europe along with members of some NGOs, such as Reclaim Finance, Oxfam France and others, to meet representatives of European banking institutions.

fisherman life. 123rf

He urged them to evaluate more carefully the financing of new projects by multinational oil companies such as the British Shell, that are linked to the construction of plants in the Mindoro region. But Western banks and companies involved in those projects – he reported – did not give satisfactory or encouraging answers.

A paradise to be protected

In particular in Paris, at the BNP Paribas’ Annual General Meeting, Father Gariguez and some other people who, like him, were participating in order to support initiatives aimed at protecting the environment, were targeted with criticism, boos and racist comments from shareholders and were treated extremely unkindly by security personnel.
Lack of respect and aggressive behaviours reflect the tension that occurs when discussing environmental and social issues. “We ask that oil companies make responsible investments that respect environment and people” says Father Gariguez. “We want to save that paradise in danger in the Philippines, where many tourists go to enjoy the beauty of the sea, and which is a source of livelihood for the local population. Our mission is in the spirit of the Encyclical Laudato sì, we want the protection and respect of creation. We can’t stop now. We want to prevent that paradise from becoming hell”. (Open Photo: View of Sabang in Mindoro.123rf)

Paolo Affatato/Credere

World Youth Day 2023. Young Ukrainians: The Cry of Pain.

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 8:00

More than one and a half million young people, the highest number ever, flew to Lisbon and filled its narrow and cobbled streets with its numerous climbs, on the occasion of the World Youth Day 2023. An unexpected encounter. The cry of pain of thousands of young Ukrainians. But evil will never have the last word.

It’s a warm evening when in Rua Augusta in Lisbon, a group of young people from Ukraine meet some young Russians. Their gazes meet. They have the same age and perhaps the same dreams. A great silence falls. The Russians lower their heads. Nobody moves.

Finally, Iryna says in a calm voice: “We are not here to argue with you. Our hearts bleed. Many of our friends were killed. We ask you to take a position, to decide which side to be on: whether that of the truth or that of the evil that kills our brothers, our friends, our family members”. The silence continues. Then slowly the two groups move away.

Over 500 young people from Ukraine, Greek-Catholic Church members and Latin Church Catholics, participated in the WYD in Lisbon. Many of them wore black t-shirts with the faces of children who have been killed since Russia’s invasion. Some of them lost their lives because of missile attacks, some others died after being trapped in the rubble of an airstrike. Some t-shirts also showed the names of the victims of the war: Artem, one year and seven months old, from Kryvyi Rih; Polina, aged 8, died in Mariupol; Ivan, 15 years old, from the Kiev region.

“Russian aggression has erased a generation. Our silence is that of those whom the bombs silenced forever” – said Father Roman Demush, deputy director of the youth pastoral department of the Greek Catholic Church, who led the group. “We want the wounds of our people, our wounds, to be embraced by the wounds of Christ, being aware that the resurrection passes through pain and death”.

But the dark t-shirts did not show only the tragedy of a country but also the desire for peace symbolized by a small white dove. “We want to tell young people around the world not to forget us” underlined Father Roman. “Our cry for peace and against war rising here must become a common, collective cry”.

During the days of the World Youth Day 2023, young Ukrainians spoke with many of their peers, describing their suffering and their pain, just like Valentyna Velychko, 17 years old. “The war – she said – surprised me in the Kherson region where my parents live and where, on 24 February 2022, I had just returned: in fact, I was studying in Melitopol at that time. In the first few days the invaders took everything that was dear to me. And now they are still in control of my city”. Valentyna was forced to flee her home and now she lives in Zaporizhzhia.

“The conflict turned my life upside down: now, I’m afraid of every loud noise, I was forced to abandon the house where my family and I lived, but the war also taught me to believe in the extraordinary power of prayer. Prayer unites people during artillery attacks, while they are in the trenches, or wounded in hospital, or while their land is occupied by the enemy”, she pointed out.

“We showed our peers that Ukraine resists, fights, and prays” says Olena Syniuha, 19 years old, from Lviv. “We also represented those friends who were unable to participate in this event because they are on the front line to defend us. We want the truth to be known”.

Anna Saprun, 24 years old, also from Lviv adds: “We have made known the crimes that Russia commits. The louder we cry, the more support we’ll get”. “I would have never thought it was possible to hate a person, to rejoice for the death of the enemy, or to seek revenge. Yet it happens. War changes you”, says Maryna Holovchenko, 23, from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, constantly targeted by Russian forces because it is just 50 kilometres from the border.

Olena Bondareva, 25, who lives in Vinnytsia says with a broken voice: “Bombings show us how precarious human existence is. But Christ encourages us to be strong and we place our future in the hands of God”. Ivanna Andrusiak knows this well: she is 18 years old and studies at the University of Kiev.

“Between May and June, we experienced aerial attacks every single night. I remember that while I was in bed in the evening I wondered how much sleep I could get before having to rush to the basement. I learnt to recognise the sound of a missile hitting its target or that of a missile that has been shot down. But what scares me the most is the acknowledgement that we have become accustomed to war”.

“We brought to this World Youth Day our tears, our fear, our anger but above all our desire for peace”, says Maryana Stronska, 23 years old, from Lviv. “We asked everyone to pray for the peace that will come when both sides take a step towards each other and agree that respect for others begins with the respect for the boundaries of their land”.

Ivanna Bohak, 23 years old, from Ternopil, who participated in the WYD and saw the Pope for the first time, says “I would have liked to experience this event as a great pilgrimage of peace, instead I will remember it as our testimony of a country that has been attacked and as the cry of pain for those people who were killed in missile attacks”. Those who represented Ukraine on the shores of the ocean are young people wounded in their souls. But they also know that evil will never have the last word.

Patrick Mutesa

Chad. At the Service of the People.

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 8:00

A community of Comboni Missionary Sisters work at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bébédjia, dedicating their lives with passion and joy to serving those most in need. We visited the place.

Bébédjia, a town located in the Eastern Logone region of Chad, a crossing point on the road that leads from Cameroon to the Central African Republic, is located 650 kilometres from Ndjamena, the capital of the country. There we met the community of Comboni Missionary Sisters who work at St. Joseph’s Hospital which belongs to the diocese of Doba.Sister María del Pilar Justo, a Spanish Comboni Sister, almost 80 years old, welcomes us. She has spent 45 years in this country and is one of the nuns responsible for the administration of the hospital.
At a brisk pace, Sister Pilar accompanies us to the office of Samuel, the administrative director of the hospital, who helps us to get to know the hospital. She tells us: “The health facility is made up of several wings spread over a large piece of land. It was founded in 1992 on the initiative of the first bishop of the diocese, the Comboni Mgr.Michele Russo”.

The entrance to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bébédjia. It was founded in 1992.

Sister Pilar recalls that it was Mgr. Russo who asked the Comboni Sisters to create a resident community and to help transform the then small centre for disabled children that operated there, into a hospital.The administrative director instead points out: “Since then, the hospital has developed both structurally and in terms of the services offered. Today we have several departments and the hospital’s medical and nursing staff has also increased in number and qualifications.
Today there are 150 inpatient beds of which 46 are for paediatrics, 40 for medicine, 34 for maternity, and 30 for post-operative care. It has an average of about 1,000 patients per month and serves a population of more than 200,000”.
Due to its geographical position and the quality of the services offered, people come to the hospital not only from all over the country, but also from other African countries, such as Sudan, Central African Republic, Cameroon, and the Congo. Of the three doctors at the hospital, two are Comboni Sisters: Sister Elisabeth Raule, Italian, and Sister Susan Akullo Eyen, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

An Oasis of Hope
The climate here is dry and there is a lot of dust in the air due to the nearby desert. The days are warm and the nights cool. For this reason, the region has a high rate of viral diseases, malaria, respiratory infections and tuberculosis, diseases with a high mortality rate.
Malnutrition also persists and the maternal and infant mortality rate is one of the highest in the world (1,063 deaths per 100,000 births and 107 deaths per 1,000 births, respectively).
The hospital has a laboratory to carry out some analyses (especially for pathologies such as malaria and tuberculosis) and ultrasounds; there is also a team to monitor malnutrition which affects hundreds of children. In the area where the outpatient service is provided, located to the left of the hospital upon entering, AIDS patients from all over the region, and from other latitudes, are treated. This service is provided by the Sisters of a Mexican congregation (Missionary Sisters of the Risen Christ), who live in an area of the hospital complex, and who treat these patients.

The director of the hospital with María del Pilar Justo, a Spanish Comboni Sister.

The Chadian government has built public hospitals and dispensaries in the province but, unfortunately, these facilities are only partially functional, as they often do not have the medicines or medical-surgical material to treat patients. The average life expectancy in the country is 53 years (World Bank, 2021) and the government invests only 5.41% of GDP (World Bank, 2020) in healthcare.
The administrative director confirms: “Saint Joseph’s Hospital does not receive any state support (the government only pays the salaries of the professionals who depend on the state and who work there)”.

Sister Elisabeth Raule performs approximately 600 surgeries a year.

Although it is located in a region where oil is most exploited, the profits obtained are not invested to promote the development of the local population. To finance the hospital and contribute to the purchase of materials and equipment, patients are asked for a small contribution, but above all, funds are obtained through projects from abroad. However, as the hospital the administrative director reminded us, no patient is ever turned away if he cannot pay. Everyone is welcome, regardless of their social, ethnic, or religious condition (Chad is a Muslim-majority country). He continues: “Due to the evaluation of hospital efficiency by the State, which conditions the financing of public service providers, the city hospital of Bébédjia is often short of funds and sends terminally ill, or those with more complicated diseases, to us at St. Joseph’s”.

Willing Service
Sister Elisabeth, a surgeon, has been in Chad for over twelve years. We meet her after a long day spent in the operating room. The hospital has operations scheduled twice a week, but the pace of her work is affected by the number of patients who enter the hospital, especially those who arrive in a serious condition and require immediate care. And these are the majority. Sister Elisabeth performs approximately 600 surgeries a year. Despite her difficulties, she states with a shy smile: “I am very happy here. I think I have learned a lot and I feel privileged. Being among patients is my world!”.

Women do the laundry at St. Joseph Hospital. Patients’ families are responsible for feeding and caring for the sick.

The missionary doctor is the medical director of St. Joseph Hospital. She explains that patients only come to the hospital when they are seriously ill because, initially, they resort to traditional remedies and seek healing from village healers. But every day, she treats patients who have been involved in road accidents, have been attacked by animals or have been victims of stabbings, gunshots, or arrows. Many of these incidents are the result of clashes between farmers and nomadic shepherds, who invade fields and crops and, since they are armed, feel they can challenge the farmers.
One of Sister Elisabeth’s goals is prevention. For example, in the maternity ward, with the involvement of the nurses, she tries to explain to young mothers the basic hygiene and nutritional care that their children must have in order to grow up healthily.
As the evening falls, the sultry heat gives way to a pleasant coolness. In allocated places, the families prepare food for their loved ones who are patients while the nurses prepare for the night shift. The Comboni Sisters withdraw into their community but know that they can be called at any time to attend urgent cases, as often happens. (Open Photo: The Comboni Missionaries Sisters Elisabetta Raule (L) and Susan Akullo).

Bernardino Frutuoso

El Hadji Salifou Ouédraogo. The Man Who Plants Baobabs.

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 8:00

The African baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) symbolizes thriving life in the arid landscape of the savannah, providing shelter, food, and water for humans and various species. One man has planted thousands of baobab seedlings over the past 47 years, creating a vast forest that helps his family, community, and the Earth flourish. Meet El Hadji Salifou Ouédraogo.

Born and raised in Titao, Burkina Faso, Ouédraogo longed to be a Quran Master. However, he felt called to another spiritual route, this time with nature. At first, Ouédraogo started planting mango trees but realized everyone around him was doing the same. He thought: “If everyone is running in the same direction, you have to look out for an escape route for when things go wrong.”

The urge to be different led him to plant the mighty baobab. People called him crazy, but that encouraged Ouédraogo even more. In local folklore, whoever plants a baobab dies as the tree is cursed. Legend says the baobabs were too proud, so the gods became angry and uprooted them and threw them back into the ground upside-down.

Ouédraogo told them, “My father did not plant a baobab, but he died. I have never seen my father’s nor my grandfather’s baobab, but they are all dead. If the baobab tree stays alive and I die, it is not a problem.”

Despite the trees’ mythology, baobabs are essential to life in the savannah. A succulent, the tree absorbs and stores water from the rainy season in its massive trunk, which helps keep soil conditions humid, slows erosion, and serves as a water source for many animals.

The baobab’s fruit contains tartaric acid and Vitamin C, providing vital nutrients for various species, including birds, lizards, monkeys, and even elephants. For humans, the baobab’s fruit pulp can be eaten, soaked in water to make a refreshing drink, preserved into a jam, or roasted and ground to make a coffee-like substance.

The bark from the tree is pounded to make everything from rope, mats, and baskets to paper and cloth. Leaves are also used, they can be boiled and eaten, or glue can be made from their flower’s pollen. With over 300 life-sustaining uses, it is the root of many Indigenous remedies, traditions, and folklore. Hence its literal nickname, ‘The Tree of Life.’

Today, Ouédraogo’s forest has over 3,000 trees and covers 14 hectares. Not only do his baobabs provide food to his fellow villagers, but they also preserve a traditional lifestyle while protecting the climate from deforestation.Planting baobab trees is now a part of Ouédraogo’s faith. “It’s the most important thing aside from going to heaven.”

In the documentary The Man Who Plants Baobabs, filmmaker Michel K. Zongo followed Ouédraogo around his forest.
The charismatic leader showcases his precious baobabs, how he plants them, and who they feed.

In one scene, community members come through the forest, taking smaller trees back to their homes and picking fruit. It is even a family affair with Ouédraogo’s son, Sofiane, assisting in planting, and his daughter, Kalidjata, collecting leaves.

Ouédraogo’s youthful enthusiasm and passion for native planting practices continue to inspire his neighbours and an international audience of climate and environmental activists with the idea that one person can change the world.

Yet, the older man’s face just curls into a wide grin when he is told of his apparent wisdom. “The advantage of age is what you have seen and what you’ve heard and what you’ve done.” It is also what Ouédraogo continues to do, and that is plant more baobabs. (Lindsey Jean Schueman/One Earth) – (123rf)

Catholic Church. The Apostolic Exhortation. Praise God for all his creatures.

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 8:00

In his latest apostolic exhortation, Laudate Deum, Pope Francis has highlighted the urgency of every person doing their best to minimize the effects of climate change.

The exhortation, published on the Feast of St Francis of Assisi this year, is a follow-up on his profoundly significant encyclical, Laudato Si’, published at Pentecost in 2015. In the encyclical, Pope Francis had considered how all people on the planet have a moral and religious duty to care for our common home, to protect our Mother Earth from biodiversity loss, climate change, air, water and land pollution, ocean acidification, land-use changes, deforestation, etc. There is a continuity from the encyclical to the new exhortation, in that in Laudate Deum, dedicated specifically to the climate crisis, Pope Francis quotes Laudato Si’ at least 19 times.The exhortation begins with his words “Praise God for all his creatures,” continuing the theme of Francis of Assisi, as he meditated on “the tenderness of Jesus for all the beings that accompany us along the way!” (LD1)

Pope Francis: we need to “move beyond the mentality of appearing to be concerned but not having the courage needed to produce substantial changes.” (LD56) 123rf.

In the recent publication, Pope Francis decries that during the eight years since the publication of Laudato Si’ the climate crisis has heightened, to the point where the world, as a living space for all of God’s creatures, is collapsing. “Despite all attempts to conceal, gloss over, or relativise the issue, the signs of climate change are here and increasingly evident.” (LD5) Our responses have simply not been adequate. But we need to “move beyond the mentality of appearing to be concerned but not having the courage needed to produce substantial changes.” (LD56)
In a brief scientific section of the exhortation, the pope is unequivocal that the global climate changes are caused by human activity. We are approaching a critical point beyond which no intervention will be able to halt a process once begun. Concerted global human activity is required to reverse the trajectory of changes to the climate.
In his analysis of what has brought us to the point where we are destroying our home, Pope Francis identifies the false philosophy of the “technocratic paradigm” which maintains that we can use technology and brute force to make the world better. His argument is that technology distances us from the natural home which God has created for us. In fact, access to technology and the power to manipulate it have not been universally good for society. Pope Francis gives the example of the terrible destructive forces that have been unleashed in situations of war. We need only think of rockets, ‘drones,’ and weapons of mass destruction, to realise how, in the wrong hands, technology can be a curse rather than a blessing. “To suppose that all problems in the future will be able to be solved by new technical interventions is a form of homicidal pragmatism.” (LD57)

Protest against the Eastern African Crude Oil Pipeline. Photo: StopACOP.

The exhortation describes how the powerful use “marketing and false information” as tools to shape public opinion. They make false promises that their projects will bring benefits to people whose natural resources or spaces will be adversely affected. As an example, we can cite the current contention over the proposed Eastern African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP): Oil has been discovered in the environmentally sensitive Lake Albert area of landlocked Uganda. The petrochemical multinationals wanting to exploit the oil need to transport it to the Indian Ocean, to be shipped to parts of the world that are more heavily dependent on oil. They propose to do this via a 1443km electrically-heated pipeline that will end in the historic Tanzanian port of Tanga. The multinationals are promising that the oil extraction will “unlock East Africa’s potential” developing the communities living around the oilfields and along the route of the proposed oil pipeline, bringing employment, education, economic upliftment, progress, etc. In a classic example of ‘greenwash’ the companies mention none of the ecological dangers associated with the extraction, transportation or shipment of the heavy crude oil through key biodiversity areas, protected areas, along major water bodies like Lake Victoria, and adjacent to a Maritime Cultural Heritage site.
Among the regions of the world already most disrupted by climate change, Eastern Africa should be doing everything in its power to prevent the further contribution of fossil fuels to global greenhouse gases. Instead, the governments of Uganda and Tanzania want to reap the windfall income from the oil deposit, with no care for the future effects of climate change caused by this very same oil. At the same time, governments of the region are lining up to receive funding for climate change mitigation and adaptation from the Green Climate Fund. They claim, quite rightly, that their countries have contributed the least to the anthropogenic buildup of greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution. Yet, they are not willing to keep the oil underground to reduce climate harm to future generations.

The exhortation holds high hopes for the COP28 climate conference to be held in Dubai in December this year. File Swm

The pope traces a history of the various climate conferences and agreements – some successful, and others disappointing. He calls for the strengthening of multilateral organisations to monitor, review and penalise non-compliance with the ambitious accords and agreements of the annual conferences (“COPs”) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Control. When civil society is involved in an oversight role, this “creat[es] effective dynamics that the United Nations cannot.” (LD37) He repeats his assertion from Laudato Si’ (179) that “unless citizens control political power… it will not be possible to control damage to the environment.”
The exhortation holds high hopes for the COP28 climate conference to be held in Dubai in December this year. The pope is confident that human beings have the capacity “to transcend their petty interests and to think in bigger terms.” (LD54) With this altruistic spirit COP28 might be a last chance for countries to commit to binding transitions from fossil fuels to ‘clean’ sources of energy. Effectively addressing the climate crisis will require a change of culture on a global scale, particularly “a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model.” (LD72) Every cultural change requires of us a personal change. In our homes we can participate in the larger process of transformation by reducing pollution and waste, and consuming with greater care. Let us hope, for the sake of future generations, that it is not a case of too little, too late. (Open Photo: © FAO/Giulio Napolitano).

Peter Knox SJ
Jesuit Institute – South Africa

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