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A Journey through the Kunama Culture.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

The Kunama ethnic group resides mainly in the Gash-Barka region of Eritrea, between the Gash and Setit rivers, in the western and north-western regions of Tigray and in small areas of Sudan. There are an estimated 260,000 Kunama, most of whom live in Eritrea. They represent about 2% of the Eritrean population.

The history of the Kunama is largely unknown. Most of what is known has been passed down through oral traditions. These oral traditions indicate that the Kunama lived in Axum and surrounding areas as nomads. A king named Baden or Bazen and his wife Kuname ruled Axum around 8 BC. and nomads began to consider themselves and call themselves Kunama only during their rule.
Many Kunama believe they originated from King Baden (Bazen) and call themselves Kunama after his wife. Under the reign of King Baden (Bazen) and the Kunama, a common identity began to form among the Kunama.

According to tradition, when the king died in battle, neighbouring peoples killed many Kunama and pushed the Kunama from the Axum area to northern and north-western Tigray. Some Kunama crossed the Mereb River and migrated to present-day Eritrea, while others remained in Tigray.Others argue that the Kunama are a Nilotic ethnic group and that they originated on the border between Ethiopia and Sudan before migrating and settling in Tigray and Eritrea.
One of the earliest written records of the Kunama comes from an Arab traveller who visited Alwa (near Khartoum, Sudan) in AD 872. He mentioned that the ‘Barya’ and ‘Cunama’ tribes lived on the borders of the Kingdom of Alwa (now Sudan central and southern).
A 10th-century Arab geographer, Ibn Hawqal, wrote that the Kunama lived in the Baraka Valley in Eritrea.

One of the earliest written records of the Kunama comes from an Arab traveller who visited Alwa (near Khartoum, Sudan) in AD 872.

Many gaps have been filled in by using myths and legends. After the flood, one of them says, Ham, one of Noah’s sons, crossed the land of Egypt with his family and settled in the Eritrean highlands. Many scholars consider them to be the first colonizers of this part of Africa, even before the populations who came from Arabia or Yemen after crossing the warm waters of the Red Sea.

Matrilineal society
The Kunama language belongs to the Nilo-Saharan language family. The Kunama are a matrilineal society. They are a people devoted almost exclusively to agriculture. Kina or sorghum is the most traditional crop, along with burta, a cereal similar to millet, and also of great importance to livestock farming. This interest in breeding has its roots in tradition. Livestock and its products (milk and butter) were and are their greatest wealth, their well-being, and their very life. And it is perhaps for this reason that even today, in language, in etiquette (greetings and good wishes) and in tribal rites, the Kunama people gladly have recourse to ausa (milk), elevating it to a symbol of all good and prosperity, and, in the celebrations that they accompany its existence from birth to death, to the source of the ausa, that is, to the breasts (cuta).

The Kunama ethnic group resides mainly in the Gash-Barka region of Eritrea.

Some Kunama expressions of greetings or good wishes are worth noting: Ausa-si goda (literally: sit in milk), take care; Ausa-si gada (go into the milk), have a good trip; Ausa-si ningida (sleep in milk), good night; Ausa-si feda (wake up in milk), good morning; Ausa-si (in milk), wishes for all good things; Ausabarakata (milk and blessing), all good and happiness; Ausa-nasoke (I give you, I wish you milk), wish of wealth (it is the blessing of the elderly).
Formulas and ceremonies indicating the source of the milk – that is, the udder – return, as mentioned above, also in the celebration of some very important rites for the existence of the Kunama, so much so as to give life to two extremely significant expressions: Aira-cuta (udder of the cow) and Lasha-cuta (udder of the goat). Two expressions, among other things, which give a very particular imprint to the various ceremonies. And, to use one or the other, one must belong to one of the lineages or clans on which the social life of the tribe is organized: namely, Serma, Gumma, Shua, or Karawa.

The Serma and Gumma have the aira-cuta as their distinctive feature and in the celebrations of the various ceremonies, they perform or, rather, repeat certain gestures four times, because the cow’s udder has four teats. The Shua and the Karawa have lasha-cuta as their distinctive feature and in the ceremonies, they repeat certain gestures twice, since the goat has only two nipples.
According to the Kunama, the traditional rites of aira-cuta and lasha-cuta essentially represent means available to the Kunama man to ward off the various ailments that surround him. Their celebration, in fact, seals the nine most significant circumstances of an individual’s existence: birth, circumcision, initiation, engagement, marriage, childbirth out of wedlock, illness, death, and revenge against an enemy.

Four great families
The Kunama are divided into four great families: the Shua, the rhino tribe; the Gurma, the tribe of elephants; the Caraua, the tribe of the moon; and the Serma, the buffalo tribe. These four groups live indistinctly mixed, but each Kunama knows from childhood to which family or group he belongs. In some areas, they are even distinguished by the way they build their huts or the way they comb their hair. Thus, the Serma finish the construction of their huts with two raised horns, while the Gurma finish their huts with a tip bent like an elephant’s trunk.

Some of these groups maintain a special relationship with a particular group. The Serma and the Gurma, for example, are related to each other through marriages, while the Caraua are related to the Shua. Although the first two are perhaps more numerous, the latter two enjoy greater influence within the tribe, as the Sanganena or chief judge of the tribe belongs to the great Caraua family.
Being a matriarchal tribe, they enter one of these four families through their motherhood. Even if the father belongs to a particular group or family, the children belong to the mother’s family group. They explain this reality with this saying: ‘The earth (the mother) gave birth to a tree; the tree raised his arms to heaven (the father), but the earth grabbed him by the feet and said: ‘the children belong to the mother’ ‘.

The Kunama are a matrilineal society.

These main clans are then divided into sub-clans (formed by locality). From a geographical point of view, a different division can be proposed, but not everyone agrees on the number of groups that deserve this distinction. The Aymasa live in the homonymous plain, west of Barentu, the capital of the Gash-Barka region. This first group shows a strong Sudanese influence. The Barka or River People live in the Gash basin to the southwest. They have their epicentre in Fode; in addition to being the largest group, they are the ones that retain the purest language. The Tika, which literally means south, live on the banks of this river, from which they take their name. The Marda or Itana live north-east of Barentu. The Taguda or Tauda are a small group bordering the Aymasa. The Sokodas live in the Guluyi or Afir area. The Anal form a wedge between the Barka and the Tica. The Sasal live in the area between Ugaro, Guluyi and Aimasa. Finally, the Ilit (tamarind) and Bitama (new water) live not far from the city of Haikota. (A.F.M.)

The Philippines. Taking Different Paths.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

The many challenges of Monsignor Pablo Virgilio David, bishop of the diocese of Kalookan, on the outskirts of Manila, and also president of the Philippine Bishops’ Conference.

His pastoral and charitable commitment led him to take sides against all forms of injustice and violence to the extent that, during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, he was accused of sedition and threatened with death, for having denounced violations of human rights and extra-judicial executions. He says: “I denounced the fact that the so-called war against drug traffickers was immoral, illegal, and essentially against the poor. The government must fight crime, but it cannot do it
with arbitrary and violent methods leading to Caloocan the systematic
killing of alleged criminals”.

Mons. David: “I denounced the fact that the so-called war against drug traffickers was immoral, illegal and essentially against the poor.”

He continues: “I supported the efforts of courageous journalists who irrefutably documented the abuses. Many of the people killed were not armed and did not resist the intervention of the police. After our complaints, they changed tactics: the executions were no longer carried out by uniformed policemen but by masked vigilantes and were classified as ‘cases under investigation’, but in reality, then, there was no investigation. The government officially declares six thousand ‘victims of the war on drugs’. But there are many more: we think that the people killed by the vigilantes, and not declared by the government, number more than twenty thousand”.
Faced with these complaints, the bishop has met with accusations and intimidation. “I received five charges of sedition and other trumped-up charges from the National Police, based on the testimony of an unknown person. They had a clear intimidating purpose. I was defended by my lawyer brother. Three other bishops were charged, but then the charges were dropped by the prosecutor before going to court”.

Creating communities
Monsignor Pablo Virgilio David, 62, was born in Betis in the province of Pampanga. He studied in Manila, Louvain, and Jerusalem, and taught biblical theology. In 2006 he became auxiliary bishop of San Fernando and since 2016 he has been bishop of Kalookan. Since 2021 he has been president of the Philippine Bishops’ Conference.
The diocese of Kalookan is located on the outskirts of the metropolitan area of Manila, an area where many people live on the margins of society. Speaking of his diocese, he says:

Slums on the outskirts of Manila. “Give what you can, take what you need”. Photo 123rf

“The diocese of Kalookan has 1 million 800 thousand inhabitants, of whom almost 90% are Catholics. Only 10% are reached by our parishes. When I became bishop, I immediately looked for those who remained on the margins of traditional pastoral care. Most of them are people from other provinces who don’t even have a residence. They live in slums, without adequate services and housing. I was shocked to learn that many children don’t even have birth certificates. For the state, they do not exist, and they do not go to school or hospital. Babies born at home are not registered to avoid paying the certificate fee, albeit minimal. The consequences are terrible. I have tasked a nun to work full-time and go out of her way to register the undocumented children of the diocese”.
“One of my priorities is to create ‘mission stations’ – continues the bishop – Today we have 18 and about 120 leaders between lay people, religious and priests. We are creating grassroots communities that are more agile and open than traditional parishes. In any case, we do not have the land, the resources, or the staff. The laity and nuns can be excellent leaders. There are also 35 diocesan priests”.

The local street in a small Philippine town. Photo: 123rf

The Coronavirus pandemic has had a heavy impact on the country. Many families have been affected. Mons. David had a brother of his who died of Covid. “A tragedy for my family: he was cremated within 24 hours; we weren’t even able to celebrate the funeral. And it was the same for many other families. The economic impact has also been dramatic. During the lockdown, there were people on the verge of starvation. Government aid has not been timely. But there have also been very consoling and effective acts of solidarity. For example, the ‘community food banks’ were started, i.e., public tables where people bring what they can and take only what they need, especially food. The initiative arose spontaneously, and the Church made it her own, extending it to the whole country. I think of it as the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes. A slogan that has become popular goes: ‘Give what you can, take what you need’”.
However, the churches were closed. “We didn’t want to do it, but the government imposed it. We have strengthened the social communications service, thanks to the help of many young volunteers and digital technology experts. We stood by people with online meetings and celebrations. We have thus reached people who did not attend church and now do. Furthermore, despite the difficulties, we have not fired anyone who works in our facilities”.

The document of Bangkok
Looking at his commitment as president of the episcopal conference of the Philippines which has a current structure of 16 archdioceses, 74 dioceses, 7 apostolic vicariates, 4 territorial prelatures, and a military ordinariate. “It is a role that promotes the collegiality affirmed by the Council. It’s a challenge. It is not easy to build consensus: we Filipino bishops come from very different contexts which lead to different points of view. There is a need for a lot of interaction and commitment to converge on common pastoral positions that meet today’s challenges. In particular, the first is to combine faith with social, political life and ethical choices. Catholics, for example, see no connection between faith and political choices. They experience them as two parallel things. This is a defeat. We must encourage the laity to engage in politics starting from their faith. We bishops have a spiritual and moral role, but the commitment to politics belongs to the laity”.

123rf

“We must humbly admit – says the bishop – that many faithful do not make choices based on what they have learned in church. This may be because we are absolutely unable to offer valid pastoral care to everyone. At best we reach 20% of Catholics. And so, it is already a huge challenge. Our priests can do no more. The Philippines is a country with a Catholic majority, the churches are always full and the Masses numerous. Yet the majority of Catholics do not participate in any way in ecclesial and social life”.
Last October, the assembly of bishops was held in Bangkok, Thailand, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC). The Assembly gave rise to the ‘Bangkok Document’ which, for the Burmese cardinal, Charles Bo, president of the FABC, constitutes “the watershed for the progress of the churches in Asia”.

Archbishop David was among the protagonists of the Assembly. He tells us: “It is an important document: it celebrates the 50th anniversary of the FABC and outlines its future lines. We have chosen an evangelical icon: the story of the Magi for the five sections. In the first, entitled ‘Observe’ and inspired by the Magi who scan the stars, we describe the realities of Asia, especially those of the poor, young people, and women. The second, ‘Walking Together’, refers to the journey of the Magi who leave their safety zone to follow a goal. We ask ourselves: which common path? The third, ‘Discernment’, refers to the reaction against the words of Herod and the high priests. We bishops also have to deal with political and religious authorities, and we must practice discernment. The fourth is ‘Offering one’s gifts’. Finally, ‘New paths’: like the Magi, blocked by Herod, the Churches of Asia are also called to take new paths to respond to new obstacles and challenges”.(Photo: Monsignor Pablo Virgilio David, bishop of the diocese of Kalookan, on the outskirts of Manila with children of the slam.)
Gianni Criveller/MM

Do Sanctions work?

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

We think of sanctions as an alternative to war. They are also a projection of power. States, corporations, and recently, individual citizens, are punished economically.

The aim is to stop or curtail actions which are inimical to the interests or values of the sanctioning State or contrary to international law, or to both. In the long term the economic impact of sanctions may erode a belligerent State’s will or ability to wage war. So far so theoretical.

But after reading Agathe Demarais’ recent Backfire: How Sanctions Reshape the World Against US Interests, Columbia University Press, 2022, you might be surprised how little practice fits theory. Demarais recounts how sanctions have evolved since the 1950s including the variety of things that can go wrong and backfire on those who have imposed them.

President Eisenhower, with the creation in 1950 of the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), instituted the use of trade sanctions as a way of achieving foreign policy goals. The first target was North Korea, a legacy of the Korean war. North Korea’s economic links with the USA were tenuous.
The approach had to be multilateral: a UN embargo on oil imports
and coal exports.

After the revolution in 1959, Cuba was always a particularly American concern. 73% of Cuba’s exports went to the USA and 70% of its imports came from the USA. Yet Eisenhower’s embargo imposed in 1960 failed to achieve its goals. Despite an estimated loss over $130 billion in income, Castro died with his regime intact and was succeeded by his brother Raul.
The Kim dynasty in North Korea survives. There are always ways of getting round trade embargoes.

Fast forward thirty years to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, the lessons of Cuba and North Korea hadn’t been learned or were just ignored. Only a few days after Operation Desert Shield destroyed Saddam Hussein’s retreating army, comprehensive international sanctions were imposed on Iraq. They lasted from 1990 to 1995 cutting off medical supplies and food imports. Estimates of Iraqi children dying of preventable diseases and malnutrition vary from tens to hundreds of thousands. An ‘oil for goods’ provision in 1995 permitted some humanitarian aid to enter the country. But Saddam Hussein was hanged in December 2006 as a consequence of military defeat.

Inflation is the most immediate result of even partial enforced economic isolation. It powerfully affects the poorest. According to Demarais writing in Backfire, American OFAC sanctions on Venezuela in 2018 caused the price of a roll of toilet paper to jump “to nearly 3 million bolivars, requiring a three-kilogram stack of 1,000 bank notes to pay for it”. Mass emigration followed. The regime survived.

American companies shared a lot of the resultant pain from US sanctions while non-American companies were able to profit by filling the gaps created. Congress dealt with growing complaints from US business by legislation subjecting foreign companies to the same penalties for trading with Cuba.

In a second 1996 Act, sanctions on Iran’s – and Libya’s – energy sectors were extended to include and enforce compliance by all international companies. This was the beginning of highly contentious ‘extraterritorial’ ‘secondary’ sanctions. The European Union, coerced by the Americans, had enough clout to stand up to them.
It warned that they would initiate a dispute procedure in the WTO (World Trade Organisation) which most believed the EU would win. Clinton backed down.

By the turn of the century, OFAC, without abandoning the blunt weapon of embargoes, was moving on to sectoral sanctions, focusing on technology and finance, applied now to Iran.
The US was playing to its strengths, in particular the dominant role of the dollar in global financial services.

Companies and individuals in pariah countries were put on a Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list barring them from doing business – in dollars – with the USA. Information on banks’ customers and networks became critical. In 2012, under strong US pressure, SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications), the over 11,000 strong cooperative network for international payments with its – today’s – $5 trillion worth of transactions daily, 40% conducted in dollars, cut off Iranian banks.

But come the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2014 and China’s increasingly autocratic behaviour both nationally and internationally, the USA – and European Union – squared up to two significantly more formidable targets. A second phase in the sanctions saga opened up. The Peoples’ Bank of China immediately began developing its own financial service, CIPS (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System), for international payments in renminbi.

After its launch in 2015, CIPS attracted not only HSBC and Standard Chartered but also Deutsche Bank, Citi and BNP Paribas, the French investment banking group. In January 2023 Russia and Iran joined up to create their own payments network after SWIFT excluded some important Russian banks. The sanctioned targets were hitting back.

Agathe Demarais indicates in Backfire that the growth of cryptocurrencies is providing sanctions-proof banking. China issued its own state-backed cryptocurrency in 2019, the digital renminbi. Today some 300 million Chinese citizens use mobile phones for such accounts, thus creating another doorway to comprehensive government surveillance. The Communist Party leadership now appear to be aiming at total control of the country’s financial system by displacing its two big tech firms, Alibaba and WePay, in the field of digital payments.

So, the not-so hidden logic of sanctions is the ‘decoupling’ of the world’s major economies, the fracturing of the global economy into competing economic blocs. China’s Belt and Road Initiative, its extensive investment in trade and infrastructure in Africa, its role in the global South’s association of big economies, BRICS, leaves little doubt which bloc will eventually incorporate the most States. One brake on such ‘decoupling’ is the crucial role of semiconductors and microchips in all economies and in military-industrial complexes. Put crudely ‘it’s the supply-chain stupid’.

A key feature of decoupling is a policy of beggar – your- economic- neighbour (and rival) in microchip production. China controls 80% of the production/refining of the world’s vital rare earths used in semi-conductors present in a vast array of modern appliances. A F-35 fighter requires 417 kilos of these metals. But the USA predominates in the equipment, software and design of semi-conductors. A handful of such high-tech firms are collectively worth over $1 trillion. The bulk of mass microchip manufacture takes place in Taiwan and South Korea. In 2020 Chinese legislation restricted the export of 17 rare earths and Trump banned all microchip sales to Huawei and other Chinese companies. Skirmishes in a future economic war?

Geopolitics are changing. A multipolar world is emerging. Sanctions have helped shape the present contours of international economic relations. Yet on the whole sanctions don’t achieve their goals, often harming those they are not aimed at and bringing about unintended consequences. States with a powerful coercive apparatus and a cohesive military show considerable durability. Even weak States like Cuba and Venezuela resist successfully. The most that can be said is that war, the alternative to sanctions, is far worse.

Backfire is a fascinating must-read for those who contribute to making foreign policy, for those who suffer from it, and for us baffled onlookers who fear for our grandchildren’s future. (Open Photo: 123rf)

Ian Linden
Professor at St Mary’s University,
Strawberry Hill, London.

Pope to WYD participants: Lisbon 2023 a chance to grow in hope.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

Pope Francis has sent a video message to young people registered for World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, on 1-6 August, and urges them to prepare themselves to encounter others and grow in hope.

In his video message, the Pope praised the excitement the young Catholics must feel as they prepare to travel. “I can imagine the things you must have on your mind – he said -, how you’re going to: make it happen, request your work or study permit, get what you need for your trip, so many concerns!”

At the same time, the Pope urged the young people to “look toward the horizon” by using their excitement and hope as a stepping stone. He acknowledged that taking part in WYD is “a beautiful thing” built on the hope of events that will unfold. “Prepare yourselves with that enthusiasm,” he told the young people. “Have hope, because one grows a lot at an event like WYD.”

They may not realize it yet, he said, but the young people can expect to discover wonderful new things as they meet people from other parts of the world and build relationships founded on common values.

The Pope said the Church is blessed to enjoy the “strength of youth”, and so he encouraged participants in WYD to prepare well for what lies ahead. He also shared with them a “secret” for proper preparation.

“In order to prepare well – he said – it helps to look to your roots by meeting with your elders”, such as grandparents.
Participants in the upcoming WYD in Lisbon should ask their grandparents: “What do you think I must do?” Our elders concluded Pope Francis, “will give you wisdom.”

And finally, he wrapped up his video message by encouraging the young people to “strive ahead”, saying he is looking forward to encountering them in Lisbon.

Meanwhile, in a preface of a new book, ‘A Long Journey to Lisbon,’ by Aura Miguel, a Portuguese journalist for Rádio Renascença, Pope Francis said that since World Youth Days were established by St. John Paul II in 1985, “they have involved, moved, stirred and challenged generations of women and men.”

The initial intuition that inspired St. John Paul “has not faded,” Pope Francis wrote, as today’s world, especially its young people, is facing enormous changes and challenges. Young people, he pointed out, “risk self-isolation every day, living in a virtual environment much of their life, ending up as prey to an aggressive market that creates false needs.”

“Getting out of the house, heading out with fellow travellers, having important experiences of listening and prayer combined with moments of celebration, and doing it together, makes these moments precious for everybody’s life,” he wrote.

“We really need young people who are at the ready, eager to respond to God’s dream, to care about others, young people who discover the joy and beauty of a life spent for Christ in service to others, to the poorest, to the suffering,” the pope said.

Pope Francis repeated his call to young people not to live life “standing on a balcony watching life go by,” avoiding getting involved and getting their hands dirty, putting a screen between them and
the rest of the world.

“Many times, I have told (young people) not to be ‘couch potatoes,’ not to be ‘anesthetized’ by people who benefit from having them ‘dumb and numb,'” he wrote.

Being young is the time for dreaming, the pope said, and for being open to the real world, “discovering what is really worthwhile in life, struggling to conquer it; it is opening oneself to deep and true relationships, it is engaging with others and for others.”

But, he wrote in the preface, the world is facing so many challenges: the pandemic has shown that “we can only save ourselves together”; there is “the vortex of war and rearmament”; the arms race “seems unstoppable and threatens to lead us to self-destruction”; there is the war in Ukraine; and many wars and conflicts continue to be forgotten, “so much unspeakable violence continues to be perpetrated.”

How are young people to respond, the pope asked? “What are they being called to do with their energy, their vision of the future,
their enthusiasm?”

“They are called to say, ‘We care.’ We care about what is happening in the world” and about “the fate of millions of people, of so many children, who have no water, no food, no medical care, while the rulers seem to be competing to see who can spend the most on the most sophisticated armaments,” he wrote. “We care about everything,” including all of creation and the digital world, “which we are challenged to change and make more and more humane.”

“World Youth Days have been an antidote to life on a balcony, to the anaesthesia that makes people prefer the couch, to disinterest,” Pope Francis said in the preface.

“WYD is an event of grace that awakens, broadens horizons, strengthens the heart’s aspirations, helps people dream, to look ahead,” he concluded “It is a planted seed that can bear good fruit.” (Photo: JMJ Lisboa 2023)

The Celebration of Marriage.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

After the initiation ceremony (Anfura-la) or the passage from adolescence to youth, the young Kunama sets out to find a girl to marry. This phase is also marked by some rites, such as that of engagement (Sussa-ma).

Among the Kunama, young people are free to choose the girlfriend they want and girls are equally free to accept the courtship or not. There are no external impositions.To the girl who agrees to marry, the young Kunama must, first of all, make a gift of a pair of sandals – preferably made by local artisans – a piece of white rough canvas (dalasesa) with decorative coral (dada).

Among the Kunama, young people are free to choose the girlfriend they want and girls are equally free to accept the courtship or not.

In the event that the two fail, for various reasons, to get married within the year, the gesture of the delivery of the gifts is repeated every year, confirming the engagement is still in progress.

The rite of Toba
A month before the wedding, the Toba-Iausa rite is celebrated (the Toba is a hatchet with no handle). In the boyfriend’s house, one of the family takes the axe and wraps it in a piece of rough white cloth, which will then be used by the girlfriend to cover her chest during the wedding celebration – according to custom, Kunama women always go bare-breasted – and tie the bundle with palmadum leaves (Iaca) or with intertwined baobab fibres kept first in a container of water, to which a few drops of goat or cow’s milk are mixed according to the clan to which the girl belongs.
The Toba prepared in this way is delivered to four people chosen as witnesses (two women and two men already regularly married and with their firstborn still alive). The rite is intended to be a wish for the two young people who are about to get married so that they can have a healthy family and many children.

Kunama, a young lady.

At the end of this ceremony, the Toba is placed in a corner of the house and two or four days later, at nightfall, two people will take responsibility for taking it to the girlfriend’s house. Delivery takes place in complete silence; only the gestures of the protagonists find a proper emphasis.
The person carrying the Toba presents himself on the doorstep, kneeling or prostrate, and hands the wrapper, through the semi-closed door, to the girl’s father or uncle inside the house. The gesture, of course, is repeated two or four times and indicates the consent of the relatives to the upcoming celebration.

The wedding day
Finally, the wedding day arrives. During the celebration, the groom and a friend of his, the bride and a friend of hers, at the proper moment stand in single file. Another person takes a ritual goat and circles the group four times. After the first two laps, if any of the four are from the lasha-cuta, they leave the line and step over the animal twice. After the other two laps also the remaining ones, belonging to the aira-cuta, step over the goat four times. The rite, simple and short, has a very specific importance: it serves to recognize and declare the virginity of the bride or not. That is, after the usual two or four rounds, the girl is called to step over the goat, but she can do so only if she is still a virgin; otherwise, she simply has to go around the animal. If the girl claims to be a virgin, those present celebrate her with trills of joy and wishes for a happy marriage. And the parents acquire the right to ask the groom’s family for an increase in the price of the dowry (collikinga).

Among the Kunama, it is inconceivable that a girl remains a virgin for life. She has to become a mother.

The ceremony, however, does not end here. The goat is killed and a rib joined to the sternum is given to the groom; the young man, to indicate that he has never abused the girl, must break the breastbone. If, on the other hand, he had had relations, he must absolutely abstain from the operation. As for the girl, the fear of misfortune is an excellent truth serum. Among the Kunama, it is inconceivable that a girl remains a virgin for life. She has to become a mother. Sterility, in fact, is considered a curse, a punishment. If the woman becomes pregnant out of wedlock, she must ask for the mandatory celebration of the mashkabara sacrifice. During this celebration, an ox (mashkabara) is sacrificed and consumed and the man held responsible for the pregnancy is forced to pay a fine. After the ceremony, everyone can return to their daily occupations.
Unlike other ethnic groups in Eritrea, in the Kunama, the bride and groom spend their honeymoon at the home of the bride’s parents. This is to ensure that the bride receives excellent care from her family. Three days after the wedding, the bride and groom receive gifts called Anjiba Teda. The bride’s father and uncles offer cattle to the new bridegroom.

The Kunama today
The Kunama are the smallest ethnic group in Eritrea. A people that has always suffered and been marginalised throughout its history. Relations between the Kunama and the government of Eritrea have been tensed since the country’s independence in 1993. Kunamas have accused the Eritrean government of expropriating Kunama land for the resettlement of Eritrean refugees from Sudan. Over the years have been several incidents with the death of Kunama people.

During the recent conflict in 2022 between the Addis Ababa government and the Tigray regional government, the Kunama were targeted by Eritrean forces, Ethiopian forces and Amhara special forces and militias.

During the Ethiopian- Eritrean war of 1998-2000, they were caught in the middle, and many were displaced. Clan leaders and influential Kunama politicians were missing and never seen again.
Once again, during the recent conflict in 2022 between the Addis Ababa government and the Tigray regional government, the Kunama were targeted by Eritrean forces, Ethiopian forces and Amhara special forces and militias. Kunama settlements in Tigray were burnt by Eritrean troops. The troops destroyed their property and looted their livestock. Many Kunama are now internally displaced after fleeing their homes at the start of the conflict.

Ayana F. Makda

Religious Belief among the Kunama.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

When the Kunama are asked: ‘Ayshila mekobino?’, they reply: ‘Ánnala’la makobinke’ (we believe in God). The word ‘Anna’ (God) comes from the word ‘Annena’ (in Kunama it means creator).

The Kunama believe in Anna (God) who created the heavens and the earth. For them, God lives far away, up there in the universe, and no one can reach him and see him; he is invisible. The Kunama say: Annà na inti? (who sees God?), Na itache? (and who can know him?). Annà it ache, they still say; that is, God is God.
They are very religious people, and their own language testifies to this. For example, in times of trouble, they say: Anna koske (God is present), Anna konala (in God’s hands), Anna kondorabu (by God’s grace or power), Anna headabbu (God willing), etc.
In expressing their gratitude, they say: Annam eso (God bless you), Anna gola (God is great/ good). When they pronounce curses, they say: Anna ebale (may God destroy you),

The Kunama believe in Anna (God) who created the heavens and the earth.

Anna eyafasu (may God kill you), Anna laga (God earth/universe).
When they pray, they call upon their ancestors to intercede with God on their behalf. Their religion is based on orality; it is at its basic level, but they do not bow or kneel to any image or statue, and they worship only one God.
For the Kunama, Anna also has another characteristic: he is not interested in the world in a specific way. Once the creation is completed, he leaves the inhabitants to live alone and build their existence as they see fit; they will be helped or harmed by the spirits of good or evil.
Anna, however, is not so bad as to completely forget about his creatures. Every 14 or 15 years he leaves his seat and goes down to earth to visit people, and it is then that the Kunama gather to solemnly celebrate the great event with dances, songs and aifa (drinking), for days on end.
This celebration of the Tuka (manifestation of Anna) is not something that happens suddenly but is announced many months in advance. Neither does distance prevent a relationship of trust. The Kunama people trust in Anna, they truly believe in the Creator, so much so that in the difficult moments of life, one expression recurs frequently: Anna coske, that is a God who sees and provides.
Especially in the elderly, there is no lack of recourse to Anna through prayer, together with the invocation of Adum and Hawa (Adam and Eve, the progenitors of all the tribes) and of the ancestors.

The Kunama are very religious people.

Prayer does not consist of already prepared formulas, but it is something spontaneous, simple, confident, of few words: “may the wind (Anna‘s strength) take away all evils from you; may your health, your life be as robust as Mount Fodé (a sacred mountain); may Anna give us abundant rain and a luxuriant harvest”. These are the essential points of the Kunama prayer. And when a Kunama swears by Anna, his word can be fully trusted. He certainly is not lying.
The Kunama venerate their ancestors and have a special reverence for the elders of the tribe. This respect for the elders allows the tribe to make important decisions, called ‘democratic choices’, which always involve two elders. The Kunama work together, designating certain months for special ‘events’. September, for example, is harvest time. January is the month when houses are repaired. Everything is done as a community, each one helping the other. The whole village also participates in funerals, as it is their custom to say farewell in groups, even if the children cannot attend. (A.F.M.)

Aborigine Myth. The creation of the world.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

A long time ago, Yhi, the goddess of the Sun, created the animals. She brought them to life by removing them from the icy depths of the earth. After that, she distributed them everywhere in the waters, on the surface of the earth or in the freedom of the heavens.

But as time went by, a subtle unease began to creep in among the animals: none of them felt satisfied with their form and way of life. Those who had been destined for water longed to live on earth; those who walked or crawled on the ground longed to possess wings that would enable them to fly in the skies. There was not a single animal in the world that could be saved from the contagion of discontent.

The beasts grew and multiplied, but they grew further and further away from Yhi, their common mother, the Sun goddess. They were hiding; they had lost their joy, their will to live. No more singing or shouting or chirping could be heard in the forest. Even the plants, herbs and flowers suffered to see their friends so melancholy.

One day when Yhi was strolling through the heavens, she noticed, looking towards the earth, that something had changed: every trace of joy and life seemed to have been erased. An inert and cold world, utterly uniform and unimaginative, offered itself to the goddess’s view.

Worried Yhi descended and landed on the plain of Nullabor. Someone in the distance saw her and sent a message: “She is back. Yhi is back among us!” A tide of animals rushed and surrounded the goddess. Anxious anticipation seemed to hover over the impromptu assembly.

“Come closer, – invited the goddess softly. – Tell me what afflicts you”. A chorus of confused voices rose up; at first faint, then more and more determined. Each one expressed its desires, its hopes, its frustrations. Higher and higher waves of sound overwhelmed the goddess.
“Enough! Enough! – Yhi suddenly shouted, raising her arms over the noisy crowd. – If you all speak at once, how can I understand you? Please speak one at a time.”

The goddess then turned to a fawn that was standing beside her and looking at her with the sweetest of eyes. She said to him: “What is your wish”. The fawn replied: “Mother, give me a quick and swift body that will enable me to reach even the most inaccessible places and to hide in ravines when I am pursued”.

After the fawn came to the kangaroo: he asked for strong legs to support him in his leaps and a tail with which he could balance his body. The bat applied for a pair of wings that would allow him to fly like a bird. The lazy lizard, in turn, confessed that he was tired of crawling painfully on his belly: he asked for a gift of legs on which he could stand. Shy, in a corner, the platypus meanwhile watched as his companions got what they asked for from the goddess. He felt confused; he really did not know what desire to express.

In her wisdom, the Sun Goddess smiled as she listened to that tumultuous blossoming of desires. Her animals were being enriched with different parts, but she knew that as a result, their living habits would change somewhat. Nevertheless, her motherly love could not resist those insistent requests.

The owl, which had asked for large, sparkling eyes, would in the future be forced to hide in dark places during the day and only come out in search of food in the darkness of the night. The silkworm would have to spend days and days imprisoned in its cocoon before transforming into a multi-coloured butterfly. In turn, the pelican would be condemned to remain motionless for hours on end, standing upright on its legs and submerged in water, to be able to swallow a few small fish.

Yhi smiled because she knew well that, should their wishes be granted, the animals she loved so much would have to face a hard life that would require sacrifice, courage and perseverance. The Sun Goddess greeted her friends, inviting them to scatter to the four corners of the world. Times would follow times, imperceptibly producing remarkable changes in the animals – in their forms and in their kinds of life.

One day the king of creation, man, would be called upon by the gods to rule the world. And even today, seeing the endless species of beasts that populate the earth, man wonders in amazement where such diversity and abundance came from. Animals crawl, run, swim, leap, fly. Perhaps man does not know that one day a strange assembly was held on the plain of Nullabor.

“Where does man come from? “ The children ask the wise old men of the villages scattered over the endless expanse of the desert. After her intervention with the animals of the earth Yhi, the goddess of the Sun, returned to heaven to Baiame, the Great Spirit. He was thought, intelligence, life. But he had no body.

From on high Baiame had followed the assembly of animals with curiosity and when Yhi stood before him, sighing, he said: “It would please me too if the beasts would look at me and listen. Unfortunately, this is not possible because I am pure spirit. But I have an idea: I will clothe a piece of my spirit in flesh and place it on the earth. Then the animals will recognise me and love me as their father”.

“It seems to me, – replied Yhi – that if you place a little of your Spirit in an animal, the other beasts will not esteem you, and I am sure they will not give you the honour and love that you deserve.”

“I will put a little piece of the Spirit in them too, – he, the Baiame God concluded resignedly. And so, he did. The elephants, swans, snakes, every bird in the sky and every fish in the sea received a tiny part of God. This is the force that governs every animal, and that is called instinct. It was at that time that the Great Spirit secluded Himself in a secret place to ponder upon the new creature that would be begotten of Him.

During his absence, indeed precisely because the Spirit of God was far away, a terrible storm was unleashed upon the earth, which grew more and more violent and lasted for days on end. It was a real deluge. As the water level rose and became more and more threatening, the frightened animals pushed themselves higher and higher up the mountainside. Finally, they found refuge in a vast cave that opened up almost to the top of the mountain. Here they lay dormant, silent, waiting for the storm to cease and for the waters to recede.

Meanwhile, in the mind of the god Baiame, the design of the new creature had matured: he would call it ‘man’. The form was not very dissimilar to that of an animal, but it would be more graceful, more harmonious. Above all, two things would distinguish the new being from all the others that populated the world: he would be upright on his legs and endowed with a lively intelligence, therefore able to understand things and with the ability to choose; he would not be a slave to instinct like all the other beasts that lived on earth.

As soon as God Baiame set his eyes upon the world again, the storm ceased. The waters retreated into their confines and a vast peace invaded the land. The animals looked at all the changes that took place. At last, as if emerging from a long hibernation, they decided
to leave their shelter.

But they did not go far. Before they each reached their natural habitat, the eyes of them all fell on something they had never seen before: a strange animal stood in the middle of a clearing; it was beautiful,
quiet, confident.

“Who is this stranger?” asked the kangaroo, whose surprise prevented a further leap. They were petrified: such a beast had never been seen on earth. Each animal recognised a small part of itself in the newcomer. But it was the whole thing that gave the impression of a marvellous creature: there must have been something extraordinary in that stranger.

The animals could not realise what that ‘something’ was; it was the Spirit of the god Baiame, the Creator of the world, who made himself visible on earth through man.

Gradually man learned to know the world. He did not know it, but he was the master, the king of creation, for this had been the will of the Great Spirit. Man enjoyed the company of animals, joked and had fun with them. But every evening a veil of sadness overshadowed his happiness: when the shadows covered the earth and every animal returned to its lair, man felt terribly lonely. He thought of the beauty of nature, smelt the scent of flowers and the sweet taste of fruit… then the sting of a strange dissatisfaction revealed to man that something was missing.

God Baiame soon realised that his favourite son was not happy: the man sympathised with animals, but this did not satisfy him. He realised, with a deep sense of disappointment, that the beasts possessed only a small piece of God’s Spirit, totally insufficient for a truly rewarding deep relationship. Finally, Baiame understood: man needed someone like him. And once again the god intervened.

That night the man slept an agitated sleep. Strange dreams raced through his mind, while an increasingly violent impulse drove him towards desires he did not know how to fulfil.

In the morning, when the first light of dawn opened the man’s eyes, he discovered with wonder that a new creature stood beside him; even more beautiful than himself, sweeter. Her roundness bewitched the man and her smile spoke a language completely unknown to him.

The two of them took each other by the hand and very naturally walked into the forest, while a thousand curious eyes flourished among the grasses and leaves. Man’s loneliness was over; the season of love was beginning for him. On the prairies and in the woods the animals, driven by that spark of the Spirit within them, gathered and danced at length, praising the God of Life in their own way. (Illustration: 123rf.com)

Folktale from Australia

Getting out. The purification of the mother.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

The life of the Kunama, from birth to old age – and even after death, is a tapestry of traditional rites and ceremonies handed down from the ancient fathers (ande) and scrupulously observed.

The first of these rites is the celebration of the Isata Olà, (Gettng out), the purification of the mother after childbirth (dagosa) and the washing of the newborn (deda niarca).
This rite inserts the newborn into the Kunama tribe; it is like an enrolment recognising the child as a citizen among its people.
Children that don’t undergo the rite, once adults, however long they live among the people, will always be excluded from tribal life and considered foreigners. They lose their rights and are not allowed to perform the other rites during their life: celebrate a ritual marriage or be buried in the common cemetery.

The Isata Olà, (Gettng out), is the purification of the mother after childbirth (dagosa).

The Isata Olà rite is the gateway to Kunama life, even if it means the “way out.” The newborn came out of its mother’s womb and now, through this rite, it will get out of its nest to where family life continues.It’s not important whether the mother is legally married or not, or whether the child is male or female; it is a living being coming from the family – the cell where the tribe grows and multiplies. Not performing the rite creates the fear that the spirits, or, more precisely, the souls of the ancestors, may exact revenge on the newborn, suffocating it, making it blind, or causing some other horrible misfortune. One has to follow traditions.When the time comes for a woman to give birth, she can only leave her house after carrying out the prescribed rite. For personal needs she can leave the house by a small door, avoiding looking at or meeting other people. When she leaves the house, she has to use the arkubà (camel) stick made of asabà or aitarà (types of tree), tied together with doum palm leaves (laca).
For some days she will not be given stodgy food but thin aifa, flour that is diluted and cooked. After birth, the umbilical cord still attached to the baby will be anointed with a paste made of oil, butter, and ashes. When it falls off, the mother will have a ritual bracelet of doum palma leaves (laca furda) tied to her wrist.

For some days she will not be given stodgy food but thin aifa, flour that is diluted and cooked.

On the following second or fourth day, the mother removes the bracelet and carries out the other ritual ceremonies. That piece of umbilical cord won’t be thrown away, just like the lock of hair which will be kept in a small container. At the time prescribed for the Isata Olà rite, apart from the mother, father, maternal aunt, also relatives and friends participate. It is usually the newborn’s mother who carries out the rituals. First, leaving the house. The mother who has given birth, together with the baby and the celebrant, her head covered with a white veil, comes to the house’s entrance. Outside, some people sprinkle the women and children with water as a sign of purification. The maternal aunt fetched this water in the morning from the river or the village well before anyone else. They eventually come out of the house: the mother sits down on a mat on the ground and the relatives sit in a circle on stools to witness the completion of the ritual.

The maternal aunt fetched the water in the morning from the river or the village well before anyone else.

At this point, the celebrant unties the mother’s tresses and hangs a string of small shells around her head. She then immerses some necklaces in the ritual water and with these touches the mother’s forehead and breast. She immerses them in the water again and then touches her shoulders and back. This is repeated three or four times.
She carries out a similar rite with the child and dips its head and then its bottom into the ritual water. The necklaces are then placed around the necks of the mother and the newborn child and the celebrant marks their foreheads, eyelashes, and eyebrows with black powder.
Choosing the name is an important part of the ritual. The name is, in general, associated with events or periods of the year during which the child was born. One born in the rainy season will be called Galla, meaning rain. The word sena (grass) is given to those who are born when the field is being cleared of grass.
Those born during the harvesting of dura (Kina) are called Kini. Unfortunately, war and the difficulties it causes are also remembered in names: Masi (male) from masa (wages war) is the name of one born when the country or area are devastated by war, and Agiagi (female) from agia (flight) or matuda (one who flees), if the birth takes places during flight or when people are obliged to move.

Choosing the name is an important part of the ritual.

When the participants have conferred the name on the baby, the mother offers everyone aifa (Kunama beer). The celebrant, with the baby in her arms, uses a conical filter lacagià, to pour the beer to be used for the rite’s concluding toast onto the mother’s head.
Two or four days later, the mother’s hair is newly arranged as she prepares for the second part of the Isata Olà. The ceremony is called Bia co-ghira (fetching water) because, when the rite is over, the mother is declared free to leave the house and go to the river to fetch water. The woman puts the wooden carrier on her shoulders with the balancing ropes (assuma) to which the two containers are attached: one has water, the other some lit coals on terracotta fragments.
When she is a certain distance from the house, the celebrant crushes the coals and prepares a paste with which she traces a cross on the mother’s breast, back, hands, and feet. The mother then washes her hands and feet in the water remaining in the container.
This concludes Isata Olà. The mother is now free to leave the house and take up her daily tasks. When the child grows up, he or she will undergo other traditional rites. (A.F.M.)

Kenya. Savings and Credits in Cooperative.

Thursday, 1 June 2023 8:00

An initiative of the Huruma Self-Help Group, it makes credit accessible to that segment of the population excluded from formal economic circuits. It all started in the Christian communities of Kariobangi, a suburb of Nairobi.

In 1991 Verona Huruma Savings and Credit Cooperative (VH Sacco) was founded, an informal savings group made up of 15 people who met regularly in one of the small Christian communities of the Comboni mission of Kariobangi, in one of the difficult suburbs of Nairobi, more precisely in the Huruma area.
It was a common practice among the most disadvantaged social classes on the outskirts of Kenyan cities, a practice that is called ‘merry-go-round’, that is, a small carousel that spins and makes people happy.
Every week, each member of the group deposits a small amount, and the members take turns collecting contributions. In this way, each member of the group manages to generate a small amount of capital to satisfy needs or make small investments that otherwise would not be possible.

Every week, each member of the group deposits a small amount and the members take turns collecting contributions.

Huruma’s group works well and has grown, so much so that in 1994 it transformed into Huruma Self-Help Group, a formally constituted mutual aid group. The conviction, based on experience, is that even small sums can make a difference in the living conditions in which many people in the suburbs of Nairobi find themselves.
The group is enjoying rapid success thanks to the large social capital of trust and integrity linked to the parish context. Thus, the residents of the area mobilize en masse and join the association to protect family savings and facilitate access to credit.
The self-help initiative makes credit accessible to that large part of the population who are unable to obtain it from the formal banking sector, as they have a minimal, unstable income and live in conditions of great vulnerability. This model is so successful that in 2013, thanks to its great expansion, it has managed to make an important leap forward: the project is transformed into SACCO (a savings and credit cooperative), with the possibility of also making investments. In 2017, there was a further step: from the local dimension to the national scale.

Financing slam projects.

Today, the cooperative has over 15,000 members from various social backgrounds and offers a wide range of services: first of all, the collection of savings (in the form of shares in the cooperative’s capital, which can only be withdrawn by leaving the cooperative) and various subsidized loan arrangements; from loans covered by a guarantee (at an interest rate of 0.8%), to those guaranteed by other shareholders (at a rate of 1.28%), to those self-secured by one’s own shares, to instant loans through a mobile app.
And all this in the face of a banking loan market with interest rates ranging from 8% to 12% on average. In addition, the cooperative pays its members dividends on savings. Financial and real estate investments have become an important part of the balance sheet. In particular, investments in land and residential properties make this market accessible to shareholders, thanks to fair and long-term rates, as well as economies of scale. This factor has significantly contributed to the opening of the cooperative beyond the borders of Kariobangi-Huruma. Furthermore, the social dimension of the cooperative’s activity also emerges in the insurance and financing plans for healthcare costs, in a scholarship program for needy children and young people, and a corporate social responsibility initiative which addresses
the needs of the most destitute.

Improving the living conditions.

A fount of trust and integrity, since the beginning of its journey, the group has been concerned with providing support to the Church, sharing its evangelical values, and acknowledging that it expresses that social capital of trust and integrity which values every social action. In fact, open spirituality – which welcomes everyone regardless of socio-cultural and religious affiliations – is not a secondary aspect of the organization’s journey. The budgetary results of the initiative are truly significant. Dividends in recent years (before the Covid-19 pandemic) were over 13%, with a capitalization of 1.4 billion shillings (about 12 million euros, between shares and investments) despite the strong competition, the recurring economic crises over the years, and inflation. But what matters most is the ability to know how to respond to the needs of those who normally remain excluded from formal economic circuits. And the social impact of the cooperative’s activities is there to testify to the effectiveness of this initiative. (Open Photo: 123rf)
(A.P.)

Unbreakable jars.

Monday, 1 May 2023 9:39

Once upon a time, there was a potter, honest and diligent, who made jars of excellent quality and many sizes. He was also a very religious man: in his spare time, he prayed and went to the temple every evening to participate in the ceremonies and sing hymns. Once a week he fasted and always offered alms to the poor people.

But there was something that tormented him, a desire that did not make him entirely happy: he wanted to build perfect, unbreakable jars. However, despite his best efforts, he came close to his ideal but never reached it. Unbreakable jars just didn’t come to him!

One night, while he was sleeping, God himself appeared to him and asked: “Do you really want to make jars that will never break?”. “Of course, Lord! – replied the potter. – This would be my ideal. If I really achieved it, I would be the happiest man in the world.”

“Think about it first – continued the Lord -, because, if you really want it, I could also fulfil you with a miracle of my own.” The potter reiterated: “That’s just what I want … to be able to make at least a perfect jar!” “All right – said the Lord. – You asked for this gift and you shall have it.”

Having said this, God disappeared. The potter could no longer sleep and waited impatiently for dawn. The next morning, he got up in a hurry and ran to make a small clay jar. Then he picked it up and threw it against a wall. The jar remained whole, without a single scratch. The potter began to sing and shout aloud: “I did it! I did it! I am the best potter in the world. No one can surpass me. To me the fame! To me the riches!”

The neighbours, convinced that he had gone mad, ran to help him, but were astonished when they saw that the jar just would not break.

From that day on, the potter’s life changed. He became the most sought-after man in the area. People queued up in front of his workshop. As his fame spread, soon the inhabitants of other villages also flocked to buy the jars that did not break.

The potter became rich and famous, as he had predicted. In the meantime, news of the unbreakable jars ran through the whole country and even reached the capital, Kathmandu. When it reached the ears of a rich merchant, he was at first sceptical: fairy tales, hearsay! But with the fine business sense he had, he told himself that no chance should be overlooked.

So, he set off for the potter’s village to see for himself. And what was not his astonishment when he saw with his own eyes that the jars were not only beautiful but were truly unbreakable. He wanted to enter into a partnership with the potter, offering him his capital, his experience in trade and all the workshops he had in the village. Not only that but to show the potter all his enthusiasm he offered him his only beautiful daughter in marriage.

The potter gladly accepted and also agreed to move to Kathmandu: here the young bride would be able to stay with her mother, this was the obvious reason; but there was another, more secret reason: he wanted to attain in the city that fame and honours that until now had only been bestowed on him in the villages. The wedding was soon celebrated with great pomp and great joy for all.

A large workshop was then opened in the capital and the precious jars sold like hotcakes here and throughout the nation. When, sometime later, news of an heir also reached the potter, he thought he had reached the height of happiness. But – there is always a but in human affairs – the demand for jars at some point began to wane. Since these did not break, no one needed to replace them. The queue in front of his shop diminished every day until the time came when he could no longer sell a single jar. “This is not necessary,” the potter thought to himself and set about designing new jar models, in the hope that they would be liked and bought instead of the others. But to no avail! The new models were liked, they were admired, but no one was buying. And what would they do with new jars, when the old ones were perfect?

So, the potter put his hands in his hair and began to despair, worried about his future and that of his family.

One night, as he was about to fall asleep absorbed in dark thoughts, God appeared to him again and asked: “How are you? I am curious to know how it went. Tell me everything.” “I am the saddest man on earth,” replied the potter. “How come? Didn’t you want to make perfect jars? Then what’s wrong?” The man spoke sadly: “I was wrong. I would love to make jars that break as soon as they are thrown against a rock!”

“I don’t get it – said God. – Once you wanted jars that wouldn’t break; now you want jars that will break … Why?” “You know everything – replied the potter. – You know my thoughts. You know the reason for my despair. People bought the jars, but now they don’t want any more because they are unbreakable. I can no longer sell anything and the profit I have made will only last me for a while. Then what will happen to my family? What future will I be able to offer my son?”

“Think about it! – God repeated the advice the first time. – If I cancel my gift, you will no longer be able to make perfect jars. Think it over!” “I will be happy to make normal jars. That way, every time one breaks, people will come back to me or go to other potters and we can all learn something. Please make me a normal potter again!”

The man pleaded and suddenly woke up. Seized with anxiety, he could not wait until morning. In the middle of the night, he went to the workshop and made a terracotta moulded into the shape of a jar.
Then he took it and hurled it against the wall. The jar broke into a thousand pieces.

So, the potter returned happy. And he became even more religious because he had understood that happiness does not lie in trying to make perfect things, but in doing one’s work with honesty and simplicity, trying to have a big heart towards everyone and doing charitable works. (Photo: 123rf.com)

Folktale from Nepal

Music. Sounds of Kazakhstan.

Monday, 1 May 2023 8:00

Q-pop is the Kazakh-language musical genre that is becoming widespread. A mix of western pop, electronic dance, rhythm’n’blues and hip-hop.

A land where the Silk Road passes, Kazakhstan gained independence in 1990 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A complex and multi-ethnic land – in addition to the Russians and Kazakhs, there are Uzbeks, Slavs, Ukrainians, Tatars, Belarusians -, allied to Russia (but not in the Ukrainian conflict), with a rich culture, also in the musical field.
And here the genre that is most popular today is Q-pop: songs sung in the Kazakh language that incorporate typical elements of Western pop, electronic dance, rhythm’n’blues and hip-hop. A genre – but also an approach and a school of thought applied to music – not far from K-pop that North Koreans have been exporting all over the world for years.

The Kazakh band Ninety One. (Photo: The Astana Times)

This phenomenon emerged in the middle of the last decade and found its first flagship group in the boy band Ninety One. And they were the first fans to coin the term (the letter Q derives from the name of the country, Qazaqstan, as it should be written according to the Latin script of Kazakh). A quartet typical of teenage bands from all over the world, adored by little girls and mocked by mainstream lovers. And yet their career is still going on, with the ambition of demonstrating to young Kazakhs the modernity of their mother tongue. To get to know them, just listen to Jurak, their single of last year. If among the stars of the old guard, the best known is probably Roza Rymbayeva (15 albums released and several international awards) who offers a rather traditionalist electronic pop with some deviations towards local folk and jazz.

Dımash Qudaıbergen (Photo: Turkystan.kz)

The most significant artists of today’s scene must include the following two. Starting with Dımash Qudaıbergen. Born into a family in 1994, with a strong voice (endowed with perfect pitch, a range of more than six octaves and a remarkable talent for whistling), he has had a solid classical training and has won the admiration of many international critics, some of whom did not hesitate to judge him “the most beautiful voice in the world”. To get an idea of it you need to listen to his 2019 album iD: imagine an almost impossible cross between Andrea Bocelli and Antony Hegarty and a style that crosses popular international pop with classical elements of traditional Kazakh and classical music.
The other emerging name is that of the very young Daneliya Tuleshova. Born in the capital Astana in 2009, she showed her talent as a child by winning the Hopes of Europe competition in 2017 and then honourably represented her country at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2018. She then took part in 2020 in America’s Got Talents; a dozen singles to date and, if she can resist the pressures of the business, a bright future awaits her. (Open Photo: Musical notes lined up in even rows against the backdrop of the National Flag of Kazakhstan .123rf.com)

Franz Coriasco

Between terrorist threats and Unsolved problems.

Monday, 1 May 2023 8:00

The political instability seen before, the ethnic tensions both in the country and in the region, the collapse of the institutions in some of the neighbouring countries (first Mali then Burkina Faso) and other factors created the conditions for an increase of the terrorist
risk in Ivory Coast

Jihadist groups linked to Al Qaeda or the Islamic State have been targeting the Gulf of Guinea country for years. On 13 March 2016 Al Qaeda militias attacked in Grand Bassam and killed 19 people. The fact that the attack took place on the coast near Abidjan proved that extremists based in the Sahel region (especially in Algeria and Mali) had the capabilities to strike in all of West Africa. It is true that there was no new attack in the south of Ivory Coast since then, and that there was no major attack. But the risk is still there and increased in the latest years.
The absence of institutions that could defend law and order in Sahel countries gave jihadists the possibility to set up their bases, to recruit new militants, to spread their propaganda and in some cases to take control of swaths of territory. Jihadists exploit the weaknesses of the states of the region, and especially of their security forces. First of all, they take advantage of the insufficient checks at the borders to move from country to country. So, they could attack in Ivory Coast and then retreat to their bases on the other side of the border.
This is what is happening, as an example, in northern areas of Benin and, on a smaller scale, in Togo.

Jihadists exploit the weaknesses of the states of the region, and especially of their security forces.(Photo Swm Archive)

Even if Ivory Coast is still not a target like Benin or Togo, the situation could worsen dramatically and rapidly. Jihadism in the country is not yet an indigenous phenomenon, even if extremists are trying to gain some foothold. But the armed groups based elsewhere can sustain the offensives of Ivorian security forces due to their resources. At this moment, on a strategical level jihadist seem to focus their attention and efforts on Benin and Togo, where there have been several terrorist attacks. But Ivory Coast is one of the most influential countries of the region, and therefore is a major target.
And its weaknesses can be easily exploited by extremist. A terrorist escalation in Ivory Coast may be only a matter of time, despite the efforts to avoid it put in place by the government.
Another worrying trend is the increase in shipments of cocaine coming from South America in Ivorian ports. Criminal gangs seem to use West African countries as hubs in the routes towards Europe. Ivorian authorities are concerned by this dynamic because they discovered that international crime organizations established networks in the country and bribed Ivorian public officials. They acted swiftly to neutralize those networks. But the infiltration of those structures in the institutions and the economy could have a devastating effect.

The increase in shipments of cocaine coming from South America in Ivorian ports. Warehouses and transport trucks at the port of Abidjan. CC BY-SA 2.0/Romain Seaf

An economist by training, Ouattara seems to think that in the long term the economic development will solve the problems for Ivory Coast. But the experience shows that this idea is tricky since in fact the new wealth could create more reasons to fight. Ivory Coast continued to be one of the leading economies of the region even during the moments of civil war. But the economic relative prosperity did not help to bring peace. The exploitation of oil reserves in the next years could bring new resources and new wealth but could also exacerbate the existing tensions. The discontent over how oil revenues will be distributed could add up to the existing grievances, such as the abuses endured during the civil wars.The mutual mistrust among the ethnicities could end delegitimizing the institutions. It is fostered by the sentiment of impunity since a vast part of those who committed crimes (such as killings and rapes) during the civil wars was neither judged nor convicted. In these days many political leaders are preaching for peace and reconciliation. But some of them in the past called for violence and have not been punished for that. Therefore, they could return to incite confrontation if they deem it useful.

Ivory Coast continues to be one of the leading economies of the region.

With different levels of involvement, all of the three leaders are politically responsible for what happened in the past decades. Their rivalry for power risked tearing their country apart. Konan Bédié created the ideology of Ivoirité, that is a form of institutionalised racism and worsened the rifts between the ethnic groups. Gbagbo espoused this ideology when he was at the top. He also refused to cede power after the electoral commission proclaimed a result he did not like and therefore created the conditions for a new civil war. This civil war was won by the armed groups that supported Ouattara and committed abuses against the part of population that was pro-Gbagbo. But the incumbent chief of state seems to have shied away from any judgement about the behaviour of his militias. If the Ivorian political elite will not be able to break free from this circle of rivalry and conflict and to come to terms with the recent past on political and judiciary level the future will end up resembling the past, but for the worse.

Andrea Carbonari

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