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Why Goats Live with Man.

The goat and his mother lived alone in their village. He said to her, “I have here a magic-medicine to make one strong in wrestling.
There is no one who can overcome me, or cast me down; I can overcome any other person.”

The other beasts heard of this boast; and they took up the challenge. First, house-rats, hundreds of them, came to the goat’s village, to wrestle with him. He overcame two hundred of them one by one.
The rats, then, went back to their places, saying that they were not able to overcome the goat. Then the forest-rats came to wrestle with the goat. He overcame them also in the same way. And they went back
to their own place defeated.

Then the antelopes came to wrestle with the goat. He overcame all the antelopes, every one of them; not one was able to throw the goat to the ground. And they also went back to their places disappointed.
Also, the elephant with all the elephants came on that same mission.
The goat overcame all the elephants; and they, too, went back
to their place defeated.

Thus, all the beasts came, in the same way, and were also overcome by the goat, and went bad surprised at the goat’s strength. But there still remained one beast, only one, the leopard. He had not made the attempt. He said he would go, as he was sure he could overcome. He came, but the goat overcame him also.
It was proved, then, that not a single beast could withstand the goat. This made the goat think that he was king.

Then the father of all the leopards said: “I am ashamed that this beast should overcome me. I will kill him!” And he thought of a plan to do so. He went to the spring where mankind got their drinking water and stood, hiding at the spring. When men of the town went to the spring to get water the leopard killed two of them.

The people went to tell the goat, “Go away from here, for the leopard is killing mankind on your account.” The mother of the goat said to him, “If that is so, let us go to my brother, the antelope.” So they both went to the uncle antelope. When they came to his village, they told him their errand. He bravely said, “Remain here! Let me see the leopard come here with his boldness!”

They were then at the antelope’s village about two days. On the third day, about eight o’clock in the morning, the leopard came there as if for a walk. When the antelope saw him, the goat and his mother hid themselves; and the antelope asked the leopard, “What is your anger? Why are you angry with my nephew?”

At that very moment, while the antelope was speaking, the leopard seized him on the ear. The antelope cried out, “What are you killing me for?” The leopard replied, “Show me the place where the goat
and his mother are.”

So the antelope, being afraid, said, “Come tonight, and I will show you where they sleep. And you may kill them; but don’t kill me.” While he was saying this, the goat overheard, and said to his mother, “We must flee, lest the leopard kill us.”

At sundown, then, that evening, the goat and his mother fled to the village of the elephant. About midnight, the leopard came to the antelope’s village, as he had been told, and looked for the goat, but did not find him. The leopard went to all the houses of the village, and when he came to the antelope’s home, in his disappointment he killed him.

The leopard kept up his search, and set out to find where the goat had gone. Following the footprints, he came to the village of the elephant. When he arrived there, the elephant demanded, “What’s the matter?” And the same conversation followed, as at the antelope’s village, and with the same result. The elephant was killed by the leopard, for the goat and his mother had fled, and had gone to the village of the ox.

The leopard followed, and came to the village of the ox. There all the same things happened, as in the other villages. The goat and his mother fled, and the ox was killed by the leopard. Then the mother, wearying of flight and sorry that she had caused their friends to be killed, said, “My child! if we continue to flee to the villages of other beasts the leopard will follow, and will kill them. Let us flee to the homes of mankind.”

They fled again, then, and came to the town of man, and told him their story. He received them kindly. He took the goat and his mother as guests, and gave them a house to live in. Not long afterward the leopard came to the town of man looking for the goat. But the man said to the leopard, “Those beasts whom you killed failed to find a way in which to kill you. But, if you come here, we will find a way.” So that night, then, the leopard went back to the village.
The man then made a big trap for the leopard, with two rooms in it. He took the goat and put him in one room of the trap.

Night came. The leopard left his village, still going to seek the goat; and he came again to the town of man. The leopard stood still, listened, and sniffed the air. He smelled the odour of the goat, and was glad, and said, “So! this night I will get him!” He saw an open way to a small house. He thought it was a door. He entered, and was caught in the trap.
He could see the goat through the cracks of the wall, but could not get at him. The goat jeered at him, “My friend! you were about to kill me,
but you are unable.”

Daybreak came. And people of man’s town found the leopard in the trap, caught fast. They took machetes and guns, and killed him. Then man said to the goat, “You shall not go back to the forest; remain here always. Some friend or relative of the leopard may try to kill you.” This is the reason that goats like to live with mankind, through fear of leopards.

Folktale from Tanzania

Israel. Kuchinate, let’s all crochet.

Kuchinate is the name chosen by a group of African women seeking asylum in Israel. They have organised a project for themselves which will guarantee them a steady income and daily assistance. Two Comboni Sisters are helping them.

Sister Azezet Habtezghi, known by all as Sister Aziza, and Sister Agnese are Comboni Missionaries and members of the Bethany community in Jerusalem. Kuchinate (which means crochet hook in Tigrinya), is an organisation of women from the Horn of Africa countries seeking asylum in Israel. Sister Aziza is a co-manager and Sister Agnese keeps the financial accounts.

Sister Azezet Kidane, co-Director of the Kuchinate (Miriam Alster/Flash90).

Sister Aziza, from Eritrea, has worked for more than ten years on behalf of women who have suffered violence and torture as they went through hellish conditions while crossing the Sinai desert. In 2012, she received the award Trafficking in Persons Report Heroes from the American Secretary of State for her work against human trafficking.
Sister Agnese went to the Holy Land after working for 16 years in Sudan, two in Egypt and three in Dubai. She is now collaborating with Aziza in the Kuchinate project with the Bedouins of the Jahalin community of Khan al Ahmar, a camp on the Jerusalem to Jericho road. However, the real protagonists of this initiative that takes its name from a simple tool, the crochet hook, are the African women. One of them is Meron, a single Eritrean mother with a child. She grew up with her mother in Eritrea but was kidnapped one day when she was going to buy bread. Meron never liked to speak of all the things that happened to her during that terrible time but after a few months, she managed to enter Israel, passing through Sinai. It was only then, after she discovered Kuchinate, that Meron began a new life. In Kuchinate she found a warm welcome and someone to listen to her story.
Kedes is also from Eritrea and entered Israel after travelling for four months across the Sinai desert. Some of their companions went through the same experience:  Zghiaria, Hadas and Ganet, to name but a few, each with a terrible story to tell, but all of them full of joy at having found Kuchinate and being its active members.

On their own initiative, they opened a workshop in Tel Aviv where they sell their handmade products.  The shop displays a variety of items, in striking bright colours; all made using the crochet hook: baskets, handbags, bracelets, household goods and items made of cloth such as dolls, facemasks, tablecloths and serviettes, all waiting for customers. The shop has also begun online sales which means the products can become better known and exported.
Kuchinate is something more than a business: the project also provides voluntary education programmes for the women seeking asylum which enable them to take part in various courses such as professional dressmaking, English language, or computer skills. They also receive psychological accompaniment to help them integrate all the violence and suffering to which they have been subjected.

One important element in the Kuchinate project is that the young women do not confine themselves to merely producing and selling goods. Kuchinate is also intended to be a sharing of traditions and culture. For this reason, before the pandemic, social gatherings were organised, including the East African coffee ceremonies and a school of Eritrean cooking with the traditional flatbread called injera: all of which aimed at bringing the asylum seekers together and getting to know their personal stories. The spread of Covid-19 has had a catastrophic effect on thousands of people in Israel who have lost their jobs with nothing to fall back on such as social security. Many of the Kuchinate women were not able to continue their part-time jobs (many were working as maids in well-to-do families or hotels); overnight, they found themselves deprived of their income.  Seeing the situation, many people have continued to support Kuchinate by buying their products. This has enabled the women to continue their work and earn their living.

Sr Aziza remarks: “Apart from the ulterior value of the women’s network which has guaranteed the results of the manual work they do within a therapeutic social system that is open and culturally appropriate, together with the creation of income-generating products that express Africa’s pride and cultural beauty, all of this contributes to the general well-being and health of our women”.
During the pandemic, Kuchinate has also provided the young African women with psychological support, instituting monthly buna talks (coffee chats) in small groups, and daily telephone calls to monitor the needs of each asylum seeker. To sum up, despite the pandemic, Kuchinate has obtained excellent results, also this year, a decade after its foundation. Today, there are over 230 women who are taking part in Kuchinate and have had the joy of neighbourly support. Mostly because of the little crochet hook.

Chiara Pellicci/PM

Africa. “The mission continues…”

A total of one hundred and thirty years those three Comboni missionaries spent in Africa. Three devoted people of great faith and love for the people. Their motto was: ‘This is our home and here we will remain as long as there is life in our bodies’.

Comboni Father David Ferraboschi is originally from Italy but has spent some 50 years in Sudan as a missionary. Only forced exile lasting for four years could separate him from Sudan. “When I first arrived in Sudan, there were about sixty of us Comboni missionaries in the country but today we are less than twenty. The mission continues, nonetheless”.
At the age of 79, Father David is still “in the front line” working in the parish of Masalma, in Omdurman. Founded in 1889, it is the oldest current community of Comboni Missionaries in Sudan. However, Father David’s first mission was among the Nuba, in El Obeid and Kaduqli – North Kordofan and South Kordofan, respectively.

Father David Ferraboschi: “I am having a beautiful missionary life”.

“There I learned to love this quiet, simple, life-loving and extremely welcoming people. In Masalma, most of the Christians are Nuba who came to escape from the endless conflict that their region suffers. I love this parish. This is where the Comboni Missionaries Sr. Teresa Grigolini and Fr. Josef Ohrwalder, along with other missionaries, were forced to remain as prisoners during the Islamic rebellion at the end of the 19th century. They had a kind of secret chapel where they prayed unknown to anyone, taking a great risk. That is why we wanted to open the parish”.
In 1990, Fr. David’s visa was not renewed since the Khartoum government wanted to reduce the Catholic presence in the country. Fr. David left for Egypt with the hope of soon returning to Sudan. But as the permission did not arrive, he returned to Italy to study at the Pontifical Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies.

It was a time to improve his knowledge of Arabic and to study in depth the Qur’an and the Muslim religion. He was only able to return in 1994. He was in Nyala (Darfur) for five years, and again in El Obeid, with the Nuba, for another eight years, before ending up, in 2005, in the parish of Masalma.
His face lights up when he talks about his life there. “I am having a beautiful missionary life. I see that faith in Jesus helps many people to move forward, it stimulates them to overcome the differences between the communities because they feel they are members of a larger group”. He talks to people and never seems to be in a hurry. “Once you get into people’s reality and free yourself from prejudices, everything is easier. It cost me a lot. At first, I was a victim of that desire for people to do what we do and the way we do it. And it is not like that. They have their way of seeing things, their vision, also their defects, as we do, but it is undoubtedly they who are the protagonists and must manage the mission”.

Sr. Conchita: “I have lived the mission with joy”
Last March, Sister Conchita Lopez, a Comboni Sister, received from the Spanish Government, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the cross of the Royal Order of Isabel la Católica for her commitment on behalf of poor people around the world.
Sr. Conchita Lopez was born in Toledo, (Spain) 75 years ago. Sudan is also her mission land, which she only left to care for her elderly mother for a few years. She felt a very strong missionary call at the age of 12 and it followed her faithfully despite stiff opposition from her family. “I had to flee from home to start my formation with the Comboni Missionaries and only little by little, and after much suffering, my family ended up accepting my vocation, and was even happy about it”.

Sister Conchita Lopez: “the mission with the joy”.

“I arrived in Sudan on December 3, 1975. The first years were lived in Omdurman and Atbara, studying Arabic and assimilating the cultural values of the country. Later, the roads of the mission would take me to present-day southern Sudan. I spent six years in Juba and then a long period in Malaka and it was always the same: war, war and more war. The bombs were falling everywhere, but at the same time God’s grace was so strong that it renewed us and gave us strength to continue with the people”. Sr. Conchita continues: “At that time, all humanitarian organizations had left and people looked at us and asked us: `Are you going too?’ I do not know where we got the strength to say: No, the good shepherd does not abandon his sheep so we will stay”. The superiors in Rome asked the sisters to leave the mission, and the United States embassy offered them a flight to leave Malaka, but they did not leave. “We chose ourselves. We did not pray about it and the superior said: ‘You see what they tell us from Rome’, and there was a silence. Suddenly a sister said: ‘I’m staying’; then another: ‘I want to stay as well,’ and so the six of us stayed there. We felt that it was not the time to abandon those people who needed us and we really created a wonderful fraternity with the people. It was a joy for them to see us there and with their enormous faith they encouraged us: ‘Don’t worry sister, God is with us’. We came to evangelize and we were evangelized”.

In 1996, Conchita returned to Spain to care for her mother. She returned to Sudan in 2004, where she spent four years in Khartoum until, in 2008, she was assigned to her current community in El Obeid. “I have always lived the mission with the joy of being among the poorest. I have been accompanying two communities in Rahad and Umruwaba, near El Obeid, for 12 years with people living in tremendous misery. Most of them are Nubas, but there are also other small groups from different communities. I go there and visit families, including the Muslim ones. I talk with some of them and try to help others in whatever way I can.
I try to make sure the children go to school and receive an education. That is my mission”.
Sr. Conchita remembers the names of various people she has encountered. One of them is Riad, whom she baptised as he was in danger of death. He died a few hours later. “It was something very emotional. There were all those people praying on their knees next to Riad, in a small and very poor house, where they had only one dirty old mattress but a lot of faith. This is our presence”.

Fr. Alfredo Neres:  “The joy of meeting people”
Father Alfredo Neres is Portuguese. He has spent more than 34 years in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “As soon as I arrived in the Congo, I took on the task of assisting the villages on the savannah where the most abandoned people live.  A whole year may go by without people being able to go to confession or assist at Mass. In all these years, I have always wanted to experience the joy of going to meet and visit our Christians in the savannah. I remember going to visit a chapel in Ango mission, 198 km from the centre, often pushing my loaded bicycle up the hills. My visits to those villages created a new atmosphere. I would proclaim the Word of God, hear confessions, celebrate Mass and spend days with the people. Sometimes I would stay in the forest for three weeks before returning to the parish tired and in need of a wash but with overflowing joy”, Father Alfredo recounts.

Father Alfredo Neres: “ This is my home. I will stay as long as I can”.

The missionary continues: “In my missionary work, I have always emphasised the work of evangelisation, giving priority to the training of pastoral agents according to the Comboni motto of ‘Saving Africa with Africa’. The second strong point is the Eucharist, helping people to live deeply the Eucharist in their towns and villages. In third place, I consider the Sacrament of Reconciliation as fundamental as it shows the love of God through forgiveness and closeness”.Father Alfredo recalls: “At first, there were not many priests in our dioceses in the Congo and the work involved especially the preparation of catechumens for baptism. Many baptisms and confirmations were administered to lead people to Christian maturity. When I was an episcopal vicar in Bondo, the Bishop charged me with erecting three new parishes in the diocese, each a long way from the other (Monga, Ango and Dakwa). I stayed for two months in each parish to ensure the conditions for their establishment”.
An event he experienced changed his life. “In December 1981, my priestly, religious and missionary life was turned upside down. While I was in Rome doing a course, I took part in a meeting of Charismatic renewal. During the prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit, I received a gift from the Holy Spirit, the gift of healing people’s diseases and liberating them”.
When he returned to the DR Congo, Father Alfredo devoted himself to his new ministry. He was chosen by the Bishop of Bondo as the diocesan exorcist and he has exercised this ministry for twenty years. “I like these two activities very much: healing people and liberating them from the power of witchcraft, from magic and their evil chains”.

The missionary continues with his memories of his missionary life. “The most impressive memories concern the seven years (from 1996 to 2003) of war he spent at Ango and Bondo. When the soldiers of Mobutu, on the one hand, and those of Bemba and Kabila senior, on the other, clashed, the rifle shots and rockets struck the village and our houses. The soldiers ransacked the houses and the church. They even thought we kept money hidden in the tabernacle. To avoid something worse, I left the tabernacle open and empty. I took the Blessed Sacrament to my room where I had set up a well-cared-for altar. One night, from 18:00 to 5:00, the battle raged with thousands of shots being fired and the forest set alight. The volleys of fire from the tanks passed above the house and exploded somewhere else. All night long I lay on the floor gazing at the Blessed Sacrament. I kept very quiet, of course, and told Our Lord that it would be nice for us both to be buried together and go to heaven together. His presence would have ensured my admittance. In those moments, I experienced the presence of Christ very strongly. At other times, when we took refuge in the forest, I would take the Blessed Sacrament in my satchel and it was always a source of immense joy for me. His presence among us gave us surprising strength and courage”.
Father Alfredo concludes: “As I look back over my 34 years of missionary life in this land, I feel overcome by joy for the life I have lived. In moments of trials and sorrows, they give me peace and joy in my heart. I have been called to pass on, to give, to share and bring this joy to life in the people Our Lord allows me to meet”.
When David, Conchita and Alfredo were asked if they plan to ever leave Sudan and DR Congo, they respond in a similar way: “This is my home. I will stay as long as I can”.

Enrique Bayo

 

 

 

The Central African Republic. Let’s start again together.

To recreate the social and interreligious fabric of a society torn by war, it is necessary to provide opportunities for people to meet, especially the youth, by means of formative and cultural activities.
The young people try to mend what politics has divided since they feel part of a single people.

“The most important thing for us is not the theoretical principles but how to recommence living together”. This was the reply of Fr. Moses Otii, a Ugandan Comboni Missionary and parish priest of the parish of Our Lady of Fatima, one of the largest in the Archdiocese of Bangui, when asked to recount his experience in the ambit of interreligious dialogue.
This is the heart of the matter: to start again by creating opportunities for Muslims and Christians to approach each other and once again to live and work together. It comes after they have been at the centre of violent political instrumentalisation that led them to be falsely associated with the Seleka and Anti-Balaka rebel groups that have fanned the flames of conflict in the whole territory of the Central African Republic since 2012.
This has brought about the latest in a series of political crises mistakenly interpreted as a religious conflict between the main faiths of the country. However, the causes that led to the clashes are to be sought elsewhere: in the way the government abandoned vast peripheral territories and in the greed of the rebel groups who want to get hold of the immense mineral resources of the country.

Father Moses shows the chalice pierced by a bullet during the May 2014 attack on the parish.

Not even the parish of Our Lady of Fatima has been spared. It is located a few hundred metres from Km5, the economic powerhouse of the capital and with a Muslim majority. There were repeated attacks, massacres and attempts to destroy it, resulting in dozens of deaths, including the killing of two priests. Since 5 December 2013, more than six thousand displaced people have found refuge there, a situation that has lasted more than three years.
In the midst of this tragedy, Fr. Moses never gave up. That which gives him the strength to remain in such a difficult situation is the faith of the people. He realises more and more that the presence of the Church is their only sign of hope. “If we had left the parish, it would have been as if we quenched the last flame of hope. Our presence is vital”, the young missionary priest says. Father Moses understood it was necessary to do something concrete.  He prayed, reflected, questioned himself and then asked for collaboration to set up a working team. Together, they began to dream and think up initiatives. “With all the atrocities of recent years, we began to consider what we should do and start some activities, with just one thing in mind: to create the right conditions where Christians and Muslims could meet together”.

The parish of Our Lady of Fatima is one of the largest in the Archdiocese of Bangui.

The first of these initiatives was a course of English lessons which was attended by around 120 young people of whom 80 were Muslims. Fr. Moses recalls this first experience: “At first it was not easy, due to the presence of the Muslims. Then, as time went by, the young people realised that those Muslims they were meeting were people like themselves, with the same desires and dreams to be fulfilled. This first exchange was positive, and it encouraged us to continue moving in the same direction”.Listening groups were set up to help the displaced to escape from the spiral of hatred, anger and revenge. The first video about peace entitled ‘The Dove’ was shown in a number of displaced people locations, arousing animated debates on the theme of reconciliation and forgiveness.At the end of 2019, a cultural centre for young people was opened with the title of The Martyrs of Fatima featuring a library, a conference hall, literacy courses, informatics, robotics, psychological counselling, a film workshop and a music studio. Many Muslims attend the numerous training courses on peace and conflict management and resolution.

Bangui’s Archbishop Dieudonne Nzapalainga, the late Imam Kobine Layama and Pastor Franco Mbaye-Bondoih.

“We are preparing the ground for forgiveness and reconciliation”, Fr. Moses explains, “many people tell me how they have lost everything, their families and homes and ask how they can forgive, how they can be reconciled with the people who cut down their nearest and dearest. It is necessary to prepare the ground because forgiveness is a gift of God”. Fr. Moses explains the deep meaning of the new centre: “We have to overcome the sense of being victims and become authors of our own destiny. We have suffered and lived through bad situations, but this place of death must become a place of life. From being a place of wounds, it must become a place of healing”.The missionary repeats the importance of interreligious dialogue that is firmly rooted in the lives of the people: “We are creating spaces where the people can meet and those of different religions can mix together”. Besides the cultural centre, a pharmacy with a laboratory for tests has been added. The aim is always the same: to care for people and heal their wounds by means of encounters.
Fatima parish is becoming a space where dialogue between the religions becomes abundant life.
Anour Limane, president of the Central African Islamic Youth Circle for Development tells of some of the initiatives of recent months in which young Christians and Muslims took part at Fatima parish.
Last September, the Muslim and Christian communities organised together a Festiphoto de Fatima, an online photo exhibition that enabled young Central Africans to demonstrate their creativity by showing the other face of the country, one much different from that of death and destruction that young people were used to seeing, so as to allow the abundant human and environmental beauty of the Central African Republic to emerge. In December, a Festipaix de Fatima was held. This was a film festival aimed at promoting the culture of peace and dialogue between the cultures and religions by producing films under the direction of Julio-Cyriaque Mbetheke (Fatima parish) and Fatoumata Dembele of the Circle. Both initiatives met with enormous success, with many of the youth taking part in them.
Anour comments: “As the community of young Muslims, we faithfully frequent the Fatima youth cultural centre. Our students also frequent the library, an occasion for them to talk to the youth of the Christian community. We want to relive the communion that existed before the crisis”.Father Moses recalls: “When I first arrived in 2012, Christians and Muslims lived together in this quarter.  The parish was full of life and initiatives, a place of encounter between many people of different religious persuasions. Muslims, Protestants and Catholics would come together to watch films, take part in sporting competitions, and celebrate Christmas together. The political-military crisis that broke out towards the end of 2012 put an end to all of that”.

Muslim and Christian children would sit together side by side in the school benches in front of the parish. Sr. Charlotte, who is headmistress of the Catholic school Notre Dame de Chartres has had to work on the problem of healing the wounds left by the war. “In our school, the majority of the children were Muslim. After the war, both teachers and parents refused to have their children go back again to the school. They had suffered too much. We prepared them little by little to accept all the children because this school makes no distinction based on religion, social class or ethnicity”.When the school was reopened, the children who had not seen each other for so long were happy to meet again with their classmates and they immediately began to play together. “It was necessary to work for a long time to get them to understand that we are neither Anti-Balaka nor Seleka, but we are all brothers and sisters”.
He recalls: “One day, during an assembly, a Muslim mother told the Christian parents that the school protects all their children, both Muslim and Christian and prepares them to face their future with commitment”. Whereas politics has divided the country, setting one against the other, the youth want to commit themselves entirely for a different future, in a country where 85% of the population is made up of young people who are uneducated and therefore more easily manipulated.
Anour Limane concludes: “We must not allow ourselves to be manipulated by the powerful; all those who want to divide us. We young people of various religions have one thing in common. We all belong to the Central African Republic”.

Federica Farolfi

A New Constitutional Charter.

In 1966, Guyana became independent of its mother country and joined the Commonwealth as an autonomous entity.

Legislative power was entrusted to an elected assembly composed of 35 members and, in 1970, the new Constitutional Charter was launched and the ‘Cooperative Republic of Guyana’ was proclaimed with Arthur Chung, judge of Chinese ancestry, as president. He was succeeded in 1973 by Burnham who worked to establish relations with Cuba, the People’s Republic of China, the USSR and the German Democratic Republic. Nevertheless, as a member of the Commonwealth, it was strongly influenced by the United States and the United Kingdom on the local political scene. That influence caused the country to develop a greater cultural affinity with the British islands of the Caribbean, with Suriname and French Guyana than with the rest of the southern region of the Americas. Furthermore, the various ethnic groups established in the country did nothing to help create a spirit of unity capable of reaching
a cultural synthesis.

This caused Guyana to be isolated in the region. Nevertheless, during the past twenty years, there has been an about-turn in that ethnic groups which were formerly distinct tended to merge and the growth of politics which developed in the Latin American region due to the activities of such organisations as USAN that seeks the integration of the regional bloc. In fact, the construction of road infrastructure creating connections with other countries, the influence of Brazil and Venezuela and migration within the region have allowed Guyana to become more a part of the South American cultural context.
However, there is also an organisation that seeks to promote integration with the United States: Guyana USA which is based upon the large number of Guyanese, around 100,000, who possess dual citizenship and the Guyanese resident in the United States who number about 350,000, a number equal to about one-third of the entire population of Guyana.
The institutional profile of Guyana is a democratic republic with a semi-presidential system with the president as head of the government. Executive power is in the hands of the government while legislative power belongs both to the government and to the National Assembly. The president is elected indirectly and has the duty of appointing the prime minister. The president may not be removed except for reasons of health or flagrant violation of the constitution. On the other hand, he may dissolve the National Assembly. The prime minister leads the government under the control and coordination of the president. The Assembly has legislative power and representatives are elected by proportional representation in which 25 seats are allotted by preferences and the remaining 40 are reserved for members chosen by the parties and inserted into the blocked lists.

National Assembly. (Photo: Guyana Inc. Magazine).

The independence of the motherland animated the political life of the country by means of the development of two already existing major parties that represented the two largest ethnic groups. Of these, the first and most important is the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) which was formed as an offshoot of the old Labour Party which adopted a Marxist orientation and was later supported by the Indian workers. In 1957, seven years after its formation, some dissidents broke away and formed the People’s National Congress (PNC) which was more open to private enterprise in the economy and was an expression of the African-Guyanese population who accused the PPP of implementing policies favourable to the sectors controlled by the Indian-Guyanese.
With its clear electoral advantage, the PNC dominated the local political scene from the early seventies to the end of the nineties but as the new millennium opened, the PPP assumed the government of the country. Nevertheless, it must be said that, while both parties have a socialist orientation, the real differences that separate them have to do with ethnic questions and the distribution of resources. The two ethnic groups are, in fact, divided between the two production sectors of the country with the population of Indian descent overseeing their interests in the plantations of sugar, coffee and rice while those of African descent and living in urban areas, oversee the interests of the mining sector.

Guyanese President Irfaan Ali.

In March 2020, the country went to the polls and the result was a new rotation of power between the two most important parties. The outgoing President David Arthur Granger (PNC) was beaten by Mohamed Irfaan Ali of the PPP. The election was called following a 2018 vote of no confidence in President Ganger due to the doubtful relations between the state and the US oil company Exxon Mobil. Ali won the election after a recount of the votes which, after the first count, granted victory to David Granger. The recount followed accusations of fraud brought by the opposition, international observers and the Supreme Court of Guyana.
The victory of Mohamed Irfaan Ali represents a moment of special historical relevance since Ali is the first practising Muslim president to be head of a Latin American country. The new president will have to manage the unprecedented situation of an oil-related economic boom as well as the tensions between the two ethnic groups which could worsen due to the appropriation of profits. (F.R.)

 

The Latin American Church in Assembly. The challenge of ‘Synodality’.

In Mexico City, from 21 to 28 November, the first ecclesial Assembly of Latin America and the Caribbean will take place with the motto ‘We are all out-going missionary disciples’.

The project originated with the dialogue between Pope Francis and the Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM) which, in 2019, during its XXXVII General Assembly, proposed to have a VI General Conference of the Latin American episcopate. This followed those held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1955, in Medellín, Colombia, in 1968, in Puebla, Mexico, in 1979, in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, in 1992 and in Aparecida, again in Brazil, in 2007. The conclusions reached gradually configured an ecclesial tradition and magisterium proper to the continent. Pope Francis not only believed it useful and necessary to have a new meeting in Latin America but launched an even greater challenge to the bishops, one that is more up-to-date and typical of its pastoral policy: to hold in this continent an ecclesial Assembly
with a synodal character.

CELAM itself specified that ‘The Episcopal Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean have set in motion the acts and objectives of the Aparecida Document but, fourteen years after the event, it was difficult to have consolidated data concerning the continent during these years. For this reason, the Holy Father Pope Francis said that there are many Aparecida proposals still pending and he therefore encouraged the CELAM bishops to hold a meeting to study those guidelines in light of the new challenges of our times’ and ‘promote a Latin American and Caribbean Church with that outgoing, missionary and synodal spirit’.
The objective of the Assembly will be to ‘respond to the present-day pastoral challenges faced by the Church in the region and to study the proposals formulated in Aparecida’, having as its goal the years 2031 and 2033 when the 500th anniversary of the Guadeloupe event and the 2000th anniversary of our redemption will be celebrated. With this Assembly, the situation of our peoples will be contemplated, the present-day challenges will be studied, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, new impetus will be given to pastoral commitment, and new ways will be sought so that all may have life in abundance’.

A missionary and synodal church
The Ecclesial Assembly of Latin America and the Caribbean has set in motion a process of listening to the entire People of God to generate various means of dialogue and activities that will be ‘the thread that joins from within the whole process of discernment before and during the Assembly’. It will last until mid-July.

Mauricio López, the coordinator of the Listening Committee, has promised that, “We aspire to have the full and ample participation of the People of God who are pilgrims in Latin America and the Caribbean so that this Assembly may be a real celebration of our ecclesial identity at the service of life”.
Lopez adds that, “This event is intended to be a true expression of a presence that embraces the hopes and desires of all the people who make up the Church, the People of God, especially in this time of deep crisis”. All men and women of the Church may take part.
Faced with this situation, “coherence with the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus will be the living gesture that makes our process relevant, and we must listen closely to the cry of impoverished Mother Earth which is also our sister in this period of the Covid-19 pandemic and all the other pandemics of inequality and exclusion that this moment reveals”.
Through a video message, Archbishop Eduardo Eliseo Martin, of Rosario, Argentina, encouraged people throughout Latin America to actively participate in the Assembly: “The Church wants to listen to all the laity, to all the faithful, to the greatest number, to be able to evaluate through all of you which is the path we have to follow”.The listening process takes a similar methodology as that carried out by the Vatican’s Synod of Bishops under Pope Francis where, through different ministries or individually, people are invited to answer a questionnaire and share their reflections on several issues affecting the Church.

In the meantime, the ‘Preparatory Document for the Journey Towards the Assembly’ has been published. It studies some aspects of the situations that ‘challenge us as missionary disciples in this historical hour’, in light of the document and experience of Aparecida.
In this ‘Document for the Journey’, “We may find more amply the theological, historical and Biblical foundations in light of the various documents of the Universal Church as well as those of the Conferences of Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean. It will assist personal and community dialogue and also discernment, giving rise to many contributions from the People of God while listening to each other, and in common deliberations. It is a document meant to stimulate and open dialogue”, Lopez said.

In the words of the Spanish-Bolivian theologian Fr. Victor Codina, “Francis does not wish to gather an elite separated from the Christian community that is composed of all the baptised, all of whom are capable of teaching and learning, for all have received the same Spirit, all are called to pray, speak, think, discuss and seek together the will of God”. It is not just a question of simply remembering the Aparecida Conference but to find new paths of universal fraternity and social friendship for the continent and in conformity with Evangelii Gaudium, Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti, Francis does not want things to be decided from above, from the vertex of the ecclesial pyramid, still less by a clerical Church but from the base of the pyramid, involving everyone, in a Church on a journey, a many-faceted Church, under the ever-surprising guidance of the Spirit of the Lord who goes beyond all our plans”.
The Ecclesial Assembly of Latin America and the Caribbean will not only be a moment of reflection for the American continent but will also be a time of reflection in view of the Universal Synod of the Church in 2022 which will have synodality as its central theme. (C.C.)

Senegal. Casamance. A ‘Low intensity conflict’.

Forty years have passed since the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MDFC) began its fight for independence from Senegal. During those decades, the conflict was altered, allies changed and numerous non-aggression pacts were signed with poor results. In the meantime, the local population continues to live in the same old conditions of poverty.

Travelling in an overcrowded seven-seater, I visited Ziguinchor, the main city of Casamance. After a few kilometres, the driver has to stop and two soldiers order us to get out and show our identity documents. They look at them look at us, look at them again and finally tell us to get back in the vehicle. The driver smiles at me with a friendly gesture and zigzags between the obstacles and we continue our journey until the next road block. The sun is setting. I see enormous tree trunks at the side of the road, waiting to be loaded on lorries.

The three main products of this region inserted between Guinea-Bissau to the south and Gambia to the north and 450 kilometres from Dakar, the capital: timber, zirconium and, to a lesser degree, cannabis.

The original cause of the conflict
During the eighties, resentment at the marginalisation and exploitation of Casamance by the central government in Dakar gave rise to the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MDFC), and, two years later, one of its branches became its armed wing known as Attika. “There are various reasons why there is a desire for independence – Ricardo Embaló, a local political analyst tells us – First of all, there are cultural and religious reasons.  In most of the region of Casamance, people practise Christianity, while the rest is characterised by the Muslim faith. From the ethnic point of view, we are more similar to the ethnic groups of Guinea Bissau than to those of Senegal. Then there are economic reasons. We have different natural resources to the rest of the country such as timber, ground nuts and palm oil as well as small plantations of cannabis”.  Ricardo adds that zirconium also has an important role in the conflict, even though it was discovered only ten years ago.

President of Senegal, Macky Sall.

The conflict became radicalised in the nineties when international actors came on the scene on behalf of both parties. During its history, the MDFC has been supported by Libya, Iraq and the Gambia, though these allies no longer do so. Senegal also received military aid from France, both in training and in arms. While at first there were just peaceful demonstrations, when the weapons  arrived, it became violent, creating more than 11,000 refugees in Gambia and 8,000 in Guinea Bissau.
Different cease-fires were agreed in the nineties but none of them lasted, often because of internal divisions within the MDFC along ethnic lines and between those who were ready to negotiate and those who refused to lay down their arms. In 1992, the MDFC divided into two main groups, North Front and South Front. While the South Front was dominated by the Jola ethnic group and sought complete independence, the North Front included Jola people who were ready to work with the government according to the failed agreement of 1991. A further cease-fire led to a break with the intransigent rebel groups of the MDFC who continued to attack the military.
In 1999, another meeting was held in the Gambian capital between the Dakar government and the MDFC, but yielded no concrete results.

Neither war nor peace
With the passing of years, the conflict stagnated and the MDFC lost international support. There followed a series of meetings but these failed to provide a lasting solution to the conflict. Finally, on 1 May 2014, the commander of the North Front, Salif Sadio, decided to declare a unilateral ceasefire which was partially respected.

The commander of the North Front, Salif Sadio.

It was decided that the secessionist leader and the president of Senegal, Macky Sall, should meet more often for peace talks but this did not happen. The last one was held in February 2020 with no obvious results.
On the other side, the South Front rejected the accord of the North Front with the government. In fact, the South Front is more characterised for its criminal rather than political activities. Furthermore, the faction has but relative importance on the Guinea Bissau side of the border, an area where there is no government presence and the traditional local chiefs hold most socio-political power. Analysts agree that the region of Casamance is in a situation of ‘no war, no peace’.

New financing sources
How are these guerrilla groups scattered throughout the region financed? Ricardo Embaló says: “First of all, with zirconium. This mineral has various colours, more or less transparent, with a diamantine lustre, great hardness and weight.  It is used mainly for jewellery and the manufacture of containers for nuclear waste, as well as in various materials for mobile technology”.
The analyst continues: “In Senegal, there are two areas where it is extracted: Diogor, in the north of the country and Niafrang, in the south of Casamance”.
Ricardo explains that while zirconium mining at Diogor could easily be carried on without difficulty, it is different at Niafrang where various environmental activists – Senegalese and French in the same manner – and the South Front of the MDFC at first refused. In the words of the secessionists, the Dakar government permits represent a ‘declaration of war’ in Casamance, where the situation is extremely delicate.

Ziguinchor, the main city of Casamance. Photo/ Mireia Saenz de Buruaga.

According to the environmentalists  more than 44 localities would be affected by the mining process since the dune they wish to excavate acts as a natural barrier against the sea – the region is just one metre above sea-level – and its disappearance would be a threat for the villages. The company in charge of the extraction is Astron Corporation Ltd, an Australia-based multinational that has close relations with China. Talks between the Senegalese government and the multinational took six years to produce results and mining began in 2018 – despite the dangers involved for the local population – with a contract that has no time limit. Ten per cent of the profits are said to have gone directly to the coffers of the central government.
“Because the region of Casamance is unlikely to pay the wages of the miners, instead, a good amount of money is to be paid to the guerrilla leaders who agreed to allow mining to start”, says Ricardo.
Another source of funds for the guerrillas is cannabis trafficking, though to a lesser degree. The quality of the plants in the region is rather low and they are not used for export but for local consumption. Almost all the marijuana on sale in Dakar comes from Casamance.
It is a small income but, despite everything, it continues to fill the coffers of the MDFC.

An ace in the sleeve
Finally, there is timber. Deforestation has an immense influence on the region. Tree felling concentrates on two very specific varieties: palisander and teak. Both of these have a high value and they are used to manufacture quality furniture around the world. Deforestation is forbidden in Senegal to avoid the imminent deforesting of Casamance, but the practise is not penalised. Even though timid attempts have been made to tighten the relevant laws, the result has been practically zero due to the conflict in Casamance and following the prohibitions created in 2010, a commercial system that directly interests Gambia and China has been created.
Information provided by the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) shows that 51% of Gambian exports consists of timber – it is the fourth largest exporter in the world – while in Senegal they do not amount to 1%. Nevertheless, and surprisingly, policies against deforestation in Gambia are more severe than those of Senegal and have been seen to be correctly implemented. How come?

In 2016, the then minister for the environment, Haidar El Ali, flew a drone over the border between Gambia and Senegal to show the smuggling of timber between the two countries. The process is very simple: the timber is harvested in Senegal, transported illegally to Gambia and Gambia sells it to the world. Its largest customer is China. The Asian giant receives 98% of the timber exported from Gambia. From 2010 to 2014, exports of palisander to China increased by 700%. It is true that Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo have expressly asked China to reduce its demand for timber but the Asian country never replied. The timber companies, together with the local population and presumably without government support, are the participants in this business: firstly in deforestation and secondly in smuggling. The Senegalese analyst Abdou Sane has confirmed that the Chinese buyers operate outside of Senegal so as to leave no trace of plunder. Timber is the main source of income for the MDFC and with it they purchase arms to continue a low intensity conflict forgotten by the world.

Alfonso Masoliver

 

 

 

Colombia. San Basilio de Palenque. A place of resistance and liberty.

Four hundred years ago, a group of black slaves fled from the Spanish Crown to Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) towards the centre of the country in search of liberty.
They founded San Basilio de Palenque, a village that would become the first free territory in colonial America. To this day, they maintain their traditions and with them their African roots.

Cartagena de Indias is one of the most visited cities of Colombia. Doubtless, the most popular photo among tourists is that of the Palenqueras, women dressed in the colours of the Colombian flag, skilfully balancing on their heads baskets of fruits of all kinds. Even though these women belong to the colonial city, their name shows their true origin: San Basilio de Palenque.
In this village, located about 40 km from Cartagena, no colonial monuments or large buildings are to be seen – only traditional houses built of mud and palm branches. The roads are not paved and the dusty streets are freely used by people on motorcycles, adults and children, dogs, hens and even pigs.
From the courtyards of one of these humble dwellings comes the sound of drums and a catchy refrain: “Be happy with coconuts and aniseed… I bring homemade happiness… come and buy from me!” That is how the Palenqueras call out in the streets of Cartagena, Leonel Torres sings during a practice run by the Estrellas del Caribe, one of the more representative bands that play Palenquera music.
One of the instruments they use is the tambora, of African origin, made by hand and one of the symbols of the champeta criolla, the musical genre par excellence in this territory.

Even though its inhabitants number only 4,500, San Basilio de Palenque has a proliferation of musical groups, some of whom are internationally known such as Estrellas del Caribe, as well as Kombilesa Mio Sexteto Tabalá. In this Afro-Colombian corner, music is found everywhere and serves to affirm the origin of their forefathers. Scenes of men playing the tambora or the marímbula combine with the image of barefooted women and children dancing energetically.
Among the Palenqueros, music is a means of communication and expression that they use all their lives. When they greet one another, they do so with the famous lumbalú, a ritual of the African ancestors that includes songs and dances that are a part of their identity.
The lumbalú is a special way of saying goodbye to the dead and it is carried out in a festive atmosphere to ‘celebrate’ the passage of the beloved to another world. Usually these events last nine days and nine nights, which correspond to the nine months of pregnancy. In their prayers, the Palenqueros invoke the orishas, African protector spirits. Even though it is a religious rite, the lumbalú originally has a component of resistance, given that the black slaves would sing and dance to forget the pain of humiliation inflicted by the Spanish colonisers.

A free people
In the XV century, the Spanish Crown brought the first slaves to these lands. They were mainly from the Congo, Angola and Guinea-Bissau, the main original countries of the Palenqueros. The main entry port was Cartagena de Indias where, around 1600, an anti-colonial movement began in which people with African roots began to show their desire for independence and liberation. The first flights of the cimarrones – runaway black slaves – had the aim of founding a free country, a ‘palenque’ which really means, ‘a settlement of runaway blacks and their descendants who fled from the slave regime during the colonial period’. The only ‘palenque’ still existing today and where the African heritage is preserved, is that of San Basilio, founded more than four centuries ago by Benkos Biohó, the leader of the revolution, the first to escape from the clutches of colonialism and to reach the territory, at the beginning
of the XVII century.

Monument in memory of Benkos Bioho, he was the founder of Palenque.

In 1603, Benkos Biohó signed an agreement with the Crown that he would, presumably, be free to walk to Cartagena de Indias, an event that marked the start of the recognition of freedom for Palenque.
“In fact, Benkos was deceived and when he was called to go to Cartagena, he was captured and hanged”, John Salado, an expert on Afro Colombian history tells us.
It was not until 1713 that the Spanish Crown recognised Palenque as the first free city of the Americas. During the process of liberation, an Italian priest, Antonio María Cassiani who bore the image of San Basilio, played an important role. For this reason, it was called Palenque de San Basilio or San Basilio de Palenque.

It was in that period and due to the need for communication that the Palenquero language emerged, a Creole language created from Spanish and elements of native African languages. “The aim was to create a common language for the enslaved people because, though they were all from Africa, they were from different countries. They say uepa to say ‘hello’, or asi nawue, to say ‘that’s how it is'”, Salgado informs us.
There were also other means of communication that were less obvious and original: hairstyles which then communicated a message. Salado tells us how “the women’s hairdos were maps that indicated the routes to be followed by escaped prisoners to reach Palenque”. They also used their luxuriant hair to hide gold or seeds”, he adds. Today, the Palenqueros still remember the importance of this communications technique that so greatly helped in the creation of their territory. This is borne out by the famous song ‘Los Peinados’ by Kombilesa Mi.

Social organization
From the social point of view, the Palenqueros have a particular system. Their ancestral territory is administered by a community council called Ma Kankamaná, the highest authority in organisation and social administration. Its purpose is to improve the lives of the inhabitants of San Basilio. In the view of Elías Antonio Sierra Fernández, a lawyer and sociologist, admirer of Palenquera society, “The community council functions as a house of representatives where political and administrative decisions are taken. Furthermore, the council is governed by its own values which are responsibility, honesty and tolerance… always respecting the Palenquero culture and identity”.

Ma Kankamaná was created with the intention of administering the collective land property which belongs to the whole community. This particular is reflected, for instance, in the concept of collective property which means that any of its inhabitants may cultivate it without paying anything in exchange.
At the level of the individual, from adolescence onwards, every Palenquero belongs to an organisation called the kuagro; this is a group of people of the same age whose members render mutual help of all kinds, both economic and sentimental. “Your kuagro can help you to pay a debt or find a partner. It is a more concentrated nucleus of the family itself; it is a second family”, Elias Antonio Sierra Fernandez explains.

Dishonour as punishment
One of the more surprising elements of Palenquero organisation is its security system that consists in the fact that the Colombian police cannot enter the territory of San Basilio de Palenque except for extremely urgent reasons and with permission. The Palenqueros have their own officers, the Guardia Cimarrona which is based on a traditional security system. “They are volunteers and are not paid by the government. The idea is to have an independent security system to maintain our tradition. They are very much respected people. They use persuasion to make the members respect the laws. It is a direct heritage from their ancestors”, says John Salgado.
The most curious thing in this system is that the sanctions are moral and are reflected in social behaviour. “If anyone steals, they are socially punished and the community itself cuts them off. This causes shame; it is a system of values and not of repression, in line with tradition”, Elías Antonio Sierra explains.

The special nature of the territory of San Basilio de Palenque results in the “Colombian government ruling it as a community without intervening directly. The Palenqueros have a special social regime, permitted by the national authorities which they see as a way of compensating for the harm caused during the epoch of slavery. Colombians feel they are indebted to San Basilio de Palenque and its community for all that happened in the past”, Elías Antonio Sierra continues.
Today, San Basilio is not qualified to be a commune but the Colombian government is endeavouring to designate it a ‘special commune’ to help the community to obtain greater political and financial autonomy, something that would amount to a considerable improvement of infrastructure, for example.
The four-hundred-year struggle of the Palenquero people has been a manifestation of the resistance that at that time marked the start of a journey to freedom for other slaves scattered throughout the Americas. By means of their beliefs, their language, their music and their own security system, this ‘piece of Africa’ that in 2005 was declared by UNESCO as an ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’, still resists in the Caribbean region of Colombia.

Yaiza Martin Fradejas –
Open photo. ©Boggy22/123RF.COM

Oil Exploration.

Economically, with a per capita GNP of around $5,000, Guyana is one of the poorest countries in the world with much internal inequality between the shanty towns and the rich financial centres. Almost 40% of the population lives in poverty and the country is in 125th place according to the UN index of development.

The economy is mainly agricultural. Agriculture is responsible for 40% of GNP with rice and sugar cane among the principal products of the sector. Sugar cane cultivation takes up most of Guyana’s agricultural lands.
Other important activities for the economy of the country are the production of rare woods, shrimp fishing, though in decreasing amounts and the production of textiles. In contrast with the poverty of the population, the country is rich in mineral resources. In fact, Guyana has some of the largest gold mines in the world including the Aurora Mine, the Omai Mine and the Toroparue Mine. Diamond deposits are also present as well as bauxite of which around two million tons are exported annually. There is little home production and all sorts of goods must be imported – food, fuel, manufactured goods, etc. – mainly from the United States and Trinidad.

In the nineties, a plan for economic reform was launched to guarantee constant growth which reached its peak of 7% in 1977. The plan, whose objective was to attract foreign investment to re-launch the main production sectors, was based mainly on privatisation and the granting of licences for forest and mineral exploitation. In addition, an industrialisation strategy was introduced for the production and export of goods with greater added value but this failed to achieve positive results. The country is also rich in petroleum deposits which have been explored in recent years. In Guyana, the petroleum sector was never considered important in the history of the country. The governments in power preferred to devote their attention to other sectors such as the above-mentioned bauxite and sugar.
In the early nineteen hundred, the British preferred not to explore the petroleum resources of Guyana, preventing any possible action even from abroad by means of the British Mineral Oil Regulations launched in 1912. However, in the thirties, these restrictions were reformulated perhaps due to the success of Venezuela which, in a matter of eight years, from 1921 to 1929, increased its oil production from 1.4 million barrels to around 13 million. The first explorations took place in the forties with results that were far from impressive.

In 1981, the government announced that it wished to go ahead with the creation of a national oil company but nothing further was heard about it. In 1999, the then President Bharrat Jadegeo signed an accord with the US Exxon Mobil for the exploration of the vast offshore area of around 26,800 square kilometres nicknamed Stabroek Jadgeo. Exploration work went on for some years without the hoped-for results at first. For this reason, together with the collapse of oil prices, there was a change in the partnership of the project which brought in the Royal Dutch Shell which decided, in 2014, to leave the country, selling its quota for one dollar to the Hess Corporation, an American oil company and the Chinese CNOOC company which took 30% and 25%, respectively. The newcomers gave new impetus to the partnership which started work in March 2015 with the exploration of the Liza-1 well, 125 miles from the coast which, in two months, succeeded in finding oil and discovered about twenty more wells that have made Guyana the country with the largest oil reserves in the world. It is estimated that Guyana could produce 6 billion barrels of high-quality oil of a type that is light and easily refined, more than Kuwait produces per head. Oil in such quantity and such quality could make Guyana, as the US Ambassador to Guyana said, the richest country in the hemisphere, if not the richest in the world. In 2017, Saipem also became part of the project with a contract worth $880m signed with Esso Exploration and Production Guyana controlled by ExxonMobil, for the development of undersea structures in the Stabroek Block.

These huge resources have caused an enormous increase in economic growth which, despite the pandemic of 2020, grew by 52% and, according to IMF estimates, ought to reach impressive levels even of 85.6%. The estimates of Exxon Mobil are also impressive, suggesting a production rate of around 750,000 barrels per day by 2025, a rate equal to a barrel per day for every person in the country.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to point out that 75% of production in the first years must go to repaying the exploration and production costs incurred by ExxonMobil and its partners, while the remaining 25% will be regarded as profit with 50% going to the government. The agreements stipulate a royalty of 2% of gross profits which will bring the government’s share to 14,5% of the total income.
This percentage ought to increase with the passage of time as foreseen by the IMF and the government itself which estimates an income of $5 billion by 2025, to be managed by a sovereign fund and used for the energy transition of the country.
However, as an institution, the country seems to be weak and ill-prepared to take on a challenge of such huge dimensions as prevail in the petroleum industry, with a set of laws going back to the eighties and an Energy Department which has hitherto managed an annual budget of two million dollars. From this point of view, it will serve to bear in mind what happened in other countries where huge quantities of crude oil encountered weak institutions and, instead of increasing the well-being of the country, brought about corruption and its decline. Unfortunately, Guyana has neither the experience of oil production nor the infrastructure to handle this crisis. (F.R.)

Herbs & Plants. Canarium schweinfurtii. A Medicinal Plant.

Known as African olive or bush candle, this tropical tree is highly beneficial to human beings.

Medicinal plants have been utilized for different medicinal purposes for thousands of years. These medicinal plants are processed in different forms such as teas, decoctions, infusions, powders, tinctures, poultices, and other herbal formulations before admission for a given health condition. One of the medicinal plants with great medicinal potential is Canarium schweinfurthii Engl., that belongs to the plant family Burseraceae. This perennial plant is popularly known as African olive or bush candle; a tropical tree that is highly beneficial to human beings. It is one of the largest forest trees with its crown reaching to the upper canopy of the forest, with a long, straight, and cylindrical trunk. Its bark is thick, becoming increasingly scaly and fissured with age.

This plant, its leaves pinnate and clustered at the end of the branch, is widely distributed in east, central, and West Africa. It is known by various local names throughout its distribution range, including Abel (Cameroon), Aiele (Ivory Coast), Elemi (Nigeria), Bediwunua, Eyere (Ghana), Muwafu (Luganda in Uganda), Mpafu /Mbani (Swahili in East Africa).The health benefits of Canarium schweinfurthii are numerous in that it is beneficial to virtually all the internal organs and the external parts of the human body. The importance of this special fruit and its derivatives can be practically seen throughout its distribution range in most African regions.
It is a good source of health promoting secondary metabolites, including phenolic and terpenoic acids, and has been reported to possess several pharmacological activities such as analgesic, antimicrobial and antioxidant, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory activities.

In many communities, the ripe fruits of Canarium schweinfurthii are picked and first soaked in warm water for about 2-3 days to soften before consumption. In fact, the soaking in warm water is also believed to boost its taste. The outer pulp of the fruit is oily and often used as an ingredient for preparing dishes. This oily fruit pulp can be cooked and processed into a fruity-butter.
The pulp oil is known to contain palmitic acid and oleic acid. The seed-kernel is oily and edible and contains several fatty acids including oleic and  linoleic acid, palmitic, and stearic acid.Canarium schweinfurthii has been used traditionally, for a long time, to treat various ailments of the human body throughout its distribution range.  The stem bark is emetic and purgative and its decoction is used as a treatment against hypertension, sickle cell anemia, dysentery, gonorrhoea, coughs, chest pains, pulmonary affections, stomach complaints, food poisoning, roundworms, colic, and pain after childbirth. The pounded bark is used in the treatment and management of leprosy and ulcers.
The root of Canarium schweinfurthii is used against adenites (inflammation of a lymph node) and root scrapings are made into a poultice. The leaves are boiled with other herbs and the decoction
used to treat coughs.
The leaves can be squeezed to obtain the sap that can be used alone, or combined with other herbs for treating coughs and colds.

Furthermore, the leaves are used as stimulant against fever, malaria, constipation, diarrhea, post-partum pain, rheumatism and sexually transmitted diseases. The resins collected from Canarium schweinfurthii tree stem bark can be used for preparing herbal medicines that treat and fight against intestinal worms such as roundworm and as an alternative for mastic used for dressing wounds. Furthermore, the resins also serve as an emollient, which is effective for treating skin infections such as eczema, skin rashes, and sunburn. The seeds are roasted and pounded and the resulting powder mixed with jelly to treat wounds.
The high medicinal potential of Canarium schweinfurthii stem bark may be due to the various secondary metabolites contained in it including anthocyanins, flavonoids, tannins, quinones, saponins, alkaloids, steroids, terpenoids and leuco-anthocyanins.
In addition to the medicinal values, Canarium schweinfurthii seeds can be used for ornamental purposes such as making necklaces, bangles and costumes. The seeds can also be used for making local instruments. The resin obtained from the stem bark is heavy and sticky and is used to repair broken pottery, for caulking boats and as a gum for fastening arrowheads to shafts.

Richard Komakech

 

From Mother Earth to Earth’s Mothers.

Mother’s Day for the year 2021 is celebrated on Sunday, May 9th. It is a time to honor mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers for their contribution to family and society. What about those mothers who are the primary providers for the majority of the world’s 925 million hungry people?

Women produce 60 to 80 per cent of all food, both as subsistence farmers and as agricultural wage laborers. They are the primary providers for the majority of the world’s 925 million hungry people, obtaining food, collecting firewood and water, and cooking. And yet they have less access to land and the resources necessary to grow on it than their male counterparts. Inequitable distribution of land, labor, and resources leaves farming women triply burdened by work: in the fields, in the home, and in society.

How do the agricultural policies of international financial institutions (IFIs), such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, affect women? How do the most important movement for women rights – such as Women’s Liberation Movement or Riot Grrrls – really address the situation of so many women living in poverty and supporting their family in extreme conditions?

  • When the collapse of agricultural markets – often precipitated by IFI policies – forces men to leave their home and travel to other countries in search of work, women are left behind to tend to the family and work family farmland.
  • IFI pressure on governments to abolish taxes on food imports and repay debts reduces governments’ ability to pay for healthcare and education. Spending cuts in these sectors inevitably cause the most harm to women and girls.
  • Rising food prices put additional pressure on already strained household budgets. When women enter the formal work force to help support household consumption, girls are often forced to leave school to attend to household chores and care for younger siblings.
  • IFI agriculture investments support big businesses, not women farmers. IFI investments tend to focus on agro-processing and commercial agriculture, which mainly utilize male laborers and focus on external markets. These investments tend to overlook women, who are often restricted to subsistence farming, and instead mainly benefit the transnational corporations that win IFI procurement contracts.

Nevertheless, though facing difficult challenges, women around the world hare are making strides both in national policy and in land movements themselves. In some places, they are gaining greater access to arable land, technology, credit, markets, training equipment, and control over agriculture knowledge. In certain countries, they have won the right for their name, not just their husband’s, to go on the land title, making them direct beneficiaries of land reform.

More women are directly earning wages for their agricultural labor, instead of through their husbands or fathers. Some countries are articulating women-specific labor rights in their constitutions. Not alien to this progress are the contribution of academic research, analysis and empowerment coming from enlightened women.

John Paul Pezzi, mccj

 

Rare-Earth Elements. A new Eldorado.

The sustainable future of humanity is bound by a double cord to the Rare Earth Elements (REEs) due to their special electromagnetic properties, both magnetic and optic.

For the most part unfamiliar, there are the 17 metals of the periodic table of chemical elements, with colours varying from grey to silver. Bright, malleable and ductile, they include scandium (Sc) and Yttrium (Y), as well as the entire series of lanthanides, the chemical elements with atomic numbers from 57 to 71. In their order: lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), lutetium (Lu). All of these were recovered relatively recently: the first, terbium, was discovered in 1782 in Sweden and the rest between 1800 and 1900, with the exception of promethium which was produced artificially in 1945.
To these we must add the so-called ‘raw materials’, the basic raw materials that include the others, the ferrous metals and the better-known ‘non-metals’ such as lithium, cobalt and nickel which are equally indispensable in green technology. It is well known that they, too, are the cause of environmental destruction and the exploitation of the peoples of the countries where large deposits are to be found.

We are not familiar with the names of these rare soils. However, all of us handle them every day. They are in fact inside our smartphones, our touchscreens, in bulbs and computer hard disks. They are also the source of fibre optics and lasers, a great deal of medical equipment and batteries for electric cars.
They are used in permanent magnets, electric sensors, and catalytic converters essential for cars, wind turbines and solar panels. All the innovations of the medical, military and automobile industry depend on them as do the steel industry and the petroleum sector.
The other side of the story is that their use in complex electric and electronic equipment contrasts with the lack of adequate infrastructure for collecting and recycling them. This is why less than 1% of rare earth elements is recycled.
Notwithstanding the rarity suggested by the name, due also to the difficulty in identifying them, in comparison with other metals, they are, in fact, rather plentiful in the Earth’s crust. Cerium is just as plentiful as copper and two of the rarest metals in the series (thulium and lutetium) are 200 times more plentiful than gold. However, unlike gold, there are no pure ‘deposits’ of rare earth elements.

The elements are spread throughout the natural world in about a hundred minerals that contain very low concentrations of them. They are associated with other elements such as calcium, beryllium, iron and aluminium, under the form of oxides, carbonates, silicates and phosphates. It is because of this that very complex processes of mining and refining are required to separate the different elements, using powerful solvents such as hydrochloric or nitric acid. These processes seriously impact the environment causing the pollution of soil and aquifers substrata. To date, this work has been carried out in China creating a dangerous concentration that obliged the United States and especially Europe, totally dependent on both superpowers, to change their policy and strategy.
China continues to dominate the global supply of rare earth elements, even though after halting exports to Japan and the USA, with the consequent speculative bubble of 2010, production of REEs again increased in the USA something vigorously promoted by the then-president Donald Trump and the Pentagon. At present, according to estimates provided by the National Minerals Information Centre of the United States, global production has increased to 210,000 tons of oxides of rare earth elements. This denotes an increase of 11% compared to 2018. In the United States, internal production of refined minerals, all for export, increased to 26,000 tons, 44% more than in 2018.

Rare earth elements loaded on cargo ship in China. (photo: Canva)

According to the Chinese ministry of industry, the mineral quotas for production and separation for 2019 were 132,000 and 127,000 tons, respectively. The People’s Republic of China, aware of its primacy, since the time of Deng Xiaoping, in importing and processing, is investing heavily in the complete chain of production from planning, with the highest number of registered patents in the world, to the regulation of a market which, a short time ago, was out of control.
According to a report by the Xinhua News Agency, in 2019, despite the official quota of 130,000 tons extracted, the actual quantity was very much more. This shows that most of the rare earth elements were extracted illegally.
While trading in conventional metals takes place in recognised stock exchanges, there are no official markets for rare earth elements. There are indicative quotations such as those provided by the National Minerals Information Centre. Some of those metals with the highest quotations, according to the Swiss Institute for Rare Earth Elements, were scandium, at 3,486,87 dollars per kilo, lutetium at 647,15 dollars per kilo and kg and terbium at 645 dollars per kilo. It is therefore up to the individual companies to negotiate directly with the refiners. The rare earth elements market, both for oxides and metals, is completely free and subject to possibly enormous fluctuations.

This is the reason why it has always been the Chinese system that influenced prices and conditioned the market. This is also why, in recent years, associations have been springing up between producers to develop an industry of rare earth elements and a sustainable circular economy such as the REIA (Rare Earth Industry Association), which is meant to associate European producers and academic experts together with national Chinese, Japanese and American associations.
The control of rare earth elements is fundamental to the future of green economies. This also explains the Sino-American ‘cold war’ in the Arctic over the grabbing of new deposits that are more easily accessible as the permafrost melts. This also involves other states such as Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia and Russia, as well as Greenland.
All this explains the intervention by the European Commission last September, when it announced the creation of a new European Agreement on raw materials, ‘to strengthen the resilience and strategic autonomy of rare earth elements’.
The aim of this action is to identify barriers and investment opportunities in the entire supply chain, from the extraction of the minerals to the reclamation of waste.
This constitutes an attempt to influence its sustainability and global social impact.

Rosy Battaglia/Valori

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