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The hyena, the goat, the leopard and the hare.

Tuesday, 1 December 2020 8:00

The hyena’s home was near a river, and he owned a little canoe of which he was exceedingly proud. Most hyenas are very greedy and this one was no exception. He also happened to be very hungry, for he had not eaten for several days.

So early in the morning he climbed into his canoe and paddled across the river to see what he could find on the other side. Like the rest of his family, he was a thief and seldom made his living by honest means.

He dragged the canoe into the reeds next to the river and tied it securely. Then he went in search of something to eat. Before long he came to a little footpath that led towards a forest. After following it for some time, he came to a village. He approached it stealthily, because he was a coward as well as a thief. To his joy he found it deserted, the occupants being away at a beer drinking party.

“I am indeed fortunate,” he said, pushing open the door of a hut.
Inside he found a large basket of meal, and rubbed his paws together with joy. “This will provide many meals for me,” he chuckled as he dragged it outside.

He then went to the next hut, where he broke down the door and found a goat tethered to the centre pole. This he took, and tied it to the basket of meal before exploring the contents of the third hut. In it he found a leopard, also tied up, and he added it to the goat and the basket of meal. He picked up the basket and, dragging the goat and the leopard after him, hastened back to the place where he had left his canoe.

But once there his troubles began. The canoe was so small that he could carry only two of his new acquisitions at a time. How could he get all his booty over safely? If he were to take the two animals over on the first trip and then return for the basket of meal, surely the leopard would eat the goat! Should he take the leopard over first, then without doubt the goat would eat the meal! This was a matter far too complicated for the dim-witted hyena to work out.

He was sitting woefully on the riverbank, wondering what to do, when Kalulu the Hare sauntered by. “Good day to you, my friend,” the hare said. “What is troubling you, that you look so miserable?”

“Oh, Kalulu,” replied the hyena, “I am greatly puzzled as to how to get my three purchases over the river, for my canoe is too small to take everything over at the same time. If I take the goat and the leopard first, surely the leopard will eat the goat while I return for the meal! And if I take the goat and the meal over together, the goat will eat the meal while I return for the leopard. Kalulu, I am greatly perplexed!”

Kalulu never failed to turn the problems of others to his own advantage, so after a moment’s thought he said, “Why, Hyena my friend, that is easy. First you must take over the goat and the leopard. But bring back the leopard with you when you return for the meal. In that way both the goat and the meal will be safe.”

“What a true friend you are, Kalulu,” said the hyena gratefully, and at once followed the hare’s advice.
He took the goat and the leopard over on the first trip, and brought back the leopard on his return to fetch the meal.

But while he was away, Kalulu filled a bag that he carried over his shoulder with meal from the hyena’s basket.
He was strolling away when the hyena returned and exclaimed, “Oh, Kalulu, a thief has stolen half my meal!”

“No,” answered Kalulu, “it was not a thief who took your meal. I took it as payment for the excellent advice I gave you just now. Surely you must admit that this is only just and fair!” And with a low bow he continued on his way, leaving the hyena to ponder on the ways of justice.

Folktale from Zambia

Herbs & Plants. Piliostigma thonningii. A multipurpose medicinal plant.

Tuesday, 1 December 2020 8:00

Piliostigma thonningii, common name ‘camel’s foot’, is a leguminous, deciduous tree with a single stem, native to tropical Africa.
It grows in open woodland, savannah regions, and wooded grassland in low to medium altitudes. It is a multipurpose tree of vast importance for health.

This evergreen species is a good shade tree that fixes nitrogen in the soil and plays vital ecological roles in nutrient cycling from this deep soil. It grows to about 5 m in height with a rough, dark brownish, grey bark surface. Its leaves are conspicuous, simple, two-lobed, and leathery; resembling a camel’s foot. This explains why the plant’s common name is ‘camel’s foot’. It is a dioecious plant having the male and female flowers occurring on different trees in most cases. If on the same tree the male flowers occur first and then female flowers later so that self-pollination is not possible. The fruit pods are large, thick, green when unripe and turning reddish brown on ripening; they are non-splitting and measure about 30-70 mm long.

The Piliostigma thonningii (Schum.) Milne-Redh, (Fabaceae Family), is a multipurpose tree of vast health importance and almost all its parts, including the bark, root, and leaves, are used in traditional medicine to treat and manage multiple disease conditions, including cough, bronchitis, wounds, chronic ulcers, diarrhoea, toothache gingivitis, leprosy, smallpox, yellow fever, and chest pain.
The stem bark infusion is used for the cure of coughs, pneumonia, worms, colds, chest pains, internal abscesses, haematuria, and snakebite. It is also administered for the treatment and management of diarrhoea, dysentery, as well as gum infections. An infusion obtained from a mixture of the bark and leaf is used in the treatment of malaria. The bark decoctions are rubbed on or used as a vapour for the treatment of rheumatism, muscular pain and bone inflammation.
The decoction is also taken as an antiemetic. The powdered stem bark is externally applied as a treatment for wounds, ulcers and skin infections. Due to its pain-relieving activity, the stem bark is used for the treatment of sore throat, toothache, gum problems, earache, stomachache and general body pain. In some communities, the bark sap or the powdered bark is boiled in milk or in soup and orally administered for the treatment of gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease condition. The ash obtained from burnt young Piliostigma thonningii wood is rubbed on the chest to relieve chest pains and congestions.
The fresh tender leaves and flowers of the Piliostigma thonningii tree can be chewed to treat stomachache, dementia, coughs, snakebite, and to quench thirst. A leaf decoction is added to bath water to alleviate body stiffness. Chewing of boiled leaves of Piliostigma thonningii is known to relieve toothache.

To hasten healing, the ash obtained from burnt leaves is rubbed on snakebite wounds after scarification. The inhaled steam from boiled leaves in water is used to treat and manage respiratory problems. Leaf preparations are also used for the treatment of diarrhoea, dysentery, worms and other intestinal problems.
Pounded leaves are rubbed on the head in case of headache, whereas leaves boiled in water are rubbed on the back against lower back pain. The strained liquid from boiled leaves of Piliostigma thonningii is rubbed into incisions for the treatment of painful legs. Baths with leaf decoctions are known to relieve fever. A decoction of the leaves is used as a vaginal wash and enema for a mother giving birth and the decoctions or infusions are taken in case of heavy menstruation. Leaf decoctions are used as a wash on fractures and the residue is used to massage the affected part to hasten healing. In case of bone inflammation, a steam bath using the leaves decoction is taken. Leaf infusions are used as anti-emetics.
Leaf sap or infusions are applied for the treatment of eye problems and the paste made from ground young leaves and flower buds is diluted with water and drunk against palpitations.

The roots of Piliostigma thonningii are widely used to treat prolonged menstruation, haemorrhage and miscarriage in women and for the treatment of coughs, colds, body pain, and sexually transmitted diseases. Root preparations are applied on wounds and ulcers, as a haemostatic agent, and promotes quicker healing. The root also has the ability to treat diarrhoea, dysentery, worms and other intestinal problems. The root preparations are used against snakebites and as an antidote to poisons. The root heated in fat is used as a poultice in case of a painful spleen. The roots decoction is used to treat rheumatism and also taken in case of heavy menstruation and a painful uterus; it is given to a mother who has given birth.

Powdered dried flowers are eaten in food, smoked, or its infusion drunk to alleviate cough. The scrapings of the fruit are applied as a dressing on wounds to promote healing. The powdered fruit is used as an ingredient in preparations used in the treatment of cough, bronchitis, and headache.The phytochemicals present in Piliostigma thonningii, including flavonoids, tannins, kaurane diterpenes, alkaloids, carbohydrates, saponins, terpenes, and volatile oils, may be responsible for its incredible medicinal potential.
Apart from the medicinal uses, the pods and seeds of Piliostigma thonningii have been used as a source of food in some communities. In fact, the powder made from the dry pod pulps is used for making nutritious porridge. The pulp has a sweet flavor and is eaten mainly by children and travelers. Unripe pods can be used as a substitute for soap.

Richard Komakech

Djibouti. The Catholic Church, a tiny seed of hope.

Tuesday, 1 December 2020 8:00

Especially present socially with its work among street children, immigrants and, more recently, the disabled.

The church is a tall building and modern with an elliptical facade in grey stone and crowned with a very high cross. The construction of the Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady Mother of the Good Shepherd in Djibouti City was commenced in 1957 by the Alsatian architect Joseph Muller, on the spot where the church of Saint Joan of Arc once stood. The church was consecrated on 12 January 1964 by Cardinal Eugene Tisserant, then Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals. The very structure of the church itself is meant to be a sign of Christian presence where 97.8% of the population are Sunni Muslim.

Mons. Giorgio Bertin, Bishop of Djibouti.

The Catholic Church has been present in Djibouti since 1885, with the arrival of the first French Capuchin missionaries. Catholics now number between five and seven thousand, almost all foreigners. The Catholic community is mostly present in Djibouti City where, in fact, two thirds of the entire Djibouti population live.
“We are just a tiny presence, a tiny seed of hope. In Djibouti City, there is only one parish with four chapels where the main activity is that of the school. The Christian community is composed mostly of foreigners”, Mons. Giorgio Bertin, a Franciscan, tells us. He has been the Bishop of Djibouti since 2001 and is also Apostolic Administrator of Mogadishu.
Djibouti (23,200 km² ; 950,000 inhabitants), a small country much of which is covered by semi-desert, seeks to extract as much economic benefit as possible from its geo-economic location on the trade routes to and from the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, and also from its geopolitical position at the crossroads of influence on the Horn of Africa and on the Arabian peninsula. Mons Bertin comments: “Various international actors have taken positions in Djibouti for the purpose of pursuing their political, military and economic aims. Their presence ensures a considerable income for the country. If we take the example of China, with its large presence in neighbouring Ethiopia where it has various economic projects, it is in its interests to have a presence here to guarantee access to the continent”.

China has a military base in the country.

The Bishop continues: “Djibouti is a militarised area. In recent times, much has been said about the Chinese military base that has developed to become the largest in Africa. China pays $20 million a year to have the military base in the country. This is true but we must not forget that there are also six other military bases here. The ‘historic’ base belongs to France, the former motherland; then there are those of the United States, which pays $63 million annually for a 10-year lease of the area and afterwards, with the stated objective of combatting piracy, those of Italy, Japan, Spain, and Germany. The latter two are within the French base. Economically, the country lives off these bases that benefit the coffers of the state and provide jobs”.

Social Involvement
The Catholic Church in Djibouti is deeply involved socially. Caritas assists the poor and the migrants, offering free medical care in the Catholic clinic. For years it has been running a project in support of the communities of the hinterland, especially those affected by drought. Caritas is also involved with street children. Djibouti attracts immigrants mainly from Ethiopia and Yemen. A very large proportion of these are children aged from 6 to 18, who leave their homes to undertake a long and dangerous journey. When they reach Djibouti, they have to learn how to survive on the streets.

They are obliged to earn their living by collecting plastic bottles that they sell for a few cents, by washing cars or polishing shoes. They sleep in the open, often on the beach. They keep together in groups for protection. Many of them sniff glue and take marijuana in an effort to bear their inhuman living conditions. Djibouti Caritas opens its doors every morning to anything from 80 to 200 street children. They come covered in dust and sand, tired, wounded and hungry to the Caritas centres where they can wash, receive a change of clothes and some food, and have their wounds seen to in the infirmary.
The Bishop points out that activities have been reduced due to the Coronavirus. He says: “We lack sufficient volunteers for the service we offer the street children through Djibouti Caritas and so we have had to reduce our work. We decided to look after 80 children at the parish”.

One project very dear to Mons. Bertin is that of caring for the disabled. He tells us: “We are very committed to the disabled. The role of the Church is not simply to do things but to open people’s eyes, to reawaken the concern of and for the least in society. This is our mission! At first, we were thinking only of the physically disabled (the blind or deaf people) while the rest, the psychologically disabled, were a cause for shame to be hidden away. Nothing was being done for them. Today, in both Catholic and state schools, we are training teachers capable of teaching the disabled. We have plans for the future of the disabled: together with UNICEF, we have carried out a huge amount of work in the villages to discover them in the tents and register them. In one tent we found a child in chains. The mother told us: “I had to tie him up so as not to lose him, not to punish him. If you can help him I will untie him”. From that time on, those chains became ours until we were able to free him. We have also launched a project recently called ‘School for Everyone’, which is teaching forty disabled children from Djibouti and Ali Sabieh”.

Filippo Ivardi Ganapini

Pan-African Museum. Reclaiming History.

Tuesday, 1 December 2020 8:00

Aimed at Africans and the diaspora, the Pan-African Museum of Heritage and Culture in Accra (Ghana) is a project in the name of black pride and memory. Opening in 2022.

The man who thought up the idea of the project is Kojo Yankah, former MP and minister in the government of president Jerry Rawlings (in power from 1981 to 2000), and militant of the National Democratic Congress, the largest party opposing the president of today Nana Akufo Addo. Journalist, writer and author of a dozen books on the theme of pan-Africanism and of ‘From Jamestown to Jamestown’, subtitled ‘Letter to an African child’, published in 2018, which tells the story of the painful struggles of the blacks for equality, justice and freedom.

The museum is the brainchild of Kojo Yankah, founder of the African University College of Communications (AUCC) in Accra (Ghana)

The first Jamestown is that of the ancient fortress of Accra (a prison in colonial times) where the slaves were held waiting to go to the second Jamestown in Virginia, remembered as the first point of disembarkation of slaves coming from Africa (Angola), on 20 August 1619.
“The idea of the Pan-African Museum of Heritage and Culture has been part of my mindset ever since I was in secondary school in the sixties – says Kojo Yankah – It was during that period that I was introduced to pan-Africanism, the era of Kwame Nkrumah, the father of independent Ghana. I have lived in that atmosphere all this time and those are the ideals that led me to found, in 2002, the African University College of Communications (School of Journalism and Creative Arts). In 1997, I was elected president of the Pan African
Historical Theatre Festival. It took many journeys to other African countries and the United States, Brazil and the Caribbean to convince me that we and people of black ancestry do not know ourselves because it was repeatedly said that we had no history until the arrival of the Europeans. When, in 1993, I was invited to the commemoration of the arrival of the first Africans in Jamestown, Virginia, I was inspired to write ‘From Jamestown to Jamestown’.

Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

The idea of the Pan-African Museum is fundamentally a way of bringing together all my experiences, a logical consequence of the publication of my book in 2018. The following year, Ghana started the project ‘The Year of Return’ for people of African origin.”
Kojo Yankah insists in affirming that historical truth has been denied to people of African origin and Africans in general. “We have a rich history since humanity was created in Africa and civilisation began on this continent. This is our inheritance. It is important to reclaim our history, our patrimony and our inheritance. All these things were stolen from us. The museum will also request the return of works of art that were taken from Africa and are now in museums scattered across the world”.
The pan-Africanism which is the foundation of the project also includes Egypt and other countries of Northern Africa. Koyo Yankah says: “It has long been said (and the debate is still to be concluded) that North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa are two different entities with separate histories. Indeed, this is part of the deceit that we must uncover.
Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia and all the parts along the Nile were all existing black kingdoms until they were invaded by the Greeks and then by the Romans. Yes, there was an Arab invasion but this does not alter the fact that African civilisation was the first in the world. North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa have been arbitrarily separated by those who want to keep Africans divided”.

Last September, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo officially launched the project of Pan-African Heritage World Museum. “The time has come for all of us to take our heritage seriously. No one needs to tell us that we have a rich history made up of remarkable achievements in the arts, sciences and technology”. President Akufo-Addo, who was made the first patron of the museum, said it was considered as one of the most important projects of cultural and historical significance of the time and would be a centre of pilgrimage for people of African descent to unlearn and relearn the history, culture and civilisation of Africa from the creation of mankind till today.

The Ambassador of the Pan-African Museum is a young Ghanaian performer, the rapper Sarkodie.

The Museum will be built on a 75-acre site (300,000 m²). The building is to have a sculpture garden, a building for African kingdoms, an area for trees and other plants, an amphitheatre, a film studio, and a recreational area. The museum should be ready by 2022. It will cost around thirty million dollars to build. Kojo Yankah says that “the funds will come from grants, donations and other fund-raising activities. It must be said that fund-raising has already started in various places, both on the continent and in the diaspora, and both the technicians and architects assure us that the construction can be finished in two years if the funds are available”.The Ambassador of the Pan-African Museum is a young Ghanaian performer, the rapper Sarkodie. Asked why he chose this project, Yankah replied: “This project honours our traditions and our cultures but is dedicated to the youth; this is the reason I chose it”.

Antonella Sinopoli

GGW. Agroforestry Is Key.

Tuesday, 1 December 2020 8:00

Any ecological rehabilitation of a territory must consider several factors, not the least of which is access to land. Farmers and shepherds, totaling some 232 million people living in the area surrounding the Sahara, are an integral part of the Green Wall, which aims to enhance community gardens, grazing areas, fruit groves, income trees, and beekeeping.

The GGW translated into practice consists of a series of integrated multi-sector activities that help increase local people’s incomes. In Ethiopia, the World Bank wanted to make some rural areas attractive to combat depopulation. Niger has adopted agroforestry systems that combine high stem plants and annual yields. FAO has introduced techniques and technologies to develop local capacities and skills, including a focus on native plants, useful for communities, as they provide timber, food, fodder and other commercial activities. In particular, FAO encouraged the cultivation of Arabic gum, fodder, seeds and oils from local species. FAO projects focused on agroforestry systems that enhance the supply of food, income and markets. “The main beneficiaries are women who engage in processing and selling plant-based products”, said Nora Berrahmouni, FAO’s Regional Head of action against Desertification projects in Africa.

The Pan-African agency’s motto ‘For the People and from the People’, reflecting its choice of a multi-sector, inclusive ecosystem approach that engages populations in an active, conscious and voluntary way. These are community farms that start in a village or group of villages. To date there are six active projects that need to be replicated. Horticulture, beekeeping and breeding of small animals are developed in the farms, each measuring about 3000 hectares. The sites are identified on the basis of such criteria as geography, social and cultural homogeneity of the population, rainfall parameters and the adaptability of the species to be included. In addition, the Agency’s territorial projects are largely aimed at women, whereas the actual reforestation programs involve the areas between villages. They provide for the cultivation of plants considered strategic, such as gum Arabica, moringa and spirulina, commonly called ‘algae spirulina’, which is a cyan bacterium rich in protein. Water management occurs through the conservation of rainwater and the construction of large wells.
In some cases, the projects introduce technologies such as the Vallerani System, a mechanical tool consisting of plough and tractor that allows for the processing and rehabilitation of arid and semi-arid soils. This technology also optimizes rainwater storage and usage. New technologies are not always embraced; many fear losing their jobs and being replaced by mechanical tools.

Yacouba Sawadogo with his Zai’s system.

In other cases, The GGW has borrowed techniques used by farmers and shepherds. In Burkina Faso, for example, the GGW adopted and exported the Zai’s system, which involves making small holes in the soil enriched with manure where water is collected, thus making the soil more fertile. It is a traditional technique and the famous Burkinabe farmer Yacouba Sawadogo made it famous. The Project has also adopted naturally assisted reforestation. It provides for the protection of native tree species that are normally cut or burned to fertilize land intended for agricultural production.
The main actors involved in the GGW have mentioned some difficulties in the pursuit of their targets. There has been insecurity in some parts of the Sahel, where conflicts have occurred in areas where water resources are scarce and the countryside has been neglected through abandonment. In order to avoid the conflicts within the communities affected by the projects, the pan-African agency has adopted the criteria of both sociocultural and geographical homogeneity. A system that risks excluding instead of including.

Those who challenged the first version of the GGW raised the issue of the right to access land. Nobody has offered an adequate answer. Mélanie Requier-Desjardins, a researcher specializing in the economic and social aspects of soil degradation, and who participated in drafting of the 2011 document ‘What suggestions might scientists have for the African Great Green Wall project?’, compiled by the French Scientific Committee on Desertification states: “In cases where the aspect of land has not been taken into account, the project has failed”. According to the Dr. Requier-Desjardins, it must also be clear that the ecological rehabilitation of a territory must correspond to the social one. “If some lands change from free to restricted access, inequalities are generated. For example, when the rehabilitated areas are allocated to farmers, who own many heads, shepherds who own merely a few animals lose out”.
In Senegal, the only country to have started reforestation along the 15 Km. wide belt, it was necessary to change course, said Youssef Brahimi, a former member of the UNCCD global mechanism. He added: “they started reforestation only to realize that the chosen path encompassed villages and communities. At that point they also included gardens, with the contribution of women”. The involvement of the populations became essential to ensure the project’s sustainability.

In fact, the harmonized strategy paper, issued in 2012, explicitly mentioned that all populations living in arid areas should be assured fair access to land resources for all populations living in arid areas. Brahimi participated in the drafting of the harmonized strategy: “Land security was promoted not only at the individual level but as a common good, through community management. We have felt pressure from institutions to develop national land legislation that would allow individuals to have a right to land. But we know that where there is a right of individual property, it encouraged some farmers to put the land up for sale. And, therefore, most projects focus on community resource management, and the establishment of management committees. Action against Desertification projects, for example, are implemented in community lands and in agreement with the municipalities and mayors. Local populations and administrations participate in identifying the land. “The presence of a management committee is important because it allows for the identification of land and formally register its utilization”, said FAO’s Regional Coordinator, Nora Berrhamouni.

A Model to Export
As for the inflow of private capital not all GGW partners have the same ideas. The Pan-African agency believes that private individuals should not be involved because “they would grab most of the hectares”. The FAO, however, has a different view sharing it in a document specifically intended for private individuals, who want to invest in land redevelopment activities. The African Union and the World Bank have also called for private capital. Nevertheless, in most countries, land belongs to the state, and it is the state that determines how it is to be used. The Agency’s scientific director explains what this means: “if oil is found in a reforested area, it is unlikely that the trees will stay there”.
The engagement of nomadic land users is another point that raised criticism at the launch of the project. “We often aim to shut down dedicated use areas, but without attempting to reconcile the different activities”, said Mélanie Requier-Desjardins, according to which the initial project did not take into account the logic of transhumance, while focusing on agricultural communities.
Abakar Zougoulou, scientific director of the pan-African agency, offers a simpler solution to engage nomadic populations: “Shepherds can use the undergrowth pasture and harvest forest products. They can produce straw and fodder to be stored and used in the dry season”. The FAO has focused on plants that are useful for pastoralists, integrating the interests of each productive activity, to avoid conflicts. In some cases, the solution, as noted by the Agency, has been to fence off spaces to discourage animals from entering.

Zougoulou added: “In some areas the nomadic pastoralists have started to practice agriculture and begun to settle. A part of the livestock continues the transhumance, because only pastoral mobility allows for proper management of the lands”. The Great Green Wall has become a symbol. So much so that, despite the many transformations, even now, the officially presented image is that of a green line that crosses the continent from side to side. The many protagonists agree in describing it as a model that can be exported. In its Action Against Desertification project, the FAO has already extended the approach for adoption in Caribbean and Pacific countries. And recently, the United Nations, along with FAO, C40 City Network and the Kew Royal Botanic Garden (in Britain), have sponsored the ‘Great Green Wall of Cities’, a plan to create urban forests from Africa to Asia covering half a million hectares by 2030. About 90 cities in 30 countries will be supported to create green areas.

Marta Gatti

Africa. Ubuntu, to live positively.

Tuesday, 1 December 2020 8:00

In the African context, Ubuntu is a religious belief which concerns the need for humans to live together positively. This belief is found throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa.

Africa on the whole did not develop a written means of communication. African traditional religion is handed down orally. Unlike the other great ancient religions, for instance Hinduism or Buddhism, unless an outsider comes into contact with the practised belief, they have no means of appreciating its depth and beauty. According to anthropologists, modern humans originated in Africa about 160 thousand years ago. Therefore, African religious belief and the spiritual concept of Ubuntu can be seen as being a very ancient and precious set of insights into the human condition that needs to be known in its beauty as much as other ancient religions are appreciated.
Central to the African way of seeing life is the concept of the ancestors. Each person is worthy of respect because they are endowed with the life of their ancestor. Each person has dignity. Each person is more than herself/himself. This implies that the ancestral spirits imbue a group of people who live together with a spirit that brings harmony and peace of mind to the group.

The word Ubuntu encompasses this positive feeling of wellbeing when people live together. At this time, feelings of anger and disappointment are at bay and people are invigorated and consoled. Hope is built up for the future and life’s struggles can be faced more confidently and positively. The African outlook gives people hope, confidence and strength through its belief in the ancestors because each person is more than himself/herself.
In Africa, the ancestors are seen as having given to humans a set of rules which must govern their lives. Life is positive and a blessing as long as people abide by these rules. African culture is rich in customs and rituals that serve to preserve goodness and life. There is an endless subtlety in these customs. Even African people can find themselves confused when they move to another area which might not be far away geographically but have different customs.

Ubuntu is an anthropocentric way of looking at life. It is a participatory humanism in which each person is seen as being experienced through the person’s relationships with others and theirs with the person. This is what recognises and establishes person-hood. It flows directly out of the saying already mentioned that “people are made people through other people.” People experience their own worth and the worth of others by living in community. Being accepted and recognised by the other is the chief source of individual self-esteem and happiness.
The African outlook gives people hope, confidence and strength through its belief in the ancestors because each person is more than himself/herself. Ubuntu is also a social security system where there are reciprocal obligations that support and protect the individual and at the same time demand commitment in return. The African outlook describes a cosmos where all is in balance. When this balance is disturbed the resulting disharmony brings misfortune and suffering. In this outlook, some things in the cosmos have more power than others.

The African outlook is not interested in the different nature or the being of things. Rather it is interested in how different powers need to be kept in their hierarchy and balance. In the world of nature, human beings and the spiritual world form a unity or total community. These cannot be looked upon as separate categories because without one of them, none of the others exists. They all share in the vitality which is the true nature of all beings.The African healers and sangomas play a vital role in healing communities where there is a disruption of balance in the community. They divine the source of the disruption and they provide medications to protect the individual from the malign powers of others.

Africa brings to the rest of the world a sense that all of life has to be celebrated and shared in a communitarian fashion. The collapse of the world economic system and the subsequent suffering it has brought on so many millions of people, emphasizes the idea that too much individualism and greed, which is at the base of globalisation, needs to be checked and balanced by a more communitarian and human approach. This has been contained over many centuries in the wisdom which the belief that Ubuntu holds.

Jennifer Alt

Africa. Cannabis, An Affair Of State.

Tuesday, 1 December 2020 8:00

Large-scale cultivations are now a reality in a growing number of countries in the continent, driven by an increase in demand for therapeutic purposes. The interest of African governments is constantly increasing.

Hemp plantations are taking up more and more agricultural land in Africa. The phenomenon gained a foothold when, in 2016, the United States and Canada began to legalise the use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes.The growing demand for cannabis by the two main world economies swiftly reached the African continent where, however, this sort of cultivation is still forbidden in the majority of its states.
Nevertheless, this did not prevent a flourishing partnership between the two shores of the Atlantic Ocean, causing the germination of a new business which is now regarded by African governments with interest.

This is shown by the recent decision of the Rwanda government which, on 12 October last, approved a package of guidelines for the cultivation, processing and export of cannabis, but solely for medical and not recreational use. Other countries had preceded Rwanda: Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Morocco, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia had already decided to create a system for the cultivation and sale of cannabis. Uganda, which has already passed a law similar to that of Rwanda, though without yet starting cultivation, may soon be added to this list.

Lesotho in the ascendant
One of the markets especially in the ascendant is that of Lesotho. In the landlocked kingdom surrounded by South African territory, the most active businessman is at present Refiloe Matekane.The former head secretary of the police ministry, with consolidated interests in the mining sector, last August, Matekane declined to become president of the state-owned Lesotho Electricity Company to increase the rate of growth of investments for the production and marketing of cannabis.

Since 2017, he has been the president and shareholder of Maluti Green Med, a company authorised to cultivate hemp in the country and is also a member of the administrative councils of a further five companies: Wecann, Canna Value, Gart Cannis, CBG Maluti-Med Group and Canico. The fact that a person of his standing should decide to bank so decisively on cannabis, confirms the intention of the government of Lesotho to invest in this sort of cultivation to diversify the economy of the country and release it from its dependence upon reserves of diamonds and water. Consequently, due to the good offices of Matekane, Maluti Green Med has signed a contract for the supply of hemp to Verve, a South African group with factories for the processing of the plants at Bela-Bela, north of Pretoria and which, in turn, is a supplier of an international top player in the sector such as the Canadian company Aphria, whose value, on the New York stock exchange, is quoted as more than 1.6 billion dollars. Also in Lesotho, the main producer of hemp oil is the Medigrow Health company, in which the Canadian Supreme Cannabis Co. has 10% of the shares.

Among its administrators are Mohlomi Rantekoa, who was the Lesotho ambassador to the United States during the presidency of Barack Obama, and Retsepile Elias, a prominent figure who is a member of the boards of directors of some of the more influential parastatal companies in the country. Among the major foreign interests in Lesotho is the British group AfriAg Global, among whose minority shareholders is the South African tobacco magnate Paul de Robillard, a close collaborator of former South African president Jacob Zuma.In 2019, the company added to its technical committee two functionaries of the Lesotho Health Ministry, Germina Mphoso, director of the pharmaceutical department, and her legal consultant Masello Sello. These appointments confirm that cannabis is now an affair of state for Lesotho.

The slow legislative process in South Africa
Compared to the tiny country of Lesotho, in South Africa, the cannabis market is growing at a much slower rate, despite the extremely favourable climatic conditions for the cultivation of plantations and a growing internal market following the legalisation of the consumption of this substance in 2018.
This lack of progress is due mainly to the slow rate of legislation and the absence of a sufficiently structured framework.
Nevertheless, despite there being just a few companies that have received permission to start production, South Africa has the potential to become the third-largest producer of cannabis in the world (according to WHO estimates) and is still the country which, more than any other, due to its investment capacity, is in a position to meet the demands for processing the raw material on the part of other African states.
Bureaucratic delays and an unfavourable environment for business are driving away important foreign investors such as Spectrum Therapeutics, a local branch of the Canadian giant Canopy Growth which, in 2019, had planned to finance the construction of a facility for the production of cannabis-based pharmaceuticals in Atlantide, not far from Cape Town, to the tune of 38.5 million dollars. The option was definitively declined in the spring of 2020.

Zimbabwe and Malawi
Zimbabwe has opted to commence the production and processing of Cannabis on an industrial scale, using hemp fibres in the textile and building industries and its seeds and oil for the production of cosmetics and consumer goods.
To accelerate this process, in 2018, the minister for Agriculture Perence Shiri set up a system of authorisation which, in practice, has legalised the production of cannabis for industrial purposes. The problem with Zimbabwe is still its economic and political instability which has so far kept away potential North-American investors.Like Lesotho, Malawi is also banking on cannabis to free itself from the exploitation of its main resources, especially tobacco. The central figure working for the growth of the sector is Nerbert Nyirenda, a former high-level functionary in the ministries of Commerce and Industry and Finance.

The more active companies are Kawandama Hills Plantations and Invegrow. In 2015, the latter obtained permission to cultivate cannabis for scientific research. The qualitative leap was made last March when the parliament passed a motion in favour of the legal cultivation of cannabis both industrially and for medical purposes.
Tanzania and Kenya are two countries that produce large quantities of cannabis though, as in other African states, it is not yet possible to cultivate or sell this substance legally. The lack of legislative movement inevitably favours criminal organisations.
According to the UNODC, the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, of the more than ten thousand tons of cannabis produced every year in Africa, at least 80% is illegally cultivated by networks of regional and international drug traffickers.

Rocco Bellantone

“Brothers and Sisters All”. We share dignity, rights and respect.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

The latest letter of Pope Francis, his Encyclical, Fratelli Tutti “Brothers and Sisters All,” is one that should touch every heart, stimulate our minds, awaken our conscience, warm our emotions and motivate us to do good and make this a happier, just and better world.

Can we humans ever unite as one humanity to change the world and together reach out to the downtrodden and the poor? Can we work together to lift from suffering the wounded, the excluded, the marginalized and unwanted, rejected, poor people in our neighbourhood, community, town and city? That is the challenge posed by the letter of Pope Francis.

His letter is one of enlightenment, encouragement, hope and love. It is a mighty challenge for us to be true believers and followers of Jesus of Nazareth. It brings us back to the human and Christian values that established the dignity of humankind. It is a call for us to embrace and live out daily the values and principles that Jesus taught and lived and died for. This is the heart of Christian faith, a personal relationship with Jesus of Nazareth and a shared fraternity with each other as brothers and sisters in one family of humanity.

As members of this universal family, we will embrace unselfish concern, love and service for each other. Jesus gave himself no titles, others did that. They called him Rabbi, Teacher, Master, and Son of God. What Jesus called himself was “a member of humanity,” a “Son of Mankind,” as everyone of us are, members of the human family.

In this, Jesus was revolutionary and Pope Francis is repeating what Jesus taught: that we must love all others irrespective of whether they are one of our special group. All persons are to be our neighbours. He called us to put aside group loyalty, leave elite fraternities, cast away membership in sects, clubs and dynasties, upper and lower classes, tribal bonds, nationality, social status and prestige.

We are to abandon all the bias and prejudices that goes with such select, exclusive closed groups that exclude and fear outsiders. The select group tends to exclude others and confront, despise and disrespect those on the outside.
We must leave our group and join all others in a single family based on equality, justice, truth and doing good for others.

If personal family ties would cause us to reject, exclude or oppress others and separate us from the values of Jesus, we must cut the family ties. A shocking challenge for anyone who would be his true disciple even to the point of where we must love even our enemy. “Do good to those who hate you,” he said. It seems impossible yet that is the ideal that Jesus taught, that we are all one humanity in one world, and he lived and died for all of us.

As members of God’s single family, we share a common humanity, dignity, rights and respect. This is what Pope Francis is reminding us, that as human beings we must be caring and responsible for each other irrespective of skin colour, citizenship, religion, gender, status or situation in life. We must also be caring for the planet, the environment and protect all living creatures.
The universality of the loving fraternity that Jesus taught is one that demands we love one another and we do to others as we would want them to do to us. This is the heart of what Jesus taught.

The world today, as Pope Francis said, with its many problems, injustice, racism, inequality, crime and corruption, is a world under the darkness of evil. Yet the hope and love that Jesus of Nazareth shared with us can save humanity from self-destruction, hatred, violence and nuclear war and even save us from extinction.

It is by sharing life in a universal community and working together helping the poor and the oppressed that change will come. By standing and speaking out against violence, killings, child abuse and evil, we will make Jesus and his spirit present again and change the world. We just need to persuade enough people to choose to do it.

In his Encyclical, Pope Francis takes the story that Jesus told to illustrate the welcome and acceptance and the help we should have for the outsider, for the stranger, the migrant, the excluded. These are the people who are treated with rejection, apathy and indifference by the elite institutionalized clergy and the uncaring politicians.

As Pope Francis interprets it in today’s world, the suffering humanity has been beaten and robbed by the uncaring powerful robbers and left to die on the roadside. The victim was a stranger, an unknown. A member of the clergy and then a member of the ruling elite walk by on the other side of the road. They ignore the wounded, dying person. Then there comes a man, likely a trader, with a donkey. He is different, he is like an untouchable, an unclean, rejected person coming from Samaria.

He doesn’t walk past; he is moved with compassion and concern. Immediately, he hurries to help the victim and cleans and treats the wounds, dresses them and takes the victim on his donkey to the nearest inn. There, a humble, kind innkeeper, likely a poor man, accepts to care for the victim and the trader pays him and promises to return
and pay more as needed.

“Who among the three was a true neighbour to the dying man and saved him”? Jesus asked. “The one who helped him,” the man in the audience answered. “You are correct, go and do likewise,” Jesus said. (Luke 10:25-37) The message is clear. When asked to state the way to eternal life, the man in the audience answered: “Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, life, strength and your mind and love your neighbour as you love yourself.” That story, as repeated by Pope Francis in his letter, explains that we are challenged to share and help, without discrimination, everyone, strangers, migrants, refugees, the poor, hungry, wounded, people of any skin colour and all suffering humanity.

Fr. Shay Cullen

The Tijaniyya Brotherhood. The Way of the Koran.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

Today, there are 40,000 inhabitants in Tivaouane, 100 km north-east of Dakar, the holy city of the Senegalese Tijaniyya.
Each year, it receives millions of the faithful coming for the Gamou,
the great pilgrimage during which the birth of the Prophet of Islam
is celebrated.

As many as 49% of the Senegalese are members of the Tijaniyya Brotherhood.The Tijaniyya is a ‘Sufi Way’, founded by the Algerian Ahmed Tijâni (1737-1815). A learned descendant of the Prophet, at the age of forty-six, he was called by Mohammed who appeared to him in a vision and ordered him to follow him and to guide people in the right path as a ‘Hidden Pole’ (the name traditionally given in Islam to an intermediary between men and the prophets).

The Tijaniyya is a ‘Sufi Way’, founded by the Algerian Ahmed Tijâni.

The international centre of worship is Fez, in Morocco, which is also the residence of the Head Caliph, Sidi ‘Ali Tijani, better known by the name of Sidi Bel ‘Arbi Tijâni, who has been in office since October 2010. He is the twelfth General Caliph. Spread through North Africa and in Arabia, the Tijaniyya penetrated West Africa thanks to Sheikh Ornar Foutiyou Tall (1797-1865), a controversial figure who is an erudite hero of Islam and a native of the kingdom of Fouta Toro to the north of present-day Senegal. After a long journey to Mecca, during which he was initiated into the Tijane tariqa, Ornar Tall travelled the length and breadth of the territories of present-day Senegal, Mali and Guinea, fighting against the French colonialists and the animist kingdoms, preaching the authenticity of Islam and the uniqueness of the Tijane Way and obeying the order received in a vision from the Prophet to wage a Holy War. He is believed to have mysteriously disappeared in the caves of the Bandiagara Cliffs in Mali.

The spread of the tariqa throughout Senegal was due to Malick Sy (1855-1922). As well-versed as his predecessors, he formed his disciples at the centre of worship in the city of Tivaouane and still the reference point of the Tijaniyya in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malick Sy built zawiyas (mosques and popular universities) also at Dakar and Saint-Louis.What demonstrates the continuity in time of one of the distinguishing aspects of the Tijaniyya, the central place of instruction and teaching, is the nickname ‘Borom Daraji’ (‘the professor’, in Wolof) attributed to the General Caliph, Serigne Mansour Sy, who died on 8 December 2012, considered one of the most learned leaders in the country. In January 2013, he was succeeded by his brother Sheikh Tidiane Sy. On 15 March 2017, he died and was replaced by Serigne Babacar Sy Mansour who became General Caliph.

Two parallel caliphates
At the symbolic and spiritual level, the caliphate of the descendants of Omar Tall, with its centre in Louga, is also recognised. The actual Caliph is Thierno Mountaga Daha Tall. Another group of Tijane, also influential in other countries, is made up of the Niassene, of the Niass family, who founded it. The numerous Niassene scattered in Guinea, Mauritania, Gambia, Niger and most of all in Ghana and Nigeria, are disciples of Ibrahim Niass, known as Baye Niass (1900-1975).

The pilgrimage carried out in Tivaouane by all the Tijane of Western Africa is that to Gamou, in which the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet is celebrated.

After the death of the father Abdoulaye Niass in 1922, who had already created the base of the cult and built a mosque at Leona Niassene, which represented a quarter of the city of Kaolack, the post of the first Caliph fell to the elder brother of Baye Niass. However, in 1929, Baye Niass proclaimed himself the one to continue to work of Ahmed Tiyani on Earth and left Leona Niassene to found his own centre of worship a few kilometres away, thus creating the quarter of Medina Baye.
Ever since then, two parallel caliphates continue the dynasty of the family: Ahmed Tidiane Niass, son of Baye Niass, was the recent Caliph of Medina Baye, until his death on 20 August last. He was the fourth Caliph of Medina Baye and El Hadji Ibrahim Niass, son of the Caliph, is the Caliph of Leona Niassene.

Generally speaking, the Tijane Brotherhood defines itself as ‘The Way of the Koran’, the spiritual journey (turbiya) towards God, which contains directives that are more consistent and more closely connected to the sacred text. One of the main duties of the adherent is the practice of the wird (twice a day they recite formulas asking forgiveness of God and prayers of the Prophet) and the Zikr, an abbreviated form is that of the wasifa, recited collectively in the mosque. The pilgrimage carried out in Tivaouane by all the Tijane of Western Africa is that to Gamou, in which the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet is celebrated. (L.d.M.)

DR. Congo. Street children. A home for a better future.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

A project that tries to return street children to their families. Stories that seem to come from the Gospel.

It is early morning but the sun is already hot. The streets of Kinshasa are already full of people. The large number of youngsters wandering about is striking. “The street is their home, their family”, Kasongo, a lottery ticket seller on the street corner, tells us.
UNICEF estimates between 25 and 30 thousand children are living on the streets of Kinshasa, out of the population of eleven million inhabitants of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

However, most of them are not orphans. They have fled or were driven from their homes as their families were unable to feed them. In more dramatic cases, they were accused of witchcraft, under the influence of the numerous exorcist preachers in the shanty towns. The children suffer horrifying violence during police searches and, with increasing frequency, from the local communities which, exasperated by poverty, see the street children merely as a criminal phenomenon.
Tabby is ten years old, though he is not quite sure of that. His family lives in the Kasa-Vubu quarter to the north of Kinshasa. “Two years ago, I fled from my home because the man who lives with my mother beat me every day. We had nothing to eat and so I came to the Centre City where I can always find something good to eat among the rubbish”. With him is Chilemba, who is twelve years old. “I am from Goma in the north of the country. I came together with my family five years ago. We fled because of the war. First, we stayed with an uncle of my mother but things did not work out and one day we found our things on the street. I didn’t want to be a burden on my family. I got to know Tabby and I came to live with him”. The two boys spend their nights behind a shoe shop.

“My name is Ilenda. I am thirteen years old and I have been living on the streets for three years”, this bright-eyed little girl tells us. She continues: “I went to school for some time but my parents were too poor to send all five of us children to school, so I had to give it up. That is how I started living on the streets with other boys and girls like me”.
On the streets there are strict rules: every street child must have a companion. Ilenda says: “ In our group, the worst problem is stealing. Every day, we girls are in danger of violence. Unfortunately, I have not succeeded in avoiding this danger …”.

Our home
In Kinshasa, an ecumenical Catholic community has been in existence since 2004: the Chemin Neuf, that runs a project for street children called Ndako ya biso – which means ‘Our House’ in Lingala – and which has enabled 2,500 street children to return to their original families.
We met Jean-Pierre Godding, a Belgian lawyer and sociologist who is in charge of the project. He tells us: “That which distinguishes Ndako ya biso from other shelters for children is the aim of the project: not so much to provide the children with a place to live as to help them reintegrate with their original families”.
” We therefore meet them, accompany them, and trace their families. It is also necessary – Jean-Pierre Godding tells us – to go through a process of reconciliation with the families. It is clear that poverty and even abuse have played a part in their leaving home. We never tire of repeating: a child’s place is in a family and not on the street”.

Jean-Pierre is aware that the more time the children spend on the streets, the more difficult it is to recuperate them and the more likely they are to become drug addicts.
Regarding drugs, almost 75% of the children are drug users of one sort or another. The project head continues: “What attracted our attention most was the consumption of glue – mixed with petrol or lacquer. Many of them go around with a small bottle in hand: this is the glue that they inhale throughout the day, girls and boys, all together. When we ask them why they sniff glue, they mostly say it helps them to be more lucid, to stop thinking of the shame of being beggars or to get the strength to work or endure the bad weather. As for the girls, they sniff glue so as to be able to accept a man, no matter who or how old. Glue sniffing is addictive and brings all the problems of other drugs: the inability to control their use, the tendency to look for stronger substances, harm to the brain and neurotransmitters”.

In recent months, the Coronavirus pandemic has created further emergency situations in the welcoming community. Jean-Pierre Godding comments: “Because of Covid-19, we had to close the centre for boys which is usually open. We have had fifteen boys permanently with us since the start of the epidemic. On the other hand, the centre for girls, which now has twenty, is usually closed so as to further protect the girls who are more frequently subject to violence than the boys. We have had to stop receiving street children and we would like to start doing so again as soon as possible”.
Despite so many difficulties, Jean-Pierre Godding believes in these boys and girls. He speaks of one of them: “Jeancy, 16 years old, who ran away from home after stealing some money that his father was saving up each month so that his son could continue going to school. After being received by Ndako Ya Biso, Jeancy was finally convinced he should return to his father who had been looking for him desperately for months. I think also of Asnate, a small girl of sixteen. She lost both her parents and went to live with her maternal grandmother who could not afford to keep her or her little sister. Very soon, Asnate found herself on the streets where she immediately became a victim of much violence. One day she came to Ndako Ya Biso. She was immediately given counselling and her grandmother received help to start a small business. She is now able to look after both her nieces.

Lastly, there is Bénédicte, a little girl of ten who suffers from epilepsy. As her mother said, ‘Many thanks to Ndako Ya Biso: when I was worn out and had lost all hope, a light appeared’. Trying to help her niece, her grandmother spent a lot of money on cures, taking her to traditional healers and churches who promised miraculous cures. One day, tired of such a life, Bénédicte decided to leave the place where she was being kept. She was taken in by Ndako Ya Biso where she was examined by an expert in epilepsy. Her condition improved and Bénédicte finally succeeded in going back to her grandmother who, having received some help from us, managed to start a small business”.
Jean-Pierre Godding concluded by saying: “All of these and many others, are the stories we come across all the time at Ndako Ya Biso. They are stories that sound as though they were parables taken from the Gospel, stories full of hope, and this is what we must give to these boys and girls of the streets”.

Chiara De Martino

Madagascar. Famadihana, the feast of Return.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

On the Madagascar plateau the bodies of the dead are exhumed from their tombs and brought out for a day of celebration which, with singing and dancing renders homage to their dead.

Close to the edges of the rice fields connecting the valleys of the central highlands, flickering lights can be seen in the darkness of the villages: nocturnal processions of 15, or at the most 20, people of the same family seeking tombs and ossuaries. It is in this period between June and September that, in the highlands of Madagascar the rite of the ‘Famadihana’ takes place; it is the exhumation of the dead, and a traditional ceremony that brings back – if only for a few hours – the bodies of the dead to the land of the living.
Famadihana literally means ‘turning the bones’, also known as the ‘Feast of Return’ or ‘Second Funeral’.“Among the Bara, Merina and Betsileo peoples, the cult of the spirits of the ancestors is a social element and is part of people’s daily life”, explains Anji, a zebu cattle raiser of the area, who paid several head of cattle to have the body of his father exhumed, for years after his death. What generally happens is that anyone who has the necessary means will not lose the opportunity to re-embrace the remains of a loved one and transfer their remains to a permanent tomb, much more elaborate than the first.

It is the task of the elders to examine the heavenly bodies and decide upon the days of exhumation. It may also happen that the spirit of the dead person asks for the ceremony, appearing in a dream to a relative, and accusing the relatives of having forgotten them.
The ritual is carried out in an atmosphere of rejoicing with singing and dancing: the remains are taken from the tomb, carried shoulder high to the sound of music and then wrapped in a sheet of silk and satin.
The bodies will later be placed on the grass, and a specially hired orchestra creates a festival atmosphere. Quantities of local beer, wine, and distilled drinks are distributed, as well as abundant food consisting of rice served with zebu meat and pig meat. Once they have eaten and danced, the people sit down around the bodies. Both men and women spray them with perfume.

“My girl got married, had a child and I am now a grandmother”, one woman recounts as she faces the shroud: in turn, each member of the family tells of what has taken place since the person died. The close relatives pin photographs and low denomination banknotes, while the people around them are dancing and glasses of rum are handed out.
Immediately before the burial, any young women who wish to have children take strips from the shroud and keep them under their mattresses as fertility charms.
Not far distant, on the other side of the valley, processional torches indicate the start of another exhumation. “You may look – someone remarks – but do not point your finger at them. It would be very impolite and the dead demand respect”.
When the ceremony is over, the dead are carried shoulder high for seven ritual rounds of the tomb and, just before the sun disappears below the horizon, they are restored to their own world.

In Madagascar death is not a cause of fear or sorrow since the kingdom of the dead is closely connected to the world of the living.
Each ethnic group has different customs, but passion and respect for the funeral rites are common to all.
Among the Merina and Betsilio ethnic groups, in the south of the Central Highlands of Madagascar, funerals last several days and the remains are interred in sumptuous mausoleums. The Vezo, in the south west of the country, build tombs of wood that are allowed to deteriorate: when they crumble, the soul of the ancestor is free and at peace. The Bara choose mountain caves where they bury their dead. The Mahalafy of the south build mausoleums in which they place coloured illustrations, small totems, even small airplanes, cement taxi boats, and zebu horns.

Mahafaly B. Dihy

Nicaragua. Street Children’s Circus.

Sunday, 1 November 2020 8:00

They are at the traffic lights, juggling their torches and coloured balls and performing acrobatics. The street children have invented a new approach to raising funds by amusing the motorists.

It is evening and the traffic flows along the brightly lit street of Managua. At the traffic lights, children both large and small have exchanged the soapy water used to wash dirty windscreens for a display of acrobatics with machetes, knives, oranges, coloured balls and torches. The entertainment can be dangerous but earns some money to take home.
Close to the large Avenida Masaya, near the statue of Alexis Arguello, a former multiple world boxing champion, we met with Jose Roman.
He is the most famous among the street ‘acrobats’. His main act is juggling flaming torches.
He is slim, very short and wears dirty old clothes. The lights turn red and he goes to the middle of the road, deliberately dropping a torch and using his feet to pick it up and start his juggling act. Higher and higher go the torches and again he uses his feet as part of the cycle.

Jose Roman extinguishes the torches and approaches the cars with open hands. Those hands, blackened by the smoke of the torches, collect the royal sum of ten Cordobas.Asked how much he collects each evening he answers: “About 100 pesos” (3 Euro).
It is eight in the evening and he has been performing for two hours. The light turns red again and he sprays his torches with petrol, lights them and again performs his act.Jose Roman is only twelve and lives in the Jonathan González Quarter. Two other boys accompany him almost every evening he goes to his work.

At the crossroads of Managua there are many children involved in the same sort of activity. They use their creativity and imagination to earn a little money. They all have one thing in common. Those boys and girls are always smiling, even when people shout at them.
Jose Roman has just finished another performance and collected another ten Cordobas. He tells us how he spends the money buying leftover food.“You don’t want to buy clothes or shoes?”, we ask him. “At present I am collecting money to buy my school uniform”, he replies. Another boy interrupts saying: “He is lying. He is not collecting money to buy food or a school uniform “.He shamefully admits this is true. He gives the money to his mother. “My mother doesn’t want me to do this but we need money at home. There are eight of us”.

The light turns red again and at the end of the show I ask Jose Roman where he learned to juggle torches. “Two years ago, on the road, a boy taught me. It was not easy. I burned myself a lot.” Then he says: “My friend began to sniff glue (a mixture of cobbler’s glue and petrol) saying it made him feel strong. He got sick and died”.
Robin, a brother of Jose Roman, tries his hand with the torches. He is a year older. The other boy is called Steve. Each one has his own traffic light. Jose Roman and Robin live with their mother and an aunt. They have two sisters, one older and one younger. The mother has no work and the aunt has two small children. They all live in a small two-roomed house. Jose Roman’s father has some informal work but is a heavy drinker and hasn’t lived with them for years.

Jose Roman and Robin explain how they began washing windscreens and just begging for money. They soon realised there was too much competition and knew they had to do something different.
One day they saw that other boy performing at a traffic light and they knew they had to do the same.
The three children say nobody ever tried to persuade them to give up their activity, even though the government has a plan involving the street children. They feel they are lucky as they can go home afterwards. In the capital Managua alone, there are said to be 15,000 children from 7 to 15 years old who live on the streets.
It is nine o’clock and there are fewer cars now. Jose Roman tells us how he was once hit by a car but not injured. They have to be careful. Robin looks at the burns on his hands. Steve is counting the money to buy food to take home. The lights turn red once more but the three friends are on their way home after their day’s work.

Mauricio González

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