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African Dance Awakens Local Libraries During Black History Month

By
Susan Budig
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African Dance Awakens Local Libraries During Black History Month

Eden Prairie, MINN – It’s common knowledge that hip-hop dancing is a veiled attempt to sexualize the movements of African dance.  Isn’t it?  According to G. Craige Lewis who preaches nationally as well as at his website, “The roots of Hip Hop are demonic. Oppression, anguish, poverty, violence, and other negative influences created this culture.”  However Edna Stevens Talton takes a very different view of hip-hop dancing.  And she should know. 

 

Stevens Talton, a native of Liberia, immigrated to the United States when she was seven years old.  Fresh from winning the Bright Functional School’s annual Liberian Pageant, Stevens Talton continued, even as an adult, in her pursuit of dance knowledge and skill. She now seeks to suggest another point of view than the one held by G. Craige Lewis and others like him.

 

“I did a workshop last week at the Ordway for a group of educators and one of the educators commented, ‘hip-hop– I’ve always seen it as a provocative style of dance.’  and I said, ‘no, it’s not.  It’s actually how one presents it… when I give an explanation of why it’s done the way it is, such as ‘hey, this is a celebration dance in Africa, this is why we do it, we’re happy’ then it’s viewed differently.”

 

During the month of February, Stevens Talton’s dance troop, Universal Dance Destiny, performed at three Hennepin County libraries.  I had the good fortune to watch and participate at the Eden Prairie County Library show on February 18. 

 

Saturday morning Moses Brown and Gbassay Zinnah begin pounding on their d’jembe drums while a crowd of 75 people, many of them under ten years old, look on.  Initially, the motionless crowd holds their hands and their children in their laps.  As the drumming continues, folks slowly start to warm up.  Shoulders twitch, heads bop, and tots squirm free to move on the carpeted floor.  The program, sponsored by Young Audiences of Minnesota, hits their target audience this morning.
 

Zinnah plays his steady heartbeat d’jembe while Brown uses a more punctuated rhythm, like popcorn.  Both of these percussionists were once part of the Liberian Culture Troop, a musical start-up band based in Liberia.  Soon Stevens Talton along with Shanice Craig (14), Joshua Raul Stevens (14) and Lyric Hughes (10) walk to the front of the room. 

 

African dance relies mainly on rhythm.  “You have no dance if you have no African drum,” declares Stevens Talton.  With feet barely touching the floor, the four dancers bounce around the audience, exposing many, possibly for the first time, to authentic West African dance movement.  Ten minutes later, Stevens Talton begins teaching us about the similarities between African dance and hip hop dance.
 

“Being that I live both worlds, the African and the corporate worlds, that’s why I named my company Universal Dance Destiny.  You’ve got to find an avenue in how to bring people together.  And if one (world) is not understanding then you help them understand.”

 

We are then served a vigorous helping of Liberian SouSous, sometimes known as the Chicken Head dance, the Wabbee, also called the Pancake or African Walking dance, as well as break, popping, locking, klowning, and krumping, all features of hip hop dance.

 

The sensual visuals of hip-hop are put in a new light.  Stevens Talton explains,  “Shanice is so slim, I don’t care if she does that (hip movement), but I have another dancer and myself, we’re very curvy, so usually when she does her part I always ask her to play down the hips because she can be seen differently than someone who doesn’t have all of those curves.  So it is a lot of the hip movement.  Many people  don’t understand how our African dance emanates from the hips, but that’s what we know culturally. ”

 

Volunteers are solicited and given the opportunity to try their hand and foot at the heel-step-toe movement and other basic hip hop steps.  Popping, which looks robotic and difficult, is demystified as the dancers show us how a series of tightening a muscle, such as one’s bicep, and releasing it produces the intriguing effect. 

 

Having defined muscles to begin with certainly helps.  Stevens Talton doubtless has the muscle tone necessary for demonstrating before the crowd.  She teaches dance at the Capri Theater in Minneapolis, along with hip-hop, salsa, cha-cha, funk, and hustle swing, to name only a few of the many dance forms taught at Universal Dance Destiny.

Liberia at a Crossroads

By
Makau Mutua
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Liberia at a Crossroads

The election of Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf, the Harvard-educated former World Bank economist as president of
is a milestone. She will become the first woman African head of state

 

and give her tormented country the only real opportunity in more than a generation to emerge from the ashes of a savage civil war. But these rays of hope will be extinguished if George

 

Weah, her vanquished opponent, becomes bellicose and stokes violent conflict.

 

 

It is virtually impossible to imagine a place on Earth where life has been more hellish than
. For almost three decades, the country has been in the grip of brutal dictatorships or ruthless warlords. It reached its nadir in 1980 when Samuel Doe introduced a rein of terror. In 1990, Doe was killed by rebel forces led by Charles Taylor and Prince Johnson, two equally ruthless

 

warlords.

 

 

remained lawless until 1997 when
Taylor
intimidated his compatriots into electing him

 

president. But rather than pursue peace and reconstruction,
Taylor
instigated coups and civil wars in neighboring states. He sold arms in exchange for diamonds to
rebels who cut off the limbs, ears and noses of opponents.

 

 

In 2003, Taylor was forced to resign but was granted refuge in in spite of an indictment for war crimes by the

UN Special Court

for
. His forced departure paved the way for last week’s elections.

 

 

The election of Johnson-Sirleaf notwithstanding, history will repeat itself unless the international

 

community acts resolutely. Although she won 60 percent to Weah’s 40 percent, Weah has refused to concede defeat, charging fraud and other irregularities. International monitors

 

have categorically stated that there is no evidence to bolster Weah’s allegations.

 

 

Weah’s threat to the democratic process should not be taken lightly.
has been down this path before. Easily the most famous Liberian, 38-year-old Weah is a former international soccer star who draws most of his support from dispossessed urban youth, former child soldiers and

 

scores of warlords. A product of the slums of
Monrovia
, the barely literate Weah’s rags-to-riches story resonates with poor youth. Even so, most Liberians seem to have voted for experience and

 

technocratic competence over glamour.

 

 

The belief is that 67-year-old Johnson-Sirleaf, with her connections and legitimacy in the world of

 

global finance and capital, stands a better chance of leading
to economic recovery and international demarginalization. The silver lining for Weah is that he has established himself

 

as a powerful political force and the man likely to succeed Johnson-Sirleaf.

 

 

has not known a modern democracy. Weah can change that dismal history if he accepts the election results and joins a government of national unity or plays the role of a legitimate democratic opposition. What the country needs is not another warlord but a massive reconstruction effort. But Weah’s support from unsavory characters, including
Taylor
’s backers, should give pause. There are indications that Taylor himself maintains an unhealthy interest in

 

Liberian politics from exile. It is unlikely that will know peace until
Taylor
is held accountable for the atrocities he committed in office. Weah should join those democrats and

 

reformers who have called for to turn Taylor over to
’s

Special Court

.

 

 

Unless Weah makes these commitments – and renounces confrontation – his backers are likely

 

to revert to violence. Yet, it is his supporters who must be rehabilitated for this election to relaunch
. UN peacekeeping forces cannot allow the situation to deteriorate. Nor should the international community permit thugs to reverse the freely expressed will of the Liberian people.

 

 

Finally, the
must recognize its special responsibility. The country was established by Americans, and successive administrations treated
like an unofficial vassal. That is why Washington bears some responsibility for
’s woes.

 

 

material, diplomatic and logistical support is crucial if
is to emerge from its long night of privation.

 

 

Makau Mutua is a professor of law and director of the
Human
Rights
Center
at the
State
University
of New York at
Buffalo
.

 

Olympics Boxing Icon in Fight for Disabled Persons

By
Edwin Okong'o - Mshale Contributing Editor
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Olympics Boxing Icon in Fight for Disabled Persons

A debilitating injury may have left Kenyan boxing legend Dick “Tiger” Murunga on a wheelchair, but it has not stopped him from fighting.

Only this time he is fighting for the rights of people with disabilities in . And, he intends to punch his message all the way to the United States Congress, the United Nations and various international organizations.

Murunga, a long time professional boxer who came to fame at 17 when he won a bronze medal in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, is in the to raise money for treatment at
StanfordUniversityHospital
. Thorough his charitable organization, Dick Tiger 72 Olympian Hero (DT-72-OSHO International), he is also on a campaign to raise over $10 million to build the International Paraplegic Homecare Center, a 500-bed home in Mombasa, Kenya’s second largest city.

“I want disabled people to be able to do the things other people do,” Murunga says as he settles in the living room of his rented home in
Windsor, Calif.
, where he has been staying since November.

In addition to education and other social services, Murunga says he would like to see disabled people have fun. That is why he has proposed to build the homecare center on 32 acres of beachfront land.

Murunga’s proposed homecare center will be the first of its kind and magnitude in . There are no recent data on the situations of disabled people in the , according to a 2004 report by the International Labor Organization. Statistics from the 1989 census, the latest, show that 0.7 percent of the total Kenyan population (estimated at 21.4 million) was disabled. That number, however, appears to be underestimated considering that many who live in remote areas may be unaccounted for.

The days Murunga has spent on a wheelchair have given him insights into the lives of disabled people, he says. He now knows firsthand how intolerant of the disabled many people. He has lost friends, some of whom he helped during the days he was healthy.

“Some of my friends think it is a curse” to be disabled, he says as he flips through the pages of his brown binder to find a document to show that he has land reserved for the homecare center.

The trouble with Murunga’s health began on one September evening in 2002. He had just finished his daily workout at a gym in Mombasa and was walking to his car. He felt some numbness on his right leg, staggered on the next step and fell. He could not get up. He was, however, with the help of passersby, able to get in his car. He drove but when he got home he could not walk at all.

After several unsuccessful visits to doctors in Nairobi, Murunga left for , where he began receiving treatment at Hae Dang Hospital of Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture in Seoul. Doctors at the hospital found out that, Murunga had ruptured fascia (thin sheaths of fibrous tissue that protect veins) in his knee joints. Murunga’s intense training led to his injuries, he says.

Because of lack of funds, Murunga’s was forced to cut short his hospital stay in
Seoul
to two months, instead of the five as recommended by doctors.

“But I left walking,’ he recalls.

After only a year on his feet, Murunga returned to the wheelchair.

Murunga’s inability to walk has not taken away his cheerfulness. He is clad in a red and black checkered suit that almost looks like a pair of pajamas. But he is quick to point out that it’s ’s newly-adopted national dress. He is always smiling and sometimes giggling as he speaks. He still works out for two hours everyday, an hour in the morning and in the evening. These are some of the things he would like to see other disabled people do, he says.

Although passed the Persons With Disability Act in 2003, Murunga says the government has done less to help people with disability. Dr. Solomon Monyenye, a
University
of
Nairobi
professor, who is on sabbatical in the San Francisco Bay Area, agrees.

“Even though the laws are there in theory, the government doesn’t put them to practice,” Monyenye says.

Monyenye, however, attributed most of the government’s failure to provide disabled people with social services to a poor economy.

Although ’s economy has been recovering since 2002, when a coalition of opposition parties ended the Kenya African National Union’s reign of nearly 40 years, the country is still very poor. has an external debt of over $7 billion.  The annual per capita income is measly $1,200, and 50 percent of the country’s 33 million people live below the poverty line, according to the CIA World Factbook. The country did not qualify for the debt relief granted at the G8 Summit in July to 28 of the world’s poorest countries.

In a country where a 2002 World Health Organization reports that 80 percent of the population does not have any form of healthcare, Monyenye says it will take charitable organizations like Murunga’s to improve the lives of the disabled and poor people in general.

Murunga is no stranger to helping the needy. After a successful professional boxing career that took him to , and , he returned home and founded DT-72-OSHO International to cater for orphaned children. The center is home to more than 200 children.

With the help of Rep.
Lynn
Woolsey (California Congressional District 6) Murunga has made good progress in rallying support for the homecare center.

“We are attempting to have him meet with Sen. [Barrack] Obama,” says Ed Sheffield, a field representative at Woolsey’s office in
Santa Rosa
.

When asked how much money he has raised so far, Murunga politely declines to reveal. He is very close, he says. The World Bank, the
MuhammadAliCenter
and the Don King Foundation have all endorsed his plan and pledged money. As his dream to help the disabled approaches fruition, there is one thing he wants more than anything. 

“I want to leave here walking.”

Court Of Appeals Agrees That American Child Could Suffer FGM if Returned to Ethiopia

By
Igbanugo Partners International Law Firm
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0

A husband and wife succeeded in getting their asylum case sent back to the lower court, when they feared returning to Ethiopia for fear that their American citizen child ~Amen~ would suffer female genital mutilation (FGM). FGM is a series of surgical operations, involving the removal of some or all of the external genitalia, performed on girls and women. 

 

 

Mr. Sisay Mengistu and his wife, Ms. Almaz Abebe told an Immigration Judge that they opposed the practice of FGM, a ritual which “almost practically all females have to undergo” in . They explained that there was tremendous societal pressure for girls to undergo FGM, and that they would face rejection and isolation if they tried to prevent their American daughter from being subjected to the ritual.

 

 

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, finding that a Department of State Report articulated that as of 1993, 90% of women in were subjected to FGM. Another report corroborated their claim that that the ethnic group to which their families belong, the Amharas, regularly practiced FGM. The Court held that “the evidence indicated that the probability that Amen would have to undergo this ritual greatly exceeded the threshold required to establish eligibility for asylum.” asylum. The case was remanded to the Board of Immigration Appeals to reconsider granting asylum of the basis of FGM.

 

 

Court finds that Governments are not given a free pass to torture and kill citizens as a form of such punishment for not joining the military.

 

 

In yet another Ethiopian asylum case, Selemawit Giday sought asylum in because the government of , where she was born and raised, persecuted her due to her mixed Ethiopian and Eritrean ancestry. Giday was born and raised in
, and considered herself Eritrean. However, because her mother is Ethiopian and her father Eritrean, she suffered persecution from the Eritrean Government during ‘s conflict with .

 

 

Specifically, the Eritrean government took Giday into custody and placed her in a crowded, hot and dirty, detention facility for Ethiopians awaiting forced deportation. At the detention facility, she could use the bathroom facilities only two times a day, had no opportunity to present her case to a judge and was beaten and pushed around. 

 

 

Both the Immigration Judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals did not find her story credible and denied asylum. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit disagreed, and found that denationalization (forcibly stripping Giday of her Eritrean citizenship) and deportation seemed to constitute persecution.

 

 

Recognizing that “’s human rights record remains poor” and “Ethiopian nationals clearly face continued human rights abuses in
. The government singles them out for arrest when they are unable to renew their residency permits every six months and they continue to be detained in unknown numbers,” the Court sent the case back to the Immigration Judge.

 

 

work visas for foreign nationals holding advanced degrees from universities are running out

 

 

CIS has indicated that as of mid-December, a total of 17,067 cases have been counted against the 20,000 H-1B cap exemption for holders of advanced degrees from U.S. universities. In other words, if you hold an advanced degree (Master’s or higher) from an

American
University

, you better act fast to file for an H-1B petition.

 

 

Protect those social security number cards.

 

 

Make sure you take good care of those social security number cards! The Social Security Administration announced that it will implement rules that will limit the number of times a social security number (SSN) card will be replaced: no more than three in one year and a total of ten in a lifetime. There is currently no numerical limitation on the number of replacement or new cards that will be issued. The only restriction is that a card will not be replaced within seven days of a previous issuance. The rules do provide for reasonable exceptions, such as when a person’s name changes, or when a foreign national’s immigration status changes which results in a necessary change to a restrictive legend on the SSN card.

 

 

Facts & Figures

 

Here is some interesting data:

 

 

  • Since the end of forced migration only a small number of Africans have been able to come to the in contrast with other immigrant groups.

     

  • From 1820 to 1993 only took in 418,000 African immigrants according to Immigration and Naturalization records,

     

  • In 1993 alone 345,425 Asians came to .

     

  • Only in the last quarter of the century has the number of African immigrants grown tremendously. Two-thirds of all African immigrants currently in the arrived after 1980.

     

  • African-born residents in the are highly educated, urbanized, and have one of the highest per capita incomes of any immigrant group. An article in The Economist magazine in its May 11, 1996 issue stated, "…Three-quarters have some college experience; one in four has an advanced degree.”

     

  • Nearly 88 percent of adults who immigrate from Africa to the
    have a high school education or higher.

     

 

Please note that nothing on this page should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. The information is intended to be general and should not be relied upon for any specific situation. For legal advice, consult an attorney experienced in immigration law.

 

Reflections on Culture

By
Jeremy O'Kasick
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Reflections on Culture

East African Traveler   

 

 

It took the Dixie Chicks at an East/West African-Arab wedding to help me get over my case of Mzungu-Know-It-All. Alright, let’s backtrack.

 

 

I coined the term and self-diagnosed myself with Mzungu-Know-It-All about two months ago. Mzungu being the Swahili word for white person or westerner. Know-It-All being the deceptively arrogant mental state that even we so-called culturally sensitive and knowledgeable white folk often adopt after living in
Africa
for a stretch.

 

 

It’s a deceptive condition because some of us, in trying so hard to embrace a given African culture, blind ourselves from many sides of that culture and how it evolves. I even had the benefit of several warning-sign symptoms.

 

 

For example, I vaguely recall being on stage with Ray C, a Tanzanian R-and-B star, at the
Blue Nile
over a year ago when, microphone in one hand, Tusker Lager in the other, I swiveled my hips to the taarab-like beat and declared to the crowd in Swahili, “I am not a mzungu!”

 

 

Man, my case was bad. It’s as if I thought there was some cultural checklist, and, after I put an “x” in all the boxes, I attained honorary African status. 

 

 

Speak some Swahili? Ndiyo. Crossed the Serengeti? Been there. Walked the streets of Kibera? Done that. Got malaria? Got it and went back for seconds. Drank cow’s blood and milk with the Maasai? Straight up and no chaser.

 

 

Such thinking is naïve and all-too-American at best, arrogant and neo-colonial at worst. You can encounter every culture between Cairo and
Cape Town
and be none the wiser. And, lo and behold, culture, especially in the age of globalization, is a bit more complex than bird watching in

Amboseli
National Park

.

 

 

Thank God, Allah, Ngai, and MTV for that. And don’t forget the Dixie Chicks.

 

 

I started reflecting on such cultural understandings, or misunderstandings, after I attended a wedding send-off reception that mixed more races, cultures, religions, and music than you can find on the Internet. The groom came from Cote D’Voire and worked for the UN. The bride was of Arab descent, born in Bukoba, near the shores of
Lake Victoria
, and raised Christian. The send-off took place at a Malaysian restaurant on one of the busiest streets in Dar-es-Salaam.

 

 

Then, after sets that mixed the likes of 50 Cent, Saida Karoli, and Alpha Blondy, the DJ started playing country music. And some people in the crowd started to sing along! It wasn’t just the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain. Most of the guitar-twanging set featured the kind of country-western that I imagine is still popular in a few towns in Nebraska and
Tennessee
. We’re talking about Don Williams and the stuff that makes Kenny Rogers and Willie Nelson sound cutting-edge modern.

 

 

The wedding not being the first time I heard such strange sounds in East Africa, I once asked an older friend how country had become popular there, and he replied that, in the early post-independence days, many East Africans came to appreciate it as an original American music. (Was their no post-colonial disc jockey playing the blues? Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, B.B. King?)

 

 

While then watching a Dwight Yokum video on TV, I also asked his baggy-pants-backwards-hat-wearing teenage neighbor if he liked that kind of music. In Dar-es-Salaam Swahili slang, he replied most enthusiastically in the affirmative.

 

 

For many Mshale readers, my trite reflections on culture will be far from mind-blowing, even causing you to say to yourself, while shaking your head, “Ah, that poor confused mzungu.”

 

 

Fair enough. It took a bit of
Memphis
at a Malaysian restaurant in Bongoland for me to tell myself the exact same thing.

 

 

The writer is a Twin Cities resident currently visiting
East Africa
on a cultural exchange program. He will share his perspective and observations while there in this column which will appear in Mshale through early 2006 when he returns to the
. You can reach him at [email protected].

 

South Africa and Kenya Head to Los Angeles for Rugby Sevens

By
Edwin Okong'o - Mshale Contributing Editor
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South Africa and Kenya Head to Los Angeles for Rugby Sevens

The South Africans and Kenyans return to Los Angeles’ Home Depot Center Stadium on Feb. 11 for the 2006 U.S.A Sevens Rugby Tournament, an event that past attendees say also serves as reunion for many citizens of the two African countries. 

 “It’s like a big festival and wild in a good way,” said Dickson Thirima of Los Angeles-based True Blaq Entertainment, one of the companies organizing entertainment events for the thousands of African rugby fans expected to attend. Thirima said he arranged for Kenyan musicians, among them singer Mercy Myra, to entertain event goers.

The annual tournament, which began in 2004, features 16 national teams of seven players a side. and are the only African countries that have participated in the tournament. Every year thousands of Kenyans and South Africans come from as far away as the East Coast to support their teams. Many fans come to town as early as three days before for nights of parties and social events.

For some who have had the opportunity to attend previous competitions, the tournament is something they vow to go to every year.

“I felt like I was in ,” said Njoki Kinyua, an Oakland resident who came upon the 2004 tournament while in
Los Angeles for different matters. Kinyua said while at the event, she ran into old friends she hadn’t seen since high school in , more than eight years earlier. She admired the fact that Kenyans and South Africans cheered for their teams in ways she had not experienced before.

“It was so amazing to see all Kenyans patriotic and united regardless of where in they’re from,” Kinyua said.

Peter Walker, a South African who owns Springbok Bar and Grill in
Long Beach , and hosts his country’s team every year, said that South Africans go to the rugby event more for the love of the game than to socialize. “South Africans are as crazy about rugby as Mexicans are about soccer,” Walker said on a telephone interview from
Los Angeles .

South Africa is ranked number two in the world, according to the International Rugby Board, the international governing and legislative body of the game of rugby. IRB ranks Kenya at number 38.

25th Annual U Concert to Honor the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

By
Kemunto Namunyak
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25th Annual U Concert to Honor the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

For the past quarter of a century the

University of

Minnesota has held an annual celebration of the life and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and this year is no different. The 25th annual concert in honor of Dr King will be held Sunday, February 5, 2006 at the Ted Mann Concert Hall on the

University of

Minnesota ’s West Bank- Minneapolis campus at 4pm. The event is free and open to the public. This year’s ninety-minute program features renowned artists Bruce A. Henry with Debbie Duncan and Gwen Matthews, the U of MN’s African Music Ensemble led by Sowah Mensah, and 7 Days.

 

 

 

 

The

University of

Minnesota ’s Office for Multicultural and Academic Affairs and the

School of

Music are co-producers of this 25th concert, and continue in the custom of the founder of these annual concerts, the late

University of

Minnesota professor Reginald Buckner, who began a tradition of celebrating the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King, Jr. through the performing arts.

 

 

“Professor Buckner was an outstanding performer, composer and educator, and was instrumental in establishing a jazz studies program at the university,” said Sue Hancock of the Office of Multicultural and Academic Affairs.  “His death in 1989 left us without his personal dedication and artistic genius, but not without an inspiring legacy—the 25th annual celebration we present today.”

 

 

 

 

Appearing on this year’s program is the

University of

Minnesota ’s African Music Ensemble, led by Sowah Mensah. Mensah is an ethnomusicologist, composer and a “Master Drummer” from ,

West Africa . The program also includes Twin Cities’ favorites Bruce A. Henry with Debbie Duncan and Gwen Matthews. Known for his eclectic style of world influenced jazz vocals, Henry’s pure voice has a versatility and depth that few can match. Influenced by Nina Simone, Al Jarreau and John Coltrane, his music has taken him to four continents, garnering a large following in and the

Far East . Also performing on the program is the University’s first and only student-run a-cappella group 7 Days. Comprised of both men and women spanning all ages and majors, the group 7 Days specializes in pop and R&B music.

 

 

 

 

Ted Mann Concert Hall is located at

2128 4th Street South

and parking is available in the

21st Avenue

parking ramp, one block southwest of the concert hall. This is a gratis event and no advance tickets are required.

 

and parking is available in the parking ramp, one block southwest of the concert hall. This is a gratis event and no advance tickets are required.

 

Lost Boys Of Sudan Settle in America

By
Swallehe Msuya
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Lost Boys Of Sudan Settle in America

The
WALKER
ART
CENTER
in
Minneapolis
will be screening a 90 minute documentary titled “Lost Boys of Sudan” depicting the plight of 20,000 Southern Sudanese Dinka tribe children driven out of their country during a military conflict that has been around for 20 years. The
Khartoum
Islamic government is reportedly said to have conducted raids on the Southern part of the country occupied mainly by the Christian and animist Dinka tribe.

 

 

The documentary traces the life of one Peter Nyarol Dut, a Sudanese Dinka boy who lost both his parents and ran away to the Kakuma Refugee Camp in before the United Nations arranged for a flight to Texas in the where he settled down as a refugee. It is the moving story of human tragedy brought about by ideological and racial conflict that has resulted in the death of an estimated 2 million people and thousands of refugees. Worldwide, there are 15 million refugees who cannot return home because of the political situation that does not observe basic human rights in their native countries.

 

 

The Lost Boys who were able to make it to are only a portion of the larger children population that is still on the run in the African semi-desert bush or have made it to refugee camps in neighboring countries. The peace agreement signed between the
Khartoum
administration and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) at the end of last year, if it holds may bring peace to the region. Alas, the leader of the SPLA Dr John Garang died in a mysterious plane crush shortly after the peace agreement that leaves many unanswered questions!

 

 

Today, the United Nations, the African Union (AU) and other nations, including the are working towards the goal of obtaining lasting peace in the region and resettle displaced people. The documentary does not touch on current efforts of the international community in the region, rather it focuses on the cultural shock of the lost boys as they struggle to fit in the American life-style.

 

 

The role-played by church organizations, YMCA and the benevolent American people in assisting the “confused” new comers cope with a faster pace of life is commendable. Getting an education, picking up the English language and learning basic skills such as pottery, factory work, playing basketball and using “deodorant” to drawn the mud hut smell, are a series of discoveries that the refugee boys go through.

 

 

Some of those refugees pick up fast, learn a trade and get jobs only to find themselves having to support other less fortunate immigrants. It is this extended kinship which older Americans marvel at and find exciting among the African culture.

 

 

A very naïve comparison is made by the new comers on how they have perceived African Americans who have been here for generations and although they are black –certainly less so than the pitch dark DINKAS – are generally characterized as pick-pockets and potential criminals! The lack of a scientific analysis on the struggle of African Americans to obtain social justice, equity and educational and economic opportunities – is sadly lacking and hence troubling in this documentary!

 

 

The documentary is reduced, at best, to a cheap Christian propaganda stint that only scratches on the surface of the well-known Southern Sudanese problem. The filmmaker has come out superbly, however as he plays on languages – Dinka, broken Sudanese English and appropriate English subtitles. For those who know nothing about the Southern Sudanese situation, this documentary will give them the first kindergarten class. The complex nature of the conflict in
Southern Sudan
is a subject for more research so that a lasting peace can be found to end the current suffering!

 

 

This documentary is about the “Lost Boys of Sudan” that leaves me wondering, are there no “Lost Girls of Sudan?”  What happened to them?

 

Muslims Celebrate Eid-el-Hajj by Slaughtering Animals

By
Swallehe Msuya
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Muslims Celebrate Eid-el-Hajj by Slaughtering Animals

Tuesday January 10 was EID-EL-HAJJ, a Muslim holiday marked annually by families slaughtering animals for sacrifice and protein food. Muslims across the globe numbering 1.2 billion carried out this ritual as a record 2.5 million pilgrims from all over the world completed their visit to Islam’s holiest shrines (HAJJ) in the cities of Mecca and Medina in .

 

 

During this occasion, Muslim families slaughter a lamb, cow, goat or camel following on the tradition of Prophet Abraham who was ordered by God to sacrifice his son Eshmail (Ismail), and when he obliged, God sent a lamb through arch-Angel Gabriel and thus Ismail’s life was spared. The slaughtered animal is divided into three portions, one for the family’s consumption, the second portion is for neighbors and the third portion is for the needy. Thus the occasion is usually referred to as the feast of sacrifice.

 

 

The pilgrimage (HAJJ) is the fifth pillar of Islam and is undertaken by every believing Muslim with the financial ability and good health at least once in a lifetime. It is a way to connect with their creator as the Holy City of Mecca contains the symbolic House of God (KAABA) which is the Muslim niche of prayer. Kaaba was first erected by Adam, and then rehabilitated by Abraham and Ismail and it contains the Black Stone (HAJAR’L’ASWAD) believed to be the remains of various types of clay which Angel Gabriel collected from which Adam was created by Allah.

 

 

The scripture reveals that when Abraham settled in
Mecca
with his wife Hajra and son Ismail, the KAABA was full of idol Gods of wood and stone and Abraham destroyed them and called for the worship of one true God. The unbelieving Meccans were furious and prepared a big fire and plunged Abraham in the middle so that he could die for destroying their idol Gods. The big fire burnt out and only ashes remained, but Abraham emerged from it unscathed!

 

 

The pagans of
Mecca
were shocked to see Abraham survive the great fire and some started to succumb to the one true God (Allah) who protected Abraham from that ferocious fire! When prophet Muhammad (may the peace of Allah be upon him) was born in Mecca in 570 AD as a descendent of Abraham/Ismail, idol worship had again returned to
Mecca
and Kaaba was filled with traditional Gods of Wood, stone and date palm. As he turned 40, he started preaching belief in one God and beseeched Meccans to abandon idol worship. They detested this new ideology from the traditions of their forefathers and plotted to kill Muhammad; but he escaped and settled in
Medina
.

 

 

Medina is “the city of the prophet” and it is in
Medina
that Muhammad build a strong following of Muslims who eventually returned and cleansed the Kaaba of Idol worship. When he died at the age of 63, he was buried in his mosque in
Medina
and pilgrims pay their respects to his tomb during the annual pilgrimage.

 

 

Muslims who go for pilgrimage dress in two while plain un-sewn cloth with simple sandals and no headgear. At the climax of HAJJ, they assemble  at the plain below

Mount
Arafa

where it is believed God in the company of Angels descend to forgive the pilgrims of their sins.

 

 

While in Mecca and
Medina
, Muslim pilgrims visit the KAABA for special prayers, drink from the ZAZAM well which started to gush blessed water since the days of Ismail. Hajra ( Ismail’s mother) raced between the hills of Safwa and Marwa in search for water for the crying baby. Arch-Angel Gabriel struck a rock near the Kaaba, and Zamzam water has been flowing ever since.

 

 

The presence of Zamzam water in the desert
land
of
Saudi Arabia
became the main cause of a settlement taking shape in Mecca as business caravans from and had to stop for water. Today
Mecca
is a flourishing city with modern amenities and has grown on account of annual pilgrims coming from all the Muslim nations of the world. Because of the increasing demand of pilgrims travelling for HAJJ, the authorities in consultation with other Muslim nations across the globe have set up quotas for each country to maintain a manageable crowd during the HAJJ occasion. As many as 3 million people have traveled for HAJJ on one occasion, and it has caused some administrative problems to Saudi authorities and have thus settled on a quota system and this year, 2.5 million pilgrims carried out their HAJJ peacefully.

 

 

In
Minnesota
, Muslims held early morning prayers in special designated cites and mosques for the EID EL HAJJ celebration before joining families, friends and neighbors for the meat bonanza. The main prayer- site in the Twin Cities was the

Minneapolis
Convention Center

. Thousands of Muslims congregated for early morning prayers and created an extra burden on the traffic, as multitudes driving off and walking across the road at the end of the prayers required extra caution to avoid accidents.

 

 

The air was filled with the Muslim greeting of “EID MUBARAK” – literally, may the blessings of God be upon you on this occasion – a gesture of goodwill and solidarity among mankind. For those who visited the holy shrines in for the pilgrimage, it is an occasion when Muslims from all over the world meet as equals before God. There are no distinctions of social status where a King, Sultan, or President cannot be distinguished from a garbage collector, as there are no “high tables” or “VIPs” among Muslims, just one brother-hood of equals before God!

 

 

It is a pity that such a glorious religion has at times been associated with criminal acts of terrorism when indeed Islam is a religion of PEACE and brotherhood among human beings.

 

 

With this year’s pilgrims numbering 2.5 million, an equal number of animals ranging from lamb, goat, cow and camel have been slaughtered in the holy shrines of Islam alone. There is so much abundance in meat during the pilgrimage that authorities have designed a comprehensive method of sending thousands of tons of meat in cold frozen containers to areas around the world with food shortage or famine. This is the true spirit of HAJJ and mankind is better off on account of this humanitarian gesture from the Muslim faith.  Contrary to misconceptions and other misrepresentations, Islam is the religion of love, peace and brotherhood.

 

Center for Families Grand Opening Sunday, Feb. 12

By
Agencies
-
0
Center for Families Grand Opening Sunday, Feb. 12

The grand opening celebration of the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches’ new Center for Families will take place Feb. 12, 2006. The public is invited.

 

 

The 19,000-square-foot facility — located on the campus of
Fellowship
Missionary
Baptist
Church
in
North Minneapolis
— will house services such as language classes, job training, health screenings and referrals, mental health services, adult basic education, and many others. It is designed to help families plant strong roots in the community and will serve all families, with a special focused outreach to West African immigrants.

 

 

The grand opening celebration will take place at

3333 4th Street N.

in Minneapolis between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., with a program at 3 p.m.
Tours
of the new building will be offered as well as refreshments. Rev. Albert Gallmon, Jr., Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, will speak and the day will feature the world premiere performance of We, Too, Rise, an original choral anthem commissioned by GMCC to celebrate its 100th Anniversary of uniting people of faith to serve people in need.

 

 

Emmy-Award winning composer, Steve Heitzeg, has written the anthem which will be performed by the
Fellowship
Missionary
Baptist
Church
choir, under the direction of Sanford Moore, and the Sakerettes Choir, composed of alumnae of
Saker
Baptist
College
in
Limbe,
.

 

 

The anthem is taken from the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, in which King responds to eight
Alabama
clergyman who had labeled his demonstrations as "unwise and untimely." King responds: “. . . the time is always ripe to do right.”

 

Mobile Box Office: Purchasing and Receiving Movie Tickets Via Your Mobile Phone

By
jaime
-
0
Mobile Box Office: Purchasing and Receiving Movie Tickets Via Your Mobile Phone

Are you tired of waiting in those dreadfully long lines at the movies? Don’t you just wish someone would come up with a new technology that would enable moviegoers to walk straight into the movie of their choice without wasting a single minute? Thanks to a tremendous technology by a Livonia based company in Canton,

Detroit , this "movie-line" nightmare will cease to be an issue in the near future. This technology will allow moviegoers to receive their tickets through their cell phones. Even tough this ground breaking technology emerged in

Detroit this past Wednesday, it is yet to be introduced in theaters nationwide.

 

How it Works

1. Assuming you have an internet ready cell phone with a color display screen, go to the Mobile Box Office website (www.mbo.com)

2. Search movie showtimes listed on the site.

 

 

 

 

3. Enter the number of tickets you need to purchase and your credit card information. It will then prompt you to enter your cell phone number. The fee for buying with a cell phone is $1, just about the same as buying over the internet with a computer.

 

 

 

 

4. After a few minutes, you will receive a link- click on that link.

 

 

 

 

5. You will then receive a confirmation code for the movie tickets together with a bar code.

6. At the theater, go directly to the usher who will scan the bar code and let you through to the movie.

Why this Technology?

With the rapid growth of movie ticket sales (1.4 billion movie tickets were sold last year in U.S. movie theaters) and vast cell phone use ( Approximately 140 million Americans have cell phones and the number of internet ready cell phones has immensely increased from roughly 5 million to 47 million users between 2001 and 2004), it is a brilliant idea to combine the two gigantic money making elements together. This has a lot of potential for growth and success in the movie industry.

In addition, if a computer or a newspaper is not available, you need not worry because you can easily scan through movie titles with your cell phone.

What Movie Theaters Offer this Technology?

This enormous technology is provided at Emagine Entertainment theaters at the moment, but please keep in mind that this is going to be huge.

Will this Technology be Useful to Moviegoers in

Africa ?

After it has expanded in the it will most likely become a worldwide technology so people in

Africa or anywhere in the world can benefit from it. Lines at the movie theaters in Africa and communicating with the ticket associates can be very frustrating at times so this technology will definately be a big plus to moviegoers in

Africa .

 

 

Not only does this technology propose to make the life of moviegoers easier, it is also very convenient and stress free not to mention the fact that you never have to miss the beginning of another movie ever again! When the latest movie comes out, you can be the first to see it without having to worry about the tickets getting sold out. In other words, you will have prior knowledge of ticket status without having to step out of your bed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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