United Nations expert calls for stronger oversight of traditional medicine in African countries, in order to limit the threat to people living with albinism.
Ikponwosa Ero, a Nigerian with albinism and internationally recognized human rights advocate, called for a two-track strategy that would address the urgent need to end attacks on light-skinned albinos and the trafficking of body parts from those with the genetically inherited condition.
Yet the recommended approach would also focus on public education aimed at dispelling myths about albinos and the associated traditional practices.
More than 600 attacks and other violations have been reported in 27 countries in recent years, although some go unreported. Albinos are targeted for the purpose of witchcraft rituals, or in medicine rituals known as muti or juju, that rely on the belief that albino body parts bring wealth, healing and good luck.
The issue is further complicated by the lack of effective oversight over the practice of traditional healers, the secrecy that often surrounds witchcraft rituals and the absence of clear national policies on the issue, said Ero, who was presenting her report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The report comes following a high-profile case in South Africa, in which the leader of a body parts trafficking ring was convicted in the death of a 20-year-old woman.
Too often, only middlemen and hired hands are arrested or prosecuted, Ero said. This sentence from the High Court of South Africa is particularly important as it condemns the man who organized and recruited persons for the crime.
Ero has served as an independent UN expert on albinism and human rights since June 2015. She also has served as an albinism advocate and legal officer with Under the Same Sun, an NGO with offices in Tanzania and Canada.
Mozambique People With Albinisim Living In Great Fear
People With Albinisim in some African countries are killed for their body parts in the mistaken belief they have miraculous powers. In Dar es Salaam, the Pan Africa Albinism Conference is campaigning for their safety and dignity.
Representatives from almost 30 African countries converged on Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for the first ever three-day Pan Africa Albinism Conference, starting on Thursday.
Albinism is a hereditary condition which causes a total absence of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes.
People with albinism face discrimination. Regular attacks on albinos in Tanzania, fuelled by superstition, were described by President John Magufuli as a "national shame" during the recent election campaign.
The supersititions are numerous. Fishermen believe that their catches will be bigger if albino hair is fastened to their nets.
Miners are convinced that powdered albino bone turns into diamond when it is buried in the ground. Some believe that albino body parts are charms that bring the wearer riches.
The choice of Tanzania as the venue gives added poignancy to this conference, which the organizers say focused on empowering people with albinism.
They don't only face problems in Tanzania. So far this year at least 15 albinos have been kidnapped or killed in Mozambique. The true figure could be a lot higher, because fear prevents the victims from reporting such crimes to the authorities.
One of our members has already been burgled, said Laurinda Tembe. A People With Albinisim herself, she campaigns with a group called Àmor a Vida (Love of Life) for albino rights in Mozambique.
In one case, a two-year-old baby was saved by the police at the last moment. In another case, a mother was able to escape from kidnappers but her daughter was later found dead," she said.
Traditional Healers Claim Innocence
Traditional healers are often blamed for albino murders. But the spokesperson for Mozambican Association of Traditional Healers (AMETRAMO), Fernando Mathe, denies all knowledge of any such incidents.
He said traditional healers would not use body parts because albinos do not possess anything special that would distinguish them from the rest of us.However, he added that human traffickers misuse the name of the traditional healer for their own purposes.
Many albinos have been kidnapped or murdered in Nampula city in northern Mozambique. It lies close to the border with Tanzania where the government has already declared albinos an endangered minority.
Pedro Cossa from the Nampula police force says the threat to albinos could have come from Mozambique's neighbor but insists that these crimes are not being committed by foreign nationals. Those foreign nationals do, however, incite Mozambicans to persecute albino brothers and sons.
The climate of fear is stopping many children with albinism from attending school in Nampula. Their parents recently asked for permission to send their children to a school in Quelimane, which is some 500 kilometers (311 miles) away.
This prompted teacher and students in that city to stage a protest against the abuse of albinos. When albinos are forced to flee for safety in the own country, then we are dealing with a clear violation of human rights," said teacher Shara Ofumane. "The criminals responsible should be punished in accordance with the law.
Lack Of Public Awareness
A number of kidnappers have already been detained by the police and there have been prosecutions. The government is counting on prevention and has appointed a committee to draw up measures for the protection of people with albinism. The public prosecutor in Nampula has reinstated a commission for the combating of human trafficking.
Security along the borders between Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi is to be tightened. Public awareness campaigns about albinism - including radio commercials - are also going to be launched.
Tourism, Travel, Hospitality, Conservation: News,Stories And Experiences From Allover The World
Showing posts with label Quelimane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quelimane. Show all posts
Thursday, 4 May 2017
Monday, 1 May 2017
MOZAMBIQUE: Quelimane The Carnival Capital Of Africa,
Twenty-five revellers groups participate in the biggest carnival celebration in the city of Quelimane, wich started the 27th of this month to last until 7th February.
At this time, the registered groups intensify their preparations in order to win the sympathies of those who follow the event, which will be attended by over 50,000 people, among residents and people from other parts of the country who move to Quelimane to watch the Carnival.
The head of the Office of Major Events in the City Council Camal Meragy stresses that the Quelimane Carnival has a peculiar feature, which contributes to annually attracting national and foreign citizens who choose this time of the year to visit this metropolis, which is also called “Little Brazil”.
Notícias did a round by some of the neighbourhoods in the city of Quelimane to monitor the preparations at the level of revellers groups. In the small neighbourhood ‘Pequeno Brasil’, for example, it found a group of young people who promised to make this carnival a springboard for them to become a reference in the Zambezian capital.
However, the group’s leader, Julio de Carvalho, expressed concern for having not yet been identified where the event will take place. According to him, the preparation of the participants would have been better if the city council had already identified the space as it would allow a more elaborate execution of the test routines.
In turn, Sergio Candido, an element ofthe reveller group “Pombos Brancos” said that the set is meant to draw the honours of this issue for you, winning another trophy to their shelves.
“We are diligently preparing our participation and we want to cement our status as best reveller group of Quelimane Carnival,” he challenged.
Other groups interviewed also expressed their intention to make this issue the highest moment of exaltation of this artistic and cultural event with origins in Brazil.
Quelimane, the carnival capital of Africa, with its giant tiger prawns, and Bauhaus-meets-Art-Deco architecture, all in the Mozambican jungle, has lapsed into ruin.
The supermarket for this city of 230,000 lies abandoned. The railway stock has been sold for scrap.
The colonial cathedral, built in 1776, is home to a group of street kids. The bell tower, bell long gone, is now their toilet. The altar is their bed. Ten of them sleep on it at nights, like sacrificial offerings to development.
Manuel de Araujo, a former Amnesty International campaigner who is now the town's mayor, is sitting in the 400-seat Cine-Teatro Aguia.
There is no roof or projector. The auditorium is flooded. Our seats are unmatched tractor tyres.
Dead ahead, blocking the screen that on opening night in 1958 showed James Dean in "East of Eden", a four-foot but luxuriant tree is sprouting.
"There will be cinema here again," says Mr Araujo. It's an ambitious vision.
But it's one he has been elected to make happen.
Mr Araujo, son of a local rice farmer, stood for mayor in December 2011. He had one clear promise: to end corruption and make government work for the people. When he won, with 63% of the vote, Quelimane ground to a halt in celebration.
Then he took office. The first thing he says he discovered was that the city's coffers weren't just empty, he faced a debt from his predecessor of $148,000 (£98,000).
Not just that but he had nowhere to turn. Big business pays taxes to the central government not the city. And as a mayor from a breakaway opposition party he wasn't likely to be getting any hand-outs from central government.
By the time he has paid the 800 staff he has got on the books, he has got nothing left. So how do you turn a city around, and do it without a budget?
"There is only one hope," says Mr Araujo. "If more people believe in what we are doing, they'll start paying tax. That will be our budget. Then we can start to rebuild."
So it comes down to this - can he persuade more of the traders in this agricultural town, 1,200 miles by road to the north of the capital Maputo, to pay him the five meticais daily tax?
Can he persuade them he is in it for them, that government is there to work for the people, not the other way around?
On the trunk road that leads from the fields to the central market we hit a pothole. It was your classic, traffic-stopping pothole - butterscotch orange, and 20 foot (six meters) wide.
Mr Araujo stopped the car. "This is how we are going to do it."
Across the road, there was a small team in cobalt blue jackets. They were rebuilding the road.
And here's the thing. They weren't on a $20m (£13.2m) public tender. They weren't using imported asphalt. They weren't a parachuted-in Chinese construction team, leaving no budget or local skills behind for maintenance.
They were one of Mr Araujo's teams, on a shoestring budget, laying out local cement paving stones, fired from the region's quarries. The road costs just over half a tarmac road to build and close to nothing to maintain.
Half a mile away the central market has been redone. At the waterfront, the swimming pool, empty for a decade has reopened after a paint and drain job, and a restaurant is doing a booming trade. Its speciality is lulas e camaroes grelhados con arroz, the local grilled squid and prawns, with rice and a lime sauce.
The contours of a different Quelimane have started to emerge from the ruins.
Fix the pool and you get more diners. More diners mean more demand for shrimp. Workable roads mean farmers and fishermen can deliver the fresh shrimp, limes and rice to the restaurant manager.
And not just get paid, but have five meticais in their pockets to pay to the city to fund the next infrastructure project.
What does this all mean for the city? It's not a democratic revolution but it's a project, born out of necessity, to rebuild a city from the bottom up, harnessing the skills, resources and intent of its individuals.
In the last year the central market has been rebuilt, traffic lights put in, and 80% of the potholes fixed. In the same period the tax take from the local community has doubled from 12 to 24 million meticais ($400-800,000).
The people of Quelimane, a site of sustained disempowerment, have started collectively to build the place they want to live in.
In November's local elections, Quelimane will have the chance to decide if they want to re-elect Mr Araujo for a full-term as mayor. If elected, will he remain true to his vision?
At a flooded village, a family with not much left prepared him an enamel bowl of maize and small shrimp.
"Is there a risk," I asked him, "of a cult of personality?"
"I will stamp on it," he replied.
At the river front, later that evening, in front of the re-opened pool, two 15-year-old orphaned street kids were killing time.
I asked them what their dreams were.
"Racing car driver," said one. The other replied, "I want to be Araujo."
At this time, the registered groups intensify their preparations in order to win the sympathies of those who follow the event, which will be attended by over 50,000 people, among residents and people from other parts of the country who move to Quelimane to watch the Carnival.
The head of the Office of Major Events in the City Council Camal Meragy stresses that the Quelimane Carnival has a peculiar feature, which contributes to annually attracting national and foreign citizens who choose this time of the year to visit this metropolis, which is also called “Little Brazil”.
Notícias did a round by some of the neighbourhoods in the city of Quelimane to monitor the preparations at the level of revellers groups. In the small neighbourhood ‘Pequeno Brasil’, for example, it found a group of young people who promised to make this carnival a springboard for them to become a reference in the Zambezian capital.
However, the group’s leader, Julio de Carvalho, expressed concern for having not yet been identified where the event will take place. According to him, the preparation of the participants would have been better if the city council had already identified the space as it would allow a more elaborate execution of the test routines.
In turn, Sergio Candido, an element ofthe reveller group “Pombos Brancos” said that the set is meant to draw the honours of this issue for you, winning another trophy to their shelves.
“We are diligently preparing our participation and we want to cement our status as best reveller group of Quelimane Carnival,” he challenged.
Other groups interviewed also expressed their intention to make this issue the highest moment of exaltation of this artistic and cultural event with origins in Brazil.
Quelimane, the carnival capital of Africa, with its giant tiger prawns, and Bauhaus-meets-Art-Deco architecture, all in the Mozambican jungle, has lapsed into ruin.
The supermarket for this city of 230,000 lies abandoned. The railway stock has been sold for scrap.
The colonial cathedral, built in 1776, is home to a group of street kids. The bell tower, bell long gone, is now their toilet. The altar is their bed. Ten of them sleep on it at nights, like sacrificial offerings to development.
Manuel de Araujo, a former Amnesty International campaigner who is now the town's mayor, is sitting in the 400-seat Cine-Teatro Aguia.
There is no roof or projector. The auditorium is flooded. Our seats are unmatched tractor tyres.
Dead ahead, blocking the screen that on opening night in 1958 showed James Dean in "East of Eden", a four-foot but luxuriant tree is sprouting.
"There will be cinema here again," says Mr Araujo. It's an ambitious vision.
But it's one he has been elected to make happen.
Mr Araujo, son of a local rice farmer, stood for mayor in December 2011. He had one clear promise: to end corruption and make government work for the people. When he won, with 63% of the vote, Quelimane ground to a halt in celebration.
Then he took office. The first thing he says he discovered was that the city's coffers weren't just empty, he faced a debt from his predecessor of $148,000 (£98,000).
Not just that but he had nowhere to turn. Big business pays taxes to the central government not the city. And as a mayor from a breakaway opposition party he wasn't likely to be getting any hand-outs from central government.
By the time he has paid the 800 staff he has got on the books, he has got nothing left. So how do you turn a city around, and do it without a budget?
"There is only one hope," says Mr Araujo. "If more people believe in what we are doing, they'll start paying tax. That will be our budget. Then we can start to rebuild."
So it comes down to this - can he persuade more of the traders in this agricultural town, 1,200 miles by road to the north of the capital Maputo, to pay him the five meticais daily tax?
Can he persuade them he is in it for them, that government is there to work for the people, not the other way around?
On the trunk road that leads from the fields to the central market we hit a pothole. It was your classic, traffic-stopping pothole - butterscotch orange, and 20 foot (six meters) wide.
Mr Araujo stopped the car. "This is how we are going to do it."
Across the road, there was a small team in cobalt blue jackets. They were rebuilding the road.
And here's the thing. They weren't on a $20m (£13.2m) public tender. They weren't using imported asphalt. They weren't a parachuted-in Chinese construction team, leaving no budget or local skills behind for maintenance.
They were one of Mr Araujo's teams, on a shoestring budget, laying out local cement paving stones, fired from the region's quarries. The road costs just over half a tarmac road to build and close to nothing to maintain.
Half a mile away the central market has been redone. At the waterfront, the swimming pool, empty for a decade has reopened after a paint and drain job, and a restaurant is doing a booming trade. Its speciality is lulas e camaroes grelhados con arroz, the local grilled squid and prawns, with rice and a lime sauce.
The contours of a different Quelimane have started to emerge from the ruins.
Fix the pool and you get more diners. More diners mean more demand for shrimp. Workable roads mean farmers and fishermen can deliver the fresh shrimp, limes and rice to the restaurant manager.
And not just get paid, but have five meticais in their pockets to pay to the city to fund the next infrastructure project.
What does this all mean for the city? It's not a democratic revolution but it's a project, born out of necessity, to rebuild a city from the bottom up, harnessing the skills, resources and intent of its individuals.
In the last year the central market has been rebuilt, traffic lights put in, and 80% of the potholes fixed. In the same period the tax take from the local community has doubled from 12 to 24 million meticais ($400-800,000).
The people of Quelimane, a site of sustained disempowerment, have started collectively to build the place they want to live in.
In November's local elections, Quelimane will have the chance to decide if they want to re-elect Mr Araujo for a full-term as mayor. If elected, will he remain true to his vision?
At a flooded village, a family with not much left prepared him an enamel bowl of maize and small shrimp.
"Is there a risk," I asked him, "of a cult of personality?"
"I will stamp on it," he replied.
At the river front, later that evening, in front of the re-opened pool, two 15-year-old orphaned street kids were killing time.
I asked them what their dreams were.
"Racing car driver," said one. The other replied, "I want to be Araujo."
AFRICA: Getting Set For Carnival Season
Africa's many carnivals are not the most internationally known, but Cape Verde, Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique carnivals have long traditions. Newcomer Seychelles this year offers a tourism-adapted carnival.
Mindelo on Cape Verde's lush São Vicente island so far has been the most known and maybe most spectacular carnival in Africa. Preparations on the island are on the highest gear: On 8 March, the 2011 Mindelo carnival kicks off.
The Mindelo carnival offers a Brazil-like atmosphere, in a relaxed African setting. Outfits and stages follow the Brazilian model, while the music is truly indigenous. Low criminality rates, perfect weather and temperature conditions and unlimited hospitality further contribute to the Mindelo carnival's top ratings and reputation.
Mindelo on São Vicente is not the only carnival in Cape Verde, but it is certainly the most known and spectacular. For years, it has been the top destination for the enormous Cape Verdean Diaspora, travelling to the event year after year. Only slowly, international tourists are discovering this major celebration, which started already in the 18th century.
Cape Verde's capital Praia is also organising a major carnival at the same time, in sharp competition with Mindelo. Also the Praia carnival is lively, colourful and authentic and - by distance - the greatest annual event in the otherwise rather sleepy city. Most travellers, so far, however prefer the Mindelo carnival to the one in Praia.
Close to Cape Verde, on the African mainland, impoverished and chronically unstable Guinea-Bissau also has a once-a-year occasion to forget the problems haunting the country and its population. Poverty makes the Bissau carnival smaller than the Mindelo carnival, but not any less exotic, with different ethnicities wearing their traditional attire.
In Bissau, this year's four-day carnival kicks off on 5 March. "People dress up in various different manners and disguise themselves wearing traditional attire and masks," reported the SOS Children's Village in Bissau, which let its children participate in the festivities. A special "children's carnival" is held every year in the capital and in Bafata.
Further south, Angola's booming capital Luanda is seeing its age-old carnival growing each year, with city and national authorities increasingly sponsoring the event. The Luanda carnival organisation committee this year reported to have a budget of US$ 400,000 and the provincial government has declared its aim of making Luanda Africa's number one carnival destination.
Large competitions are arranged, for the best musical carnival hit, the best attire and the most beautiful girl. The organisation committee seeks to create a "balance between the traditional and the modern" as it prepared the city for the 5 to 8 March carnival, with large parades to run through central Luanda. Also a children's carnival is planned for 5 March.
In Maputo, the capital Mozambique, yet another Portuguese speaking country, there are also carnival traditions, although public parades play a smaller role here. Carnival is Maputo is mostly celebrated in bars, discotheques or in private arrangements.
The Mozambican city of Quelimane, located 1,800 kilometres north of the capital, is rather the place to go for traditional carnival festivities with a very African touch. The Quelimane carnival is the most known and spectacular in Mozambique, attracting many visitors.
This year's carnival in Quelimane was however held already in mid-February. Residents and visitors this year had the poorest luck as extraordinarily heavy rains washed away the main parade and outdoor activities.
With carnivals in Africa mostly being a tradition brought by Portuguese settlers and kept alive in Portuguese speaking countries, other African cities and towns lately have been organising carnival-like events, mostly following initiatives from tourism authorities.
City authorities in South Africa's Johannesburg for some years have arranged the "Joburg Carnival" on New Year's Evening.
A more serious competitor, however, is Seychelles; a prime tourist destination in the Indian Ocean. This year, from 4 to 6 March, the Seychellois capital Victoria hosted its first-ever international carnival, with invited guests and starts - including Dionne Warwick and Grace Barbé - from all over the world.
The Seychelles Tourism Board, a key organiser, promises to make an annual high-level event of the Victoria carnival, with colourful tropical parades, an international up-market flair and a show-off of the islands' cultural diversity. "It is a carnival for the world, and it is a carnival where the world is invited to be represented with their own respective carnival floats to showcase their strengths and their culture," according to Alain St Ange of the tourist board.
With Seychelles onboard, Africa this year truly presents the whole range of carnivals, fit for any taste; from the exotic traditionalist Bissau carnival, to the unlimited celebrations of Cape Verde, via the African-modern mix carnival of Luanda to the upmarket Victoria newcomer.
Mindelo on Cape Verde's lush São Vicente island so far has been the most known and maybe most spectacular carnival in Africa. Preparations on the island are on the highest gear: On 8 March, the 2011 Mindelo carnival kicks off.
The Mindelo carnival offers a Brazil-like atmosphere, in a relaxed African setting. Outfits and stages follow the Brazilian model, while the music is truly indigenous. Low criminality rates, perfect weather and temperature conditions and unlimited hospitality further contribute to the Mindelo carnival's top ratings and reputation.
Mindelo on São Vicente is not the only carnival in Cape Verde, but it is certainly the most known and spectacular. For years, it has been the top destination for the enormous Cape Verdean Diaspora, travelling to the event year after year. Only slowly, international tourists are discovering this major celebration, which started already in the 18th century.
Cape Verde's capital Praia is also organising a major carnival at the same time, in sharp competition with Mindelo. Also the Praia carnival is lively, colourful and authentic and - by distance - the greatest annual event in the otherwise rather sleepy city. Most travellers, so far, however prefer the Mindelo carnival to the one in Praia.
Close to Cape Verde, on the African mainland, impoverished and chronically unstable Guinea-Bissau also has a once-a-year occasion to forget the problems haunting the country and its population. Poverty makes the Bissau carnival smaller than the Mindelo carnival, but not any less exotic, with different ethnicities wearing their traditional attire.
In Bissau, this year's four-day carnival kicks off on 5 March. "People dress up in various different manners and disguise themselves wearing traditional attire and masks," reported the SOS Children's Village in Bissau, which let its children participate in the festivities. A special "children's carnival" is held every year in the capital and in Bafata.
Further south, Angola's booming capital Luanda is seeing its age-old carnival growing each year, with city and national authorities increasingly sponsoring the event. The Luanda carnival organisation committee this year reported to have a budget of US$ 400,000 and the provincial government has declared its aim of making Luanda Africa's number one carnival destination.
Large competitions are arranged, for the best musical carnival hit, the best attire and the most beautiful girl. The organisation committee seeks to create a "balance between the traditional and the modern" as it prepared the city for the 5 to 8 March carnival, with large parades to run through central Luanda. Also a children's carnival is planned for 5 March.
In Maputo, the capital Mozambique, yet another Portuguese speaking country, there are also carnival traditions, although public parades play a smaller role here. Carnival is Maputo is mostly celebrated in bars, discotheques or in private arrangements.
The Mozambican city of Quelimane, located 1,800 kilometres north of the capital, is rather the place to go for traditional carnival festivities with a very African touch. The Quelimane carnival is the most known and spectacular in Mozambique, attracting many visitors.
This year's carnival in Quelimane was however held already in mid-February. Residents and visitors this year had the poorest luck as extraordinarily heavy rains washed away the main parade and outdoor activities.
With carnivals in Africa mostly being a tradition brought by Portuguese settlers and kept alive in Portuguese speaking countries, other African cities and towns lately have been organising carnival-like events, mostly following initiatives from tourism authorities.
City authorities in South Africa's Johannesburg for some years have arranged the "Joburg Carnival" on New Year's Evening.
A more serious competitor, however, is Seychelles; a prime tourist destination in the Indian Ocean. This year, from 4 to 6 March, the Seychellois capital Victoria hosted its first-ever international carnival, with invited guests and starts - including Dionne Warwick and Grace Barbé - from all over the world.
The Seychelles Tourism Board, a key organiser, promises to make an annual high-level event of the Victoria carnival, with colourful tropical parades, an international up-market flair and a show-off of the islands' cultural diversity. "It is a carnival for the world, and it is a carnival where the world is invited to be represented with their own respective carnival floats to showcase their strengths and their culture," according to Alain St Ange of the tourist board.
With Seychelles onboard, Africa this year truly presents the whole range of carnivals, fit for any taste; from the exotic traditionalist Bissau carnival, to the unlimited celebrations of Cape Verde, via the African-modern mix carnival of Luanda to the upmarket Victoria newcomer.
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