Ex-slave

Arek Anyiel Deng was captured at age ten from her home in Malualbai, South Sudan. She was taken by an Arab militiaman who forced her to be his slave. He even changed her name to a Muslim name, when she refused the name change he beat her. Arek realized she had to comply to his wishes or she would be killed. Thus, at age 12 he raped her and over the 18 years she was a slave, she gave birth to 4 children. Daily tasks Arek was forced to do on top of taking care of the children were tending to the field, cattle, and chopping fire wood. When these tasks weren’t carried out properly they were beaten.

She was soon rescued and brought back to Sudan only life didn’t prove to be much better. The struggles of doing all the work herself were still present and things like chopping fire wood still needed to be done by Arek because there were no men around. She dreams of being able to open her own tea shop in the market place but has no money to do so, therefore she sells firewood she gathers from the forest.

The children are allowed to go to school even though they cannot afford the uniforms but soon didn’t want to go because they were the only ones without uniforms. Where they live Arab is the main language but the children have learned to speak a Dinka through the children’s group there. Life is proved to be unsteady but Arek is just thankful she is no longer a slave to the militiaman and can provide for her children.

This news piece, “Sudan ex-slave” was a video I found off of the BBC News website. I wasn’t going to write about it at first but after I watched it I thought it was interesting because I was/am totally oblivious to how slavery is still affecting many people around the world. Even though it is no longer legal in the United States, it still happens. The use of slavery is still lingering from times like the Atlantic Slave trade.

"Sudan ex-slave"

photograph source: BBC News

(this photograph is a picture of what type of hut Arek lived in)

Madagascar Cyclones

It is cyclone season and five cyclones have already hit Madagascar. Now the sixth one, Jaya, is on its way towards the island yet again. The previous cyclones have left roughly 450,000 people without major necessities such as shelter, food, water, and medicine. Medicine is a biggy too. Medicine is in dire need so cases of diarrhea, measles, malaria, and other infections don’t spread and become another source of casualties.

The main meal of many islanders, rice, has become short in supply due to the storms wiping out the crops. With malnutrition already an issue, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN World Food Program (WFP) have stepped in to make sure it doesn’t escalate.

With buildings and roads destroyed, the UN has designated different routes in order to get supplies to areas as quick as possible. Supplies may include buckets, tents, school supplies, and cooking oil. UNICEF and WFP hope this will spark optimism in all those who have already lost so much.

This article reminded me a lot of what happened in Tsunami. Of course it is not as big as the Tsunami was but the effect it had on the people was still as devastating. Some of these people in Madagascar were already hurting for medicine and nutrition, so this just makes it worse for them. It’s just another article which makes us realize how lucky we truly are.

Source: “With Sixth Cyclone on Way, UN Readies Aid for Hundreds of Thousands in Madagascar” All Africa Global media-- allAfrica.com

Photograph from www.unicef.org

Diamond Journey

This piece is actually a series of articles by Peter Cahill from his main piece titled "A Diamond's Journey" talking about the mining business in Africa. The journey begins in Africa then extends into India and Europe; however, the articles read for this blog are only from the part of the journey which takes place in Africa.

Annually there are roughly 130 million carats mined out of Africa, which is about 65% of the world’s diamonds and worth approximately $8.4 million. Diamonds were originally found in Kimberley, South Africa. Needless to say it is a huge source of revenue for struggling countries, yet many claim it is only fueling the fire when it comes to war and crime. The fuel is the revenue from the diamonds which would often times go towards weapons and illegal activities that sparked more and increased warfare. The Kimberley Process Certification System was put into place in 2003. This had a huge impact on the illegally traded diamond revenues which were put towards those illegal acts because it tracked the diamond from the time it was pulled from the mine to the time it is sold as a ring. Now, 99% of diamonds are guaranteed to be from conflict-free sources. In order to get these diamonds, someone has to find them.

Working conditions in mines are very dangerous and often times offer low wages and long hours. Botswana is known to be the area with the best mining conditions but 37% of their population is ruled with HIV/AIDS. That is where Debswana Diamond Co. comes in. Debswana is the first company in the world to provide antiretroviral drugs to all its employees. Furthermore in Botswana the revenue from diamonds has helped pave roads, build schools, and move the country from one of the poorest “to a middle-income economy with a developed infrastructure and one of the most progressive health care strategies on the continent tackling the scourge of HIV/AIDS” (Cahill, 2007). So, even though the revenue has done a lot to aid the warfare it has also done a lot to improve the economy as well.

One thing I found myself wondering when I first began to read was, if this was such a big part of Africa, how come the money from the diamonds found wasn’t helping the countries prosper as much as one might expect. That question was later answered but it was fascinating to hear how Botswana has improved their way of life. It was hard to imagine young adults and young children going to work in these mines, especially in the poor conditions. Many times the children would only get milk once a week. Something I thought of when I read this article was the trading triangle between Europe, Africa, and the U.S. during the Atlantic Slave trade. The process begins in Africa where the diamonds are mined, then they move to India where they are cut and polished. Then the diamonds arrive in Europe or the U.S. where they are sold.

I actually stumbled upon this article by accident. It originally appeared as a video and once I clicked it a series of articles appeared. There is so much interesting information. I was very happy to see that I finally found something that wasn’t somehow based on warfare or destruction in an African country. Unfortunately I couldn’t summarize a lot of the information that is left in the articles because there is just so much incorporated into them with videos, pictures, and more links. If you have a chance I would definitely check out this link: MSNBC because there are so many good pictures, personal stories, and further information about the journey of the diamonds mined in Africa.