African affairs — Ethnic Supplies

African women’s reproductive health

March 11, 2011 By idahorner 1 Comment

January and February were emotionally hard months. I left Uganda and headed back to UK.

The day I arrived I got a phone call from home telling me that my cousin Doreen was seriously ill in a Ugandan hospital and the prognosis was not good and the next call I got was to tell me that Doreen was dead.

Doreen

Doreen (R.I.P) had miscarried her baby and having been discharged from hospital she became very ill and had to return for a check up. She had an infection that had not been picked up and by the time they did it was too late. There was very little they could do for her.

A few weeks later just as I was getting used to that news I got a call from a friend here in the UK, she had had her baby prematurely by C section as the Doctors had realized that if she carried the baby full term it would be detrimental to her health, her baby was OK. The baby a girl suffered some complications and died 12 days later.

2 weeks into February and I get a phone call from my sister in London, my niece had been taken into hospital. She was about to miscarry her babies and 48 hours later she did. she was expecting twins. The last one had to be taken out because not doing so would compromise her health as she had lost a lot of blood and perhaps cause complications for her in future.

As you can see these were difficult months to get through and you are probably wondering WHY I am sharing these rather personal experiences with you-

It is all about the disparity in services when it comes to AFRICAN WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

All of the women mentioned here are Ugandan two live in the UK but Doreen lived in Uganda. I have since asked myself the question what would have happened if the other two women lived in Uganda too?

On Tuesday 8 March 2011 we celebrated 100 years of International Women’s Day I used the opportunity to both celebrate the lives of women that are behind lovely products here at Ethnic Supplies but also to reflect on the how things have changed for women in Uganda/Africa and I concluded that there is still a lot of work to do and I think that the personal story I started this post with demonstrates that in as far getting reproductive health for African women right is concerned.

Goal Number 5 of the the Millennium Development Goals is all about Reproductive health/maternal health. As I look back on the past two months I have to wonder how many more Doreens will lose their lives before things improve for women in Africa so that they can have access to the care and expertise that the other other two women living in the UK had. Yes I understand that it took Britain 100 years or so to get Maternal health right for women here but the disparity in care for women in Africa lives me with a sense of hopelessness.

With nurses and mid-wives leaving the continent for a better life/working conditions elsewhere what hope is there for real development of services to improve reproductive health for African women?

Filed Under: African women, HEALTH Tagged With: Africa, INTERANTIONAL WOMENS DAY, International Women's Day, MATERNAL HEALTH, MDGs, MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, Uganda

Villages in Action – I would like to hear more of these conversations

January 2, 2011 By idahorner Leave a Comment

Happy New Year folk.

How are you getting on with your New year’s resolutions so far?

I know this is an odd question but what exactly are New year’s resolutions? Are the goals or aspirations?

I recently stumbled across an an article by Linda Raftree with her wishes for the year 2012 specifically on issues of Inclusion, openness and authenticity.

Linda reflects on the events that have shaped the world in 2011 and her wish for 2012 is for the voices of the excluded to be included in development conversations amongst other things. I share Linda’s wish for more Inclusion and authentic stories especially on Africa in 2012.

I attend several events on development in Africa throughout the year, where I hear from development experts, academics, NGOs and big corporations and I always feel something is missing from these conversations- the voices of the recipients of development programmes. As I recently learned if we don’t listen- WE GET IT WRONG and send out the wrong message about those that are on the receiving end of development programmes

An ordinary man on the streets of any given western capital tends to learn about Africa from a television set. This median does not always pull together those authentic stories about life in Africa and anyone with no knowledge of Africa would be forgiven for thinking that Africa is a lost cause on which resources should not be wasted.

In his BBC Radio 4 interview Mo Ibrahim has (quite rightly) recently complained about the popular media failing to present a comprehensive image of Africa.

But the question is who has the right to tell the authentic story of Africa ?

How do we add their voice to the development conversation and why is it important that we hear these voices?

If we learned anything in 2011 I would like to think that it was the citizens own the right to tell their story and that social media has made that possible and as a result the world has changed in ways we could never have imagined.

Villages in Action

Is a little unknown conference that came about in response to the UN summit of 2010. The Villages in Action platform gives us we get a rare opportunity to hear from residents of a Ugandan village- we learn how they live, what they generate income, the impact of their lifestyle on their environment and why development initiatives do not work.

In 2012 the first development event I will attend will be in Masindi NW Uganda on 14 January 2012. This will be the second Villages in Action conference and I am really looking forward to it. If you can’t join us you will not miss out, the organisers will bring the event live to you in your living room.

What ever the new year holds in stock- like Linda my wish for 2012 is to hear more from those at the receiving end of development!

Happy New year and please do share your New Year’s wishes

Filed Under: African affairs, Latest, Poverty in Africa Tagged With: Africa, BBC Radio 4, MASINDI, Mo Ibrahim, Uganda, VILLAGES IN ACTION

Are Africans in the Diaspora real Africans

November 16, 2010 By idahorner 16 Comments

or do we cease being Africans when we leave Africa?

As some of you will be aware our guest blogger here Teddy Ruge of Project Diaspora is organising a Villages in Action conference in Uganda and he explained how and why he is doing it in his last blog here

Supporters of the VILLAGES IN ACTION initiative have worked and continue to do so in the background to ensure that the conference goes ahead without a hitch.

But something rather sinister is going on too

What is that? I hear you ask!

The detractors are out in full swing and of all things they are questioning whether Teddy is a real African!

And this has led me to ask

ARE AFRICANS IN THE DIASPORA REAL AFRICANS OR DO WE CEASE BEING AFRICANS WHEN WE LEAVE AFRICA?

When Teddy announced the dates of this conference he received a lot of support from folk in cyber space even the good folk at AID WATCH posted something about the initiative on their blog and this is where the detractors started

check out this comment on the AID WATCH blog,

Stefano B. wrote:

This is interesting.

But it’s worth noting that the article was written by an African whoif I am not wrong – was educated and actually runs a business in US.

He may not be considered a total outsider, but he’s not even the quintessential citizen of the African continent.

and this was Teddy response

TMS Ruge wrote:

Thanks so much for writing about our project. I see the skeptics our there are already chiming in. It was to be expected.

Stefano – I was educated in Uganda, Kenya and the US. I also run a business in the US as well as two for-profit social enterprises in Uganda. So I am curious which part of that disqualifies me as a “quintessential citizen” of Uganda.

Thanks again, looking forward to

I had pretty much left it at that until this morning when I logged into Twitter to find several Tweets from Teddy aka @tmsruge and here are those tweets

#via2010 Not a big deal, but think it is worth a discussion at least. Is there some barometer that disqualifies me as part of this village?

I’d like to ask every1 aware of #via2010. Color of blood do I need 2bleed in order to be “authentic” – so far am the outsider & don’t count

Comments: “While Villages in Action is being run to give poor voice, it is still being organized by outsiders” http://bit.ly/abIlMt #via2010

I started by teasing him as per usual until I popped over to the blog in question and you can read the comments for yourself here http://texasinafrica.blogspot.com/2010/11/villages-in-action.html

I was astounded by this. It seemed to me that Teddy who is currently on his way to Uganda via Amsterdam has taken to publicly defending himself that as a Ugandan Diaspora he is qualified to start such an initiative and that he is indeed an African even though he is lives outside of Uganda and speaks with an American accent. And don’t get me started on the stance that the folk at TED took!

I found this hurtful too . Teddy and I collaborate on a couple of initiatives and I don’t know anyone that is more dedicated to the development of African as he is. I also wondered whether the rest of us African diaspora involved in the development of Africa will soon come under such attack?

Is it really possible that some folk out there do not consider African diaspora as real Africans with a passion about the development of Africa or is it because we have dared to take up roles that are normally taken up by the likes of BONO

What about our fellow Africans on the ground? Do they view us as outsiders too?

I see our role as the diaspora amongst other things as a bridge between the African continent and West.

One thing for sure most African governments are increasingly tapping into their diaspora not only as potential investors but also as away of attacking suitably qualified people to fill difficult to job vacancies.

This was recently demonstrated by the Ugandan government, when they sent a whole delegation to address us. On the day the government officials told us that they have vacancies to fill within the infrastructure sector (Roads and Railways) and would especially like to tap into the skills of its diaspora and not only that they would like hire SKILLS ASSESSORS from within the diaspora so that they can establish exactly where the gaps are.

One of the government officials said that he too regards our role as a bridge between the West and Uganda(Africa)

So over to you folk.

ps, if this comes across as a rant it is meant to be! If you are on Twitter follow the hashtag #VIA2010 for more details on this and the conference

Filed Under: African affairs, Latest, Popular post Tagged With: Africa, African Diaspora, AID WATCH, Bono, TMS Ruge, Uganda, VIA2010, VILLAGES INA CTION