Sudanese Lost Boy Returns Home

The Largest Refugee Complex in the World: Dadaad

Dadaab Refugee Camps in Northeastern Kenya pose a critical question for the international community: How does it treat a humanitarian emergency that does not go away?

There are nearly 300,000 refugees in Dadaab, Kenya (composed of 3 refugee camps: Ifo, Hagadera and Dagahaley with a 4th camp currently under construction), making it the largest refugee complex in the world, with 6,000 third-generation refugees according to the United Nations.

Humanitarian officials say building schools and hospitals is the best way to protect refugees, but donors are hesitant to finance projects that will encourage more refugees to come and stay.  The impasse has left Dadaab understaffed and overcrowded. Half of its youth — who make up more than half of all refugees — are out of school and easy targets for militia recruiters.

Refugees queuing for registration with UNHCR

The use of child soldiers has become a major aspect of Somalia’s seemingly inextricable conflict, and the country’s transitional government, which is supported by the United States, has a history of using children in combat.  In 2009, the Kenyan government was accused of supporting recruitment drives among refugees from the camps to fight in Somalia’s army.  Al Shabab, the most prolific rebel group in Somalia, also recruits in the camp and United Nations employees have been approached to serve as go-betweens by Shabab agents.  Somalia’s notorious piracy networks have also been known to visit the camps.  


(New York Times)

Religious values and cultural traditions collide: Life after resettlement and the rise of Somali gang culture in the Twin Cities

In a surprising development, Federal and local Minnesota law enforcement officials are announcing they've arrested 23 people in two states in an alleged Somali prostitution ring.  Twenty-three people were arrested in Minnesota and Tennessee.  The investigation was led by St. Paul Police and members of the Task Force on Human Trafficking, which includes federal, state and local law enforcement.  The case first came to light in September of 2010, after investigators asked a Ramsey County judge for permission to search the cell phone records of a 15-year-old girl. Authorities believe the girl was lured into a large prostitution ring controlled by Somali gangs.


(Minnesota Public Radio)

V.S. Naipaul

Sir V(idiadhar) S(urajprasad) Naipaul is a Trinidadian writer born in Chaguanas, Trinidad on 17 August 1932.  Winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001, he is known for his novels set in developing countries.  The Swedish Academy praised his work "for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories" noting that "Naipaul is Conrad's heir as the annalist of the destinies of empires in the moral sense: what they do to human beings. His authority as a narrator is grounded in the memory of what others have forgotten, the history of the vanquished."  However, His fiction and especially his travel writing have been criticised for their allegedly unsympathetic portrayal of the Third World. Additionally, he has been criticised for dwelling on some negative aspects of Islam in his works, such as nihilism among fundamentalists.

His personal life was marred by drama and tragedy.  Naipaul's marriage of 41 years to Patricia Hale was marked by frequent infidelities, and he is cited as admitting that his devotion to his writing and infidelities may have hastened her death due to cancer in 1996.  During the marriage, he had a long-term love affair with his mistress Margaret Gooding.  Biographer Patrick French wrote that Naipaul subjected both wife and mistress to regular sessions of sexual and physical abuse.  However, 2 months after Hale's death Naipaul married former Pakistani journalist Nadira Khannum Alvi and abruptly ended his affair with Gooding.  


His first three books are comic portraits of Trinidadian society. The Mystic Masseur (1957) and  Miguel Street (1959), a collection of short stories, are among his first books. His acclaimed novel A House for Mr Biswas (1961), is based on his father's life in Trinidad.  Subsequent novels developed more political themes and he began to write about colonial and post-colonial societies in the process of decolonisation. These novels include The Mimic Men (1967), In a Free State (1971), Guerrillas (1975) and A Bend in the River (1979). The Enigma of Arrival (1987) is a personal account of his life in England. A Way in the World (1994), is a formally experimental narrative that combines fiction and non-fiction in a historical portrait of the Caribbean. Half a Life, was published in 2001 and follows the adventures of Indian Willie Chandran in post-war Britain while Magic Seeds (2004) continues his story.

The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief (2010) is Naipaul's 30th book and 16th volume of nonfiction.  New York Time's book critic Eliza Griswold describes his newest work: "Naipaul is willing to express a new attitude, one of self-doubt. This acknowledgment of human frailty — starting with his own — broadens his observational powers immeasurably. As he sets out to explore what he calls “the beginning of things,” he proves willing to turn his brutally accurate lens back on himself...Naipaul has always revealed a curious admixture of extrovert and introvert on the page. The extrovert enjoys his public political scraps, his voyages and his love affairs — even as he seems to be loathing all three. The introvert demands time for the isolation that reflection requires".  


(Wikipedia), (New York Times), and (Contemporary Writers)

Mulatu Astatke, the father of Ethiopian jazz

ONSTAGE 68-year-old Mulatu Astatke is as subtle and understated as the Ethiopian jazz he created. The music, a hybrid of traditional Ethiopian music and jazz, is subdued, somewhat melancholy, and at times psychedelic. Mr Astatke, the originator and composer of songs in this canon, plays his principal instrument, the vibraphone, with a light touch. Between songs, there is no small talk. He thanks the crowd, and coolly introduces the next number.

Mr Astatke has completed a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard and been an artist-in-residence at MIT in recent years. But the seeds of his “Ethio-jazz” were planted in the 1950s and 1960s when he studied classical and jazz composition in Britain and America and honed his techniques while at Berklee College of Music, where he was the first African student. On visits to New York he hung out with jazz musicians such as John Coltrane and performed with the Duke Ellington orchestra in Ethiopia in the 1970s.

Mr Astatke’s name resurfaced in 2005, when his compositions appeared in the soundtrack of Jim Jarmusch’s film Broken Flowers. A busy time of performing, recording, teaching, and composing has since followed.

(Baobab)

Kola Nuts

                                                

Kola nuts are important in many African societies, particularly in Western Africa. Besides the fact that Kola nuts contain caffeine and act as a stimulant and anti-depressant, they are also thought to reduce fatigue and hunger, aid digestion, and work as an aphrodisiac.

In some parts of Africa, kola nuts are given as gifts to visitors entering a home, usually with some formal ceremony. Offering the kola nut is a gesture of friendship and hospitality.  Elsewhere, before a marriage, a bag of kola nuts are often given by a groom to the parents of the bride. Kola nuts are a used in rituals performed by religious healers.

Besides the ceremonial uses, many Africans consume kola nuts regularly, even daily, for the medicial effects described above. Kola nuts are a common sight in African markets in cities and villages. They are often sold by street vendors at bus and train depots. On a train or bus, a traveler with a kola nut will often offer a piece to the others nearby, whether he knows them or not.


Kola nuts are consumed by breaking them open and into pieces, then chewing the kola nut pieces as one chews gum. Most people find the taste very bitter, especially at first. Sometimes a knife is needed to cut the nut into pieces.

Kola nuts are best known outside of Africa as an ingredient in cola beverages. The stimulative effect is similar to a strong cup of coffee.  There is some evidence that the first kola (or cola) beverage was made by Western Africans who mixed water with dried or fermented kola nuts. Commercially produced cola drinks were developed in the late 1800s, when chemists and inventors the world over used kola nuts (as well as other exotic ingredients) in various drinks and tonics. The most famous of these is Coca-Cola, which has become a truly global beverage.

(Congo Cookbook)

SHIS-toe-SO-my-uh-sis

After suffering from chronic stomach issues for over a year, I was finally diagnosed with Schistosomiasis (a.k.a Bilharzia) earlier this month.  Here are some interesting facts and information....

Schistosomiaisis is a disease caused by parasitic worms. You become infected when your skin comes in contact with contaminated freshwater in which certain types of snails that carry schistosomes are living.

More than 200 million people are infected worldwide.   

An estimated 85% of the world’s cases of schistosomiasis are in Africa, where prevalence rates can exceed 50% in local populations.

 

Schistosomiasis is the second most socioeconomically devastating parasitic disease after malaria.

There are many varieties of schistosomes, but only four which are particularly important in man:

1. S. haematobium occurs throughout Africa and in Arabia, South West Asia, and around the Mediterranean. The urinary tract and the portal system are mainly affected, but the lungs and colon do not escape, and the central nervous system may occasionally be involved.

2. S. mansoni is also prevalent throughout Africa, particularly in the north, in Arabia, and in the north of South America. It mainly affects the colon, the portal system and the lungs, very rarely the central nervous system.

3. S. japonicum is found mostly in Asia; in China and Japan, the Philippines, and other Pacific islands. It primarily affects the colon and small intestine, the portal system and the lungs, rarely the central nervous system.

4. S. intercalatum is much less common and occurs only in equatorial Africa, particularly Zaire, and affects the digestive tract and the portal system.There is one other, S. mekongi, clinically similar to S. japonicum, but found only in the Mekong river basin. 

 

The clinical manifestations of chronic schistosomiasis are the result of host immune responses to schistosome eggs. Eggs secreted by adult worm pairs enter the circulation and lodge in organs and cause granulomatous reactions. Eosinophilia may be present. 

S. mansoni and S. japonicum eggs most commonly lodge in the blood vessels of the liver or intestine and can cause diarrhea, constipation, and blood in the stool. Chronic inflammation can lead to bowel wall ulceration, hyperplasia, and polyposis and, with heavy infections, to periportal liver fibrosis 

S. haematobium eggs typically lodge in the urinary tract and can cause dysuria and hematuria. Calcifications in the bladder may appear late in the disease. S. haematobium infection has been associated with increased risk of bladder cancer.

(Medcyclopaedia) & (CDC)

Riba Stirling Prize win for Rome's Maxxi Museum

 

The Riba Stirling Award is given for the building deemed to have made the greatest contribution to British architecture.The 2010 award was given to Zaha Hadid Architects for their design of the Maxxi Museum in Rome.
(BBC)

Zaha Hadid, British-Iraqi Architect (b.1950)

Zaha Hadid has defined a radically new approach to architecture by creating buildings, such as the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, with multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry to evoke the chaos of modern life.

 

Zaha Hadid was single-minded from an early age. Born in 1950 in Baghdad, she grew up in a very different Iraq from the one we know today. The Iraq of her childhood was a liberal, secular, western-focused country with a fast-growing economy that flourished until the Ba’ath party took power in 1963, and where her bourgeois intellectual family played a leading role. Female role models were plentiful in liberal Iraq, but in architecture, female role models anywhere, let alone in the Middle East, were thin on the ground in the 1950s and 1960s. No matter. After convent school in Baghdad and Switzerland, and a degree in mathematics at the American University in Beirut, Hadid enrolled at the Architectural Association in London in 1972.

You could call her work baroque modernism. Baroque classicists like Borromini shattered Renaissance ideas of a single viewpoint perspective in favour of dizzying spaces designed to lift the eyes and the heart to God. Likewise, Hadid shatters both the classically formal, rule bound modernism of Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier and the old rules of space — walls, ceilings, front and back, right angles. She then reassembles them as what she calls “a new fluid, kind of spatiality” of multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry, designed to embody the chaotic fluidity of modern life.

Hadid’s architecture denies its own solidity. Short of creating actual forms that morph and change shape – still the stuff of science fiction – Hadid creates the solid apparatus to make us perceive space as if it morphs and changes as we pass through. Perhaps wisely, she talks little about theory. Unlike, say, Daniel Libeskind, she does not say that a shape symbolises this or that. And she wears her cultural identity lightly. Noticeably, and uncharacteristically diplomatically, she has declined to comment on the situation in Iraq. Instead Hadid lets her spaces speak for themselves. This does not mean that they are merely exercises in architectural form. Her obsession with shadow and ambiguity is deeply rooted in Islamic architectural tradition, while its fluid, open nature is a politically charged riposte to increasingly fortified and undemocratic modern urban landscapes.

(The British Council)

The Danger of A Single Story

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria in 1977. She is from Abba but grew up in the university town of Nsukka. She moved to the United States to attend college, graduating summa cum laude from Eastern Connecticut State with a major in Communication and a minor in Political Science. She holds a Masters degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins and a Masters degree in African Studies from Yale.

Published Works
Purple Hibiscus
Half of a Yellow Sun
The Thing Around Your Neck

Ted Talks: The Danger of a Single Story 
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

Cambodia's Tribunal for Khmer Rouge War Crimes

A beautiful op-ed piece written by my friend, Kuong Ly :

"An editorial in the International Herald Tribune (“Forgotten victims?” July 29) stated that while the sentence handed down by the tribunal may be disappointing, at least Duch was held to account for his war crimes. Unfortunately, “at least” isn’t good enough for me and for those who suffered from the murderous actions of the Khmer Rouge, especially after waiting 30 years for this verdict.

My mother and my late father both endured what are known as the “Killing Fields” of Cambodia. They lost their siblings, parents and home when Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge in April, 1975..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/opinion/03iht-edkuong.html?_r=3&ref=global

And they said it couldn't be done...

VICTORY!

"Facing pressure from universities and student groups, the apparel maker Nike announced on Monday that it would pay $1.54 million to help 1,800 workers in Honduras who lost their jobs when two subcontractors closed their factories.
Nike agreed to the payment after several universities and a nationwide group, United Students Against Sweatshops, pressed it to pay some $2 million in severance that the two subcontractors had failed to pay.
The University of Wisconsin, Madison terminated its licensing agreement with Nike over the Honduran dispute, and Cornell warned that it would do the same unless Nike resolved the matter. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/business/global/27nike.html?ref=us

JVA in the news

My organization mentioned in a NYT article about the recent bombings in Uganda: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/world/africa/22uganda.html?ref=africa

Ruling for Women's Rights & Asylum Law

A United States federal court ruling this week could unleash a wave of political asylum claims from applicants who say being a woman from Central America is reason enough to fear for their lives.
The ruling concerns an application by a Guatemalan woman, but activists say hundreds of thousands of women from throughout the region could use it to argue that the United States should let them immigrate.
In the ruling on Monday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco ordered immigration judges to reconsider whether Guatemalan women constituted a “particular social group” that might be persecuted. Courts have granted such status to women who fear genital cutting and to victims of domestic abuse, but two lower courts have said that Guatemalan women constituted too broad a category.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/world/americas/16guatemala.html?_r=1&ref=world

Reporting From The Field: Dadaab Refugee Camps

For the past 2 months I have been working at the UNHCR compound in Dadaab town to do resettlement processing for refugees from Hagadera, Dagahaley, and Ifo Refugee Camps.  There have been a mixture of uplifting and heartbreaking experiences.  Here are a few...

Malnutrition

Every now and then I get a reminder of how difficult life can be in the refugee camps.  Having worked in the field for 2 years now, I tend to become cynical about the reality of refugee life.  It amazes people when I explain that there are very "wealthy" refugees living in the camps: refugees who have remittances from abroad, who own real estate businesses, who employ people from the local communities for domestic housework...but their are also those who are vulnerable, and yesterday I got a reminder:  I father came into my office in the late-afternoon complaining that his baby was sick.  It had been a hot day and the refugees wait for their interviews outside, so I suspected dehydration.  I took the father and the baby to see an IOM nurse working on a medical mission at the work site.  The nurse said that the baby was dehydrated and needed to be breastfed.  After speaking with the mother, the father returned and said "I need permission to leave the compound: My wife has not had enough to eat today and cannot breastfeed.  I need to go outside to buy her tea".  I was so stunned I simply shook my head to say yes....

According to the World Food Program, last year there was a 22% malnutrition rate among refugees in the 3 camps comprising Dadaab: Hagadera, Dagahaley, and Ifo Refugee Camps.  Since the beginning of 2010, the malnutrition rate in Dadaab has dropped to 13%, just below the "critical danger" level of 15% (http://www.wfp.org/node/265) 

Despair & Violence

There was a murder yesterday in Hagadera Refugee Camp: the body of a Somali youth was found mutilated and dumped in front of the Sudanese community accomodations block.  When the body was discovered, a mass of 1,500-2,000 Somalis gathered and began attacking the Sudanese community.  Over the course of a few hours, over 500 homes were burned down and over 50 people injured.  UNHCR eventually brought in trucks to restore calm and order.  The murdered youth is believed to be a a recent arrival to the camp: a 17 year old Somali boy who was not registered with UNHCR.

Reasons behind the murder are unknown.  However, officials speculate that the body was dumped in front of the Sudanese community to stir unrest and create violence between the Sudanese and Somali communities living in Hagadera Refugee Camp.  Officials believe that this was done in an attempt by community members to "create space" for Somali refugees living in the overcrowded camp....
(http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89830)

Arts Collective in New York

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/03/arts/design/03third.html?pagewanted=2&ref=design

The Genius of e.e.cummings

Sarcasm & The Great Immigration Debate

Immigration is always a contoversial issue.  The state of Arizona recently passed a law that bars people with "accents" from teaching English.  This NPR All Things Considered piece is a poignant and comical look at the bill:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126480169

Siddhartha

Musical references (found on wikipedia)

• The 1972 Yes song Close to The Edge from the Close to the Edge album was inspired by the book.
• Radiohead's 2001 album Amnesiac contains themes and lyrics inspired by the book, especially "Pyramid Song", "I Might Be Wrong", and "Like Spinning Plates".
• Rock band Queen recites a passage from Siddhartha in their 1977 BBC re-take of the song We Will Rock You.
• The 1971 Ralph McTell song The Ferryman from the You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here album was inspired by the book.
• Jerry Cantrell has a song called Siddhartha on his Degradation Trip double album.
• Andrew McMahon of the bands Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin has the quote "the river is everywhere" tattooed on his wrist and is currently working on a clothing line called River Apparel.
• The Hot Water Music song Sunday Suit contains the line "Siddhartha style, I'll choose a path of open minds".
• "The river man" by R.E.M
• Pete Townshend's song The Ferryman was written for a modern production of Siddhartha in June 1976.
• The Slovenian rock band Siddharta was named after the novel.

By The Thousands: Human Rights in Eritrea Forces Youth To Flee Overseas

"Eritrea, which fought its way to independence nearly 20 years ago, is ruled by hard-as-nails former guerrilla fighters who have held firm to their revolutionary Marxist policies and who demand that all young people work for the government, sometimes until their 40s. Anyone who tries to buck this national program, according to human rights groups, is subject to cruelly inventive tortures.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that hundreds of thousands of people have fled Eritrea in recent years — the total population is less than five million — and nearly every day, 100 new Eritreans risk their lives to cross into Sudan.
Some of these defections have been hard to miss. In December, more than 10 players from the Eritrean national soccer team absconded to Kenya during a tournament. In 2004, some Eritrean refugees being sent home from Libya were so desperate not to return that they hijacked the plane."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/world/africa/20eritrea.html?src=me&ref=world

Spoken Word Poet Tantra Zawadi

Tantra Zawadi is a spoken word artist. 
“My work can best be described by the love that I make through my art to the vision of the unseen reality.”
http://tantra%20zawadi/

Inshallah إن شاء الله

"Inshallah" or "Insha'Allah" (إن شاء الله) is a phrase often used in East Africa and the larger Muslim world.  The English translation is "God willing" and is a term to indicate hope for an aforementioned event to occur in the future.  However, the term is often thrown into conversation to express "if I feel like it".  For example, when asking a refugee applicant to come for interviews the following day they will often simply state "inshallah".

Local Produce & Job Creation

Awesome: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/06/15/seeds-for-success-gardens/?refid=0

Self-Evolution vs. the Need for Job Perfection

Lately I have been on a quest to "Be the Best I Can Be", which entails examining how I do my job and how I can improve.  I was dealt a blow today when I was told by a team member that I "act more like an upper-management manager than a team leader".  So I have taken the criticism in stride and am now working on my methods of empowerment in my quest for self-evolution instead of over-achieving perfectionism.

Stealing the Soul: Photography as a Form of Exploitation

When you tell people you work in Africa, the first thing they ask is "Do you have pictures?"  I recently had a conversation with a colleague who just finished working with the PeaceCorps in Latin American for 4 years and he was able to conceptualize what has been hard to explain to everyone who asks that question: That there exists an power differential between photographer and subject in the Global South.  He explained that, especially in rural communities in South America, inhabitants would refuse to have their picture taken because they believed the photograph would "steal their soul".  While this may sound like an ignorant idea if taken literally, the inhabitants were trying to express the complex and abstract concept of exploitation.

By definition, exploitation is: "selfish utilization" or the "utilization of another person or group for selfish purposes"

The inhabitants didn't actually believe that the camera would physically steal their immortal being, but were trying to communicate across language and cultural barriers that they felt uncomfortable posing for the enjoyment of foreigners.  In many cultures, it is incredibly rude to begin a conversation without making the proper introductions.  I am still learning the art of office dynamics in Kenya and continue to catch myself making business requests before going through the proper morning introductions.  So whipping out your camera to take the picture of individuals you have never met can be a huge cultural faux pas in many situations in the Global South and around the world. 

Kakuma Refugee Camp, Reuters News Article

excellent article outlining situation in Kakuma Refugee Camp: http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/56540/2010/02/16-161221-1.htm

Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present, MOMA 2010

When back in the States, I attended the performance retrospective of Marina Abramovic (Yugoslav, b. 1946).  The showing traced her prolific career as an international performance artist.  Her work relating to the war in the Balkans was horrific and breath-taking.  If you are in and/or around the New York area, please see the exhibit at MOMA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Abramović

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/965

Torture in the USA

Recent NY Times article about the notorious Chicago police commander, Burge, who is finally going on trial for his role in the implementation of torture methods during interrogations in Chicago prisons during the 70s, 80s, and 90s.  The use of torture to extract faulty confessions led to the suspension of the death penalty in Illinois. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/us/28chicago.html?scp=3&sq=us%20police%20torture%20trial&st=cse

Ethiopian Elections on May 23, 2010

East African politics are heating up:
In April, Sudan held general elections in which President Omar al-Bashir was re-elected.  The Sudanese elections caused rifts and divisions within the Southern Sudanese leadership, making the international community wary of what will happen during the Southern Sudanese referendum in January 2011.  A Darfur referendum is also scheduled to take place in July 2010.
Ethiopia is set for elections on May 23, 2010.  The elections have been hampered by politically motivated assassinations, intimidation, and a systemic crackdown on freedom of speech.
Violence, instability and repression have marred the upcoming Rwandan elections to be held in August 2010.
Uganda is also gearing up for elections in 2011 and Kenya will be holding their much-anticipated elections in 2012.


What follows is an excellent article from the New York Times outlining the run-up to the Ethiopian elections and questioning the role of U.S. aid to the country given the political climate of repression: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/world/africa/21ethiopia.html?pagewanted=1&ref=world&adxnnlx=1274450440-tmt2cH8Z/je6gXV9Rz5xPg

Humanitarian Aid & Charitable Giving

It may not be the season of giving, but as I have been visiting family and friends in the United States many people have asked me about charitable giving opportunities with international organizations. I've put together a few things to consider before making a donation and have also listed some good organizations that are in need of support.  


A few things to consider before making a donation to an international humanitarian organization:

GO LOCAL BEFORE GLOBAL - there are organizations in your community in the United States that desperately need your help and financial support.  Volunteering with a local organization is a great way to learn about needs facing American communities and volunteering locally will give you a better understanding of global issues: by volunteering with a local food bank, you are exposed to the impact of hunger on individuals, families and communities as well as how food relief operations are organized. 

RESEARCH BEFORE GIVING- while large international organizations may have recognizable names, it doesn't necessarily mean that they distribute donations appropriately.  Find out what percent of donations go to overhead and what percent goes towards actual programs.  A good non-profit organization should divert 10% or less of donation funding for administrative costs.  In general, large organizations like the United Nations, World Vision, and Save the Children have high overhead costs and are also notorious for mismanaging funds.  



If you want to donate to organizations working in Africa, here are some of my favorites:

Jesuit Refugee Services (http://www.jrs.net) - JRS is one of the few organizations that offers social services to refugees in camps in Kenya.  In Kakuma Refugee Camp in northwestern Kenya, JRS offers community-based counseling for survivors of trauma, an innovative program for refugees with developmental disabilities, and a program for vulnerable women.  This is the only organization I have heard of that has services for refugees with developmental disabilities - a problem that is often overlooked in environments with populations with high rates of mental illness and undiagnosed developmental disabilities.


The Fistula Foundation (http://www.fistulafoundation.org) - The mission of this organization is to raise awareness of and funding for fistula treatment, prevention and educational programs worldwide.  Obstetric/vaginal fistula is a serious problem for women worldwide and often leads to health problems, social isolation, and divorce.  Although it can be treated relatively cheaply and easily, many women throughout Africa cannot afford or seek treatment.  


Amani Ya Juu (http://www.amaniafrica.org) - Amani is a sewing-marketing-training project for marginalized women in Africa. The main center is located in Nairobi, Kenya with sister centers in Rwanda and Burundi.  Amani has a fantastic income-generating project in Nairobi and they have great crafts outreach programs working with refugee women living in camps and urban centers in Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi.  Amani also has a U.S.-branch office.


The Center for Victims of Torture (http://www.cvt.org) - CVT offers a range of services to survivors of torture so they can heal physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Based in Minnesota, the organization has expanded by establishing counseling services for survivors of torture in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Jordan.


Mapendo International (http://www.mapendo.org) - Mapendo works to fill the unmet needs of African refugees by giving assistance to individuals, families and groups overlooked by existing aid programs.  This organization has done fantastic work with vulnerable refugees in Nairobi and has started expanding its programs to all of Southern Africa.  

WELCOME...KARIBU...BIENVENUE...!

"I should like to say, 'This is the place to start; there can be no other.' But there are a hundred places to start..." - Beryl Markham, West With The Night


My mother recently had to create a blog for her graduate course, posting on her first entry: "I have been dragged into the 21st century kicking and screaming".  After spending 2 months visiting the United States with friends and family, I have been asked repeatedly why I hadn't started my own blog.  So in part to help my mother navigate the confusing technology of blog posting and in part out of a need to have an online forum to keep track of my travels, recipes, and thoughts, I have started this blog.  

So WELCOME...KARIBU....BIENVENUE...!