In the Meeting House

I was recently invited to attend a Meeting House discussion at the Public Library. I’ve never been to a Meeting House discussion so I’m not too sure what to expect (is a Meeting House in Canada the same as a Town Hall Meeting in the US?), but nonetheless, I’m curious.  The topic of the night will be the community – how it’s developing, concerns, fears, worries and in general, how we’d like to see it develop.  This is a particularly interesting topic as I”m all for positive change and seeing progress, yet the thought of going to the Meeting House has me strangely anxious. My family has lived in the areas for almost a hundred years; suffice it to say, I know it fairly well. But my anxiety makes me question, do I really? I know buildings, roads, landmarks and friends, but I feel it lacks the same sort of community, the type of place that makes you want to be home and strive toward making it better. This, perhaps may be one of the items on the agenda – how to make a town, a community and a home.

Bringing together different members of the community and the people who can implement change is a great idea and I’m very curious to know what sort of issues will surface. Will it be a safe and open space to express opinions or will biases and intimdation silence voices?

I’ve learned that the tremendous and rapid growth of the region has already caused major problems, especially regarding affordable housing and food security. Knowing this, I became a little alarmed (!) to learn that there really was no social plan in place to deal with the influx of people; no services, infrastructure or preparation to deal with the problems that could surface. What’s worse is there is no data and no research mechanism to provide evidence to support the creation of infrastructure or services. Basically, the strategy is to sit back and wait until problems arise, until they’ve gotten so bad that some money, time and effort need to be thrown at the problem. Really? Is this the way to run a healthy community? It really is maddening to see this type of logic applied to the community where you live.

The Meeting House is a start, but the main actors running it are already swamped with their own (contract) work that takes up much of their day. Let’s face it, this is a full time job of an entire department to create, establish and grow the social infrastructure that’s needed.  However, funding allocations tend to favor activities that will provide a return (ie economic development) without acknowledging the social sector until it’s too late; the down side of politics… Reactions to the Meeting House to come soon….

Importance of Relativity

Success! I’ve finally found employment!!! Wooooo0! I’m very excited and as a result, have rewarded myself with doing absolutely nothing! Well,  that’s not exactly true though either, because here I am blogging away – perhaps I’ll slow down later….anyways, what a great time to stop and let the heat of the sunshine drain out all your energy! Thankfully for me, 8 months in the tropics have adjusted my internal temperature so that this is wonderful Don’t get me wrong, I still feel how heavy the air is and yes, it’s hot, but I think I’m coping much better than others. I’ve always  loved the heat though. Remember a few years ago when Europe was suffering from heat waves and people died because of it? That was when I escaped the chill of Ireland to backpack around Spain – most Spaniards, however, had chosen the cool coasts of Barcelona, and there I was – the dumb tourist wandering around the deserted streets of  Madrid at 40 C degree heat at 7pm. Live and learn, or in my case, sweat! And at the end of my trip, back to my studies in Montreal, with arguably the coldest winters in Canada.

Point of the story? People adapt, everything is relative. The other day, we saw South Asians in full out cricket gear playing the under the afternoon sun. This heat must be nothing for South Asians, but for a place that is known for its snow fall, it is out of the ordinary. And so, hot topic of the day is, ironically the heat! And not just in Canada, but in the US as well.

The other day, the national news broadcasted a piece on the suffering of farmers who, with shortages of fresh water, were facing an ailing crop and having to sell cattle before their prime. While droughts are indeed awful, I reminded myself that 1) This is the US and 2) Farmers are not just farmers, but businessmen who control farms the size of small towns and who control the price of corn, much like the way that OPEC controls the price of oil. Silos are stocked to the brim full of supplies in order to control the price, instead of its former use to be dipped in to when supplies were low.  Knowing this, I was disgusted with the news piece to have neglected that point.

I’d like to think that people are good  people and  care about others when a crop dies or business is bad, especially in this economy. I suspect that’s why this news piece aired in the first place – to pull on the heart strings of the average Joe and to highlight the out of the ordinary heat waves.  But believing that Joe is inevitably good, he is not always educated to know that farming has joined the ranks with the rest of corporate America and so will pull up his socks, stop complaining and get back to work. What I find even more disheartening is that this made national news, but the droughts that the rest of the world experiences rarely makes the headlines.

I typed in ‘Somalia Droughts Heat’ in to the google search bar and the first news source, behind research studies, weather reports and alarms was a piece posted by ABC 5 days ago title, “Somalia Drought ‘One of the Largest Humanitarian Crises in Decades.’  Further on down the page, I found the CBC had declared, ‘Somalia drought aid hindered by armed groups.’ This to me, was more a more news worthy subject than farmers in the US.

Admittedly, my knowledge of Somalia and its history is little and I’m very humbled by an Eritrean friend who attempted the topic in her PhD thesis because it’s incredibly complicated and starts dozens of years ago. What I do know is that Somalia hasn’t really had a formal government for 20-30 years and are divided by half that wants independence. More North Americans are more likely to recognize the ‘We are the World’ song in the 80′s that brought Bono, Boy George and many other artists together to raise money for the droughts Somalia was suffering from then. Oddly enough, a remake is in the works!

Mobilizing international food aid is not as easy as it looks – think the forms, red tape and bureaucracy that you have to suffer through when renewing your license and then multiply it by 1000 and throw in a few more countries and disgruntled farmers’ unions that don’t like to part with their stocks. Furthermore, with no formal government, getting food and supplies to people that need them becomes very dangerous and difficult. How to reach the most vulnerable? is likely what is on the minds of most international relief agencies.

As a result, people leave and leave en masse; traveling by (mostly) on foot to neighbouring Ethiopia or Kenya where refugee camps provide an alternative to the already cramped streets of Nairobi or Addis Ababa. Knowing how precarious living standards and conditions can be in a refugee camp, my sympathies are with them. During my grad studies, I was fascinated by environmental changes and what it meant for societies and had written a paper on Environmental Refugees, much like the ones escaping Somalia, only to discover that International Law had yet to include them; to be a refugee, according to the Refugee Convention, doesn’t include the escape of environmental degradation and therefore claimants cannot obtain asylum status or rights in their new country. As a Canadian, I’ll never have to experience this and few Canadians even think of it, but really, what do you do when there is no food or water in your homeland (and therefore no jobs) and  have to migrate to a land that won’t allow you to stay or give you any rights?

Knowing the reality of many Somalis and East Africans, makes me think how stupid we are to complain about the heat, when water is in abundance and air conditioners blazing. Agreed, the plight of farmers is an obstacle, but really it’s a small obstacle that will likely vanish in a couple weeks or when stocks are let out and the weather changes. Is it something that we really need to focus our energy on, complain about or generate sympathy? It’s all relative, I suppose.

 

The Migrating Melting Pot

For many a New World-er, questions about heritage, history and origin are enormously important, perhaps more so in any other part of the world, because in a sea of multi-cultural and multi-nationals, knowing who you are and where you came from keeps you grounded. Some may even say that old-world mentalities and traditions hold true more strongly in North America than in the home country because it’s so easy to forget. In Canada, the melting pot is truly unique and one of the only places in the world where being an outsider is normal. True that communities with common heritage and backgrounds form, after all we all gravitate to what is familiar and comfortable, but in Canada such communities are never exclusive and learning from each other is part of the fun.

Being a history guru, I’m always fascinated about how people come together, govern together and form communities and nations of people that have shaped our world today. Globalization truly began when explorers began discovering each other and what each other had to offer – find a new trading route, find a new land, find a new culture and voila! we are no longer isolated!

We’ve been experiencing globalization for so long, so why should only a handful of nations boast about their mulit-national/cultural character? Why are small migrant communities still out of the ordinary? Today, I surprisingly read about Irish descendants  in Jamaica, Jewish migrants in Haiti, and  Lebanese migrants in West Africa – who knew? It shouldn’t be surprising, but it is. Economic prospects, family ties and historical circumstances are all push factors, but for some reason it was stronger for some than others. If that’s so, I’m curious how much of an impact the migrant communities made on their new societies, did they integrate well? Did they contribute to growth or stagnation? How did they contribute to their national makeup today? If migration trends had continued, could they have experienced the same sort of melting pot that is so characteristic of Canada today?

Looking to the past doesn’t hold all the answers. Much like our heritage, it can provide understanding and build tolerance which influences the way our future will unfold. Melting pots are tough to achieve, but with an open mind, it’s possible.

Ideas, Perceptions and Realities

I found an interesting article in the BBC summarizing a study by the PEW Research Center in Washington, DC, which looked at common stereotypes often associated with many African nations.

The results are as follows…

“1. 75% of South Africans think polygamy is “morally wrong” – bad news for their president, as Jacob Zuma took his third wife earlier this year and is engaged to a fourth. However, the survey also revealed some possible double-standards. While only 7% of Rwandans approved of polygamy (although this did include women), a rather higher number – 17% – of men said they had more than one wife.”

Interesting. You would have thought that a President’s actions would be reflective of the people that elected him and his example is far from that. Makes me wonder what happened on election day?

2. An overwhelming majority of respondents disapproved of homosexual behaviour. In three countries – Zambia, Kenya and Cameroon – this was a massive 98%. Interestingly, one of the countries with the highest numbers of people – 11% – accepting homosexuals is Uganda, where an MP is trying to get legislation passed which would punish homosexual acts with life in prison and even death in some cases. The former Portuguese colonies of Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique were also relatively tolerant of homosexuality.

Ironic, no?

3. Africa is probably the world’s most religious continent, with more than 80% saying they believed in God in most countries. At least half of the Christians questioned expect Jesus Christ to return to earth during their lifetimes. In Ethiopia, 74% of Christians say they have experienced or witnessed the devil or evil spirits being driven out of a person and in Ghana, 40% of Christians say they have had a direct revelation from God. About half of all Muslims expect to see the reunification of the Islamic world under a single ruler, or caliph, in their lifetimes.

Think of all the effort Christian and foreign missionaries spent in trying to spread the word of God throughout Africa – it obviously worked!  Interestingly, it seems as though Muslims have just the same conviction to their faiths.

4. Zimbabwe, where the Lemba people say they are the lost tribe of Israel, was not one of the countries surveyed. But 26% of Nigerian Christians said they traced their origins back to Israel or Palestine.

5. Belief in witchcraft is also common – about 40%; a similar percentage also visit traditional healers to cure sickness. Belief in witchcraft is highest in Tanzania with 93% – this is the country where witchdoctors say that magic potions are more effective if they contain body parts of people with albinism. Ethiopia had the lowest levels of belief in witchcraft – at just 17%. Belief that juju or sacred objects can prevent bad things happening was generally lower – between 20 and 30%. In Senegal, however, 75% thought such things worked – far higher than in Tanzania (49%). It may come as a surprise to learn that South Africa had the highest number of people – 52% – saying they took part in ceremonies of traditional religions, or honoured or celebrated their ancestors.

I wonder if witchcraft is like a religion to the people polled? Can witchcraft and Christianity or Islam overlap? I had once written a paper on the Haitian use of witchcraft as a means to maintain their identities during the slave trade and how they disguised it by using the names of Catholic saints and terminology. Historically, it was fascinating; socially, it was remarkable and I’m really not all that surprised that it still exists.

6. Predictably, there was also a religious split concerning alcohol, banned by Islam. Surprisingly, however, more Muslims in Chad (23%) approved of booze, than Ethiopian Christians (5%). This comes as a huge surprise to Ethiopia experts, however, who point out that it is traditional to welcome Orthodox Christian clergy with traditional honey beer when they visit your house. Maybe “alcohol” was only taken to mean spirits by some of the respondents?

This was surprising – isn’t alcohol extremely strict for practicing Muslims?

7. Attitudes to divorce showed a strong divide along religious lines in Nigeria. A massive 79% of Christians thought it was “morally wrong”, while among Muslims, a narrow majority (46-41%) accepted divorce.

Really? I wonder why?

8. In recent years, Islamist hardliners in Somalia and Nigeria have introduced strict punishment based on Sharia law, such as amputating the hands of thieves and even stoning to death for adultery. The majority of people disapproved of such Sharia punishments. In Nigeria, they were backed by about 40% of Muslims and less than 10% of Christians. However, a majority did approve of whippings and amputations in Senegal and Mali. In nearby Guinea-Bissau, even 50% of Christians backed them. This was double the rate among Muslims in Ethiopia (25%) – maybe it feels like a more realistic prospect to them, as they share a border with Somalia and most Muslim Ethiopians are ethnic Somalis.

I wrote about this a few posts ago and I am strongly against the practice.  I think the fact that people, Christians and Muslims, support it, the closer they are in proximity to Somalia and its people is certainly characteristic of the lawlessness of the country. But I’d have to question just how closely the people polled were following their faiths  when they supported such a policy.

9. The survey also asked about material well-being in the world’s poorest continent. Not so long ago, Cameroon regularly topped surveys of champagne consumption per head. However, a shocking 71% of Cameroonians surveyed said there were times in the past year when they did not have enough money to buy food. In Ethiopia, which is commonly seen as a country struggling to feed itself, the rate was far lower – at 30% – the lowest of all countries surveyed.

Remember the famine in Ethiopia during the ’80′s. The media really had a field day with that one; the photo-journalists documenting starving children, Band-Aid released a song, raising funds and OECD countries suddenly woke up and delivered badly needed food aid. I don’t think the world ever forgot. It’s not surprising then to hear that Ethiopia‘s access to food being more than double that than Cameroon. It’s also shocking to hear that Cameroon‘s consumption of champagne!?!?! Is it a french legacy Is champagne more important than food or is there just a handful of Cameroonian’s who are buying up the lion’s share of its imports? Interesting indeed.

10. Ethiopia did, however, have the lowest numbers of people – 7% – who said they regularly used the internet. Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame is striving to turn his country into Africa’s answer to Silicon Valley and is being helped by the arrival of several new fibre optic cables off the east coast of Africa. He will be encouraged by the finding that 30% of his countrymen – the highest number – regularly browsed the web. Mobile phones, were far more common – with 81% of respondents in Botswana owning one. Many countries reported more than 50% having phones but here, Rwanda lagged behind at just 35%.

Wait a minute…Rwanda – the one that suffered from a genocide a while back? I’ve been told that since then, Kigali has become a major international hotspot for non-profit’s, international organizations and the like, who obviously necessitate a need for broadband! I’m shocked that Ethiopia isn’t taking advantage of those fibre optic cables – they could definitely assist in wider communication tools. Mobile phones, on the other hand, signify developing economies and perhaps micro-finance schemes that provide small scale funding for communities to fuel entrepreneurship. I’d want to know those figures, comparing Botswana and Rwanda.

I know it’s geeky to find stats interesting, but they are! How else would we know what is working, what isn’t, what needs work and how the media has manipulated perceptions? I just read a fellow blogger, who was doing just that – using blogosphere to debate North American perceptions of development and through its interaction with theory and reality. Granted it is a bit academic, though good for some brain aerobics.

I’m surprisingly enlightened by this study and appreciate its publishing. I guess it’s more frustrating to realize that stereotypes still exist and its refreshing to get a little dose of reality every now and again.

Baby Steps on the Road to the G8

The G8 is coming, the G8 is coming! Roll down the windows and roll out the policy debate! As early as January when the PM made an appearance at Davos, he un-characteristically unveiled a novel idea that suggested looking to the future and the challenges that lay before the G8 and not simply dwell on the issues of meetings past. And so he set the course to rally behind maternal and children’s health issues – and what a cause to support! One would have thought the PM was taking his leadership role seriously and setting in place an initiative that would reverberate throughout the most influential countries in the world. Little did we know of the plans that the PM was laying in store for the government’s policy, to be fretted over and debated until its unveiling closer to the G8 meetings, avoiding what may have been a backlash from Canadian constituents. And then along came Haiti, and then Chile and all the efforts that Canada laid out to help those in need and a policy in its infant stages rushed to its maturity only to be unveiled by a disorganized and disgruntled government that clearly had no idea of what the other was intending. Or so is what I’m reading this morning - it would appear that the Conservatives are finding it a little difficult to step outside of the box, try on a new policy and run with it. Instead, the ‘maternal and children’s health issues’ that Canada was hoping to address on a wider scale didn’t actually address one of the major issues of the 21st century – contraception – at least not until the PM was hounded by aid agencies, NGOs, journalists and even a UN official citing the importance of contraception for maternal health. The Foreign Minister and the Minister of Int’l Cooperation both were ignorant of the PM’s plans and instead issued statements stating the contrary. So now, the PM is supporting contraception, leaving his Minister’s in the dark, but also condemned strongly abortion.Meh, good enough for now I suppose.

I can understand the difficulties in stepping outside of the box and erring on the side of liberalism (and the better they are for it!) but what I don’t understand is how a policy’s direction could so clearly have been misunderstood by the Minister’s most affected by the policy itself. Is the PM just playing with fire, baby steps here, see what happens, baby steps back? No one likes a PM with no backbone, especially is Cabinet. Recognizing the challenges of a minority government and holding on to the fragile balance of power, political uncertainly is bound to follow, yet the PM’s been at this for quite a while. At this point in his tenure, it would be worthwhile to grow a backbone, show the G8 that it’s PM knows what it wants to achieve and how it’s going to get there. If it doesn’t work out, then it was never going to anyway and if it does that at least you have something to show history you’ve achieved.

Artistic Reflection

I’ve been thinking a lot about how art imitates life. Who could forget the music that characterized much of the 60′s? Buffalo Springfield, Joan Baez, Jefferson Airplane to name a few. That was protest and self expression all at once. And it’s not just in western culture either; I read yesterday how Sufi poetry in India speaks out against the caste system in India and listened to a report on art that was destroyed in the Haitian earthquake a few weeks ago and what a great tragedy it was for the nation. How to replace historic pieces? It’s seems parallel to losing all your belongings in a fire, except instead of one lifetime’s possessions, it was many century’s worth for the entire population.

The arts are a way of telling history (who could forget the wall paintings by the ancient Egyptians?); an establishment of a nation’s identity.  Why else would Israeli’s have looted the Palestinian Research Center upon its invasion into South Lebanon in 1982?  But when we go to the world’s most established and renowned art center’s, they’re full of artworks from abroad; Greece, Rome, China, Persia, India. Relics of a colonial past? The net worth of the artifacts alone would be astounding, and I’m therefore not surprised about the growing number of lawyers involved in the art trade and recovery.

When I first arrived in Austria, there was a case that surfaced surrounding Gustav Klimt’s work – perhaps the most famous Austrian painter – who’s works were left behind by the fleeing family during WW2. I arrived in Vienna, just in time to see the paintings before the US Supreme Court ordered them to be returned to the family, which now resides in the US. This is one of a very small number of cases, validating the return of property to its rightful owner. It’s debatable whether or not these artworks were national treasures or whether the expulsion of the artist himself invalidated that claim.

I enjoy the arts and am always eager to hear what’s new on the radio or wander the galleries. I’ve got to say though, I haven’t been too impressed with modern thoughts and ideas being reflected in music or in art. Of course, there’s been some bands, who have had personal experiences or strong sentiments toward a given issue – U2′s ‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” Midnight Oil’s “Beds are Burning,” Neil Young’s “Rocking in the Free World,” but in general, the type of work that is crowding the airwaves is not nearly as reflective of reality as it used to be… or is it? Do people just not have the same feelings toward Iraq and Afghanistan as the did toward Vietnam? And do visual artists feel more compelled to be abstract or modern in their paint strokes than the impressionists or renaissance painters? Are they torn between making a profit or making a statement?

It’s truly amazing what the arts can do for a pysche and a society. It can up-lift, invigorate, motivate, tell history all at once and be treasured for years to come – definitely something to be treasured!

Fundraising at its Best

I’m truly amazed and a little shocked that funds are still being  raised for Haitian relief. First, the out pour of contributions from regular Joe’s, then the telethons and concerts and now, a cover of ‘We Are the World’ being released. It’s wonderful that so many people have rallied behind a cause and done something great for other people in the world for no other reason than helping out. I’m shocked for three reasons; first, because news never stays new for long and what’s hot today will be gone at the latest by the end of the next week. So the fact that stories continue to hit the press about Haiti and the fundraising continues to rise, is phenomenal. And second, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a wide-scale fundraising effort generate so much success. The Canadian government matched donated funds on the first week – out of the ordinary, but a positive step. And third, a good chunk of the funds are coming from the public, independent of development aid and disaster relief funds that governments have in their stocks.  Fantastic, get everybody involved!

The only thing that I don’t seem to get is why Haiti is special? I don’t mean that they don’t deserve it, but rather, Haiti was a devastation before the Earthquake; rampant crime, scores of trafficking victims, poor rule of law, devastated economy, but the news barely covered it, Hollywood was ignorant and I’m sure ordinary citizens didn’t even know where it was on a map. Does it take a disaster to get people to wake up and act?  And if that were the case, why doesn’t widescale action happen for every catastrope, issue or devastation that takes place in the world?

Did ordinary citizens, business tycoons and Hollywood starlets lend their efforts to raise funds for victims of the tsunami, an earthquake in Sumatra (which occured just a few months before Port-au-Prince) or for victims  of genocide etc. Are earthquakes easier to understand? I just see so many causes that could benefit from similar fundraising efforts, but no one seems to acknowledge that there is a need for it – at least not in the mainstream press.

So as the Haitian funds continue to flow and provide aid to those that need it, I hope that donor’s, both governmental and private sphere, become a little more aware of the world around them and spread their awareness and funds around to other parts of the globe that could use similar assistance. A simple good deed goes a long way.

Foreign Correspondence

I’ve  thought of a career in journalism.  I like being able to express myself in ways that the spoken word couldn’t. But what has made me shy away from the practice as a career avenue, was it’s lack of analysis that it provides its readers.  True enough, good journalists with years of experience are able to provide insight to their readers that the regular desk reporter wouldn’t, but it rarely did anything more than inform the public, but even that was subject to the biases of the newspapers or corporate politics.  I found it discouraging to write a piece that you were so passionate about, hoping to spark debate, a public outcry or promote change, only to find reader’s indifferent. I wanted to be part of the group of people that made those changes, not simply uncovered them. I respect journalists, for the work that they do and the lengths that they go to to uncover a story. But for me, a story is never just a story. I would tend to invest myself in it and would want to see things through, work towards change and spread awareness.  It took me a long time to figure that out and even now, I cannot pretend that writing isn’t a part of me, my blog can attest to that. And so, I’m writing today to express just how affected I was this morning by all the reports coming out of Haiti.

Being abroad, far away from chaos, it’s easy to keep these events at an arm’s length. Life has been tough, dealing with my own problems, worrying about family and friends, job prospects and those nagging 10lbs that just won’t go away. And knowing myself and the extent that issues affect me, I just change the channel or avoid the links on the webpages, send my best wishes and wait until the news becomes less new and is replaced by a new story.  But today, it was unavoidable. I was reading yesterday’s paper (I was working yesterday morning) and found more than 10 articles dedicated to Haiti, with documented photos alongside. The headlines were striking, ‘surgeons conduct amputations without anesthetic,’ ‘gang executions of looters,’ ‘foreign aid slow to come.’ I was bombarded with emotion, tears brimming my eyes. I can almost imagine the chaos that is echoing out of the country.

If I can just see myself trying to report these types of things and bubbling through a reportage, trying to take in the children around me who are drinking dirty water, which in itself could be infested with countless unknown diseases. But I’m thankful that I did have that shock this morning. It’s prompted me to internalize this, and write about it here. I’ll be surfing the aid agencies tonight, trying to find the best one to donate to. I have little funds and am working 3 jobs and living with my parents, but I would sleep better tonight knowing that I can contribute. And it’s because of those journalists.

It’s at a time like this that I’m proud of our government – never thought I’d say that, – for its quick action to assist -  lower ing immigration standards for claimants from Haiti, delivering aid and surgical equipment, for welcoming Canadians into the Haitian Embassy. Perhaps the Governor General and her  Haitian heritage had something to do with it. Regardless, it almost makes up for the fact the PM basically closed Parliament for a few months and reaffirms what Canada is all about.