Burkina Faso needs to be supported to determine its own destiny through civil and democratic processes.
Opinion of Dr. Samuel Mahaffy. It is time for the African country, Burkina Faso to be able to live into its name of the “land of the honest people” instead of being the land of drone bases and surveillance. With the fleeing of the President of Burkina Faso it is the opportunity for the opening of a new chapter in this African nation’s history.
Even the name of the country of Burkina Faso in unknown to most in the West. While there is general ignorance about the African continent, the country of Burkina Faso has been shrouded in great mystery.
U.S. and Western intelligence would prefer that we remain ignorant about the country of Burkina Faso. It has served as a major launching base for drone and surveillance operations in Africa. It’s strategic importance is great in the militarization of Africa that has seen Western intelligence and military forces operating with little respect for the priority needs of the people of African countries.
It is time for the future of Burkina Faso to be given back to the people of the country. Burkina Faso is a nation, not a drone base. It has its own rich cultural and linguistic traditions. Since its independence from France it has been ruled by leaders willing to allow outside forces to determine its priorities.
After facing extreme poverty and corruption in its political leadership, the African Union has called for a peaceful transition in Burkina Faso that allows the voices of the people and civil society to determine the future of the country.
With the ouster of their President this month, the people of Burkina Faso have spoken up for the right of self-determination. It is time for that to be respected. Events in Burkina Faso should also be a cause for exposing and critiquing the militarization of much of Africa by forces that have little investment in local priorities and the needs of the people.
Let Burkina Faso be the land of the honest people seeking to meet the essential needs of villages and communities instead of the land of drone bases and surveillance for outside forces.
********************************************
Dr. Samuel Mahaffy is Senior Advisor to Salaam Urban Village Association. As a consultant to nonprofit boards and NGOs around the world, including across Africa, he has assisted more than five hundred organizations. He writes frequently on topics related to peacemaking and Africa on his website at www.samuelmahaffy.com.
Dr. Samuel Mahaffy, Senior Advisor to Salaam Urban Village Association reviews the book Joining Africa: From Anthills to Asmara. This review was originally published on his website in a longer form at http://samuelmahaffy.com/2014/10/joining-africa-anthills-asmara/
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From a Western world that is fearing Africa, exploiting Africa, or begrudgingly discovering Africa, Charles Cantalupo brings forward with poetic wisdom a call for joining Africa. This work defies the predominant discourse on Africa as The Dark Continent. Joining Africa unpacks a relationship with a continent and its diverse peoples and cultures that presumes separation and superiority and is built on subliminal ignorance.
Ebola and terrorism has been the sad wake-up call that engagement with Africa is no longer the province of development experts, NGOs, anthropologists and linguists. Sadly, the focus on Ebola and terrorism evokes deepening of stereotypes and fears about Africa. In this context, Joining Africa moves from poetry to prophetic wisdom. Africa is our no longer invisible neighbor. Joining Africa is a compelling work for our times.
Joining Africa proposes nothing less than a profound paradigm shift and a relational redefinition. As such, it is essential reading for anyone who has an interest in international relationships, global health and geo-political issues or even curiosity about the mystery of a continent that is the very birthplace of human civilization.
We, in the West, have co-created the Africa we are presented with in Western media today. Arguably, Ebola and extremism on the African continent are in part a product of our own indifference, ignorance and exploitation of our African neighbors. Centuries of devaluing the cultures, people and indigenous wisdom of countries to which we have sought to export our values in exchange for importing their natural resources have come back to haunt us.
It is never too late to repair a relationship. Joining Africa presents a clear roadmap for re-imagining a relationship with a continent and restoring a way of being respectful of our neighbor in an international context.
But, Joining Africa is quintessentially not a call to the intellect. It is a call to the heart. Charles Cantalupo calls us to journey with him to the place where we drop our baggage because “my bags became too heavy for my beliefs.” (p. 7). This work invites us to “go a little further” and to travel as a pilgrim (p. 89) partaking in a “different kind of communion” (p. 91). Accepting the invitation of this exquisite work, we will follow the sound of drumming to discover the richness not only of the African continent, but the richness that is within ourselves. Joining Africa ultimately shares the richness of what it means to be human, co-creating our universe in relationship.
While he is a writer with a keen intellect and deep insight, Charles Cantalupo is first of all a poet. Joining Africa calls to the poet within each of us. It reaches into the crevices of the heart where we appreciate beauty and the sacredness of our shared journey to discovering what it means to be human.
I am enchanted by the journey of Joining Africa ending in Asmara, Eritrea. My bias is that Asmara is the city of my birth. The charm of Eritrea is beautifully articulated in this work through the authors engagement with the great poets of Eritrea and the conference in Asmara that highlighted to the world, for the first time, the rich literary traditions of authors from across Africa.
My friend, Issayas Tesfamariam, articulates that Eritrea is an attitude as much as a country. Charles Cantalupo betrays the soul of an Eritrean in his search in Africa for discovering his European roots. The celebration of his wedding in a straw-filled building reminds me of many weddings I have attended in Senafe, Eritrea, where I grew up. Indeed, the cover picture of this book is of a wedding feast in Senafe.
When I review books of significance, I typically mark them up with margin notations and yellow highlighting. Joining Africa is a book of beauty that defies the desecration of margin markings. The publisher, Michigan State University Press, wisely allows the cover picture of a community eating from a common dish at an Eritrean wedding to stand alone in its beauty. In the village of Senafe, where I grew up, we would have held such a book with tenderness and appreciation, perhaps wrapping it in cloth to preserve it from discoloring under the hot African sun. Joining Africa is indeed a book to be treasured and to be shared as the shared African feast depicted on its cover.
Dr. Samuel Mahaffy, Senior Advisor to Salaam Urban Village interviews Madut–one of the ‘Lost Boys of Sudan’. Madut’s journey and story teach us much about the conflict in Sudan and South Sudan. It is a story of great tragedy and also of tentative hope. Madut’s account of his journey and his perspective on his homeland of South Sudan and what is needed to bring peace are woven into this story.
In the story of the journey to adulthood of one of the ‘lost boys of Sudan’ is both the tragedy of regional conflict and tentative hope.
Madut is a lanky handsome man with a warm and gentle presence. Unless one is en-culturated to fear a tall black man, there is nothing to fear about him. His warm smile and engaging presence says “let’s be friends.”
Madut’s account of his journey from Sudan as one of the ‘Lost Boys of Sudan’ to his current life in Seattle, informs our understanding of the conflict between the countries of Sudan and South Sudan devastating families and communities and costing thousands of lives. It is a tale of both great tragedy and redemptive outcomes.
It has been nearly three decades since the beginning of the saga of the Lost Boys of Sudan that swept Madut from his village of what was then the country of Sudan. This is a story that has captured the imagination and in some cases the compassionate heart of the world. This is the story of more than 20,000 boys, mostly between the ages of 7 and 17 fleeing from a regional conflict that has taken more than 500,000 lives since 1983 (http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm).
The names of most of the lost boys–those who died and those who never found a home–our lost to a world that has become numbed to accounts of women, children and women fleeing their homelands. The redemptive outcome is that Madut was not one of them.
Madut found his way into the hearts and lives of a couple in Iowa who embraced this young man as their own. Cindy and Ron have names that are as ordinary in Iowa as its cornfields. But they are two extraordinary people with hearts as as huge as the continent of Africa.
They supported and nurtured Madut through his transition to a new culture. They witnessed him marrying, adopting as his own son a young boy from Sudan who had no father in his life. They were there when we went to school, took up a responsible position as a hospital technician and became loved by both his work community and an Iowa town that had seen few black men and knew almost nothing about Africa. There were there for Madut when he moved across the United States continent to take care of and support his children in the new metropolitan environment of Seattle.
Once a refugee, Madut has taken up residence in the heart of nearly everyone who has taken the time to get to know him.
Madut shares a detailed account of his journey that informs our understanding of the conflict that still engulfs the countries of Sudan and South Sudan. From the rich fabric of Madut’s story we can learn much about the regional conflict of Horn of Africa. Madut’s story mirrors an intergenerational tragedy. It also holds threads of tentative hope that we can take steps to end this deadly conflict.
Madut’s story is South Sudan’s story. From his experiences and insights we find ten observations to help us understand and respond to the deadly conflict in the Horn of Africa.
1) Peace cannot be won by fighting. Madut was conscripted to be a warrior at the age of thirteen. He had to fight to survive. He has witnessed waves of new conflicts both before and after the separation of South Sudan into a separate country. If there is one thing that is certain to him, is that the peace in Sudan and South Sudan cannot be won by fighting.
2) The single greatest contribution we can make to bringing peace to this region is to stop the flow of outside weapons to the warring parties. It is deeply engrained today in the cultures of Sudan and South Sudan that everyone must have a gun to protect themselves. Parties that have a stake in perpetrating the conflict including the weapons merchants of the world both perpetuate and benefit from this belief.
3) Peace agreements fail when they engage only war lords and not local communities. It matters little what peace agreements are signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between leaders of the conflict between Sudan and South Sudan. Until agreements are made at the local level, there will be no peace.
4) Innocent parties arehuman shields. It is dangerous to believe in peace in Sudan and South Sudan. There is no way to be neutral to the conflict. Those who refuse to participate are likely to lose their life.
5) Natural resources define this regional conflict like many others. The politics of oil and natural resources, as it does in many regions of the world, deeply shapes the conflict between the countries of Sudan and South Sudan. It is the spigot that feeds the economic machine of the conflict and it is the trigger for the alignment of outside 1st world parties.
6) The conscription of children into conflicts is creating intergenerational conflict. Children are forced to become warriors as soon as they have the physical ability to carry a weapon and the training to know how to use one. They grow up knowing no other way than to fight to survive.
7) A generation that has never known a normal life does not know how to return to one. There is no normal in the countries of Sudan and South Sudan. It is not a matter of returning to a known peaceful life. A life of peace is a lost legend to more than one generation in the countries of Sudan and South Sudan.
8) The international community must hold accountable those who are the lead perpetrators of the conflict. Until the leaders who are perpetuating conflict for their own corrupt gains are brought to justice by the international community, there will be no peace. The countries of Sudan and South Sudan need peace–they also need justice.
9) It is hoes not guns that must become the hand held devices of South Sudan and Sudan. Madut tells the compelling story that when he was very little, everyone felt that they had to have a hoe as a tool to till the soil and provide for their family. Today, in South Sudan and Sudan, the hand-held device that individuals feel they must have is a gun to protect their family rather than a hoe to feed their family.
10) Among the refugees of this conflict are people of enormous gifts and talents who must be engaged in the rebuilding of their country. Madut is a man who has made an enormous contribution to every community he has lived in since coming to the United States. He is a hard worker who is trusted by his work colleagues. He is a faithful father. He is a good friend willing to lend a helping hand to anyone in need. Madut defies every negative stereotype of the migrant refugee in the United States. He supports the truth that this country has become great because of the amazing contributions of refugees and immigrants from every part of the world.
We came to know Madut in the Seattle community through his volunteer work with Salaam Urban Village Association. He has become a valuable contact for linking our organization–which serves immigrant and refugee families from across the Horn of Africa with the Seattle community.
In his most recent home in Seattle, Madut faces new challenges. The challenges of the desert are replaced with the challenges of keeping family relationships intact, helping his kids adjust to a new life where they face new sets of prejudices and navigating the forces that conspire to pull families apart in this culture. Surely, for conflict transformation to happen in the Horn of Africa, we must pull on the great resource of those like Madut who have fled the conflict but never lost the wisdom of the richness of their journey to a new homeland.
An immigrant from Eritrea turns ceramic artistry and knowledge of chemistry into a highly successful ceramic business.
An immigrant from Eritrea turns ceramic artistry and knowledge of chemistry into a highly successful ceramic business. Salaam Urban Village Association (SUVA) will be highlighting the creative talent of Debessaie in the weeks ahead.
Debessaie’s business is one of the first business partnerships in the new initiative called RE-IMAGINE SUVA. While nonprofits serving the migrant and refugee communities in the U.S. are struggling to survive, Salaam Urban Village Association is poised to thrive under a new and innovative funding model. This model is promoting nonprofit Africa partnership opportunities.
This new model envisions public-private partnerships with small business owners and companies with an economic investment in Africa. The nonprofit mission of Salaam Urban Village (SUVA) to support the migrant and refugee communities in the U.S. is served by these business partnerships as well.
Instead of just talking about the great creative talent in the refugee and migrant communities from Africa, SUVA is highlighting this talent and providing new markets and business opportunities for entrepreneurs from Africa. At the same time, the public is learning about Africa. We are breaking down stereotypes, strengthening communities and building connections.
We are convinced that this new partnership model offers the nonprofit world a new model for community engagement and sustainability. The approach is strengths-based rather than deficit-based. The roots of this model are in an Appreciative Inquiry process that SUVA led with the support of a grant from the Seattle Foundation.
At a large community gathering of individuals and families from Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan and other African countries, we asked the question: “What are the unique gifts that the African refugee and migrant community bring to the City of Seattle?” Not surprisingly, asking that question led us down a journey that has opened the doorway for innovation and fresh creative thinking about our mission.
Creative partnerships, such as the one with Debessaie are only one of the unexpected and great outcomes of our reflection process. Follow our website to learn more about Debessaie’s company. Our partnership with this ceramic company will unfold the beauty and the uniqueness of the African culture in the United States. You will see unique products that are not available elsewhere and are, in some cases, designed specifically for SUVA.
SUVA is becoming the Portal to Africa that we envisioned together.
We invite your participation. Do you have a business that serves Africans or grows out of the uniqueness of your African culture? We invite you to contact us and share your ideas. Let’s get to know each other and see how we might partner with each other.
Contact us through this website or send an e-mail to Amanuel Yohannes, the Executive Director of SUVA at amanuel@salaamurbanvillage.org.
The beautiful ornaments that Debessaie has developed have a surprise inside. We call it the message of hope within the ornament. Stay tuned to learn about the innovation and creativity that has driven his business and that is soon to be shared through SUVA.
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Dr. Samuel Mahaffy serves as Senior Advisor to Salaam Urban Village Association. He is a consultant and facilitator who has assisted more than five hundred nonprofits and NGOs around the world, including many in Africa. His strength is developing creative partnerships, innovative funding paradigms and facilitating communities and organizations to RE-IMAGINE a desired future through an Appreciative Inquiry process. He may be contacted by e-mail at samuelmahaffy@gmail.com or visit his website at www.samuelmahaffy.com where he writes frequently on subjects relating especially to Africa and peacemaking.
Dr. Samuel Mahaffy was an invited speaker at the 10th YPFDJ Conference in Washington D.C. He spoke on amplifying the voice of youth of Eritrea.
Samuel Mahaffy was an invited speaker at the 10th Annual YPFDJ North America Conference held in Washington D.C. He shares here his personal reflections on the conference. He writes regularly about Eritrea on his website at www.samuelmahaffy.com and tweets about Africa, Eritrea and peacemaking on Twitter@samuelmahaffy. Dr. Samuel Mahaffy is a Senior Advisor to Salaam Urban Village Association. As a nonprofit agency, SUVA does not take any political stands or support any party in this country or elsewhere. The views presented here are the personal views of Dr. Samuel Mahaffy. They are shared for the purpose of providing information on activities relating to Africa as a whole and the Horn of Africa in particular.
Put hundreds of young Eritreans from around the world in one room, along with their dreams and aspirations and add some of the leading experts and thought leaders on Eritrea and what do you get? A very high energy and exciting conference!
The 10th Annual YPFDJ Conference was about the dreams and aspirations of Eritrean young people. It was about identity. It was about community building and consciousness raising. It was about building and sustaining a youth movement that will support a bright future for an Eritrea that is setting its own course, while setting itself apart from Western stereotypes about African countries.
The conference was a rich mix of cultural performances, compelling speakers and celebration of the great uniqueness that is Eritrea and the Eritrean people. To characterize the conference as a political event would greatly undermine the richness that filled three days.
By live link from Asmara, the Capital of Eritrea, Yemane Gebreab, the Advisor to the President of Eritrea, shared updates and remarks in both Tigrinya and English. I was struck by how accessible and candid he was. For those of us in the United States who are used to layers of screened access to political leaders—through press secretaries and legislative and media representative–it is truly extraordinary to hear the leadership of Eritrea sharing so openly and directly with conference participants. Questions were hand-written, passed to the front of the auditorium and answered directly. The long-distance conversation shared both areas in which Eritrea is making great progress and where Yemane Gebreab stated that “Eritrea can always do better.”
Some highlights I heard: Economic development is a priority for Eritrea with an emphasis on production. International relations must be developed in a just and equitable context with respect for Eritrea’s right to self-determination. To look forward to are the emerging Constitutional process and sustainable resource development including geothermal.
Glen Ford, the Editor of the Black Agenda Report, shared a scathing indictment of Western and U.S intervention in African affairs. In regard to Eritrea, he applauded its willingness to stand up to attempts at hegemonic and military domination. He noted that “having the biggest military machine in the world does not give the U.S. moral right” for unwarranted intervention.
My friend, Simon Tesfamariam shared a compelling and incredibly well researched presentation documenting the systematic effort in Western media to discredit Eritrea by promoting misinformation and blatant and calculated un-truths about the country. While he cautioned against cynicism which can make one “intellectually lazy” he rightly suggested that “anything reported about Eritrea in the Western media should be viewed through the lens of a healthy dose of skepticism.”
The presentation of Professor Charles Cantalupo (Distinguished Professor of English, Comparative Literature and African Studies) at Penn State recounted his journey with and deep appreciation of Eritrean literature and particularly Eritrean poetry. Maintaining that the first true African novelist was one from Eritrea, he went on to explain the richness and uniqueness of the Eritrean voice in poetry. In their own words, he shared the perspective of Eritrea’s great poets as storytellers for the country and its people: “Let a thousand stories bloom. But, let not one of them deny, I am a person. I am Eritrean!”
There was hardly a break between speakers that was not filled with the beautiful and heart-full dancing so unique to Eritreans. In the dining hall, I chose to sit at different tables for each meal to hear the stories and dreams of Eritrea’s young people. These young people share a heart and commitment to Eritrea. As I stated in my presentation, “You are Eritrea.” It is their vision, their passion and their dreams and aspirations that will define the Eritrea of tomorrow.
I found new sisters and brothers from Eritrea at the 10th YPFDJ Conference. It was hard to leave this community gathered from across the United States and from around the world. I thank the YPFDJ conference organizers for including me and the participants for welcoming me so warmly.
Posted: November 1, 2014 by Amanuel Leave a Comment
The Future of Burkina Faso
Opinion of Dr. Samuel Mahaffy. It is time for the African country, Burkina Faso to be able to live into its name of the “land of the honest people” instead of being the land of drone bases and surveillance. With the fleeing of the President of Burkina Faso it is the opportunity for the opening of a new chapter in this African nation’s history.
Even the name of the country of Burkina Faso in unknown to most in the West. While there is general ignorance about the African continent, the country of Burkina Faso has been shrouded in great mystery.
U.S. and Western intelligence would prefer that we remain ignorant about the country of Burkina Faso. It has served as a major launching base for drone and surveillance operations in Africa. It’s strategic importance is great in the militarization of Africa that has seen Western intelligence and military forces operating with little respect for the priority needs of the people of African countries.
It is time for the future of Burkina Faso to be given back to the people of the country. Burkina Faso is a nation, not a drone base. It has its own rich cultural and linguistic traditions. Since its independence from France it has been ruled by leaders willing to allow outside forces to determine its priorities.
After facing extreme poverty and corruption in its political leadership, the African Union has called for a peaceful transition in Burkina Faso that allows the voices of the people and civil society to determine the future of the country.
With the ouster of their President this month, the people of Burkina Faso have spoken up for the right of self-determination. It is time for that to be respected. Events in Burkina Faso should also be a cause for exposing and critiquing the militarization of much of Africa by forces that have little investment in local priorities and the needs of the people.
Let Burkina Faso be the land of the honest people seeking to meet the essential needs of villages and communities instead of the land of drone bases and surveillance for outside forces.
********************************************
Dr. Samuel Mahaffy is Senior Advisor to Salaam Urban Village Association. As a consultant to nonprofit boards and NGOs around the world, including across Africa, he has assisted more than five hundred organizations. He writes frequently on topics related to peacemaking and Africa on his website at www.samuelmahaffy.com.
Posted: October 27, 2014 by Amanuel Leave a Comment
Joining Africa: From Anthills to Asmara –A Review
Dr. Samuel Mahaffy, Senior Advisor to Salaam Urban Village Association reviews the book Joining Africa: From Anthills to Asmara. This review was originally published on his website in a longer form at http://samuelmahaffy.com/2014/10/joining-africa-anthills-asmara/
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Ebola and terrorism has been the sad wake-up call that engagement with Africa is no longer the province of development experts, NGOs, anthropologists and linguists. Sadly, the focus on Ebola and terrorism evokes deepening of stereotypes and fears about Africa. In this context, Joining Africa moves from poetry to prophetic wisdom. Africa is our no longer invisible neighbor. Joining Africa is a compelling work for our times.
Joining Africa proposes nothing less than a profound paradigm shift and a relational redefinition. As such, it is essential reading for anyone who has an interest in international relationships, global health and geo-political issues or even curiosity about the mystery of a continent that is the very birthplace of human civilization.
We, in the West, have co-created the Africa we are presented with in Western media today. Arguably, Ebola and extremism on the African continent are in part a product of our own indifference, ignorance and exploitation of our African neighbors. Centuries of devaluing the cultures, people and indigenous wisdom of countries to which we have sought to export our values in exchange for importing their natural resources have come back to haunt us.
It is never too late to repair a relationship. Joining Africa presents a clear roadmap for re-imagining a relationship with a continent and restoring a way of being respectful of our neighbor in an international context.
But, Joining Africa is quintessentially not a call to the intellect. It is a call to the heart. Charles Cantalupo calls us to journey with him to the place where we drop our baggage because “my bags became too heavy for my beliefs.” (p. 7). This work invites us to “go a little further” and to travel as a pilgrim (p. 89) partaking in a “different kind of communion” (p. 91). Accepting the invitation of this exquisite work, we will follow the sound of drumming to discover the richness not only of the African continent, but the richness that is within ourselves. Joining Africa ultimately shares the richness of what it means to be human, co-creating our universe in relationship.
While he is a writer with a keen intellect and deep insight, Charles Cantalupo is first of all a poet. Joining Africa calls to the poet within each of us. It reaches into the crevices of the heart where we appreciate beauty and the sacredness of our shared journey to discovering what it means to be human.
I am enchanted by the journey of Joining Africa ending in Asmara, Eritrea. My bias is that Asmara is the city of my birth. The charm of Eritrea is beautifully articulated in this work through the authors engagement with the great poets of Eritrea and the conference in Asmara that highlighted to the world, for the first time, the rich literary traditions of authors from across Africa.
My friend, Issayas Tesfamariam, articulates that Eritrea is an attitude as much as a country. Charles Cantalupo betrays the soul of an Eritrean in his search in Africa for discovering his European roots. The celebration of his wedding in a straw-filled building reminds me of many weddings I have attended in Senafe, Eritrea, where I grew up. Indeed, the cover picture of this book is of a wedding feast in Senafe.
When I review books of significance, I typically mark them up with margin notations and yellow highlighting. Joining Africa is a book of beauty that defies the desecration of margin markings. The publisher, Michigan State University Press, wisely allows the cover picture of a community eating from a common dish at an Eritrean wedding to stand alone in its beauty. In the village of Senafe, where I grew up, we would have held such a book with tenderness and appreciation, perhaps wrapping it in cloth to preserve it from discoloring under the hot African sun. Joining Africa is indeed a book to be treasured and to be shared as the shared African feast depicted on its cover.
Joining Africa: From Anthills to Asmara is available from Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/1611860369/ref=rdr_ext_sb_pi_hist_1
Posted: October 15, 2014 by Amanuel Leave a Comment
South Sudan: Tragedy and Tentative Hope: Learning from the Story of One of the ‘Lost Boys’ of Sudan
Dr. Samuel Mahaffy, Senior Advisor to Salaam Urban Village interviews Madut–one of the ‘Lost Boys of Sudan’. Madut’s journey and story teach us much about the conflict in Sudan and South Sudan. It is a story of great tragedy and also of tentative hope. Madut’s account of his journey and his perspective on his homeland of South Sudan and what is needed to bring peace are woven into this story.
Madut is a lanky handsome man with a warm and gentle presence. Unless one is en-culturated to fear a tall black man, there is nothing to fear about him. His warm smile and engaging presence says “let’s be friends.”
Madut’s account of his journey from Sudan as one of the ‘Lost Boys of Sudan’ to his current life in Seattle, informs our understanding of the conflict between the countries of Sudan and South Sudan devastating families and communities and costing thousands of lives. It is a tale of both great tragedy and redemptive outcomes.
It has been nearly three decades since the beginning of the saga of the Lost Boys of Sudan that swept Madut from his village of what was then the country of Sudan. This is a story that has captured the imagination and in some cases the compassionate heart of the world. This is the story of more than 20,000 boys, mostly between the ages of 7 and 17 fleeing from a regional conflict that has taken more than 500,000 lives since 1983 (http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/closboys.htm).
The names of most of the lost boys–those who died and those who never found a home–our lost to a world that has become numbed to accounts of women, children and women fleeing their homelands. The redemptive outcome is that Madut was not one of them.
Madut found his way into the hearts and lives of a couple in Iowa who embraced this young man as their own. Cindy and Ron have names that are as ordinary in Iowa as its cornfields. But they are two extraordinary people with hearts as as huge as the continent of Africa.
They supported and nurtured Madut through his transition to a new culture. They witnessed him marrying, adopting as his own son a young boy from Sudan who had no father in his life. They were there when we went to school, took up a responsible position as a hospital technician and became loved by both his work community and an Iowa town that had seen few black men and knew almost nothing about Africa. There were there for Madut when he moved across the United States continent to take care of and support his children in the new metropolitan environment of Seattle.
Once a refugee, Madut has taken up residence in the heart of nearly everyone who has taken the time to get to know him.
Madut shares a detailed account of his journey that informs our understanding of the conflict that still engulfs the countries of Sudan and South Sudan. From the rich fabric of Madut’s story we can learn much about the regional conflict of Horn of Africa. Madut’s story mirrors an intergenerational tragedy. It also holds threads of tentative hope that we can take steps to end this deadly conflict.
Madut’s story is South Sudan’s story. From his experiences and insights we find ten observations to help us understand and respond to the deadly conflict in the Horn of Africa.
1) Peace cannot be won by fighting. Madut was conscripted to be a warrior at the age of thirteen. He had to fight to survive. He has witnessed waves of new conflicts both before and after the separation of South Sudan into a separate country. If there is one thing that is certain to him, is that the peace in Sudan and South Sudan cannot be won by fighting.
2) The single greatest contribution we can make to bringing peace to this region is to stop the flow of outside weapons to the warring parties. It is deeply engrained today in the cultures of Sudan and South Sudan that everyone must have a gun to protect themselves. Parties that have a stake in perpetrating the conflict including the weapons merchants of the world both perpetuate and benefit from this belief.
3) Peace agreements fail when they engage only war lords and not local communities. It matters little what peace agreements are signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between leaders of the conflict between Sudan and South Sudan. Until agreements are made at the local level, there will be no peace.
4) Innocent parties are human shields. It is dangerous to believe in peace in Sudan and South Sudan. There is no way to be neutral to the conflict. Those who refuse to participate are likely to lose their life.
5) Natural resources define this regional conflict like many others. The politics of oil and natural resources, as it does in many regions of the world, deeply shapes the conflict between the countries of Sudan and South Sudan. It is the spigot that feeds the economic machine of the conflict and it is the trigger for the alignment of outside 1st world parties.
6) The conscription of children into conflicts is creating intergenerational conflict. Children are forced to become warriors as soon as they have the physical ability to carry a weapon and the training to know how to use one. They grow up knowing no other way than to fight to survive.
7) A generation that has never known a normal life does not know how to return to one. There is no normal in the countries of Sudan and South Sudan. It is not a matter of returning to a known peaceful life. A life of peace is a lost legend to more than one generation in the countries of Sudan and South Sudan.
8) The international community must hold accountable those who are the lead perpetrators of the conflict. Until the leaders who are perpetuating conflict for their own corrupt gains are brought to justice by the international community, there will be no peace. The countries of Sudan and South Sudan need peace–they also need justice.
9) It is hoes not guns that must become the hand held devices of South Sudan and Sudan. Madut tells the compelling story that when he was very little, everyone felt that they had to have a hoe as a tool to till the soil and provide for their family. Today, in South Sudan and Sudan, the hand-held device that individuals feel they must have is a gun to protect their family rather than a hoe to feed their family.
10) Among the refugees of this conflict are people of enormous gifts and talents who must be engaged in the rebuilding of their country. Madut is a man who has made an enormous contribution to every community he has lived in since coming to the United States. He is a hard worker who is trusted by his work colleagues. He is a faithful father. He is a good friend willing to lend a helping hand to anyone in need. Madut defies every negative stereotype of the migrant refugee in the United States. He supports the truth that this country has become great because of the amazing contributions of refugees and immigrants from every part of the world.
We came to know Madut in the Seattle community through his volunteer work with Salaam Urban Village Association. He has become a valuable contact for linking our organization–which serves immigrant and refugee families from across the Horn of Africa with the Seattle community.
In his most recent home in Seattle, Madut faces new challenges. The challenges of the desert are replaced with the challenges of keeping family relationships intact, helping his kids adjust to a new life where they face new sets of prejudices and navigating the forces that conspire to pull families apart in this culture. Surely, for conflict transformation to happen in the Horn of Africa, we must pull on the great resource of those like Madut who have fled the conflict but never lost the wisdom of the richness of their journey to a new homeland.
Posted: September 28, 2014 by Amanuel Leave a Comment
Nonprofit Africa Partnership Opportunities
An immigrant from Eritrea turns ceramic artistry and knowledge of chemistry into a highly successful ceramic business. Salaam Urban Village Association (SUVA) will be highlighting the creative talent of Debessaie in the weeks ahead.
Debessaie’s business is one of the first business partnerships in the new initiative called RE-IMAGINE SUVA. While nonprofits serving the migrant and refugee communities in the U.S. are struggling to survive, Salaam Urban Village Association is poised to thrive under a new and innovative funding model. This model is promoting nonprofit Africa partnership opportunities.
This new model envisions public-private partnerships with small business owners and companies with an economic investment in Africa. The nonprofit mission of Salaam Urban Village (SUVA) to support the migrant and refugee communities in the U.S. is served by these business partnerships as well.
Instead of just talking about the great creative talent in the refugee and migrant communities from Africa, SUVA is highlighting this talent and providing new markets and business opportunities for entrepreneurs from Africa. At the same time, the public is learning about Africa. We are breaking down stereotypes, strengthening communities and building connections.
We are convinced that this new partnership model offers the nonprofit world a new model for community engagement and sustainability. The approach is strengths-based rather than deficit-based. The roots of this model are in an Appreciative Inquiry process that SUVA led with the support of a grant from the Seattle Foundation.
At a large community gathering of individuals and families from Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan and other African countries, we asked the question: “What are the unique gifts that the African refugee and migrant community bring to the City of Seattle?” Not surprisingly, asking that question led us down a journey that has opened the doorway for innovation and fresh creative thinking about our mission.
Creative partnerships, such as the one with Debessaie are only one of the unexpected and great outcomes of our reflection process. Follow our website to learn more about Debessaie’s company. Our partnership with this ceramic company will unfold the beauty and the uniqueness of the African culture in the United States. You will see unique products that are not available elsewhere and are, in some cases, designed specifically for SUVA.
SUVA is becoming the Portal to Africa that we envisioned together.
We invite your participation. Do you have a business that serves Africans or grows out of the uniqueness of your African culture? We invite you to contact us and share your ideas. Let’s get to know each other and see how we might partner with each other.
Contact us through this website or send an e-mail to Amanuel Yohannes, the Executive Director of SUVA at amanuel@salaamurbanvillage.org.
The beautiful ornaments that Debessaie has developed have a surprise inside. We call it the message of hope within the ornament. Stay tuned to learn about the innovation and creativity that has driven his business and that is soon to be shared through SUVA.
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Dr. Samuel Mahaffy serves as Senior Advisor to Salaam Urban Village Association. He is a consultant and facilitator who has assisted more than five hundred nonprofits and NGOs around the world, including many in Africa. His strength is developing creative partnerships, innovative funding paradigms and facilitating communities and organizations to RE-IMAGINE a desired future through an Appreciative Inquiry process. He may be contacted by e-mail at samuelmahaffy@gmail.com or visit his website at www.samuelmahaffy.com where he writes frequently on subjects relating especially to Africa and peacemaking.
Posted: September 4, 2014 by Amanuel Leave a Comment
Reflections on the 10th Annual YPFDJ North America Conference
Samuel Mahaffy was an invited speaker at the 10th Annual YPFDJ North America Conference held in Washington D.C. He shares here his personal reflections on the conference. He writes regularly about Eritrea on his website at www.samuelmahaffy.com and tweets about Africa, Eritrea and peacemaking on Twitter@samuelmahaffy. Dr. Samuel Mahaffy is a Senior Advisor to Salaam Urban Village Association. As a nonprofit agency, SUVA does not take any political stands or support any party in this country or elsewhere. The views presented here are the personal views of Dr. Samuel Mahaffy. They are shared for the purpose of providing information on activities relating to Africa as a whole and the Horn of Africa in particular.
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Put hundreds of young Eritreans from around the world in one room, along with their dreams and aspirations and add some of the leading experts and thought leaders on Eritrea and what do you get? A very high energy and exciting conference!
The 10th Annual YPFDJ Conference was about the dreams and aspirations of Eritrean young people. It was about identity. It was about community building and consciousness raising. It was about building and sustaining a youth movement that will support a bright future for an Eritrea that is setting its own course, while setting itself apart from Western stereotypes about African countries.
The conference was a rich mix of cultural performances, compelling speakers and celebration of the great uniqueness that is Eritrea and the Eritrean people. To characterize the conference as a political event would greatly undermine the richness that filled three days.
By live link from Asmara, the Capital of Eritrea, Yemane Gebreab, the Advisor to the President of Eritrea, shared updates and remarks in both Tigrinya and English. I was struck by how accessible and candid he was. For those of us in the United States who are used to layers of screened access to political leaders—through press secretaries and legislative and media representative–it is truly extraordinary to hear the leadership of Eritrea sharing so openly and directly with conference participants. Questions were hand-written, passed to the front of the auditorium and answered directly. The long-distance conversation shared both areas in which Eritrea is making great progress and where Yemane Gebreab stated that “Eritrea can always do better.”
Some highlights I heard: Economic development is a priority for Eritrea with an emphasis on production. International relations must be developed in a just and equitable context with respect for Eritrea’s right to self-determination. To look forward to are the emerging Constitutional process and sustainable resource development including geothermal.
Glen Ford, the Editor of the Black Agenda Report, shared a scathing indictment of Western and U.S intervention in African affairs. In regard to Eritrea, he applauded its willingness to stand up to attempts at hegemonic and military domination. He noted that “having the biggest military machine in the world does not give the U.S. moral right” for unwarranted intervention.
My friend, Simon Tesfamariam shared a compelling and incredibly well researched presentation documenting the systematic effort in Western media to discredit Eritrea by promoting misinformation and blatant and calculated un-truths about the country. While he cautioned against cynicism which can make one “intellectually lazy” he rightly suggested that “anything reported about Eritrea in the Western media should be viewed through the lens of a healthy dose of skepticism.”
The presentation of Professor Charles Cantalupo (Distinguished Professor of English, Comparative Literature and African Studies) at Penn State recounted his journey with and deep appreciation of Eritrean literature and particularly Eritrean poetry. Maintaining that the first true African novelist was one from Eritrea, he went on to explain the richness and uniqueness of the Eritrean voice in poetry. In their own words, he shared the perspective of Eritrea’s great poets as storytellers for the country and its people: “Let a thousand stories bloom. But, let not one of them deny, I am a person. I am Eritrean!”
There was hardly a break between speakers that was not filled with the beautiful and heart-full dancing so unique to Eritreans. In the dining hall, I chose to sit at different tables for each meal to hear the stories and dreams of Eritrea’s young people. These young people share a heart and commitment to Eritrea. As I stated in my presentation, “You are Eritrea.” It is their vision, their passion and their dreams and aspirations that will define the Eritrea of tomorrow.
I found new sisters and brothers from Eritrea at the 10th YPFDJ Conference. It was hard to leave this community gathered from across the United States and from around the world. I thank the YPFDJ conference organizers for including me and the participants for welcoming me so warmly.