Encouraging news today….According to news reporter Stevenson Mugisha of The New Times, 139 inmates at Mpanga Prison in Nyanza District, Southern Province, are set to graduate in various biblical courses as a means of promoting peace, unity and reconciliation in the country.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201106300207.html
Monthly Archives: June 2011
South Africa: More Test HIV-Positive Than Expected
By Natasha L. Foreman, MBA
I have included a link to an article that simply floors me, “more people than expected have tested HIV-positive in the national HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign in South Africa.”
South Africa is working hard to test within their country and respond to treatment efforts of those infected and affected by HIV. Some people simply are not responding to the ‘Get Tested’ campaigns, while for others the message still has not reached them. Initially the HCT campaign only expected 1.6 million South Africans (of the targeted 15 million) would test HIV-positive.
Preliminary figures show that over 12 million South Africans have been counseled for HIV since April 2010, of this figure 85% or 10.2 million have accepted the HIV test after counseling, which means the campaign underestimated by 5 million people.
Something must be done.
This isn’t just a South African, African, African-American, minority, or Gay and Lesbian issue…this is a human issue worldwide. We have to do our part to make things right.
Read this article and share your thoughts, and what you are doing to help with HIV-education, testing, and safe sex practices in your community and worldwide: http://allafrica.com/stories/201106300715.html
Copyright 2011. Some Rights Reserved. The Paradigm Life.
Life Imprisonment for Genocide in Rwanda: Justice is Coming
By Natasha L. Foreman, MBA
Yesterday the Government of Rwanda welcomed the June 24th decision by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to sentence Pauline
Nyiramasuhuko, former Minister for Family and Women Affairs, her son Arsène Shalom Ntahobali, and Elie Ndayambaje, the former Bourgmestre of Muganza, to life imprisonment for the horrific Genocide crimes against the Tutsi in 1994.
The National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) said that sentencing the “Butare clique” of Nyiramasuhuko, Ntahobari, Joseph Kanyabashi, Elie Ndayambaje, Sylvain Nsabimana and Alphonse Nteziryayo is a milestone because these were solely responsible for planning and executing the genocide in Butare.
“Nyiramasuhuko is the first woman to be sentenced on genocide crimes, especially on grounds that she incited her son to rape Tutsi women, among other things, it is the first time mother and son have been convicted at the same time,” said Jean de Dieu Mucyo, the Executive Secretary of CNLG.
In an editorial written by the Sunday Times, these words ring true and loud, “It is important that all countries, where fugitives may be living, understand the need to bring to justice those suspected of participating in the Genocide, as a means of bringing an end to impunity. This will facilitate healing for the survivors.”
In related news, Serena Hotel-Rwanda hosted a memorial service yesterday that brought together all religious denominations to pray for unity, reconciliation and fight the Genocide ideology in the country. The service, which is part of the hotel’s activities to commemorate the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, was organized by the Gates of Heaven Ministries, a hotel cathedral in partnership with Ibuka, under the theme ‘let the Church’s efforts that was put in planning and conducting the Genocide be the same used in rehabilitating the hearts of many.’
Last Thursday, staff at Butare University Teaching Hospital (CHUB) held a night vigil to remember victims of the 1994 Genocide. Jean Pierre Bucyensenge, a reporter for The New Times wrote that, “For the second time, they honoured over 67 Tutsi, including the hospital’s former employees, who were killed at the hospital.Testimonies indicated that instead of helping wounded Tutsi who sought assistance at the hospital, some nurses and doctors abandoned them, or at worst, killed them.”
There is a long road ahead in healing, justice, forgiveness, and learning for not only Rwandans and other Africans, but for the entire world. We each must learn from this horrific Genocide and do our parts to spread love, hope, understanding, dignity, and forgiveness to all mankind.
Sources:
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14669&article=42606
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14668&article=9701
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14667&article=42581
Wal-Mart Merging with Retailer Massmart in South Africa
By Natasha L. Foreman, MBA
According to the South African Press Association and Desi Heita, a journalist for New Era (“Newspaper for a New Namibia”) the Namibian and South African trade ministers are expected to meet today to strategize on what is to become the biggest corporate challenge ever in the region – dealing with American retail giant Wal-Mart.
Six days after Walmart completed its acquisition of a controlling stake in Massmart, it started advertising price cuts and new business opportunities for South Africa. Massmart also said it intends to create 15,000 jobs in the next five years.
Walmart has 55 brands around the world in, among other countries, Canada, Brazil, China, Chile, Japan and Mexico. Its share of Massmart would be a stake in emerging African markets. The Namibian Competition Commission (NCC) is appealing the High Court ruling of the Wal-Mart and Massmart merger in the Supreme Court, while the South African Competition Commission is reconvening to determine their next move.
Both authorities feel that Wal-Mart, with its documented history of poor trade union and employee relations, should be given a clear script and map on how to engage in business in southern Africa, and clearly stipulated consequences if it fails to engage in ethical dealings, or follow the rules as outlined.
It will be interesting to see what comes of the merger, jobs and economic changes in the southern region of Africa, and the impact on the people.
Sources:
Coming Soon: First Private Development Bank in Ethiopia
By Natasha L. Foreman, MBA
Afri-Agro Industrial Bank the first-ever private development bank in Ethiopia is being established through the efforts of Costantinos Berhe Tesfu, PhD, a board member of the African Union (AU) Anti-corruption Commission, who is leading a group of twenty five prominent individuals towards establishing the bank .
On Wednesday, June 15, 2011, the bank made a public offering of 100,000 shares, each valued at 10,000 Br, with the aim to raise one billion Birr. “Our vision is to revolutionise agriculture in Ethiopia by pushing for more investments in mechanised agriculture by Ethiopians. We see it as a viable model; the conditions in the country indicate that there are opportunities for the export of value-added agricultural products,” said Costantinos Berhe Tesfu as reported by Samson Haileyesus a reporter for business newspaper Addis Fortune.
Costantinos also shared that the bank is collaborating with a venture financing company to finance long-term projects that would also source financing from international institutions such as the World Bank (WB), AfDB, International Fund for Agriculture Development, and hedge funds.
To find out more about this new venture visit: http://allafrica.com/stories/201106220355.html
Natasha L. Foreman’s Discernment and Wisdom Quote of the Day 6.16.11
“Don’t be like the fish who just can’t resist grabbing that red, bouncing ball in the water; that you are so blinded by the desire to get the ball you don’t see the sharp hook that is attached, and right as you put the ball in your mouth the hook snatches ahold of your jaws and before you know it you’re being thrown in a ice chest filled with water.”
-Natasha L. Foreman, MBA
Paradigm Life 