Colombian refugees hope for a new life in Ecuador
Ecuador holds big drive to register Colombian refugees
It is the start of an important day for 100 Colombian refugees and their families here in Ibarra, an Ecuadorean city half-way between the capital city, Quito, and the Colombian border.
As they enter the Luis Leoro Franco sports hall, they know that by the end of the day they will find out if they can stay in the country with a refugee visa.
It is extraordinarily quiet, despite the presence of many children, and the tension is high. As they wait to be interviewed, most do not want to share their stories. Eventually one woman smiles and agrees to go to a corner to talk.
Paulina, 33, fled Colombia last July, soon after her husband was killed outside her home in the Valle del Cauca region, some 600km (460 miles) north of Ibarra.
“He never told me what his job was. As long as they bring money home, one never asks where it comes from,” she says.
Paulina says her husband often had weapons on him, and a few days before his death he started hiding at home and refusing to pick up calls.
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“He was killed around the corner from our house, I heard the bullets. I left him there, I couldn’t go out,” says Paulina. She picked up her eight-year-old daughter and all the clothes she could grab and went to her mother’s home in Cali.
“From there my landlady told me that they were looking for me, I imagine they were looking for something that my husband had hidden at home,” she says.
Paulina is happy to talk because she has already received her refugee visa. She is here to accompany a friend – a younger woman with a broken knee and visible bruises on her body.
The friend does not want to talk about herself, but Paulina says that she deserves to be recognised as a refugee too.
Displaced people
Ecuador has the highest number of refugees in Latin America – a consequence of the ongoing conflict in Colombia between guerrillas, paramilitary squads and the state.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Colombia has one of the world’s largest internally displaced populations, estimated at more than three million.
Another 500,000 to 750,000 have fled to other countries, according to the Refugee Council USA, a US-based coalition of NGOs.
Ecuador is a preferred destination both for its geographical proximity to the troubled southern Colombian regions of Putumayo and Narino and for the relatively easy migration process.
An estimated 135,000 people have crossed into Ecuador, the UNHCR says.
A year ago, just 22,000 people were registered. That now stands at 50,000 thanks to a registration drive launched by the Ecuadorean government with the help of the UNHCR.
Mobile units of civil servants have gone to remote areas of the country to speed up the process, shortening the waiting period for refugee claims from several months to just a few hours.
Colombians who have fled the country for fear of persecution are granted access to public health and education from the moment they set foot in Ecuador.
Brothels
But registration remains crucial because they are not allowed to work until granted a refugee visa, and they can become easy prey for illegal employers.
Paulina says that she was offered work in brothels – something that happens quite often to Colombian women upon their arrival.
Ligia Aurora is optimistic about her new life in Ecuador
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She was lucky enough to find a Colombian family in the town of Atuntaqui, just south of Ibarra, who took her in as a maid although she didn’t have the right papers.
Many others are not as lucky, especially in the border areas with Colombia, where living conditions are challenging even for the Ecuadorean population.
The Ecuadorean government says that refugees have become an economic burden in areas that are already economically disadvantaged. The refugee question is a stumbling block in the rapprochement between Colombia and Ecuador.
The two countries have had strained relations since March 2008, when the Colombian army carried out an unauthorised cross-border raid on a rebel camp.
Ecuadorean authorities say that Colombia should be spending more money to help people who have fled the country, while at the same time strengthening its presence in the southern regions, where the fighting between guerrillas and paramilitary squads leads many to abandon their homes.
Colombia has given the UNHCR funding of $600,000 (£390,000) over the past 10 years – an average 50 cents (33p)per refugee per year – to help pay for integration projects.
That is an infinitesimal amount, says Alfonso Morales, who heads the department for refugees at Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
By contrast, he says, the Ecuadorean government spends $40m (£26m) a year on Colombian refugees, much going to education and healthcare.
“These sums show a lack of respect (by the Colombian government) towards these Colombian people. It is detrimental for them, but it is also detrimental for Ecuador, which is a country with high levels of poverty and unemployment and problems of infrastructure,” said Mr Morales.
The Colombian foreign ministry was asked for a response but officials said there was no one available as it was Easter week and they were busy dealing with the release of hostages by the Farc, the largest of the country’s guerrilla groups.
Integration
The registration project, which ended on 31 March, has been successful but there is still lots to do, says Mr Morales.
The tension of the day passed some of the people by
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The UNHCR and the government agree that the next priority is to decentralise the system so that smaller offices in the border areas can hand out refugee visas more quickly to the 85,000 who are still unregistered.
There also needs to be more monitoring of refugees once they have received their documents, with a focus on projects aimed at social and economic integration, says Mr Morales.
But the future is for once not a worry for those in the sports hall who walk out with their new Ecuadorean IDs in their hands.
Ligia can hardly contain her smile as she hugs her two children, Luis Carlos and Diego Camilo. When they escaped violence in their town in the eastern region of Boyaca just a few weeks ago, Diego Camilo, who is only 10, had to leave school.
“I’m so happy now, I can finally enrol my little one back in school,” says Ligia. “I was so worried when we came here. Now all will be well.”
Reference Link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8593338.stm
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BBC News
What is the true price of Rwanda's recovery?
In the middle of Lake Kivu, on Rwanda’s western border, is a shining example of how Rwanda is changing – a pioneering methane extraction plant providing much-needed power for the fast-growing economy.
Killer’s admission of 700 murders illustrates the scale of divisions to overcome
The plant – entirely developed and funded by the Rwandan government – is testimony to the country’s remarkable recovery from the horrors of the 1994 genocide.
Since the genocide, in which some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed, Rwanda’s efficient, imaginative and relatively incorrupt government has acquired many admirers in the West.
They are impressed by its efforts to play down differences between Hutu and Tutsi, to encourage outside investors and to plough money into development, with the ambitious aim of building the silicon valley of Central Africa.
Some, however, say the economic growth has come at a high cost in terms of human rights.
Western backing
A powerful network of US corporate bosses have acted as cheerleaders for Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame:
“Rwanda has gone from literally the bottom of the heap to become the beacon for Africa in 15 years,” says Joe Ritchie, a Chicago financier, now one of Mr Kagame’s senior advisers.
Equally impressed is the British government, Rwanda’s biggest bilateral donor, which gives the country about £50m ($75m) a year in aid, most of which goes straight into central government coffers.
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  The genocide has become a kind of blackmail to be used against everyone. After 16 years it is high time for democracy  Opposition politician Victoire Ingabire
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“There is a dynamism and a focus in the Rwandan leadership,” says British High Commissioner Nick Cannon. “I think that comes from the emergence of the current government from the experience of the genocide.”
But a growing band of critics disagrees.
“There’s practically no freedom of expression, the political space for any kind of opposition is extremely limited, and anyone who tries to criticise or challenge the government is subject to intimidation or threats or worse,” says Carina Tertsakian from Human Rights Watch.
“We have a situation where British money is serving to prop up a government that is routinely violating the rights of its citizens. I simply don’t think that the genocide and the events that surrounded it can be used as an excuse to suppress criticism and dissent.”
Anti-ideology law
Rwanda’s Tutsi-dominated government, the force that ended the genocide in 1994, fiercely rejects such claims.
“I think there is this myth or created idea that Rwanda is doing well but you can’t express yourself,” says Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo. “It’s totally wrong.”
Ms Tertsakian and other rights critics cite a law that bans the spreading of “genocide ideology”.
Visiting a state-run education camp for young Rwandans
Aimed in theory at preventing the kind of racial hate-speak that fuelled the genocide, they say it is used in practice to suppress any criticism the government dislikes.
Rwanda’s most prominent human rights groups, Liprodhor, says that the law has restricted its activities and sent half of its staff into exile:
“Everyone feared being persecuted, they could be imprisoned,” activist Gertrude Nyampinga says.
The genocide ideology charge has also been used against one of the most controversial figures in Rwanda today, opposition politician Victoire Ingabire.
Recently returned after years in exile, she hopes to stand against Mr Kagame in August’s elections, but she has not yet been allowed to register her party and has no access to the state-run media.
The government accuses her of inflammatory language, and the police have called her in several times for questioning – most recently last week.
Solidarity message
Ms Ingabire says the country is effectively a one-party state where a climate of fear prevents Hutus and Tutsis discussing their differences.
“The genocide has become a kind of blackmail to be used against everyone. After 16 years it is high time for democracy – not to continue to brandish the genocide to avoid a democratic process,” Ms Ingabire said.
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I would not mind being forced to live peacefully with my neighbour, because the alternative is to be free to kill my neighbour Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo
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A cornerstone of the government’s policy of reconciliation is the system of education camps, or ingando, where students and other young people attend courses in military training and Rwandan history.
The message there is that Hutu and Tutsi are artificial categories exaggerated by Rwanda’s former colonial masters, which should now be forgotten.
“We’re no longer Hutus or Tutsis, we are Rwandan, we are one. The elder are already destroyed… But from us we have hope for the future, for a better Rwanda,” business student Jacques Rubayiza told us when we visited one camp.
Everyone we spoke to at the camp expressed the same zeal and the same point of view – without dissent.
But even prominent Tutsi exiles, such as Joseph Sebarenzi, believe that artificially suppressing differences rather than airing them could result in violence erupting again one day.
UK aid role
Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo dismisses such notions saying: “I would not mind being forced to live peacefully with my neighbour, because the alternative is to be free to kill my neighbour.”
As for Britain’s role in supporting Rwanda, Mr Cannon says: “Although there are aspects of the country’s human rights that are not perfect – certainly we wouldn’t be here or doing what we’re doing if we didn’t think there was a commitment on the part of the government to the values we share.”
He points in particular to a shared commitment to pro-poor policies – thanks in part to British aid, the proportion of poor Rwandans fell from 70% of the population to 57% between 1994 and 2006.
School attendance has risen dramatically, maternal mortality has fallen.
“Where our money goes,” he says, “is into improving the daily lives of the people of this country. There’s no real scope for the diversion of that money into other purposes.”
Reference Link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8593734.stm
Courtesy
BBC News
Occasion to hear extraordinary stories of ordinary women
| They narrate struggles undergone by them and the unrelenting fight they have put up |
— Photo: G. Moorthy.
AN INSPIRING ACCOUNT:A woman narrating her travails at the International Women’s Day celebration in the city on Saturday.
MADURAI, India: “How many times will she feel shy? How many times will she keep offering coffee? How many times will she fall on others’ feet? How many years will she keep waiting to wear a silk sari? At last when will the day come when someone would accept her without insisting on gold jewellery and a motor cycle?” went a song recited at a meeting organised by Koodu (meaning nest) Women Readers’ Club under a thatched roof at Gandhi Museum here on Saturday.
Sung by Bhagyalakshmi, a member of a women’s welfare organisation based in Theni district, the song gave a perfect start to the event — celebration of the International Women’s Day which fell on March 8. It was not an event to hail the exemplary achievements of women celebrities but an occasion to inspire from hearing ordinary women, whom we meet in our day to day life, narrate the struggles undergone by them and the unrelenting fight they had put up.
Bhuvana, now 39, hailing from Chennai was harassed, tortured and assaulted frequently by her husband 18 years ago. Once he went to the extent of beating up their one-year-old son. It was on that day, she decided to leave the house. But she was not clear on where to go. She did not want to be a burden on her parents. So, the woman picked up her son and his 10-day-old brother and walked up straight to the railway station and boarded a train without even knowing its (or perhaps her) destination.
The train brought her here. Until then she did not even know that a place called Madurai existed in the world because she was born and brought up in Chennai and had not travelled beyond that. A good hearted person saw her standing with bleeding injuries along with her children and admitted her to a hostel managed by Nanban, a social welfare organisation, where she learned to drive an auto rickshaw to fend for herself as well as her children who do not even have a vague remembrance of their father.
“I was the first woman to drive an auto rickshaw in Madurai and I am indebted to the people here for their patronage. All these years, I had been driving only rented auto rickshaws. I wanted to own one and there is no office be it that of the Ministers, Collector or the bank officials whom I had not petitioned seeking financial assistance. After a long struggle, only now a bank has come forward to give me loan,” she concluded with a blink that made tears, waiting all this while on the brink of her eyes, trickle down her cheeks.
Sugumari, now a lecturer in economics with Sri Meenakshi Government College for Women here, was born visually challenged as were her two elder sisters. “When I was a child, some of the villagers seem to have suggested to my parents to kill all three of us. But my father chided them away. Unfortunately, he died when I was in fourth standard. Thereafter, my paternal aunt remained a spinster and educated me and my five siblings,” she reminisced and stressed on the need to have the determination to achieve.
Many other women, including an Head Constable’s wife, who was made to run from pillar to post for 14 long years to get a job of a sanitary worker on compassionate grounds after her husband’s demise, a Muslim woman hailing from Maharashtra who settled down in Andipatti in Theni district and fell victim to usury narrated their travails in the presence of Qudsia Gandhi, an Indian Administrative Service officer having a keen interest in women’s empowerment.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/29/stories/2010032959840200.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
102 physically challenged persons get jobs at mela
DINDIGUL, India: For the first time, private companies offered jobs to 102 physically disabled persons and persons with developmental disorders through a mega job mela organised by the district administration here recently. Most of them joined duty in the respective companies on Saturday itself.
While one disabled got supervisory job in a spinning mill to check quality of yarn, another one joined as warden and yet other one became a legal adviser to a spinning mill. Thirteen persons joined duty as computer operators and rest of the recruits as industrial workers.
The job mela also provided opportunity and financial assistance to enterprising disabled to set up their own businesses.
Collector M Vallalar, who inaugurated the mela, said that disabled persons and persons with developmental disorders tend to have special skills in a particular field. Opportunity should be given to such persons. They were not weak, as perceived by many.
Disabled persons should not hesitate to grab an opportunity. Over 40,000, out of a total population of 20 lakhs in the district, had some developmental disorder or other. They could not expose their skills owing to lack of opportunity, he said.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/29/stories/2010032953760300.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Corporation pursues goal of better delivery in face of heavy odds
| The recent computerisation drive is cited as one of the best citizen-friendly measures |
BRIDGING THE GAP: Residents taking a look at the Perambur flyover on Saturday.
CHENNAI, India: With the inauguration of the Perambur flyover, the seventh major facility in over three years to ensure smoother flow of traffic, the pursuit of better delivery of services by the Chennai Corporation continues despite challenges.
Even as a number of residents draw attention to noteworthy works of the civic body ranging from the Marina beach beautification to bridges and roads, most of them stress the need for smoother flow of traffic and to further develop the strength of the civic body in its online initiatives taken in the past three years.
“The Corporation has constructed many bridges in the past few years and has contributed to reduction of traffic congestion to an extent. Road widening in many places has helped residents. Yet traffic continues to be a major problem,” said S.Vasudevan, a resident of R.A.Puram.
The recent computerisation drive of the civic body has been one of the best citizen-friendly measures, he added.
“Beautification of Marina beach and more parks by the corporation has given great enthusiasm to our children,” said R.B.Saravanan, a resident of Nungambakkam.
Kolathur resident K.Suresh Kumar: “The initiatives such as online building approval of the corporation and IVRS for payment of property tax have created enormous enthusiasm. But more awareness has to be created.”
According to an official, a total of Rs.1.1 lakh has been collected as tax in the past few weeks using the IVRS.
This has simplified the procedure for payment of taxes to the civic body, said the official.
Over 2 lakh birth and death certificates have been downloaded by residents using the services of the online initiative of the corporation. Similarly, the 300 handheld devices for tax collection have been procured recently for simplifying the collection of taxes and facilitating automation, the official added. More provision for downloading the property tax receipt has been done during the period.
However, Mayor M.Subramanian said the initiatives of the Chennai Corporation towards empowerment of persons with disabilities, women and the weaker sections in the past few years were some of the significant efforts in over three years.
The civic body received the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, 2009, for its work in the creation of barrier-free environment for persons with disabilities from President Prathiba Patil.
Beautifying the city with more parks, the initiation of the work on a massive storm water drain project at a cost of Rs.1,448 crore and retaining the glory of historically significant structures such as Victoria Public Hall, yoga in parks and increasing the number of beneficiaries for maternity assistance in Corporation Hospitals give us a sense of satisfaction, he said.
Over 1,600 children with disabilities study in the civic body’s schools.
The Corporation also has tie-ups with NGOs to provide resource persons to teach children with moderate to severe disabilities.
He said that all newly constructed buildings of the civic body had ramps to provide barrier-free access.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/29/stories/2010032959950300.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Corporation schools set for revamp
| Civic body is keen on creating a positive image for the schools |
Good times ahead: With interesting initiatives lined up, students going to schools run by the Chennai Corporation can look forward to the new academic year. A group of students at a school in Perambur recently.
CHENNAI, India: This June will mark the beginning of an exciting academic year for schools run by the Chennai Corporation, if the initiatives being planned are any indication.
The civic body, which announced a host of school education-related schemes in its recent budget, is keen on building a positive image for the schools. To start with, the Corporation Boys Higher Secondary School in your neighbourhood will be rechristened Chennai Boys Higher Secondary School. All the school buildings will also be painted in a uniform colour.
“We want students to identify with their school and feel proud about their institution,” said Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni.
In this effort towards what seems like an overall revamp, a series of initiatives have been planned. About 75 vacancies have been identified in the higher secondary schools. “We have spoken to the Teachers Recruitment Board and these posts will be filled soon,” Mr. Lakhoni said.
The Corporation is also in the process of procuring books for its school libraries. “We want to set aside half-an-hour a day as exclusive reading time for students, about thrice a week. We are buying children’s literature, comics and other informative books to promote the habit of reading among children,” he said. During summer vacation, one room in every school would be readied as library.
A mathematics laboratory for students of classes X and XII is being set up in collaboration with a non-governmental organisation working in the area of mathematics and science learning.
The laboratory, to be housed at the school in Nungambakkam, would be open to students of other schools, too. “Depending on how this works out, similar facilities will be made available to students of class VI upward,” Mr. Lakhoni said.
One higher secondary school in each zone would be identified as ‘School of excellence.’
“We will make sure that all teacher vacancies are filled and the infrastructure is good. We will also hold regular PTA meetings to make sure that the parents are involved actively,” Mr. Lakhoni said.
From career counselling sessions for students and setting benchmarks in examination scores to ensuring transportation for students and making available scholarships to meritorious students, a host of factors would make these schools “model schools” for other schools to emulate.
“These schools of excellence will be modelled on Kendriya Vidyalayas, where the emphasis will be on quality,” Mr. Lakhoni added.
In addition to these, the civic body would also gear up to implement ‘Samacheer Kalvi’ under the Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education Act for classes I and VI from the coming academic year, by training teachers.
“We are beginning our admission procedure in April this year. We really hope that the enrolments go up, particularly at primary level,” ,” Mr. Lakhoni said.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/29/stories/2010032960990400.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
'Cognitive Behavioural Therapy helped my mind and my work'
‘Therapy helped my mind and my work’
Mark made about 500 cold calls a week
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Three years ago Mark Young was under severe pressure.
His father had been seriously ill, he and his wife were sleep deprived with two small children and he had a demanding job, which necessitated him making 500 cold-calls a week.
As the relentless pressure built the cracks started to show and Mark, 39, started having debilitating panic attacks.
“I work in extremes and my switch either used to be on or off,” he said.
High pressure
“I was the sole earner in our house. I was working like stink, exercising like mad, trying to be a great dad and husband and all things to all clients and there was not much left in the pot.
“When we were with some friends I had a panic attack. I couldn’t think straight. I was being sick and shaking.
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There is no question it saved my life Mark Young
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“Everything completely unravelled from that moment on.”
Mark’s GP suggested anti-depressants, but he was reluctant to take them as he did not feel depressed.
Psychotherapy was not a success and then a friend of the family suggested he had cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
CBT is a talking treatment with a practical approach to problem-solving. It aims to change the patterns of thinking or behaviour that are behind people’s problems so they can then change the way they feel.
Within a matter of weeks Mark, from Wiltshire, was on the road to recovery and decided to use his new found CBT skills to change his behaviour at work, treating people more empathetically rather than simply going for the “hard sell”.
New approaches
He said: “I work for other companies to help get them new clients.
“The way I had to do that was to make lots of cold-calls to lots of marketing directors.
“Cold-calling is something I adore and I have been doing it for about 17 years. I was making between 500-600 calls a week.
Rhiannon helped Mark work more efficiently
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“A lot of emails and calls will be sell, sell, sell and it will all be about the company that wants to sell its product.
“The way I do it now is by acknowledging that we want to sell them something, but telling them it’s a good deal and asking if they want to talk about it.
“People say they like the emails.”
Mark’s CBT coach Rhiannon Sargent, who runs her own private practice, said that changing the way he worked had been vital.
“Having reached somewhere with his day-to-day panic attacks, I wanted to hear more about his work.
“One of the things I thought exacerbated his panic attacks was the way his job was designed. He would get emails and calls without the time to interpret them.
“He now works a lot harder but a lot better and is more relaxed. He has the time to look at the feedback and is listening better.”
Paul Farmer, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, said: “Talking therapies can be an absolute lifeline for people experiencing mental distress.
“However, there is no one-size-fits-all therapy and, as with medication, people sometimes need to try a few alternatives to find the one that’s most helpful for them whether that’s CBT, counselling, group therapy or psychotherapy.
“All of the therapies available use different techniques that some people will respond to, and others won’t, so having a range of options available is the only way to ensure people get the most out of their treatment.”
Therapy catalyst
Mark said the changes had made a big difference.
“Within three months of working with Rhiannon, I had doubled the business.
“Three years down the line, she is very much part of what I am doing.
“I still have anxieties, but now I have the tools to deal with it.
“There is no question CBT saved my life, because I did have suicidal feelings.
“I will never be able to thank Rhiannon enough for what she has done.”
Reference Link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8586479.stm
Courtesy
BBC News
Can the 'Cuban-Jubans' rebuild South Sudan?
With Cuban pork roast on the menu, Salsa classes on a Thursday and animated Spanish competing with the Latin beat, De Havana club in the South Sudanese capital Juba feels as though it is on the wrong continent.
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 I think Cuba is unique; they believe in what you are – not where you belong or which religion you practise or the colour of your skin Dr Okony Simon Mori
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It is here that a group of former Sudanese exiles, known as the “Cuban-Jubans”, gather most nights to share a bottle of whisky and put the world to rights – in Spanish.
Among them are doctors, pharmacists, accountants, engineers and economists.
All were educated in Cuba during Sudan’s 21-year civil war and are now regarded as the intellectual elite of the south – one of the world’s poorest and least developed regions.
“In Juba we have more than 100 Cuban graduates from different fields, all part of the 600-plus students sent to Cuba for education,” says 38-year-old Dr Okony Simon Mori.
He returned to work at Juba’s Teaching Hospital in 2007, two years after a peace deal ended the conflict in which some 1.5 million people died.
‘Pencils for Kalashnikovs’
He was just 13 when chosen by the newly launched southern rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), to go to Cuba.
Scotch whisky, not rum, fuels the debate at De Havana
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“Our late hero [SPLM leader] Dr John Garang told us: ‘Now the elder people will take the AK-47 and you guys will take the pencil and the pencil will be your Kalashnikov,'” he recalls.
Dr Okony left his family in 1985 at one of the refugee camps in Ethiopia where thousands of Sudanese had fled the fighting between the army of the Muslim-dominated north and Arab militia on the one side and the SPLM on the other.
He travelled to Cuba aboard a Russian ship and did not see his mother and father again for 18 years – and it was not until he graduated and moved to Canada a decade later that he had any direct contact with them.
“We stayed in a boarding school in a small island called Isla de la Juventud [Island of Youth]. There were 25,000 students from different countries – most of them from Africa and Latin America,” Dr Okony says.
“I think Cuba is unique and is a very special place; they believe in what you are – not where you belong or which religion you practise or the colour of your skin.
“The only thing they care about is your well-being and your aptitude. Really, they treated us as their own children.”
Latin lilt
After graduating in the late 1990s and with the civil war still raging, Canada agreed to take about 200 of the students, who had no passports.
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 The time will come. You can’t make one o’clock to be three o’clock Havana club owner Deng Aleer-Leek
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Despite their qualifications, most ended up doing menial work to send badly needed cash to their families now mainly based in Kenya.
It was only after the peace deal was signed that the medical graduates sought retraining in order to return to Sudan.
With the help of the Canadian charity Samaritan’s Purse, they studied at the University of Calgary and then in Kenya before relocating to the south.
They not only received training in English and tropical diseases, but also on how to cope with the culture shock of returning to Africa.
“When we were coming back, people were saying: ‘Those guys are crazy.’ But being out for a long time does not stop me to go and adapt my culture,” says Dr Okony.
“I feel like I’m doing something for the people who couldn’t make it to go to educate themselves. They fought this war and some of them died, so I have to fill their shoes now to carry this heavy load.”
And despite his Latin lilt, he says he has not totally forgotten the local languages and is becoming more fluent.
Patience
Fellow Cuban-Juban Deng Aleer-Leek says he may not be grammatically correct, but his Dinka is understandable – though when he first spoke to his mother, she needed assurance it was really him.
“She asked: ‘What’s your nickname?” and when I said it she said: ‘Yes, this is my son,'” he recalls.
He is an engineer who built De Havana for his Cuban-educated compatriots – a haven, he says, they need if they are to meet their own expectations and what is expected of them.
He says they have been waiting for so long to fulfil their role of going home and leading the reconstruction efforts in South Sudan that the slow pace of change can be frustrating.
“We feel like we’re not doing our duty,” he says, before recognising that they have to be patient.
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 As JF Kennedy said – do what you can for your country not what your country can do for you Dr Okony Simon Mori
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“The time will come. You can’t make one o’clock to be three o’clock.”
Dr Okony is much more sanguine about the difficulties facing the south but says foreign investment is what the region really needs.
According to Juba Teaching Hospital’s medical director, the hospital only has 18 doctors but needs 60.
He says it is hard to recruit staff when non-governmental organisations pay so much better.
“I know they’re short of doctors, I know there’s a lack of medicine but we try to do our best because, as JF Kennedy said – do what you can for your country not what your country can do for you,” says Dr Okony.
In the last couple of years, the hospital has improved immeasurably – just as Juba has transformed from “a jungle to a city”, he says with clear pride.
And like his fellow Cuban-Jubans, he says he hopes to one day to visit Cuba again.
“I would like it, when I have time, to thank them not for me but what they did for the people of southern Sudan.”
| Southern Sudan | |
All Sudan |
| Population: 7.5m to 9.7m | |
Population: 42.2m |
| Area: 640,000 sq km | |
Area: 2.5m sq km |
| Maternal mortality: 1,700 deaths per 100,000 births | |
Maternal mortality: 1,107 deaths per 100,000 births |
| Access to clean water: 50% | |
Access to clean water: 70% |
| Life expectancy: 42 years | |
Life expectancy: 58.92 years |
Reference Link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8586783.stm
Courtesy
BBC News
The new campaign to cut bowel cancer deaths
‘They told us he had piles, but it was bowel cancer’
When Chris Cowley started bleeding heavily during marathon training he was concerned, but not unduly so.
Two years earlier, his GP had told him that he had piles and he assumed it was a worsening of his condition.
He went back to his GP and was reassured again, but told to come back again within two weeks if it was no better.
It was not, and in 2008 his GP referred Chris to a specialist.
Multiple tumours
Within weeks 41-year-old Chris was told that he had bowel cancer and that it had spread to his liver.
Within 19 months he was dead.
“He was riddled with cancer,” said his wife Melissa.
He had a tumour in his rectum and 20 in his liver. It had spread to his lymph nodes and pelvis.
Chris tried numerous treatments
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Melissa said: “I had done a bit of research the night before on bowel cancer and said to Chris ‘now we’re pretty sure this is bowel cancer and can cope with it’.
“I said ‘we are ready for it but we have to pray it has not gone to the liver’.
“We sat down and the consultant turned to us and said ‘I’m sorry to say it is cancer and it has gone to the liver’.
“At that point my world collapsed. I knew pretty much that was a terminal diagnosis.
“We went home in complete and utter shock.
“We saw an oncologist the next day who told us there was no cure.”
Younger risk grows
Melissa is angry that her husband’s cancer was not picked up sooner, but says there is an ignorance among some medics who assume it is an older person’s disease.
“They are too ready to dismiss things in that region. Chris had clear symptoms of bowel cancer.
“He should never have been sent home with rectal bleeding.”
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BOWEL CANCER FACTS
Bowel cancer is a disease of the large bowel (colon) or rectum. It is also sometimes called colorectal or colon cancer
It is the UK’s second biggest cancer killer – claiming 16,000 lives each year
Of the 100 new cases of bowel cancer diagnosed every day, almost half will die from the disease. Yet if caught in time, 90% of bowel cancer cases can be treated successfully
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Although 95% of bowel cancer cases are in the over 50s, the incidence of bowel cancer in younger people is increasing rapidly.
Will Steward, professor of oncology at the University of Leicester, said the figures were causing concern.
He said an increase in the consumption of high-fat foods and decrease in the amount of exercise people take played a large part in the rise of bowel cancer.
“A survey last year showed the incidence of people under 30 had doubled over the last 10 years,” he said.
“It is mirrored in Australia and it is an amazing and very worrying change.
“I saw a 23-year-old in the clinic with colon cancer two weeks ago and you would never have seen that in the past.”
‘Cheeky warning’
In a bid to warn younger people about the signs and symptoms and to mark April’s awareness month, the charity Beating Bowel Cancer plans to use social networking sites to spread the message.
‘Cheeky Warning’ will use animated banner adverts to grab the attention of social media users and a campaign film featuring bowel cancer patients who have beaten the disease.
Hilary Whittaker, chief executive of Beating Bowel Cancer says, “‘Cheeky Warning’ is a fun campaign with a very important message.
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THREE MAJOR SIGNS OF BOWEL CANCER
Changes in bowel habit – such as prolonged constipation or diarrhoea
Passing blood on or in stools, excluding haemorrhoids
Cramping stomach pains
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“Currently almost half of those diagnosed with bowel cancer will die from the disease, yet over 90% of cases could be successfully treated if diagnosed early.
“Awareness of symptoms is therefore essential to save lives from bowel cancer through early diagnosis.”
Melissa said that, while it was too late for a cure for Chris, he did have months of gruelling palliative chemotherapy.
“We would do anything to prolong his life, but to be honest neither of us really accepted he was going to die. We were in it to beat it.
“We were told upfront by the oncologist that the median survival was two years, but if you read around there are miracle cases that happen and we had pinned our hopes on him being one of them,” she said.
But his liver failed and Chris, a father of four young children, died in his bed at home.
No-one knows why Chris got the cancer as he had no genetic risk and ate and exercised well.
In April, Melissa is running the London Marathon to raise cash for bowel cancer research and to raise the profile of the disease.
“I don’t want Chris’s life to have been lost in vain. He was an amazing man, just the most incredible person. We adored each other.
“When he died our world fell apart, but since then we have continued to look to him to provide us with leadership and inspiration.
“We have done the things that he would have wanted us to do.”
Reference Link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8586783.stm
Courtesy
BBC News
Her 'duty' is helping Muslim women heal after abuse
NEW YORK (CNN) — Toward the end of her marriage, Rabia Iqbal said she feared for her life.
Robina Niaz said the Quran “condemns” abuse of women. “If we witness injustice, we’re required to speak up.”
Iqbal was born in New York to parents who had immigrated to the United States from the tribal areas of Pakistan. She had a strict Muslim upbringing and when she was 16, her parents arranged her marriage to a 38-year-old man. She claims her husband turned violent during their 10 years of marriage.
When she finally left him, she did not know where to turn. Going home wasn’t an option, she said.
“My parents … made clear that they would disown me,” Iqbal said. “My father even said … ‘You’re lucky you live in America because if you lived back home, you would have been dead by now.’ ”
She was hiding out in her office at work when a friend put her in touch with Robina Niaz, whose organization, Turning Point for Women and Families, helps female Muslim abuse victims.
“It was such a relief … to speak about things that … I thought no one would understand,” said Iqbal, who has received counseling from Niaz for more than two years and calls Niaz her “savior.”
“Robina understood the cultural nuances … the religious issues,” Iqbal said. 
Watch Iqbal tell her story »
A devout Muslim, Niaz stresses that there is no evidence that domestic violence is more common among Muslim families.
“Abuse happens everywhere,” said Niaz. “It cuts across barriers of race, religion, culture.”
But, she said, Muslims are often reluctant to confront the issue.
“There’s a lot of denial,” she said. “It makes it much harder for the victims of abuse to speak out.”
When Niaz launched her organization in 2004, it was the first resource of its kind in New York City. Today, her one-woman campaign has expanded into a multifaceted endeavor that is raising awareness about family violence and providing direct services to women in need.
Niaz said she firmly believes that domestic violence goes against Islamic teachings, and considers it her religious duty to try to stop abuse from happening.
“Quran condemns abusive behavior of women,” she said, noting that the prophet Mohammed was never known to have abused women. “Allah says, ‘Stand up against injustice and bear witness, even if it’s against your own kin. So if I see injustice being done to women and children, I have to speak up. It’s my duty.”
Niaz’s mission began after a difficult period in her own life. Born and raised in Pakistan, she had earned a master’s degree in psychology and had a successful career in international affairs and marketing when she moved to the United States to marry in 1990.
“It was a disastrous marriage,” she said.
As Niaz struggled to navigate the American legal system during her divorce, she said she appreciated how lucky she was to speak English and have an education. She realized that many immigrant women without those advantages might be more likely to stay in marriages because they didn’t know how to make the system work for them.
“If this is how difficult it is for me, then what must other immigrant women go through?” she remembered thinking.
After volunteering with South Asian victims of domestic violence, Niaz, who speaks five languages, got a job using those skills to advocate for immigrant women affected by family violence.
Rabia Iqbal, right, has received counseling from Niaz for two years.
But Niaz’s focus changed on September 11, 2001. “I was no longer a Pakistani-American … I looked at myself as a Muslim.”
Niaz said the backlash many Muslims experienced after the terror attacks made abuse victims more afraid to seek help; they feared being shunned for bringing negative attention to their community. Watch Niaz explain the effects of 9/11 on abused Muslim women »
“Women who were caught in abusive marriages were trapped even more,” recalled Niaz.
In 2004, Niaz used her savings to start Turning Point for Women and Families. Today, her work focuses on three main areas: providing direct services to abused women, raising awareness through outreach, and educating young women — an effort she hopes will empower future generations to speak out against abuse.
Crisis intervention services are a critical element of Niaz’s efforts. Through weekly counseling sessions, she and her team provide emotional support to the women while helping them with practical issues, such as finding homeless shelters, matrimonial lawyers, filing police reports or assisting with immigration issues.
Niaz has helped more than 200 Muslim women. While most of Turning Point’s clients are immigrants, the group helps women from every background.
While Niaz has support from many people in New York’s Muslim community, she acknowledges that not everyone appreciates her efforts. She keeps her office address confidential and takes precautions to ensure her safety.
“There have been threats … but that comes with this work,” she said. “I know that God is protecting me because I’m doing the right thing.”
Reference Link
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/09/24/cnnheroes.robina.niaz/index.html
Courtesy
CNN
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