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Philip Ochieng' on Names
Related to country: Kenya

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My names? There’s no such a thing!

By PHILIP OCHIENG
Posted Friday, May 8 2009 at 17:51


My name includes one word that should be close to my chest. Every Luo individual has such nying juok. In a Nilo-Saharan custom no longer in force, you kept it top secret lest a witch lay hold of and use it to plot your death.

I was called Ochieng because I was born “under the sun”, that is, around noon (from the Luo word chieng, “the sun”). Only at baptism did my mother choose Pilipo for me (“Philip”). She had no idea what it meant.

The important thing was that the British missionaries had ordained that you could not be a Christian unless you carried a Euro-Hebraic name (even if it be Hitler). What if she had known that Pilipo came from the Greek Philihippos and was no more heavenly than a “horse lover”?

If the Luo had had the “family names” institution, I would now be Philip Otani – Otani being my father’s name. Indeed, my people of Rusinga know me as Ochieng Otani or, more correctly, Ochieng k’Otani or Ochieng mak’Otani or Ochieng wuod Otani.

The Luo words “maka” (or mak’ if the next word begins with a vowel), ka (or k’) and wuod mean “of” or “son of”. Some well known examples are Ouma maka Dudi, Ochola mak’Anyengo, Otieno mak’Onyango, Ojwang K’Ombudo and Oludhe Macgoye (the k anglicised in the last one).

Other systems

Equivalents in other systems include Bruce MacKenzie, Marshall McLuhan, Sunniva O’Neill, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles de Gaulle, Vasco da Gama, Ludwig van Beethoven, Otto von Bismarck, David ben Gurion, Osama bin Laden, Ibn Battuta, William ole Ntimama, Daniel arap Moi and Ngugi wa Thiong’o.

Philip Ochieng, then – and the more than 10 endearing terms that you do not know -- is my own name. But note the singular verb “is” in that construction. It means is that, even if I chose to use all those names officially, I would still have only one name.

I reiterate that my name is Philip Ochieng. During the Kriegler inquiry, people constantly introduced themselves something like: “My names are Robert Ali Matatu, Wafula Kimani, Nyamweya arap Fulani.” I continue to hear this nonsense from especially our television screens.

When they borrowed the creator Goddess of the Nilotes – worshipped as far as Mesopotamia, India, Australia, Britain and Mexico – the Hellenes called her Myronymos because she had 10 thousand names. Yet she always insisted that she had only one name.

She would have said: “My name is Achieng Anath Aphrodite Artemis Asenath Aset Asherah Asiis Astarte Astoreth Athena Brigit Cara Chebet Dagda Dana Demeter Diana Enkai Ereshkigal Esther Eve Friya Gaia Hathor Hawwa Hebe Hera Inanna Iao Io Ishtar Isis Khasaya Leviathan Mary Medusa Minerva Mumbi Nyakalaga Neith Nephthys Ninhursag, Ninki Nut Oestre Onyame Pandora Persephone Rahab Semele Sophia Tefnut Tehom Tiamat Usha Venus and so on ad infinitum.”

By this, the divine sovereign Maat reminds you that in her system – which includes English – your name is always singular no matter how many words may compose it.

May 25, 2009 | 3:15 PM Comments  0 comments



Kenyan women and the sex boycott more to the picture than meets the eye?
Related to country: Kenya

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

These G10 women are smarter than we think

By MUTAHI NGUNYI
Posted Saturday, May 2 2009 at 19:08

Last Sunday, I said a new political order is coming. And that we will recognise it when “stupid” ideas hit our politics. My point was simple: if an idea is not “stupid” it will not fly. If people do not laugh and tease it, it will surely die.

Then the “sex boycott” by G10 hit the market. We have done nothing but laugh at it. In fact, we see it as the only “stupid” idea in town. And because we are blind, we have failed to recognise its power. Now it has become a virus.

Unseen to all, it has entered our system without warning. It is spreading silently, slowly but viciously. Everywhere, people are talking about it. Some are irritated, others fascinated. Bottom line: we have been outwitted. These women are smarter than we think. Consider the reasons with me.

For starters, this boycott is not about biology. To think so is to miss the point. In fact, and to console the men, national “sex activity” went up because of the boycott. And what is more, maybe G10 likes it that way.

If this is true, we must conclude the following; they used reverse psychology on us. But how so? On a normal day, and according to statistics, a man thinks about sex 12 times an hour.

This situation degenerates if he is idle. Then it explodes if he is challenged sexually. The question, therefore, is this: Did G10 capitalise on this weakness?

Did they build their strategy around the possible explosion? Maybe they did. And if so, their intention was to irritate, annoy and frustrate. But as we responded in anger, they collected their desired results.

As we aggressed them, they built a profile. From our mockery, an unknown group gained recognition locally and internationally. My hunch? This is all they wanted.

But I am fascinated by three other “stupid” elements of the G10 strategy. One, these women do not understand politics. In Kenya, tribes do not mix. And to mix them is to be a heretic. G10 has mixed the tribes without “mercy”.

The Kikuyus are kissing the Luos; the Somalis are hugging the Luhyas. This unity of tribes is unacceptable: it does not have the permission of the principals! And if this is our thinking, we are damn lost.

Maybe the unity of our nation will be achieved by our women. I say so because “…people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who actually do it”.

These women are crazy to think they will unify us. And maybe they will. As they push their unity agenda, the complaining country should remember this: “…man who says it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it!” If the G10 women are doing it, the cowardly men should not interrupt. After all, what have they done to save the country?

Two, and from the media reports, G10 is “stupid” because it does not have a leader. It does not have a strong woman like Martha Karua to push its agenda. It is just a coalition of simple mothers and their daughters. And it is this “simpleness” that makes it powerful and revolutionary.

Ms Karua is a lone ranger; a “one-manist”. But as the Luo proverb goes: “…if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go with others”. Ms Karua will go fast, but she will not go far.

Formless movement

If maintained, the collective and diverse leadership of this G10 will take them far. Because they have no leader, they are formless. To a rigid mind, a formless movement is “stupid”.

But in realpolitik, it is powerful and scary. In other words, G10 is “guerrilla marketing” its politics. And so long as we cannot understand its formless, leaderless structure, the movement will grow.

Three, their strategy is “stupid” because it is raw and they are weak. I watched one of them break down in tears during a press conference. At first I was scandalised. But the more I thought of it, the more I was persuaded by their raw sincerity and weakness. It reminded me of a book known as Subliminal Seduction.

According to this book, we seduce people with our weakness, never with our strengths. Our weaknesses make others feel superior to us. And once this is achieved, defences are lowered and persuasion begins.

The fact that these G10 women are nondescript, non-threatening and weak is politically “stupid”. But given our conditions, it is seductive and powerful. More so, their use of feminine power!

The question, however, is: will they tire? Will they run the full course? I have no idea. But they have no option. And this is best illustrated by a story from the Holy Bible.

Four lepers were stuck outside the gate of a city called Samaria. They needed food badly. If they went back into the city, they would die. And if they sat at the gate of the city, they would also die. Their only option was to match into the enemy camp in Syria and gamble for food. However, this was also problematic.

If they matched into enemy camp, the Syrians would kill them. Then again, they might spare them. And so they decided to gamble.

As they headed for the camp, their footsteps sounded like a huge force of cavalry. This scared the Syrian king and his troops. He had to take off and abandon camp. When the four lepers reached the edge of the camp, it was empty. Their gamble had paid off!

This is what G10 should do. They can either retreat to the gate of the city and starve to death, or decide to soldier on. And, like the lepers discovered, once they took the first step, God made their footsteps sound like the roar of a huge force.

In sum, the enemy is not always as strong as we think he is. If this is true, the G10 gamble could just pay off. But will they tire and give up? I pray not!

Mr Ngunyi is a political scientist with the Consulting House, a policy and security think-tank for the Great Lakes region and West Africa; mutahi@myself.com

May 4, 2009 | 7:54 AM Comments  1 comments

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Rest in peace, Al-Tayeb Salih
Related to country: Sudan

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Acclaimed Sudanese novelist Al-Tayeb Saleh dies

The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

KHARTOUM, Sudan: Al-Tayeb Saleh, one of the Arab world's top novelists who excelled at portraying characters torn between East and West, died Wednesday in London, Sudan's official news agency said. He was 80.

Saleh was born in 1929 in the northern Sudanese town of Marawi to a poor family and was educated first in Islamic schools and then later British institutions. He left Sudan to pursue graduate studies in the U.K. and went on to live in various European and Arab capitals, rarely returning home.

His works reflected the Arab and African quest for identity, especially in the period of 1960s, which were marked by the end of colonialism and the rise of nationalism across the region.

His 1966 masterpiece, "The Season of Migration to the North," can be described as one of the earlier writings about the idea of a clash of civilizations.

"I have redefined the so-called East-West relationship as essentially one of conflict, while it had previously been treated in romantic terms," he said once in an interview in the Arabic press.

The novel was ranked among the 100 best works of fiction in 2002, according to a vote by 100 noted writers from 54 countries organized by the Norwegian Book Clubs.

The story is about intellectuals torn between the culture of their native Sudan and that of Europe, where they lived for a time.

One of the main characters in the story describes his time in the West, where he seduces and then dumps a succession of English women before finally marrying one in a stormy love-hate pairing that ultimately results in her murder at his hands.

Critics speculated that the novel drew heavily from the author's own life, however Saleh, who married a Scottish woman, always denied this assertion, maintaining it was only fiction.

Though not officially banned, the Sudanese government in late 1990s attacked the novel as pornographic and said it violated Islamic teachings. But most believe the government's displeasure with the book stemmed from its harsh description of the political and cultural conditions in Sudan.

Saleh also wrote "The Cypriot Man" and the "The Wedding of Zein," which was turned into a film that won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1976.

He also contributed to a monthly London-based Arabic publication, Al-Majalla.

Gamal el-Ghitani, editor in chief of the Cairo-based literary weekly Akhbar al-Adab, described Saleh as "irreplaceable."

"Saleh is one of world's top novelists," el-Ghitani said. "On personal level, he was a modest, wise and brave man who carried the essence of Sudan's culture outside its borders."

Saleh is survived by his wife and three daughters.

February 19, 2009 | 9:15 AM Comments  0 comments

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Ayman Nour released
Related to country: Egypt

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Egyptian Political Dissident, Imprisoned for Years, Is Suddenly Released

February 19, 2009
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN

CAIRO — Egypt’s most prominent political dissident and a one-time presidential candidate, Ayman Nour, was unexpectedly released from prison on Wednesday after the United States and European governments had pressed for years to have him set free.

Mr. Nour, a charismatic political leader who challenged the governing parties’ monopoly on power, said his more than three years in prison came to an abrupt end when he was taken from his cell late in the day. He was driven to his apartment building, took the elevator to the eighth floor and rang the doorbell. Soon he was in the arms of his 17-year-old son, Shady.

An hour later, as he greeted a crowd of reporters, photographers, family and friends in his living room, Mr. Nour said: “It is a surprise! There was no prior plan for it and there were no negotiations over anything.” He seemed fit and trim, stunned and unbowed by his experience. He said he planned to help rebuild his political party and push for democratic reforms in Egypt.

“Prison,” he said, “makes heroes and symbols out of men.”

In a one-line statement, Egypt’s attorney general, Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud, announced late on Wednesday that nine prisoners, including Mr. Nour, had been released for “medical reasons.” For more than three years, the courts repeatedly refused Mr. Nour’s request to be released because of poor health, and President Hosni Mubarak said he could not interfere with the judicial process.

Mr. Nour was convicted in 2005 of forging signatures on petitions he had filed to create his party. The case was widely seen as politically inspired. He only needed 50 signatures, but turned in thousands.

He would have been eligible for parole in July. His early release was interpreted by his family, his supporters and political analysts as a purely political gesture. It came at a time of mounting pressure on Egyptian officials over their handling of the Gaza crisis, and the summary arrest of protesters, bloggers and Islamists. While his release was welcomed, it was also seen as evidence that Egypt’s justice system was ruled by decree, not law.

“I am happy he is out, but I am sad that the executive power and the president can interfere directly in judicial outcomes,” said Alaa Aswani, a writer and sharp social critic of Egyptian society. “The president can put someone in jail and can pardon him and then look for a legal pretext. This is the sad part.”

Mr. Nour’s imprisonment ended Egypt’s brief experiment with allowing opposition politics to flourish. His Al Gahd Party had become the only legal opposition with a growing, anti-establishment following. In 2005 Mr. Nour garnered 600,000 votes in his bid for the presidency, placing a distant second behind Mr. Mubarak in a race controlled by the president’s governing party.

Mr. Nour’s wife, Gamila Ismail, said she had been running errands on Wednesday when the doorman in her building called and told her to rush home. He put her husband on the phone and he said, “I need the keys, I want to go home.” Absolutely stunned, she asked how he had got out. “ ‘I didn’t jump the wall,’ ” she said he replied.

In an interview two days earlier, Mr. Nour’s wife held prison documents in her hand that she said proved that the government was planning to keep her husband behind bars beyond his earliest possible parole date, July 21. She said they had accused him of attacking guards and prison doctors.

“They want to keep him until he surrenders and gets broken,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “It’s endless.”

On Wednesday, she was happy, but also dumbfounded. “Nothing can be expected from this regime, good or bad,” she said, with a frozen smile and glazed eyes. “Even when it involves you personally.”

The Egyptian government refused to budge on the Nour case when international pressure was strongest. Mr. Nour had served in Parliament for 10 years, but he gained prominence after his arrest. Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state at the time, postponed a trip to Egypt to protest his imprisonment.

President Bush mentioned Mr. Nour in a speech in 2007.

The Egyptian government bristled at the pressure and dug in.

There was speculation on Wednesday that Mr. Nour’s release was delayed until after Mr. Bush left office, in part as a swipe at his administration and in part as a good-will gesture to the Obama administration.

“All the pretexts for his release today are unacceptable, and no one can believe it,” said Salama Ahmed Salama, editor of an independent daily newspaper, Shorouq. “It can be seen in the framework of improving relations with the United States.”

During his time in prison, Mr. Nour’s wife was his greatest advocate, traveling the world, fighting to keep his party alive and attending rallies, all in an effort to keep up pressure on the Egyptian government. She was also left alone to raise two sons. The state responded by filing charges against her and threatening her with prison.

Then suddenly it was over. Mr. Nour rang his doorbell late in the day. No one answered, so he put his bag down in front of the door and went down to the doorman. His son, Shady, had been sleeping. He eventually got up, walked over to open the door, saw the bag and smelled his father’s cologne.

“I called my girlfriend and said, ‘I think my father is free,’ ” Shady recalled. At that moment, the elevator door opened and Mr. Nour walked into his son’s arms.

Within an hour, he was dressed in a neat charcoal suit with a peach tie and surrounded by dozens of reporters, photographers and cameramen. The crowd was frenzied, knocking over lamps and climbing on furniture, but Mr. Nour seemed happy, content to talk, to be jostled, to be free.

“Jail changed me in that I read more in those four years than I have read in 40 years, and I have written more in those four years than I have written in 40 years,” he said. “I do not regret anything.”

He then drove off to appear on one of Egypt’s most popular late-night talk shows.

Mona el-Naggar contributed reporting.

February 19, 2009 | 9:12 AM Comments  0 comments

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Grandparents bearing the burden of AIDS orphans
Related to country: Kenya

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Grandparents bearing the burden of AIDS orphans

By COSMAS BUTUNYI and OUMA WANZALA
Posted Monday, December 22 2008 at 20:17

Ms Fridah Makokha sat pensively in the audience, her chin cupped in her palm. Her eyes were fixed on a gigantic screen, where a movie was being beamed.

She was starring in the local movie that was “premiering” at Namboboto Secondary School in Samia District.

Though the launch did not have the flamboyance that accompanies movie premieres in Hollywood, Mama Makokha, 70, had the pride of a star.

The film, Grandmother’s Tribe, is about her life — her struggles to make ends meet for herself and her grandson, Emanuel Wafula, who was orphaned by Aids.

“I’m happy to be used as a messenger in the fight against this disease because I have lost five children to it,” she said.

She added: “I used to hide in my house and cry, but since I played a role in the film, I have drastically changed and I no longer fear to speak about Aids, which is claiming our children”.

The film, which was partly shot in 2006 at her Mudoba Village home in Samia District, chronicles the plight of the grandmothers. Part of the film was shot in Kibera, Nairobi.

It was produced and directed by filmmakers from New Zealand and Canada with help from the US government.

During the recent launch, in the depths of Funyula constituency, residents were accorded the rare luxury of watching a film on big screen.

And it was not just film with an alien story line and characters — it was about an all too familiar back yard, starring their relatives and neighbours.

“We intend show the movie to a wider audience,” said the cultural officer at the American embassy, Ms Ellen Beinstock, who was the chief guest.

Ms Beinstock said that her office was determined to screen it to the whole world in order to support the organisers’ commitment to telling the story.

The strategy, she said, was to show it to smaller groups, communities, churches and youth groups.

“We hope that people will learn from the film,” she added.

The ultimate goal of the film project, Ms Beinstock said, was to ensure that someday, grandmothers would be relieved of the burden of caring for their grandchildren orphaned by Aids.

Area MP Paul Otuoma, who attended the launch, said the film was an eye-opener as it had taught many Kenyans what was happening and yet had been ignored.

“We need to take up the challenge and face the fight against Aids, which seems to be wiping out our society and leaving many orphans to be cared for by their elderly,” the minister said.

The brain behind the film was Mr Felix Masi, the director of Voiceless Children in Kenya, who drew from personal experiences, having lost his mother when he was only eight.

Later, working as photojournalist, Mr Masi would come face to face with orphans left under the care of their grandmothers.

“In the course of duty, I saw many grandmothers going through similar struggles and this inspired me to tell the whole world that this is how a grandmother lives after the death of her children, caring for her grandchildren single-handedly without employment,” he added.

This is the eventuality that many grandmothers in Samia District have had to grapple with. While old age is usually the time when one relaxes and enjoys the sunset years, this has not been the case for the senior citizens.

Frail shoulders

Additional responsibilities are thrust on their frail shoulders as they take up the task of raising grandchildren orphaned by Aids.

These orphans comprise about a tenth of the population in the district that has been ravaged by the disease.

Dr Otuoma says the disease’s prevalence in the district stands at 16 per cent.

“This is about three times the national prevalence rate,” he says.

Three years ago, a 23 per cent prevalence rate was recorded in the district.

The situation is aggravated by high poverty levels estimated at up to 71 per cent. With their advanced age, the grandparents are unable to engage in strenuous economic activities.

Dr Otuoma says that about 10,000 people in the district are permanently on food aid. He blames the loss of young people to Aids in Samia District on cultural practices and irresponsible sex.

He says that in the run up to this year’s KCPE, he visited a school in the district, which had 11 pregnant schoolgirls.

“This is a worrying trend since they are underage,” he adds.

Even with the disease’s high prevalence in Samia District, care for those infected is wanting. Dr Otuoma says that out of the 16,000 people living with the virus, only 1,800 have been put on anti-retroviral therapy.

Access to facilities where the disease can be tested is also abysmally poor, with only three voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) facilities serving the district.

“More health facilities need to be set up in this district,” he says.

Probably, this is one of the reasons for the low awareness about testing, especially among fishing communities along the shores of the lake and on the islands.

Now, the MP is calling for an urgent behavioural change, arguing that some of these practices go against efforts to counter the disease.

Dr Otuoma said it was saddening that many people were suffering in the villages due to Aids and called for a combined effort to address the situation so that those affected and those who are infected can lead normal lives.

“While the other players could help us in dealing with the disease, we are the only ones who can stop its spread,” he says.

Ms Beinstock says the country has been one of the main beneficiaries of the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), which targets mitigating effects of the disease in Africa.

So far, the country has received over Sh100 billion in the four-year life span of the fund.

December 23, 2008 | 1:02 AM Comments  0 comments

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