THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD

Edward Tedson Sesay.
London, UK.

South Africa is in the thick of great joy as the World Cup keeps everyone there smiling, cheering, drinking and celebrating. But the world, Africa, South Africa, and Soweto in particular will never forget June 16th. of every year since 1976.

The Day of the African Child is celebrated on June 16th. in recognition of the day when, in 1976, thousands of black school children in Soweto, South Africa, took to the streets to protest the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of young boys and girls were shot; and in the two weeks of protest that followed, more than 100 people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured.

To honour those killed and recognise the courage of all those who marched, the Day of the African Child has been celebrated on 16 June every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the then Organization of African Unity, now African Union.

The Day also draws attention to the lives of all African children today. People’s attention is drawn to the unfortunate stark realities of children who are trafficked, sexually exploited, physically and emotionally abused, and deprived in all shapes or forms.

Child focussed agencies such as UNICEF are keen to remind governments and their people of the need to ensure children are given the right to participate and to be seen and heard, and be guaranteed a life worth living.

The world’s attention is also drawn to the fact that Children have a better chance of thriving or meeting developmental milestones when their primary carers enjoy a reasonably good standard of living. In many parts of Africa, especially rural Africa, the primary carer is the woman. Unfortunately however, this is the individual who works hardest and longest, but eats the smallest and cheapest portion of food in the home. Besides, she also faces physical and emotional abuse on a regular basis. When this is the case, it cannot be denied that the woman’s functioning as a primary care giver will be largely compromised. The African child then suffers the double jeopardy of being born not only in a community that is deprived and pays little respect to children’s rights, but also one in which the primary carer (the mother) has slim chances of survival or being happy.

In our Sierra Leone, we should recognise the great responsibility that many of us have to enlighten the populace about Children’s and Women’s Rights and urging our social and political leaders to bid adieu to lip service and translate rhetoric into action by implementing international children’s and women’s rights laws and conventions. Only and only then can we guarantee our children a future with more cheerfulness and smiles and less tears and emotional bruises. While remembering and praying for all deprived children and abused mothers around the world to enjoy better life chances, I wish to particularly pray for Children and mothers in Sierra Leone to have a chance to pack all their sufferings in an old kit bag, throw them away, and smile, and smile and smile.

IMMIGRANT FAMILIES IN THE WEST: MATERIAL PROSPERITY VERSUS FAMILY COLLAPSE

Edward Tedson Sesay.
London, UK.

There is no doubt that the majority of families that migrate to the West do so for economic and social betterment: the need to better their lives, the lives of their children and the provision of some kind of support to family members left home. To achieve this, the adults in the family resolve that a job is a job and that anything goes as long as the oil of the sterling, euro or dollar greases the palm at the end of the week.

Once we get a bit settled, with or without the right immigration status, we feel the pressing need to get into a job and start earning for the clock is already ticking fast and they must begin to work towards the realisation of the goals for which every effort, time and resource were sacrificed to penetrate the “promised land”, not forgetting also that those left behind are already counting the days, weeks, months and years during which we have been absent from home.

The personal ambition to become a materially better person combined with the need to live up to the expectations of those left behind become our preoccupation and in no time, we are transformed into breathing, thinking robots who work round the clock like nobody’s business. We travel the longest distances to take up the meanest of jobs, and many endure the worst experiences of degradation and frustration to earn a minimum wage. If as it is said, “our papers are not straight”, the misery quadruples in every respect. Many however ask, “do all these troubles matter anyway if we compare life yesterday at home and life today in the host country”? Clearly, the fact that the immigrants continue to live in the host country year in and year out says unequivocally that we believe we are better off than we were back home. Is this really the case in every respect?

The Harsh Realities

Economic prosperity for many immigrants comes with a high price. It has tough and far reaching repercussions for our families and in this article, I will direct my attention mainly to the massive impact the new life has on the academic, emotional and social development of some of our children. The parents in many immigrant families work long hours and the work pattern can be erratic and this leaves parents with little chance to plan any meaningful activities with their children. Common work patterns include what is called a “long day.” The shortest “long day” can be a 7 a.m. till 7 p. m. shift, and a typical long day can be a shift between 7 a.m. till 9 p.m. In some families, both parents work nights and this is common where the mother is either a health care assistant or nurse, and the father is a security officer working between 12 and 14 hour shifts. Where there are adolescent children, they are left to care for the much younger ones while the parents are away, and if all the children are still babies or toddlers, they spend those many hours away from home with nannies/child minders many of whom are un-registered and untrained. 12 -14 year olds are sometimes left home alone with strict instructions not to answer the phone or open the door to anyone. All these have unpleasant consequences, but our work must go on as we have the rent and bills to pay and financial targets to meet. Indeed, meeting financial targets at a high price!

Poor Quality Bonding Between Parent and Child

Long and erratic working hours for parents mean there is little or no time for the children and this affects the quality of what in Child Development is called Attachment: that deep and enduring connection established between a child and his carer in the early years of life. The sad reality is that, because many immigrant parents have little time with their children, poor quality attachment is developed and this impacts on the children’s social functioning, well being and competency and this can have a profound influence on every aspect of the child’s life as he grows. Children without touch, stimulation, and nurturing can literally lose the capacity to form any meaningful relationships for the rest of their lives. The problems that result from this can range from mild interpersonal discomfort to profound social and emotional problems. In general, the severity of problems is related to how early in life, how prolonged, and how severe the emotional neglect has been. Thus while it is important that the rent and bills are paid in order to keep a roof over our children’s heads, it has to be remembered that the impact on children of emotional neglect can be even worse than the effect of not living in standard accommodation.

Low Educational Achievements

Children whose parents work too many hours have less chance of performing brilliantly at school. The parents have no time to read books together with their children and help out with home work or take them on trips to the library. Once the parent is not at home, it cannot be guaranteed that a child will go to bed or wake up on time, do his home work or even bother to go to school. While other parents have time to visit their children’s schools, attend parents’ evenings and Parent-Teacher meetings and speak to teachers, the average immigrant parent’s mind is preoccupied with sorting out the work rota for the next few weeks. In this way, the education of our children suffers. It cannot be denied that many children from immigrant families have gone through school with no qualifications and the aftermath often being, unemployment, frustration, involvement with the criminal justice system and on some occasions, mental illnesses.

When The Cat’s Away, The Mice Will Play

Children enjoy playing the role of adults when their parents are away. In some of our immigrant families, adolescents are left to care for themselves and their younger siblings and in many ways, they experiment with the things that adults would normally do. The sad consequences are usually: watching adult TV channels, early sex, early pregnancies, premature parenthood, alcohol and drugs right in their parents’ homes. There are many true stories of parents who have returned home and found their teenage daughters with boyfriends naked and drunk in their parents’ beds. Sadly, Most of these parents ( especially if they are illegal immigrants ) dare not raise their voice for fear that their own children might call the police or social worker and report either emotional, sexual or emotional abuse. Indeed, a 12 -14 hour shift for the parent is more than enough time for adolescents to play or mess around and ruin their future, and before the toiling immigrant parent realizes what is going on at home, irreparable damage may have been done.

Poor Food Choices

Long work hours and irregular schedules mean more time away from family, less time for household food work, difficulty in maintaining a regular meal pattern and less opportunity for participating in family meals. Often, many absent parents give money to their children who prefer to buy buckets full of chips and chicken or other forms of unhealthily prepared “take aways”. The impact of this can have a devastating impact on the children many of whom suffer obesity problems.

The Last Word

Home is the place where children first learn how to limit their wishes, abide by rules and consider the rights and needs of others. To acquire this learning, they need the presence of a caring and assertive adult to provide guidance and enforce boundaries. An ever absent parent is not likely to be able to fulfill this role. For immigrant children to know where they want to go in life, they need a committed parent to help them know who they are. It is said, “a wise father knows his own child”, but unfortunately for many immigrant families, the need to pay the bills makes it impossible for parents to know their own children. It is not unusual that many children with great potential slip through the net because of the circumstances of their parents, and while the aim of many an immigrant parent is to make way for a better future for their children, many children end up in worse circumstances than they would have been had the parents not migrated. Indeed while the home countries of many immigrants are viewed as lands of economic hardship, they remain a treasured source of core moral values that continue to give coherence and meaning to everyday life. The host countries offer little in respect of these values and many of our children are quickly swallowed up by the new culture. Indeed, this is the high price that many of us pay for the material prosperity we enjoy.

In conclusion, I wish to emphasize here that this article is not intended to harshly judge immigrant parents who work many hours to meet their children’s physical needs of food, clothing, shelter and presents. On the contrary, it appreciates the struggles of these toiling, well meaning parents who however need to be alerted to the fact that, it will be in their children’s best interest to work out a healthy balance between work and family. In the words of Jesse Jackson, “Your children need your presence more than your presents.”

OMFA selected to receive 2010 NOSLINA Community Leadership Award

At a well attended ceremony on the campus of St. Francis Secondary School in Makeni, the board of governors, staff and pupils were the proud recipients of Resource Centre valued at over $150,000.00 and designed, engineered, constructed and equipped by members of the worldwide Old Makeni Franciscan Association.

Two days after the successful handover of the resource centre which boasts of a well resourced library, an adequately hi-tech equipped lecture hall, a modernized administrative office, an internet cafe and decent toilets, the National Organization of Sierra Leoneans in North America (NOSLINA) has informed the membership of the OMFA Worldwide Family, the association “has been selected to receive the organization’s highest competitive award for Community Leadership.

The letter below is addressed to Anthony Kamara, Jnr. President of OMFA Philadelphia Chapter and OMFA Forum Administrator. He is also the Patriotic Vanguard’s USA Bureau Chief.

Stay tuned for a detailed report of the event from Makeni, Sierra Leone.
April 5, 2010

Mr. Anthony Abdul Karim Kamara Jr
Old Makeni Franciscans Alumni Association
North America

On behalf of the officers and members of the National Organization of Sierra Leoneans in North America (NOSLINA) I am pleased to inform you that the Old Makeni Franciscans Association has been selected to receive our organization’s highest competitive award for COMMUNITY Leadership, at our Annual Awards Gala and Celebration of Sierra Leone’s 49th Independence Anniversary to be held Saturday May 8, 2010 at 8:00PM at the Best Western Lanham Hotel, Princess Garden Parkway, Lanham, Maryland.

Each year NOSLINA solicits nominations from across North America of groups that have excelled in enhancing the wellbeing of Sierra Leoneans. The Prestigious COMMUNITY Leadership Award is our organization’s highest award for positive engagement with the community in ways that have benefitted numerous Sierra Leoneans. To be nominated for it is recognition by various individuals and groups that your organization has made a profound contribution that has enhanced the name of Sierra Leone and the welfare of her people. This award is an affirmation of your signal, unique, and exemplary contributions. It bestows on OMFA the distinction and esteem held by those whose lives you have touched. For this we are pleased to honor the Old Makeni Franciscans Alumni Association.

We would be most honored if you and your members could attend our event to receive in person this public pronouncement and recognition of distinguished service. You will be presented with a plaque and will be invited to offer two minutes of an acceptance speech that embodies the kind of organization that OMFA represents and the inspiration that has guided its public service.

Congratulations for these great accomplishments. We are certain that OMFA’s leadership will continue unabated and that its contributions to society will continue to be recognized and celebrated for a long time.

We would also like you to inform your members, relatives, friends, and well wishers of this event and urge them to attend to give OMFA appropriate public commendation and support on this your signal accomplishment. Tickets are priced at $50.00 Single; $100.00 single patron, and $150.00 couple patron. Patrons will be seated at special reserved tables and offered some complimentary drinks with honorable mention by the M/C. A regular table of ten can also be reserved for $475.00. Please let your friends and well wishers know that NOSLINA is a Charitable 501 C 3 tax exempt organization. Donations are well received, used to benefit Sierra Leone and are tax deductible.

I would be grateful if you could indicate acceptance/attendance by via email to either dtaylor@csus.edu or nallos@aol.com. You may also call me at 916 952 1447 or our Executive Director Ms. Suna Nallo at 410 412 4311. Once again, congratulations on your selection for this distinguished award and we look forward to seeing you, your members, friends and family Saturday May 8, 2010 at 8 PM at the Best Western Lanham Hotel, Princess Garden Parkway, Lanham, Maryland.

With Highest Esteem,

Don Taylor, PhD
Chairman, NOSLINA Board of Directors

Sierra Leone’s Mining Accident was a “false, vicious and wicked propaganda” --- Alpha Kanu

Anthony Abdul Karim Kamara, Jnr.

The Sierra Leone community at home and abroad were stunned to read from many foreign news outlets reporting the death of about two hundred people who had been killed in a mining accident in Baomahun in the Southern province.

However, their worries and fears were short-lived when reports surfaced again with Minister of Mines, Mineral Resources and Political Affairs, Alhaji Alpha Sahid Kanu disputing earlier reports of an accident and in fact stating categorically that such reports was not only “a complete hoax” but one fabricated by people with “vicious propaganda.”

A day after leaving Baomahun where Minister Kanu had arrived with some government officials, police officers and soldiers among others, I caught up with him on his mobile/cell phone at Rokulan in the Sanda chiefdom. Alpha Khan as he is commonly called was kind enough to answer a few questions.

AK: Minister Kanu can you confirm that reports that have circulated all over the world about the death of 200 people in a mining town never occurred?

Kanu: You have my confirmation of that and 100% of that matter. I went there myself and found the area to be safe and quiet. People were preparing for Friday prayers and there was absolutely no sign of any disaster, Mr. Kamara.

AK: So you are absolutely sure that this was just “a hoax” right?

Kanu: It was a false, vicious rumour and a wicked propaganda meant to divert the current’s government attention from doing the things we were elected to do. The business of the people is our top most priority. There was no mining accident. It is inconceivable to have that kind of accident in Sierra Leone. We don’t have an underground mining. All we do is surface mining.

AK: Why would people choose to deliberately peddle such false stories and cause alarm?

Kanu: That’s the big question that we are all faced with. You see Mr. Kamara, there are people who don’t want to hear good news coming out of Sierra Leone. These are people who are not happy because Sierra Leone under the leadership of President Ernest Bai Koroma is making giant strides.

All you hear these days is good news; you hear about the construction of roads, the delivery of free medical service on April 27 which will cover children under five, pregnant and lactating women and also the very old.

That’s not all; we are working hard to improve our school system and trying hard to bring energy and electricity in all of our rural areas. Recently, the president launched a 30km drive to construct our roads in Freetown which includes 25km in each of our regional headquarters and 10km in area districts.

There is so much more we have been working hard to accomplish but of course as you would imagine that is not good news or good music to our distracters. But the truth is whatever they do; the government of President Koroma is determined to change Sierra Leone for the good of all. We will not be distracted from accomplishing the work this government was elected to do for the people of Sierra Leone. We are not only focused but will always remain true and faithful to our “agenda for change” as articulated by President Koroma.

AK: Do you realize that even as Sierra Leoneans are now at peace with the confirmation that the accident did not happen, there are still many questions lingering out there that many would love to see answered?

Kanu: I think I can understand the feelings of patriotic Sierra Leoneans and they have the right to ask questions. However, the good news is that the sad news was short-lived and temporary. We are thankful nothing happened at all. Thank God, such a tragedy did not occur. We are talking about lives here, Mr. Kamara. Don’t these people realize what a tragedy this would have been for our nation? I mean these people have relatives and let’s just imagine that all 200 have ten relatives each, do you see how many people would have been directly affected? Without a doubt, it would have affected all of us because we are Sierra Leoneans and we care deeply about each other. I am very happy to report and repeat what I have said to other news organization that “not even a chicken or goat was hurt.”

AK: Yesterday, you were in Baomahun in the Southern Province. Today, you are in the Northern Province. What brings you to Rokulan?

Kanu: I am in Rokulan to witness the by-elections taking place to fill the sit vacated by former Member of Parliament, Hon. Eddie Turay who is now serving our country Sierra Leone as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

AK: How’s the election going? Are you confident of a victory?

Kanu: Well, I think we are going to win. The election is being contested by all three parties but with 80% of the results so far in, the APC is leading by a wide margin; about 75%. I am looking forward to travelling to Makeni where I will deliver the good news to the president.

AK: Thank you for your time, good luck and have a safe trip.

Kanu: Thank you, too.

Anthony Kamara, Jnr. can be reached on usapvchief@yahoo.com

IFAD Urges Members to Strengthen Smallholder Farmers

By Festus Tarawalie

The Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development IFAD ended its two-day 33rd Governing Council on February 18 with a call for more efforts to promote smallholder farmers especially women and young people in rural areas to face up to the challenges of food insecurity. A renewed appeal was also made by the 165 Member States of the UN agency’s highest decision-making authority for investment in smallholders to accelerate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and for ways to tackle land degradation, declining resources and the effects of climate change. Recent UN estimates indicate that as a result of the food and global economic crises of the last two years more than 100 million people joined the ranks of the hungry.

The opening session was graced with the presence of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, the Prime Minister of Tanzania Honourable Mizengo Peter Pinda, the other heads of UN agencies in Rome and many ministers and ambassadors.

President of IFAD, Nigerian-born Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze said in his address to the governors and delegates during the inaugural session that it was time to focus on ‘encouraging entrepreneurs – both small and large-scale – to invest in the entire rural economy and forge strong economic relations between the rural and urban economies’. He said by the end of 2010, Management will present a new strategic framework for IFAD to guide its work during 2011-2013 with the launch of IFAD 8. ‘I believe our new strategic framework should be underpinned by a view of farming – whatever its size and whatever its scale – as a business with clear business linkages along the value chain from production to processing, marketing, and ultimately to consumption. Creating a vibrant rural economy and reducing poverty therefore depends on creating the right business environment, he said.

Another factor that needs to be taken into account is having a thorough understanding of the demography of rural populations in developing countries, where over 60 per cent of the people are between the ages of 15 and 25, and half of them, obviously, are young women and girls, the IFAD president said. This view was echoed in the UN Secretary-General’s message to the governing council. Mr. Ban Ki-moon reminded the Council that in order for food security to be both comprehensive and sustained, it is necessary to ‘give pre-eminence to the interests of women, who juggle their time between food production, processing, marketing, childcare and balancing the household budget’.

The main panel discussion on the afternoon of February 17 was coordinated by CNN anchor Jim Clancy and it focused among other things, on how to create better market conditions to promote private investment in smallholder agriculture. The panel also looked at how governments can create policies that support smallholder farmers.

Parallel events were held alongside the main session on the following topics including: natural resource management in sub-Saharan Africa; smallholder agriculture and family farming in Asia and Latin America with options for South-South cooperation; and update on IFAD's response to the Haiti earthquake and coordinated efforts for rehabilitation of agricultural areas.

Participants at the side event that focused on natural resource management in sub-Saharan Africa agreed on the importance of an integrated and participatory approach – from the village level to across national borders. They stressed that governments must build on the experiences of local farmers to ensure successful practices inform national policy. The need to encourage rural people and small farmers to practice responsible agriculture growth through collective action and to balance this with enhanced livelihood opportunities was stressed by the Director of Western and Central Africa Division in IFAD, Mohamed Béavogui.

Some suggestions from the participants include: the need to change attitudes in the way we manage our resources and a good policy framework to support small farmers. Tree planting and making stone bumps are two ways we can protect and manage land and water resources because stone bumps can block water flows while trees can give nutrients back to the soil thus preventing erosion. Moreover, managing water resources well will help farmers move from depending wholly from rain fed agriculture. However, the panellists said two things must be promoted if these measures are to succeed, namely, training of farmers in some of these simple measures and overhauling the land tenure system to guarantee ownership as it is difficult to manage burrowed land in the long term.

IFAD has implemented a series of projects in Sierra Leone including the Magbosi Integrated Agricultural Development Project which was approved in 1979. Currently, IFAD is operating a Rehabilitation and Community-based Poverty Reduction Project worth $US 10.8 million. The project's development goal is to reduce post-conflict poverty and food insecurity and to improve the livelihoods and living conditions of rural communities. A strong call was made at the meeting for member states to replenish the agency’s funds.

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that current policies in Sierra Leone are pointing to the right direction. It should be recalled that recently the Government of Sierra Leone increased its budget allocation for agriculture after it was made the number one priority which led to the formation of the Presidential Taskforce on Agriculture.

Other policies that have been promoted through the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Food Security headed by Dr. Sam Joseph Sesay are: the framework for land management which guarantees land to small holders and designates marginal lands to non food production; the recent strengthening of farmers’ organisations at local, regional and national levels; the tractorization scheme and the many initiatives taken by the ministry, in collaboration with the country office of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation to improve farmer yields, access to market, and raising awareness on the merits of commercial farming and agro-business.

Private sector investment has also been encouraged to complement the efforts of the government and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization whose head in Sierra Leone, Kevin Gallagher received the 2009 B.R. Sen Award for the establishment of an excellent FAO country programme that reinforced ownership and introduced creative innovations, particularly in communications and field approaches.

The Governing Council was preceded by the third biennial Farmers’ Forum, where more than 70 farmers’ leaders focused on how to strengthen their coordination in order to achieve greater food security.

Festus Tarawalie is a member of Sierra Leone’s representation to the three UN agencies in Rome: IFAD/FAO/WFP.