Social Change: Part II- So Rich, yet so Poor

By Olivia A.P Abraham

Amazing aint it, how can a rich person be  poor. How did Africa find itself in such a predicament. How can we now be called underdeveloped when we are the source for all types of raw materials needed to develop any thing on earth. And so they call us Third world, becasue we are backward and uncivilised, we are poor and it is all our fault. How dare they have the courage to not worship us instead they bring us a Religion, and dare to teach us Politics and Economics and one sided Development theories, am upset really.

Our source of poverty is greed and deception. When our forefathers recieved the Whiteman, they were intriguged by the shiny beads, and other finished products that were not selleable in Europe amd were of no spefic value. Because of greed the chiefs easily made arrangements with the whitemen to give them portions of land, give them human beings as slaves, gave them rights that superceeded the natives, in the name of friendship and fair trade, but the whiteman had other intentions. As capitalists this was an opportunity to sell cheap products and get maximum profit and did not invest any knowledge or leave any equipment that would empower the natives.
The other deception was God, they used the idea of spreading the good news about salvation and converted our fore fathers into christianity which teaches submission. And before our forefathers knew anything they became servants of the whiteman and started paying him taxes to live on their land. Some people may think that our forefathers were stupid, but I beg to differ, they were greedy, they thought by aligning themselves to the whitemen who had guns and thought they would gain protection from their local enemies.

It is not only our forefathers but our Presidents of today  still out of greed make decisions that are not good for the people. An example of greed is explained by Sardanis in the Book A Venture into Africa....most african leaders who accept advice from multilateral institutions and donor countries(Former President of Zambia, Chiluba) and enthusiastically do so win favour from them (Donors) who in turn do not closely scrutinise too closely the rest of thier actions, especially self enrichment.

"First, the colonizers extracted gold, silver, furs, silks, and spices, then flax, hemp, timber, molasses, sugar, rum, rubber, tobacco, calico, cocoa, coffee, cotton, copper, coal, palm oil, tin, iron, ivory, ebony, and later on, oil, zinc, manganese, mercury, platinum, cobalt, bauxite, aluminum, and uranium. Not to be overlooked is that most hellish of all expropriations: the abduction of millions of human beings into slave labor."(Micheal Parent-Against the Empire)

Due to colonization we are now poor, we have lost our rights to our own property, we worship foreign Gods, hide under glodalization as a way of conforming to the wolrds expectations, we still continue to be greedy and manipulate each other under ther guise of leadership. So maybe we do deserve to be called backward because we are consistently repeating the same mistake, falling for the deception....and we are so gone that even if we chose not to trade with them they have now found synthetic alternatives to our resources.

Another thing Africans or Zambians need to do is to stop thinking that they are bad people with bad cultures. Yes I agree that some traditions should be cast away such as early marriages, sexual cleansing and genital mutitlation, but we have good manners and a clean social history. White people have exihbited the most gruesome cruelity known to man and their worst trait is exploitation of other human beings.

"From the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries Europe was "ahead" in a variety of things, such as the number of hangings, murders, and other violent crimes; instances of venereal disease, smallpox, typhoid, tuberculosis, plagues, and other bodily afflictions; social inequality and poverty (both urban and rural); mistreatment of women and children; and frequency of famines, slavery, prostitution, piracy, religious massacres, and inquisitional torture. Those who claim the West has been the most advanced civilization should keep such "achievements" in mind."(Micheal Parent-Against the Empire)

The solution is a revolution....as I mentioned in part one that we need people power, people will, we need to turn left, look the other way and find local solutions, we need to build our Africa or Zambia, instead of in-fighting and conducting corruption. Lets have a togetherness never seen before, let our leaders seat down and find better terms for our trade with the west, I know sanctions may come but how has Cuba managed. Personal sacrifice, thats all we need.
To be continued

HIV IS AS OLD AS I'AM

By Olivia A.P Abraham

I turned 30 in October last year and enjoying the beginning  of my life, the mid way to 60, a limit I have given to myself before most vitality is shed off and my kids think they can give me advice. Most people I love have died from HIV/AIDS and most whom that are still around have it.. And both the remaining and gone are such important factors to both my life and the future of my country. Educated, highly skilled and loving people are swipped by this virus that seems not to have any discrimination.

I have enjoyed the presence of many loved ones due to the states provision of Antiretrovial therapy which only began  in June 2004, before then only wealthy people could access the life saving medication. The only thing killing people with the virus now is hunger, improper medication, drug abuse, stigma, reinfection and denial. The other treatment  greatest handicap is the inadequacy of the healthcare system, which suffers from high patient numbers, lack of physical space and infrastructure, and – most critically – too few staff. 

I will tell you a story about one of my heros with HIV, a widow left with two children both female and five dependants in 1997, all children still in School. The woman's name is Adalieda,* she is now 53 years old, but she was only 38 when her husband died of an AIDS related illness. Adelieda was a Degree Holder when widowed, but as soon as she buried her husband she fought hard and got a Scholarship for her Masters degree, and soon she was in Europe, leaving her children in the care of elder relatives.

But her stay was interupted by a bereavment  that made her travel back to Zambia, as the head of the family they didnt bury until she landed. When she got out of the plane, no one could recognize her as she had lost so much weight and needed help walking. Everyone in her family could not bear the idea to lose her that they encouraged her to get tested and she did. Adelieda accepted her new situation when she tested positive and soon started her treatent which she still takes to date. She returned courageously to Europe and completed her Masters degree with her ill health. When she returned after a year, she was fat and healthy, the treatment had worked, the pills were sent to her via mail service and she followed through consistently. To date all her five dependents and two children have completed tertiary education and she has built 3 houses and is still working.

The Antiretrovial treatment has saved so many lives that have gone to save other people's lives too, imagine if she had refused to take the medication, all those fatherless children in total seven would have either become street children, prostitutes are destitutes. Instead because of accepting the new found stituation, Adelieda, has raised children who are economists, accountants,public relations practictioners, lawyers, 2 civil servants and a shop assistant. All these children are contributing to the nations GDP, thereby making this country better. We need people to go face to face with the 30 year old giant, like little David did with Goliath. We need courage and not denial, we need compassion and not stigma, we need food and not politics, we need proper health care and not fake religious zealots. We need people to realise that this Virus has come, it has settled and who knows soon we could have a cure, but so far we need to adhere and not abuse drugs so that the nation may prosper to greater heights.

Lets exort our heroes who have conquered our 30 year old mischievious virus. If we are negative, lets stay that way, if we are positive, lets be proud and soldier on, taking care to take drugs on time and remember to eat well and excercise. Be happy.

Social Change, part 1

I believe we evolve everyday, all our daily experiences  make us different people as each day passes.If indeed am right, then why have we in developing countries remained underdeveloped? So many academics would have answers to this question but non truly apply in the real sense. i find myself in conflict with Rostow's stages of Human development.They are six1.Traditional society 2.preconditions for take off 3.take off4.drive to maturity 5.High mass consumption and 6. Beyond high mass consumption. step 1 is where the people (and argue with me if we are not at this stage in Zambia right now) have limited production due to their inability to apply science and technology in production of goods, high devotion to Agriculture, social organisation dominated by tribal and clan connections( just look at Sata's Ministers and people in Government, all Bemba's, just as in Mwanawasa's time), Income too limited to invest ( the majority of Zambians are unable to have Bank accounts and later on even save for those that have them due to the high cost of living) and finally, the culture does not allow growth or initiatives or new ideas ( just look at how Zambians are reacting to the idea of permitting Gay rights, all they imagine is sex, when most gay couples are just as sexless as heterosexual couples and evidence has shown that heterosexuals perform more anal sex compared to gay couples.
The next step we went into and got stuck is the Pre-conditions for Take off. In this period the society prepares itself for sustained growth and modern science begins to be applied in terms of Agriculture and production, entrepreneurship develops and is encouraged and Banks mobilize capital for investments.
Nations around the world have surpassed us greatly, and yet we want to jump in the pool of high mass consumption, a state where a society has worked hard and is now enjoying benefits such as massive shopping at Malls and not local traditional markets even when their earnings do not allow.
What can we do to cure ourselves of this suffrage, this constant manipulation in trade differences between the west and us, this political backwardness, this technological gap, cultural negativity and religious zealous y that has not taken us anywhere but leads us to continuous  slavery and poverty. Even as we seem to be developing, and buildings are being erected and the traffic is larger than ever before....truth is we need People's will, a total turn round and personal sacrifice in issues of national development, for this country and many others like us to see some development, not creating and recreating and recreating a constitution that still has so much power vested in the office of the president and nullifies all those little things the public is getting appeased with like Duo citizenship when the chief justice and the whole Judiciary is still appointed by the office of the President.
To be continued......

Am Back: Increased access, reduced usage

I have been privileged recently with broadband internet access at my home due to my husband's home office for over too years now, but unfortunately it has led to the death of my blog. Can I blame Facebook? I seem unable to check any other website, I now just use Facebook even for issues I used to blog about, well you know what they say about new things. I guess the radio hates television and television hates the computer and the so on. With the advent of new media that seems to always be faster and more interactive, we seem to forget what's important.  Long did I advocate for better ICT access for women, but look what happened when I got full access, nothing. No blog post since 2007.

I have recently joined the Zambian Bloggers Network associated with Hivos, and the project head (Brenda N Zulu) at the last meeting threatened to expose our laziness in updating our blogs....so here I am, am back.

I have been very busy with the Corporate world, NGOs and international organisations, but currently am running a  personal business, all details will be relied in my forthcoming posts. I will look into the changing lives of journalists due to our ever changing political/economical and technological climate. I will do some interviews and feature certain personalities and professionals. Am Back!