Soft Touch sends young person to Africa

January 18, 2012 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment

Kane is now 20 and with a promising career in the music business. He is about to go off a volunteer in Africa for three months. But at age 14 this Aylestone boy was a right pain to the entire community. Expelled from school he was regularly being arrested for theft, criminal damage and assault.

“I had serious problems dealing with my anger – there was only one way I was going.”

Kane started to get off the road to a life of crime and imprisonment when his Youth Offending Service worker Kieran Walsh got him to attend music sessions at Soft Touch Arts(www.soft-touch.org.uk

“I’d always wanted to make beats and write lyrics, but never really had the opportunity. I got along with the staff at Soft Touch right away – and suddenly I had something to focus on.I realised I had the chance to make something of myself – that I could have a dream of going on stage in front of thousands, rather than just get in trouble all the time.”

Kane started attending Soft Touch as much he could and the staff encouraged him to become a volunteer, working with other young people from the YOS to develop their skills and find alternatives to the trouble they were getting in.

“It all helped me realise that what I had been doing was stupid – it gave me confidence to know that other people had confidence in me and made me feel I had something to lose.

Eventually Kane became a sessional worker with Soft Touch’s Mash-Up project, a music outreach project run in New Parks that has won plaudits from the local police for its affect on reducing crime and anti-social behaviour. He also represented the UK at an international community arts festival in Rotterdam working with local youth on music production. He has also started working with a local music venue doing marketing and promotion as well as DJ sets.

When international volunteering charity ICS contacted Soft Touch about support for a music project being run in Tanzania, they suggested Kane as ideal candidate. A tough selection process took Kane well outside his comfort zone – competing to take part alongside self-confident, high-achieving law students looking for a gap year project. He amazed himself and got through – so now after a three day induction course in York he’s getting ready to leave in January for Dar Es Salaam where he will work at the House of Talent, a project that engages vulnerable youth through music and along the way is able to hit them with life-saving health messages about issues such as HIV.

“We’re all going to have to get used to living without the stuff we’re used too,” says Kane. “I think we only get three hours of electricity a day and there’s no TV or anything. But I’m just looking forward to the whole experience. I’ve heard the kids out there are into hip-hop and gangster rap but I plan to play some of my stuff – grime and dubstep – and see how they respond.

“This is going to change my view of everything – right now I’d like to run my own record label, but when I come back – who knows?”.

Filed Under: News
Tagged: Africa, Soft Touch, Volunteering

Brown Revolution Brings New Hope

January 13, 2012 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment

By Busani Bafana

(IPS) – Picking spots for cattle to graze could reverse desertification and even do its bit to retard climate change, new experiments in Zimbabwe have shown. It’s what is coming to be called the Brown Revolution.

Planned grazing of livestock is helping restore formally degraded lands close to Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls world heritage site. It is a miracle that ecologist Allan Savory of the Savory Institute calls the brown revolution – and at the least it could reverse the declining fortunes of agriculture in Zimbabwe.

The U.S.-based Savory Institute and its partner organisation, the Africa Centre for Holistic Management (ACHM), have regenerated land, wildlife and water on land that was turning into a desert after livestock numbers increased by 400 percent on their 2,900-hectare ranch in the Dimbangombe area, 36 km from the town of Victoria Falls. The land healing miracle is thanks to a practice known as holistic management.

Holistic management, a result of more than 50 years of research and development spanning four continents, has increased land productivity and water availability and improved livelihoods of communities in Zimbabwe through planned livestock grazing.

“Livestock are the one of the best tools available to science to address desertification on a large scale,” Savory told IPS. “If you do not address desertification, you cannot address climate change.”

With a wide understanding of the holistic approach and a quick response from government, Zimbabwe can devise a land and agriculture policy settling millions of people on restored land and ensuring the country’s return to its former agricultural fortunes.

“Holistic management is more than just the holistic planned grazing – it involves a framework for such things as complex policy formation,” Savory said.

“Agriculture is causing climate change as much as or possibly more than coal, oil and gas, and unless we address agriculture we cannot address climate change. We can say without any fear of informed contradiction that without using the holistic framework we cannot address some of the most significant parts of the climate change problem,” he added.

Savory admitted that he never liked cattle. He said he used to be a “fanatical environmentalist” demanding that farmers get rid of cattle, based on his university training and prevailing beliefs. But decades later, he recognises that livestock are the only tool that, if managed properly, can change the direction of desertification, biodiversity loss and climate change globally.

“By using livestock to mimic the vast herds that used to roam our planet, before humans began replacing them and their role with fire, we are healing the soils and allowing them once more to capture and store vast amounts of both water and carbon – leading to reduced droughts and floods and beginning to seriously address climate change,” said Savory, a former wildlife biologist and founder of the ACHM.

Savory blames desertification not on the proverbial scapegoat – overstocking of cattle, sheep and goats – but on the way they are managed. Under holistic planned grazing, livestock are grazed in an area for a maximum of three days and not returned to the same piece of land for at least nine months.

In the process, they use their hooves to break up the hard ground and increase soil cover with dung and trampled litter, allowing for better rainfall absorption and carbon retention in the soil. The temporary compaction also facilitates seed to soil contact for better seed germination.

With adequate animal numbers, holistic planned grazing also eliminates the need for grassland burning, because annually dying grass parts do not turn grey and stale, necessitating the use of fire to ensure new growth. Fires throughout Africa’s grasslands are contributing more to climate change than the use of fossil fuels in some countries.

“The miracle of this approach is that for the first time in history we are dealing with both the cause of the available rainfall becoming less effective (desertification) and with our inability to deal with social, environmental and economic complexity in normal decision-making,” Savory said.

While it is fashionable to plant trees to address desertification and climate change, Savory warns that trees cannot store excess carbon from soil destruction, fires and fossil fuels – but the world’s largely ignored vast grassland soils can do so, safely. This is because every season that grass plants are grazed, they leave dead roots in the soil, adding to soil organic matter.

Savory points to the miracle of holistic management in Zimbabwe on the land within the pilot site at the ACHM.

“Because we have greatly increased livestock properly managed to mimic nature, we now have waist-high grasses where we used to stand on bare ground. We have brought the river back to life, and it is now home to water lilies, fish and more.”

As a result of the practice there has been an improved water flow, spanning a wider distance than before, he said. “There is permanent, year-round higher amount of water than we have know to exist in the past.”

The miracle, Savory says, was achieved at negligible cost – “where billions of dollars spent on technological interventions and reducing livestock have failed repeatedly and always will.”

Today holistic management is practiced by tens of thousands of people in many countries and contexts. Up to 12 million hectares of land are under the practice globally.

Savory said some people have started taking notice finally, simply because obvious success in the end prevails over criticism of the idea. He said naysayers, some of whom published countless papers and books ‘proving’ that the approach does not work, were now returning to holistic management.

This acceptance by academics has drawn international recognition for ACHM.

The Savory Institute has teamed with the Capital Institute, creating a division called Grasslands, which invests in deteriorating land within the U.S. to begin restoring large areas using properly managed livestock for a high return to investors.

The Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) within the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided 4.8 million dollars for ACHM and the Savory Institute to scale up education and training programmes in the southern Africa region.

The work of ACHM and SI has interested NGOs and pastoralists throughout Africa. There are ongoing successful operations in Namibia, Botswana and Kenya.

The Savory Institute is collaborating with Kenyans to establish a learning site similar to ACHM to serve the Horn of Africa.

Researcher and livestock specialist Prof. Ntombizakhe Mpofu told IPS that the holistic management approach is enabling farmers to manage their livestock to increase productivity while healing the land. And she explained that through the teaching at ACHM, villagers are now increasing crop yields by as much as five times using livestock properly managed for field preparation in place of ploughing and fertilising.

Dr. Mike Peel, a rangeland ecologist with the Agricultural Research Council in South Africa, is monitoring and gathering data on land under holistic management over a five- year period to convince academics that its results are verifiable and not anecdotal.

OFDA has agreed to fund the research because of the need for additional data to convince governments of the need for change. The Zimbabwe government has formed a permanent committee of the heads of appropriate government departments to work with ACHM to promote holistic management in the country.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 2008 publication “Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment” cited the erosion of agricultural land and deforestation among the most serious of Zimbabwe’s environmental problems. Savory points out that short-term answers lead only to decreasing livestock, cultural genocide for pastoral people and tree planting, while desertification increases.

Developed as a result of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is a unique instrument that has brought global attention to land degradation. The Convention is now working closely with the Savory Institute to see if new thinking on land restoration can be introduced at the Rio + 20 conference to be held in June in Brazil.

“Our most significant non-renewable geo-resource is fertile land and soil,” UNCCD executive secretary Luc Gnacadja told the UNCCD COP 10 in Changwon, South Korea in October 2011.

Filed Under: News
Tagged: Africa, Hope, Revolution

After Egypt, winds of change are blowing through six nations

February 13, 2011 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment

Article first published 12 February 2011 (The Economic Times)

Winds of change are sweeping through the Middle East, encompassing aestern Asia and northern Africa, triggering a series of political shifts in response to widespread discontent that once went unacknowledged.

Egypt’s simmering unrest that forced Hosni Mubarak to resign as the president after nearly three decades of uninterrupted rule, has hogged the world’s attention for weeks.

Filed Under: Countries, Sudan
Tagged: Africa, Revolution, Sudan

Inside Africa

January 24, 2011 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment

Afrik- The African International Network is a registered charity operating in the East Midlands. Afrik provides a number of services and essential information to individuals of African descent and black ethnic minority groups in the East Midlands. We provide information on issues relating to education, employment, immigration and housing and are dedicated to educating the community on African culture, history and politics. We also host a variety of African classes, film events and arts/crafts fairs.

We are proud to present our new classes commencing in March 2011

African cookery Class- Learn how to cook some delicious authentic African dishes this promotes healthy eating

Afrik Presents classs on a variety of topics on African music, dance, history and folktales and drumming using the talking drum.

African language class Come along and learn to speak some of the

Regional African languages such as Swahili and Zulu!!

African film event – Showcasing some of the most popular African films accompanied by an arts and crafts stall.

For more details on our classes please contact Moji on -

Phone– 07921623930/07837572871 lets educate you about the African culture! Promoting community cohesion and healthy eating, fun and maximising your potential

Email– [email protected]

Website– www.afrik.co.uk

Filed Under: News
Tagged: Africa, Charity, Culture

International Soccer Peace Tournament

June 14, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment

An International Soccer Peace Tournament organised by Catholics has brought together “South Africans, immigrants, and fans from around the world, united in the greatest challenge, peace.”

“We want to involve all South Africans in the world, especially those who remain on the margins of this event,” Antoine Soubrier from the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference explained to the news agency Fides.

He continued: “We’ve organised a parallel World Cup, to complement the official one, with the soccer teams from all the realities of South Africa, from the townships to the more affluent neighbourhoods.”

“The aim is to bring together fans of different social classes, different ethnicities, and national origins as well as fans from all over the world,” said Soubrier.

The Soccer Peace Tournament is international in scope. A total of 64 players from 16 countries will play every Saturday morning through to 3 July 2010. It began on Saturday 5 June.

The event is taking place in the poorest part of a Pretoria township on a locally designed football pitch. Four teams have been created out of the two best teams of Atteridgeville, together with migrants living in South Africa and fans arriving for the World Cup.

The final of the ‘alternative’ competition will take place on 3 July.

“In this way the South Africans can get to know each other better,” says Soubrier. “In the last tournament, there were white South Africans who set foot for the first time in a township. And the results are very positive. We place much hope in this initiative to promote peace and understanding among all.”

“Among the participants there are also immigrants and refugees living in South Africa in a difficult situation. Several fans from countries such as France, the United States and Turkey have applied to join the Peace Tournament and the life of the local church during their stay in South Africa. We are confident that this will bring new spiritual wealth to South Africa, throughout Africa and the rest of the world,” the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference spokesperson said.

“We want to use football to advance the goal of peace, and form relationships within groups and between individuals, who understand the importance of non-violence, empowerment and peace education,” Martin Mande, a spokesperson for the peace tournament, told ENInews on 9 June 2010.

He said that the parallel world cup organisers had seized the opportunity offered by the FIFA competition to spread the values that societies need, especially in Africa.

With acknowledgments to Agenzia Fides

Filed Under: Sports
Tagged: Africa, Football, World Cup

Mandela’s group says World Cup will help Africa

June 2, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment

A group of international statesmen and women brought together by Nelson Mandela have expressed excitement but also some concerns at the prospect of the first World Cup being held in Africa.The Elders include Nobel Peace Prize winners Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and the first woman president of Ireland, Mary Robinson.

Another member, Graca Machel, a human rights campaigner who is married to Mandela, said Africa is often portrayed negatively, and the World Cup is an opportunity for it to be seen in a positive manner.

“Sports can express some of the best values we carry as a human family,” she said.

Robinson was concerned about small street vendors being pushed aside during the tournament, which starts June 11. Vendors and their advocates have complained that restriction on activity near stadiums established by FIFA, the international football body, make it difficult for hawkers to make a living.

Robinson also said the World Cup will draw attention to the problem of human trafficking. There have been concerns trafficking will increase during the World Cup because of the demand for sex workers and other workers.

The Elders also addressed crises in Zimbabwe and Israel. Jimmy Carter described Zimbabwe as “a tragedy waiting to be solved” and called for elections scheduled there next year should be fair and the outcome should be accepted peacefully.

Overnight, Israeli troops stormed at least one ship in a flotilla of vessels carrying 10,000 tons of relief supplies to Gaza.

The Elders strongly condemned the Israeli attack, saying the violence should draw the world’s attention to the suffering of Gaza’s 1.5 million people, of which most are children.

Filed Under: Sports
Tagged: Africa, Sports, World Cup

Annan Slams Leaders for ‘Personal Enrichment’

May 25, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment

Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a report issued on Tuesday that while a number of African leaders stand out as “champions of development,” they are still a minority, and “their achievements [are] overshadowed by stories of other leaders’ personal enrichment and authoritarian behaviour.”

He was introducing the 2010 report of the Africa Progress Panel, the international group which monitors and promotes mutual accountability and shared responsibility for progress in Africa. The full text of his foreword to the report:

Africa is now being described as a new economic frontier. Barely a week goes by without news of the discovery of more oil, gas, precious minerals or other resources. Deals are being signed by African countries with an ever-broader array of partners, including from China, the Far and Middle East, South Asia and Latin America.

Read full report

Filed Under: Countries
Tagged: Accountability, Africa, Partnership

Haiti: “Anywhere but here”

January 22, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment

IRIN – Throughout the debris-strewn streets of Haiti’s capital, residents are carrying mattresses, duffel bags tied with electric cord and faded cloth bags stuffed with kitchen goods. When asked where they are going, answers vary from their home village to “anywhere but here”.

Via water and land, the exodus is slowed by lack of fuel and cash from a downed banking system, a paralyzed market place and the search for survivors. Impromptu bus stops around the city are a kaleidoscope of exile, red and blue buses transporting multi-coloured, hastily packed belongings.

The crowd at the harbour has grown since the earthquake hit on 12 January; thousands are camped out, waiting for fuel to power their journey. At the Champ de Mars city park near the destroyed presidential palace, thousands stake out plots with sheets and branches, cookers, makeshift burlap carpets. Youths discuss a Senegalese proposal to create a state in Africa to resettle Haitians in their ancestral home.

Filed Under: News, Resources
Tagged: Africa, Earthquake, Haiti, Survivors

Faithful Young People of Leicester Act Against Malaria

December 4, 2009 by Webmaster · 3 Comments

On Wednesday the 2nd of December 2009, young people from Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Hindu and Jain faith backgrounds came together to discuss how the people of Leicester can join the global movement to help end deaths caused by Malaria, one of Africa’s biggest killers.

The initiative has been launched by Michael Tweed and Bilal Hassam who are 2 of 30 worldwide Faiths Act Fellows for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation working in conjunction with the St Philips Centre in Leicester. Their mission is to mobilise people of faith in Leicester to raise awareness and resources to promote the UN’s Millennium Development goals. They are already working to to equip, inspire and empower the next generation of Young Leaders to help eliminate deaths from malaria. Malaria causes up to a million unnecessary deaths each year in Africa, as it is a disease that is both treatable, and preventable.

The night featured games, discussions, fresh-off-the-ground stories from Africa and launched exciting and innovative ways by which the people of Leicester can shape this global campaign. Raheema Caratella, Engagement Worker (Young Adults) at the St Philips Centre said “I am excited at the passion of these young leaders, there was a real buzz. I hope that together we can work to show how people of different faiths can work to build strong relationships whilst helping to tackle a major world problem”.

During the discussions, it was put to Anay, from Leicester, that “Young people aren’t that bothered about other people halfway around the world”. He responded; “the fact that we are here now shows that we care – we are now discussing our understanding of the problems across the world – like malaria. This shows that we all care.”

Leo, a Christian from Leicester, said “We can work together. In our group what we were talking about was that because we live in a globalised world now, in a multicultural society, we are in an ideal position to be able to work together. There are so many areas in the different faiths that agree – for example, “love your neighbour”, and to work alongside one another. We are in an ideal position now, because we are so multicultural, whilst in the past that might have not been the case. We didn’t realise that we shared so much in common”.

Faiths Act is the social action programme of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, delivered by the Interfaith Youth Core. The programme encourages multi-faith initiatives to tackle global poverty by working towards the Millennium Development Goals, with an initial focus on eliminating deaths from malaria. It aims to bring people together across faith divides to achieve even more together than apart.

Worldwide, there are 250 million cases every year, and up to one million deaths annually. Pregnant women and their unborn children are particularly vulnerable. The economic and social impacts are also devastating: Sick children miss school, tourism suffers, and foreign investment is stifled. Annual economic loss in Africa due to malaria is estimated to be $12 billion, representing a crippling 1.3 percent annual loss in GDP growth in endemic countries.

The Faiths Act Fellows are working on various other programs in Leicester right now, so if you’re interested in getting involved you can follow their progress via their website: www.faithsactfellows.org/leicester

For more information about the Faith Act Fellows in Leicester please contact [email protected] / 07825 770586

St Philip’s Centre can be contacted on 0116 2733459 or www.stphilipscentre.co.uk

Filed Under: News
Tagged: Africa, Faith, Malaria

New talent competition for people of African origin

November 14, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment

Comedians, Musicians, Dancers, Poets or even Plate Spinners and other entertaining talents should apply for the first ever talent competition aimed specifically at people of African origin organised by Unsigned Africa.

This is a talent competition aimed at showcasing talent from people of African origin. It will be a greatly entertaining and inspirational event.

Dates for auditions are yet to be confirmed but potential partners, sponsors, promoters and participants are encouraged to contact the team for early involvement. The event is due to take place late 2009 to early 2010. It will feature live auditions with an audience and an industry specialised judging panel that will select five final contestants and one overall Winner for 2010.

All winners of Unsigned Africa will automatically be entered into the semi finals of UK Unsigned, where they will be featured in the First Ever African Category.

UK Unsigned is the UK’s biggest annual consistent Talent Quest which attracts up to 5000 applicants in over 50 showcases.

Within UK Unsigned there is over 20 categories from Rock, Rap, Asian, to Reggae and now the First Ever African Category.

Other contestants who have taken part in UK Unsigned include N-Dubz, Kate Melua, Leona Lewis, dance group Diversity plus many more famous artists in today’s charts.

This is a very exciting event meant to encourage Africans with great talent to showcase themselves and shout loud and proud, changing the perception of Africans and showing them in a bright, positive and up to date light.

African music is such a big influence in the world today but it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves in the mainstream.

Many artists in the UK charts are of African origin from Sway (Nigerian), Dizzee Rascal (Ghanaian), Estelle (Senegalese), Lamar (Nigerian), Tinchy Stryder (Ghanaian) plus many others.

African music is taking the club scene by storm with a number of non-British African Artists being played and requested throughout the country.

With 10 years’ success, this annual talent showcase will have its Grand Final on Sunday 4th July 2010 at Hackney Empire hosted by MTV’s Kat.

The winners of Unsigned Africa have a further opportunity to perform at the 10th Anniversary Special set for October 2010.

Individuals or organisations that would like to explore the opportunities available for partnerships to help create this platform for talented artists who find it difficult to break into the mainstream are encouraged to contact Jacqueline Adholla. Her email: [email protected]

To register your interest as a contestant or general supporter please join the mailing list at www.UnsignedAfrica.com

UNSIGNED AFRICA’S CONTACTS
Jacqueline Adholla
Phone: +44 (0) 7852 704 179
Email: [email protected]
http://www.unsignedafrica.com/

Filed Under: News
Tagged: Africa, Auditions, Talent