In 1993, Samuel Ntahonsohokeye’s family was displaced from their home due to the ethnic violence that wracked Burundi. When the opportunity to return came, they took it but found their land had been occupied in the interim. Unsure how to handle his land conflict, Samuel heard SFCG’s Participative Theatre troupe was coming to his community and attended the performance. To his surprise, the theatre troupe’s performance focused on issues of land conflict, similar to those he was experiencing. Samuel approached the SFCG troupe and explained his situation and the parallels to the performance.
Samuel Ntahonsohokeye
The SFCG Participatory Theatre took an interest in his dilemma and reached out to their SFCG colleagues working on a radio program in Burundi. Samuel’s conflict was then featured on a radio show on Communitarian Radio Station Star FM. With this publicity and the support of both the SFCG Participative Theatre and SFCG community radio programs, the local authority stepped in to resolve the conflict.
Participative theatre in Gatwe on March 11th 2011
“The theatre helped us, at a moment we really had big problems. We had built a house which the occupants quickly destroyed and almost all the neighbors sided with the occupant. It’s at that moment that the actors came, and they approached us and we told them about our problems. After that they performed a play about our problem, right here. They did not stop at that. They brought us to the Communitarian Radio Station Star FM, and they spoke about our problem and that is how we were able to find a place to build our house…We would have filed a complaint against the occupant of our land, if not for this intervention. We only got back a small part of our land, but we owe that to the participative theatre, God bless them.”
Ultimately, Samuel and his family recovered part of their land with the help of the local authorities and SFCG. Samuel now has property to build on a place to call home.
Learn more about SFCG’s initiative in Burundi here.
By Pam O’Connor
To say going to Egypt was a lifelong dream would be an understatement. I have always been drawn to this ancient civilization and its connection to the roots of humanity. I have pictured myself among her ancient monuments more times than I can count. Finally plans were concrete. I was to travel to Egypt with a tour group that specializes in spiritual retreats. Flights had been booked. The trip had been paid for.
Then the revolution happened! read more…
(from bbc.co.uk)
Today over a billion people were glued to screens and radios around the world to follow the India-Pakistan cricket match. Now India will go on to the finals of the Cricket World Cup to face Sri Lanka. On the field, Pakistan has never beaten India in the world championships while India has won the world cup once, in 1983. Today’s game was probably the most watched match in history.
Off the field, the rivalry between the nations has been deadly serious. Tensions have run high between the neighbors since partition and have resulted in war three times since 1947.
In a symbolic gesture, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani prime minister Yousef Raza Gilani have agreed to watch the match together. Whether this will be a move toward resuming talks between the two countries is yet to be seen.
SFCG’s media manager in Pakistan, Wajih Akhtar has written and performed a song for the occasion. Because Wajih is a well known and popular singer in Pakistan, the song has been designated as the official song for the 2011 World Cup by Pakistan TV. The song calls for patience, calm and accepting the result of the game. It also reinforces our belief that sport can give us a rare opening to a common path and promote understanding of differences.
Pushing the Elephant on PBS, Independent Lens – Tuesday, March 29
Nangabire and Rose
The scale of the in the Congo can make people into victims and victims into mere numbers. Pushing the Elephant a new documentary, released by Women Make Movies, puts a human face on the impact of the conflict.
The film tells the story of Rose Mapendo, who lost her family and home to the violence that engulfed the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the late 1990’s during the Second Congo War. The war was the largest in Africa and set the stage for the conflict that continues in Congo today. read more…
What is something which you fear that you may simply need to learn more about?
Young Parliamentarians from Cabinda
Search for Common Ground created the School Parliament project to empower Angola’s future leaders. With a series of interactive activities engaging youth in civic education, the project aims to promote greater and more positive youth engagement in determining Angola’s future.
One of the students gives a presentation to the local administrators.
The School Parliament is an opportunity for youth to debate current issues and make policy decisions, providing first-hand experience in the process of governing and responding to constituents. The Parliament is linked with weekly radio programs, which highlight different emerging themes in the projects and share them diverse youth across Angola. SFCG works with young Angolans from 50 secondary schools in Luanda and Cabinda.
SFCG surveyed the level of awareness among students of school parliament activities and received a unanimous response that it is important to participate in school parliament as a means to voice their opinions. Most students believe that School Parliament activities allow them to gain more knowledge about citizenship, participation and leadership.
School Parliamentarians from Cabinda recently met with local administrators to learn more about municipal government and outreach. The local public administrators discussed their governmental duties and answered questions about their roles. They also met with members of the municipality’s outreach staff to learn about the history of the city and how they drive tourism to the city.
The Municipal Administrator of Cabinda and the Chief of the Municipal Section of Health listen to student presentations.
These government figures presented on ongoing projects in the province and programs for improving tourism. Additionally, the Municipal Administration provided radio equipment for the student participants as a way to support community radio programs.
City Manager and Head of the Cefato Matoco Council, Tando Fransisco, also met with the School Parliament participants to share information and give a history of Cabinda.
By bringing students together with government officials, the School Parliament project aims to foster the transformation of a peaceful future in Angola. Engaging the youth in the progress of their nation is a sure way to achieve successful and lasting outcomes.
