two and two makes five

Tutu and Mbeki in war of words

Link: BBC NEWS | Africa | Tutu and Mbeki in war of words.

I have more and more respect for Archbishop Tutu all the time. If you've read Mandela's autobiography, you will have begun to understand the importance of loyalty within the ANC. For nearly one hundred years, complete loyalty to the party line and message was paramount to the survival of the freedom movement, and especially during the years when Mbeki was coming of age when the ANC was banned and led by those in exile. However, democracy and freedom require questioning, unfettered thinking, and bold truth-telling. I am beginning to understand Mbeki's position, but I applaud Tutu and his ongoing courage.

UPDATE: More news, this time from the SA perspective: ANC seeks to clamp down on dissent, while reaching out to Tutu, and also ANC is conciliatory to Tutu as the tripartite alliance shows cracks. Stay tuned...

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day 2004

Take some time today to find a red ribbon. Wear it tomorrow and tell everyone who asks that you support World AIDS Day and efforts to fight HIV/AIDS around the world, and especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This year's theme is Women, Girls, HIV, and AIDS: Have you heard me today?, and focuses on gender inequality and how it fuels the AIDS pandemic.

From UNAIDS: "Globally, young women and girls are more susceptible to HIV than men and boys, with studies showing they can be 2.5 times more likely to be HIV-infected as their male counterparts. Their vulnerability is primarily due to inadequate knowledge about AIDS, insufficient access to HIV prevention services, inability to negotiate safer sex, and a lack of female-controlled HIV prevention methods, such as microbicides.

At the same time, all over the world women do not enjoy the same rights and access to employment, property and education as men. Women and girls are also more likely to face sexual violence, which can accelerate the spread of HIV. "

Globally, women now make up 47% of HIV+ persons, but in Sub-Saharan Africa - the world's most AIDS affected region - as many as 57% of HIV+ persons are women.

Pray that God will raise up a generation of female leaders who will lead the fight against inequality, gender bias, and the related problem of HIV/AIDS, and when you wear your red ribbon tomorrow, share that prayer with those around you.

Happy Post-Thanksgiving!

Amy and I had a great Thanksgiving holiday in Atlanta with her family. Realizing that this will likely be the last Thanksgiving we share with extended family for at least a few years was both sad and exciting for us. Sad because we took time to reflect on the great times we've shared over the past twenty eight Thanksgivings with our families knowing that we won't be building upon those memories for a while, and exciting because we are looking forward to building new memories and traditions as we follow Jesus in Africa.

Highlights:
Hearing the stories of the great things God has done in the lives of our family over the past year.
Looking back through Amy's family history and imagining the lives of her ancestors - some of which have lived in the South for 350 years!
Picking out baby names for Steve and Lindsay's baby girl due in April. (Go with Peach.)

Needs improvement:
I-85 on the day before and the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
Outlet mall. (OK... it wasn't that bad, but I have a reputation to uphold.)
No squash casserole.

Also, the award for "coolest grandmother" goes to Amy's Grandmommy, who reads this blog on her laptop with a Wi-Fi broadband connection. :)

Finally, I know Libby would have made squash casserole for me if she had read the blog last week. I gave her a hard time about not having read the past few posts and she promised to keep reading. So, I'm issuing a test. Libby, if you post a comment to this post within a week, you're safe. Otherwise, the "virus" will infect my blog. :)

In all seriousness, we had a great time, and we're both thankful for such wonderful families that are full of love for God and for each other. Happy Post-Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving. Amy and I are off to Atlanta to share the holidays with her side of the family. It will be good to see everyone again, and if I start thinking about it now, I bet I can come up with a good excuse not to go to the outlet mall on Friday.

Steven's Thanksgiving Trivia: My 2004 "Most Anticipated Thanksgiving Dish That I Hope My Mother-in-Law Makes" is squash casserole.

I'm sure your life is richer for knowing that. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Stigma of HIV/AIDS

Then Valerie, a local schoolteacher, turned to me, and as I recall said: "Jean-Marc, remember the local organization that got money from an international organization for orphans with HIV/AIDS? They asked me to help identify orphans in Kpalimé. Well, I went out to do a count and none of them have HIV or AIDS. There are no AIDS orphans."

CSM article on orphans and stigma

This past weekend, Amy and I attended a great conference with African and American church leaders on the subject of HIV/AIDS in Africa. The stigma surrounding the disease is astounding - even to the point where after surveying the city of Kpalimé, Togo, one can say "There are no AIDS orphans."

I'll post more on the conference in the coming weeks... time to pack and head to Atlanta now.

UPDATE: "Three fourths of UN Peacekeeping Budget is Spent on What Continent"

Had somewhere close to 40 hits on this Google search term again today. No one has left a comment yet... what is going on? Here is the original post.

Amy's Angel

For the first time in her 12+ years of driving, Amy was pulled over for speeding just over a month ago. Due to some strange and inconvenient North Carolina law, she was forced to appear in traffic court, as her ticket was written for a violation in excess of 10 MPH over the posted limit. She was definately speeding and had no desire to go to court and defend herself, as she had no defense. She just wanted to pay the ticket through the mail and not have to take time off from work to go to downtown Raleigh.

But, she had to go to court. So she took an afternoon off from work, got lost on the way to the courthouse, and finally made it in to the traffic court. After waiting in a long line, she made her way to the check-in desk where the clerk reduced her ticket to nine MPH over the limit since Amy had no previous speeding tickets. Amy had been praying that somehow this ticket wouldn't affect our insurance rates, since we really can't afford to have them go up right now. By knocking the ticket down to 9 MPH, the clerk said that it wouldn't go on her insurance record. This was great news. However, she also found out from the clerk that because she had come to court, she would be responsible for $100 in court costs in addition to the cost of the ticket.

Again, Amy had no defense, but prayed that somehow this could be avoided, as we don't really have the extra $100 in our budget at the moment. She finally made her way to the judge...

Africa news round up

I don't have enough time to post thoughts on all of these stories, but I wanted to keep everyone up-to-date on the current news from Africa:

Thanks to the BBC...

Antibiotic treatment can halve AIDS deaths in children: A study in Zambia shows that giving HIV+ children a cheap and readily available antibiotic can cut the death rate in half. Given how slowly anti-retrovirals are being rolled out in many places, this is great news. Pray for the lives of children with HIV around the world.

Sudan and southern rebels pledge a peace deal by year's end: The UN Security Council has taken the unusual step of meeting away from New York, and the Nairobi meeting has brought about a possible peace agreement to end southern Sudan's 21 year old civil war. Considering Sudan's continuing stonewalling in Darfur, this is hopeful but not yet certain. Pray for peace.

Ivory Coast asks for French return: Officials in Cote d'Ivoire plead with French ex-pats to return, as much of the economy is in the hands of foreigners who have fled the country after the outbreak of civil unrest. Considering how unstable the country is right now, this isn't likely to happen anytime soon, but many, many innocent people are being displaced and endangered because of the actions of a few. Again, pray for peace.

Living in a country without a government: Somalia has not had a functioning government in thirteen years. Even though a President was elected in October, he has not yet set up a government, and militias, extortion, kidnapping, disease, and internal displacement are still a part of daily life. You have to read this story to believe it. Pray for life, peace, and hope for the people of Somalia.

Sir Mark Thatcher faces new evidence against him: Former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's son is facing charges of financing a coup against the government of Equatorial Guinea. The alleged consipirators being held in E.G. face the death penalty, but Thatcher was arrested in South Africa, where the death penalty is outlawed. He is facing fifteen years for violations of South African law. Pray for a fair and transparent resolution to this case unfolding around Africa.

Say it ain't so, Steve!

The OBC is headed to SC!

Steve, what are you thinking? Do you really want to run onto Florida Field wearing black and red while 90,000 Gators boo and call you "Gator Bait"? Do you really want to cheer for Georgia and Tennessee to beat the Gators so that you can win the SEC East? Do you really want to run off Florida Field in defeat while the crowd sings the Alma Mater after a Gator win?

Conspiracy theories are springing up all over the place, but Steve and Holtz have been friends for a long time, and I think Lou convinced OBC to take his place and build the USC program the way he did at UF. Too bad UNC beat Miami this year, or that job might have come open, in which case Steve could avoid playing UF every year. Maybe it's just that Amy and I grew up as Clemson fans, but we really think Steve could have done much better.

"Three fourths of UN's peacekeeping budget is spent on what continent"

I would guess that the answer is Africa, although I have no idea. Some teacher, somewhere, has assigned his/her students a paper on this subject ("three fourths of UN's peacekeeping budget is spent on what continent") and all of those words appear on my blog - although not in order until now. I've had around 50 Google hits from this search term, so I figured if I type "three fourths of UN's peacekeeping budget is spent on what continent" a few more times, I'll be sure and become the number one source for all of these students. The fact that this blog doesn't have any information concerning "three fourths of UN's peacekeeping budget is spent on what continent" is frankly irrelevant. I just want someone who searched for this term and wound up here to post a comment telling me why your whole class has been to my blog. Thanks.

PS - If anyone knows the answer to "three fourths of UN's peacekeeping budget is spent on what continent", please let me know. Then I'll be happy to post the answer for all of the students who are coming here trying to find out.

PPS - This is under "Web/Tech" because Google keeps sending people here for this search term... thanks for asking. :)