Saving Africans: Stopping HIV

Chinese debts harming Africa

 

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corruption behind brownouts in South Africa

 

Out of Africa

GetREligionblog reports that the Anglican bishops in Africa have rejected the leadership of the bishop of Canterbury, essentially saying the see of St Augustine is empty. (St Augustine of Canterbury evangelized the Anglo Saxons and reestablished Christianity in England. The See refers to the seat/location i.e. area governed by the bishop).

The Anglican site VirtueOnLine has several reports about this:

a similar schism is perculating in the Catholic church, and Africa might have a major part of that rejection of PC sexual morals. From Cardinal Sarah to CNA in 2015 essentially rejects how western government are pushing gender ideology on Africa. He has written several books, including one with some other bishops in Africa stressing that Africa will save Catholicism from these anti family trends.

"I encourage you to speak with clarity and with one credible voice and with filial love of the Church. Be conscious of the mission of the Church; protect the sacredness of marriage which is now being attacked by all forms of ideologies that intend to destroy the family in Africa. Do not be afraid to stress the teaching of the Church on marriage." In a major six-page interview released during the same period in the French magazine Famille Chrétienne , Cardinal Sarah said: "At the synod next October we will address, I hope, the question of marriage in an entirely positive manner, seeking to promote the family and the values that it bears. The African bishops will act to support that which God asks of man concerning the family, and to receive that which the Church has always taught. . . . Why should we think that only the Western vision of man, of the world, of society is good, just, universal? The Church must fight to say no to this new colonization."

the so called synod on synodality is being pushed with the idea to let people talk about what concerns them: but of course these meetings are not with practicing Catholics as much as with those eager to change the church, and like most institutions that practice wokeness, there is a danger that it will push out true believers who feel their voices are being ignored.

thanks to Mother Angelica, despite Catholics leaving the church en masse in the USA (some to no religion, but about half to other Christian churches), about half the bishops remain faithful to Christianity.  This is similar to the few Anglican bishops in the UK who oppose these trends, but who are slowly being replaced by those obeying the non Christian reformers.

Alas, due to liberation theology and Pope Francis' shennanigans in adding pachimama pagan rituals, there is also an exodus to evangelical churches in Latin America and in Hispanic immigrants in the USA.... there, similar to that in the Philippines, where out bishops push a green agenda that will make poor people poorer, help China, but hey it will get them praise from the elites here.

sigh.

Black Lives in Central Africa don't matter?

 The various civil wars, insurgencies, careless mining practices that exploit people, and outbreaks of disease in Central Africa have been going on for years. So who cares about what is going on there?

Netflix will have African tales series

 From Global Voices:

Interview: Behind the scenes of Netflix/UNESCO's African Folktales Reimagined Netflix and UNESCO are supporting a new generation of African storytellers

On March 29, the films “Enmity Djinn” by Mohamed Echkouna from Mauritania; “Katope” by Walt Mzengi Corey from Tanzania; “Zabin Halima” (Halima’s Choice) by Korede Azeez from Nigeria; “Anyango and the Ogre” by Voline Ogutu from Kenya; “Katera of the Punishment Island” by Loukman Ali from Uganda; and “MaMlambo” by Gcobisa Yako from South Africa will premiere globally on Netflix.

Zimbabwe's cybercity

 A report from GlobalVoices, from a local independent blogger:

 Zimbabwe's cyberpunk cities fueled by China

Interrogating the narratives behind Zimbabwe’s smart cities

The government is making a suburb. aka New Harare, with full internet integration. The companies behind this are Chinese government linked companies such as Huawei.

What could go wrong?

Forget the old fashioned methods of just tearing down the suburbs where you are not popular, or sending the bully boys to terrorize villages. With China's help, the plan has upgraded to Big Brother. 

New Harare’s plans for omnipresent facial recognition tech combined with AI will usher Zimbabwe into a dystopian era. The technology will be able to match a person’s live images with centralized databases and alert law enforcement when a suspected criminal is detected.

In Zimbabwe, where freedoms are harshly curtailed by the regime of President Emerson Mnangagwa, there are also politically-motivated ulterior motives for this technology. In fact, CCTV (Closed-circuit television) cameras are already being placed in Zimbabwe’s cities where opposition movements are strong.

 

Terraces in Eastern Zimbabwe

 I lived in central Zimbabwe. We had paintings on rocks where they were split and so the area was flat and sheltered, and the local hill where the baboons lived was where they buried chiefs. 

But I was too busy treating people and learning the culture and language to go into these ancient sites: Until I got sick and the sisters arranged for me to spend a week vacation in a mission near Umtali.

Nearby, the local mountain was terraced, with stone walls every couple of feet. 

No one knew exactly who did this, but it inspired stories such as King Solomon's mines and the idea that the ancient Phonecians settled there and built these terraces: completely fiction of course and racist because it suggested only white people could do this, not the primitive natives. And indeed, there have been comparisons of the terraces in Zimbabwe to those in Yemen.

The beliefs of the Lemba tribe and DNA suggest there might be a splinter of truth in this, and of course, there was active trading via the Red Sea in ancient times, and later with Arab traders: elephant ivory, gold and slaves:  something that is only now being recognized. 

But anyway, the site of a mountainside terraced was impressive, but hard to find the history of who did this or why this was done. And yes, this was racist because no one wanted to recognize that Bantu farmers would do that.

What inspired this post however was that archeologists discovered "clay pits"near the Zimbabwe ruins complex, and after ignoring them, someone has said: Hey these are in an area that could be used to collect rainwater and the pits used to save it so it was there during the dry season.

Ary.ccheology.com:

  AARHUS, DENMARK—According to a statement released by Aarhus University, a new study at Great Zimbabwe, the eleventh-century capital of the Shona kingdom located in what is now southeastern Zimbabwe, indicates that the large depressions in the landscape surrounding the city’s surviving stone structures may have been used to store and manage the city’s water supply.

It had been previously thought that the depressions, which are known as dhaka pits, were made when clay was dug to build the city. However, remote sensing surveys and excavations conducted by an international team of researchers led by Innocent Pikirayi of the University of Pretoria suggest that the pits were positioned to collect surface water in areas where water runs when it rains, and collect and store seeping groundwater. The stored water would have allowed the people of Great Zimbabwe to manage their livestock and crops during the two dry seasons of the year, the researchers concluded.

Here is another report on the Univ of Zimabwe restoring the southern terraces of Great Zimbabwe 

The article mentions local stone masons. Yes, when I was there, they could make bricklike pieces of stone by finding a flat rock, and placing a fire on top. After a day or two, they would throw cold water on it, and the top layers would come off in slabs of rocks, which they then chisled into bricks very similar to the walls and towers in the Great Zimbabwe.

a photo of the walls to see how the flat stones were used:

https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/the-great-zimbabwe-ruins-outside-masvingo-in-zimbabwe-picture-id940133948

But the terraces of eastern Zimbabwe? Were they related? Done by the same tribe?

and why?

I looked for information for years, until I read Brian Fagan's book Elixir, where the author has a long section on East African water systems and noted these were similar to those found in Zimbabwe and on Drackenburg moutain in South Africa.

To understand a lot of this, you have to realize that rain is seasonal in Zimbabwe: so for months you might not have rain at all. So like other cultures, in the Middle East, Egypt, India, and China, these cultures managed the water supply.

Until the Sahara got so dry to make crossing it difficult, sub Saharan Africa was in touch with these civilizations, and of course, ideas spread via trade routes.

So back to the actual terraces. 
ZimFieldGuide has an article on them, noting the earliest terraces were dirt, but later they were made of stone.

In some areas, whole hillsides are covered with thirty or more lines of terracing. For example, at Ziwa Ruins, it has been estimated there are 800 kms of terracing in an area of 30 square kilometres. Examples of terracing patterns are observable from Google Maps at GPS reference: 18°08'10.13″S 32°38'15.50″E which is the position of the Ziwa Site Museum.

Alas, I can't find a decent photo of the terraces. But then, even when I was visiting and we walked up the mountain with the terraces to our right, we couldn't get a decent photo due to the brush and trees that almost hid them from a distance.

Robert Soper in his book The Terrace Builders of Nyanga presents detailed plans and sketches showing that the terraces show how the agricultural community grew crops on the terraced hillsides, raising livestock in the pit structures in the Nyanga highlands initially from about AD 1300 and then moved down into the lowlands by AD 1800 leaving the remains of their efforts over an area of over 8,000 square kilometres. He acknowledges that terracing is used in other parts of Africa, such as South Africa, East Africa, the southern region of Ethiopia and in Sudan, but nowhere are they used as extensively as Nyanga. There are differences in use however; Sutton observes that the terraces found in Tanzania were designed for irrigation, whilst the ones in Nyanga were mainly for soil conservation purpose,

The summary of the Book on terrace builders of Nyanga: includes this observation:

The ruins represent the remains of family homesteads and extensive stone-built agricultural terraces. Successive stages of development have been traced, starting with settlements on some of the highest peaks around AD 1300 and expanding gradually for five centuries to cover an area of over 5000 square kilometres. These stages show how the farming community adapted to and exploited the opportunities offered by the varied environments of the Nyanga highlands and lowlands to develop a specialised agricultural system integrating cultivation and livestock.

I would like to read the book, but alas it's not available on ScribD, and I can't afford 30 plus dollars plus postage to buy it from Amazon.

another book on the area:from Oxford press:

The Archaeology of Nyanga, Eastern Zimbabwe

• Plan Shenjere-Nyabezi

that oneThe Archaeology of Nyanga, Eastern Zimbabwelocked Plan Shenjere-Nyabezi from oxford press:The Nyanga district is however particularly famous for its stone constructions that come in a variety of forms, consisting of stone terraced hillsides, which extend for almost sixty-five miles from north to south and cover some twenty-three hundred square miles, as well as stone-lined pit structures, hilltop forts, stone-walled enclosures, and trackways. Dating from the 14th to the early 19th century, the culture is one of the Later Farming Community cultures of Zimbabwe. The stone architecture and several other cultural aspects differ from those of the more famous Zimbabwe Culture, such that, although the two entities partly overlapped chronologically, Nyanga represents a separate cultural development in Zimbabwe’s history. The purpose of the stone structures has been a subject of archaeological debate for some time. The majority of scholars generally agree that the terracing and pit structures were constructed for agricultural and animal herding practices.

 with the covid strictures on travel being removed, and with Zimbabwe becomeing more peaceful, the tourist industry should reopen: not just to Europeans but to South Africans and from China who want to see the beauties of that country.

Pilgrimage of hope in South Sudan

 BBC is covering the visit of Pope Francis to ths South Sudan, which continues to have an ongoing civil war after their long fight for independence.

BBC:A banner marking the 300km walk was unveiled to welcome the pilgrims

A group of about 60 Catholic pilgrims are recovering after spending nine days trekking through war-torn South Sudan to see Pope Francis in the capital, Juba....

One pilgrim, who was shedding tears as she arrived, hinted at the trauma the years of fighting have brought to this country. "When you have smelled and seen death and hopelessness, then you will search for peace with all the might that you have," said the woman, who did not want to give her name. "I have lost enough, but along the way I saw love and we all spoke one language - that of peace. I really pray that even after the Pope leaves, we will still be like that," she continued. "He is a prophet and whatever he prays in the next few days, while on our soil, will come to pass. Things will be different. We are going to be one people."

...Pope Francis is spending three days in the country and will hold a Mass on Sunday. In a historic first, he travelled with two other Christian leaders - Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland Rev Iain Greenshields.

...........

Many years ago, in 1980, I worked with a physician from the South Sudan. 

He had fled to a refugee camp to escape the fighting, and the Seventh Day Adventists rescued him and arranged for him to study abroad. He became a physician and hoped to help his people, but the war there  made that too dangerous, so he was working in our clinic in Liberia for awhile until he found a job at a nearby Lutheran hospital.

 Alas, I lost contact with him because I had to leave that country, and shortly after that, there was a coup that resulted in chaos and civil war for years.

The story of how charities try to rescue some of the refugees to resettle and get an education in the USA is told in this film:

.

....full movie here:

cross posted to my main blog.

Blood cobalt and other things greens love

 Joe Rogan publicizes the blood cobalt connection of China and green batteries.

Chiristmas song

 <iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ONxlCBr3gVQ" title="Christmas celebration with  my community members" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Ebola seems to be under control

StrategyPage has a long essay about the various tribal wars in Central Africa/DRC area, and how a Russian mercenary group is looting gold and diamonds to sell via the UAE. 

 But they do have this good news in their report:

November 30, 2022: In western Uganda, the Ebola outbreak that began in September has seen a decline in cases because of rapid medical response. Reported cases have declined but despite that decline, Uganda has closed schools nation-wide in an attempt to curb the spread of the Ebola virus. In November eight children died from Ebola in Uganda. The spread of Ebola to neighboring Congo seems to have been halted.....

Andrew Wefwafa had a series of videos about this

 

.....this was caused by the Sudan variation of the virus, and the problem is that the vaccine that helped stop the previous epidemics in central Africa were for a different strain. 

Just recently, a new experimental vaccine for this Ebola strain has been sent there. LINK The doses are from the Sabin Vaccine Institute (SVI), according to Reuters. The SVI vaccine is a modified chimpanzee adenovirus (ChAd3) vector vaccine.

note: The adenovirus vector is what was used in the british AZ vaccine for covid, and for previous Ebola vaccines .

Health officials had earlier cleared plans to study three candidate Ebola Sudan vaccines. The others are from Merck and Oxford University. 

In the middle of November, a WHO working group recommended that ring vaccine trials prioritize the Merck candidate first, owing to the safety and efficacy of the VSV-EBOV platform used for the Zaire Ebola vaccine, followed by the SVI vaccine, then the Oxford vaccine. A sharp decline in Uganda's Ebola cases presents an obstacle to ring vaccination trials. essentially the disease was stopped by isolation etc. so we will not be able to prove the vaccine works. /sarcasm.

WHO Report.

The ring procedure is to isolate the cases, and vaccinate the ones in contact, then vaccinate the ones who were in contact with the contacts, etc.

.......

Covid in Africa

 I no longer am in touch with my friends in Africa, which is why I have so few posts here.

Dr Campbell however has two videos about health and covid in Africa.

,,,,,,....the videos are cross posted on Dr. Wefwafwa's youtube channel LINK

press freedom in Zimbabwe

 Global voices has a report.

one interesting fact is that only 30 percent of people have internet access

Floods in Uganda

 major floods ten days agon in eastern Uganda 

from 13 days ago:

..''''

... more recent.

.....

dr C links to a report (start at 13 minutes)

Islaimic terrorism in Mozambique

Strategypage has a long essay on Mozambique's oil resources and how Islamic terrorism has prevented them from developing this.

it's not about religion, or even local politics since most of the terrorists are not from the area: It's about money

Since 2019 the violence has increased to the point where most foreign natural gas operations have been shut down and neighboring countries have organized a peacekeeping force to restore order until local security forces are reformed and upgraded to do it themselves.

 

,,, The Islamic terrorists, most of them from outside the country, are not seeking to control territory but to disrupt economic activities. The purpose of this is to establish an environment where they can extort money from foreign firms

Terrorism continues, China steals, but Ebola is over in Central Africa

 summary of what's going on in the Congo (DRC) and in Central Africa at StrategyPage.

Longer report on the end of Ebola outbreak that started in April this year LINK

Different public health response measures were put in place, including community-based surveillance trainings for rapid response teams; Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) interventions in health care facilities and the community, psycho-social support, and risk communication and community engagement. A total 11,139 (alive) and 161 (deaths) alerts were investigated; 1,076 contacts were identified and followed; 909 laboratory samples (805 blood and 104 swab) were tested and 2,037 persons vaccinated (301 contacts vaccines, 1301 contacts of contacts and 435 Health care workers).

Liberia film

 

....Vimeo link

Nigeria: attacks on Christians

 Get Religion blog reports on the thousands of deaths of Nigerian Christians by Muslim terrorists: some are religious and some are tribal massacres by the Muslim herder tribes.

link2

....

hey, just like the millions killed in Rwanda or DRC or Uganda, it's not a big news story. Most of these wars were exacerbated by colonial powers who favored one tribe over another, and of course when the atrocities started, these colonial powers looked the other way.

Sigh. And one doubts the neocolonialist China will do any better: China is well known for it's kleptocracy and bribing of politicians.

 nothing new here, of course: I am old enough to remember the Biafiran war, which left several million dead, mainly of starvation. LINK2.

The Igbo became the most effective at integrating and benefitting from British rule. Compared to the other Nigerian ethnic groups, the Igbo more aggressively pursued western religion, education and spread throughout Nigeria with these advantages to seek employment and establish livelihoods after Nigeria declared independence in 1960. Although the Igbo hailed from the eastern part of the country, the Igbo had established lives throughout the country by the time of independence.

In other words, they ran the place (and I knew several who fled and were working in Liberia when I worked there).

The massacres of course were blamed on the rebels for letting people starve and trying to get sympathy from the west so that the wests would help them. (/sarcasm). Wrong move.

The west only cared about keeping the country intact so they could more easily exploit the oil found there.

. LINK

The attempt by Biafra to secede from the federation provoked the Nigerian Civil War that raged for almost three years. Oil was one of its major causes. Shell-BP was a British multinational company that had dominated the exploration process of the Nigerian oil industry since the 1950s. This study focuses on Shell BP’s dilemma in Nigeria during the civil war era (1967-1970). By using relevant primary and secondary sources, the paper explores the complexities that surround Shell-BP’s position either on the side of Federal government in Lagos through which it got its operating license or the Biafra government in the East that was desperate to secede from the federation. The paper further highlights the economic value of Shell-BP’s investment in oil exploration, its position during the civil war barely eleven years of oil production in eastern and mid-western Nigeria, problem of royalties’ payment in the face of dreadful threat to installations by Biafran troops, and the involvement of British government. The major findings of the paper show that despite Shell-BP’s claim of non-partisanship, its exploration activities went on almost smoothly for the larger part of the war period. This feat could have been achieved by Shell-BP only with payment of adequate royalties to the federal government, and at the same time payment of certain undisclosed token to the Biafran leaders to avoid severe damage to its installations. This study contributes to the existing knowledge on oil and war, particularly the conflict of interests associated with oil companies, the government and other stakeholders. It also contends that it is difficult for any oil company to be completely non-partisan in the conduct of its business activities in a country like Nigeria. The paper concludes that the circumstances of war era compelled Shell-BP to adopt the strategy of constructive negotiation with the Biafran leaders without undermining the Federal Government.

corruption is easy to exploit, something the Brits, and now the Chinese are happy to do. 

LINK:

the report in The Economist magazine of October 10, 2019 which revealed that about $582bn has been stolen from Nigeria since independence in 1960. ... At least N11tn is said to have been diverted in the power sector alone since 1999, while N1.3tn public funds were reportedly laundered between 2011 and 2015.,,,It quoted Britain’s International Corruption unit as saying it has confiscated £76m ($117m) loot from Nigeria since 2006. “Another £791m has been frozen worldwide, thanks to its work,” it said, adding that “it barely makes a dent in the £100bn of illicit funds

and one wonders who got the recovered money? I suspect a lot of that recovered money got stolen too, just like the funds stolen by Marcos and recovered ended up being stolen by other politicians after it was returned to the Philippines.

Sorry, but every time I read some bleeding heart say that there is no hell, it makes me hope they are wrong. And I suspect that sardonic Jewish carpenter would agree with me: Matthew 18:21-35 

Hunger is coming to Africa

Sigh. ....SP also has a report on peacekeepers and corruption LINK...