Awareness Is Key :: Ethiopian War Crimes? American Non-Involvement? I Disagree.

U.S. accused of ignoring Ethiopia war crimes
Satellite images purportedly show destroyed villages near Somalia

Above is a satellite image taken Sept. 26, 2005, of the village of Labigah, Ethiopia. Below is an image taken Feb. 28, 2008, that an analysis by the American Association for the Advancement of Science says shows 40 structures removed or damaged. The analysis says the gray-white areas are possible evidence of burning.

NAIROBI, Kenya - The United States and other Western governments are ignoring clear evidence of war crimes by Ethiopia, a key U.S. ally that launched a military crackdown on rebels last year, a human rights group said Thursday. Separately, a U.S.-based science group said satellite images confirm reports that villages have been destroyed in the country's Ogaden region.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said America's relationship with Ethiopia means an alliance with a country repeatedly accused of violating human and political rights. In recent years, Ethiopia has become a U.S. partner in the fight against al-Qaida, which has been trying to sink roots in the Horn of Africa.

This makes me so sad. Based on this last statement, it looks like to me that the US government cares more about its own war on terrorism than it cares for people (how is that possible, you say? I have no clue.). The Ethiopian people have enough to deal with on their own, more than they can handle alone really. We need to make sure that they are cared for and I don't think that America is doing enough with the abundance of resources that we have avaliable to us.  I don't know what I can do to change this.  I want to make a difference, besides awareness, I don't know what to do.  I am just me.

Pray That This One Works

:: Headline ::

Kenya rival leaders sign power-sharing deal

Agreement seeks to end post-election violence that has left 1,000 dead

Awareness is Key

I read a blog about this this morning and it got me thinking again about it. I think that thesepeople just need to be educated on the subject, I think that they just don't understand what female genital mutilation really does to them. These girls deserve to live healthy, long, beautiful lives, and this practice is taking that away from them. Tradition is getting in the way of the law in some cases. These people need to be educated on the subject.

Awareness is key, like I've always said.

Red Hand Day

I love wikipedia. I learn something everyday by browsing it. Check out the main page section titled "On This Day", there's always something interesting there! This is what I read today...

...today is RED HAND DAY. A day to bring awareness to the use of children in war. And it happens all too often, even today.

Read. Learn something. Be called into action.

Red Hand Day, held on February 12, is an annual commemoration day created to draw attention to the fate of children who are forced to serve as soldiers in wars and armed conflicts. The aim of Red Hand Day is to call for action against this practice, and support for children who suffer from this severe form of child abuse. Examples for massive use of children as soldiers in recent years include armed conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, Côte d'Ivoire, Myanmar, Philippines, Colombia, and Palestine.
Red Hand Day was initiated in 2002 when the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict entered into force on February 12, 2002. This protocol was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in May 2000. It currently has signatures from 92 different states. A number of international organizations are active against the use of children as soldiers. These organizations include, for example, the United Nations Child Fund (UNICEF), Amnesty International, Terre des Hommes or the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
The work of these organizations can be summarized by the acronym DDR:
Disarmament
Demobilization
Reintegration
The military use of children is addressed by a number of international legal norms. These include International human rights law and International humanitarian law. According to the Additional Protocols I and II to the Geneva Conventions, adopted in 1977, children who have not attained the age of 15 years shall neither be recruited in the armed forces or groups, nor allowed to take part in hostilities. For persons older than 15 but younger than 18 years, the State Parties to the Geneva Conventions shall endeavour to give priority to those who are oldest. The "Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict", adopted in 2000, stipulates that its State Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons below the age of 18 do not take a direct part in hostilities, and that they are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces. In addition to these legal norms, The Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention of the International Labour Organization, adopted in 1999, includes forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict as one of the worst forms of child labour. In the context of this convention, the term "child" applies to all persons under the age of 18 years. The worldwide number of child soldiers is estimated to be between 250,000 and 300,000 (as of 2006), a third of whom are girls; however it is difficult to know the correct number, as most of them are deployed in armed rebel groups.

Rock On Beckham, Rock On.

The English-American transplant, David Beckham, is tackeling the child mortality crisis in Africa's Sierra Leone. He recently spent some time there to bring awareness and to research what he can do with his sphere of influence to help that beautiful falling continent; he is partnering with UNICEF. He even stopped to play a little soccer with some little African babies while he was there. Gotta know they loved that?! I wonder if he's had any prior expierence playing futbol???

This Morning's Front Page

Buy Coffee...Feed an Orphan

It's as simple as that...we drink coffee, it tastes good; as a result an orphan is fed for an entire month.

Simple. Beautiful. Profound.

Go here and get some right now!

Sometimes...

...I get homesick for a place I've never been......but long to go.

Delivering Relief in Kenya

This BBC article is a diary from an aid worker in Kenya right now. It's pretty eye-opening what he is describing aout the happenings in that country after the unrest that has occured after the recent rigged Presidental elections. Check it out.

Sudanese troops fire on U.N. convoy in Darfur

U.N. officials say soldiers apparently mistook group for rebels

A Sudanese driver was critically injured in the shooting on the supply convoy, which destroyed a fuel tanker truck and damaged an armored personnel carrier, protected by South African peacekeepers, which occurred late Monday near Sudan’s volatile border with Chad, the U.N. mission, known as UNAMID, said in a statement.
A U.N. peacekeeper stationed near the site of the attack said a Sudanese army unit apparently mistook the South African peacekeepers for Darfur rebels who also operate in the area.

That saddens me too. It just goes to show you that we are all the same and who is to say there is any difference between me and my brother, whether black, white, poor or rich, Wouth African, Sudanese, or American. The tribal differences are so minute in that country that people are often mistaken for being in a different group than they are. This time it was some innocent people who were only there to offer aid, to help, to show love to the people in Darfur who are so deserving of it and need love more than you or me. I would continue to help; and that is just what they are going to do.

The Current Kenyan Crisis

Here, where I live, if somone's preferred candidate loses a political race of somekind, no matter how/why they lost, we get upset, we show dissapointment; but never this. Kenya recently had national elections for a new President. Nearly 300 people have been killed in a clash of ethnic violence in the country in only a week since the elections, which are claimed to be rigged. msnbc.com described the events as "violence that has killed 300 people and displaced 100,000 in what was once lauded as among the most stable democracies in Africa." That is sad, not only that it is such violence and so many people are being hurt, killed, and negatively effected, but also that Kenya, once considered to be a stable democracy in Africa (which in itself are few and far between) is now expierenceing the atraucities similar to it's fellow African counrties, the Sudan and Rwanda, for example. BBC is claiming that over 180,000 people have been displaced due to this violence and over 350 have been killed. The UN's World Food Programe is despertaly trying to provide food for the 100,000 displaced people in the Valley Rift Area alone.

The church needs to step in.

These people desperatly need to be shown some love.

I don't know what I can do.




Here is a video of the violence. It is devestating.

Here is a article I read about the subject that got it on my mind, again. And here is another.

World AIDS Day 2007

People around the world, from Brazil, to Africa, to China, to Europe, to DC, came together today, to bring awareness to a disease that has hit so many lives, changed countless lives, and taken too many lives…AIDS. World AIDS Day is a campaign to bring the fight against AIDS to the forefront of people’s minds; awareness is half of the cure.

A large ribbon, the internationally-recognized symbol for the fight against AIDS, is placed in front of the “Christ the Redeemer” statue atop Corcovado Mountain, during a campaign for World AIDS Day in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Danish human rights activists adjust candles during a rally to mark World AIDS day in Copenhagen.
A huge red ribbon hangs from the North Portico of the White House to mark World AIDS Day on December 1, 2007. President Bush announced he will travel to Africa in 2008 to check on US efforts in combating the disease.
Members of civil society light candles to create awareness on the eve of World AIDS day in Multan, Pakistan.
AIDS activists wearing body paint participate in an awareness campaign during the World AIDS Day in Lome, Togo.
HIV/AIDS activists march in Abidjan, the largest city in the Ivory Cost, to mark World AIDS Day. Held each year on December 1, World AIDS Day is a time of grim stocktaking as AIDS campaigners worldwide sound the alarm over the disease’s rampage through Africa, the threat it poses to Asia and former Soviet Union republics, and the risks to vulnerable communities such as sex workers, drug users, and gay men.
Pedestrians walk past a giant poster made by undergraduates during an AIDS awareness promotion to mark World AIDS Day in Nanjing of Jiangsu Providence, China. According to official estimates, there are around 700,000 HIV/AIDS patients nationwide.
HIV affected people take part in an AIDS awareness campaign on World AIDS Day in the northwestern Indian city of Siliguri. India has been the world’s third biggest caseload of people living with the deadly virus. After originally estimating some 5.7 million were infected in India, the UN reduced that estimate to 2.5 million.