Rebecca Lolosoli // Black History Month Curated by dumbanenguebyceleste // Day II...

If you educate a man 

you educate an individual, 

but if you educate a woman

 you educate a family (nation).

Rebecca Lolosoli is great female African role model and Vital Example of this african proverb by Ghanaian scholar Dr. James Emmanuel Kwegyir-Aggrey (1875-1927)

 

Rebecca Lolosoli born 1962 in a village at Wamba, Samburu District in Kenya is fourth child in a family of six, three brothers and three sisters, her father was polygamous, with three wives. She attended Wamba girls’ primary school in 1971. Then joined the Catholic nursing training center in Wamba but dropped out only six months to completion due to lack of fees. She have been very aware of the problems for women for a long time. 

The Rights we want :
We want to choose our husband
we want to own the land
we want to go to school
we dont want to be cut anymore,
we want also make decisions,
we want respect in politics,
To be leaders
we want to be Equal.

Rebecca Lolosoli Quote

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video bellow : Rebecca Lolosoli was the recipient of the Vital Voices 2010 Fern Holland Global Leadership Award. The Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards honor and celebrate women leaders who are working to strengthen democracy, increase economic opportunity and protect human rights around the world.

 

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bellow more to read scroll it

 more than 50 years, British soldiers trained in area at Archer’s Post in Samburu. Wearing green uniforms they blended with the trees and when women collected firewood, the soldiers would jump out and rape them, laughing like it was a game. Women, fearing their husbands would find out and beat or try to kill them, were afraid to talk about it. The men made their wives leave, taking the children with them. Then they had nothing and many would resort to brewing changaa (Local Beer) to earn money, but it is illegal to sell this, and the women were jailed, leaving their children without caregivers and some were eaten by hyenas.

She started going to local government meetings to speak for these women. Rebecca formed a village with other womens so they could protect one another. The problem was and still is Samburu womens have no rights—no right to own livestock or land, to go to school, even to choose a husband. If a Samburu man kills his wife, no one cares—he paid the dowry, so he owns her.

In 1990, 15 women,allegedly raped by local British soldiers, and led by Rebecca Lolosoli, formed and registered the Umoja Uaso Women's Group with the then Ministry of Culture, Heritage and Social Services. They started by selling beadwork and other goods. After facing threats from men jealous of their success, the members decided to found a women-only village and reside together, thus providing collective security and cooperation.  

As Umoja Village grows
The village supports women who have been tortured, beaten and raped. They also help to raise children who have been abandoned, orphaned or suffer from AIDS. Women become liberated, empowered and their capacities build. They become socially and economically independent and make decisions on matters that affect them directly. They learn how to appreciate their womanhood and respect their bodies.

Actual: There is pre-school at Umoja currently enrolls about 60 children, ages 3-6,  from the surrounding villages. The head teacher is currently accredited and supported by the District Dept. of Education. Two assistant teachers for the younger children receive their salaries from the Umoja Women’s Fund, which also supplies the funds for all the uniforms and for the two hot meals served daily. 
 In addition, in partnership with the Samburu Youth Education Fund, qualified primary and secondary students are given scholarships to attend boarding school, they currently support 2 primary and 2 secondary students.
they are fortunate to have the funds to provide a college education to  a young women raised in Umoja and whose mother still lives there. She is studying business management and hopes to use her skills to give back to Umoja.

Rebecca have remained the Umoja group’s chairperson to date. With the confidence she built in the group, they have continued electing her to the chair consecutively. In 1995, she was again recognized and honored by the district women when they elected her unanimously to chair the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organization (MYWO), a post she retained for 10 years—till her retirement! The MYWO is a national organization for the enhancement of women, in terms of development and gender. It undertakes fighting female genital mutilation, child marriages and pregnancies, school dropouts by girls and HIV/AIDS.  

source : Umoja Women and Satya

Re- edit : by dumbanenguebyceleste
02-feb-016

What is Black History Month ?

As mozambican i think in continent of africa we should adopt black history month
due the fact that we stand in front line when it comes of losing cultural identity.
I believe we should use this month to praise our positive and non violence qualities that exist in our culture, heritage and tradition, so on those also who have done positive contribution in african society and in universal level, just an ideas hope turns into reality.
By Celeste Cambaza

Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month in America, is an annual observance in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom for remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is celebrated annually in the United States and Canada in February, and the United Kingdom in October.

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The Importance of Black History Month by Tiana Ferrell 

 History

Negro History Week (1926): The precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926 in the United States, when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be "Negro History Week."This week was chosen because it coincided with the birthday of Abraham Lincoln on February 12 and of Frederick Douglass on February 14, both of which dates Black communities had celebrated together since the late 19th century.

From the event's initial phase, primary emphasis was placed on encouraging the coordinated teaching of the history of American blacks in the nation's public schools. The first Negro History Week was met with a lukewarm response, gaining the cooperation of the Departments of Education of the states of North Carolina, Delaware, and West Virginia as well as the city school administrations of Baltimore and Washington, D.C.. Despite this far from universal acceptance, the event was regarded by Woodson as "one of the most fortunate steps ever taken by the Association," and plans for a repeat of the event on an annual basis continued apace.
At the time of Negro History Week's launch, Woodson contended that the teaching of black history was essential to ensure the physical and intellectual survival of the race within broader society: "If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated. The American Indian left no continuous record. He did not appreciate the value of tradition; and where is he today? The Hebrew keenly appreciated the value of tradition, as is attested by the Bible itself. In spite of worldwide persecution, therefore, he is a great factor in our civilization."

By 1929 The Journal of Negro History was able to note that with only two exceptions, officials with the State Departments of Educations of "every state with considerable Negro population" had made the event known to that state's teachers and distributed official literature associated with the event." Churches also played a significant role in the distribution of literature in association with Negro History Week during this initial interval, with the mainstream and black press aiding in the publicity effort. Negro History Week was met with enthusiastic response; it prompted the creation of black history clubs, an increase in interest among teachers, and interest from progressive whites. Negro History Week grew in popularity throughout the following decades, with mayors across the United States endorsing it as a holiday.

infovia : wikipedia

reedit by : dumbanenguebyceleste

feb-01-016 

Josephine Baker // Black History Month Curated By dumbanenguebyceleste // Day I...

 

Josephine Baker (3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress who came to be known in various circles as the "Black Pearl," "Bronze Venus" and even the "Creole Goddess". Born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Missouri, Josephine Baker became a citizen of France in 1937. She was fluent in both English and French.
 She was born as Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Carrie McDonald. Josephine was always poorly dressed and hungry, and she played in the railroad yards of Union Station. From this she developed her street smarts 
 When Baker was eight, she began working as a live-in domestic for white families in St. Louis. One woman abused her, burning Baker's hands when the young girl put too much soap in the laundry.

 Baker was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture, Zouzou (1934), or to become a world-famous entertainer. Baker refused to perform for segregated audiences in the United States and is noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. She was also known for assisting the French Resistance during World War II, and received the French military honor, the Croix de guerre and was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur by General Charles de Gaulle. 

 Although based in France, Baker supported the American Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s. When she arrived in New York with her husband Jo, they were refused reservations at 36 hotels because she was black. She was so upset by this treatment that she wrote articles about the segregation in the United States. She also began traveling into the South. She gave a talk at Fisk University, a historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee, her subject being "France, North Africa And The Equality Of The Races In France".

She refused to perform for segregated audiences in the United States, although she was offered $10,000 by a Miami club. (The club eventually met her demands). Her insistence on mixed audiences helped to integrate live entertainment shows in Las Vegas, Nevada, then one of the most segregated cities in America. After this incident, she began receiving threatening phone calls from people claiming to be from the Ku Klux Klan but said publicly that she was not afraid of them.
In 1951, Baker made charges of racism against Sherman Billingsley's Stork Club in Manhattan, where she alleged that she had been refused service.

 During Baker's work with the Civil Rights Movement, she began adopting children, forming a family she often referred to as "The Rainbow Tribe". Josephine wanted to prove that "children of different ethnicities and religions could still be brothers." She often took the children with her cross-country, and when they were at Château des Milandes, she arranged tours so visitors could walk the grounds and see how natural and happy the children in "The Rainbow Tribe" were.
 Baker raised two daughters, French-born Marianne and Moroccan-born Stellina, and ten sons, Korean-born Jeannot (or Janot), Japanese-born Akio, Colombian-born Luis, Finnish-born Jari (now Jarry), French-born Jean-Claude and Noël, Israeli-born Moïse, Algerian-born Brahim, Ivorian-born Koffi, and Venezuelan-born Mara. For some time, Baker lived with her children and an enormous staff in the château in Dordogne, France, with her fourth husband, Jo Bouillon.Her adopted son Jean-Claude Baker described his mother as a bisexual, having had relationships with men and women.

 Château des Milandes, a castle near Sarlat in the Dordogne, was Josephine Baker's home where she raised her twelve children. It is open to the public and displays her stage outfits including her banana skirt (of which there are apparently several). It also displays many family photographs and documents as well as her Legion of Honour medal. Most rooms are open for the public to walk through including bedrooms with the cots where her children slept, a huge kitchen, and a dining room where she often entertained large groups. The bathrooms were designed in art deco style but most rooms retained the French chateau style.

 Legacy
Place Joséphine Baker in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris was named in her honor. She has also been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame, and on 29 March 1995, into the Hall of Famous Missourians. In 2015 she was inducted into the Legacy Walk. The Piscine Joséphine Baker is a swimming pool along the banks of the Seine in Paris named for her.

 Edit by Celeste from dumbanenguebyceleste 01-Feb -2016 Monday

On Health // Repost from Dr Gabor Maté

 The Health of the Mind

According to the research the best place to be esquizofrenic in world is not in north america with all its pharmacopeia is actually village in Africa or in India where there is acceptance where people make room for your differenceness where connection is not broken but is maintained where you not excluded in society but you welcome, when there is room for you, you act out wherever you need to act out or express even wherever you need to express and may all community even sing with you or chant with you or held ceremony with you, and maybe finding some meaning in your code call on your craziness.
Excerpts from video interview bellow by Gabor Maté 

 

photo via : briarpatchmagazine

The Myth of “Normal” in Psychological Disorders. He explains how mental distress and pathology exists in a continuum and are largely a result of a materialist culture that rigidly “idealize individuality and ignores emotional needs,” prioritizing objects over people and well being.
 Mate is a Hungarian-born physician, living in Vancouver, B.C., who grew up and was educated in Canada.  

 

I think you will find his perspective fascinating more info about Dr Mate philosophical healing approach and publications check his web site : Gabor Maté

 More about Gabor

Gabor Maté  Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1944, he is a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. His maternal grandparents were killed in Auschwitz when he was five months old, his aunt disappeared during the war, and his father endured forced labour at the hands of the Nazis. He emigrated to Canada with his family in 1956.
 Today as  Jew Canadian is physician who specializes in the study and treatment of addiction and is also widely recognized for his perspective on Attention Deficit Disorder and his firmly held belief in the connection between mind and body health. He has authored four books exploring topics including attention deficit disorder, stress, developmental psychology and addiction.He is a regular columnist in news papers

more see :
Gabor Maté: How Capitalism Makes Us Sick 

An interview on health and politics

edit by celeste cambaza / stockholm Sweden  jan 2016

Art Through Mozambican Female Heart

Art Through Mozambican Female Heart

 
in continent of africa we need more women engaging in art field,
in the country where im from Mozambique, we even need more because barely you do not see female artist don't basically exist, I believe woman have a great potential in expressing in huge way in art.
What i feel is necessary to do is to give women more space, more opportunity so she can be free to choose where she want to explore.
in this post i choosed two visual art Mozambican artists that i like their works, is Olga Dengo, explores more abstraction, and Reinata Sadimba in ceramic sculpture. Reinata works and live in mozambique while Olga works and live in Belgium Antwerp.

visual art

 The visual arts are art forms such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, photography, video, filmmaking and architecture. Many artistic disciplines (performing arts, conceptual art, textile arts) involve aspects of the visual arts as well as arts of other types. Also included within the visual arts are the applied arts such as industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design and decorative art.
Current usage of the term "visual arts" includes fine art as well as the applied, decorative arts and crafts, but this was not always the case. Before the Arts and Crafts Movement and elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century, the term 'artist' was often restricted to a person working in the fine arts (such as painting, sculpture, or printmaking) and not the handicraft, craft, or applied art media. The distinction was emphasized by artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement, who valued vernacular art forms as much as high forms. Art schools made a distinction between the fine arts and the crafts, maintaining that a craftsperson could not be considered a practitioner of the arts.

Reinata Sadimba 

Reinata Sadimba Artwork

Reinata Sadimba was born in 1945 in the village of Nemu, Mozambique. Daughter of farmers she first received the traditional Makonde education that included making utilitary objects in clay.
Although the Makondes attribute the main part in society to women, in Mozambique, and also in Tanzania, sculpturing is still a "man's job". Maybe that is the reason why no one took Reinata Sadimba 's art too seriously at first. Reinata Sadimba at her studio
However, in 1975 she initiates a deep transformation in her ceramics becoming known worldwide by her "weird and fantastic forms". Reinata Sadimba is now considered one of the most important women artists of the entire African Continent. She has received several prizes, exhibited her work in Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal or Denmark and her work is represented in several institutions from the National Museum of Mozambique, to the portuguese Ethnographic Museum or Culturgest Modern Art Collection, and in numerous private collections around the world. via :

Reinata Sadimba Artwork

Reinata Sadimba wearing red dress in Limo Ride

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Olga Dengo 

Video interview Olga in her studio in Antwerp  Belgium

Olga Dengo Art Work

Olga Dengo Art Work

 

Olga Dengo

edited by celeste 

stockholm Sweden 2016

Heritage & Culture / Chapter 5 on Culture Preservation

 Happy new year may 2016 be a year of peace, health and happiness

I had opportunity to meet informally Hugh Masekela in August 2013 in Stockholm, he explained me how why his in Heritage and culture restoration and i confess i falling love with.

Celeste.Cambaza and Hugh Masekela 2013 in Stockholm

 

 

Africa Stands in front line when it comes of losing cultural identity
Hugh Masekela is in Crusade on Restoration

One of the giants of South African music, Masekela's work has closely charted the history of his country of birth. Throughout the 60s and 70s the legendary trumpeter's music was inspired by the hardships and humiliations visited on his countrymen by the apartheid regime. His musical styles have ranged from township jazz and blues to funk and rock; he has toured with Paul Simon and appeared on stage with U2 and many others. Throughout his career he has remained outspoken on civil rights, and he has being steadfast in articulating and defending the heritage and culture of his fellow countrymen.

Check Hugh Masekela  TEDxObserver in UK - Hugh Masekela -

 The western influence on African youth plus music performance.

Via: Ted Talks youtube 

edited by 

Celeste.Cambaza

Sweden, Stockholm Jan 2016

Wrong Beliefs // Chapter 4 on Culture Preservation

It’s very easy for us to hear something and believe it without question. After all, if a lot of people say that they fully believe it, then it must be true, right?
It turns out that this kind of thinking is wrong. The number of believers does not necessarily count in validating the credibility of a belief. It’s the scientific data and the historical facts that really matter

via: lifehack

Once a buddhist monk told me story in ancient china.
In ancient china, there was a region that had lot of problems of not raining during long time, so rivers dried.The food was not able to grow, so they were in starvation situation, the king deliberated his citizen start to eat animal meat, fish even in some cases human meat.Time passed the rain came and the food was able to grow, the king spoke again to his citizens saying, since the rain has arrived, it´s time to end the eating of all kinds of meat, the citizens answered, saying they couldnt stop eat meat because was part of their culture.
moral of history: there are times where things are necessary to do, but is necessary to be aware that one day needs to give up those habits because life is impermanent,
everything's in constant changing, is important to keep the genuine positive values but give up the wrong values, and aspects that not longer is needed.

there is serious problem
based on wrong belief of marry a children,
many of these beliefs might have to do with marry with virgin woman.
this is total wrong, and is causing lots of pain and suffering.

As african from southern africa, in my culture we have lots of wrong belief, as also we do have positive belief. but in this culture i want to talk on the ones we should ban, are lots of that we need to ban. for instance the discrimination of Albinos, killing them to witchcraft is outdated, child marriage, animal sacrifice, male chauvinism, the list goes on and on. i think is necessary to acknowledge those wrong beliefs and ban them and replace with more compassionate belief. because i believe that any belief exist in society to contribute for happiness and not for causing pain and suffering.

In Nepal there is wrong belief of animal sacrificing
this photo was taken during one of act practice.

In Denmark there is wrong belief of animal sacrifices, practiced by teens,
this photo was taken there, a kid is seating on top of dead dolphin.

save the beliefs that contribute for well being of society, so i believe that we need in individual level take this responsibility.

 the end via life hack:  i will share here one of wrong belief  that majority of the world are so familiarized but is wrong. i think need to be replaced for something more realistic and positive. 

Albino Children who lost arm due witchcraft.
there is wrong belief, they say albino body parts are good to make someone rich.

Wrong: Jesus was born on December 25. 
Right: It was never stated in the Bible that Jesus was born on the 25th of December. It was Pope Julius the First who initiated this common belief—he declared in the year 350 CE that December 25 was the official Christmas date. It is believed that he chose December 25 because the day when Jesus was conceived was also believed to be on March 25. Nine months after that is Christmas Day. 

Sweden Decenmber 2015 

by Celeste.Cambaza