***Queerty interviews “Botswanan trans-lesbian Prisca Mogapi” who describes coming out to his family.
I never dreamed of telling anyone close to me, but the media disclosed me as they crashed the party that I threw with my partner.
The article was titled, “Homosexual party in Mmopane,” as well as my and my partner’s names in bold letters with our mobile numbers. When my family - especially mother - saw this newspaper, they didn’t want to hear anything from me for a long time. It was not easy. I was even scared to go to the shops thinking that people would notice that I am the person in the newspaper. Since then, I’ve started speaking out about LGBTI issues. I felt that there was a need for a voice, otherwise media will continue to mislead and continue to write articles that re-enforce stereotypes.
*** A really interesting project by Beyond Niamy who is researching the role of African languages in development. He begins by sending a letter to various NGOs asking how much consideration is given to African languages in the development of projects…
My operating assumption, which is supported in some literature as well as personal experience, is that in the multilingual settings that predominate in Africa, language is largely overlooked as a factor in the success or not of development and education programs (although in the field of primary education there is increasing attention to the issue of mother-tongue/bilingual instruction). Choice of language(s) in development has potential impact on factors critical to project success and sustainability, such as communication, participation, learning, and integration with indigenous knowledge.
***Jamaician blogger, Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot also raises the subject of language in his post on Haitian poet, Felix Morisseau-Leroy who insisted on writing in Kreyol rather than French. This was in the 1950s and 60s when the Haitian elite marginalised and dismissed Kreyol as the language of the masses lacking culture and sophistication.
In one of my favorite poems by “Moriso” or “Lewa,” the poet shows his allegiance, and we are all better off for it.
I still remember the defiance and the fire when he used to read this poem, and especially when he said, “I don’t want any priest/ To speak Latin over my head.”
***African Loft launches the second in it’s African History video series ” “Mastering a Continent”
“Mastering a Continent” is the continuation of the History of Africa video documentary and it shows story of the African people over the centuries, and how they learn the skills that enabled them overcome huge difficulties imposed on them by their environment.
This is a story of how Africans master their continents - surviving under a climate of ferocious extremes.
“Mastering a Continent” a 5-part video documentation highlights three people: Pekot of Kenya (part 2&3), Suka of Nigeria (part 4) and Dogon of Mali (part 5).
***Kameelah reports on the speech by US state Rep, Sally Kern that “Homosexuals are a Bigger Threat to America than Islam”
“The Republican member of the Oklahoma Legislature has received death threats since telling a political group that “the homosexual agenda is just destroying this nation” and poses a bigger threat to the U.S. than terrorism”.
Really? Now, I guess Muslims and the LGBT community (which of course are not mutually exclusive) can engage in some counterproductive Olympics over who is the greatest threat to America.
***The “V-Monologues ….[Vagina Monologues] finally reached Lagos and blogger Ore was there to witness the “famed/notorious” event
In some of the monologues, women were identified as the main culprits in causing or aggravating another woman’s pain, in selling her out and letting her down at the worst possible time (The Black Widow, Women Trafficking). Women were shown sometimes to be pawns of men in perpetuating hurtful cultural traditions. In some cases, women were portrayed as being too helpless to take a stand. All of which can imply that women are weak, spineless, witless or cruel. “Yes, you see! You women are your own worst enemies.”
In all this, patriarchy continues to rear its ugly, multi-hydra’ed head, although that might not be the message that many would take away from this.
***Palestine Whiz is a new Web 2.0 application that works similiar to Muti and Digg.
The site is created and managed by Palestinian blogger Haitham Sabbah and still very much in the beta stage so Haitham would appreciate constructive feedback from readers and bloggers. The content is not just political but anything to do with Palestine such as art, culture, sport etc and includes content from bloggers and other media.
“Palestine Whiz!” is generated by the contribution of it’s users. The content is NOT automatically imported in it like PalestineBlogs.org, but it’s users have to publish the stories of their liking. Only members of the website can give their vote (in this case “Whiz!”) to any number of story. Only stories with certian minimum number of “Whizes!” are published, otherwise remain in “Upcoming News.” Users can also comment on stories, share them with other by sending them right there from the website, or even bookmaking them in other social bookmaking websites such as digg, del.iou.us, etc..
***Human Rights Tools is an aggregator of HR blogs as well as a general HR resource with news, jobs, courses, an eLibary, country analysis, specialist search engine and bookshop.
This site is primarily aimed at human rights activists - persons monitoring the respect of human rights and advocating for positive change. Persons who are passionate about quality human rights work, have a thirst to continually deepen their knowledge, and are looking for a collection of top reference material.
After several years of searching the internet, we gradually discovered and assembled a collection of human rights tools and resources of amazing quality - and all of them were offered by their developers to other human rights workers. Taken together, these tools constitute a formidable resource, and a wonderful example of sharing and collaboration.
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