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March 14, 2008

Views on the Weakly News

Posted by Henk Campher under Africa, aid, America, Bush, Christianity, climate change, Clinton, culture, democracy, dictators, eco-friendly, election, environment, global warming, life, McCain, military, Obama, politics, President, President Bush, Robert Mugabe, South Africa, sustainability, USA, Zimbabwe | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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A few headlines and stories made me sit up this week. Some made headline news and some not. But they triggered my interest. Just a few short notes on some of these.

1. Outside Magazine: The Green Issue

It’s apparently a good one. Treehugger told me so. And Treehugger can never be wrong when it comes to green stuff. But it made me think a bit. Outside magazine? I get it when Vanity Fair or Vogue go green. They never do green stuff other than an odd article here or there. And then they bring out a green issue to educate their readers a bit. You know, bring them up to speed with the latest in green fashion and celebs. But Outside magazine? I know I am new here so I don’t know the magazine that well. Just a bit from the Jon Krakauer books I have read. But shouldn’t they be green in each issue? Tell people how to enjoy the outside world and respect the outside world? Maybe not. I know – they are just trying their best to focus one issue on green only stuff. Good for them. But maybe they should bring green to the heart of what they do and integrate it into all the work they do and write about. Just an idea. But I guess a green issue is better than no issue. Or maybe not. No issue – no impact. The Green Issue – online only.

2. Africom to focus on military role

That was how the UN IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Network) reported on the briefing to Congress by General William “Kip” Ward, head of the US Command for Africa, Africom. Or more specifically, how he only talked about the humanitarian work of Africom for 15 seconds out of his almost 5 minute briefing. Now I have to be honest – I like the UN and especially IRIN. They bring me news from Africa. And the UN is full of flaws. But imagine a world without them. More wars and more injustice. But really, this is a bit much. What did they think Africom was going to do? They are a military command centre for Africa (based in Europe). A military command centre people… Doing military stuff. You know – guns and stuff. The killing bits. And handing out food and doing humanitarian work has never been a great strength of any military force. Sorry to disappoint you. Africom was always going to focus a tad more on the military stuff than the humanitarian stuff. Shocking I know. But true.

3. Obama invents a new religion

The week started off with more rumours about Obama being a Muslim. Nothing new there. It’s just McCain setting some attack dogs on Obama. Of course he didn’t tell them to say that – I hope. He wouldn’t do something like that after it was done to him by George W would he? But he didn’t do anything to stop people from spreading rumours either. No. Rove must be closer than what we thought. But then they got their next angle on Obama. He is from a radical Christian group. Yes. The Wright story. And of course Fox was quick to show the interview they had with Wright a few years ago. After mutterings of him being a Muslim didn’t get that out of them earlier. But that is Fox. So is Obama a Muslim influenced by a radical Christian? WTF? How does that work? Haven’t seen that since. No. Have never seen that. Maybe Obama has done something no one has ever been able to do. Become a Mustian or Christlim. You know. A guy who believes strongly that the best way to become a Muslim is through accepting Jesus as your saviour. Man, he is even better than what I thought. He really is the change he talks about. That’s one hell of a change – no pun intended. If not – then please Fox & Fiends and Mac & Cheats – make up your bloody mind. Don’t just throw everything and hope something will stick. At least make it somehow seem a little bit more plausible. Obama can’t be both. Even you can’t spin that one can you? Oh sorry – you can. I forgot. You called Florida for Bush. Making a loser a winner. But the snag – it came to bite us in the… hum… backside. We ended up with a loser in any case.

4. Bush says the economy is basically strong

From the man who brought you Mission (Un)Accomplished and years later are still in sh*t street in Baghdad and who told us about the (missing) link between Sadam and Al-Qaeda and who are still looking for the WMDs (Weapons of Missing Deconstruction) comes the latest insight of wisdom. Don’t worry about the economy – everything will be just fine. What problem? Gas a problem – cut down on the beans and drive that pickup. What problem? We’re just handing out the $600 so you can have a nice little break in summer. You deserve it. Take your mind off the elections and war. It is so tiring – I know. No strings attached. What recession? This economy is fundamentally sound. Sorry George W – you are fundamentally wrong. Again. Snake oil.

5. Mugabe set to lose the election

That’s a good one. Mugabe set to lose the election. And the English can really win the World Cup (you make your pick of soccer, rugby or cricket). Ain’t gonna happen. George W will kiss Hillary with an open mouth before Mugabe loses an election. No. Let me rephrase that. Mugabe will be President after the elections. No matter what the results. The “projection” is based on a poll done by a Zimbabwean academic. And he admitted that people are too afraid to say who they will vote for. And it helps that the chief of the army and the chief of the police both said that they will not allow any “puppets” to take control in Zimbabwe. And the head of prison services chipped in some support as well. Read… no one but Mugabe will lead. And they know what is waiting for them if Mugabe stays in power. He just passed a law to allow him to nationalise any company in Zimbabwe. And give it to anyone he wishes to give it to. White owned companies only. Yes. Racism goes both ways in Zimbabwe. Oh, I almost forgot to add. Mugabe also gave public servants a big fat raise. That might help. Especially because the price of everything just doubled overnight. I am not joking. Just follow this link here. Sorry buddy. Old crazy uncle Bob will be there after the election. Come hell or high water. In this case. Hell is there already.

That’s my views on some of the weekly news. Not much. But then news never really is when you’re watching, but not seeing.

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February 29, 2008

Africans live in hope, but Americans not?

Posted by Henk Campher under Africa, aid, America, culture, development, entrepreneurs, family, farmers, health, hope, life, sustainability, trade, ubuntu | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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I have been on the road for the last few days. One conference after the other. And it has been interesting. Okay, sometimes it was interesting. One of the conferences I attended was in DC and was hosted by the sustainability guru John Elkington. John founded… hum, SustainAbility. Catchy phrase nowadays. But it wasn’t when he started it back 20 years ago. John is a good guy. I know him a bit and went to DC to catch up with him and a few other people I knew I would meet up with at the meeting – the usual suspects. Jane Nelson works in the same city as me, but we only see each other at conferences. And, of course, we always promise to get together for a cuppa when back at work. But we never do – just share hugs and kisses when we meet up at the next conference. But us Africans need to stand together – even if it is at conferences. We are generally the only Africans in the room. She’s from Zim and I am from a little further south. Again, I digress. But I had to do a bit of name dropping first.

John and his gang did some research with Globescan on the perceptions people have of the environment. And one of the many findings was that people in developing countries are more hopeful than those on developed countries. Yes, Africans are more hopeful of the future than Americans. And everyone was puzzled about this. How could this be? Americans have everything – big cars, big televisions, big meals and big egos. Well, I was tired by this time as I have been on the road for a few days. And they made the mistake of asking me (and others) to comment and interrupt whenever I felt like it. Yes, now they had an angry and tired African on their hands. So I decided to use the chance and interrupt at every possible occasion. That meant I interrupted on every new slide they showed us. But for now I will focus on this survey result that had them baffled.

Like a good African I scribbled a few thoughts on a piece of paper and offered my infinite wisdom. (You could hear the crowd do a single large sigh – an unbuntu sigh). John humored me though. So why are Africans more hopeful than Americans about the future? Not that difficult. Let me try and give you four reasons. I am sure there are more - so feel free to fill in the gaps. And you might not even agree with me. So throw them my way as well.

1. Lower expectations.

Yep, we have lower expectations than others. We just don’t expect politicians to solve our problems anymore – not after so many years of not getting the results we expected from our elected leader. Many of us live under politicians that won’t solve our problems. And we have become aware of this. We don’t live under the illusion that they will provide running water, electricity, food, healthcare or stop fighting. Okay, Americans and other Westerners have had a few stinkers for leaders as well. But at least a few harmless politicians pop up every now and again. We suffer from political leaders that just won’t do the right thing. Make no mistake – we have some excellent leaders in Africa. But even their hands are tied. Where are they going to find the money to even start solving the problems? And if they try and get money? They have hell to pay through privatization and selling off the crown jewels. And it is not only the politicians – we know we will get even less form those outside Africa. All help will come with strings attached that will only pull us further down. No. We have low expectations because we know that others will not solve our problems.

So how does this translate into more hope? Easy. If your expectations are this low you know that tomorrow can only be better. You expect nothing so hope can’t get any lower. We start off at a low expectation, and there is only one way from there – up. Do you expect tomorrow to be better than today? Of course, because I expected nothing from today and got nothing. Tomorrow won’t be any worse.

2. Nothing to lose.

Of course Africans are hopeful of a better tomorrow because they have nothing to lose. Very similar to the expectations argument. No luxuries like televisions, cars, ample food, health, jobs or safety. You know that tomorrow will be beter, because it can’t be worse than today. You have nothing today. So how can tomorrow be worse?

It’s the problem with having such a strong middle class like in America – too much to lose. Any threat to what they posses – and hope goes out the window. The middle class will feel that tomorrow will be worse because the housing market is down and they could lose their jobs in the unstable economy. But if you don’t have that house and that job? How can tomorrow be worse?

(This relates closely to my argument that any revolution will only be successful if driven by the poor. Because they have nothing to lose but life itself. But so much more to gain – like life itself.)

Of course expectations and nothing to lose are closely tied together in hope. We don’t expect anything and we don’t have anything. But tomorrow can only be better. Because we might actually get that clean water from a tap and not have to walk for miles. And we might get that medicine instead of seeing our people die. Or the rain might come and save our crops. Our politicians and foreigners wanting to help might get it right and actually give us something to fish with. And the school might open for our kids to have a future. That’s the hope – our kids can’t possibly have it any worse than us. Can they?

3. Natural entrepreneurs.

We see it every day. Woman sitting next to the road selling their fruit and veg on the roads in Africa. With a hundred competitors on each side. And feeding a large extended family. Feeling sorry for her? Don’t. See Bill Gates. She is running a successful business with no financial support from anywhere. No business training. Hardly any schooling. She has everything working against her. But she runs that business like Bill can only dream of running his. Cost effective to the last cent. She is Africa. She is an entrepreneur. And entrepreneurs always see a better tomorrow. Always plan for a better tomorrow. Because tomorrow we trade. Without aid.

4. Ubuntu – we care for each other.

We know tomorrow can’t be any worse. Why? Because today wasn’t that bad to start off with. I have my neighbours and my friends. We look after each other. We live and breathe for each other. We hide each other when the warlord comes. And we look after the children of the dead when death comes. We have ubuntu. We are one. That is the greatest hope we have. That when tomorrow comes we will still be standing next to each other. Looking after each other. Sharing the pot with my neighbour. And we will all eat from that pot. Share the last bit. Because I am nothing without them. That is the hope. That being together brings tomorrow. And tomorrow can’t be that bad if we still have each other and can still live and play with each other a bit longer.

And in the West? There they live for themselves. Their closed off properties with the doorbell to ring. And the telephone to warn them we want to come and visit. And their television fence that keeps them indoors and away from others. And their cubicle jails at work. Just them by themselves. They don’t need others. That’s what they believe. But can they live like that and still have hope? Hope for what? Thank God the writer strike is over. Hope might be linked to that pen for them.

See – not rocket science. Africans have more hope than Americans. Easy as pie. We have nothing, but we share with others. Because tomorrow I will have because other will have. And maybe. Just maybe. Someone will get that bloody water to run from that tap they promised. Or the rain will come. And the medicine will arrive. And our leaders will listen to the sound of hope. The sounds of women selling their goods and the children playing in the street.

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February 27, 2008

For Love Of Water – Don’t go with the FLOW

Posted by Henk Campher under Africa, aid, campaigning, culture, exploitation, South Africa, water | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
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I spend the last few days in NY and then Washington (sorry for the lack of blogging over the last few days – but I have a day job). I attended a few conferences that dealt with sustainability, climate change and everything else that the closest tree might need a hug for. My rants on that in the next few days. But I thought I would take some time out to go and watch a movie. And one without the kids. The last movie I saw on the big screen was about a big, bad ogre stomping through the woods, breaking trees and doing whatever harm he could to the environment – all while he was trying to become king while no one wanted him as king. And no, I am not talking about the Bush environmental policies.

I decided to go and see a movie that fit my image. You know, this caring, sensitive guy. The Brad Pitt of Africa. Minus the good looks, money, body, fame, star quality – okay, nothing like Brad Pitt. But I digress. I went to see FLOW – For Love Of Water. All about water and the problems we experience and will experience with water. It is serious stuff – water. We need it like oxygen. Can’t do without it unfortunately. And most people in this world do not have access to clean water. And kids die from drinking dirty, polluted every single day. Such a basic thing. You can turn on the tap, but they don’t even know what a tap is if it hit them in the throat. We are starting to run out of water in our little world. And it is again the poorest of the poor who are suffering and who will pay the ultimate price for this problem. You pay a few cents for your water – they pay with their life. So you can see I am pretty serious about this. It is a bigger problem in Africa than climate change or anything like that. And I was ready to fight the good fight for the umlungu who made this movie. Ready to go out and shout – Go with the FLOW! But alas, like so many other things it just left me more frustrated than what is good for me. Where do I start? Let’s start at their opening scene.

It takes place in my country – South Africa. In KwaZulu-Natal. Out there in the bundus. It shows a pretty picture of a small village on top of a hill. And then they start talking about the struggle people have in getting water. That they have to walk for miles to get water at the closest river. And then it is most likely dirty water. Of course it is all the governments fault. They don’t provide running water for the village. Oh, wait – there is a tap. But then the violin starts playing again. The tap doesn’t always work. People turn

 on the tap and have to wait for many minutes, maybe even for 30 minutes before the water starts running. And the narrator starts talking about how water should be provided to these villagers and it should be much better than what they have at the moment. Back off umlumgu. Let’s have another look at the scene. The bits you “forgot” to tell us.

Let us start by looking at the scene behind this village. What do you see? Another hill next to it. With another village. And this is repeated for as far as what the eye can see. They forgot to tell the moviegoer the proper name of this place. The Valley of a Thousand Hills. YES! There are hills everywhere. And villages on top of each hill. And it is high up. So here is your bloody problem with the tap water. They have to pump it all the way from the town that is 100s of miles away. And pump it uphill to a thousand 3 to 4 family villages. Problem one – because of the length and angle of the pipes the water runs back and settles when the tap is not running. So it takes a while for the water pressure to build up when you open the tap. Secondly, because you have to cover so many villages with one pump you just run out of power and water pressure. If 100 villages open the tap then there just isn’t enough pressure to serve a new one. A problem? Of course, but this was always an interim measure while the government tries to connect EVERYONE in South Africa. And it is still a damn lot better than walking to the river – I can promise you that. Don’t bring you western “easy-tap” attitude into our homes and say that this is all wrong. Your idea of what it should look like is based on your experience of having clean easy to use taps. Ours are having a tap. Really, KwaZulu-Natal have bigger things to worry about than how long we have to wait for the tap to work. It has the highest HIV/Aids rate in South Africa – rather think of how the hell do we get medicine and medical services to those 1000 villages where the roads are dirt roads and the people walk from place to place.

They then moved the scene over to Gauteng where they interviewed a guy who acts like an activist. I know him. I have had some experiences working with this guy in South Africa. He is no activist. He is a wannabe. He’ll sell his mother for a cause. He shouted a few slogans, but never got to a point. Why pick him? Why not pick someone who are actually respected in this field in South Africa - or why not the trade unions who have been fighting the water issue for more than 10 years already. No – you picked the guy who gave you the soundbite. Or rather a bark without any bite.

The movie wasn’t bad though. They addressed an important issue. And did so better than Black Gold – the movie about coffee. The India section was particularly good. But my experience of watching the South African bit and knowing their lies made me think that maybe they are lying elsewhere as well. There are more on South Africa – like the privatization debate, the price people pay (or rather don’t pay) etc that they did not cover in a transparent and open way. But I won’t go into that – I still have a flight to catch tonight. But a few more issues.

What’s with the bunch of white guys and girls? Every single time they interviewed a “global” expert they spoke to some or other lame westerner from the US or Canada. And when they went local? They’ll speak to a local person AND one of the so-called experts. Really. We don’t need a Canadian speaking on our behalf. And Canadians do NOT know everything about this world. They are not brighter than us. And I don’t care if you call her the Nader of Canada – we didn’t like Nader to start off with.

I went to the Premier of the movie. Impressive hey? Sorry – no red carpet. Only bad popcorn and hot tap water. But they did have Irena Salina there. Yes! The director. She’s French. So I guess that makes her even more untouchable in NY. Someone who cares and who has a cool accent. And after the showing they had a panel session with a few knowledgeable people their. All white. Damn. And damn again. They had Nader-Light from Canada there and someone from Corporate Accountability International (uh, not so international though – they work on almost only US issues) and some hippie from go-knows-where. I had no problem with the CAI person. She was young and passionate. And pitched her organization and their issues. The passion is still burning bright and making her miss a few key issues – but she was okay. Nothing wrong with passion – she’ll learn how to direct it a bit better in future. And we all have our hang ups. But the bloody hippie? Come on. He had his bushy hair and beard and all. And spoke about Thales (Greek philosopher of water and the “first” philosopher) as if they were mates. And he made about as much sense as what Thales would right now - in the original Greek. All about harmony and how he is bringing this gift of water knowledge to us, man (man said in that hippie smoked up way). Back off baby. Go get a haircut and stop smoking that weed. You know that it takes way too much water to produce your plant of wisdom. And in your case the ratio of water to wisdom does not make a pretty picture, man.

But not a single person from Africa or Latin America or Asia or remotely remote. No. All from around here and San Francisco. With all their wisdom. You could have saved the hippie from San Francisco and flown in anyone from my hometown and get more insight. Or just walk down the road to the UN to get a development voice. It just gets to me how they always have better ideas for how we should work and how others should help us. No. Talk to us baby. We suffer, not you. We know what we need and know how to get it. we have been doing it for longer than you. You with your tap and all.

But the thing that got to me the most? The blame game. They just kept on going on and on about the bloody problems in the world. The movie and the panel. How it is the fault of this one and that one. How the world is coming to an end and it is all the fault of the others. Where is the bloody solution? Not once did they actually come up with any solution. Actually, the movie did. They showed a guy in India who used traditional knowledge to make water work in the most wonderful way in a water scarce area. Clean drinking water and water for agriculture and everything. And that was it. No solution to the global problem. Just a few rants and raves and no solution. If only they brought that guy from India to the panel – he would have given them a few solutions. Oh sorry – he was busy solving the water crisis and couldn’t make it.

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December 24, 2007

Do They Know It’s Christmas?

Posted by Henk Campher under Africa, aid | Tags: , , , |
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I really don’t like Christmas songs. No one will like Christmas music if the topic was anything else. Imagine the same tune but another topic. Would you buy or listen to Boney M if they didn’t play Christmas music?

But there is one specific song that really gets to me. Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?

I know they mean well. And their heart is in the right place. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions – well, that’s what my mother used to say.

There is one specific line that sticks out and gets to me. ‘And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas‘. Uh-duh. It is summer in most of Africa at Christmas time. Of course there won’t be any snow in Africa this Christmas. Or the next. No matter how many times you sing the song – there will be no snow in (most of) Africa at ANY Christmas.

It used to baffle me at Christmas time when people used to send us cards with snow scenery – snowmen, Father Christmas on his sleigh, snowflakes falling etc. What’s that all about? We never got snow – Christmas or any other time. It never really got cold enough in winter for snow – never mind at Christmas time during the summer. It was a completely foreign concept. So when they started singing about it during Christmas it bugged me even more. Never got it. I was 30 before I saw it snow for the first time – in Europe.

But maybe it isn’t the song or my childhood memories driving my dislike of Christmas songs – especially Do They Know It’s Christmas? Maybe what gets to me is that more than 20 years later we still have all this shit going on in Africa. People suffering at a time when the world is indulging. Things are a little better than 20 years ago, but for the majority of Africans it is still marginal. So many of them work hours we can’t imagine and under conditions we will never survive. And they don’t bitch and moan. They just live their lives and carry on. They DO know it’s Christmas time, but just don’t see the point. It’s not much better than in 1984. Except it is now Sir Bob.

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December 10, 2007

Oxfam maths – it just doesn’t tally up (2003)

Posted by Henk Campher under activists, Africa, aid, campaigning, development, job, Oxfam, UK | Tags: , , |
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The Oxfam Coffee Campaign – or Mugged – was the major Oxfam campaign in 2003. And it was timely. Coffee prices were at an all time low and coffee farmers were suffering. And it helped bring to life the struggles farmers face in the current multilateral trade system – a global trade system that held very little benefit for the small farmers.

It had all the ingredients for a successful Oxfam campaign – a product that people consume in abundance (coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world – only oil beats it), an alternative with a catchy name – Fair Trade, the faces of African farmers on all materials to get supporters going, and well known brands that people could brand as the ‘evil predators’ – Nestle, Kraft, P&G and Sara Lee. A lethal combination and the bread and butter of campaigning. And luck was on my side – a few things went my way and I was asked to head up the campaign a few months after joining Oxfam in 2002. (Previous campaign lead Sophia Tickell left within a few months of me joining Oxfam).

I thought we had a good campaign. We asked coffee companies, or Roasters as we called them, to commit to very specific actions to help address the coffee crisis. And many of the companies we targeted did take up our challenge – not all of them, but at least a few did. I thought we should ‘celebrate’ our first year of the Mugged campaign by doing some proper quantitative research to assess whether the Roaster did what we asked them to do. It was going to be easy – tick the box and move on. We even came up with the idea of giving companies a report card to show the progress they made. And the campaign anniversary took place in September when so much focus would be on the report cards kids receive at school – easy publicity.

But there was a major problem I did not even think of – what will happen if one or more of the companies passed? For me it was easy – if you pass you pass. It would show people that progress has been made and that we can be part of the change we want – that their support and our campaign can make a real difference. And that we are grownup enough to tip our hat to those companies who recognize their mistakes and made the changes we asked them to make.

We did our best research and even developed a ‘bean count’ system – 0 was ‘ just not coffee’ and 5 was ‘the fairest brew’. And the nightmare began when we realized that the most boycotted company in the UK, and major campaign target, Nestle passed the test. Most people just couldn’t stand the possibility of acknowledging anything good at Nestle – never mind saying publicly that they did okay in doing what we asked them to do. It just wasn’t cricket.

Still, for me it was easy. We had to do what was right – report our findings. I had a daughter that just started school and wouldn’t want anyone to move the goalposts for her when it came to school. And I couldn’t do it to someone else – even if I didn’t like them. So I stuck to my guns and argued that we should do what was right and acknowledge that companies made progress and that they got a pass on their report card. Mind you, they didn’t get A’s in our initial research – they got C’s. A pass, but not a good pass – ‘room for improvement’, ‘work harder’ and ‘showing promise’ would be the taglines that would accompany the report cards. Not glowing grades, but a pass nevertheless.

I had to go on a trip and left the work for others to complete – do the graphics and get the campaign materials ready. Boy, was I in for a surprise when I got back. Someone senior (and someone I respected and liked) decided that we just couldn’t give companies any credit and changed the maths. Instead of grading them on the things we asked them to do, Oxfam changed the grades and decided to make one of the four things we asked them to do count for 70% of the grade. Why? Because almost all of them failed this part of the test. It didn’t matter that Oxfam believed that this one part wasn’t more important that others. What mattered most was to fail the companies. All of them. And they did. Nestle got 43% in the report card.

I learned a harsh lesson. I might have taught research methodology at university, but when it came to social maths you can’t beat a campaigner. Truth and fact was truly in the eye of the beholder – Oxfam.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. I refused to budge and refused to lead the report card campaign. It did happen. Just not with me leading it.

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