[Asian Human Rights Commission]

Welcome to the 25th issue of Vol. 3 of Human Rights & Culture.

In this issue we have the poem, The Wooden Bench at Cheerful Park by Loi Lee. This is the first time we have published one of Loi Lee’s poems and we hope to receive more in the near future. Next we have a truly inspirational poem by Jaci Banks, The Door. We then have the poem, A Prison Evening by Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

Human Rights & Culture has, from its very inception published poems and articles on the subject of Female Genital Mutilation. This horrendous practice continues despite many governments condemning it in international forums. In this issue we have two further articles, kindly provided by WUNRN which shows that the practice has by no means been eradicated. It is only by constantly bringing it to the attention of the world that sufficient attention will be focused on bringing such barbaric mutilation to an end.

As always, Human Rights & Culture is grateful to all of our contributors.

Human Rights & Culture welcomes contributions in the form of poems, articles or book reviews. All work will be acknowledged accordingly. Please forward your contributions to the addresses given below.

Publications & Promotions — In this issue we are pleased to bring details of Toward Harmony, a new book by Jane Evershed whose work we have had the pleasure of seeing in this publication before. This book is dedicated to women with HIV/AIDS. Next we bring you information on Poetry Bulawayo — a platform for creativity. Rita Loyd’s latest book Unconditional Self Love has been available for some time now and we are pleased to have heard of its success. Human Rights & Culture wish all of the authors and organisers success in their endeavours.

You may view the previous issues and write your comments at: http://hrculture.blog.humanrights.asia/. Your contributions and comments for future issues may be sent to ahrc@ahrc.asia.

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THE WOODEN BENCH AT CHEERFUL PARK

Loi Lee

The Wooden bench of Cheerful Park
located nearby the exit way
under the centinary mighty oak,
beside the pond with flower bed
T’is wooden bench have wear and tear,
but the beauty remain unscathed
Ornated by those who have sat,
who’ve wrote their memories in it.
The wooden bench at Cheerful Park
erected near the granite wall
under the centenary mighty oak,
nearby the manmade waterfalls
This wooden bench have sturdy frame,
witnessed couples in love or hate
who shared their dreams and various goals,
on how to live, through odds with hope
The wooden bench of Cheerful Park,
located at the garden’s Heart
under the centenary mighty oak,
surrounded by some brick-a-brack
this wooden bench have shiny parts,
its arm rests and the back support
Significance that could predict,
thousands have sat, and climbed on board.
The wooden bench of Cheerful Park,
located near the overview
under the centenary mighty oak,
protected by outreaching growth
this wooden bench have strong appeal,
it looks like face with ready smile
maybe because of many souls,
have used to share within their lives.
That wooden bench was sat upon
by a couple who have no fruit
who was so deeply frustrated
and so depressed of their own world
They have their love dwindling and stormed,
waiting so long for single child
Until they’ve found that cheerful park,
then twin beauty conceived at last.
That wooden bench one day was used,
when elderly collapsed nearby
cardiac arrest was bound to kill,
was bound to take the poor old man
out of his thought he walked and laid,
into the bench, no one’s around
and miracle of nothingness,
he felt alright, brought back to life.
That wooden bench was so famous
for usual patrons or first timers
most of them have the instant likes,
to picture up sitting with it
this wooden chair living with life,
smiling at his patronage
in his muted and silent world,
as wooden bench it did its best.
That wooden bench Of Cheerful Park
remain a part of existence
from memories of severals,
from memories, laughters and tears
this wooden bench touched many lives,
and became part and turning point
became a part of sudden change,
became a part whole new World
This wooden bench of Cheerful Park
was two decade of carrying
under the oak near flower bed,
surrounded by an amber bricks
children was there and played with it,
and grownups sat and laid to rest
occasionally, there was a fight
of broken hearted and the cheats
This wooden bench of Cheerful Park,
located near my heart and soul
Under the wings of faith and love,
nearby the passion of my joy
this wooden bench could be your site,
could be your Home for you to hold
This wooden bench might be our house,
this might be place for us to own.

The Wooden Bench Of Cheerful Park © LPJ a.k.a. Loi Lee is used by his kind permission.

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The Door

Jaci Banks
Don’t be sad.
Don’t be lonely.
These are good objectives.
Take that step towards the door.
Crisis are problematic,
they but take a working mind.
Each new day presents solutions
that are waiting to be found.
Don’t be lonely.
Don’t be sad.
So much easier said than done,
but the door is behind you
and the road is clear ahead.
In this construct
the signs are gone,
all decisions are purely yours.
See the sunshine.
Smell the roses.
The air is clean and laughter sounds.
Deep breath,
a second step,
move on.

The Door © Jaci Banks 2010. Human Rights Culture is grateful to Ms. Banks for allowing is to use this poem.

 

 

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A Prison Evening

Faiz Ahmed Faiz

Each star a rung,
night comes down the spiral
staircase of the evening.
The breeze passes by so very close
as if someone just happened to speak of love.
In the courtyard,
the trees are absorbed refugees
embroidering maps of return on the sky.
On the roof,
the moon – lovingly, generously –
is turning the stars
into a dust of sheen.
From every corner, dark-green shadows,
in ripples, come towards me.
At any moment they may break over me,
like the waves of pain each time I remember
this separation from my lover.
This thought keeps consoling me:
though tyrants may command that lamps be smashed
in rooms where lovers are destined to meet,
they cannot snuff out the moon, so today,
nor tomorrow, no tyranny will succeed,
no poison of torture make me bitter,
if just one evening in prison
can be so strangely sweet,
if just one moment anywhere on this earth.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz, was a revolutionary poet of South Asia

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FGM/C – AFRICA STUDY – HOLISTIC APPROACHES TO ENDING

IRIN – http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=91124
Also Via SVRI – Sexual Violence Research Initiative

NAIROBI, 18 November 2010 (IRIN) – Narrow approaches which focus on individuals or appear to attack deep-seated customs are less successful at reducing female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) than those that aim for community-driven change that addresses the complex social dynamics associated with the practice, according to a new study by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

"Families will and are abandoning FGM/C when the right conditions are in place – conditions that include the involvement of community and religious leaders, legislative reform and that any discussion surrounding FGM/C is framed in a way that reinforces the positive aspects of local culture and builds community trust by implementing development projects that address local needs," James Elder, spokesman for UNICEF’s Innocenti Research Centre, which conducted the study, told IRIN via email.

The report looks at highly promising approaches being used to support social change around FGM/C and how these strategies are being implemented in Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal and Sudan. An estimated three million African girls and women risk FGM/C annually.

In northern Sudan, for instance, where FGM/C prevalence is about 89 percent, community, state and national efforts to end FGM/C have included human rights education, introducing development activities to communities and a national media campaign to elevate the status of being “uncut”, and changing attitudes towards the practice. The country also has national and state policies to protect the rights of women and children, and efforts are under way to criminalize FGM/C.

The country’s ‘Saleema’ (Arabic for "whole" or "undamaged") Campaign has helped reinforce positive social values which favour the well-being of children by leading with discussions about parental care and family pride and gently easing into more direct messages about FGM/C.

More on FGM/C:

ETHIOPIA: Empowering women to fight FGM/C
KENYA: Focus on fistula
COTE D’IVOIRE: Zero tolerance of FGM/C
MAURITANIA: Fatwa alone won’t stop FGM/C
Razor’s Edge

Narrow approaches, limited success

According to Zeinab Ahmed, a child protection specialist with UNICEF Kenya based in the northeastern town of Garissa, narrow approaches to ending the practice have met with little success.

"Some of the interventions that have had limited impact are alternative rites of passage focusing on individual girls – girls belong to communities, and dealing with a girl as an individual has limitations if she then goes back into a community that still strongly believes in FGM/C. It’s important to involve parents, aunts, uncles, elders – the whole community," she said.

According to the UNICEF report, a 2001 evaluation of alternative rites of passage – which involve substitute coming-of-age ceremonies that preserve local customs but eliminate FGM/C – concluded that they have limited effect unless accompanied by a process of participatory education that engages the whole community.

"Similarly, rescue centres for girls do not deal with the roots of the problem, and they are not sustainable… Can they really house all the girls who run away from FGM and early marriage? Why not approach this by changing how the community thinks about FGM," she added.

Ahmed noted that it was important to tailor responses to suit the various communities involved in FGM. "For example, the alternative rites of passage have worked well in Maasai communities, but among Somali communities, the approach needs to address both cultural and religious aspects of FGM, so community dialogue is the method used," she said.

Complex social dynamics

"Among the Somali, it has been important to gently draw out the community to discuss issues around FGM… We might start, for instance, by discussing pregnancy and labour and the reasons why childbirth is so difficult for them, which eventually comes to a discussion of FGM."

Northeastern Kenya is dominated by ethnic Somalis, who practice infibulation – the removal of the external genitalia before sealing and leaving a small opening for menstrual blood and urine – almost universally. This method makes sex and childbirth particularly difficult.

It was important, she added, for the government to take leadership of FGM/C by enforcing existing laws and funding sustainable programming. She emphasized the need to speak to communities in their own languages through well respected community members acting as "facilitators of change".

Messages try to de-link the practice of FGM/C from ideas about promiscuity and chastity

"The media has been very effective in creating debate on FGM; FM stations in local languages, featuring experts — gynaecologists, children’s officers, education experts, religious leaders – on panels discussing the issue promote healthy and lively discussion of FGM," Ahmed said. "Women and girls are able to call in anonymously and say how FGM has negatively affected them. After all, it is the shoe wearer who knows where it pinches."

According to the report, while several countries have laws in place prohibiting FGM/C, legislation alone was insufficient to end the practice, which is closely tied to social identity and acceptance.

"Religion, tradition and culture are often cited by families as reasons for cutting their daughters," said UNICEF’s Elder. "Many communities, for example, assume that FGM/C is mandated by religious doctrine, despite the fact that no major religion requires it."

"In some cutting communities, a woman can’t be married without being cut," Ahmed said. "In Africa, marriage is the ultimate security, and in these communities, it doesn’t matter if you have 10 PhDs… If you’re not cut you are not recognized for your achievements and getting married is usually a huge challenge."

Ahmed said part of the approach to ending FGM/C among the Somalis in northeastern Kenya involved debunking the idea that Islam demanded the practice, as well as de-linking the practice from ideas about promiscuity and chastity.

Elder noted that ending FGM/C was a good way to eradicate other practices that lowered the value of women in their communities.

"Evidence from the report suggests that the approach used to support the abandonment of FGM/C can also promote and contribute to the abandonment of other harmful practices, such as forced and child marriage," he said.

Subtle attitude shifts

The report noted that although prevalence rates are still high in Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, there has been a significant change in attitudes about FGM/C in all three countries, indicating that individuals are questioning the merits of these practices.

According to Ahmed, there has been a similar shift in attitude among Kenya’s Somali population.

"We are seeing an attitude shift – for example, some Somali communities are moving from infibulation to the pricking or nicking of the clitoris," she said. "A small percentage have discreetly left the practice altogether. However, no form of FGM should be condoned."

UPDATE: FGM – UGANDA – OVER 200 GIRLS TO BE CIRCUMCISED

From Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices – IAC
http://www.iac-ciaf.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=99:events&catid=58:home

News coming in from Uganda is that, 2 excisers and one mentor was arrested on November 24, in Kapchorwa Region of Uganda for carrying out FGM on 5 girls on November 22, 2010. This welcoming news came while IAC is holding a Sub-regional workshop in Kampala Uganda on the theme "Enabling Young People to accelerate ending FGM" . This is the first test case of the efficacy of the FGM law that was promulgated in 2009.

The alarming newspaper article ran in the leading daily newspaper in Uganda (New Vision) is just a reminder that the enemy we are fighting is life and real. IAC Uganda and REACH intensified work in the Sabinyi region in collaboration with another NGO called ‘Raising Voices’. UNFPA and the Government have risen up to take action now.

Among the Sabinyi tribes of Kapchorwa region, this year, 2010 is FGM year as FGM is carried out December of every even year in December. However, this year excisers and their mentors are hurriedly hiding girls and secretly excising girls well before the usual December period so as to escape attention and consequent arrest rather than wait for December cutting season. The Uganda Chapter of the Inter African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Girls (IAC ) in collaboration with REACH Programme and the police have devised ways to monitor the excisers and apprehend violators of the FGM law.

The arrest of the excisers hopefully will send a strong message to other excisers and elders of the society who have openly challenged the government for passing a law against their cherished culture.

These articles were kindly submitted by WUNRN http://www.wunrn.com

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Publications & Promotions

Toward Harmony

Jane Evershed
ART & POEM DEDICATED TO WOMEN WITH HIV/AIDS
©2005 Evershed Card Collection All Rights Reserved
By Jane Evershed – http://www.evershed.com/gallery_main.html
http://www.evershed.com/images/popups/towardharmony.jpg

Poetry Bulawayo

A Platform for Creativity

About Bulawayo

Poetry Bulawayo was formed in 2009 and seeks to give poets (writers and performers) a platform. Poetry Bulawayo gives poets who would have died writing for the closet or performing in the shower a platform to excel.

Poetry Bulawayo deals with only poetry, but other arts genres get a platform via collaborations with poets: instrument players accompanying poets, beatbox accompanying poetry and so on. Under the banner of Poetry Bulawayo is written poetry, performance poetry, hip-hop and other forms of spoken word.

POETRY BULAWAYO PROGRAMS

• Online publishing of poetry @ wvnv.poetrybulawayo.blogspot.com
• Publication of poetry books and poetry anthologies. Poetry Bulawayo publishes main stream poetry and in partnership with Christian organisations, publication Christian poetry.
• Bulawayo Poetry festival which we host yearly for three days at the end of August.
• Poetry productions for the stage and functions
• Writing of lyrics for music and creation of special occasion poems.
• Poetry readings every Saturday.

Objectives
• To mobilise resources for the publication of and promotion of poetry.
• To create a network of poets nationally, regionally and internationally
• To organise poetry workshops for the development of poetry
• To facilitate training in mediums that promote poetry e.g. theatre, music etc.
• To organise poetry reading sessions for poets to share their work and interact.

Further information on Bulawayo may be found at: www.poetrybulawayo.blogspot.com

Unconditional Self-Love

Rita Loyd

Human Rights & Culture has had the pleasure and privilege of reproducing many of Ms. Loyd’s paintings and it is with equal pleasure that we announce the publication of her new book, Unconditional Self-Love. Further details of this book will follow in our next issue. Previously the AHRC used Ms. Loyd’s painting, ‘Suffering’ as the cover design for the book, A Baseline Study on Torture in Sri Lanka. Reproduced below is the introduction by Ms. Loyd.

Nurturing Art by Rita Loyd Hot off the presses! My new book is here! Unconditional Self-Love: What It Is, Why It’s Important, and How to Nurture It In Your Life. Inside the book, you will find four sections. In section one, I tell the story of how I became an artist of healing art and how the creative process taught me to unconditionally love myself. In section… two, I share all that I have learned about unconditional self-love including what blocks us from self-love and what the difference is between ego-based self-love and spirit-based self-love. In section three, you’ll find a colorful collection of my art and affirmations. And in section four, there are ten therapeutic exercises that will help you to incorporate unconditional self-love into every aspect of your life. Go to my website if you would like to purchase a signed copy. http://www.NurturingArt.com/. To celebrate the new arrival, I am offering free shipping for all U.S. orders. The price of the book i s $16.95. Contact me with any questions.

Ms. Loyd may be contacted via Human Rights & Culture

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The Asian Human Rights Commission is regularly issuing this article series on Human Rights and Culture in which various cultural expressions, poems, stories, pictures and other forms of cultural expression that are based on the theme of justice, will be published. A pivotal issue in modern literature is justice, particularly the enormous unleashing of injustice under fascist, communist and other authoritarian regime including those that pursue an unbridled market economy have generated responses from created writers. This search for justice is at the very essence of being human. Human beings are part of nature and part of each other. Perhaps the lines of John Donne are most relevant: "… any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde;"

Contemporary mass culture promotes violence and destruction. There are those who are opposed to mass culture and want to reclaim the best traditions of human culture within which justice remains a core issue. This column will provide space for those who wish to share their creative initiatives.

 

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.