Archive for the ‘Eric Ams’ Category

While not a religious person myself, I recognize that religion does a lot of good for a lot of people—it creates community, provides support networks and a safety net, and often gives back to society through service.

I am honored to work with Christian Volunteer Service International (CVSI), an NGO that exemplifies the type of positive influence that religion can have on the world—CVSI brings people together in the spirit of service, providing a forum where people volunteer their time and donate their funds for the greater societal good.

Unfortunately, religion also brings people together for other reasons.  Check out this link: http://vibeghana.com/2011/07/19/ghana-police-ordered-to-arrest-all-gays/

Christian and Muslim communities unite… over hate.  This article doesn’t make clear that the government of Ghana doesn’t actually plan to start rounding ‘em up; it is really just a lone MP mouthing off as a homophobe in response to mass protests against homosexuality.

Try reading the first few paragraphs of this article inserting the word “Jew” for “homosexual”.  Scary.  Similar vibes have surfaced in Uganda in the last couple years and culminated in the introduction of a brutal anti-gay bill, supposedly inspired by American evangelicals.

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-12/world/us.uganda.homosexuality_1_ugandan-parliament-human-rights-anti-homosexuality?_s=PM:WORLD

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/05/11/uganda-anti-homosexual-bill-inspired-by-american-evangelicals.html

Speaking of Western influence, a friend of mine who grew up in Africa mentioned that some Africans view homosexuality as a foreign disease that came with colonialism.  She also passed along an interesting article on the subject (http://www.economist.com/node/16219402 ), quoted here:

“In many former colonies, denouncing homosexuality as an “un-African” Western import has become an easy way for politicians to boost both their popularity and their nationalist credentials. But Peter Tatchell, a veteran gay-rights campaigner, says the real import into Africa is not homosexuality but politicised homophobia.”

People spend extraordinary amounts of time and money interfering in the lives of others… I’m embarrassed for people who involve themselves in these crusades of hate.  Is it really a zero sum game to give others rights and respect? Futhermore, when people fixate on this issue… I often suspect irony. Surely the resources and energy focused on this issue could be better spent elsewhere.   Like on finishing the Nsawam Road bridge in North Accra.  The traffic is horrible.

My first assignment in Africa brought me to Uganda just over five years ago. Traveling to the far north during the first week, a passenger in the LandCruiser asked me if we could stop for a “long call”. Understanding him to mean phone call, I was confused when my encouragement for him to just go ahead and make the call in the vehicle as we moved, especially if it was going to be long, was met with laughter… as it turned out , “long call” and “short call” are terms referring to the calls of nature. “Our new boss is too harsh…” they must have thought, “…he does not respect the #2!”
The project is moving along well—the current state picture is coming into focus, and we hope to have a rough idea of our project scope by tomorrow. Research surrounding the commercialization of products from the moringa olifera tree will be central to our project, and we’re looking forward to traveling to some of the project sites as soon as the rains allow. Our hotel near the PALMS office is only about 18 km from the city center as the crow flies, but mud, construction and traffic can make the trip take up to 3 hours. This means that we haven’t gone out much and have been eating mostly at the hotel so far, but nonetheless we lost a team member for most of the day yesterday to… extended “calls”, so to speak. Re-hydrating him with moringa panacea kool-aid… and as I write this at breakfast, another team member just stumbled onto the verandah complaining of being up all night, making some important “calls”. As a jinx theory non-subscriber, I don’t mind saying that I’m going strong. Street food, bring it.

We did end up stopping for that long call in 2006. The poor guy would have asked to stop the convoy if it wasn’t an emergency, after all…