I'm writing this out in the open on an idyllic English Spring day (warm, sunny, gentle breeze fragrant with lilac blossom, birdsong). By contrast, in my head and on my laptop, information is jostling about turbulent times for our friends in NIgeria.
Post election violence and a peace initiative
In Kafanchan post-election violence is causing death and destruction. Fires are burning. People have lost their homes and businesses. Some have fled into the bush,. Many have sought refuge with Fantsuam Foundation. The banks and local hospital closed.
The fragile local economy is collapsing. The market has been burned to the ground. Food and essential supplies are scarce. The shopkeepers and petty traders have lost their livelihoods.The farmes are not tending their crops.
Fantsuam Foundation itself is struggling. Staff need to be paid, but loans are not being repaid. People are arriving who need to be fed and clothed and sheltered. The recently opened clinic has used up its resources. The compound is becoming a fortress. See Community Cohesion and Conflict Resolution for background and updates.
This post-election violence is horribly similar to the situation that was faced by our friends in Kenya after the presidential elections there. We're trying to learn lessons from that situation and the Pyramid of Peace initiative.
An idea is growing to collaborate on a peace initiative to bring both sides together to rebuild the market. It would be called the Kafanchan Peace Market. A working group is forming to take the idea further.
Kenya
Meanwhile my Kenyan friends are also facing problems, with food in short supply because of drought. Samwel Kongere tells us that the leaves on the crops they have planted are going crispy, so the harvest in six months time is threatened. Food is already in short supply due to lack of rain for the last harvest.
- [mendenyo] Horrible! Horrible! http://dadamac.posterous.com/mendenyo-horrible-horrible
- Hopes & dreams to make ends meet, due to climatic change! - some figures. http://dadamac.posterous.com/hopes-dreams-to-make-ends-meet-due-to-climati
Other news from Kenya is happier. Samwel's friend, Ken Owino, spent many years working with teachers in Kibera. Now Ken is in Denmark he has arranged an online link up between some Danish teachers and the teachers in Kibera.
- Link-up between teachers in Denmark and in Kenya http://dadamac.posterous.com/link-up-between-teachers-in-denmark-and-in-ke
Collaborators Connect
The Collaborators Connect group that we set up following the death of Maria Agnese Giraudo is gradually coming together. Janet Feldman has suggested some kind of initiative related to malaria and Pamela Llewellyn has responded with interest. Ramadhan Juma Chatta is exploring how his permaculture work in Tanzania ties in with the wider Dadamac community. He and I held an online meeting on an etherpad, to learn about each other's work and develop our skills of online collaboration.
More on etherpads
An ether pad also featured at First Thursday this month, and we are experimenting with one for the Kafanchan Peace Market working group. I first came across either pads through working with the Coalition of the Willing (COTW). COTW has just started a new work stream around Drupal and community building, so I'm hoping that involvement in that will be a real win-win i.e. I'll learn some more about techie tools to use for collaboration, and I'll be able to offer some of the “socio tech” insights that I've learned through Dadamac.net, Minciu Sodas, Cawdnet, Collaborators Connect, and other online communities.
Links between COTW and Dadamac
I'm appreciating the links that are developing between Dadamac and COTW. COTW is concerned with climate change- a wide topic - and Dadamac is concerned with almost everything, so it's not easy to quickly define the most relevant areas of precise overlap. I've mentioned technical skills and community building above. The next area to define relates to “content”. I feel that water security is probably the issue that both communities will be able to cluster around. Unfortunately it's not coming up as a main issue in COTW yet, and it is an issue of increasing urgency in Dadamac as we hear about the problems Samwel and his community face at Rusinger Island.
Namibia and education in prisons
We have a new interest in Namibia through Philip Emery. He is involved in an innovative educational project. It has been designed in response to a request from the Namibian Correction Service (previously known as the prison service). The project already has good things in place that need the input are some people in Namibia with an education/training background to make sure the educational programs are implemented effectively by the prisons which are adopting them. No one comes to mind immediately, and I don't want to bother John. I'm wondering about iicd and its “Community of ICT4D Trainers”. I'll need to check–another thing for my “to do” list.
Formal and informal learning and the Dadamacadamy
Looking back over my calendar for April I notice attendance at formal learning sessions to add to the incidental learning I've been doing all month:
- Two classes organised by School of Everything.
- 21st century network sessions face-to-face and online.
- A lunchtime seminar at London University Centre for Distance Education a on science teaching at a distance.
I launched the Dadamacadamy this month. And I've been joined by two other learners. When Ramadhan discovered Dadamacadamy during our ethernet session he declared himself to be learning there. When I showed it to David Mutua he laid claim to being the first Dadamacadamy learner. He declared that the Dadamacadamy had in fact been launched years ago with our practical project in Ago-Are, the first satellite site of the Dadamacadamy. I need to mention the Dadamacadamy to the Dadamac learners group and invite them to come over (another “to do”)
April 1st to 30th
it seems a long time since April 1st, and the celebration of the Uzbios republic anniversary– so much happening, so many lives intermingled, such a mixture of closeness and to distance, such a range of things to learn and challenges to face, such sadness in turmoil, such beauty and tranquillity–and still the blackbird is trilling and swallow has just swooped over–back for the summer–and (from what I heard on radio program this week) possibly just flown in from the turmoil of Nigeria.