The stumps and roots of 10 trees from Ghana are being displayed around Trafalgar Square in London as a ghost forest to get people thinking about deforestation in tropical forests. The height these trees would have reached in the rainforest are marked by laser beams!

That sounds pretty cool. The installation was set up on Monday morning and runs through November 22.

But it gets me thinking about the carbon footprint of having those massive, super heavy tree remains shipped over from the Suhuma forest reserve in western Ghana to the UK (about 3,165 miles!). And, uh, the trees will be shipped to Thorvaldsens Plads in Copenhagen next month for the UN Climate Change summit (another 596 miles). Yowza. The installation there will run from December 7-18.

Oxford artist Angela Palmer, who thought of and developed the installation, said she will “offset Ghost Forest’s carbon footprint by supporting an initiative to introduce efficient cook stoves – Gyapas – in Ghana.”

Whatever. I don’t think that’s good enough.

Anyway, Ghana and other countries have lost 90% of their rainforests over the last 50 years. That is ridiculous.

“The concept is to present a series of rainforest tree stumps as a ‘ghost forest’ – using the negative space created by the missing trunks as a metaphor for climate change, the absence representing the removal of the world’s ‘lungs’ through continued deforestation.” – Palmer

Most of the trees “fell naturally in adverse weather conditions,” she said. They are of the Denya, Dahuma, Danta, Hyedua, Mahogany, Wawa and three varieties of Celtis species.

Maybe next time the trees in such installations could be fake and resemble the trees logged in tropical or other forests.

I appreciate Palmer’s intention, but there is no need to hypocritically pollute the planet by shipping enormous tree stumps 3761 miles.

Read more here and here.

Locally made guns

A photo of a real Makarov gun next to a fake one made by a Ghana blacksmith. (Anna Boiko-Weyrauch)

Suame Magazine, picture from johnnypayphone.net/labels/ghana.php

The gun business is creating harm in Ghana and among the neighbors: Locally made guns business flourish in Ghana.

Blacksmith Sarpong, 35, operates a small shop in Ghana’s second largest city, Kumasi. He is trained to produce cooking utensils, but prefers to make guns as he can earn more money that way.
When sales are good his shop brings in US$1,000 a week, he said. Foreigners paying better than Ghanaians. “Most of my buyers are from Nigeria or Sierra Leone.”
…
Sarpong sells to clients using a gun-runner – most of them are ex-peacekeepers or mercenaries according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime – in a growing clandestine small arms industry, according Ghana’s Deputy Interior Minister, Kwasi Apea-Kubi and confirmed by police officials.

Small arms proliferation destabilizes West African countries and has increased the intensity and human impact of conflicts in the region, according to regional arms experts.

Apea-Kubi recently toured the country to ascertain the state of Ghana’s small arms industry and along the way met with hundreds of gunsmiths who “openly admitted to producing guns”, despite that local small arms manufacturing is illegal.

“We know now that many of the armed robbery cases we are witnessing are being fueled by these small arms,” Apea-Kubi told IRIN.

Eighty percent of firearms Ghanaian police confiscate are homemade, according to Accra-based NGO Africa Security Dialogue and Research.

…
Gun production estimates vary. The National Commission on Small Arms, set up in 2007 to check the manufacture and cross-border movement of small arms, estimates 40,000 Ghana-made guns are in circulation; UNODC estimates 75,000, while Kwesi Aning, head of the conflict resolution department of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in the capital Accra, puts the figure at 200,000.

“Local production has recently gone through the roof,” Aning told IRIN.

Blacksmiths have the knowledge and skills to manufacture single-shot pistols, multi-shot revolvers and shotguns, according to UNODC. When IRIN investigated a locally-made pistol sale in Tudu neighbourhood – Accra’s small arms hub – a dealer known only as Musah would not go lower than $130 for a single-barrel shot gun.

…
UNODC’s July 2009 West Africa threat assessments report establishes a direct link between trafficked arms and instability in the region, with the chief clients of clandestine arms groups seeking to overthrow or challenge state authority.

“Instability in Togo, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire has resulted in higher prices of Ghanaian manufactured arms,” Aning said.

Ghanaian gunsmiths have been invited to teach their gun-manufacturing skills to local blacksmiths in the Niger delta, Aning said.

However buyers of Ghanaian guns tend to be individuals while established insurgent groups purchase heavier weapons from outside the region, according to UNODC.

…
Alternatives

The government is seeking creative solutions to the problem, the Interior Ministry’s Apea-Kubi told IRIN, as past arrests and detention of guilty blacksmiths have only pushed the trade further underground.

“We know we have to do something but we don’t want to use force,” he said.

Interior Ministry officials are consulting gunsmiths across the country to explore how to attract them to alternative – legal – ways of making a living, as well as to examine how to prevent cross-border trafficking.

Apea-Kubi also hopes gunsmiths will allow their names and locations to be logged on a national database so their activities can be monitored. At least that way the industry will be less secretive, he said.

But Sarpong is not convinced. “No alternative can give me enough money like what I get selling the guns. They should not waste their time.”

Armed robbery is a dreadful scourge in Ghana. Recently we lost a young employee, shot to death by armed robbers. He left a wife and two young children. We can make sure the children go to school, but we can’t replace their father. And it has been an ongoing source of sorrow, as he was a good friend and someone who had always been there to help us. There are a number of precautions we take at the house, it is deeply painful to feel that any of them are necessary. This is the main “terrorism” we fear in Ghana, and it is only fueled by the arms trade and increasing militarization in the region. (For some perspective, I have lost more Ghanaian friends to gun violence here in the US over the years, than in Ghana, from a much smaller population of Ghanaians.)

At the same time I have much sympathy with the blacksmith Sarpong in the article. US$1,000 a week is a fabulous income in Ghana. It would be very difficult to voluntarily give that up. I would certainly find it difficult if I had the skills and was making that money in Ghana.

From Marketplace:

Drug dealers and thieves like handmade guns because they can get them under the table and don’t have to register them with the government. But, handcrafted guns didn’t used to be such a problem. Blacksmiths in Ghana have been making them for centuries, mostly for hunting and protecting farmland. When the British came in, they outlawed gun-making — but the demand continued.
…
Blacksmith Philip Nsiah lives five hours north of the capital.

… Nsiah says local guns are cheaper than imported ones, so they’re popular with farmers. He used to sell each shotgun for about $100. Those cheap pistols I saw earlier can go for as little as $4.

Nsiah trained for years to learn his craft. But then he found out how much harm these guns cause. Nowadays, he helps lead the local blacksmiths’ association, encouraging others to stop making illegal guns.

Nsiah: I can do any type of gun. If they allow me, I can do it. But since, I know the dangers involved that is why I don’t go in.

When the crime rate got bad, the police started rounding up blacksmiths. Many stopped making guns, because they didn’t want to be arrested and lose their legitimate business. The crackdown helped. But it pushed the industry underground.

Now, Police Superintendent Aboagye Nyarko says they’re encouraging blacksmiths to produce something else, like tools to prune cocoa trees and handcuffs for the police.

Blacksmith Philip Nsiah shows me some handcuffs he made seven years ago.

Nsiah: But you see, it’s still there rusting. Nobody is buying it.

But he’s been able to make a living without making illegal guns. He repairs authorized weapons, used by security personnel, he works on cars. And he’s made a tool-shed full of other products — garden shears, hunting traps and gong-gongs, or cowbells for making music and calling community meetings.

Nsiah says the government hasn’t been effective at promoting these types of alternative products. And without that backing, illegal handmade guns will continue to be the product of choice for many blacksmiths.

Ghana has enormously talented craftsmen. In general people are inspired by the hope of creating and accumulating for themselves and their loved ones. People in business understand business, understand its potential and its motivations. So businessmen and women should be far better suited to being partners in development than eleemosynary organizations, provided their motives are not entirely exploitive.

I may sometimes write as if I am anti capitalist, but that is not the case. Capitalism needs the regulation of democratic controls, otherwise it is the same as organized crime, but the hope of accumulation drives all of us. That is why I particularly liked this quote from the following article: what poor people need most is a way to make more money.

Slumdog engineers of Suame magazine

As he pours dangerous molten metal from a home-made furnace at a ferocious 600 degrees, a worker flings a skimpy T-shirt around his head for protection. Another worker grabs a chunk of mud and shoves it into the makeshift foundry to plug the flaming lava flow of molten metal.

None have safety helmets or other equipment. Their neighbours at nearby industrial workshops are wearing plastic flip-flops and shorts. Their welding cables are ripped and exposed, risking a high-voltage shock, and few of the welders wear safety glasses.

Safety is an afterthought for the 200,000 people in horrific conditions in one of Africa’s biggest industrial slums. Survival comes first, and they need to eat.

The slum, known as Suame Magazine because of its origins among the artillery-makers at a local armoury, is a 180-hectare cluster of 12,000 repair shops and small-scale metal works on the outskirts of Ghana’s second-biggest city, Kumasi.

At first glance, it seems like a vast wasteland of tin shacks and wrecked cars and impoverished mechanics, where the dust-choked air is filled with hammering, banging, pounding and shouting.

But some look at this post-apocalyptic junkyard and see hope for the future. If the small-scale artisans and repairmen can be linked into the supply chain of multinational corporations, could they escape poverty and work in safer conditions?

That’s the experiment a Canadian group has launched. With a new aid philosophy that aims at business-oriented solutions, the Canadians are marketing the skills and ingenuity of the slum-dwellers, connecting them to foreign investors and helping them bid on valuable contracts that could transform their lives.

“My heart beats faster just thinking about this,” says Florin Gheorghe, a 21-year-old engineering student at the University of British Columbia who has been immersed in this giant scrapyard for the past seven months.

“I’ve come to believe that what poor people need most is a way to make more money,” he says. “Many development projects treat the poor as if they were incapable of fending for themselves, just sitting around waiting for whites to give them free food and clothes. It creates dependency and crushes local capacity …. The difference in our business-like approach is the dignity that comes in choosing to live a life that you value.”

Though the mechanics and metalworkers of Suame Magazine are poorly educated and 98 per cent lack any Internet access to help them seek customers, many are astonishingly skilled.

Some build entire buses or fuel tankers from scratch, or design drilling rigs or foundries. All they need, the Canadians believe, is a helping hand to market themselves.

Mr. Gheorghe, supported by a Canadian non-profit group called Engineers Without Borders, arrived at the slum in January to work for its industrial development organization. He put on a suit and tie and began knocking on the doors of multinational companies around the city, giving out his business card and sending a deluge of e-mails to companies around Ghana.

After weeks of going door-to-door, he and his colleagues began to persuade some companies to award business to slum-dwellers. They won contracts at several major U.S. companies, including Newmont Mining Corp., Coca-Cola, and the cocoa division of Archer Daniels Midland Co.

Under the first Newmont contract, valued at $30,000, the Suame Magazine artisans and repairmen were hired to build stairways, railways and platforms for massive Caterpillar trucks at the mining company.

It was followed by agreements on further contracts from Newmont, providing the much-needed prospect of steady revenue for the workers.

…
… amusement and disdain soon gave way to respect as the mining company saw what the artisans could produce.

One group of 10 workers earning less than $4 a day were able to double their income when they landed the Newmont deal, with the prospect of further revenue from profit-sharing at the end of the contract.

The contract helped them learn new skills, including the ability to read computer-aided engineering drawings. And it encouraged them to invest some of their profit in safety equipment. For the first time, they have switched to steel-toed boots and safety glasses, instead of flip-flops and bare eyes.

“When we went to Newmont, our guys came back flabbergasted at the safety equipment there,” Mr. Gheorghe said. “Now they are always reminding me to put on my equipment.”

The workers say they’ve benefited from the marketing efforts and the multinational contracts. “We’re getting more experience and more jobs,” one worker said. “Since we started wearing the safety equipment, we don’t get injured any more.”

George Roter, the Toronto-based co-founder of Engineers Without Borders, says the project in Suame Magazine is an innovative approach that could produce broader lessons for the foreign aid sector.

“The concept of stimulating business development using demand from international resource-extraction operations could be powerful in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.

“It’s certainly a contrast to traditional aid-based approaches, and fits well with EWB’s philosophy of development that sees successful African businesses and entrepreneurs as the engine of development.”

As for Mr. Gheorghe, he is returning to the University of British Columbia this fall to finish his engineering degree after seven months of toil in the slum. But he’s already planning a life of activism. He is convinced that he can find more capitalist innovations to help the developing world.

“My ambition,” he says, “is to become incredibly rich, and to lift a million people out of poverty. I don’t think you have to be poor to help people.”

I like Mr. Gheorghe’s ambition.

There is another story I read recently that may relate to the guns:

Niger Delta militants training Ghanaians

…
A respected legal practitioner and lecturer at the University of Ghana, Law Faculty, Dr. Raymond Atuguba has chillingly revealed that militants in the Niger Delta region, notorious for blowing up oil pipes, kidnapping and demanding huge ransoms and causing unrest in the oil rich Nigerian region have started tripping to Ghana in droves.

…
He said, when he visited the Western region a few weeks ago, he discovered that “groups there were already creating linkages with groups in the Niger Delta”. According to him, the people were “preparing to create the same amount of chaos we have in the Niger Delta if we neglect their concerns.”

Dr. Atuguba stopped short of stating the exact ‘lessons’ the Ghanaians could be taking from the ‘visiting’ militants, but said people were preparing to protect their interest. He remarked that if the security agencies were on their toes, they would have noticed the movement of arms.

Dr. Atuguba is of the view that the culture and livelihood of the people located at the coast of the region will be greatly affected due to the infiltration of various forms of social vices the region will have to embrace.

As if making a case for the them, Dr. Atuguba said as a result of the governmental decision to drill oil in their area, “prostitution is going to increase in their community, stealing and contract killings are going to increase in their community, land grabbing has started in their communities such that they can’t even buy a piece of land in their communities to build a house.”

“You have dislocated the man in his own society and you expect him to sit there and watch you do it …and the politicians will take the money and stuff it in their foreign accounts somewhere…”

Dr. Raymond Atuguba who is also the director of the Law and Development Associates warned that it will be ghastly to ignore the concerns of those communities. “We should not underestimate it…”he advised.

I wonder about this. The oil in the west will be offshore, so, other than potential oil spills, the environmental degradation should not be similar to the Niger Delta. There are certainly some in the Western Region who feel agrieved. And there is much potential for them to feel more agrieved. I also get the impression that there are those who want to stir up more trouble over oil in the west. When I asked friends about this they said it was someone trying to make trouble, but I think this was more opinion than information. I wondered when I first read this story whether it might be part of a US Africa Command “information operation”. I don’t have enough information myself to make an intelligent guess. Dr. Atuguba may be trying to do his best for the people of the Western Region.

Land ownership issues are huge throughout Ghana, and are particularly bad around cities and towns, but hardly limited to the urban areas.

There are Delta militants across West Africa, and there are certainly some in Ghana, and likely in the Western Region. If they are there in organized groups, they are probably not buying the locally made guns, as the …

… buyers of Ghanaian guns tend to be individuals while established insurgent groups purchase heavier weapons from outside the region …

If the militants are visiting the Western Region, it is unlikely they are there to learn gunsmithing, because the skilled practitioners are likely to be in the larger urban areas where there are more customers. The proximity of Ivory Coast, and its recent civil conflicts might be a factor if there are organized militants in the area. I am doubtful about how much organization there is at this point.

The government needs to listen to the people in the Western Region and throughout Ghana. The business model in Suame Magazine working with the Canadians, described above, is something that the government and other organizations interested in development should look at long and seriously. And suggesting people go into another form of business, as with the gunsmiths like Mr. Nsiah or Mr. Sarpong, without assisting them to reach current markets or create new markets, is a waste of time and effort.

Angela Palmer had an idea for an art instalment as an environmental protest. Ghana has lost 90% of its rain-forest over the last 50 years. Ghost Forest is a stark reminder of the devastating effects of uncontrolled logging and the repercussions of unfettered greed.

Afrykańska odyseja to książka ukazująca drogę emigrantów z Afryki subsaharyjskiej udających sie do Europy w poszukiwaniu lepszego życia. Żeby zrozumieć lepiej to nasilające się zjawisko niemiecki dziennikarz Klaus Brinkbaumer wraz z zaprzyjaźnionym fotoreporterem wyruszają szlakiem z Ghany do Hiszpanii w towarzystwie emigranta Johna Ampana, któremu się udało taką drogę szczęśliwie przebyć.

Jeden z głównych szlaków tej nowoczesnej wędrówki ludów prowadzi przez środek Sahary. Emigranci pokonują ją przenosząc się z ciężarówki na ciężarówkę, na co wydają z trudem zdobyte pieniądze. Między kolejnymi etapami wegetują w przydrożnych miejscowościach oczekując na okazję do przemieszczenia się i wysłuchując nowych informacji o trasie.

W drodze tej nie ma mowy o miłosierdziu. Wędrowcy są często oszukiwaniu, pozostawieni samemu sobie pośrodku pustyni, okradzeni, szczuci przez policję. A mimo to prą naprzód. Dopiero końcowy etap jest jednak dramatyczną walką w której ludzie na pontonach próbują pokonać prądy Cieśniny Gibraltarskiej  i ominąć nieustannie płnące tamtędy tankowce. Emigranci próbują się też przedostawać w rozmaitych zakamarkach w ciężarówkach i na statkach.

Dla wielu z nich ta droga jest zbyt wymagająca i pozostają w piaskach Sahary, giną pod kołami ciężarówek, bądź w otchłani Morza  Śródziemnego. Wielu z tych którzy dotrą na drugi brzeg po wielu miesiącach lub też latach tułaczki jest okalczona fizycznie i psychicznie.

Książka Afrykańska Odyseja jest próbą zrozumienia tego co pcha coraz większe rzesze afrykanów do śmiertelnie niebezpiecznej drogi i tego co ich spotyka po drodze. Autorowi, pochodzącemu z kraju dobrobytu i porządku, trudno jest zrozumieć to przed czym staje. Zdaje sobie sprawę, że jego droga, białego wędrowca z dużą ilością pieniędzy, różni się diametralnie od tego co przechodzą emigranci. Dlatego szczególnie interesujące są liczne rozmowy z ucieknierami, których spotyka na kolejnych etapach wędrówki.

Ciekawe są refleksje na temat polityki Unii Europejskiej. Pierwsi emigranci na łodziach rybackich i pontonach zaczęli się pojawiać w Hiszapnii pod koniec lat 80 (Hiszpania przystąpiła do Wspólnoty w 1986r). Wraz z porozumieniami z Schengen, które ułatwiały komunikacyję wewnątrz Unii o wiele bardziej zaostrzono kontrolę na obrzeżach wspólnoty.

Polityka unijna zmieniła się w związku z dramatycznymi wydarzeniami z tzw. „Szturmu 29 września”, nota bene zainspirowanymi przez Maroko. Wówczas to, w związku z zapowiedzią budowy wyższych murów granicznych i akcji deportacyjnych, emigranci z Afryki zaczęli masowo forsować granicę hiszpańskich enklaw w Maroko (Ceuty i Manili). Państwa Unijne postanowiły odsunąć odpowiedzialność dalej od siebie i obecnie płacą duże sumy Maroko i Algerii za pomoc w powstrzymywaniu emigrantów.

Jak zauważa autor, rozwiązanie to jest skuteczne i w tej chwili straż graniczna i policja marokańska i algierska są bardzo restrykcyjne i starają się kontrolować na bieżąco emigrantów napływających z południa. W związku z tym dochodzi do przypadków gdy emigranci przyłapani na wkroczeniu nielegalnie do tych krajów są odwożeni przez policję na środek pustyni, wyrzucani i pozostawieni samemu sobie.

Afrykańska odyseja wydaje mi się niezwkle interesującą pozycją na temat procesu migracji południe-północ. Z pewnością nie wyczerpuje tematu. Pokazuje natomiast świat, o jakim nam się nawet nie śni, gdzie każdy dzień jest walką o przetrwanie.

by Mwaura Kimani, for Business Daily, November 16, 2009.

Hundreds of company secretaries from across Africa and Asia convene in Dar-es-Salaam to forge fresh strategies to address corporate governance issues which have plagued the continent, leading to a number of corporate failures.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, blame has been heaped on an ethical deficit in managing corporations said to have fuelled what has now mutated into the worst global recession in over half a century.

While Africa may have been an innocent bystander as the crisis ravaged developed economies, troubling similarities hinging on greed, corporate governance loopholes and unethical business practices make the continent a ripe spot for future crisis, analysts say.

Delegates from more than 20 countries are expected to convene for the International Federation of Company Secretaries (IFCS) Conference from December 2 to 4th in Tanzania, giving them an opportunity to discuss governance issues in the public and private sectors as well as the challenges posed by the global financial crisis…(continue reading)

• Saving Ghana Funfair, UK
• RE-powered Communal Kitchen Initiative
• RE-powered Communal Cold-room initiative
• Plastic Waste Sustainable Management  - television campaign for Mass Education
• RE-skills training for empowerment and job creation
• “Discards” not “Waste” Scheme …. transformation of land-fills into hygienic, organized discard-zones : where material sorting, recycling plants, and biogas-digesters are operated to instantly utilise municipal waste.

With our team of independent experts and partnering entities, we have successfully strategized our way through these projects. The hardest part of such initiatives, as always, is the funding aspect.

Energy Solutions Foundation (ESF) has solely funded its activities so far. In return, our devotion and passion for the RE industry of Ghana, has been recognised … and some entities are now more willing to assist in making these initiatives a reality.

ESF’s priority is now in the deprived communities … hence, the RE-powered communal initiative. These communities are in the best of locations to successfully sustain themselves on biogas and wind energy, and with the right amount of investment and fund-raising … this is actually possible.

Thanks to our Voluntary Programme, we have actually been able to raise funds for these communities, quicker than we first anticipated … and we hope that you will spread the message of our Voluntary Programme, to help us raise more funds, quicker.

Not only does your money go into a worthy effort, you actually get to be part of the team that saves that community you ‘invested in’ … and you see that money growing before your very eyes.

If this isn’t positive irony, I don’t know what is. Ha!

Share our site around, and don’t forget … it is in sharing each other’s burdens, that we are able to walk straighter.

Team Ghana.

Milovan Rajevac

Dear Milovan, I hope this letter finds you well. Let me be the next person to congratulate you for qualifying the Black Stars to Angola 2010 and South Africa 2010 in record time without conceding a single goal. Let me also give you a pat on the back for guiding what appeared to be a rather talentless Local Black Stars to the finals of CHAN.

You have obviously done your bit for Ghanaian football. In spite of these concrete achievements, I am not pleased with your handling of the Black Stars. Our elders say that ‘the man who weeds the field does not get to see if the path he leaves behind him is crooked’. It is for this reason that I write you this letter to tell you that things are not shaping-up properly for the Mighty Black Stars.

Mr. Rajevac, it saddens my heart when I think of what the Black Stars is turning into under your management. Perhaps, Mr. Rajevac, it has not occurred to you that Ghana is on a downward spiral. Since you took over, Ghana has not had a single confident game. We have been scrappy to say the least. Luck has been our bonafide ally! Of course, it is better to play badly and win. But when your team plays badly and cannot win, we ought to ask you questions.

When you first arrived, you continually gave us the excuse that you did not know your players. You shifted the goal post to so-called ‘undedicated players’. You went on a crusade of ensuring that only ‘the best’ will play for Ghana. Not only have you refused to play only the best, but you have stuck to clubless, inactive and out of shape players.

Today, no one seems to understand what is going on with your management of our wonderful National Team. Given the depth of quality Ghana possesses, it beggars belief that you cannot marshal one confident performance from the plethora of quality material under your care.

Coach, don’t you think that you have too much depth for the kind of performances you are giving us? Coach, are you honestly blind to the fact that your lateral defense leaks more than an African sponge? When do you plan to use a well-tested left back instead of all these makeshift arrangements?

Mr. Rajevac, I always wanted to ask you this question: In all your life as a coach, where did you find a team which cannot run at the opponent’s defenders; split opponent’s defenders; convert half chances; convert dead balls; run down the flanks and supply pin-point crosses winning anything substantive? How did Ghana loose so much of its creativity under your management?

Under your leadership our hunger for success is dead. We have lost our drive for wins. The little discipline which characterized the modern Black Stars is fast corroding. In short, Coach, I do not think you need to be reminded that with 55 days to kick off CAN Angola 2010, you will have to sit up.

We refuse to take anymore excuses from you. We refuse to take one more of those tactically bankrupt games you give us in return for the thousands of dollars we pay you and your interpreter.

Your proponents will have us believe that you know what you are up to. I want to believe you do. But when you call up midfielders for as strikers. When you leave out competent left backs and use right backs instead. When in 3 games running the Black Stars have not had their passing right, neither have they come up with a win, we deserve the right to ask you what is going on.

From your demeanor during yesterdays (WCQ – Ghana 2:2 Mali) game, we do not need a medium to tell us that you do not seem to know where the problem comes from. This is why I am forced to ask my last question. Mr. Rajevac, are we asking too much of you?

I wish you good luck. You will need plenty of it in this wake up call.

Regards,

William

I reached today (Friday, 13 of November 2009) a very important conclusion! I am arrogant. Not all the time but I am. In my arrogance, after almost 5 months of being in Ghana I actually believed I will go home without getting malaria and without taking the pills to prevent it. I was so proud of myself, thinking how I will brag about it… as if there is something to brag about!

Anyway Friday 13! I am usually not superstitious but I believe in things like Friday or Tuesday 13 and in the fact that annoying things may happen. So I woke up in the morning, really tired and with a horrible headache. A few days ago I was really proud that I don’t have malaria. Not that I had any tests. But I wasn’t feeling bad anymore, the fever disappeared with Fervex and I was quite ok.

Reaching the office I was feeling really sleepy and my headache was more and more horrible. I couldn’t stand the light and my eyes hurt. I even fell asleep a few times, for a couple of minutes. Jody suggested going to the clinic and having a test for malaria. After taking 2 Nurofen painkillers without any results I finally decided to go and take the test.

And surprise surprise… I have Malaria! The test was positive. I started laughing. Why me and why now… Bloody mosquito… I do hope I killed it! I am like… God, in less than 5 weeks I am leaving! Couldn’t this never happen? Guess no… So now I am taking the treatment. It’s not as bad as I expected it… Maybe it’s because it’s the first day. I did hear some horrible stories! Tomorrow I will note again my impressions

Long live Ghana and death to all the mosquitoes in the world!

Malaria Day 2!

Jody said I had Malaria! The doctor said I have Malaria. The blood test said I have Malaria! But the question remains! Do I have Malaria?

I don’t feel that bad at all. It’s more like having a cold. Either the pills were really effective and I will never have to feel the worse of it, or my immune system is a freaky one and doesn’t allow malaria to do its worse! Last night I even went to Sahil’s party and I had a great time; everybody was like… you don’t look like you have Malaria! The only thing unusual is that I woke up this morning after 10, which never happened in Ghana so far, with a mild headache which passed after I took the malaria treatment… The only thing different is that I drink a lot of water. That’s it!

I think I am a freak of nature… Lucky me!

Malaria Day 3!

I feel as healthy as ever… and I even have a theory. I think my malaria did its worse 2 weekends ago when I believed I had food poisoning. Thinking now about the symptoms… it may be it! I was really really sick for 3 days… Now I am just going to enjoy the rest of my Sunday… Malaria free

Evening Day 3!

I slept the entire afternoon, which never happens. I drank 4 liters of water in less than 3 hours and I am still thirsty… But I also feel rested which I haven’t felt in weeks I guess I should feel lucky that I took the treatment in time… People died because of this!

Me ready to go back to work

PS: Monday… I hate Mondays… I am back at the office and I had the weirdest dream last night… It’s enough to say my cousin was a talking horse… A very ugly talking horse! It must be the side effects of the treatment… But I am positive that I am malaria free now… and that the headache will go away!

If you think you’ve seen tree stumps, make your way to Trafalgar Square, where ten behemoths from Ghana will be on show from Monday.

This is Ghost Forest, Angela Palmer’s incredible, once-in-a lifetime cityscape installation. An Amazonian chief from the rainforests of South America will also attend in Trafalgar Square at 7pm on Thursday 19th to bless the trees, the forests, London, Ghana, the biosphere and any people watching. After a week at the foot of Nelson’s Column, the stumps will travel to Copenhagen to provide an arresting symbol for the UN conference on climate change from December 7 to 18, involving 11,000 delegates from 192 countries.

Each tree stump in Trafalgar Square will lie on its side so that its astonishingly fertile root buttresses show dramatically. “I want their roots to be exposed,” Palmer says. “They look like nerve endings.” Upright the full-grown trees would match Lord Nelson at 169 ft. Mahogany, denya, dehuma, celtis, wawa, hyedua, danta, dahoma: ten stumps of nine different varieties. These massive natural sculptures were chosen by Palmer in co-operation with the Ghanaian logging authorities and transported here by crane, lorry and boat.

I have the good fortune to connect with the artist as the last of the stumps arrives at Tilbury Docks. “All of them are here at last,” she says. “The last and largest of them is a Denya tree, the great big grandfather of the lot, as big as a baby elephant.

Palmer, born in northeast Scotland and now resident in Oxford, spent a year on the project in trips to Ghana, forging the bonds to make her ambitious undertaking feasible. Ghana is among the most solvent and stable of African countries, home to Ashanti, Fante, Akyem, and others, who speak English as well as their own dialects. Yet 90 per cent of its rainforest has been depleted because of poor logging practices.

i’m skipping work today for a number of legitimate reasons. they are as follows: i’m well on my way to reaching the 100-hour requirement; last week i went to the office twice; i felt like using the internet today so that i could update this blog; oh yeah and i have ringworm (of the FACE) and therefore can’t venture very far away from home because there’s a big splotch on my left cheek.

trip number one was an amazing success and we are now in the process of planning trip number two. we’re thinking that kumasi would be fun.

speaking of trips, i was in the volta region on saturday and fed several little mona monkeys out of the palm of my hand. it tickled! then i went swimming under a waterfall : )

i lost my phone about a week ago (erm, dropped it in water) and thoroughly miss it and all that it used to entail. on the plus side, i no longer need to spend money on credit and therefore can save the cedis for other, more important things (a.k.a.: trip number two).

my current favorite song is a toss-up between You are the sun (sara groves) and everything Glorious (david crowder band) and beautiful redemption (joy williams) and don’t get comfortable (brandon heath) and i will bless the Lord (byron cage) and no looking back (it’s damita, she’s back yo) and imagine me (kirk franklin). they’re just all so good and i’m just so indecisive.

a fanice party is in the near future. FANICE IS SO NICE.

World Cup finalists Ghana twice come from behind twice to draw 2-2 with visiting Mali in the final Group D 2010 qualifier…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: soccer standings. The blog is also related to: soccer scores.

I don’t sew, but I’m a textiles junkie.  I can’t figure it out, but there it is.  When I stepped into the maze of smock tailor’s shops, I was happy as a clam at high tide.  I love the hand woven cloth the smocks are made of. Smocks, also known as fugu, are a traditional man’s garment.

This is a place that’s not in any guide book. It’s a place maybe no tourist has ever seen.  But they should!  There were easily 50 smock tailor shops here. And I didn’t explore every square inch of the place.  The palm branches covering the pathways between the shops were a welcome relief from Bolga’s scorching sun.

No one seemed to mind that I was taking photos of everything.  When I took any close-ups of the tailors, I asked first and none of them refused me permission to take their pictures.  Again, I noticed they seemed much more reserved and shy than the people in the south of Ghana.

Every smock tailor’s shop is outfitted basically the same way. They have a little bit of storage space and a foot operated sewing machine.  There’s no electricity here.

There’s a huge cultural difference between the way shopping is done here in Ghana compared to the U.S., where I’m from.  Within minutes of my arrival, men began bringing smocks to me for inspection.  No, no, no!!  You’re ruining my fun!!! I want to go through the place, look at everyone’s shop and check out the smocks for myself!!!

They are in fact doing their best to be helpful and serve the customer, the same as the shopkeepers were doing at the Accra Arts Centre.  But they weren’t hollering at me like in Accra to come look at their stuff. They pulled up a bench right away so I could sit, and they brought the smocks to me so I could be comfortable, out of the hot sun and not have to walk around to see a large selection.  Once the River Queen, now I was the Cloth Queen.

I told the tailor on the left, who was the brother of the shopkeeper who had brought us here, that I liked the smock he was holding and was probably going to buy it but I wanted to see the other shops before I made my final choice.

He said he understood, then followed me around with it while I explored the place.  He wasn’t going to let me get away!

As I walked through the pathways, admiring the beautiful garments, guys were still bringing me smocks to look at. There was a dazzling array of colors but only two styles:  short or no sleeves.

Fugus can sometimes have matching very loose drawstring waist trousers.  I didn’t see any, but I didn’t ask about them, either.  It’s possible there was someone making pants somewhere in here, but if you’re going to be here for a couple of days you could have pants made.

The smocks were very well made, with locally hand woven cloth.  I found out later that it is known as gonja cloth.  Kente cloth weaving was developed from gonja weaving techniques.

Depending on where the cloth is made, it might not be colorfast.  I bought some hand woven cotton cloth when I lived in Togo that bleeds every time I wash it and has faded considerably over the years.  I’ve already washed the fugu I bought here in Bolga, and it is colorfast.  Whatever you buy at the Bolga smock tailor shops is really good quality.

Gonja cloth is made with cotton cloth strips of about four inches wide, joined together to make a large piece of cloth. The material is very strong and durable. The smocks are also partially lined.

It doesn’t seem like such a heavy garment would be comfortable in such a hot climate, but they are quite a common sight, especially in Ghana’s northern regions. They are made very large, billowy and loose fitting. The heavy cloth is a little stiff and doesn’t drape closely against the body, so you get plenty of air circulation even with the slightest breeze.

The shopkeeper at the Crafts Village on the left and his brother the smock maker.

I could have spent hours here, but we had a long drive ahead of us.  I decided that I would definitely get the red, white and blue striped smock. I tried it on and found it was a little tight around the neck, so I asked if he could make an adjustment.

The price of the smock was 60 cedis, about US$40.  While I was waiting for the alteration to be finished, another man brought a piece of cloth to show me. The cloth was roughly shawl sized in a beautiful indigo tie dye.  I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but as soon as I laid eyes on that piece of cloth, I knew I was buying it.  The man wanted 40 cedis for it.

Now, Stanley was not going to let me buy anything without doing a little haggling. Price negotiation is a way of life in West Africa.  It’s expected, and those who don’t do it are considered easy  marks.  As an expat in Togo, I played the game, but as a tourist, I don’t bargain very hard. I don’t mind being overcharged a little. These guys are not making much money, and by comparison, I’m still getting a bargain.  Even when they overcharge you, it’s not going to be much, relatively speaking. But Stanley was in automatic haggling mode and asked both the smock maker and the cloth guy to make a price reduction.

The tailor held firm and would not budge.  I didn’t mind. I thought the prices for both the smock and the cloth were very reasonable.  Stanley increased the pressure on the cloth man.  He wanted him to come down by five cedis.

“But 40 is a good price, oh!” the cloth man complained.  He finally relented and accepted 35 but was not happy about it.

Although it was tempting to go looking for more cloth, I restrained myself. In a day or two I was going to visit Adanwomase, a kente cloth weaving village, and I figured I’d spend a lot there.

If you’re going to be in Bolgatanga and want to visit the smock tailors, ask anyone in the new market area to point you the way or stop by the Crafts Village and ask any of the shopkeepers how to get here. Most of the shops have smocks for sale, and if they do, they should know how to direct you. None of the streets had names that I could see.  It’s worth the effort to find the place and a lot more interesting than the Crafts Village.

Barack Obama tried hard not to fall prey to the system and syndrome of graft in his adopted state of Illinois. He had a lot of temptations–and opportunities to feed at the public trough–but he managed to shy away from the most egregious. I think Obama is relatively clean–but not squeeky clean–for a politician. More to the point, he’s hasn’t allowed his ego to take advantage of his life (like the greasy embarrassment Rod Blagojevich) or his aims. However, as a result, Illinois is in arrears by several billion dollars because of the culture of graft in that state, practiced by both Democrats and Republicans. This has added to the financial woes of the state during what is being called the Great Recession.

That being said, there are several big name black politicians who are currently being investigated for questionable practices and ethics violations, lawmakers like Maxine Waters, Charlie Rangel, and Carolyn Kilpatrick. (Jesse Jackson, Jr. barely missed being named as an eighth offender.) Some feel that they are being unfairly singled out because of racism, because of double standards, and because of the state of their relationship(s) with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is considered no friend to black congresspeople. They are quick to point out that Pelosi’s ethics committee hasn’t fingered any white congresspeople like Jane Harman or John Murtha, who have “enough money to defend” themselves.

Far be it for me to support Pelosi’s shenanigans; I haven’t liked her since she was a bottom-feeding protegée of Willie Brown and the Burton brothers in the San Francisco of the Seventies and Eighties.   But I still believe that some of the seven ought to have known better.  Like I said, their egos got in the way of their lives or aims. One great, but overweening example of ego was the late Adam Clayton Powell of Harlem. Sometimes that ego was warranted as when he integrated the congressional lunch room, or made lawmakers stop saying the n-word on the floor, but at other times, like the incident that sealed Powell’s Waterloo, it paid to take oneself down a peg, and apologize.

And I had the feeling that unless something changed tomorrow, black people in politics–as with everything else–would always be judged by a different standard.  Which meant that they could not insist on the same kinds of breaks–or hypocrisies–that whites may have enjoyed.  (Frankly, is that really going to liberate them or us?) Somehow the law of averages was bound to catch up with them, no matter how rich, powerful or important they have become or whatever good they have done or achieved for their constituents, or who was Speaker of the House.

I think that it caught up last week with former Louisiana Rep. William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson,  62, who received thirteen years for bribery in “a conspiracy so immense” of corruption that  U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III lamented that, “There must be some sort of greed virus that attacks those in power.”   Huh.  It certainly is a fall from a great height achieved when in 1991, Jefferson became the first African American congressman since Reconstruction from his district.

Jefferson, who famously squirreled away $90,000 in his freezer, earning him the new nickname “Cold Cash,” was convicted of receiving $500,000 and would have received millions more for whetting his business deals in Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria.  Prosecutors originally wanted Jefferson to serve 27 years, a stint that might have lasted the rest of his life. It’s not that Jefferson killed anybody, but perhaps his actions might have killed delayed and killed hopes, which is almost the same.

Jefferson was allowed to remain free until a hearing next week. Prosecutors want him to begin serving his sentence immediately, while the defense wants Jefferson to remain free while he appeals his conviction.

Jefferson was also ordered to forfeit roughly $470,000 in bribery proceeds — the government expects to seize Jefferson’s retirement savings and other assets to enforce the judgment. Jefferson, meanwhile, has filed for bankruptcy protection and his wife is claiming rights to some of those assets.

Jefferson was convicted in August of 11 counts, including bribery and racketeering, and acquitted on five others, including the one most closely associated with the money in his freezer.

The investigation started in March 2005. In August of that year, FBI agents searched Jefferson’s Washington home and found the cash. Prosecutors said he had planned to use the money to pay a bribe to the then-vice president of Nigeria to secure a multimillion-dollar telecommunications deal there, an accusation Jefferson denied.

The money ended up in the freezer when a disgruntled businesswoman, Lori Mody, agreed to wear a wire after telling the FBI she had been cheated out of $3.5 million in deals brokered by Jefferson. The jury saw videotape of Mody handing over a suitcase filled with $100,000 cash outside an Arlington hotel. Most of that money was recovered from the freezer.

So he’s ruined, his wife is scrambling for whatever crumbs he has left after the bankruptcy and the Feds get through with him, and in any case, he’s still appealing what would be the longest jail term handed to a former congressperson.  What can be learned from all this?  A former constituent, Songy Turner of Marrero, LA had an answer.  “I’m really hoping that the newer politicians, the younger politicians, really consider being honest, really take their job seriously and make an effort to make Louisiana honest.”  Easier said than done? Many people like Turner felt as if New Orleans’ and Louisiana’s recovery from the ravages of Katrina was hampered by the Jefferson case.  Jefferson was succeeded in office by maverick Republican Anh Joseph Cao, who appears to really represent the interests of black people as well as other people of color in the district, despite pressure from his fellow Republicans.

In other words, don’t ever think that as a politician, you aren’t expendable, “too big to fail,” or bulletproof.  Your job is not simply for yourself, but for the people who voted for you. It always is. It always will be.

There has been great concern about whether online (electronic Publishing) Publishing is viable considering the Ghanaian perspective. The Department of Publishing Studies is conducting a poll on the viability of online publishing in Ghana. Your comment are greatly welcomed.

Eliminatorias

Estos son los ultimos resultados de las Eliminatorias Rumbo Al Mundial

Francia vs Republica de Irlanda  (1-0)

Portugal vs Bosnia iH (1-0)

Costa Rica vs Uruguay (0-1)

Partidos Amistosos

Argentina vs España (1-2)

Brasil vs Inglaterra (1-0)

Para ver los equipos que ya estan calificados ver aqui>> Equipos Ya Calificados

14/11/09 20:30	Lisbon		Portugal	1:0	Bosnia-Herzegovina
14/11/09 20:00	San Jose		Costa Rica	0:1	Uruguay
14/11/09 20:00	Wellington		New Zealand	1:0	Bahrain
14/11/09 20:00	Omdurman		Sudan	1:2	Benin
14/11/09 20:00	Dublin		Republic of Ireland	0:1	France
14/11/09 20:00	Athens		Greece	0:0	Ukraine
14/11/09 19:30	Cairo		Egypt	2:0	Algeria
14/11/09 19:00	Moscow		Russia	2:1	Slovenia
14/11/09 16:00	Nairobi		Kenya	2:3	Nigeria
14/11/09 16:00	Ouagadougou		Burkina Faso	1:0	Malawi
14/11/09 16:00	Abidjan		Côte d’Ivoire	3:0	Guinea
14/11/09 15:30	Fes		Morocco	0:2	Cameroon
14/11/09 15:30	Lome		Togo	1:0	Gabon
14/11/09 15:30	Kigali		Rwanda	0:0	Zambia
14/11/09 15:00	Maputo		Mozambique	1:0	Tunisia
14/10/09 20:00	Asuncion		Paraguay	0:2	Colombia
14/10/09 20:00	Montevideo		Uruguay	0:1	Argentina
14/10/09 19:00	Santiago De Chile		Chile	1:0	Ecuador
14/10/09 18:00	Campo Grande		Brazil	0:0	Venezuela
14/10/09 15:00	Lima		Peru	1:0	Bolivia

Africa

 

53 teams, 5 +1 places
After two preliminary rounds, 20 teams play in five groups of four. The group winners qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

• Standings
• Format

• Cameroon (CMR)
• 2009-11-14
• Côte d’Ivoire (CIV)
• 2009-10-10
• Ghana (GHA)
• 2009-09-06
• Nigeria (NGA)
• 2009-11-14

Asia

 

43 teams, 4.5 places
Australia, Japan, Korea Republic and Korea DPR qualified directly for South Africa 2010, while Bahrain was victorious in a play-off against Saudi Arabia and now plays in an intercontinental play-off against New Zealand for the last ticket in Oceania/Asia for the FIFA World Cup.

• Standings
• Format

• Australia (AUS)
• 2009-06-06
• Japan (JPN)
• 2009-06-06
• Korea DPR (PRK)
• 2009-06-17
• Korea Republic (KOR)
• 2009-06-06

Europe

 

53 teams, 13 places
The European qualifiers began in August 2008, with 53 teams playing in nine groups on a home and away basis.

• Standings
• Format

• Denmark (DEN)
• 2009-10-10
• England (ENG)
• 2009-09-09
• Germany (GER)
• 2009-10-10
• Italy (ITA)
• 2009-10-10
• Netherlands (NED)
• 2009-06-06
• Serbia (SRB)
• 2009-10-10
• Slovakia (SVK)
• 2009-10-14
• Spain (ESP)
• 2009-09-09
• Switzerland (SUI)
• 2009-10-14

North, Central America and Caribbean

 

35 teams, 3.5 places
Twelve teams are contesting Round 3 of North, Central America and Caribbean qualifying. The top two from each of the three groups will advance to the final hexagonal stage, from where three sides will qualify directly for South Africa 2010 and the fourth-placed team will take on the fifth-placed finisher in South American qualifying for a place at the world finals.

• Standings
• Format

• Honduras (HON)
• 2009-10-15
• Mexico (MEX)
• 2009-10-10
• USA (USA)
• 2009-10-10

Oceania

 

10 teams, 0.5 places
New Zealand won the Oceanian qualifying section and will now play off against the side who finish fifth in Asian Zone qualifying for a place at South Africa 2010.

• Standings
• Format

• New Zealand (NZL)
• 2009-11-14

South America

 

10 teams, 4.5 places
The qualification format, which involves a league system with teams playing each other home and away, kicked off in October 2007. The top four go through by right, with the side finishing fifth going into a play-off with the fourth-placed side from the North, Central America and Caribbean Zone.

• Standings
• Format

• Argentina (ARG)
• 2009-10-14
• Brazil (BRA)
• 2009-09-05
• Chile (CHI)
• 2009-10-10
• Paraguay (PAR)
• 2009-09-09

Host Country

As a host of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Cup™, South Africa automatically qualify for the tournament.

• South Africa (RSA)

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Poll

Which of the following players are you most looking forward to seeing at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009?

• Amarelle (ESP)

• Andrey Bukhlitskiy (RUS)

• Buru (BRA)

• Madjer (POR)

• Dejan Stankovic (SUI)

//

Vous savez, comment nous nous comportons parfois, devant le petit écran. 21 heures 30, c’est l’heure d’avant l’heure et ce n’est pas l’heure d’après, car après, il est trop tard. Le sommeil ne sera pas au rendez-vous, ni Morphée aussi belle puisse-t-elle être dans nos fantasmes les plus secrets.
Il nous faut zapper. Pour tuer le temps. Réflexe purement conditionné pour endormir l’esprit, consommation imbécile d’images et de bruits, dans une recherche stérile d’une quête que l’on ne connaît pas. Pavlov! J’appuie sur les touches de cet objet totalement déconnecté.

4, 6…exit le mouton noir de la télé…10,…, 34, et …le 13 puis 23, le 5… puis pourquoi pas le 15… Bingo.
Et là… Je l’ai laissée tomber, cette télécommande. Puis, lentement, je me suis assis, tout doucement, cherchant de la main un coussin, un peu de confort ou de réconfort. Sous mes yeux, sans pixel, presque vivant dans mon salon, un enfant de 4 ans, une pierre à la main fracasse les écrans de ses mains meurtries, dont la vie est engloutie comme dans Poltergeist.
A part que les démons portent nos noms, nos marques…

Je regarde cet écran plat fièrement et esthétiquement encastré dans un recoin. Je ne le verrai plus du même œil. J’y vois le côté noir, the dark side, cet écran sans vie, j’y vois un silex dans une petite main meurtrie par les coupures.
La pierre angulaire de notre recyclage. Fantôme.

Je regarde et je le savais, on me l’avait dit. En Inde, au Pakistan, en Afrique… Des rumeurs, quelques exceptions tout au plus. Mais l’exception en a fait une règle.  Sébastien Mesquida et Yann le Gléau  (ART TV) nous montrent  les ordinateurs et disques durs de la Banque Barclays (par exemple)  car les leurs sont identifiables (des plaques de métal ont été gravées Barclays Bank, en cas de vol peut-être). Tout droit venus d’Europe.
Je sais, je crois savoir, je recycle, je crois recycler et là, le doute s’insinue,…
Un petit détour, et voici … je cite Monsieur John Varley, directeur général du groupe, sur le site de la Banque Barclays, dans un document PDF signé de sa main. (1)

« Le respect de la politique environnementale énoncée ci-dessous est essentiel pour que:
-Les risques environnementaux soient correctement identifiés, hiérarchisés et gérés de manière appropriée et opportune.

…

-Gérer son impact direct sur l’environnement grâce à un Système de Management Environnemental, dont les principes de base sont certifiés à la norme ISO14001.

…

-Adopter une approche écologique dans la conception et la gestion de nos installations.

…

-Etablir des objectifs pour les principaux aspects de notre performance environnementale et les réviser périodiquement. Nous communiquerons nos engagements et notre performance de manière proactive et transparente.

… (1)

Lisez. Relisez. Tout y est. Tout y est. Comment se sont-ils retrouvés au Ghana ? Que font-ils entre les mains des enfants de 4 ans?
Trop de crédulité ? Manque de clairvoyance ? Inconscience? En toute connaissance de cause ? Je me questionne. Les faits sont là. Ces ordinateurs ne sont pas tombés du ciel.
Recyclez, vos ordinateurs, vos télévisions, vos disques durs. Vos écrans, vos cellulaires, vos… et votre…. Portez-les au recyclage, ils en ont besoin là-bas pour les sauver, leur apporter cette technologie dont on ne sait que faire, mais eux l’utilisent cette technologie… Ce recyclage aveugle sans le moindre contrôle. Ces carcasses métalliques sont  folles, sans Creutzfeldt-Jakob, tuent des enfants. La traçabilité?

Steven Jackson luttant pour l’environnement au Ghana, explique que 78% des ordinateurs reçus vont à la décharge. Notre décharge, la plus grande à ciel ouvert, n’est pas en Europe ou en Amérique du Nord… Non, elle est au Ghana.

Agbobloshie . J’ai eu du mal à l’orthographier correctement, à trouver où cela se trouvait. La plus vaste décharge électronique du monde. A ciel fermé par les fumées noires.

Le recyclage coûte trop cher, c’est moins cher un enfant surtout quand il extrait le cuivre qu’il va nous renvoyer pour que nous puissions encore l’utiliser. Qu’il est beau ce recyclage.
Surtout, que cet enfant n’est pas le nôtre. Surtout…
Même si, ils n’ont pas encore l’âge de l’école, tout au plus celui de la garderie.
Même si ce travail comme il le dit : « ne lui plaît pas et lui fait mal. »
À l’âge, où les nôtres jouent avec des doudous tout doux et des Transformer qui ne sont plus en plomb, eux, ils extraient le cuivre, le zinc, le laiton, l’aluminium. Pour 1 euro par jour.

Oui,…, bien sûr, nous recyclons.
Là-bas, à Agbobloshie au Ghana. À deux pas du bidonville, on recycle les cancers, on recycle les maladies pulmonaires graves, on recycle… Tout.
Là-bas, les enfants pour 1 euro par jour, s’arrachent les doigts et les poumons sous un ciel noir, …

…

J’y ajouterai les images. Est-ce bien nécessaire? Une écuelle de cuivre: 1 euro (les 500 grammes). Laiton : 75 cents d’euro. Aluminium : 20 cents. Zinc : 15 cents. Nul besoin de la science et de Mendeliev pour comprendre. Cu+CO2+ Al+Pb+=…  Cours de chimie élémentaire dès 4 ans.  Avant de pouvoir lire les symboles, des enfants respirent l’expérimentation à plein nez.

Ceci est scandaleux? Non, ceci est tout simplement illégal. La convention de Bâle interdit les exportations des déchets électroniques vers les pays en voie de développement (plus de 250 pays sont signataires de la convention). (2)
La convention de Bâle sur le contrôle des mouvements transfrontaliers de déchets dangereux et de leur élimination) est un traité international qui a été conçu afin de réduire la circulation des déchets dangereux entre les pays. Il s’agissait plus particulièrement d’éviter le transfert de déchets dangereux des pays développés vers les Pays en développement (PED). (2)
Avec 15 cent les 500 grammes, quels avocats défendraient leurs causes, eux, qui sur la décharge n’ont que leurs cellulaires “recyclés” pour faire entendre leurs voix.
Les enfants meurent, les rivières meurent et tuent aussi, car en expirant la rivière d’Agbobloshie, dans son dernier flot, emportent avec elles, les derniers pêcheurs intoxiqués…

Le cercle infernal…

2009, sera une bonne année, assurément pour le recyclage. Les écrans plats, le HD, les Ipod, les cellulaires, les….Oui, une bonne année. Les Nations Unies prévoit 500 millions de tonnes (par an) de déchets électroniques (3)

Qu’existe-t-il,  ici? Quelles sont les solutions, une fois notre orgie de pixels ou de bitmap rassasiée? Faut –il vous l’avouer,  j’ai fouillé pour trouver. Entre deux pdf, je suis tombé sur Recyc-ordi, conscients eux aussi du problème. Ils l’abordent. En plus, ils ajoutent :
“…Il importe de signaler que les sites d’enfouissement relèvent des provinces du Canada et que ces dernières considèrent, tout comme l’ensemble des intervenants de la filière des produits des technologies de l’information et de communication (TIC), que ces déchets doivent être exclus de nos sites enfouissement et de ceux des pays en voie de développement.”

Aucun programme provincial ne structure le processus de récupération et de recyclage de ces résidus. Les produits qui arrivent en fin de vie utile sont considérés comme des déchets ultimes. C’est à cette étape que Recy-ordi nous dit intervenir, à titre de récupérateur, nous nous spécialisons dans la récupération, le recyclage et la réduction, des déchets électroniques, ajoutent-ils…
“…Nous démontons, trions les composantes et recyclons les matières premières. Ainsi, le plastique, le métal, le cuivre, l’aluminium et certaines pièces sont à nouveau intégrés dans le cycle de production. Ils dégagent autant soit peu, les sites d’enfouissement du Québec de ces matériaux qui représentent plus de 20 000 à 30 000 tonnes de déchets toxiques chaque année…”(4)  nous explique encore le site et que certains éléments comme les écrans ne sont pas encore traités par eux.

Je l’entends d’ici, votre question. Elle vous brûle les lèvres, pas encore formulée,… Oui, non…, oui, j’ai toujours mes vieux ordinateurs, ma bonne vieille palette graphique, mon bon vieux G3, mon G4 à l’écran clignotant obsolète, mon shit box, comme on le surnomme entre nous. Il aura de bons jours devant lui, dans un tiroir ou dans une caisse en carton recyclé, bien au chaud… Tant pis, si ils prennent et de la place et  de la poussière. Ce n’est pas demain que je le confierai à un “recycleur” de la première heure.  Le loup devra me montrer patte blanche.

À moins. À moins que… Ô infamie,  je ne le confie à ma fille de 6 ans. Pour mieux me rendre compte de ce que l’on fait.
Cette idée me donne des frissons.

Thierry De Greef

_____________________

Sources :

(1) Barclays Bank : http://www.barclays.fr/file/documentsite/groupe/charteEnvironnementBarclays.pdf

(2) Convention de Bâle : http://www.ec.gc.ca/international/multilat/mtd_f.htm

(3) TV5 Canada Emission du 30 octobre 2009 –arte-reportage (ARTE.TV) De Sébastien Mesquida et Yann le Gléau – ARTE GEIE / What’s up Productions – France 2009
http://www.arte.tv/fr/Comprendre-le-monde/arte-reportage/cette-semaine/ARTE-Reportage/2902234.html - Greenpeace : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr1zQrXM_7s&feature=player_embedded

(4) Basel Action Network. Organisme pistant les déchets toxiques sur le globe.
http://www.ban.org/

(5) Recycordi : http://www.recycordi.com

The cousins R&D are proud to be able to bring you 4 exclusive pre-mixtape/pre-album Grey leaks!  If you are into your Hiplife and you do not know Grey – you do not know Hiplife!  Trust us, it’s that simple!

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