Far From the Africa Crowd

Dubbed as “an African Pepsi Center” by one of the founders of the newly minted Colorado Association of African Pastors (CAAP), the association held its inaugural meeting Saturday June 20.
The event took place at the beautiful Praise Chapel International ministries in Aurora and brought together some of Africa’s star pastors and preachers throughout Colorado.

“If we can join forces together, we can move mountains”, said Eliason Emmanuel, founder and senior pastor at World Gospel Tabernable of Aurora. “We are here to celebrate the beginning of great things around the community and the nation”, Eliasaon enjoined the audience.

The goal of the association is to help bring unity, accountability, to build healthy relationships, create opportunities for training and to act as a support group for African pastors in Colorado, according to printed materials distributed during the event. The occasion was marked with a worship service, talk about the organizations vision and plans for the future. More information can be found on the organizations website. www.caapastors.org

Occasionally, we publish full stories picked up from other media. This time around, the story about how couples in Swaziland are being urged to get tested for HIV-AIDS together is quite interesting. Thanks to CNN for the wonderful research and writing. Check it out and enjoy!

By Anouk Lorie
For CNN

LONDON, England (CNN) — Couples in the African kingdom of Swaziland are being urged to get tested together as part of a HIV “love test” campaign.

Photo:CNN

A couple discusses the love test with a PSI member. Before the campaign, only 2 percent of couples got tested. The nationwide initiative — funded by the United States government and implemented by global charity ‘Population Services International’ (PSI) — is aimed at couples because tests can be useless if partners are not aware of the others’ HIV status.

“If partners get tested separately, they may not disclose the results and not get the support they need,” Dominic McNeill, spokesman for PSI Swaziland, told CNN.
Only one in four people — mostly female — know their HIV status despite the fact that approximately 26 percent of the population in Swaziland is HIV positive.

The charity says it also wanted to move away from the traditional HIV campaigning methods.
“We wanted to turn HIV on its head and move away from the fear-inducing campaigns we’ve seen in the past, which don’t work. Instead, we focus on love, saying that it is love that should be contagious and couples should get tested together,” McNeill explained.

But in a country where a macho culture still prevails, getting couples tested together has proved challenging. McNeill said: “In Swaziland it is difficult to convince men to get tested as it makes them feel inferior.”PSI said it found that one of the most successful campaigning tools has been to directly target men in areas where they are often concentrated.

“We go to the places where men have their cattle disinfected and also work extensively in churches. We even have a testing facility in one of the countries’ prisons” said Iulian Circo, PSI’s country director.
“Men are the head of the family and we try to get them to own up to that responsibility.”

PSI Swaziland received $3 million this year from the United States’ President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) and has so far spent $35,000 on radio, TV and print advertisements.
Since the launch of the campaign in April, PSI — which partnered with UNICEF and UNAIDS — told CNN it has already seen a 25 percent increase in couple testing and a 400 percent in general testing year-on-year.
And neighboring countries such as Zambia, Mozambique and Namibia have already shown interest in the ‘love test.’The tests are also quick and free. Offered in facilities in the four regions of the country, they take only 45 minutes, including a 30-minute counseling session and on-the-spot results. If results show one or both partners are HIV positive, PSI offers longer-term free counseling.

The HIV campaign is expected to last until the end of the year and the charity is also partnering with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — which has donated $50 million to fight aids in the region — to promote male circumcision, medically proven to lower the risk of getting the HIV

Tsvangirai at the Whitehouse

Photo: AP

Zimbabwe’s prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai was at the Whitehouse June 12. Tsvangirai met with U.S President Barack Obama and the two discussed about the future of Zimbabwe. At a news conference following their discussion, president Obama said the U.S government was committing $73 million to assist Zimbabwe with some if its problems. However, this money was going directly to the people of Zimbabwe, according to the Whitehouse, and not to the Zimbabwe government.

The visit was part of a three week tour of western countries aimed at persuading foreign governments to offer aid to Zimbabwe in spite of the role of Robert Mugabe in managing the country.

As Zimbabwe p.m. Tsvangirai is now the personal emissary of President Robert Mugabe and representing the Zimbabwe government after years of discord between him and the Mugabe administration.

While polls for new elections must be organized within 45 days following the death of Omar Bongo, senate president and Gabonese woman, Rose Francine Rogombe is now interim president of Gabon, according to the country’s constitution. Rogombe was installed as interim president June 10. The country now awaits elections to choose a new leader.

The analyses and psycho analysis has begun following the announcement of the death of Gabonese President Omar Bongo. Prior to his death, the speculations and speculators all wanted Mr. Bongo death, whether he had actually died or not. Mr. Bongo had been leader of Gabon since 1967. The calculations put the time that he led the country to about 42 years. He died at age 73.

Leaving all political bickering and machinations in Gabon to the people of Gabon, perhaps, it is time that the people of Africa, friends and lovers of the continent pause and ask what we can do to help Gabon move on and stand ready in the face of the current financial crisis rocking the world.

Is Gabon ready and what measures are in place to help the country deal with issues of economic growth, peace and security? Who will become the country’s next president?

Will the next president of Gabon keep the peace in that country?
According to the BBC, “The son of the late Gabonese President Omar Bongo calls for calm after the death of Africa’s longest-serving leader”

The events that have unraveled in Guinea Bissau over the past few days and months have cast the country as the place where no right thinking person would want to invest or do business. For one reason, the tense political atmosphere there is not what the African continent needs at this time.

In the wake of the June 28 presidential elections, territorial administration minister Baciro Dabo and former defense minister Helder Proenca were killed by the members of the country’s military.
In March, both the president President João Bernardo Vieira and his chief of general staff, General Batista Tagme Na Waie, were assassinated in separate incidents.

According to Reuters’ Nick Tattersall “Radical military reform is the only way to stop a cycle of coups and assassinations in Guinea-Bissau and prevent Latin American drug cartels tightening their grip, a former prime minister said on Saturday”
“Colombian cocaine cartels have exploited its poverty, instability and location on the western tip of Africa to use it as a hub to smuggle drugs from Latin America to Europe”

To the contrary, African nations should be peaceful and welcoming environments for international trade and business. To me, that is the only way we can stay attractive and competitive in the world.

The United nations, The African Union, the ECOWAS and other regional and international institutions of which Guniea Bissau is a member have not only condemned the killings but expressed dismay at what is taking place in the country.

All Africans should also be protesting these assassinations and senseless killings in Gunea Bissau. They do not speak well of the continent.