January 2011 - Blackherbals.com

African Traditional Herbal Research ClinicVolume 6, Issue 1 NEWSLETTER January 201162,000 Ugandan ChildrenDefiledBy Haruna Mawa PapiqueJune 2009Just two years after Uganda amended the law ondefilement to deeply punish the child sexual offenders,the latest report into the vice indicates up to 20,935 morechildren have been defiled.The figure which was released by the African Networkfor the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuseand Neglect (ANPPCAN) on June 16, 2009, shows onaverage 10,000 children are reportedly defiled each yearin the country where the juvenile population constitutes57% of the total 30m people.According to ANPPCAN Uganda Chapter, a regionalNGO working to protect the children from abuse andneglect, child sexual abuse is the most rampant form ofcrime against children in Uganda. This is due to thefailure by the government to speed up the prosecutionsof the suspected offenders. Last year although thereported defilement cases dropped by 29%, however97.2% of the suspected offenders were not tried.I NSIDE T HIS I SSUEContinued on page 22 Uganda: 1000 Kenyan Teachers Sacked over Sexual Abuse3 Afrikan Spirituality – Ancient History of African Philosophy4 Feature – ‘African Tradition’ and Women’s Oppression6 Feature – Abuse8 Feature – Availability of Protection and Support Services UG17 Feature – South Africa: Life after Human Trafficking18 Defilement Crime on the Rise in Uganda22 Congo-Kinshasa: Women’s Bodies ‘Battleground’ in Nation23 Uganda: Living with Disabilities in Uganda – Edna’s Story25 South Africa: Speaking out Against Gun Violence26Uganda: Male Victims of Domestic Violence Need to Speak27 Trust Drug may cure Social Phobia28 Feature – Rape Rampant in U.S. Military33 African Women in UK silently suffer Domestic Violence37 Feature: Haiti: Sexual Violence Against Women Increasing39 Domestic Violence Information Sheet50 Rape Epidemic fuels Fistula Cases in the DRC52 Feature: No One Values the BlackWombman More than Her54 The Effects of Child Sexual Abuse on an Adult Survivor55 Bystander Apathy – Ife Piankhi54 Herb of the Month – Wounds, Gota Kola and Aloe VeraABUSE-1- Traditional African Clinic – January 2011What is the African TraditionalHerbal Research Clinic?We can make you healthy and wiseNakato LewisBlackherbals at the Source of the Nile, UG Ltd.The African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic locatedin Ntinda, Uganda is a modern clinic facilityestablished to create a model space wherebyindigenous herbal practitioners and healers can upgradeand update their skills through training and certificationand respond to common diseases using African healingmethods and traditions in a modern clinicalenvironment.Traditional healers are the major health labor resourcein Africa as a whole. In Uganda, indigenous traditionalhealers are the only source of health services for themajority of the population. An estimated 80% of thepopulation receives its health education and health carefrom practitioners of traditional medicine. They areknowledgeable of the culture, the local languages andlocal traditions. Our purpose is to raise publicawareness and understanding on the value of Africantraditional herbal medicine and other healing practicesin today’s world.The Clinic is open and operational. Some of theservices we offer are African herbal medicine,reflexology, acupressure, hot and cold hydrotherapy,body massage, herbal tonics, patient counseling, bloodpressure checks, urine testing (sugar), and nutritionalprofiles. We believe in spirit, mind and body. Spiritualcounseling upon request.Visit us also at www.Blackherbals.comHours: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday thru FridaySaturday by Appointment, Sundays – Closed

Cont’d from page 1 – 62,000 Ugandan Children Defiled“It’s absurd that in the last six years a total of 61,888children have been reportedly defiled. While the statisticsof the married children stands at 65,000 it’s equallyworrying,” ANPPCAN Uganda’s Executive DirectorDeogratias Yiga, said in the press statement.According to the police crime report for 2008, a total of10,365 sex related crimes were registered. Defilementcases were 8635, however out of this figure just 4,124cases were taken to courts and only 333 (3.8%)convictions were recorded. While rape cases alsoincreased from 599 cases in 2007 to 1,536 in 2008 thestate managed to proceed 241 cases to court and out ofthese only 52 convicts were made.This high incidence of child sexual abuse has resultedinto more children contracting HIV/AIDS, and othersexual transmitted diseases, increased child pregnancies,early marriages and high school drop out rates. Thestatement emphasised that child sexual abuse denieschildren their basic right to survival and development.Practice escalatesOver the past six years, the trend has just escalated. In2007 a total of 12,300 children were defiled, this was anincrease from 2006 where 11,923 defilement cases wererecorded. Similarly in 2005, the police force reported7,844 defilement cases down from 13,929 in 2004 and in2003, the vice saw 7257 children abused.Although the amended Section (129) of the Penal CodeAct 2007 provides for a death penalty to the person foundguilty of defilement, most of the offenders have walkedfree. Local NGOs say this is due to the unfriendly justicesystem in the country.Recently the Thematic Group, an association comprising15 NGOs fighting against child sexual abuse and lead byANPPCAN Uganda concluded that most child survivorsof abuse are required to give evidence in the strange andoften intimidating court environment without priorpreparation of the child about the court proceedings. Thisthey argue put children in very difficult procedures todeal with the intrusive defence lawyers and prosecutorswho are ill trained to communicate with the children.Government reactsSpeaking on UBC radio, a government owned stationduring a talk show on the rights of children 0n June 18 inwhich ANPPCAN participated, the Minister for ChildrenLt. Jessica Alupo admitted that there is a gap in the localjustice system. “This problem cuts across all sectors ofthe government and needs every person’s intervention.For instance, this court issue is handled by the JusticeMinistry, but we are collectively working to address thechildren’s concerns,” She said.Alupo appealed to the public to work closely with thegovernment and inform the authorities about any suspectedcase of child abuse. She said the highest percentage of childsexual abuse suspects are the people close to the childrenciting the close relatives.However, the Ministry of Gender, Labour and SocialDevelopment in Uganda which handles aspects of socialprotection and child fare remains among the least fundedministries in Uganda.http://www.anppcanug.org/?page=ugandans_raped☻☻☻☻☻☻Uganda: 1,000 KenyanTeachers Sacked Over SexAbuseThe Monitor9 October 2010More than 1,000 teachers have been sacked in Kenya forsexually abusing girls over the past two years, theauthorities say. Senior government official Ahmed Husseintold the BBC that most of the victims were aged between12 and 15.He said a nationwide confidential helpline set up to helpvictims had revealed that the problem was much morewidespread than previously thought. Most of the cases haveoccurred in rural primary schools. "Initially we were notable to know what was happening in the country because ofthe poor communication, but now mobile phones are acrossthe country," Mr Hussein, from the Ministry of Gender,Children and Social Development, said.Last year, 600 male teachers were dismissed and so far thisyear 550 teachers have lost their jobs for either kissing,touching or impregnating girls out of 240,000 teacherscountrywide. "A number of them have been taken to court,and they have been sentenced," he said. Brian Weke, theprogramme director for the Cradle, a child rightsfoundation in Kenya, agreed the problem was widespread.He gave an example of a case in Nyanza province last year:"I found that in one primary school we had over 20 girlswho were pregnant and nearly half the numbers wereimpregnated by teachers."However, he said the officials investigating the abuse werenot passing vital information to get convictions. The BBCsaid teachers who are caught defiling their students end uppaying the parents to prevent cases reaching court.http://allafrica.com/stories/201010111962.html☻☻☻☻☻☻-2- Traditional African Clinic – January 2011

AFRIKAN SPIRITUALITYEgypt: Ancient History ofAfrican PhilosophyTHEOPHILE OBENGAThe ProblemIt is a mere prejudice to believe, that the philosophical epochof humanity begins first among the Greeks in the fifth centuryBC. This prejudice implies that other ancient people did notengage in speculative thought. Undoubtedly, speculativethought transcends experience, but it always attempts toexplain, interpret, and unify it in order to systematize it.Speculative thought, using aphorisms, allusions, metaphors,negative or positive methods, and dialectics, can be oral orwritten, and it is necessarily connected with the problems oflife. Thus philosophy can be defined as "systematic reflectivethinking on life" (Yu-fan 1976: 16).The spirit of Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy, Africanphilosophy, European philosophy, and Maya philosophy candiffer greatly in their treatment of a subject, but philosophyalways deals with human knowledge, and the elevation of themind. The future philosophy of the world must then take intoaccount the great speculative systems of all humanity.Therefore, there is an urgent need to gain some acquaintancewith the traditions of African philosophy from the remotetimes to the contemporary era. I am going to try to present theancient history of African philosophy by bringing into focusthe speculative thought of ancient Egypt.MethodAfrican philosophy as a historical fact must be understoodwithin a historical frame. The origin, evolution, anddevelopment of African philosophy follow the streams andcurrents of African history. The long history of Africanphilosophy has shown connections with other continents,chiefly with Europe, since the Graeco-Roman world. Inremote times African philosophy was mainly located in theNile Valley, that is, in Kemet or ancient Egypt, and in Kush(NapataMeroe). Philosophy flourished in Egypt from about3400 BC to 343 sc and in Kush (also known as Nubia orEthiopia by the Greeks) from about 1000 sc to 625 ac.The task of the historian of philosophy requires valid methodsfor clarifying the ideas, concepts, and speculations of thephilosophers of the past, and to push their theories to theirultimate conclusion in order to show their effectiveness. Butthe historian of philosophy is himself to some extent a--------------------------Managing Editor: Nakato LewisPUBLISHER: KIWANUKA LEWISPublished monthly and freely by BHSN for the ATHR ClinicThe traditional shrine as a symbol of our cultural historyphilosopher, because his work is not only a merehistorical investigation, but also a creative one. Thehistorian of philosophy thinks about the ideas andtheories of the past. Thus the analytical and criticalmethods of history undergo mutations to become aproductive method of philosophy.The Question of Ancient EgyptThe question of the ancient Egypt connection withthe rest of Black Africa was opened to an intensivediscussion involving opposing points of view in1974 during an international symposium organizedby the United Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organization (UNESCO) held in Cairo andAswan. Present were more than 20 of the bestEgyptologists in the world. All the outstandingscholars and specialists at the Cairo symposium,although they took opposing sides about otheritems, came, in spite of that, to agreement regardingthe following significant points.First, Egyptian language as revealed in hieroglyphic,hieratic, and demotic writings, and Coptic,that is, the old Egyptian language in its latestdevelopments, as written in the Greek-Coptic script,and modem African languages, as spoken nowadaysin Black Africa, constitute the same linguisticcommunity broken into several parts. Comparativegrammar and the method of internal reconstructionallow scholars to reconstruct certain features of thelanguage spoken by the origin, an unseparatedcommunity, on the basis of corresponding featuresof the descent languages. The comparative methodin historical linguistics is still a valid method fordefining change and determining earlier forms oftwo or more related languages to prove their preciserelationship. Technically speaking, no scholar,using the method of internal reconstruction, hasproved objectively that the Semitic, Egyptian, andBerber languages are descended from a commonancestor. The so-called "AfroAsiatic family," or"Chamito-Semitic family," which has gained wideContinued on page 40-3- Traditional African Clinic – January 2011

African Traditional Herbal Research ClinicVolume 6, Issue 1 NEWSLETTER January 2011FEATURED ARTICLESZimbabwe: 'African 'Tradition' and Women'sOppressionBy Tafataona P. MahosoThe Herald, December 8, 2010US Embassy, Harare.One of these is the classified cable of July 2007 byformer US ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell,which WikiLeaks released as part of a slew of USgovernment cables covering 274 countries.The second is former US ambassador James McGee'sFiscal 2010 Strategic Plan for the same US Embassywhich has also been leaked from another source in amanner similar to WikiLeaks.THERE is a problem with the way the oppression ofwomen and girls is explained which, if not challenged,will mean that gender will become a racket, anindustry, without even reducing, let alone stopping, thedegradation of the majority of women.For those who believe that clear thinking, accurate andscientific explanation and research are important stepsin the pursuit of freedom, this problem is the use of socalled"African tradition" or "African culture" as acatch-all explanation for the suffering of women.Debate is needed because it appears that now, as in thecolonial past when white settlers invented the myth ofthe African community as permanently "traditional"and white settler community as forever modernizingand progressive, the idea that African "culture" isresponsible for women's suffering and oppression hasbecome the easiest expression of one's impliedapproval of existing so-called "modern" social andpolitical arrangements.Despite the worsening brutalisation of women andchildren through existing contemporary powerstructures and institutions, the idea is that the presentdonor-dominated and NGO-congested system is allright. The problem is in the "tradition" of the Africanmale in particular.The December 5 2010 issue of The Sunday Mailcarried stories on two documents originating from theThe first cable demonstrates that what the USgovernment does and says in public may be the exactopposite of what it says and does secretly or privately;and that the purpose of a policy stated in public may bethe opposite of the real purpose.US officials will praise certain groups and even arrangefor honours, prizes and awards to be showered onpersons, parties and organisations they despise or lookdown upon, as long as they believe that suchinducements and pretences will enable the USgovernment to secure selfish US interests.The second document itemises the means which USofficials employ to achieve their objectives andpurposes in other countries. For instance, in Zimbabwethey "created" 29 new NGOs in 2007, 32 in 2008 and35 in 2010; they exerted pressure against theGovernment of Zimbabwe while assisting certainforces, including parties, who oppose the sameGovernment; and they offered relief to some of thepeople who suffered as a result of the pressure exertedagainst Government, pressure which includes illegaleconomic sanctions.In simple language this means US officials presumingthat the people who make up the Government ofZimbabwe are not the same as the people of Zimbabweand that hurting the Government will not hurt thepeople. Continued on page 5-4- Traditional African Clinic – January 2011

Continued from page 4 – Zimbabwe: African Tradition…However, just in case that presumption is wrong andthe people really get hurt together with theirgovernment, the US Embassy's strategic plan includesa huge relief programme of nyaradzo and chema forthe "suffering people," a programme also meant "touse the fight against HIV/Aids to create a good imageamong the suffering people of Zimbabwe . . ."In plain language this means that the US and its alliesemploy illegal sanctions and other "pressures" in orderto destroy or diminish the capacity of the Governmentto assist and protect its people. Then, through Usaidand the proliferating NGOs, the US government and itsallies offer relief to the same people, which is to saythey try to offer themselves as a better alternative to ora better replacement of the elected Government.All these diabolic tricks together seek to achieve whatthe McGee document calls "transformationaldiplomacy goals".Transformational diplomacy goals is a polite phrasereferring to the fact that the culture and values of thepeople of Zimbabwe remain an obstacle in the path offoreign-sponsored regime change.The culture and values which united African men andwomen against white settlerism and imperialism, theculture and values of the people which motivated themto overthrow apartheid and UDI, the culture and valueswhich inspired the people to reclaim and repossesstheir white-stolen land after one hundred years, theculture and values which caused the people to refuse tobe taxed for the purpose of paying back the landthieves -- that culture, those values, have to be"transformed", wiped out, before illegal regime changecan succeed and produce a "fresh start".The US and its allies know that, for the last 100 yearsof settlerism, that culture, those values, have beennurtured and protected by African women. So thesewomen are a critical factor in the creativity andresilience of the African social and political orderwhich the US and its allies call "the regime".The legacy of Queen Nzinga, the legacy of MbuyaNehanda, the legacy of Joice Teurai Ropa Mujuru, thelegacy of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the legacy ofChimbwido, refers to a real living history.In the eyes of the US government and its sponsoredNGOs, these real African heroines have to be replacedby NGO-groomed nannies who are willing to beawarded meaningless prizes for collaborating withimperialism. These are the likes of Beatrice Mtetwa,Jestina Mukoko, Jenny Williams, Ellen SirleafJohnson and Betty Makoni. That is what "change" or a"fresh start" would mean.What all the leaked cables together create is a picture of USforeign policy as dictatorial, destructive, intolerant,totalitarian and narcissistic. Even the tragedy of HIV/Aidshas to be exploited for the selfish ends of the US empire.There is clear evidence, for instance, that structuraladjustment since 1990 and sanctions since 2000 worsenedthe brutalisation of the majority of women and childrentogether with men and that there is nothing African or"traditional" about this programme or the sanctions. Yet thesymptomatic appearances and effects of this brutalisation insociety are still being explained as consequences of Africantradition.It is time we pointed out that the men and women who socasually claim that women and girls are oppressed becauseof African "tradition" are, in fact, saying they like thecurrent social system (with its structural adjustment,corporate cannibalism, illegal sanctions and land inequity)so much that they believe it would lead to a perfect societyif it was not for the backward "African traditional values"which keep intruding upon this otherwise happy existenceon the edges the neoliberal global "market economy".African "culture" has become for the women's freedommovement what the myth of the communist "evil empire"was for the Western rightwing during the Cold War.When the former Soviet Union collapsed, two paradoxesemerged starkly and they still haunt rightwingpropagandists: First, this communist evil empire, whichmost Western leaders always said was about to take overthe entire world and impose its tyranny, could not in facthold on even to its Second World War borders.Second, the evils for which this empire was being blamedaround the world have, in fact, become much moreprevalent and overwhelming: genocide, wars, terrorism,hunger, mass poverty, tyranny and capitalist anarchy.Just look at Haiti, Afghanistan, Gaza, Sierra Leone andIraq. In fact, there may be a link between the embarrassingdisappearance of the demon of the communist evil empireas the main cause of the world's suffering and the need nowto find a new and equally irrational explanation of women'soppression in the form of African tradition.In the Muslim world the demon has been identified by thesame Western-funded forces as "Islamic fundamentalism".Yet Muslim women who fled to modern France findthemselves vilified and excluded by the liberated Frenchwomen.-5- Traditional African Clinic – January 2011My first appeal to the open-minded journalist therefore is toadopt the attitude expressed in the African proverb: "Onedoes not go begging for palm oil with a gourd without anopening." Continued on page 10

African Traditional Herbal Research ClinicVolume 6, Issue 1 NEWSLETTER January 2011FEATURED ARTICLESAbuseIncluding child abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuseDefinitionAbuse is defined in the dictionary as "an evil or corruptpractice; deceit, betrayal, molestation, violation" andcomes in many forms, eg sexual abuse, physical abuse,child abuse, abuse of power, bullying, harassment,stalking, rape, torture, etc. All abuse is violent, be itphysical, emotional, psychological, or a combination. Idefine seven types of abuse below. The commondenominator of all abuse is the collection of behavioursI call bullying.AnxietyThe abuser is an individual who lives in a state ofunusually high anxiety and who has not learnt to dealwith that anxiety in the way normal people have. Theabuser is insecure, immature, and inadequate,especially in the areas of interpersonal and behaviouralskills. If the abuse is of a sexual nature, the abuser isusually sexually inadequate.The high anxiety seems to be the result of an inabilityto relate to other people combined with the fear ofexposure of that person's inadequacy, immaturity andinsecurity. This leads the abuser to want to control anddominate others, having never learnt how to interactwith others in normal ways. Often, the abuser ispsychopathic (physically violent) or sociopathic(psychologically violent) and despite being fearful ofexposure, doesn't show the normal activation of thefight or flight mechanism.UpbringingAbusers are usually brought up in a dysfunctionalfamily. The more abusive the adult, the moredysfunctional the family. Often, the father, if present, isviolent and abusive. Perhaps the mother is codependent,a successful survival strategy when livingwith a violent partner; however, co-dependency alsoperpetuates the violence as it avoids dealing with theissue. Usually one or both parents are sociopathic orpsychopathic. Occasionally, the child is over-protected,usually by the mother, and thus never allowed todevelop as an individual human being. Sometimes, thechild is ignored in favour of a sibling.Before blaming the parents, the reason parents aredysfunctional is because they were brought up indysfunctional families. The more dysfunctional theparent, the more dysfunctional were their parents ... andso on. Most people are never taught parenting skills. Thesole teachers of parenting skills are thus ... our parents.It's not that we actively teach our kids to parent - kidslearn by example. We grow up and repeat what they didto us. If all you have ever known is abuse, that is theonly way you know how to behave. Human beings donot automatically know what is right and what is wrong;we have to learn it.The child lives in a dysfunctional environment whereabuse, violence or neglect are the norm; as the subject ofabuse, the child cannot predict the behaviour of theresponsible adults, and therefore has no control. Thechild learns, usually from an early age, that usingbullying behaviours brings relief from anxiety. With sofew people able to recognise bullying for what it is, andwith strategies of denial, distraction and feigningvictimhood perfected by about the age of five, the childhas found a successful strategy for reducing anxiety, andthus surviving. Controlling other children throughviolent behaviour means brings a sense of power(control) to the child; he can't predict or control hisparents but he can control other (smaller or lessphysically strong) children. His targets also becomeuseful objects onto which he can freely displace his ownaggression.AbuseI identify seven types of abuse:-6- Traditional African Clinic – January 20111. Physical abuse, including assault and any deliberateact resulting in physical injuries, including beatings inthe guise of corporal punishment but which aredelivered with fists or to the child's head. The work ofLewis and Pincus in the States is relevant here - in manyviolent criminals, especially serial killers, they've foundevidence of brain damage during childhood fromparental beatings and accidents which have resulted in aContinued on page 7

Continued from page 6 – Abusesmaller than normal cortex, with consequent lack ofability to control violent tendencies.2. Sexual abuse, including incest, rape, buggery or anypaedophile activity for the gratification of the abuser. Theabuser usually has a sexually dysfunctional orunsatisfying relationship with their partner; sexualrelations may be violent or inadequate or non-existent,and the child becomes a convenient substitute.3. Tactile abuse, where there is little or no physicalcontact between parent(s) and the young child, and anycontact tends to be violent, punitive, unjust andinappropriate. Physical contact seems to be especiallyimportant in the first five or six years. Some childrenenjoy a cuddle into their teens. Sadly, with abuse cominginto the open, many parents (especially fathers) now fearthat physical contact with children may be regarded andmisconstrued as abuse.4. Existence abuse where the existence and rights of thechild are ignored• Neglect of needs:physical (food, clothing, shelter)intellectual (education)psychological (self-development, self-confidence, selfesteem,maturity)behavioural (company, friendship, interpersonal andcommunication skills, relationships)• Ignoring the child's existence• Rejection as an only child• Ignoring one child and loving all others (rejection)• Ignoring the child as a separate human being andusing the child as an extension of one's own existence(as in MSBP, Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy -almost killing the child then rescuing them in adramatic attention-seeking manner by arriving athospital casualty at the last minute, then revelling inthe adulation of the concerned mother who nearlylost her child)• abandonment5. Religious abuse or cult abuse• The child is forced to accept the narrow, exclusivereligious views of the parent or guardian to theexclusion of any other belief or possibility of anybelief• Any behaviour by the child not in line with theparents' rigid religious zeal is met with punishmentand abuse-7- Traditional African Clinic January 2011• The child is starved of development in interpersonalskills and relationships in the name of religion• The child is subjected to strange, unnatural and oftenperverse beliefs on sexual matters and sexualdevelopment in line with the religious belief• The child is discouraged or prevented fromassociating with any person not sharing the religiousbelief of the parent or guardian6. Emotional abuse, including• refusal or unwillingness or inability to express love• deliberate withholding of love• conditional love (eg "I don't love you when youbehave like that")• loving one child to the exclusion of all others• cocooning and smothering, denying the child theopportunity to develop as a separate individual• being forced into any conflict between parents• being used as a pawn by warring parents• being forced into a caring or caretaker role at aninappropriate age• witnessing alcohol or substance abuse, especially ona regular basis, perhaps being forced to participate• witnessing violence between parents or adults7. Psychological abuse, including• constant criticism of a trivial and unjustified nature• unjustified blame, often for things which have noconnection with the child (scapegoating)• refusal to value• refusal to acknowledge the child and theirachievements• refusal to praise• inconsistency in judgement• unclear, shifting and inconsistent boundaries,sometimes no boundaries, at other times very tightboundaries• refusal to make eye contact with the child over a longperiod• refusal of parents to agree with or support each otherwhen dealing with childrenContinued on page 13

African Traditional Herbal Research ClinicVolume 6, Issue 1 NEWSLETTER January 2011FEATURED ARTICLESDomestic Violence, including Legislation, Statistics andAttitudes toward Domestic Violence; The Availability ofProtection and Support Services Uganda:LegislationUganda ratified the Convention on the Elimination ofAll Forms of Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW) in 1985 (UN n.d.; The Monitor 10 Feb.2008; AI 30 Nov. 2007, Sec. 3.1). In addition, Uganda'sConstitution accords women "full and equal dignity ofthe person with men" and prohibits "[l]aws, cultures,customs or traditions" that undermine their welfare,dignity or status (Uganda 1995, Art. 33; AI 30 Nov.2007, Sec. 3.2). Nevertheless, Amnesty International(AI) indicates that there are certain customary laws andpractices concerning land ownership, marital customsand child custody norms that conflict with CEDAWand women's constitutional rights (ibid.). For example,marital rape is not recognized under the Penal Code,since consent to marriage is interpreted as consent tosexual activity under customary law (ibid.). Accordingto AI, domestic violence including marital rape mayonly be dealt with under the lesser criminal charge ofassault which carries with it a lower maximum sentenceof up to five years imprisonment and does not deal withother forms of domestic violence, including sexual andpsychological violence (ibid.).Uganda has no specific law in place prohibitingdomestic violence (The Monitor 10 Feb. 2008; US 11Mar. 2008), and a draft domestic violence bill has"languished" for years in parliament (Freedom House2007; The New Vision 28 Sept. 2007). The domesticrelations bill was tabled in December 2003, but wasshelved in 2005 after it came under attack from bothlegal and parliamentary affairs committee members andthe public (WorldChanging 1 Dec. 2007). In 2006,President Yoweri Museveni declared that the bill "' ...was not urgently needed'" and debate was halted (ibid.).However, following a mission to Uganda in March2008 by the African Women Leaders Project (AWLP),an 18-month initiative by the Club of Madrid to supportwomen leaders in four African nations includingUganda, President Museveni reportedly made a publiccall for its "speedy passage" (AWLP May-June 2008).Cited in AWLP's May-June 2008 newsletter, the Speakerof the House of Assembly indicated that he would ensurethe bill's passage before the end of parliament (ibid.).In the Kawempe Division in Kampala District, a by-lawwas passed in October 2007 (Raising Voices n.d.a; TheNew Vision 9 Oct. 2007), that makes it possible toimpose a fine on or demand compensation from aperpetrator of domestic violence (ibid.). The by-law alsoprovides for a fine to be imposed on anyone who "abusesor physically hurts" a community member or authorityfigure who intervenes or comes to the aid of a victim(ibid.). According to Raising Voices, a non-governmentalorganization (NGO) based in Kampala that works towardpreventing domestic violence (Raising Voices n.d.b), it isthe first by-law to be passed in Uganda that addressesdomestic violence (ibid. n.d.a). Raising Voices is aproject of the Tides Center, a registered Americancharitable organization (ibid. n.d.b.).Statistics on and attitudes toward domestic violenceIn August 2007, the Uganda Bureau of Statisticspublished a report indicating that 68 percent of evermarriedwomen aged 15 to 49 years had experiencedsome form of violence inflicted by their spouse orintimate partner (Uganda Aug. 2007, 293-294). A 2006study by the Uganda Law Reform Commission yieldedsimilar data, indicating that 66 percent of both men andwomen respondents had experienced domestic violence(CEDOVIP 2007). The United States (US) Department ofState reports in its Country Reports on Human RightsPractices for 2007 that a 2006 survey indicated that 70percent of women had been physically or sexually abused(US 11 Mar. 2008, Sec. 5). This survey also found that 60percent of men and 70 percent of women in Ugandacondone "wife beating" (ibid.). This attitude reflectsstatistics published by the United Nations Children'sFund (UNICEF) in its 2008 report, which indicates that77percent of women aged 15 to 49 years feel that spousalContinued on page 9-8- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 8 – The Availability of Protection andSupport Services Uganda:violence is justified for a variety of reasons, such as ifthe woman burns food or refuses sexual relations (UNDec. 2007, 147; see also The New Vision 28 Sept.2007). According to the 2006 Uganda Law ReformCommission study, domestic violence is most commonin northern Uganda, where it is reported to have occurredin 78 percent of homes (CEDOVIP 2007).Protection and Resources AvailableMost women do not report cases of domestic violence toauthorities (The New Vision 28 Sept. 2007; FreedomHouse 2007) and police rarely intervene or investigate(ibid.; US 11 Mar. 2008, Sec. 5). Country Reports 2007indicates that many law enforcement officials considerspousal battery "a husband's prerogative" (ibid.). Otherreported reasons for women's reluctance to file acomplaint include fear of reprisal, embarrassment,poverty, ignorance of the law and lack of information onwhere to make a report (The New Vision 28 Sept. 2007).A report released by AI in 2007 indicates that womenliving in the north have limited access to protection fromany form of violence because "[p]olice posts and stationsare few and far between" (AI 30 Nov. 2007, Sec. 1), andbecause it is normal practice for police to demand moneyto take action on any complaints (ibid. Sec. 5.1.2). Incases of domestic violence, AI notes that victims oftendo not complain to police because they depend on theirpartners for financial support (ibid. Sec. 4). Anotheroption for victims of spousal abuse is a traditionalfamilial reconciliation process, which may involve aform of paid compensation to the victim called luk(ibid.). Women interviewed by AI indicated that theinformal process was ineffective as husbands would notpay luk and would often continue to abuse their wives(ibid.).In an attempt to address the problem of domesticviolence, the Uganda Police Force established a GenderDesk in 1986, which became the Child and FamilyProtection Unit(CFPU) in 1989 (CEDOVIP 2007). TheUganda Police Force has also developed a handbook incooperation with the Center for Domestic ViolencePrevention (CEDOVIP) (ibid.), an NGO based inKawempe that collaborates with other stakeholders inthe community to advocate for changes in attitudes andbehaviour toward domestic violence (ibid. n.d.). In June2007, the handbook entitled Responding to DomesticViolence was published to assist the community andpolice in handling such cases (US 11 Mar. 2008, Sec. 5).CEDOVIP is also working with Raising Voices inimplementing the National Domestic ViolencePrevention Initiative, a training program being offered toten organizations located throughout Uganda (RaisingVoices n.d.c). The program is aimed at enhancingcommunity-based prevention efforts (ibid. n.d.c).In February 2007, The Monitor, a Kampala-based dailynewspaper, reported that a home had been constructed inthe Kayunga District to accommodate fifty victims ofdomestic violence (4 Feb. 2007). Police statistics reportedlyindicate that at least one woman is killed in Kayunga asresult of domestic violence every two months (The Monitor1 May 2008). Further information on the existence ofshelters for victims of domestic abuse elsewhere in Ugandacould not be found among the sources consulted byResearch Directorate within the time constraints of thisResponse.This Response was prepared after researching publiclyaccessible information currently available to the ResearchDirectorate within time constraints. This Response is not,and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of anyparticular claim for refugee protection. Please find belowthe list of additional sources consulted in researching thisInformation Request.ReferencesAfrican Women Leaders Project (AWLP). May-June 2008. "MaryRobinson and Kjell M. Bondevick Support Efforts to Pass GenderRelated Legislation in Uganda."http://www.awlproject.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Newsletter/AWLP_Newsletter_4.pdfAmnesty International (AI). 30 November 2007. Uganda: DoublyTraumatised – The Lack of Access to Justice by Women Victimsof Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Northern Uganda.http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR59/005/2007/en/dom-AFR590052007en.htmlCenter for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP). 2007.Responding to Domestic Vioence: A Handbook for the UgandaPolice Force. (CEDOVIP: Document Number 37299)http://www.popline.org/docs/1747/317299.html_____. N.d. "Center for Domestic Violence Prevention(CEDOVIP) http://www.comminit.com/en/node/133860/printFreedom House. 2007. "Uganda." Freedom in the World.http://www.freedomhouse.org/inc/content/pubs/fiw/inc_country_detail.cfm?year=2007&country=7294&pfThe Monitor [Kampala]. 1 May 2008. Fred Muzaale. "DomesticViolence Kills Many in Kayunga." (AllAfrica)http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200805010676.html_____. 10 February 2008. Evelyn Lirri. "Domestic ViolenceRampant." (AllAfrica)http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200802110687.html-9- Traditional African Clinic January 2011_____. 4 February 2007. Fred Muzaale. "Victims of DomesticViolence Get Homehttp://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200702040089.htmlThe New Vision [Kampala]. 9 October 2007. JosephineMaseruka. "Kawempe Passes Law on Domestic Violence –Continued on page 15

Continued from page 5 – – Zimbabwe: African Tradition…The knowledge needed for emancipation is as precious aspalm oil. We cannot develop it if we start with thepopularised conclusion that women's suffering is causedby African tradition, without even defining and locatingsuch tradition. This sort of explanation goes back to thearrival of the first missionaries and settlers here. Yetanother African piece of wisdom we may consider is theproverb: "One should not first defeather a bird and thenask the elders for its name."In other words, those who insist that they have found thecause of women's oppression in African tradition may bethemselves involved in distorting or even destroying theevidence needed to carry out a proper inquiry, just as thekid who destroys the feathers of an unknown bird beforeasking the elders to help him name it is also involved inthe destruction of the true identity of the bird.The next step is to ask questions which may open up thedebate on women's oppression, at least for the men tothink about how they should do their part to deal with thegrowing contemporary oppression of women.• In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, a white man calledDahmer lured, captured, starved and mutilated youngwomen. He stored their body parts in his flat for along time before he was caught.• In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, in the 1980sanother white man lured, captured, raped, mutilatedand starved young women of African descent and hidtheir bodies in the basement of his house. He hadkilled several before he was discovered.• In the late 1990s a white Belgian man lured,captured, sold, molested and killed little girls. He wasalso a dealer in little girls as sex slaves.• Recently also, sex slavery using children has becomeso advanced in Western "democracies" that it is nowcarried out through the computer and Internet, themost modernised, anti-traditional and sophisticated ofall modern technologies.Significantly, our feminists, our journalists, ouracademics and human rights activists accept on its facevalue the Western explanation that what happened inMilwaukee, Philadelphia and Belgium -- what goes on,on the internet all the time too -- are just isolated cases ofindividual madness which have nothing to do with themoral quality and culture of the societies in which theytake place. Even former US president Bill Clinton'ssexual involvement with an intern on his staff wasexplained away by women in terms of the president'spersonal psychology and history and not as an integralfeature of modern US culture today.-10- Traditional African Clinic January 2011Our writers accept the Western explanation that childpornography and sex slavery promoted through theinternet are the justifiable price which free societies haveto pay in order to enjoy the freedom of expression andaccess to information which this latest technologyrepresents. No tradition is involved there. And thereforethere is no need to look at the degradation of women aspart of Western "democratic culture"!The same feminists, journalists, academics and humanrights activists often tell us, however, that when Africanmen are accused of acts of barbarism similar to those ofDahmer or similar to those promoted on the internet,these must be the results of African traditional cultureand that most of them constitute something called "ritualmurder." White men in Philadelphia, Milwaukee orBelgium could not commit "ritual murders" because theyare "modern", not traditional or primitive. You see.Besides, defining what happened in the USA andBelgium as "ritual murders" would automatically meanthat the source of the practice and the values itrepresented came from the larger society. White peopleare individuals who commit private and individual sins.Society has nothing to do with them. But when it comesto reporting Africa, the link between the murders or rapesand the whole society is automatic, while a whitepresident who engages in sex with his intern is explainedin terms of personal insecurities from his childhoodwhich have nothing to do with superior Anglo-Saxon"democracy"!More peculiarly, if we examine the majority of cases ofthe worst brutality against women and girls in Zimbabwe,we discover that the men involved are not "traditional" atall.They are the types of men of whom the white missionary,the white native commissioner and the white expatriateteacher would be very proud; because they have"evolved" completely away from communal Africanculture. They speak English, even to peasants. They arefiercely ambitious in the best sense of what our coloniserscall having an "entrepreneurial culture".That means they are the most aggressive hustlers andconmen colonialism has ever groomed. They are superblyindividualistic and alienated. They use convenientsymbols of "tradition" the same way advertisers use themto sell jam or beer. That is entrepreneurship.In fact, The Herald editorial of August 4 1999 pointed outthat the men who hire the rapists and murderers who getcaught and convicted are themselves rarely caughtbecause they bribe everyone, including the police. Theyare like the tycoons who hire pimps.Continued on page 11

Continued from page 10 - – Zimbabwe: African Tradition…The pimps are usually the lumpen proletariat who are asalienated from communal culture as their handlers.Neither could be correctly described as motivated byAfrican communal culture. Culture is only a raw material,a natural resource, to be used in one's con business.The outrage which often mobilises whole communitiesagainst these criminals and conmen, when the crime isfinally exposed, means that the crime is not condoned bythe community as part of "tradition." These rapists andmurderers always have to be protected by the neocolonialcourts and the police, not the African"traditional" community, when their crimes becomeknown.Because of the overwhelming involvement of donorfundedNGOs in the HIV/Aids awareness programmes,there were two obvious risks for the African community:In the name of combating Aids, donors would use theHIV/Aids pandemic and mass disaster as an opportunityto attack and overturn those African values they havealways feared or viewed as obstacles to their influence.Therefore, the confessional and individualistic approachto communication in HIV/Aids programmes andadvertisements was a real risk, since it tended to vilifyAfrican society in the name of fighting stigma againstindividuals. It treated a mass disaster as a matter ofindividual fate and personal rights. It would not bepossible to dignify and protect the individual suffererwhile denigrating or defaming the society andcommunity.In 2004 the United Nations Fund for PopulationActivities and the University of Zimbabwe published abooklet called The Zimbabwe Male Psyche with Respectto Reproductive Health, HIV, Aids and Gender Issues.The publication signalled three significant developments:• The neoliberal conversion of UN agencies into mereconduits for Northern donor funds and donorpolicies;• The donor-funded prostitution of academic work,whereby it became difficult to separate academicresearch from donor propaganda; and• The donor manipulation and interpretation of the realexisting suffering and oppression of women inpursuit of what the US government and Usaid call"transformational diplomacy goals".Indeed, although both men and women, boys and girlswere experiencing similar oppression and suffering as aresult of the same macro-economic and social and politicalfactors, the booklet focused on women against men.In that 2004 UNFPA booklet, the authors -- P Chiroro, A.Mashu and W. Muhwava -- wrote as follows:"It was hypothesised that the Zimbabwean male psyche ischaracterised by an internalised, insatiable and self-centreddesire for sex with multiple partners, coupled with anintolerant attitude towards women who are perceived to be,primarily, objects of sexual gratification and child bearing."Without any reference to control studies based on othersocieties elsewhere in the world, the authors concludedthus:"The results of the study provide strong support for theresearch hypothesis in that the Zimbabwean male psycheappears to be characterised by an internalised, insatiable,self-centred desire for sex with multiple partners, coupledwith an intolerant attitude towards women who areperceived to be, primarily, objects for sexual gratificationand child bearing. In addition, the results of this studyshowed the following:• Most Zimbabwean men and male youths hold verypoor sexuality standards which are characterised by astrong reluctance to engage in safe sex practices duringhigh risk sexual encounters.• The study reveals that the majority of Zimbabweanmen and male youths view women as inferior to men.Adversarial sexual beliefs and gender role stereotypesare used to justify violence against women and to denytheir sexual and reproductive health rights.• The culture and legal system in Zimbabwe provide afertile ground for the propagation and perpetuation ofadversarial sexual behavior among men and maleyouths. This exposes them and their partners to the riskof contracting the HIV virus as well as compromisingwomen's human and reproductive health rights."In simple language, what was this UN agency and the threeuniversity researchers trying to say? The English dictionarymeaning of psyche is the human soul, mind or spirit. So, inwhat way could the UNFPA claim to have pinpointed andisolated a definite factor called the soul of the Zimbabweanmale or the spirit of the Zimbabwean male, which couldthen be made responsible for the spread of HIV/Aids in thiscountry?Indeed, the UNFPA and its consultants attempted to tellthe whole world not only that there was definite, separablepower called the Zimbabwean male psyche; but also thatthey had demonstrated that this definite force or power wasContinued on page 12-11- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 11 - – Zimbabwe: African Tradition…responsible for promiscuous sexual behaviour, lust,discrimination against women, abuse of women and girlsand the spread of HIV/Aids. They also meant that theZimbabwean male psyche was so different from thepsyches of other societies that it could be identified astypically Zimbabwean.What the authors also implied was that we could selectindigenous African foods such as dovi, muboora,nyemba, madora and grains such as mhunga, mafundeand rukweza for use in fighting HIV/Aids; but the culturewhich created the ingredients forming this healthy dietwas no good, especially in its male form. That culture hadto be suppressed together with the virus itself.Since that time, the defamation of the African inHIV/Aids campaigns and adverts here has followed thathighly questionable theory of African tradition and thepresumed inherent nature of the African male psyche andmale sexuality as responsible for the spread of HIV/Aids.Although it does not require a great scientist to prove thatthe allegedly inherent African male psyche is neithertypically African nor typically male and Zimbabwean,too many African scholars have complained privately andnever dared to challenge this racist re-invention of the400-year-old myth of African sexuality for fear of losingdonor support and fear of being labeled male chauvinistpigs.Yet, one simple way to demonstrate that this thesis of aninherent Zimbabwean African male psyche is a fraudwould be to look at scholarly studies of sex and sexualityin non-African societies in other countries.Re-Making Love: The Feminisation of Sex, is a bookpublished as far back as 1986 by North American whitefemale researchers and dealing primarily with what canbe called the response of the white middle class womanto the so-called sexual revolution of the 1960s.Chapter Six of that book is called The Politics ofPromiscuity: The Rise of the Sexual Counter-Revolution;and it documents cases of sexual promiscuity and sexualaggressiveness among white North American women.The promiscuity and aggressiveness are almost identicalto the sexual promiscuity, aggressiveness and casualnesswhich UNFPA and the UZ writers chose to present ascaused by a typical Zimbabwean male psyche.In the North American book, the chapter on The Politicsof Promiscuity opens by introducing Ellen (34), whothinks she has made "a nice little life for herself", becauseshe has earned enough to buy a small house and becauseshe has"what used to be called All-American good looks--straight, gleaming hair, and clear blue eyes" which enableher to attract the lovers she wants. "Her present relationshipis just one more phase in her continuing sexualexploration." She was "randy as a teenager" and it "was arelief to let my sexual needs explode . . . I made a lot ofdemands on men too. I chose them for their sexiness andsensuality."But readers may say that is just one woman; what aboutcollective surveys? Redbook magazine sent out a sexquestionnaire to which 100 000 women happily respondedin 1975. And "a considerable number were having affairswhile happily married to men they loved and nine out of tenof the young women . . . were engaging in intercoursebefore they married".Five years later in 1980, Cosmopolitan magazine also sentout a sex questionnaire to which 106 000 womenresponded, reporting that "on average, they had had ninelovers". One of them was quoted as saying, "I have loversbecause what else is there in life that's so much fun asturning on a new man, interesting him, conquering him?"By 1983, three magazines -- Playboy, Family Circle andLadies Home Journal --- decided to survey married womenwhom they described as "sexually enthusiastic, confident,romantic and satisfied". Whereas in 1958 Alfred C. Kinseyhad reported that 6 to 26 percent of married women wereengaging in extramarital affairs, the 1983 surveys showedthat the percentage had jumped to between 21 and 43percent, depending on the type of magazine doing thesurvey and the type of readers. "Among Playboy's readers,young married wives were 'fooling around' more often thantheir husbands."The attack on the Zimbabwean male by UNFPA and itssponsored authors can be explained by quoting a passagefrom Re-Making Love:"These experts all assumed that women hated casual sexand [were mere victims of male lust and aggression], butthey offered no explanation for why so many women wereengaged in it."One woman tried to correct the misperception about mensaying: "If you [as a woman] go ahead and give in to yourdesires [not his desires] . . . and you do go to bed with him,then lots of times you really will lose the man because they[the men], without even realising it, feel like you've beentoo quick and too easy."It is also implied in the foreign-modelled HIV/Aidscampaigns that the societies whose donors fund ourpseudofeminists here have solved the problems of genderviolence. In fact, they are very sick violent societies. Hereis a description of US society borrowed from a male scholar-12- Traditional African Clinic January 2011Continued on page 13

Continued from page 7 – – Zimbabwe: African Tradition…by feminist Professor Mary Daly for her book called PureLust: Elemental Feminist Philosophy."Culturally, the emergence of male homosexualsadomasochism from underground has coincided with aburgeoning of overt sadism against women in all thecommunications media. This coincidence has not been bychance. While gay activists were campaigning againststereotypical images of 'gay people' in the media, malehomosexuals who have direct access to media have beenpromoting with a vengeance all stereotypes of femalemasochism.We are witnessing [throughout Western society] theconvergence [coming together] of what was once deemeda gay sensibility with what was once deemed a'heterosexual sensibility.' That convergence . . . nowreveals itself as fully thriving on female degradation."It therefore means that the UNFPA and its UZconsultants put forward a generalisation which can bedismissed objectively as a fraud. They failed to separateand define such concepts as culture, instinct, drives,habits and needs.They presented an ideological assault on the African maleas if it were a new scientific discovery. In doing this, theyadopted a racist strategy and technique established wayback in the days of slavery.When it ceased to be feasible to justify slavery on thebasis of religion, white society invented anthropology asa pseudoscience to do the job, because a "scientific"justification would appear to be unquestionable.This is indeed the subject of Professor BernardMagubane's book Race and the Construction of theDisposable Other.The disposable other in the UNFPA study is the resurgentAfrican male whose energies need to be separated fromthe energies of the resurgent African woman in order tokeep Anglo-Saxon imperialism in power for a bit longer.There is therefore a need for a different approach toZimbabwe's struggle against HIV/Aids.http://allafrica.com/stories/201012080006.html☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻Continued from page 7 - Abuse• unpredictable behaviour on the part of the parentsViolent adults tend to be those whose childhood wascharacterised by experiencing the above behaviours on aregular basis, combined with lack of affection and lack ofexpressed love. The three influencers of stress, namelycontrol, prediction and expectation are pivotal (see sectionon stress response on the health page). Where a child isbrought up under these constant conditions, those areas ofthe brain which deal with interpersonal, behavioural andsocial skills simply fail to develop normally. In many casesof violent offenders (eg serial killers), their brain's frontallobes - which modify and mitigate violent urges - aremeasurably smaller than in normal people. See the work ofDorothy Otnow Lewis and Jonathan Pincus for furtherinsight into violent adult behaviour and its origins inchildhood.A child who is subjected to regular abuse, even if entirelynon-physical, needs an outlet for their consequentaggression; frequently they will act out their violentimpulses on another child at school (bullying), or sibling, orfamily pet. Being violent towards others because they areviolent towards you combined with the fact that you areunable to deal with other people's violence is calleddisplacement aggression. Violence towards animals (egtorturing the cat or killing the dog) is now recognised as acommon early warning sign of forthcoming violence inadulthood.We're all guilty of some of these things (especially theemotional and psychological abuse) some of the time,either unwittingly or when we are stressed. However,children are resilient and if you avoid physically punitiveresponses (eg use restraint and the promise of a bonus orreward for good behaviour rather than punishment for badbehaviour), educate them in how to show dignity andrespect, teach them the skills of assertiveness (whichinclude psychological self-defence), talk to them and assurethem of your love regularly, they're likely to grow up to benormal, well-adjusted and intelligent people - who will thenpass on these benefits to their children.GratificationThe aggressive anxious adult learns that bullying results inrelief from anxiety, which produces that nice warm feelingcalled satisfaction. Gratification is the indulgence in thefeeling of satisfaction resulting from relief from anxietybrought about by bullying. Bullying is therefore emotionaland psychological displacement aggression.-13- Traditional African Clinic January 2011Gratification is a behaviour loop in which the adult istrapped, and is the common denominator behind mostforms of violence, especially sexual abuse and sexualviolence. Continued on page 14

Continued from page 13 – AbuseCorporal punishment and sexual assault"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumanor degrading treatment or punishment."Article 5, Universal Declaration of Human RightsAdopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution217 A (III) of 10 December 1948Corporal punishment, the "English vice", has been afeature of the British education and class system for overa century. Only recently (mid-1998) was corporalpunishment in schools finally outlawed by the UKParliament. Incidentally, this is a century after Parliamentdecreed it illegal to beat animals.Corporal punishment is usually administered on anintimate part of the child's body, usually the buttocks,which are often undressed or partly undressed for thepurpose. The child is forced, by a person in a position ofauthority, to adopt a submissive pose, eg bending over, sothat control, subjugation and humiliation are absolute.The feeling of power and the ability to inflict pain ontheir victim is, to the abuser, sexually stimulating.The person who uses corporal punishment, especiallymales, will later use the memory of administering thepunishment as part of his visualisation during sexualactivity, including masturbation. Anyone who advocatescorporal punishment, and especially anyone whopractices it, is almost certainly - and unwittingly -revealing their propensity towards sexually abusivebehaviour.The child who is physically punished, especially ifregularly - and parents who hit their children (perhapsdescribing it as "tapping", "smacking", "correcting", orsome other euphemism to disguise the violence) oftenrepeat the hitting, especially if it has the desired effect,which it frequently appears to in the short term. The childis wholly dependent on their parent(s) and the parent(s)possess, in the eyes of their child, a god-like status; in theeyes of the child, the parent can do no wrong. Therefore,when the child is smacked, he or she is unable to say "Iam being unjustly sexually assaulted by a grown-upperson who hastily resorts to violence because they havenever learnt (or been taught) how to help me developpositive behaviours and correct inappropriate behavioursin a non-violent way". In many countries, including theUK, the child might add "Whilst there are laws againsthitting animals and grown-up men and women, there areno laws protecting me from violence if my parentschoose to call it 'smacking' or 'discipline'." Without thisvocabulary and insight the child resolves the injustice bycoming to believe that "I am bad and I am therefore beingjustly punished by my good parent". Later, the child mayadd "...and when I grow up I am going to punish bad peoplein the way I've been punished". Well, it never did me anyharm. This line of reasoning has also failed to make acrucial distinction: no person can ever be bad; it is theirbehaviour which is bad. We have control over ourbehaviour and can modify our behaviour at will, but wecannot change the person we are.For many, relief from the pain - or memory of pain - ofcorporal punishment during the person's own upbringingcan only be achieved by inflicting it on others. This isknown as displacement aggression; he hit me and I can't hithim back so instead I'll hit somebody else. Pass on theaggression, repeat the cycle. This is evidenced through thejustification "It never did me any harm" - except toconvince the person that it's OK to abuse children throughinflicting pain. Whilst corporal punishment may appear towork in the short term, it is merely control by fear. Thelesson that it teaches in the long term is that violence is anacceptable solution to any problem.PornographyPornography has always been a traditional outlet for sexualfrustration, and probably always will be. It's acceptability isdetermined by current social values. Whilst most people donot object to "soft" porn (and may even secretly indulgeoccasionally, perhaps just to see what they are missing),many doubt the value and wisdom of "hard" porn (exceptthose who make their living from the profits thereof).However, the harder the pornographic content, the moreabusive it tends to be.It could be said that an individual's need, and hencedependency, on pornography is directly proportional to thatindividual's inadequacy. Others may regard it as a substitutefor lack of opportunity.Reporting abuseWhy don't targets of abuse report their abuse? There aremany reasons:• abuse is a betrayal; the target trusted and depended onthe integrity of another (eg child on adult, pupil onteacher, subordinate on manager) and that personbetrayed them. The target fears and anticipates, oftenwith justification, that when they report the abuse, theywill be betrayed again.• those in authority did nothing to prevent the abusewhile it was happening, nor did they do anythingsubsequently. Very often it was the person in theposition of authority who was the abuser. Trust inauthority is low, with justification.• the target fears, with justification, that no-one willbelieve them-14- Traditional African Clinic January 2011Continued on page 15

Continued from page 14 – Abuse• disbelief and denial are everywhere; people nottrained n abuse and with no experience of dealingwith abuse find it easier to disbelieve and deny theabuse• if the target reports the abuse, and initiates legalaction, prospects for future employment may beimpaired• abusers often operate in networks, sharinginformation, and even, in paedophilia, sharingvictims; sometimes the networks are loose,sometimes they operate covertly withinorganisations, especially those of a secretive nature• the abuser relies on compulsive lying, Jekyll &Hyde nature, and charm and uses denial, counterattack,projection and feigning victimhood to evadeaccountability. Charm has a motive - deception.• the target felt fear at the time of abuse andcontinues to feel fear - fear of violence, fear of lossof job, fear of humiliation, fear of what others willthink, etc.• the target feels ashamed of what happened, havingbeen encouraged by the abuser to believe that theywere responsible rather than that the abuser wasresponsible• because abuse can be of an intimate nature (eg as insexual abuse), the target feels embarrassed aboutwhat happened and continues to feel embarrassedtalking about it now (embarrassment is a functionof society's attitudes to sexual behaviour)• the target felt and continues to feel guilty aboutwhat happened, having been encouraged by theirabuser to believe they were responsible• fear, shame, embarrassment and guilt are how allabusers control their victims; they are instrumentsof power• the target may have been encouraged to withdrawfrom legal action by the abuser feigningvictimhood and playing on their target's forgivingchord and other people's sympathies• the target probably has unusually high levels ofnaivety which are heightened by the trauma andwhich the abuser has exploited and continues toexploit;• the target feels bewildered and often still cannotbelieve that it happened; the target often feelsresponsible in some way, as evidenced by thenagging thought "Why did I let it happen to me?"• abuse causes trauma which prevents the targetarticulating what is happening to them.• trauma and fear also prevent the target from beingable to find the right words to identify, unmask andcall to account their tormentor• abuse causes Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)and any thought, memory or reminder of the abuseimmediately results in the sufferer experiencing thefollowing PTSD DSM-IV diagnostic criteria:B4. intense psychological distress at exposure tointernal or external cues that symbolise or resemblean aspect of the traumatic eventB5. physiological reactivity on exposure to internalor external cues that symbolise or resemble an aspectof the traumatic eventas well asC1. efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings orconversations associated with the traumaC2. efforts to avoid activities, places or people thatarouse recollections of this traumaC3. inability to recall an important aspect of thetraumaD3. difficulty concentratingPTSD is a normal and natural emotional reaction to adeeply disturbing and shocking experience. It's possiblehalf the population suffers PTSD to varying extents;mostly it is diagnosed as "stress" and "anxiety". Manysupposed mental illnesses are probably symptoms ofPTSD resulting from abusive experiences in childhoodand should more properly be regarded as psychiatricinjury.http://www.bullyonline.org/related/abuse.htm☻☻☻☻☻☻Continued from page 9 - The Availability ofProtection and Support Services UgandaTides Center Project Raising Voices Instrumental in UgandanLaw's Passage." (Tides Center)http://www.tidescenter.org/news-room/news-articles/singlenews-item/article/kawempe-passes-law-on-domesticviolence/index.html_____. 28 September 2007. Conan Businge. "Is DomesticViolence a Part of Life?"http://newvision.co.ug/PA/9/183/589069Raising Voices. N.d.a. "Domestic Violence By-law."http://www.raisingvoices.org/cedovip/bylaw.php_____. N.d.b. "About Us."http://www.raisingvoices.org/about_us.phpContinued to page 16-15- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 15 - The Availability of Protectionand Support Services Uganda_____. N.d.c. ", National Domestic Violence PreventionInitiative."http://www.raisingvoices.org/women/national_initiative.phpUganda. August 2007. Bureau of Statistics. UgandaDemographic and Health Survey 2006.http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/FR194/FR194.pdf_____. 1995. Constitution of the Republic of Uganda.http://www.ugandaonlinelawlibrary.com/files/constitution/constitution_1995.pdfUnited Nations (UN). December 2007. UN Children's Fund(UNICEF). The State of the World's Children 2008.http://www.unicef.org/sowc08/docs/sowc08.pdf_____. N.d. Division for the Advancement of Women.Department of Economic and Social Affairs. "Convention onthe Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination AgainstWomen: States Parties."http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/states.htmUnited States (US). 11 March 2008. Department of State."Uganda." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for2007. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100510.htmWorldChanging. 1 December 2007. Takyiwaa Manuh."African Women and Domestic Violence."http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007653.htmlAdditional Sources ConsultedOral sources, including: A coordinator from the Women'sUnited Nations Report Network (WUNRN) was unable torespond to a request for information within the timeconstraints of this Response.Internet sources, including: Canadian Physicians for Aidand Relief (CPAR), Georgetown Law (Washington), HumanRights Watch (HRW), Tides Center (San Francisco), UgandaWomen's Network (UWONET), Virginia Law Weekly(University of Virginia School of Law), Women of UgandaNetwork (WOUGNET), Women's enews.http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,IRBC,,UGA,456d621e2,49b92b20c,0.htmlhttp://www.raisingvoices.org/files/DVinfosheet.pdf -☻☻☻☻☻☻Domestic Violence Statistics –Children Face Long-TermHarmLawrence DiVizioJune 22, 2010The overwhelming victims of domestic violence arewomen, but what is often ignored is the long-term impactthat it has on children in the home.Though they may not be the direct victim, it is painfullyobvious in study after study that the damage done to theyoungest victims is something that lasts a life time.According to domestic violence statistics compiled by U.S.Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs, whenthere are children in the home, 40 per cent of the time theywitness the event. Of this 22 per cent are on hand when anassault takes place.Domestic Abuse Affects ChildrenIt is through a further study undertaken by the UNICEF(United Nations Children's Fund, formerly the UnitedNations International Children's Emergency Fund) thatshows the true damage this causes. The study and resultingpublication; Behind Closed Doors: The Impact of DomesticViolence on Children is the first undertaken by the U.N. tocreate a global look at the problem.Of course there is the danger that the child becomes avictim of abuse in the situation, but further damage that isnot as apparent also takes place.According to the UNICEF study, “children who areexposed to violence in the home may have difficultylearning and limited social skills, exhibit violent, risky ordelinquent behavior or suffer from depression or severeanxiety.”And this damage can be done to children at much youngerages than had been previously thought.Infants and very young children exposed to the stress ofdomestic violence in the home can experience problems astheir young brains continue to develop, which the reportstated could, “impair cognitive and sensory growth.”Childhood Disorders and Domestic ViolenceIn a study undertaken for The David and Lucile PackardFoundation, by Joy D. Osofsky, it was found that a bevy ofproblems can be manifested in a small child exposed tosuch an environment. They can include, sleep problems,fear of being alone and problems with toilet training andlanguage development.Continued on page 20-16- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

African Traditional Herbal Research ClinicVolume 6, Issue 1 NEWSLETTER January 2011FEATURED ARTICLESSouth Africa: Life after Human TraffickingCape Town — At Pretoria-based Tshwane Home ofHope, the jubilant young faces of the girls who live therehide the truth of the horrors they have encountered. Onthe premises is a trauma centre - aptly dubbed by one ofthe residents as "the hope sanctuary" - here the girls meetwith a resident social worker and psychologist to sharetheir stories, stories that will never leave the four walls ofthe room.The Home receives new girls often - most are walk-ins,while the police bring others in from the street corners onwhich they would have been working. The youngest girlis seven and the oldest is 21; they hail from South Africa,as well as places further afield like Zimbabwe, Burundi,and Democratic Republic of the Congo. Their reasons forcoming to the centre are as diverse as their backgrounds.However, they all have one thing in common - they wantto be safe.While not all these girls have been trafficked or onceworked in the sex industry, they are all at the Homebecause they have run away from violence.Tendai Joe, director of the centre and also a former streetchild, works tirelessly to ensure the girls receive adequateprotection, go to school and live a life they deserve.The scourge that is human trafficking and modern-dayslavery continues to gnaw at the moral fabric of oursociety. Globally, according to research conducted by theUnited States State Department, more than one millionpeople are trafficked annually. How many of those are inSouthern Africa is not known.Human trafficking by its very nature is a form of genderbasedviolence, not least because the majority of thosetrafficked are female, but also because physical andsexual violence are its bedfellows. While there are manyforms of human trafficking, the most common is sextrafficking of women and children. Though some of thewomen trafficked willingly participate in sex work toescape poverty, a 2005 International Organisation forBy Ottilia Anna Maunganidze15 December 2010GenderLinksMigration (IOM) study found that most are led into sexwork because they are lied to, told they will be able topursue an education, get married or get the job that willhelp them out of poverty.In the sub-region, South Africa is the main destination fortrafficking victims, with women and children comingfrom neighbouring countries and conflict zones furtherafield. Poverty and desperation coupled with a culture ofpatriarchy means that women are doubly vulnerable notonly to trafficking, but to the violence that comes with it.Most disconcerting are the findings of a 2008/9 WitsUniversity Law Clinic study on access to gender-basedviolence services in South Africa by migrant women. Itfound that two thirds of South African organisations thatprovide services to gender-based violence survivors offertheir services exclusively to South African citizens.Therefore the plight of immigrants is compounded by theinstitutionalised xenophobia they face. Yet, reportsabound of rapes and other forms of gender-basedviolence, especially at the country's borders.The South African 1 in 9 campaign advocates for womento speak out if they are raped, this is based on the fact thatonly 1 out of every 9 South African women who has beenraped reports the crime. When it comes to victims oftrafficking, it is difficult to collect data because of theunderground nature of sex trafficking and the fear on thepart of most sex workers that if they speak out they willbe arrested, deported or abused or raped by police.Organisations like the Sex Worker Education andAdvisory Taskforce (SWEAT), which advocate for thedecriminalisation of sex work, contend that until sexwork is decriminalised it is unlikely that efforts tocounter human trafficking will yield results. Thevictimisation of sex workers stems primarily from thefact that their profession is not afforded any protection."Moral" arguments against sex work notwithstanding, ifContinued on page 18-17- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 17 – SA: Life after Human Traffickinghuman trafficking is to be curbed, the inherentcontradictions that exist between attempting to counterhuman trafficking and the continued criminalisation ofsex work need to be resolved.In February this year, sex workers from ten Africancountries assembled in Hillbrow, Johannesburg to sharetheir experiences and discuss their needs.This was the first ever meeting of this kind on the Africancontinent. At the conference a Ugandan sex workervoiced her concern over the way in which sex workersare treated "like dogs" by the police.Many indicated that the abuse did not only come frompolice, but also from health service providers, clients andthe pimps they work for. The irony of the criminalisationof sex work in Africa is that it is the woman who offersthe service who is stigmatised and abused, while thosewho pay for her illegal services go scot-free. It is one ofsociety's entrenched patriarchal paradoxes.According to Cape Town based NGO Anex-CDW, whichworks closely with the IOM in its human traffickingproject, most of the cases are reported by third parties andoften the victims deny the allegation or refuse to talkabout it. The wall of silence is almost impenetrable.While the girls of Tshwane Home of Hope did not sharethe horrors of their lives, their presence at the Homespeaks of an untold story of violence and fear. The Homeis one of several sanctuaries for girls scattered acrossSouth Africa. In an ideal world homes such as this wouldnot have to exist, everyone would be free from fear andwant; everyone would be safe. The reality is we are not.Ottilia Anna Maunganidze is a consultant for theInternational Crime in Africa Programme at the Institutefor Security Studies. This article is part of a special serieson the 16 Days of Activism for the Gender Links Opinionand Commentary Service that offers fresh views oneveryday news.http://allafrica.com/stories/201012160568.html☻☻☻☻☻☻Uganda Named in HumanTraffickingBy Steven Candia25 February, 2010New VisionUGANDA is among the several African countries namedin a report on human trafficking from Africa to the UK.The report was compiled by Africans Unite Against ChildAbuse (AFRUCA), a UK-based charity, which expressedconcern over the growing trade and called for action againstthe problem.Figures released by the UK Human Trafficking Centreshowed that between April and December 2009, over 200Africans were referred to the agency by charities as victimsof human trafficking.Some of the victims were children. A total of 89 victimswere trafficked from Nigeria, 13 from Sierra Leone, (5)Kenya, (3) Ghana, (16) Zimbabwe, (5) Eritrea, (14)Uganda, (5) Somalia, and (1) Sudan.Most of the victims had been exploited as sex slaves, fordomestic servitude or used to claim government benefits.“The figures reveal just the tip of the iceberg. We arecertain that many more victims are trapped in exploitativeand abusive situations and have no access to help,” saidDebbie Ariyo, the AFRUCA director.The report stated that the victims are compelled to takeoaths of allegiance, secrecy and confidentiality to bindthem to their traffickers.The oath also ensures compliance and guarantees therepayment of money claimed to be owed for transportingthe victims to Europe and for their upkeep. “Fearful of therepercussions of the oath taken, victims are compelled toendure the suffering in silence without access to help andsupport,” a statement from the organisation read.The fear of witchcraft makes it extremely difficult foragencies to support the victims and for authorities in theUK to investigate and prosecute suspected traffickers,” thestatement read.Cherifa Atoussi, an official of AFRUCA, said: “Mostvictims are trafficked by fellow Africans. They areexploited, abused and brutalised by fellow Africans in whatis a multibillion dollar transnational criminal enterprise.http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/711182☻☻☻☻☻☻Defilement Crime on the Risein UgandaEven Katine has not escaped an increase in sex crimeagainst juveniles in north-eastern Uganda, after alocal teacher was arrested and then released in anout-of-court settlement with the child's parents -common practice in poverty-stricken areasJoseph MalingaContinued on page 19-18- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 18 – Defilement Crime on the Rise inUgandaGuardian.co.uk7 October 2010Hardly a day passes without an African newspaper, radioor TV report focusing on a fresh case of defilement, a sexcrime against juveniles that seems to thrive onwidespread poverty. In parts of Uganda, it's on the rise.Ugandan law defines defilement as the act of having sexwith a girl under 18, while rape is having sex with awoman without her consent, usually by force. Oftendefilement involves relatives, married men orprofessional people in the community. Worse still, somemen rape or defile their own daughters. Rape anddefilement can lead to infertility, trauma, contraction ofHIV/Aids, terminal illness or even death.In fact, defilement is a capital offence in cases where thevictim has been infected with HIV/Aids virus or is veryyoung and has been defiled by a relative ─ categorised asaggravated defilement. Those defiling children aged 14-18 get prison sentences if convicted.Peter Georges of the St Nicholas Uganda Children'sFund, writing about child poverty in Uganda, saysdefilement of school-age girls is common. "Rape isalways a danger as girls travel to and from school throughrisky neighbourhoods at dawn and dusk. Defilement isnot always involuntary."Because of extreme poverty, many girls are tempted bythe promise of a little money to buy food or clothing. Themost at risk are girls in the upper primary classes (P/5-P/7). Some are well into their teens by the time they reachsixth or seventh grade because their academic progresswas delayed due to lack of school fees."Georges argues that the cost of secondary school isprohibitive for most families and these girls see no hopefor their future. This then makes them vulnerable to theadvances of unscrupulous men. The St Nicholas childrenFund is a non-government organisation providingorphans and vulnerable children with education, nutritionand healthcare.Cases are common in Uganda. For example, a couple ofmonths ago in Katine sub-county, in the north-easternpart of the country, communities were shocked after newsemerged that a local teacher had defiled one of his pupils.The event caused a lot of anger, with many residentsthreatening to tear up the teacher ─ as if the child affectedhad been their own. Interestingly, weeks later the sameresidents were advising the girl's parents to forgive theteacher.One-night affairThe issue came to light after 17-year-old Judith (not herreal name) told her parents she had had a one-night affairwith her teacher in a cassava plantation near her school.The revelation followed the parents' decision to flog herafter they discovered she had slept out away from home.Judith's parents then took her to the local police to makestatements and this led to the arrest of the teacher.Police have since refused to give details of the case,saying they needed permission from the Soroti regionaloffice. However, Katine sub-county chairman JoremEboku confirmed the incident, saying he had asked policeto investigate and have the accused prosecuted. In fact,the police released the accused after the girl's parentsopted to settle the matter out of court. The girl's headteacher said that, despite being released, the teacher wasno longer employed at the school.In Uganda, most parents choose to negotiate with thosesuspected of defilement because of material gain. Thenegotiations are usually illegal, but the high rates ofilliteracy linked with poverty in rural communities likeKatine make residents ignore legal proceedings.According to the police spokesperson for the easternregion, Hassan Nyene, statistics indicate a general hike incrime rates in the area, with 5,515 of cases recorded fromJanuary to June 2010. Of this, 2,564 are underinvestigation, 1,745 appeared in court, and 1,721 suspectshave been charged, while 388 convictions have beensecured. 1,422 suspects are awaiting trial. In the sameperiod, 535 suspected defilement cases were registered(205 went to court, 209 cases are pending, while onlyseven convictions have been secured). In cases taken tocourt, 154 suspects were adults and 51 juveniles.Soroti district, which includes Katine, with 23.5%,follows Kumi district on Soroti's southern border on28.7%, Bukedea district 15.7%, Katakwi 12.3%,Kaberemaido 11.2% and Amuria 7.7%."The incidents of defilement are high becausestakeholders are not helping police to sensitise thecommunity on the dangers of the crime," said Nyene. Insome instances, he says, parents don't report cases ofdefilement to police as they opt to settle out-of-court - inother cases, "even if they report, most of them withdrawthe cases."He adds that in a poverty-stricken community such asKatine, justice often takes second place when familieshave the chance to receive considerable sums of moneyfrom suspects willing to pay to avoid imprisonment orworse.Continued on page 20-19- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 19 – Defilement Crime on the Rise inUgandaThe withdrawal of Judith's case means the police areunlikely to pursue it further as there are no witnesses,says Nyene. He adds that there are no initiatives to helprehabilitate defilement victims, most of whom end up inearly marriages that drop them further into poverty. "Aspolice, we only talk to parents of the infected victims andtake [the victims] to Taso, an organisation helping to treatHIV/Aids patients."'Some take the message, others don't'Many schools support the Ugandan government'sPresidential Initiative on Aids Strategy forCommunication to Youth (Piascy), a programmedesigned to educate young people against early sex. "Thisis helping in sensitising pupils," said a teacher at one ofthe participating schools in Katine.” "We are telling theseyoung people that early sex is not good. Some take themessage but others don't. You find a girl in primary fivegoing out a man older then her father."The African Medical Research Foundation, which isimplementing the Katine community developmentproject, funded by Guardian readers and Barclays Bank,is also helping to spread the message through itseducation programme and use of role models.Sadly, defilement is one of the most common crimes inUganda, according to the non-government organisation(NGO), Save the Children Uganda. The police's 2007Crime Report says 12,230 defilement cases were reportedin 2007 against 15,385 in 2006. This implies that "over25 children are defiled every day in this country whichfurther translates into two children every hour," says theNGO.The charity says the statistics are alarmingly high, giventhat most defilement cases are never reported. Worse still,of cases reported, it says few use the courts for redress,partly because the prosecution often fails to verify the ageof the defiled child."Many children in Uganda are victims of defilement,child prostitution and early marriages due to lack of proofof age," it says. They have no birth certificates. Further,parents of the defiled victims accept bribes and connivewith alleged offenders to alter the child's age to pervertthe course of justice.The NGO argues on its website that "the governmenturgently needs to put in place an effective birthregistration programme to combat child sexual abuse."http://www.guardian.co.uk/katine/2010/oct/06/uganda-katinedefilement☻☻☻☻☻☻Continued from page 16 – Domestic Violence Statistics…When the study looked at children who had difficultyreading, 40 per cent came from homes where they wereexposed to domestic violence. When compared to themajor cause of reading problems such as dyslexia, itbecomes obvious that domestic violence plays a key rolein the disruption of normal developmental processes ofchildren.Domestic Violence and Violent TeensMore troubling are the findings of an Australian study byM. James (Domestic Violence as a Form of Child Abuse)involving teenage children. Up to 40 per cent of“chronically violent teens were exposed to extremedomestic violence.” This in turn creates an entirely newgeneration of probable abusers.And this relationship between children exposed todomestic violence and the probability of the childbecoming either an abuser or abused is well established.In examining this connection, the UNICEF study foundthat this exposure was the “best predictor” of the childemulating the abusive behavior or of becoming the victimas an adult.This damage continued in the development of the child’ssocial and ethical skills, the report stated.“Some children lose the ability to feel empathy forothers,” the authors of the report wrote. “Others feelsocially isolated, unable to make friends as easily due tosocial discomfort or confusion over what is acceptable.”A Child's Refuge from Domestic ViolenceBut as damaging as domestic violence is to the child, theUNICEF study showed that anti violence programspresented in elementary school could help break thecycle. A substantial drop in violent encounters was foundto take place in children who took part in the programs.Combined with these programs, it is imperative thechildren exposed to the trauma of domestic abuse in thehome have the opportunity to find “safe harbor” with anadult. This can include teachers, social workers, relativesand of course, a parent.In a World Health Organization study, this relationshipbetween children able to cope with a violent home andthose who could not was well established.“Children who have an adult who gives them love,warmth and attentive care cope better than those who donot,” the study showed. “Children who are exposed toviolence in the home need to know that they are not aloneand that the violence is not their fault.”It was also noted that in many cases, adults who wereContinued on page 21-20- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 20 - Domestic Violence Statistics…exposed to domestic violence or abuse as children areactively opposed to violence of all kinds.”And it is only through public acknowledgment of theproblem of domestic violence, public programs andgovernmental initiatives that this problem can becombated, the UNICEF report concludes.http://www.suite101.com/content/domestic-violence-statistics--children-face-long-term-harm-a252500☻☻☻☻☻☻Uganda: Sexual Crimes GoUnpunished17 November 2010Rosebell KagumireKampala — Thousands of women were rapedduring Uganda's civil war but there have been fewgovernment efforts to assist them, especially withpsychosocial and counseling services.Anna Grace Nakasi, recently chosen to contest nextFebruary's local council elections for Tubur subcounty, inSoroti district in North Eastern Uganda, contracted HIVwhen she was raped during the war.Nakasi was gang raped on three different occasions - firstin 1987, then 1988 and 1990 - by soldiers who formed aheavy military presence in her village."The first time was in 1987 when I met nine soldiers onpatrol who gang raped me until I lost consciousness. Ilater woke up in a hospital bed," she told IPS. "I couldtell they were government soldiers."Nakasi contracted HIV and developed a fistula. She wasrejected by her husband and family and lived alone in aforest for many years. She overcame her trauma with thesupport of different aid groups that have also supportedher in campaigning for women's economic empowermentand fighting stigma.She runs paralegal activities, often following up cases ofsexual violence in the area and encouraging women toface their offenders. She has a large support base for hercandidature for council due to her work with peopleliving with HIV and AIDS."I have so far managed to follow-up a case and have aman jailed for rape," she says.Little support for victims of war-time rapeBut Nakasi's story of her rise from victim of sexualgender based violence to survivor and leader is a uniqueone.-21- Traditional African Clinic January 2011The two-decades long war in northern Uganda betweengovernment and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)resulted in the internal displacement of about 1.5 millionpeople and the death of thousands. Women in internallydisplaced persons (IDP) camps suffered sexual violencefrom government soldiers and civilians. Although thereare no official figures on the numbers of women affected,reports show this was wide spread. The rebels are wellknown for child kidnapping for use as child soldiers andthe abduction of girls as sex slaves.The war affected the north and north-eastern parts ofUganda until 2007 when the LRA rebels were pushed outto DRC after failed peace talks with the governmentmediated by the government of South Sudan.A recent government post conflict recovery programmelaunched last year lacks a component on addressing theeffects on victims of sexual violence in the war.Further, recommendations calling for reparations forvictims of sexual violence made by a commission ofinquiry into violations of human rights in Uganda,covering the period from independence in 1962 throughthe second Obote Regime (1980 - 1985), have never beenimplemented.Inadequate penaltiesAnd according to a Uganda United Nations SecurityCouncil (UNSCR) Resolution 1325 monitoring reportreleased on Nov. 9 by the Kampala-based Center forWomen in Governance (CEWIGO), many cases of sexualviolence in Uganda go unprosecuted. UNSCR 1325,which last month marked its 10th anniversary,acknowledged, for the first time, sexual gender basedviolence in conflict as a war crime and a crime againsthumanity.The report, aimed at tracking Uganda's progress on theimplementation of the resolution, found that many casesare not reported. Rape is the least reported sexual offensein Uganda and the Ugandan law still does not recognisemarital rape.Of those cases that are reported, about half are prosecutedand very few carry penalties at the end of the day.In 2009, Uganda registered and investigated 619 rapecases. Of those, 37 percent (228) were prosecuted andonly five percent were penalised. More than seventhousand cases of the rape of children were reported andonly 467 of these cases resulted in a penalty. Fivehundred and fifty women reported indecent assault andonly 79 were penalised.An injustice to victims of sexual violenceMaude Mugisha from CEWIGO says most families canContinued on page 22

Continued from page 21 –Uganda: Sexual Crimes GoUnpunishednot afford to take victims for medical examination or totransport the police to the crime scene. As a result, theyopt to negotiate with the perpetrator. Criminal justice inUganda requires any person who has been a victim ofsexual violence to have a medical test, which is pertinentto the success or failure of a case.However, only authorized police surgeons can carry outthe examination. Not only are the police surgeonsinsufficient but victims must also pay between US$15and US$25 to be examined."This is the greatest injustice that the survivors of sexualviolence are subjected to in Uganda," says Judy Kamanyi,a consultant in gender and development issues.Rebecca Kadaga, the Deputy Speaker of the Parliamentconcurs. "It cannot only be a police surgeon that canexamine a victim if we are to deliver justice. Theexamination services should be even carried out bymidwives so that women stop paying so much money toaccess justice."Kamanyi says government should put in place shelters forwomen whose lives are in danger and also come up withan emergency plan for abused women and children thatcaters for their safety.Access to justice for survivors of gender-based violenceis also limited by the fact that sexual offenses are onlytried at high court level and these are found in only infive regions of the country. Victims travel long distancesto access the courts only to find there is no police surgeonpresent for the hearing. As a result, sexual offenses casescan take years to be heard.According to CEWIGO, these gaps in delivery of justiceto women victims of sexual violence show that Uganda isfar from implementing regional and internationalinstruments meant to safeguard women's lives, especiallyin the case of war time rapes.Miria Matembe, a founder member of CEWIGO sayswomen must continue to pressure governments,especially in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, toimplement resolution 1325."This resolution remains extremely important for us ...We are a continent still infested with conflict with highlevels of gender based violence," she says.The LRA rebels remain active in DRC, Central AfricanRepublic and South Sudan where they continue withabductions.http://allafrica.com/stories/201012021041.html☻☻☻☻☻☻-22- Traditional African Clinic January 2011Congo-Kinshasa:Women's Bodies'Battleground' in NationTanya Castle7 December 2010Bukavu — Maria Malele, 20, looks down at her handswhile she explains in her native Swahili how she wasgang-raped by rebels in her home in Eastern DemocraticRepublic of the Congo (DRC), six months ago.I had returned home in the morning from our hiding spotin the forest to get some food. Two rebels entered thehouse and two stayed outside, they asked me, ˜where’syour husband and I said ˜he’s not here, and then theygrabbed me, threw me to the ground and raped me. I triedto fight them off but they were much bigger than me andI was nine months pregnant. So, I couldn’t and three ofthem raped me. All of this time my child was sitting nextto me crying and calling for his dad.When they left, Malele was left bleeding and semiconsciouson the floor of her home. Shortly after, shewent into labour with her husband and child at her side.She gave birth to a stillborn baby.Half a year may have passed since her rape, but forMalele, the pain has not gone away. She lost her child,her strength, her dignity and potentially her husband andlivelihood.Malele is from the mineral rich region of Shabunda inSouth Kivu Province, Eastern DRC. For years, the bodiesof women in Eastern DRC have provided thebattleground for armed groups.Rape is a cheap, effective and easy weapon used byforeign and local armed groups, as well as the Congolesenational army. During the 20 years of fighting in DRC,hundreds of thousands of women and girls have beenraped. On average more than 1,500 women are rapedevery month by armed groups in Eastern DRC andincreasingly by civilians, as rape has become a rule andnot the exception.As soon as an armed group considers that the civilianpopulation it is confronted with is against its presence, itwill commit crimes against it, including sexual violence.It is a form of terrorism that is employed by armedgroups, specifically in areas where there is no authority,says Aziza Aziz-Suleimani, of the United NationsPopulation Fund, the UN agency tasked with mappingsexual violence in DRC.Continued on page 23

Continued from page 22– Congo: Woman Bodies Battleground in NationArmed groups rape women to terrorise populations, forcethem to flee, control them, and to punish them for allegedsupport of the enemy. These rapes are often extremelyviolent. Women are tortured, gang raped, and mutilatedby perpetrators. Often they are left disabled for life.We receive women who have been raped, some by two,three, even ten rapists. We have cases where women havebeen raped vaginally, anally, orally, and then some areforced to have sex with their children, even theirgrandparents. There are others that are taken to the forestand tortured. We see the signs from their torture, marksfrom being tied up, burnt and even cut repeatedly bymachete, says Esther Munyerekana Nakashunjwe, a nurseat the Panzi hospital.Adophine Mwanza, is 48-years-old. Like Maria she wasalso attacked in Shabunda.I was tilling the field when four combatants approachedme and told me they were going to kill me. I said, ˜pleasedon’t kill me, I’m like your mother, I have children likeyou, but they didn’t listen and one after the other theyraped me.The widespread and systematic use of rape as a weaponof war by armed groups has led to a multitude ofphysical, psychological, socio-economic and socioculturaleffects. Physically, women can catch sexuallytransmitted infections, HIV and AIDS, fall pregnant, orsuffer from fistulas or other complications from violentsexual acts.Since being raped Malele suffers from a severe fistula.Despite two reconstructive surgeries her incontinencecontinues.The doctors told me I have two holes, so it going to takelonger, she says.Psychologically women who have been raped are morelikely to become substance abusers or developdepression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress.The women that come here are traumatised, they feelrejected, like that have no value, they are ashamed,embarrassed and often will isolate themselves, saysMunyerekana Nakashunjwe.According to Aziz-Suleimani, the number of rapes inEastern DRC could be much higher, as many cases gounreported due to the stigma, shame and fear. Womenwho have been raped run the risk of being rejected bytheir husband and family.Socially, a woman who has been raped is victimised twotimes. She is considered as an adulterer, and if she isnot abandoned by her husband she can be asked to paya fine by her husband because she had sexual relationswith another man, even though it was out of rape.After crawling to her home, Mwanza was abandonedby her husband, her child and her community.Malele tells me she was lucky because her husband didnot leave her after she was raped, but it has now beensix months since she has seen him and she is beginningto doubt their marriage.I’m worried now that he’s left me because the wholetime I’ve been here, he has never come to see me.During both of my surgeries he never came so maybehe’s left me without telling me. Before I go back, Iwould like to find out.Without a husband, a woman’s future is bleak inEastern DRC. A woman’s cultural, social and economicworth is determined by her husband and without one,particularly in the countryside, she will faceconsiderable hardship.In June 2008, the UN Security Council demanded theimmediate and complete cessation by all parties toarmed conflict of all acts of sexual violence againstcivilians, and called for sex crimes to be exempt fromany amnesty provisions within peace agreements.Despite Resolution 1820 and the inclusion of rape as awar crime and crime against humanity in the RomeStatute of the International Criminal Court, rapecontinues unabated in Eastern DRC.Every day we receive new cases, it never ends saysMunyerekana Nakashunjwe dishearteningly.Tanya Castle is a Canadian journalist based in theDRC. This article is part of a special series on the 16Days of Activism for the Gender Links Opinion andCommentary Service that offers fresh views oneveryday news. For more information on the 16 DaysCampaign go to www.genderlinks.org.zahttp://allafrica.com/stories/201012071233.html☻☻☻☻☻☻Uganda: Edna's Story -Living With Disabilities inUganda1 December 2010Human Rights WatchShantha Rau BarrigaContinued on page 24-23- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 23 –Living with Disabilities in UgandaEdna seemed shy, rounding her shoulders protectivelyover her baby. She was breastfeeding, and I could see theburn scars on the top of her head. Despite her initial selfconsciousness,she told us her story, starting with the firethat led to her blindness.She had lived in a rural village that she said had beenattacked by the Lord's Resistance Army, a notorious rebelgroup. The rebels burned down her house with 12 peopleinside, she said. She was one of the few to survive, buther burns left her blind and partially deaf.Despite the hardships she endured, Edna still smiled,emanating personal warmth. As she told me how shesupported her children by begging, I thought of my ownbaby, a bit younger than Edna's, living in very differentcircumstances in the United States.An estimated 20 percent of Ugandans have disabilities.This figure is probably higher in the war-torn north,where government troops fought the LRA. Thegovernment forced people into squalid camps, which cutoff their access to health care and led to an increase indisabling diseases like polio. Many people also lost theuse of limbs due to landmines or gunshot wounds.In Uganda's primarily agrarian society, women withdisabilities are often labeled "useless" by family andneighbors. They often can't fetch water or work in thefields. Many don't go to school. I spoke with one deafwoman whose children were avoided by neighbor kidsbecause they didn't want to catch 'deafness.'As Ugandans in the north struggle to reclaim their lives,women with disabilities are being left behind.These women tend to be isolated and shunned, hidden intheir communities. No one drops by to see how they are,to offer to help them in the fields, or to take them to thedoctor. It's as if they're invisible.I was shocked to find out how many of the women withdisabilities I spoke with had been abandoned by theirmen. Other men would use them for sex. Some womensaid people in their village taunted men whose partnershad a disability.More than one-third of the 64 women and girls withdisabilities we interviewed said that they had beensexually abused, beaten, or raped. Their disabilities madethem vulnerable to attack - they couldn't physicallydefend themselves, and they were isolated from theircommunities. People view them as weak and stupid, aneasy target. Such assaults increase their risk of HIVinfection, as does the abandonment by their sexualpartners.But the voices of people with disabilities in Uganda aregrowing stronger. The government has ratified a majorinternational treaty on disability rights and is activelyconsulting people with disabilities on issues that affectthem. The key is to ensure that the government takeswomen with disabilities into consideration whileplanning Uganda's post-war reconstruction.After we released our report, the UN Population Fundagreed to do more training about disabilities with theirstaff working on violence against women. The agencyalso pledged to compile data on the number of womenwith disabilities who experience violence in Uganda.This is an essential step - without knowing this number,it's impossible to know whether programs meant to helpwomen with disabilities are reaching them.Human Rights Watch is supporting local disabilitygroups as they develop an anti-discrimination campaignand a project on violence against women withdisabilities. We are regularly in contact with the stateminister on disability and elderly affairs and UNagencies.Additionally, the committee monitoring the UNConvention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination against Women (CEDAW) raisedconcerns with Uganda's government about how womenwith disabilities are faring, drawing even moreinternational attention to the issue.Edna continued telling us her story. The father of herfirst child, now 6, was killed by the LRA. Her baby'sfather, ashamed of being associated with a blindwoman, abandoned her when she became pregnant.When she went to a clinic for prenatal care, Ednalearned that she was HIV-positive. When I asked herhow she coped, she said her 6-year-old has to lead herto the hospital to collect her antiretroviral drugs.After our conversation, Edna walked us out of herhome. I couldn't believe how much she had dealt with -the brutality of the conflict, her loss of sight, livingwith HIV, being a single mom, living in poverty.Despite it all, she had found a way to take care ofherself and her family with such grace. It's people likeEdna who really inspire me to do this work. I just hopethat our research and advocacy will lead to changes thatwill empower the millions of women like Edna.http://allafrica.com/stories/201012011161.html☻☻☻☻☻☻In the U.S., over 1 million people a year are abused insome way. We're including sexual abuse, physicalabuse, and psychological or emotional abuse.☻☻☻☻☻☻-24- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

South Africa: Speaking OutAgainst Gun ViolenceDeborah Walter15 December 2010AnalysisJohannesburg — Sharing her story at the recent launch ofthe book "Speaking out can set you free: the SouthAfrican experience," Mmabatho Moyo recalled the day achance turn of her head saved her life - the bullet fromher husband's gun lodged close to her scalp, rather thangoing straight into her brain. Waking four months later ina hospital, she stayed there another nine months. Thephysical recovery included speech therapy andphysiotherapy; the psychological trauma meant sevenmore months at a mental institution.Mmabatho Moyo is not her real name, but the pen nameshe used when writing her story in 2008 during GenderLinks "I" Stories project, an annual initiative in whichsurvivors of gender violence write and publish personalnarratives. With great confidence, Moyo introducedherself, with her real name, and once again told her storyto more than 100 women and men gathered to launch theretrospective publication. She recalled how after years ofabuse her husband arrived home late one night anddemanded tea. Standing on a chair to reach the cup, shesays, "I don't know what made me turn at exactly thatmoment, but it's lucky that I did."Like many similar cases, her husband used the gun as athreat prior to the actual shooting. Perhaps unlike otherstories, she first met and was impregnated by him whenhe raped her at gunpoint when she was just 17-years-old.The new book, based on more than 170 personal accountswritten by survivors of gender violence published in ninebooks and hundreds of media articles, illustrates a needfor much more speaking out on gender violence. AsMoyo's story shows, this includes taking a serious look atgun violence in the country.According to a United Nations survey of 69 countries,South Africa has one of the highest firearm relatedhomicide rates in the world, second only to Columbia.Solid updated data is lacking, but a 1999 MedicalResearch Council (MRC) study found that a woman waskilled by her intimate partner every six hours - the highestreported rate anywhere in the world. In that year, one inthree women killed died because of a firearm; of those,half were shot by their intimate partner; 71% were shot intheir own homes.In South Africa, the rate of intimate femicide followed byperpetrator suicide also greatly exceeds reported rates-25- Traditional African Clinic January 2011elsewhere.Yet the links between guns and gender violence gobeyond femicide statistics. "The term 'gun violence'includes gun deaths, injuries as well as incidents inwhich guns are used to intimidate persons, for examplelike in situations of domestic violence," points outNatalie Jaynes, National Director of Gun Free SouthAfrica. "While shootings and killings are the mostcommon forms of gun violence, even more womenencounter gun violence at home in terms ofintimidation with a firearm."Beyond the obvious need to simply reduce the numberof guns in circulation, restricting firearm ownership byknown offenders is an effective, but widelyunimplemented, strategy to save lives. The DomesticViolence and Firearms Control Acts have provisions tohelp prevent threats from progressing to use of force."A woman can request the removal or a person can bedeemed 'unfit to possess a firearm' if a protection orderhas been issued, or if the person has expressed anintention to kill or do harm with the firearm," addsJaynes. "This small provision, if exercised, could savelives."In some cases women may be unaware of the right torequest removal of a firearm. In other cases, it isevident that victims still encounter significant obstaclesattempting to have a firearm removed, echoed byseveral women writing during the "I" Stories. "Hewould even point his gun at me. Many violent timesfollowed. Each time I reported these to the local policestation, I got no joy. They would tell me that I had nophysical evidence such as a 'blue-eye.'"Surprisingly, statistics show that legally-ownedfirearms are very often the problem. One woman writertold of her added predicament, her abusive husbandwas also a policeman. "He went to his safe took out hisgun and went outside he then shot in the air. He cameback inside, pointed the firearm at my nose, and toldme to smell the smoke that came out of the gun. He toldme that he was going to shoot the baby and me andthen pointed the gun at the baby."Gun threats are also used in sexual assaults. NatashaKangale was just 12 when she was raped by a stranger."I felt a gun on my back, so I had no choice. He tookme to his place in Berea. There he raped me," sherecalls in her story. "It was not easy getting home but Imanaged to get there. Before going in the house, hethreatened me by saying that 'if you tell anyone aboutwhat happened.I know you... I will kill you.'"Getting to the heart of gun violence will mean challeng-Continued on page 26

Continued from page 25 – South Africa: Speaking OutAgainst Gun Violenceing many of the gender norms existing in society. AsJaynes points, out, "Violence is often used as a way toaffirm masculinity and gain respect and control. Firearmscan play an important role in this, because in manycontexts they are symbols of status, power, and selfprotection."Elmien Durieux of the Foundation for a Safe SouthAfrica (FSSA) agrees, and points to the next generationas a source of hope. "If we begin at an early age tochange the stereotypes associated with being manly andwomanly, we will produce a new generation that thinksof the different genders as equal and thus less likely tocommit gender-based violence."FSSA has pioneered the creation of Youth Zones, acrossthe country, recognising that young people will determineif the future is a safer one."Young people need to say no to guns - be at the forefrontof advocacy for a gun free South Africa for theirgeneration; they need to tell when they are, or they knowof people who are being sexually harassed or abused - beeach other's protectors."Like most aspects of gender violence, addressing gunviolence will require a myriad of approaches. Reducingthe numbers of guns on the street, must be accompaniedby the implementation of existing legal frameworks.Public awareness and communication campaigns need toaddress not only lack of knowledge on the issue, but alsoseek to counter deeply engrained gender norms that makethis kind of violence socially accepted. There is an oldnotion that violating the human rights of one of us,violates the human rights of all of us. As long as wecontinue to accept guns in our midst, none of us will befree to live in a safer South Africa.Deborah Walter is the Director of CMFD (CommunityMedia for Development) Productions. This article is partof a special series on the 16 Days of Activism for theGender Links Opinion and Commentary Service thatoffers fresh views on everyday news.http://allafrica.com/stories/201012160583.html☻☻☻☻☻☻Researchers who study abuse victims agree the impact ofabuse can last a lifetime. Many live with the shame ofwhat happened to them and may suffer with a myriad ofmental health problems like depression, addictions, anddissociative disorders. They have trouble withrelationships, some self-injure. Others may becomeabusers themselves.☻☻☻☻☻☻-26- Traditional African Clinic January 2011Uganda: Male Victims ofDomestic Violence Need toSpeak Out TooSusan Oregede3 December 2010OpinionGender-Based Violence (GBV) is a result of sociallyconstructed power differences between men andwomen. When those who have power abuse it, it oftencauses GBV. Many cultures in Uganda give morepower to men through the process of socialisation anddistribution of rights and privileges. But unlike in thepast, more men today say they are experiencing GBV.Gender based violence manifests itself in differentforms including rape, defilement, and domesticviolence which includes emotional, physical, economicand sexual violence. Others include harmful traditionalpractices such as forced widow inheritance, courtshiprape, female genital mutilation, and early or forcedmarriage.According to the Uganda Demographic and HealthSurvey of 2006 and the Uganda Law ReformCommission's Report of 2007 respectively, 68 per centand 78 per cent of women in Uganda experiencedomestic violence.Today, some men are increasingly complaining thatcampaigns against GBV focus on women and ignorethem. What both men and women should recognise isthat there is factual and documented evidence thatmajority of the people who experience GBV globallyare women.The subordinate position of women in many culturesand the gender roles assigned to them by societyincrease their vulnerability to GBV compared to men.Although it is true that some men are experiencinggender violence, there is little documented evidence toprove this claim.The few cases where women have been blamed forperpetuating violence in relationships are often a resultof women's reaction to long histories of physical,sexual and emotional violence perpetuated against themby their male partners. Many have been reluctant toseek legal redress due to ignorance of the law or lack oftrust in justice institutions and enforcers. We hope thatthe Domestic Violence Act will work to protect thelives of men and women experiencing domesticviolence.Continued on page 27

Continued from page 26 – Male Victims of Domestic ViolenceNeed to Speak OutRecently, I was in a GBV prevention workshop innorthern Uganda in which both men and women reportedthat violence against men had become common. Whenasked why men do not speak out or report to the police,several participants stated that it was considered shamefulfor a man to report that he is experiencing gender-basedviolence because culturally, men are not supposed to cry -they are supposed to be "strong". We encourage men whoare experiencing GBV to break the silence and publiclyshare their experiences.The 'We Can Campaign' is a global campaign that aims toreduce the social acceptance of gender-based violenceand is calling upon women and men from all walks of lifeto join the fight against GBV by changing negativeattitudes and practices that perpetuate or condone thepractice. Men and women need to work towards makingGBV a public rather than a private matter and engageeverybody to play a role in ending it.In places such as Kasese and Bundibugyo in westernUganda where the We Can Campaign has beenimplemented since earlier this year, we have seen risingnumbers of both women and men who experience GBVstarting to share their experiences in public withoutshame. This self-awareness has sparked off a process thatwe hope will bring lasting change in attitudes, beliefs andpractices that condone GBV.Men who are experiencing GBV should be open about itand seek assistance from duty bearers like the localcouncils, the police or someone they trust. Both men andwomen are encouraged to make GBV a public rather thana private matter and speak out whenever they experienceit. Speaking out mitigates the grave consequencesassociated with GBV, including the risk of HIV infection.Until we break the silence and stigma associated withpublicly speaking about GBV and begin to challengepeople around us, this evil will continue to thrive.Ms Oregede works with Oxfam where she coordinates the'We Can End All Violence Against Women' campaignhttp://allafrica.com/stories/201012030115.html☻☻☻☻☻☻Trust Drug may cure SocialPhobiaA nasal spray which increases our trust for strangers isshowing promise as a treatment for social phobia, sayscientists from Zurich University.21 May 2008They found that people who inhaled the "lovehormone" oxytocin continued to trust strangers withtheir money - even after they were betrayed.Brain scans showed the hormone lowered activity inthe amygdala - a region which is overactive in socialphobics.Drug trials are under way and early signs are promisingsay the scientists.Nicknamed the "cuddle chemical", oxytocin is anaturally produced hormone, which has been shown toplay a role in social relations, maternal bonding, andalso in sex.Lead researcher Dr Thomas Baumgartner said: "Wenow know for the first time what exactly is going on inthe brain when oxytocin increases trust."We found that oxytocin has a very specific effect insocial situations. It seems to diminish our fears."Based on our results, we can now conclude that a lackof oxytocin is at least one of the causes for the fearexperienced by social phobics."We hope and indeed we expect that we can improvetheir sociability by administering oxytocin."Powerful effectPrevious studies have shown that participants in "trustgames" took greater risks with their money afterinhaling the hormone via a nasal spray.In this latest experiment, published in the journalNeuron, the researchers asked volunteer subjects totake part in a similar game. They were each asked tocontribute money to a human trustee, with theunderstanding that the trustee would invest the moneyand decide whether to return the profits, or betray thesubject's trust by keeping the profit.The subjects also received doses of oxytocin or aplacebo via a nasal spray.After investing, the participants were given feedbackon the trustees. When their trust was abused, theplacebo group became less willing to invest. But theplayers who had been given oxytocin continued to trusttheir money with a broker. "We can see that oxytocinhas a very powerful effect," said Dr Baumgartner."The subjects who received oxytocin demonstrated nochange in their trust behaviour, even though they wereinformed that their trust was not honoured in roughly50% of cases."http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7412438.stm☻☻☻☻☻☻-27- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

African Traditional Herbal Research ClinicVolume 6, Issue 1 NEWSLETTER January 2011FEATURED ARTICLESRape Rampant in U.S. MilitaryStatistics and soldiers' testimonies reveal a harrowing epidemic of sexual assault in the US militaryBy Dahr JamailAljazeera24 December 2010Sexual assault within the ranks of the military is not anew problem. It is a systemic problem that hasnecessitated that the military conduct its own annualreporting on the crisis.A 2003 Air Force Academy sexual assault scandalprompted the department of defense to include aprovision in the 2004 National Defense AuthorizationAct that required investigations and reports of sexualharassment and assaults within US military academies tobe filed. The personal toll is, nevertheless, devastating.Military sexual trauma (MST) survivor Susan Avila-Smith is director of the veteran’s advocacy group WomenOrganizing Women. She has been serving female andscores of male clients in various stages of recovery fromMST for 15 years and knows of its devastating effects upclose.“People cannot conceive how badly wounded thesepeople are,” she told Al Jazeera, “Of the 3,000 I’veworked with, only one is employed. Combat trauma isbad enough, but with MST it’s not the enemy, it’s ourguys who are doing it. You’re fighting your friends, yourpeers, people you’ve been told have your back. Thatbetrayal, then the betrayal from the command is, they say,worse than the sexual assault itself.”On December 13, the American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU) and other groups filed a federal lawsuit seekingPentagon records in order to get the real facts about theincidence of sexual assault in the ranks. The Pentagon hasconsistently refused to release records that fullydocument the problem and how it is handled. Sexualassaults on women in the US military have claimed somedegree of visibility, but about male victims there isabsolute silence.Pack Parachute, a non-profit in Seattle, assists veteranswho are sexual assault survivors. Its founder KiraMountjoy-Pepka, was raped as a cadet at the Air ForceAcademy. In July 2003 she was member of a team offemale cadets handpicked by Donald Rumsfeld, at thetime the secretary of defense, to tell their stories ofhaving been sexually assaulted. The ensuing mediacoverage and a Pentagon investigation forced theacademy to make the aforementioned major policychanges.Report reveals alarming statisticsMountjoy-Pepka often works with male survivors ofMST. She stated in a telephone interview that four percent of men in the military experience MST. “Mostchoose not to talk about it until after their dischargefrom the military, largely because the post-traumaticstress disorder (PTSD) in over 60 percent of MST casesis too overwhelming,” she informed Al Jazeera.Last week the Pentagon released its “annual report onsexual harassment and violence at the military serviceacademies”. At its three academies, the number ofreports of sexual assault and harassment has risen astaggering 64 percent from last year.The report attributes the huge increase to betterreporting of incidents due to increased training andeducation about sexual assault and harassment.Veteran’s Administration (VA) statistics show thatmore than 50 percent of the veterans who screenpositive for MST are men.According to the US Census Bureau, there are roughly22 million male veterans compared to less than twomillion female vets.In Congressional testimony in the summer of 2008, Lt.Gen. Rochelle, the army chief of personnel, reportedContinued on page 29-28- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 28 – Rape Rampant in US Militarythe little known statistic that 12 percent (approximately260) of the 2,200 reported rapes in the military in 2007were reported by military male victims.Due to their sheer numbers in the military, more men (ata rough estimate one in twenty), have experienced MSTthan women.Shamed into silenceBilly Capshaw was 17 when he joined the Army in 1977.After being trained as a medic he was transferred toBaumholder, Germany. His roommate, Jeffrey Dahmer,by virtue of his seniority ensured that Capshaw had noformal assignment, no mail, and no pay. Havingcompletely isolated the young medic, Dahmer regularlysexually assaulted, raped, and tortured him.Dahmer went on to become the infamous serial killer andsex offender who murdered 17 boys and men beforebeing beaten to death by an inmate at ColumbiaCorrection Institution in 1994.Capshaw reflects back, “At that young age I didn’t knowhow to deal with it. My commander did not believe me.Nobody helped me, even though I begged and beggedand begged.”The debilitating lifelong struggle Capshaw has had toface is common among survivors of military sexualassault.Later during therapy he needed to go public. Since thenhe says, “I’ve talked to a lot of men, many of themsoldiers, who are raped but who won’t go public withtheir story. The shame alone is overwhelming.”In 1985 Michael Warren enlisted in the navy and forthree years worked as a submarine machinist mate on anuclear submarine. One day he awoke to find anothersoldier performing fellatio on him.He recollects with horror, “I was paralyzed with fear. Iwas in disbelief... shame. When I reported it to thecommander he said it was better for me to deal with itafter being discharged. Nobody helped me, not even thechaplain. The commander at the processing centrewouldn’t look me in the face. When I filled out my claimlater they didn’t believe me. It’s so frustrating.”Armando Javier was an active duty Marine from 1990 to1994. He was a Lance Corporal at Camp Lejeune in 1993when he was raped.Five Marines jumped Javier and beat him until he wasnearly unconscious, before taking turns raping him. Hissexual victimization narrative reads, “One of them, acorporal, pulled down my shorts and instructed the othersto ‘Get the grease’. Another corporal instructed someoneto bring the stick. They began to insert the stick inside myanus. The people present during this sadistic and rituallikeceremony started to cajole, cheer, and laugh, saying“stick em’ – stick-em’.”Extreme shame and trauma compelled him not to disclosethe crime to anyone except a friend in his unit. He wrotein his account, “My experience left me torn apartphysically, mentally, and spiritually. I was dehumanizedand treated with ultimate cruelty, by my perpetrators… Iwas embarrassed and ashamed and didn’t know what todo. I was young at that time. And being part of an eliteorganization that values brotherhood, integrity andfaithfulness made it hard to come forward and revealwhat happened.”The reality of being less equalWomen in America were first allowed into the militaryduring the Revolutionary War in 1775 and their travailsare as old. Drill instructors indoctrinate new recruits intoit at the outset by routinely referring to them as “girl,”“pussy,” “bitch,” and “dyke.”A Command Sergeant Major told Catherine Jayne Westof the Mississippi National Guard, “There aren’t but twoplaces for women - in the kitchen or in the bedroom.Women have no place in the military.”She was raped by fellow soldier Private First Class KevinLemeiux, at the sprawling Camp Anaconda, north ofBaghdad. The defense lawyer in court merely wanted toknow why, as a member of the army, she had not foughtback.The morning after the rape, an army doctor gave her athorough examination. The army’s criminal investigationteam concluded her story was true. Moreover, Lemeiuxhad bragged about the incident to his buddies and theyhad turned him in. It seemed like a closed case, but incourt the defense claimed that the fact that West had notfought back during the rape was what incriminated her. Inaddition, her commanding officer and 1st Sergeantdeclared, in court, that she was a “promiscuous female.”In contrast, Lemeiux, after the third court hearing of thetrial, was promoted to a Specialist. Meanwhile his lawyerentered a plea of insanity. He was later found guilty ofkidnapping but not rape, despite his own admission of thecrime. He was given three years for kidnapping, half ofwhich was knocked off.The long term affects of MSTJasmine Black, a human resources specialist in the ArmyNational Guard from June 2006 to September 2008 wasraped by another soldier in her battalion when she wasContinued on page 30-29- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 29– Rape Rampant in US Militarystationed in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. She reported itto her Sexual Assault Response Coordinator (SARC) andthe Military Police, but the culprit was not brought tobook.After an early discharge due to MST and treatment at aPTSD Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program(PRRTP) facility, she was raped again by a higherrankingmember of the air force in February 2009.Administrator for a combat engineering instruction unitin Knoxville, Tennessee, Tracey Harmon has no illusions.“For women in the military, you are either a bitch, adyke, or a whore. If you sleep with one person in yourunit you are a whore. If you are a lesbian you are a dyke,and if you don’t sleep with other soldiers you are abitch.”Maricela Guzman served in the navy from 1998 to 2002as a computer technician on the island of Diego Garcia.She was raped while in boot camp, but fear ofconsequences kept her from talking about it for the rest ofher time in the military. “I survived by becoming aworkaholic and was much awarded as a soldier for mywork ethic.”The VA denied her claim nevertheless, “Because theysaid I couldn’t prove it … since I had not brought it upwhen it happened and also because I had not shown anydeviant behavior while in the service. I was outraged andfelt compelled to talk about what happened.”While it will go to any length to maintain public silenceover the issue, the military machine has no such qualmswithin its own corridors. Guzman discloses, “Through thegossip mill we would hear of women who had reportedbeing raped. No confidentiality was maintained nor anyprotection given to victims. The boys’ club culture isstrong and the competition exclusive. That forces manynot to report rape, because it is a blemish and can ruinyour career.”The department of defence reported that in fiscal year2009, there were 3,230 reports of sexual assault, anincrease of 11 percent over the prior year.However, as high as the military’s own figures are ofrape and sexual assault, victims and advocates Al Jazeeraspoke with believe the real figures are sure to be higher.Veteran April Fitzsimmons, another victim of sexualassault, knows what an uphill battle it is for women totake on the military system. “When victims comeforward, they are ostracized and isolated from theircommunities. Many of the perpetrators are officers whouse their ranks to coerce women to sleep with them. It’s aclosely interwoven community, so they are safe andmove fearlessly amongst their victims.”Her advice to women considering joining the USmilitary?“The crisis is so severe that I’m telling women to simplynot join the military because it’s completely unsafe andputs them at risk. Until something changes at the top, nowoman should join the military.”Research support was provided by the Investigative Fundat The Nation Institute.http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/12/2010122182546344551.html☻☻☻☻☻☻Military Sexual Abuse'Staggering'In part two of our series, Al Jazeera examines the oftenhidden world of rape and abuse in the US military.By Dahr JamailAl Jazeera24 December 2010Every year, rape increases at an alarming rate withinAmerican military institutions – and even males arevictims of the cycle.In fact, due to raw demographics, one can roughlysurmise that most victims of sexual abuse in the militaryare male.Regardless of gender, reports of victims of militarysexual assault have been increasing. In 2007, there were2,200 reports of rape in the military, whilst in 2009 sawan increase up to 3,230 reports of sexual assault.Many of the victims suffer from Military Sexual Trauma(MST) and are shamed into silence, with numerous casesnot even reported.A disturbing trend, however, is how military officialsseem to be sweeping this damaging issue under the rugand deflecting blame.Blaming the VictimKira Mountjoy-Pepka of Pack Parachute, a non-profitorganisation which assists sexually abusedveterans, explains that the military system favours theperpetrator. "What we're seeing now, and what we’veseen for decades, is when someone is assaulted, themilitary investigators create false or misleading crimereports. Then the case is dismissed, and the commandpersecutes the victim for false reporting."Continued on page 31-30- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 28 –Military Sexual Abuse StaggeringShe cites the Feres Doctrine (Feres v. United States, 340US 135 [1950]) that made it impossible for the survivorto sue the investigators since it, "essentially prohibitspeople from suing the military and/or petitioning anynon-military legal authority for interdiction without themilitary’s prior and explicit agreement and consent.""If you're a victim and you report this crime and themilitary mishandles the investigation, you can't suethem," she explains, "I feel if this were taken up byCongress as an issue it would be exposed that the militaryis operating against the Constitution by denying victimstheir first amendment rights. The military always hastheir own investigators investigate [these cases], and thatdoesn’t seem like justice to me."The military goes to great lengths to protect theperpetrators, and that deters survivors from reporting.The incidences of sexual trauma in the military arestaggering.The Department of Defence claims to have a zerotolerancepolicy towards sexual assault in the ranks, butfigures indicate otherwise.According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, therate of sexual assault on women in the military is twicethat in the civilian population. A GovernmentAccountability Office report concluded that most victimsstay silent because of "the belief that nothing would bedone; fear of ostracism, harassment, or ridicule andconcern that peers would gossip."While a civilian rape victim is ensured confidentialadvice from his or her doctors, lawyers and advocates,the only access a military rape survivor has is to achaplain.Compared with a 40 per cent arrest rate for sex crimesamong civilians, only eight per cent of investigated casesin the military lead to prosecution.After Congress mandated it do so in 2006, the Pentagonstarted a comprehensive programme to track incidents.That year, there were 2,974 reported cases of rape andsexual assault in the military. Of these, only 292 casesresulted in trials, and those netted only 181 prosecutionsof perpetrators.Nearly half the cases are dismissed for lack of adequateproof or due to the death of the victim. Less than 11 percent of the cases result in a court martial. Often, thoseprosecuted merely suffer a reduction in rank or pay, and80 per cent receive an honourable discharge nonetheless.The victim, on the other hand, risks ending his or hercareer when they file charges.Signed, the commanderFaced with the threat of possible persecution and losingtheir jobs and professional credibility, most soldiersprefer to remain silent about their traumas. Not thatsilence helps, because records reveal that less than onethirdof the women have been able to maintain theircareers in the military after having been assaulted.When presented with these dismal statistics in aninterview with ABC News last year, former PrincipalUndersecretary of Defence for Personnel and Readiness,Michael Dominguez said, "Yes, we absolutely have to getbetter. Secretary [Robert] Gates himself is driving thisinitiative this year to improve our ability to investigate, toprosecute and convict. This is not where we want to be."Dominguez’s replacement, Clifford Stanley, issued aStrategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2010-12 on December 30,2009. It addresses the need to "Establish a culture free ofsexual assault", and puts forth goals of 90 per cent"awareness" and 80 per cent "confidence" in the sexualassault prevention and response program by the end of2015, with no specific mention of the means toaccomplish these goals.Those plans do not fill Susan Avila Smith withconfidence. She is director of the advocacy groupWomen Organising for Women and she projects a dismalpicture."The people I work with go all the way back to WWII.The stories are almost exactly the same. It has alwaysbeen covered up. Still the drill sergeants, chaplains, anddoctors appear to be the worst perpetrators. So whenthese guys are convicted, rather than punishing to thefullest extent, they can give them a letter of reprimandwhich means Tommy was bad, signed The Commander.That letter comes out of his personnel file before hemoves on to the next unit, so it’s like nothing happened."Military 'aware' of the crisisPentagon spokesperson Cynthia Smith assured AlJazeera, "We understand this is very important foreveryone to get involved in preventing sexual assault, andare calling on everyone to get involved, step in, andwatch each others’ backs. We understand that one sexualassault is too many in the Department of Defence (DOD).We have an office working on prevention and response"The office she alludes to is the Sexual Assault Preventionand Response Office (SAPRO), which is responsible forthe oversight of the DOD’s sexual assault policy.In 2008 Kaye Whitley, Director of SAPRO, wassubpoenaed to testify at a hearing of the Subcommitteeon National Security and Foreign Affairs but was orderedby the military not to do so. Continued on page 32-31- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 31 – Military Sexual Abuse StaggeringAt a second oversight hearing she did appear andconfessed to the members of Congress, "I was given adirect order by my supervisor to get back in the van andgo back," she said.At an MST Congressional hearing on February 3, 2010,highlighted was what many see as the problem – themilitary investigating itself for criminal acts of sexualassault and rape committed by its personnel, as well asthe naming of Task Force members and the work of theTask Force being delayed for three years.Due largely to Mountjoy-Pepka’s work in the wake of herexperiencing MST and taking action, in October 2005then-Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld authorisedthe DOD Task Force on Sexual Assault in the military.However, the DOD took three years to name the TaskForce, and the group's initial meeting did not occur untilAugust 2008. During that period, 6,000 service womenand men were sexually assaulted or raped.This same Task Force told Congress’s Military PersonnelSubcommittee that, "DOD’s procedures for collectingand documenting data about military sexual assaultincidents are lacking in accuracy, reliability, andvalidity."Task Force leaders also told Congress that "neithervictims nor other military personnel were routinelyinformed of the results of disciplinary actions relating tosexual assault", and "Commanders generally did notcommunicate case results to members of their command,and that this lack of information often led tomisperceptions, rumours, and assumptions thatallegations were unfounded."Fighting backAnuradha Bhagwati, the executive director of ServiceWomen’s Action Network (SWAN), a group that helpsmilitary women who have been victims of sexualviolence, contradicts claims by the DOD that their newprograms will slow the number of MST victims. "We areseeing a disturbingly steady flow," Bhagwati said .In addition, she told Al Jazeera, "Contrary to DOD claimsthat they are making it easier for MST survivors to gethelp, MST survivors have a much more difficult timethan other vets because of the burden of proof being onthem. There are concrete legal barriers in place thatprevent MST survivors from getting help."The DOD defends the policy, saying it ensures thatsoldiers get retained, promoted and their careers aren'tdestroyed.SWAN has draft legislation in place to get rid of this.-32- Traditional African Clinic January 2011policy.Bhagwati concludes that nothing short of "radicalsystemic change" will solve the MST crisis in themilitary today.Susan Burke is an experienced litigator in Washington,DC who served as lead counsel in five actions broughton behalf of the torture victims at Abu Ghraib prison,as well as a suit against Blackwater for killing 17 Iraqisin BaghdadShe urges us to think of MST this way: "Think of thevictims - it is a double blow - first they're physicallyassaulted, then the institution that is supposed to carefor them does not care for them."She claims that the DOD has done little more than givelip-service to tackle the problem. "They createddifferent positions, SARC, SAPRO, but the problem isthat there is no genuine political will to change things.It's a paper tiger…the will doesn’t exist. When youlook at the career paths of perpetrators compared to thevictims, the former are rising up the ranks, and thevictims are leaving the military."She is putting together a class action suit against theDOD for failure to protect service-members from MST,aims to file it in February, and hopes the case will bringsignificant and lasting reform in the DOD’s stance onMST.They’ve been saying for years that they just need moretime, that they’re getting their act together," Burkeadds, "You can’t expect to have a properly functioningmilitary without discipline problems being addressed,and if you can’t address rape, you have a real problem."1995: Archives of Family Medicine revealed that 90per cent of women veterans from the 1991 US attack onIraq and from earlier wars had been sexually harassed.2003: American Journal of Industrial Medicinesurveyed women veterans from Vietnam to the 1991Iraq attack and found that 30 percent of them had beenraped.2004: According to a study published by the Journal ofMilitary Medicine, of veterans from Vietnam and allwars since, 71 per cent of women soldiers have beensexually assaulted or raped while serving.2007: The Miles Foundation, a private nonprofitorganisation that provides support to victims of sexualassault in the military, received 976 reports of sexualassault in the Central Command Area of Responsibility,which includes Iraq and Afghanistan.Continued on page 33

Continued from page 32 - Military Sexual Abuse StaggeringChristine Hansen, executive director of the foundation,said at the time that there was a steady upward trend inthe number of reported cases of sexual assault, of 10 to15 per cent each quarter.2008: The Pentagon reported nearly 3,000 cases ofwomen assaulted sexually in Fiscal Year 2008, anincrease of 9 percent from 2007. For women serving inIraq and Afghanistan, the increase was 25 percent.2009: The annual report on sexual assaults states, “In FY09, there were a total of 3,230 reports of sexual assaultinvolving military Service members as either victims orsubjects, representing an 11% increase from FY 08.”2009: Admission by the Pentagon that approximately 80per cent of rapes are never reported - making it the mostunder-documented crime in the military.http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/2010/12/20101223113859171112.html☻☻☻☻☻☻African Women in UK SilentlySuffer Domestic Violence15 December 2010By Mariama KandehLondon — Martha Kanu* bowed her head andsobbed, fighting to get out the words to explain what'sbecome of the marriage she once thought would beeverything she always wanted.Kanu is one of many African women living illegally inthe United Kingdom while waiting to get residencypapers. Because many are dependent on husbands orrelatives for support or documentation, they are morelikely to stay in abusive relationships. Because of thisthey are also scared to seek help or report domesticviolence to the authorities."I never thought I was going to be treated this way. Ithought he loved me," she explained.Kanu has been working full time since she came to UKbut her wages go into her husband's bank account and hewon't allow her to open her own. "He convinced me thatas a married couple it is wiser to have a joint bankaccount but later I realised he has more than fourdifferent accounts," she said.She said her husband regularly beats her and once brokeher ankle. Yet she can't leave him, she said. "Whenever Itry to leave, my relatives both here and in Africa willencourage me to bear with it and wait until I get mydefinite leave to remain here."Although there is little data on domestic violence in theUK, a British Crime Survey study carried out on behalfof the UK Home Office estimates that one in every fourwomen in the UK are likely to have experienced someform of non-sexual domestic violence.Furthermore, a House of Commons 2007/2008 HomeAffairs Committee report on domestic violence, forcedmarriage and honour-based violence noted that only atiny proportion of victims of domestic violence willcontact statutory authorities, particularly criminal justiceagencies, making measurement of the scale of abuse evenharder.Kanu's husband, who brought her to the UK more than ayear ago, asked her to marry him after he saw her picturein a mutual friend's photo album. Kanu saw it as anopportunity to leave behind the poverty of her nativeSierra Leone and start a new life.Yet after she tried to leave her husband, Kanu's relativesaccused her of becoming westernised and greedy. Theytold her she should consider herself lucky to have ahusband who brought her so far away from Africa."I am fed up with him beating me and swearing at me allthe time," she said, her head dropping into her hands. "Hetold me he will not help me get my papers here and that ifI insist he will tell the immigration people that he hasnothing to do with me anymore and they will deport me. Idon't want to go back to Africa. Life was not easy for me.I dropped out of school at form two and was helping myaunt selling at a market in Freetown."Christyn Brown of Central London Action on SexualHealth (CLASH) believes most abused women are afraidto inform authorities for fear of being deported back totheir home country. Brown emphasised the need to reachout to abused women, noting that many of them end up incommercial sex work in a bid to gain financialempowerment and get away from their abusive partners.She said victims of trafficking or those in abusiverelationships are almost always without their passports ortravel documents and usually have rehearsed a false storyto explain their situation."They are timid and always very careful about what theysay," she said, noting they often work six or seven days aweek and their money ends up in the pockets of the menabusing them.To make matters worse, the African communitymaintains a culture of secrecy around issues of domesticviolence, especially when it involves married couples.Continued on page 34-33- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 33 - African Women in UK SilentlySuffer Domestic ViolenceAfter she moved to London from Nigeria, GraceAnyanhu* also suffered domestic violence but when shetried to leave her marriage she found it impossible tocontinue living in the UK because her visa didn't allowher to work.When her husband burned her with an electric iron shewent to the police but he told the court she had showedup in the UK with the scars. She was scared ofdeportation and of being shunned by her community soshe didn't go to court to identify her husband as theperpetrator. The case was dismissed and she later soughtasylum.It is difficult for local organisations to help women insuch circumstances.Refuges, a safe house for women and children escapingdomestic violence, has a separate home from womenfrom African and Caribbean backgrounds. It providesimmigration and asylum seeker support and attempts tohelp women mitigate family, community and religiouspressures. Meanwhile, Southall Black Sisters, a resourcecentre offering services to women experiencing violence,estimates it is approached for help by more than 600women every year.Sadly, the struggle of some African women does not endwhen they leave Africa, where a good number suffersimilar abuses every day. For those like Kanu andAnyanhu, the dream life they thought they would find inEurope has become a nightmare worse than the one theyleft behind in Africa.*Names have been changed.Mariama Kandeh is a Sierra Leonean journalistcurrently living in London. This article is part of theGender Links Opinion and Commentary Service.http://allafrica.com/stories/201012160570.html☻☻☻☻☻☻Uganda: Domestic Violenceand HIV Bedfellows - the Taleof Kalangala's BatteredMothersBy Chris Kiwawulo8 December 2010New VisionWhen Florence had a domestic brawl with her husbandtwo years ago, the man beat her up and she left theirhome.Florence had come with her 13-year-olddaughter of another man from Masaka to Bunyama Islandin Kalangala district, but on leaving, she left the girlbehind. On returning after six months, her husband haddefiled the girl, impregnated her and infected her withHIV/AIDS. The man, Stephen Minaani, was arrested andis now facing trial in Masaka High Court as the girl isfighting for her life with HIV.This appalling story is one of the dozens of cases thathappen on several of the 84 islands that make upKalangala district, where the HIV/AIDS prevalence iscurrently estimated at between 17 and 20%, reveals Dr.Edward Muwanga, the district HIV focal person. "Theprevalence was as high as 30% between 2001 and 2008and more in some areas."The national prevalence stands between 6.5% and 7%. Inother cases, Muwanga says, married men go for sexworkers or women other than their wives after they havehad brawls at home. The head of the Police child andfamily protection unit in Kalangala, Grace Night, saysthey receive about five cases of domestic violence everymonth and about four cases of defilement by fathers (bothbiological and step)."Worryingly, majority of the fathers who defile theirdaughters are HIV-positive," Night says. Police, togetherwith NGOs, have, therefore, started a sensitisationcampaign to curb domestic violence as a proactivemeasure to avert the spread of HIV, especially amongyoung girls.The biggest challenge is lack of funds to access all theislands that make up Kalangala district. She also notesthat some men run to the mainland or other islands aftercommitting crimes. She, therefore, calls for funds toestablish a mobile court that will enable islanders accessjustice and deter more crime.The HIV prevalence rate worsens in Kalangala when newpeople with infections go to the islands. In a crammedenvironment where the population of women is waylower than that of men, sharing is a common practicewhich has largely contributed to the rise in the prevalencerate. For every 150 men, there are 100 women, saysMuwanga, adding that the presence of high riskpopulations like sex workers, fishermen, boda bodariders, truck drivers and shambaboys working in palm oilplantations exacerbates the problem.The island's population is about 63,000 people and this iswhat Government budgets for when it comes to healthContinued on page 35-34- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 34 - Domestic Violence and HIVBedfellows Domestic Violence and HIV Bedfellowsservice provision. But, due to a continued influx of newpeople to the island, Muwanga says pressure on drugshas increased and as a result, the district experiencesdrug shortages, especially for antiretroviral drugs(ARVs).Consequently, many people end up dying due to failureto access drugs although some other patients fail toaccess ARVs due to transport constraints.Betty Nantalefrom Kisujju island in Bujumba sub-county says shehas to part with sh20,000 to come to Kalangala HealthCentre IV to get ARVs.The situation gets worse when it comes to patients wholive on distant islands like Mazinga near the Uganda-Tanzania border. The cost of transport is very highsince a litre of fuel costs as high as sh6,000 on majorityof these islands. They need a minimum of sh40,000 toget to the ARVs' collection point in Kalangala.To this, Muwanga suggests that the Government stepsin to organise mobile clinics to ensure that HIV patientsaccess drugs and live positively. Otherwise, he argues,the deaths from HIV/AIDS have resulted in an increasein the number of child-headed families in the district.Muwanga reveals that Kalangala has the highestpercentage of child-headed families in the entirecountry at 6.1% of the district population.Interventions like the Kalangala Home-BasedVoluntary Counselling and Testing (KHBVCT)programme have come in place and tested over 50% ofthe people in the district . The Kalangala district Forumof People Living with HIV/AIDS Network(KAFOPHAN) has also bailed out many living withHIV.Funded by Action Aid Uganda, the Civil SocietyOrganisation, Kalangala District DevelopmentProgramme and the National Forum of People Livingwith HIV/AIDS, KAFOPHAN has so far reached out to1,800 residents in Kalangala's seven sub-counties."Our aim is to reach out to all people living with HIVin Kalangala and to ensure that they access ARVs sothat they can live longer like other normal humanbeings," says Molly Mulaaza, the chairperson ofKAFOPHAN. Mulaaza, who tested HIV-positive in1992 after her husband died, says it has always beenher wish to unite HIV-positive persons in Kalangala.Mulaaza, a mother of seven, is now able to look afterher children and four other orphans. Although there are84 islands in Kalangala, the Government has onlygazetted 62 landing sites yet the rest also need help,Mulaaza points out.With ActionAid, KAFOPHAN offers Kalangala residentscounselling, training in prevention, care and treatment ofHIV patients. Ssanyu Kalibbala, the ActionAid Ugandacommunications co-ordinator, says people living withHIV need extra care in terms of social service provisionlike feeding and health care. "A person who is HIVpositiveneeds three times the energy of a normal personto perform a given task," Kalibbala notes.She urges the Government to ensure that people livingwith HIV in Kalangala access ARVs so as to live longer.ActionAid started the Kalangala district initiative projectin 1999 with the aim of improving health and sanitationin the district. They later changed into an integratedproject with child sponsorship funding in 2001 focusingon agriculture and education. In 2007, the thematic focuschanged to education and HIV/AIDS, an area Kalibbalasays service delivery was unjust and inequitablydelivered.Because of ActionAid's continued advocacy for increasedhealth service delivery, some mothers like 29-year-oldLillian Basirika, who is HIV-positive, was able to havean HIV-negative baby when she accessed the preventionof mother-to-child transmission of HIV service. Basirika,whose son is now nine months, says she tested positive in2006 and she started taking septrin immediately.Her husband is also positive and through sensitisation, hehas been made to accept the condition instead of turningviolent like many men in Kalangala do on realising thatthey are positive. "I tested at Kalangala Health Centre IV.But since I asked him to come with me, he wascounselled and he did not turn violent when we got theresults," Basirika, a resident of Bujumba village inBujumba sub-county says.With a vision to ensure a world without poverty andinjustice in which every person enjoys their right to a lifewith dignity, ActionAid thrives to work with poor peopleto eradicate poverty by overcoming the injustice andinequity that cause it.http://allafrica.com/stories/201012090973.html☻☻☻☻☻☻South Africa: It Does Not Payto Be an AbuserBy Thabo Mofokeng7 December 2010Johannesburg, South Africa — In life there are those whoContinued on page 36-35- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 35 – SA: It does not pay to be anAbuserare abused and those who are abusive.Abuse manifests itself in different ways from beatingyour young children for no reason to ill-treatment ofyour partner. I am a reformed perpetrator of genderbasedviolence and other forms of violence and cannow tell you from experience that as an abuser onedoes not realise that they are doing wrong and maythink that they are doing the right thing by punishingsomeone, including verbally or physically.I remember when I used to date someone a long timeago, our relationship began on a happy note but alongthe way things changed. I loved her but I used to fightwith her all the time. I used to beat and insult herincluding her parents, family and friends. As a resultshe left me and now does not allow me to see the babywe had together. She does not trust me anymore andfeels that I am not man enough.It is really sad because this child will grow up without afather. I am afraid that this is going to affect the child inthe long run. Every child needs to grow up with theirbiological parents or someone who loves themunconditionally. The mother gets emotional whenasked about the father of the child because she is stilltraumatised mentally and emotionally by what I did toher.I used to beat her up while our child watched. Now thatI reflect on it I regret it because many times childrenwho witness violence repeat it when they grow up.They adopt the thinking that the only way to solveissues is to beat or insult one another. Youunknowingly create a monster.I have experienced this through my nephew. As hegrew up he was told that the man who was staying withhis mother was not his father. His father had died someyears prior, before his mother met his stepdad. This wassaid, not knowing that it could affect the young boy'slife. He eventually spent his youth life in prisonbecause he began disrespecting his stepdad and stealingfrom him. This problem even manifested itself atschool and he was expelled.After he was expelled from school, he ganged up withother young boys who were not going to school. Theystarted to rob school kids, despite knowledge of the lawand the consequences arising from breaking it. Todayas I write this, he is in prison.Unfortunately, my nephew was also physically abusedby an elderly person who lived in their community. Iam trying to encourage all adults with child responsibilitiesnot to abuse children in any way, because that willkill the future of our country and destroy the moral fabricof our societies.It is as bad when you abuse a woman. I once fell in lovewith another lady who was working as a domesticworker. I worked next to where she stayed.However, this did not last, though I loved her so much.We enjoyed each other's company, until I becameabusive. I was so jealous that I did not want to see herwith any other man, except me. I would beat her up forthat and other petty things such as if she didn't pick upher phone. When she asked that we break up, I refusedand beat her up for suggesting it. It was getting out ofhand.I became abusive to her friends as well. I suppose herfriends wanted the best for her and raised their concernregarding the abuse. They knew that I was beating her up,so they decided to join forces and started insulting me.A huge fight resulted. I went after her friends, beatingthem up. To me I was doing this out of love, withoutrealising that I was abusing her and her freedom. I felt herfriends were the reason why we were fighting all thetime. I was lucky because they never took the matter tothe police.What I am trying to say is stop all abuse. It will end upaffecting you as a perpetrator in many ways. I am notproud of being an abuser and I regret all that I have doneMy message to all is that abusing a woman does notmake you a real man.Instead you are a man who cannot stand his groundwithout using force because you are insecure and alwaysfeel intimidated. I have changed for the better and hopethat my last girlfriend and her friends will forgive me. Iwas out of my mind, thinking the only way to make senseto be loved and viewed as a man by a woman was to beather. I see that it did not solve anything, but it createdenemies for me. Now I am hurt. I feel I am beingneglected and treated as a social outcast because of all thewrong things I have done to people and the hurt I havecaused.This "I" Story is part of a special series on the 16 Days ofActivism for the Gender Links Opinion and CommentaryService that offers fresh views on everyday news. Formore information on the 16 Days Campaign go towww.genderlinks.org.zahttp://allafrica.com/stories/201012071225.html☻☻☻☻☻☻-36- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

African Traditional Herbal Research ClinicVolume 6, Issue 1 NEWSLETTER January 2011FEATURED ARTICLESHAITI: SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMENINCREASINGAmnesty.OrgJanuary 6, 2011Women and girls living in Haiti’s makeshift camps facean increasing risk of rape and sexual violence, AmnestyInternational said in a new report released today.One year after the earthquake which killed 230,000people and injured 300,000, more than one million peoplestill live in appalling conditions in tent cities in the capitalPort-au-Prince and in the south of Haiti, where womenare at serious risk of sexual attacks. Those responsible arepredominately armed men who roam the camps afterdark.More than 250 cases of rape in several camps werereported in the first 150 days after January’s earthquake,according to data cited in the Amnesty Internationalreport, Aftershocks: Women speak out against sexualviolence in Haiti’s camps.One year on, rape survivors continue to arrive at theoffice of a local women’s support group almost everyother day.“Women, already struggling to come to terms with losingtheir loved ones, homes and livelihoods in theearthquake, now face the additional trauma of livingunder the constant threat of sexual attack,” said GerardoDucos, Amnesty International’s Haiti researcher.“For the prevalence of sexual violence to end, theincoming government must ensure that the protection ofwomen and girls in the camps is a priority. This has so farbeen largely ignored in the response to the widerhumanitarian crisis.”Sexual violence was widespread in Haiti before January2010 but this has been exacerbated by the conditionssince the earthquake. The limited assistance theauthorities previously provided has been undermined bythe destruction of police stations and court houses. Thishas made it more difficult to report sexual violence.Over 50 survivors of sexual violence shared theirexperiences with Amnesty International for the study.-37- Traditional African Clinic January 2011One 14 year old girl, Machou, lives in a makeshiftcamp for displaced people in Carrefour Feuilles, southwestPort-au-Prince. She was raped in March when shewent to the toilet.“A boy came in after me and opened the door. Hegagged me with his hand and did what he wanted todo…He hit me. He punched me. I didn’t go to thepolice because I don’t know the boy, it wouldn’t help. Ifeel really sad all the time…I’m afraid it will happenagain,” Machou told Amnesty International.One woman, Suzie, recounted how she was living in amakeshift shelter with her two sons and a friend whenthey were attacked around 1am on 8 May. Suzie andher friend were both blindfolded and raped in front oftheir children by a gang of men who forced their wayinto their shelter.“After they left I didn’t do anything. I didn’t have anyreaction…Women victims of rape should go to hospitalbut I didn’t because I didn’t have any money… I don’tknow where there is a clinic offering treatment forvictims of violence,” Suzie said.Suzie lost her parents, brothers and husband in theJanuary earthquake. Her home was also destroyed.Amnesty International’s report highlights how the lackof security and policing in and around the camps is amajor factor for the increase in attacks over the pastyear.The response by police officers to survivors of rape isdescribed as inadequate. Many survivors of raperecollected how when they sought police help theywere told officers could do nothing.“There has been a complete breakdown in Haiti’salready fragile law and order system since theearthquake with women living in insecure overcrowdedcamps,” said Gerardo Ducos.Continued on page 38

Continued from page 37 – Haiti: Sexual Violence againstWomen Increasing“There is no security for the women and girls in thecamps. They feel abandoned and vulnerable to beingattacked. Armed gangs attack at will; safe in theknowledge that there is still little prospect that they willbe brought to justice.”Amnesty International is calling for the newgovernment to urgently take steps to end violenceagainst women as part of a wider plan to address thehumanitarian effort. The report states that women in thecamps must be fully involved in developing any suchplan. Immediate steps include improving security in thecamps and to ensure police are able to respondeffectively and that those responsible are prosecuted.http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/haitisexual-violence-against-women-increasing-2011-01-06☻☻☻☻☻☻Sexual Violence in HaitianCamps of the Displaced,Beyond the NumbersBy Chiara LiguoriCaribbean researcher for Amnesty InternationalMarch 22, 2010Since the first days of the earthquake, manyhumanitarian and human rights organizations, includingAmnesty International, have issued warnings about theincreased risk of gender based and sexual violence.The risks are well founded. Thousands of displacedpeople are sleeping in public spaces in just one squaremeter or even less; women are obliged to bath almostnaked under the eyes of the other residents and passersby;children sleep alone at night because they areunaccompanied or their mothers are working outsidethe camps in order to feed them.However, since the earthquake women’s organizationshave registered a drastic reduction in reported cases ofsexual violence. The self-organized camp managementcommittees confirmed to Amnesty International thatsexual violence is not an issue and that securitycommissions to patrol the camps at night have been setup. Most of the women in the camps interviewed by usdid not express concerns about sexual violence.So what is happening we asked ourselves. Have we gotit wrong? Have we over-estimated the risks? Or, is itthat women are too scared to report? Are we talking tothe right people?It was Malya, one of the co-founders of KOFAVIV, awomen’s grassroots organization dealing with themedical and psychological needs of rape victims, whostarted to clarify the issue. Malya’s house and officewere destroyed in the earthquake, together withEramithe, also a KOFAVIV co-founder, she is living inChamp de Mars, one of the biggest makeshift camps inPort-au-Prince.Even though they have lost all their belongings, theyhave not lost their will to fight sexual violence againstwomen and girls. In two months, 19 women and girlsliving in their section of the camp have reported casesof rape and sexual assault. Even though theyencouraged women to lodge complaints with the police,none of them would. They were too afraid, eitherbecause the attackers were living in the camp, or innearby areas, or because they had no other place to go.Not trusting the police to protect them and knowingthat the justice system is paralysed since theearthquake, they preferred to keep quiet. Those whohave relatives in other parts of the country chose toquit. The victims are fleeing while the perpetrators arestill around, probably looking for the next victim.In the absence of a centralized system for recordingcases of sexual violence, grassroots organizationsworking in the camps are the only source ofinformation. Living alongside women and girls in thecamps, they are able to identify who needs help.Margaret, a social worker for the organization ZanmiTimoun (Friends of children) has reached out to dozensof girls living in camps who have been victims of rapeand incest either before or after the quake. Weinterviewed 5 of them.The sadness of these girls, their low voices, their painsand their fears speak clearer and louder than any data ornumber. One of them is pregnant, another is afraid ofbeing pregnant, some are terrified of being killed bytheir attackers. They look resigned and submissive.When we asked them what they want most in life, all ofthem assertively said they wanted to continue to go toschool. One of them gave us a message to pass to theauthorities: “You need to protect the girls, because Idon’t want anybody to suffer what I have been goingthrough”.http://livewire.amnesty.org/2010/03/22/sexual-violence-inhaitian-camps-of-the-displaced-beyond-the-numbers/☻☻☻☻☻☻-38- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

DOMESTIC VIOLENCEWhat is Domestic Violence?Domestic violence is physical, emotional, sexual oreconomic abuse between intimate partners.Why does it happen?Domestic violence happens when one partner choosesto act in a way that is hurtful, frightening or threateningto their partner. Domestic violence is the responsibilityof the person who is behaving violently or abusively. Itis not the responsibility or fault of the person who isabused, no one can force or provoke another person tobe violent.Who does it happen to?Domestic violence happens in all kinds of homes – richor poor. Although both women and men can experiencethis violence, it happens much more frequently towomen. It may be happening to your mother, sister,daughter, friend, colleague or neighbor.Types of domestic violenceThere are many types of domestic violence, many ofthe kinds are not physical or cannot be noticed easily.This does not mean that they are less damaging orserious. All types of domestic violence areunacceptable. Here are a few of the most commontypes:Physical• Pushing• Hitting• Slapping• Grabbing• Beating• Hair pulling• Kicking• Choking• Burning• Twisting arms• Use of any type of weapon• Banging head on the floor or wallEmotional• Shouting• Swearing• Insults• Threatening violence• Name-calling• Humiliating• Embarrassing• Belittling• Making fun of her• Criticizing• Accusing her of affairs• Threatening to hurt the children• Locking her out of the house• Extreme jealousy• Threatening to leave• Constant questioning about her activities• Having affairsSexual• Forcing sex / marital rape• Unwanted touching• Grabbing sexual parts of her body• Making her do sexual things against her will• Coercion• Hurtful sex• Unfaithfulness• Inserting objects into private parts• Refusal to have protected sexEconomic• Withholding family finances• Stopping her from getting or keeping a job• Making her ask for money or an allowance• Demanding her money• Not allowing her to have moneyIndicators of Domestic ViolenceWomen experiencing violence may show some of thefollowing characteristics or behaviors:• Lack of self-confidence• Reducing or ending her participation in activities• Not wanting to see friends• Visible physical injuries• Making excuses for physical injuries• Sadness and loss of energy• Loss of appetite or inability to sleepChildren may experience violence directly or bewitness to other violence in the home. Children livingin violent homes may show some of the followingcharacteristics or behaviors:Problems in school• Fear of the dark• Clinging to mother or siblings• Increased violent behavior• Difficulty in getting along with other children• Withdrawal from activities, play or friends• Verbal abuse or talking back• Shyness• Oversensitive or easily upsetWhat are the consequences of domestic violence?Domestic violence hurts us all. Women in abusiverelationships cannot fully participate in community life.Continued on page 53-39- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 3 – Egypt: Ancient History of AfricanPhilosophycirculation, has no scientific foundation at all. There is noproof of an "Afro-Asiatic historical grammar." One mayrecall here what Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) called "theprejudice of the prestige of the multitude," that is to say,the supposition that what everyone says must be true. Inthe human sciences "scientific" circles often make claimsnot based on any objectively verifiable grounds but ratherjust on this kind of prejudice.Second, ancient Egypt was a flourishing ancient kingdomof Northeast Africa, located in the Nile Valley, nowise in"Asia Minor" or in the "Near East." The Egyptiancivilization of the Pharaonic period (3400-343 Bc) wasintrinsically, that is, in its essential nature, an Africancivilization. on account of its spirit, character. behavior,culture, thought, and deep feeling.As we know, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel(1770-1831), who was not a historian. but a greatphilosopher, stated in his lectures delivered in the winterof 1830-1 on the philosophical history of the world:"Africa is no historical part of the world: it has nomovement or development to exhibit .... Egypt . . . doesnot belong to the African Spirit" (1956: 99: emphasismine). This view of the Hegelian philosophy of historyhas become almost a common opinion and an academicparadigm in Western historiography. A great culture orcivilization cannot be produced by African (Black)people. Moreover, African people have never made anykind . of contribution to world history. Even somebrilliant African minds still accept as true Hegel'sincongruous statement. In modern times the primarydocument concerning the "question" of the ancientEgyptian connection with the rest of Black Africa was,until the Cairo symposium, Hegel's Philosophy ofHistory. Thus, it took one century and 44 years, fromHegel (1830) to the Cairo symposium (1974), to changethe paradigm installed by the German philosopher. TheCairo symposium was, then, a turning point in Africanhistoriography and philosophy.Ancient Egyptian Concepts of "Philosophy"It was said above that philosophy could be defined assystematic reflective thinking on life. There is not asingle philosophy that could be excogitated except inrelation to life, society, existence, and universe. Evenabstract reasoning about the condition or quality of beingnothing ("Nothingness") still deals with something in theuniverse, since the universe is the totality of all that is.Human beings always need to discern hat is real, true,right, or lasting. Such insight is wisdom, becauseunderstanding what is true, right, or lasting necessarilyelevates the mind. This is why "philosophy" was under--40- Traditional African Clinic January 2011stood by the Greeks as 'love of wisdom," and"philosopher" as "lover of wisdom." To philosophizewas not just to speculate about life and reflect onnature, but also to be engaged with love, intense desire,and strong enthusiasm in the investigation of causesunderlying reality in order to build up a system ofvalues by which society may live.Philosophy is more important in its essential functionthan in its mere methodology as a critical or analyticalinquiry into the nature of things. The basic notion ofphilosophy in ancient Egypt referred precisely to thesynthesis of all learning and also to the pursuit ofwisdom and moral and spiritual perfection. Philosophyin the ancient times of Pharaonic Egypt was, then, akind of pedagogy fielding the wise teachings (sebayit)of the old sages, who were scholars, priests, andofficials or statesmen at the same time.Indeed, the verb rekh (written with the hieroglyphicsigns of "mouth," "placenta," and "papyrus rolled up,tied and sealed") means "to know" or "to be aware ofbut also "to learn." Human beings know by learning,that is, through experience or conditioning, schoolingor study. The word rekh (when written with thehieroglyph of a seated man) means "wise man." that is,a learned man, an erudite, a philosopher. Thus theconcept rekhet (written with the hieroglyph for abstractnotions) means "knowledge," "science," in the sense of"philosophy," that is, inquiry into the nature of things(khet) based on accurate knowledge (rekhet) and good(nefer) judgment (upi). The word upi means "to judge,""to discern," that is, "to dissect." The cognate word upetmeans "specification." "judgment," and upset means"specify," that is, give the details of something.In the Egyptian language "wisdom" and "prudence" areexpressed by the same word: sat (the hieroglyphicdeterminative is very characteristic; it is of a man withhand to mouth). Indeed, to be wise (sai) is to be prudent(sai); it is to be almost "silent," that is, sagacious inhandling matters, and exercising good judgment.Wisdom and prudence imply knowledge (rekhet) andthe awareness of the principles of moral conduct andsociable behavior. The wise man (rekh or sai) grasps inhis mind with clarity and certainty what is knowndistinctively to him.The wise man or woman, of course, loves truth (mast).He or she is shrewd, marked by a keen awareness and apenetrating intelligence, because he or she has receivedformal instruction. In the Egyptian language, the wordseba (written with the symbol of a "star") means, "toteach," suggesting methodological teaching and anarduous learning process, such as at school.Continued on page 41

Continued from page 40 – Egypt: Ancient History of AfricanPhilosophyTo teach (seba) is to open tile door (seba) to the mind ofthe pupil (seba) in order to bring in light, as from a star(seba). Egyptian concepts concerning the topic underconsideration are precise:Seba: "to teach"at seba: "school," literally "house of teaching." (A famousschool director was Kemhu, who lived during the 13thDynasty, 1782-1650 BC. His statue from Abydos is nowin the Egyptian Museum at Cairo.)seba, also sebaty: "pupil"sebayit: "written teaching," "instruction," .`wisdom," alsopedagogy, that is, theta of bringing pupils from darknessto light in intellectual and spiritual liferep-heseb: "correct method"This last methodological concept, rep-heseb, occurs inthe very title of a scientific text, the so-called "RhindMathematical Papyrus," copied by the scribe and teacherAhmes in about 1650 ac from writings dating from about200 years earlier (see Gillings 1972).From the concepts clearly defined above, it is obviousthat Egyptian thinking created the terminology for theformulation of a system of abstract thought by using agraphic and concrete symbolism. Egyptian thinking wasgraphic and abstract at the same time. Pictures were usedas symbols of thought. The tangible signs, pictures, andsymbols were related to ideas and meanings. They were,in fact, semiotic structures. The Egyptians did develop akind of semiology by studying the relationship betweensigns and pictures, using material objects to representsomething invisible or abstract. This is not to say that theEgyptian philosophers thought "in" graphic and concreteterms. They made use of graphic and concrete forms tothink abstractions. This may seem quaint for the modernmind, because of the alphabetical system of writing. Infact, semiotic structures in hieroglyphic signs were a fineequipment for precise abstract thinking. And the earliestabstract terms for expressing transcendental ideas knownin the history of philosophy appear among the Egyptiansof the Pyramid Age, that is, during the Old Kingdom(2686-2181 BC). One is referring to ideas, such as thegoodness of God (nefer netcher), moral obligation, andhigh ideals of social equity (maat). Notable also are theideas of human kingship (nesyt) and of the concept of theSupreme Principle, or God (Ra), symbolized by the sun.The First Definition of a "Philosopher" in WorldHistoryThe ancient Egyptians meant by rekh or sai a "wisehuman being" or "philosopher." It was not just a question ofwords.Two thousand years ago in ancient Egypt, without a doubt,the "inscription of Antef" gave the first clear and distinctstatement conveying the fundamental meaning of a"philosopher." This is a demonstrable fact. The GermanEgyptologist Hellmut Brunner translates the "inscription ofAntef," which gives the definition of a "philosopher," asfollows:[He is the one] whose heart is informed about these thingswhich would be otherwise ignored, the one who isclear-sighted when he is deep into a problem, the one whois moderate in his actions. who penetrates ancient writings,whose advice is [sought] to unravel complications, who isreally wise, who instructed his own heart, who stays awakeat night as he looks for the right paths, who surpasses whathe accomplished yesterday, who is wiser than a sage, whobrought himself to wisdom, who asks for advice and sees toit that he is asked advice. (Inscription of Antef, 12thDynasty. 1991-1782 ac)The heart ib, also Katy, in the Egyptian language wasconceived as the seat of thoughts and emotions. The wordfor heart also meant "mind," "understanding," and"intelligence." Reason, emotion, spirit, mind, and bodywere not conceived as separate antithetical entities. Matterand spirit were not opposites in conflict. Thus, in theirinquiries philosophers can draw on all the resources of theirbeing, including reason and feeling. In this way they canexpect to achieve fulfillment.The reference to being deep into a problem indicates thatphilosophical thinking is a critical undertaking. Philosophyis not concerned with what is apparent, obvious, shallow, orinsignificant. Thinking deep means dealing with substantialissues. And what a philosopher does in life, he must dowithin reasonable limits, not at all being subject to radicalor extreme views. A philosopher champions moderateviews or judgments, as he or she loves truth (maat).A great philosophical and scientific tradition existed inancient Egypt. The philosopher was regarded as one whocould penetrate ancient writings and avail himself of theinstructions available therein. These works constituted aphilosophical tradition, that is, a set of teachings (sebayit)viewed as a coherent body of precedents influencing thepresent. The history of philosophy was thus already asystem of philosophy. Imhotep, Hor-Djed-Ef, Kagemni,and Ptah-Hotep in the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 BC) builtthe first philosophical tradition in world history. Theirwisdom or philosophy did them credit, because a thousandyears after they had passed away they were stillremembered with reverence:Continued on page 42-41- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 41 - Egypt: Ancient History of AfricanPhilosophyBooks of wisdom (i.e. philosophy) were their pyramids,And the pen was their child...Is there anyone here like Hor-Djed-El?Is there another like Imhotep?They are gone and forgotten,But their names through their writings cause them to beremembered.(Papyrus Beatty IV, Version)Imhotep was grand vizier to King Djoser (2668-2649Be), 3rd Dynasty. He was also high priest at Heliopolis,the main city of the Sun-God, Ra. He designed, as chiefarchitect, the step-pyramid at Saqqara, which is the firstconstruction in hewn stone in world history. Hor-Djed-Elwas a royal prince, son of Khufu (2589-2566 BC), 4thDynasty. He was connected with the greatest pyramid ofGiza.Women too were involved in the intellectual, scientific,and philosophical tradition. Lady Peseshet was the firstwoman doctor of medicine in world history. She livedduring the 4th Dynasty or the early 5th Dynasty (2584 or2465 BC). Her titles indeed included imyt-r swnwwt, thatis, "the lady director of lady physicians." She was also afunerary priestess.On the ancient Egyptian model, philosophers are not justcritical analysts, scholarly minds able to read ancienttexts. They must also be prepared to ask for advice andlook for the right paths. In addition, they must surpasstheir own performance by conducting the investigation ofcauses underlying reality always in a detailed andaccurate manner. But beyond this, the philosopher mustbetake himself to wisdom, that is, to what is true, right,and useful to the community. Thus, for ancient Egypt,philosophy implies the critical building of knowledge,intellectual penetration, and profundity, but also, andperhaps above all, modesty and moderation, humility, andan endless desire for perfection. This is wisdom and stilla valid conception of philosophy today.Hieroglyphic Signs and PhilosophyPlotinus (205-70 AD), Egyptian-born Roman philosopherand writer who founded Neoplatonism, wrote during thethird century AD that the "Egyptian sages showed theirconsummate science by using symbolic signs .... Thus,each hieroglyph constituted a sort of science of wisdom."On this showing, Plotinus considered hieroglyphs to be awriting system that recorded real things and ideas withoutconfusion. Apparently, hieroglyphs have no hidden and-42- Traditional African Clinic January 2011impenetrable mysteries. What hieroglyphs disclose is ofunique interest in the intellectual history of humanity.There are more than 800 hieroglyphic signs; theydescribe all the classes and categories of beings andthings held by creation. Hieroglyphs are the completeand systematized conceptualization of all that is; theyare an all-embracing knowledge of reality. Egyptianhieroglyphs express the universe, as it is known and asit exists; they mean, refer to, the totality of things. It isbecause of the universe that there are hieroglyphs. In asense, all things are hieroglyphs, and hieroglyphs areall things. This is why it was impossible for theEgyptians to conceive the idea of non-existence in thesense of the absence of the existent. Since the universeis beauty, abundance, plentitude, diversity, harmony.and unity, hieroglyphs reproduce by drawings all thesemanifestations of the universe.Everything is in hieroglyphs, such as, in random order,man and his occupations, woman and her activities,deities, mammals, birds, amphibious animals, reptiles,fish, insects, plants, trees, sky, earth, mountains, water,buildings, ships, domestic and funerary furniture,temple furniture and sacred emblems, crowns, dress,staves, warfare, hunting, butchery, agriculture, craftsand professions, rope, fiber, baskets, bags, vessels ofstone, earthenware, cakes, writing, games, music,geometrical figures, etc. Hieroglyphs, being aboutreality in all its diversity, also feature abstract concepts,such as spirituality, consciousness, love, sexuality,happiness, beauty, ugliness, rites, eloquence, loyalty,sovereignty, joy, life, power, birth, death, immortality,motion, wind, knowledge, silence, wisdom, flame,light, day, night, darkness, fear, alteration, smell,perfume, truth, justice, etc.The hieroglyphic script is a most complete semioticsystem - complete, that is, systematic, andcomprehending everything in the universe. Studyingthe Egyptian hieroglyphic script is like being incommunication with all that exists. The discipline ofEgyptology involves the learning of the Egyptiansystem of writing. Egyptian hieroglyphic writing isfound everywhere: on temple walls and columns,tombs, sacred monuments, and so forth. Paintedinscriptions do exist, illustrating the aestheticsensibilities of the Egyptian scribes. Egyptian writingreached its full development around 3200 BC, andthereafter remained fundamentally unchanged for aperiod of 3,000 years.The universal human need for communication andself-expression was graphically crystallized in theEgyptian script, which sought to represent the form ofContinued on page 43

Continued from page 42 – Egypt: Ancient History ofAfrican Philosophythe universe itself. This is impressive from both asemantical and a philosophical standpoint. Africans, atall events, must study the Egyptian language and script.The Dynamic Character of Egyptian Thinking on"Existence"Verbs expressing existence are not static but dynamicin Egyptian philosophy. They are basically verbs ofmovement, stressing duration and referring to momentsof time. Verbs like "to exist." "to be," "to be stable,enduring," and "to become" were dominant in Egyptianspeculation about life and the existence of the universe.The verb wnn (unen): "to exist," "to be"The verb wnn (unen), written with the hieroglyphicsign of the long-eared desert hare, means "to exist." "tobe." This verb expresses being or existence in a fullbloodedsense. Originally, it meant perhaps "to move,""to run." To be a true being, something always has tobe moving or running. Therefore, non-being is not.This means that existence excludes illusion, delusion,and mere sense impression. Existence is the prodigiousdynamic of all being. The synthesis of rest (hotep) andmovement (shemet) is the entirety of being, and it isunalterable and indestructible like the divine life. Theconcept of "existence" is closely related to that of"eternity," that is, the manner of being of that whichmay be called the perfect (nefer), that is, the god Ra.Ra is the highest being, imperishable, eternal,possessing full reality, that is, power, beauty, truth,perfection, and goodness."To exist" as duration is also a dynamic processreferring to any point of time. This is why one and thesame sentence can be understood in a past, present orfuture sense, according to the particular context and theintention of the text. For example, the sentence wnn ptwnn. t hr. i (unen pet unen. etj kher. i) means:"The sky existed when you were with me" (Past)"The sky exists, and you are with me" (Present)"So long as heaven shall exist, you shall exist with me"(Future)(Urkunden des aegyptischen Altertums, IV, 348, 9)Existence, whether absolute or relative to somesituation, is always a dynamic process. The name givento the resurrected god Osiris (Usire) was Wnn-4r(Unennefer) meaning "He who is continually happy,"or "He whose life was regenerated." Here, the verb wnn(unen) "to exist," "to be." evokes the immortality ofOsiris, who died and was reborn. The main goal ofhuman life (ankh) was to come to exist as a good (nefer)divine being in order to become Osiris, that is, immortaland eternal. The distinction between "being" and"non-being" was only a "semantical" distinction. It hadno ontological significance in Egyptian philosophy.The verb d d (djed) "to be stable," "enduring"Columns in the temple stand: that is, they are stable(died). But standing is viewed as the result of a rising.The "standing" of the columns in a temple is not a staticimage, because the mind is always thinking of thefirmness and stability of the columns as a process.Indeed, movement is conceived to be carried from theearth to the sky through columns. This means thathumanity, by building civilization and spirituality onearth, must reach up to the world of Truth (maat) andeternity (diet). The "being" of a column as it stands (djed)in its stability (djedet) is, in fact, analogous to the cosmositself. So, indeed, is the entire temple. The hardness of acolumn is a revealing reality because truth (maat)constitutes the real (maa) being of the column.By the art of the sculptor, a statue (tut) is not something"static," as it is perceived to be in Western thought. Astatue is a living image (tut ankh), a real (maa) becoming.Indeed, to carve (se-ankh) is to make life (ankh) itself asa real thing. A statue comes to be a power: it is thelocalized existence of the power (ka) of someone. KingTut-ankh-Amon and his golden statues are all of them"living (ankh) images (tut) of Amon," "an imaged life ofAmon." Everything described as durative (djed) is, infact, a dynamic expression of life. and a manifestation oftruth itself. Beauty (nefer) is not just an aestheticcategory, but also the manifestation of a transcendentalforce.The pillar (died) projected eternal life because it was asymbol of Osiris. As a matter of fact, the Nile was but thesource and visible symbol of that fertility of which Osiriswas the exemplification.The verb hpr (kheper) "to become"The notions "learn" (rekh), "ignore" (khem), and "love"(mer) imply continuity, but "know," "not know," and"wish" are regarded in Egyptian grammar as definitiveoccurrences resulting from "having learnt," "failed tolearn," "conceived a wish." Thus, as in some examplesnoted above, basically the same grammatical form is usedto express the continuity of a contemporaneousoccurrence and the pastness of a past occurrence.Actually, at the beginning of the 12th Dynasty(1991-1782 BC) the two verbs wnn (unen) ("be") and-43- Traditional African Clinic January 2011Continued on page 44

Continued from page 43 – Egypt: Ancient History of AfricanPhilosophykheper ("become") were used with a past reference and alsowith a future or prospective reference. The following clauseis an example of the first usage: iret kheperu neb mery. efkheper im. ef ("the making (iret) of all changes (kheperuneb) in which (im. ef) one may wish (mery. ef) to beinvolved (kheper)") (Urk, V. 4).We must then devote special attention to this verb khepernot only because it occurs very frequently in the Egyptiantexts, but also because the grammatical points discussedabove are concentrated in this verb. The verb kheperexpresses being or existence in all its possibilities. It thusmeans both "becoming" and "effecting." Included also inthe meaning of the verb are the ideas of cause and effect. Itis in this sense of the verb that the creator says to himself."I exist, and in me possibilities become existents" (kheper.ikheper kheperu). The existent exists because of the existenceof the creator. The existence (kheperu) of the creatormanifests (kheper) itself as' "becoming" and "effecting."There is no genesis, but co-genesis, in the sense that theexistent exists by the simple fact of its inner nature.Coming into being by itself (kheper. ef dies. ef ), theexistent brings out, at the same time, the entirety ofexistence. The one and the many are interlaced by the samedynamic power of the existent. One implication of this isthat "matter" and "spirit" are two aspects of the samereality. Try to deal with "matter" without "spirit," and whatyou have is incomplete, because "matter" and "spirit" donot just lie side by side. They are inextricably connectedtogether.As an intransitive verb, kheper means "come into being,""change into," "occur," "happen," "be effective," also "goby," "be past," always with the idea of continuity. Kheperalso means, as noted earlier, "to exist," "to be." As atransitive verb it means "bring out."The dynamic character of kheper is generally clear. Itsconnotation contains the unity of being, becoming, andeffecting. Within it, the gap between becoming and being isclosed by virtue of "effecting." In the universe everything isfull of power (ka) and effectiveness (kheper). The ka is thedynamic essence of each existence or being in the universe.We can understand now the dynamic character of theancient Egyptian conception of the world. Things do nothave the fixity and inflexibility that we believe they have.Things are changeable and in motion on the earth, in thesky, under water, etc. The earth and the sky themselvesmove.The Egyptian Conception of the UniverseBecause of the dynamic nature of its thinking on"existence"-44- Traditional African Clinic January 2011and the universal semiology of the hieroglyphs, Egyptianphilosophy was of a solar and cosmic orientation. Thematerial sun was known as Ra, that is, the "sun-god."Many deities were associated in some way with thesun-god Ra, such as Ra-Atum, the creator; Khepri, awinged beetle or scarab rising in the east; Horus, the sonof Ra; Hor-akhty, the Horus of the two Horizons;Amon-Ra. the god Amon of Thebes solarized.In the beginning the sun-god as Atum or Ra-Atum hadappeared from primeval waters known as nun by his ownpower of self-development. Note that "spirit" is thoughtof here as a self-development of "matter." The sun-godbegat Shu, the wind, and Te jnut, the first woman. Ofthese two were born Geb, the earth-god, and Nut, thegoddess of the sky, whose children were the two brothersOsiris and Seth, and the sisters Isis and Nephthys. Osirisand Isis will give birth to Horus, the dynastic divinefalcon. The Pharaoh himself assumed the title "Son ofRa" (sa-Ra) from the 5th Dynasty (2498-2345 ac)onward. Maat, the goddess of Truth or Righteousness,was a daughter of Ra (sat-Ra). The conception of Truthand Right occupied a prominent place in thought aboutAton, a solar deity. Hathor, the goddess of beauty, love,dance, and music, was the "eye of Ra." The pyramid wasthe chief symbol of the sun-god Ra. It was believed tohelp the Pharaoh in his transition from the earthly to thecelestial realm.In the philosophy of the ancient Egyptians these elementsof myth and cosmogony contain their basic ideas aboutthe world.TIF modern European mind conceives of "chaos" and"cosmos" as antithetical concepts. Chaos is defined as adisorderly mass, a jumble that existed before the ordereduniverse, the cosmos. On the other hand, for the Egyptianmind, there is no such thing as chaos in this sense. In thebeginning there was primordial space and time, the Nun,from which the sun-god Ra emerged by his own energyto start the existence of all beings. Nun, the primevalflood or water, was a god, existing before the sky cameforth (kheper), before the earth came forth. beforehumans came forth, before the multitude of gods wereborn, and before death came forth (Pyramid Texts, §§1466-8 ).The sun-god's life-giving power brought forth (kheper)all in existence, and his creative power continues to bringforth (kheper) life and force even in "inanimate" things.This life-giving power of Ra is the constant source of fifeand sustenance. Ra is present on earth as a beneficentpower; the Pharaoh, son of Ra, expresses his ownconsciousness of the god's presence by performing ritualsin the temple.Continued on page 45

Continued from page 44 - Egypt: Ancient History ofAfrican PhilosophyIn Egyptian philosophy, therefore, Nun is theprimordial element that existed prior to creation and Rathe source .of life and rationality. These cosmologicalconcepts are original with the ancient Egyptians.The Universe as an Endless BoundaryThe word djeru (drw) means: "boundary," "limit,""end." The "universe" is selfcontained, that is to say, itis its own boundary. The "universe" is, then, endlessbecause it has no boundaries; it is its own limit. This iswhy the word djeru (djer) means also "the all," "theuniverse." The expression ne6-er-djer means "Lord ofAll," that is, Lord of the universe, an endless boundary.The Universe as an Endless TotalityBeing without a boundary within itself, the "universe"(tem) is complete (tem) that is, entire andall-comprehending (tem). Because the "universe" isall-comprehending, it is a totality. The expression nebtem also means "Lord of All," that is, Lord of theuniverse, the totality of all that is. The "Creator of All"is named kema tem, that is, he who created (kema)everything, entire, complete, and sound.Being total (tem), the universe has, in fact, no limit,except its own totality. The boundary (djer) of theuniverse is its totality (tem). All is then djer or tem, alsodjer and tem. Constituting the whole, the universe isentire, but its entirety is limited by the universe itself;that is, the universe is an endless totality.Egyptian LogicLogic designates a specific branch of philosophy thatdeals with the study of the principles of reasoning. Thequality or condition of being rational - that is, having orexercising the ability to reason - is rationality. In thehistory of Western philosophy, rationality has oftenbeen blended with philosophy itself, so that philosophyand rationality have become merged into one, namely,rationalism. Much Western philosophy, from Aristotle(384-322 ac) to Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), isdeeply rooted in the notion that reason, rather thanemotion, sense experience, authority, or spiritualexperience, provides the only valid basis for action, andis the prime source of knowledge and spiritual truth.Other civilizations are usually judged by the criteria ofthis Western rationalistic attitude.If, as Descartes (1596-1650) remarked, good sense orreason is equally distributed among all human beings, itis then unjustified to believe that some groups of thehuman race are deficient in logic or point-devicereasoning. The so-called "native" or "primitive mind" isbut a racist prejudice, based on the belief that a particularhuman population or race is superior to others.When Egyptian mathematics, for example, are notsmattered or studied superficially, one can find thatEgyptian mathematicians dealt rationally with the problems.Indeed, the Egyptians made use of logic as a tool ofprecision in constructing and developing their mathematics.In geometry - that is, the mathematics of the properties,measurement, and relationships of points, lines, angles,surfaces, and solids or three-dimensional figures - all theproblems were arranged in a clear and consistent manner.There is always a logical coherence among the parts of aproblem. The basic structure of a problem always consistedof the following parts:1. tep: The Given Problem. This is the precise enunciationof the problem to be solved, with elucidatory examples.2. mi died en. Ek: Literally, "if one says to you that." Thisis the stage of definition, where everything is made clearand distinct, and all the relevant terms are explicitly andprecisely defined. The expression mi djed means"according to that which is said," that is, the process ofreasoning is to be addressed to a precisely formulatedproblem. '3. peter or pety. Literally, this means "What?" In Egyptiangrammar ptr (peter) stands at the beginning of questionswith the function of eliciting a logical predicate (Gardiner1957: 406, §497). A question is an expression of inquirythat invites a reply or solution. At this stage, then, thestudent is directly required to ponder and analyze (ptr(peter)) the problem under examination.4 iret mi kheper: Correct Procedure. This is the stage ofdemonstration, that is, the mental process of showingsomething to be true by reasoning and computation frominitial data. The process of calculating is based on a carefulset of mathematical formulas.5. rekhet. ef pw: The Solution. This is knowledge (rekhet)found, and grasped in the mind with clarity or certainty.The solution is regarded as true beyond doubt. The studenthas shown the requisite know-how, that is, the knowledgeand skill required to do something correctly. The solution isevident, thanks to the demonstration by a dependablelogical procedure.6 seshemet, seshmet: Examination of the Proof. This is thereview of the whole body of evidence or premises and rulesthat determine the validity of a solution. Such anexamination of a logical proof always leads to a furtherconceptual generalization. Thus the ancient Egyptians hadthe technique of forming concepts inductively.-45- Traditional African Clinic January 20117. gemi. ek nefer: Literally, "You have found good." Thisis the concluding stage. To be able to do something, andContinued on page 46

Continued from page 45 - Egypt: Ancient History of AfricanPhilosophyfind it correctly done, means that it was done as it shouldbe done. To find (gemi) is to obtain by intellectual effort,and bring oneself to a mental awareness of what iscorrect, precise, perfect (nefer). To arrive at a logicalconclusion and find that the conclusion withstandscritical scrutiny is an achievement in the art of deduction.The adverb nefer ("well") implies that the solution isconvincing, so that a contradiction is impossible. Theconcluding observations are mainly confirmatory.Nevertheless, the rigor of the entire process is evident inthe method, and the result is objectively known in alltruth.The Being and Essence of the Cosmos and of HumansHow did the cosmos come to be? What is thefundamental nature of a human being? Thesephilosophical questions deal with the being and essenceof the cosmos and of humans. It is, then, of importance toturn our attention now to ancient Egyptian thinkingconcerning these questions. The Egyptians conceived theorigin of the universe and all things in it as an evolution,but also as a physical emanation of the divine power.Genesis or "Creation" as an EvolutionThe Nile and the sun are the two phenomena thatdominated the Egyptian intellectual and spiritual lifefrom the earliest times. However, long before the Nileand the sun came into existence, there was, in Egyptiancosmogony, the primeval Nun, an ethereal substance thatexisted before all else. It was from this original substancethat Ra-Atum originated. Nun is a dense and opaquesubstance, neither transparent nor translucent,impenetrable by light. But, with the appearance in it ofRa-Atum, there comes light and spirit. Ra-Atum haswithin itself a force, a power of nature. Thanks to thispower of nature, gods and goddesses, heaven and earth,animals and human beings gradually will come intoexistence. There is no God standing at the beginning as aconscious and moral personality, and as creator of heavenand earth.Nun itself is an uncreated fluid or substance ("primevalwater"). But the world and all things in it are brought intobeing out of Nun. The created comes gradually from theuncreated. Contrary to-the usual supposition, here "spirit"comes out of "matter." Nun, a physical substance, andRa-Atum, an intellectual and spiritual force, are different,with opposite properties, but complementary to eachother. Nun can be described as being, and Ra-Atum asmovement. The complementarity of "matter" and "spirit"clearly illustrates the unity of opposites in variousprocesses within the universe. Nevertheless, there is an-46- Traditional African Clinic January 2011epistemological problem of the greatest difficulty.As noted above, the historical development of theuniverse, in ancient Egyptian cosmogony, goes back toNun as the original "matter" and Ra-Atum as the first"form" from which other forms are made or developed.This is an evolution, that is to say, a natural process inwhich something changes into a different morecomplex or better form. In the present case what wehave is a process of cosmic evolution, and thefundamental elements may be grouped as follows:1. Nun, the primordial "waters" existing prior to theemergence of the creator-god: Huh, the boundlessstretches of primordial formlessness; Kuk, darkness,and Amon, "the hidden," representing the intangibilityand imperceptibility of precreation existence.2. Ra-Atum, the self-emanating creator-god from Nun.In the Book of Genesis (Old Testament) the creator-godexisted alongside chaos. The earth was chaos, waste,and void (weha' arets hayetha thohu wabhohu, inHebrew). By contrast, Atum was alone in Nun: Alumwas Ra in his very first appearance, a king in full glory(kha), one who existed before Shu had even liftedheaven from earth. Alum means "everything," and itmeans also "nothing." Atum is what is finished,completed, and perfected. It means bothall-inclusiveness and emptiness.3. Geb and Nut, earth and sky. These represent thecreated things of this world, whether divine, cosmic,human, animal, vegetal, or mineral.Genesis or "Creation" as a Physical Emanationfrom the Divine PowerThe qualities of the creator-gods (Alum, Ra, Ptah) are:might (6au), radiance (hedjut). prosperity (udjau),victory (nakhtu), wealth (useru), plenty (asha), sanctity(djoseru), readiness (aperu), creativity (iri), intelligence(ib), adornment (djeba), and stability (djedet). Thesequalities appear also with the ka, "spirit." at royal birth(Brugsch 1968: 996ff.). Because of all these qualities,the creator-god is able to bring a new being intoexistence by the act of naming it. The name is a thingof individuality and power; the act of uttering a newname is an act of creation.In the text Memphite Philosophy (a mutilated stela nowin the British Museum, London, no. 797, formerly no.135), we find clearly articulated a broad philosophicalsystem about the nature of the universe, emphasizingthe divine word that brought forth the world. Creationis explained strictly in physical terms. Creation is an actof thought (hatiu) which came into the heart (i6) of agod and the commanding utterance (udjet-medu) whichContinued on page 47

Continued from page 46 – Egypt: Ancient History of AfricanPhilosophybrought that thought into reality. This creation by thoughtand utterance is like a physical emanation from Godhimself.The divine word is treasured in ancient Egypt because ofits sensible nature and its enormous power. The divineword is clearly the ever-active divine power proceedingout of the mouth of the divinity. The divine wordappeared in Egypt as a corporeal emanation from thecreator-god:It was he who made every work, every handicraft, whichthe hands make, the going of the feet, the movement ofevery limb, according to his command, through thethought of the heart that came forth from the tongue.(British Museum. stela no. 797, trans. James H. Breasted,1912)A pair of related attributes of the creator-god, which werethemselves personified as deities, were Hu, "authoritativeutterance," or the commanding speech which brings asituation into being, and Sia, "perception," the cognitivereception of an object, idea, or situation. Perception inthis dynamic sense and authoritative utterane weretogether the ongoing creative principles of the universewhich involved the* heart (ib), which conceived thoughts(hatiu), and the tongue (nes), which produced thecommand (udjet-medu).The world is first an idea conceived in the "heart," i.e.mind, of the divinity. All things first existed in thethought of the god, and then assumed objective reality bythe utterance of the "tongue." The utterance of thethought in the form of a divine "let it be done" broughtforth the world. This Egyptian conception of creation bythought and word was stated many centuries before theLogos doctrine of the New Testament, which has it that"in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was withGod, and the Word was God."The Egyptian Conception of ImmortalityAccording to the Egyptian conception of the origin of theuniverse (by evolution or divine emanation), everythingis in eternal movement: gods and goddesses, humanbeings, nature, and the world. The totality of existence iskheper, that is, transformation and becoming throughtime and space. All sources of being and fife (ankh) are inGod, the only true one (maat). Egyptian thought made thegreatest achievements in the fields of philosophy(wisdom) and science, i.e. astronomy, medicine,architecture. But spirituality ("religion") and morals werenot neglected. In all these fields the Egyptians soughttruth and certainty through rational inquiry. Theycombined the capacity for logical reasoning with deep-47- Traditional African Clinic January 2011psychological understanding.Harmony, and self-control, movement, life, deepemotion, power: this is the Egyptian way. Human beingswere conceived as being ennobled with spiritual entitiessuch as ka, "spiritual essence," ba, "the soul," i.e. thepower to make the dead a "mighty one," and akh, aspiritual equipment for greatness. The idea of a lifebeyond the grave - that is, the belief in the immortality ofthe soul and the resuscitation of the body - was firstexplicitly expressed among the ancient Egyptians. It isevident that the Egyptians had developed a psychology ofthe dead for the first time in human history. Mortuarypriests and priestesses knew from a study of manuals theright rituals and procedures for reconstituting, one byone, the faculties of the dead, so that they will be able tolive again in the hereafter. For the Egyptians, death was akind of process of self-consciousness in which humansattain an identification with the gods whose reaction issummed up as "One of us comes to us" (Pyramid Texts,pyramid of Mer-en-Ra, 6th Dynasty).The celestial and mortuary teachings on the Kingdom ofthe dead and teachings on moral values in the affairs ofliving human beings were never separated in ancientEgypt. This is why the earliest chapter in the moraldevelopment of human society is to be found in Egypt, "achapter marking perhaps the most important fundamentalstep in the evolution of civilization" (Breasted 1972:165-6).The Metaphysical Problem of "Evil"In the beginning, the creation was neferu, that is,"perfection," "beauty," and "goodness." The ka or spiritof the universe was nothing but good. How then can itbecome evil?When an individual being, god or goddess, human being,animal, or tree, comes into existence, a certain ku ("soul,""spirit," "essence") is inherent in him or her or it. This kamakes a being what he, she, or it is and constitutes his,her, or its nature or personality. Hence, "human nature" issimply the ka of humanity that is inherent in eachindividual. The ka was thought to be a person's god,sometimes godhead in general, and sometimes a specificgod (netcher; Coptic nute, nuti). The ka is, then, thedivine force within humans that governs their behavior.How then can it be evil?Egyptian women and men were beings possessed of valuein themselves. Eternal life was the great goal. Spiritualand mental vigor was very deep. How then can there beevil?A remarkable text gives four good things the supremeGod did in order to silence evil:Continued on page 48

Continued from page 47 – Egypt: Ancient History of AfricanPhilosophy1. The creator made Wind, i.e. life equally available to allhumans.2. Water being a crucial factor in the formation of theNile Valley, an assurance of equal access to water meantbasic equality of opportunity.3. All humans are created equal ("I made every humanlike his or her fellow"). This means that the creator hadnot intended that humans do evil.4. The final good deed of the supreme God was to callhuman attention to the kingdom of the dead, the region ofeternal life and to the god-worship and rituals that mustbe performed in order to attain that immortality.In full, the verse on the third good deed of the supremeGod runs as follows:I made every human like his fellow.I did not command that they might do evil,But it was their hearts that violated what I had said.That is (the third) of the deeds.(Adriaan de Buck, CofinTexts, VII, 1130: 461-5)It is clear that humans are the flock of God. He madeheaven and earth so as to satisfy their desires and wishes.He made the breath of life for their nostrils. Humans areGod's image fashioned out of the divine body. Plants andanimals, fowl and fish, were made in order to nourishhuman beings, How then can there be evil?Evil comes from humans themselves. Their own hearts(haty, "heart," hatiu, "thoughts," fb, "heart," "mind,""understanding," "intelligence," "will") have devisedwrong. Social inequality is no part of God's plan.Equality is a divine dispensation, but wrongdoing is ahuman act. Human beings must bear the responsibility forthe latter alone.Evil is not a divine principle in the world. The origin ofevil is to be found within the nature of human beingsthemselves. Human nature (ka) is good, but the first thingin life is consciousness (ib). The mind (ib) can havevarious activities, such as thinking and feeling, but tothink and feel well depends on consciousness. In humanbeings the principle of humanity, righteousness,propriety, and wisdom belongs to consciousness. Humanbeings can distinguish between what is right and wrong,thanks to their consciousness. They are gives light is thehuman mind and its consciousness (ib). For capable ofhaving commiseration, forgiveness, and also of beingashamed of wrongdoing. The flame of a candle dependson how the candle has received the rich tallow that giveslight. The flame is the ka, but the tallow that really all thesereasons, education (seba) is very necessary.Maat, the Keystone of Egyptian PhilosophyAncient Egyptian society lasted almost 35 centuries. Duringthis long span of time, there was no social discriminationbetween men and women, no human servitude or slavery,no detention in jails, and no capital punishment. This waspossible because of Maat, the keystone of the Egyptianphilosophy.Symbolism of MaatThe goddess Main, wearing a tall ostrich feather upon herhead as her symbol, was called the daughter of Ra, or theeye of Ra. She was also known as lady of the heavens,queen of the earth, mistress of the underworld, and mistressof all gods. Ritual scenes depict Egyptian kings presentinga statuette of Maat to the gods as a supreme gift.Maat as the Embodiment of Perfect VirtueMaa basically means "the real," "reality," that is, that whichis genuine and authentic as opposed to artificial or spurious.Maat is reality as a whole, that is, the totality of all thingspossessing actuality, existence, or essence. Maat is thatwhich exists objectively. In fact, Maat is that which hasnecessary and not just contingent existence. This is whyMaat is everywhere and pervades all creation (er-djer). Itmeans also that Maat is pertinent to all the spheres ofreality, the divine or sacred, the cosmic, the physical, thepolitical, and the familial. In short, Maat is an exhaustiveand comprehensive concept.This inclusiveness makes it an orderly and aestheticallycoherent whole: which is why Maat also means theorderliness of the totality of existence. Accordingly, everythingin the universe that is real and orderly is theexpression or manifestation of Maat.In particular, when in society human beings conductthemselves in the proper way or perform in the correct way,they are manifesting Maat. Hence these other meanings ofMain, as "truth," "justice," "righteous-ness," "rightness."Maat is the highest conception of physical and moral lawknown to the ancient Fgyptians.Thus it is that the goddess Maat was the personification oflaw, order, rule, truth, right, righteousness, canon, justice,straightforwardness, integrity, uprightness,conscientiousness, and perfection. Egyptian civilizationwas built upon this very inclusive concept, with its greatfecundity of meaning. However, to talk Maat is of no use, ifit is not practiced. In truth, AUX is a way of life andspirituality.Maat is more than Ethics or Moral PhilosophyContinued on page 49-48- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 48 – Egypt: Ancient History of AfricanPhilosophyThe Pharaonic state was organized according to thepolitical principles of Maat. Because of this, people did notlive in what Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) called "the stateof nature." In philosophy, ethics designates moralphilosophy, that is, the principles of right conduct theorizedas a system of moral values. But Main can be understood asa transcendental moral philosophy, because it is alreadydivine. Maat has nothing to do with what is called inWestern philosophy "moral values," "ethics,""imperatives," etc. A Pharaoh was not a "political animal"or a "moral leader," but truly a real (maa) king, a divineleader, and a spiritual king, concerned with the divineprinciples governing the world. The kings of ancient Egyptupheld the laws of the universe and of human society,which Maat embodied, i.e. cosmic order, truth, justice,harmony, perfection, and spiritual strength.Maat is, thus, more than "ethics" or "moral values," becausethe creatorgod himself lives by Maat. Things change(kheper), both in the world of nature and of human beings,but Main, underlying and regulating the changes, remains(men) unchanging as long as the creator-god Ra exists. Anancient Egyptian text runs:O Ra!Master of truth (Maat)Living of Truth (Maat)Rejoicing in Truth (Maat)Vaunted in Truth (Moat)Formed of Truth (Maat)Eternal through Truth (Maat.Abundance by Truth (Maat)Powerful by Truth (Maat)Constant in Truth (Maat)Rich by Truth (Maat)Adorned by Truth (Maat)Shining by Truth (Maat)Satisfied by Truth (Maat)United to Truth from his beginning.(Litany of the god Ra)The Immanence of Maat in African cultureThe honor and awe in which the Egyptians held Maat wastremendous. In fact, Maat is still one of the principal forcesin the development of African societies. The fundamentalrole of Maat is manifested nowadays in the language ofvarious African ethnic groups:Ancient EgyptianCoptic(Egypt)Caffino (Cushitic,Ethiopia)Kongo Congo)Ngbaka (CentralAfricanRepublic)Fang (EquatorialGuinea, SouthCameroon,Gabon)Mpongwe (Gabon)Knowledge,” whichthe Delphic oraclealso enjoinedYoruba (Nigeria)Hausa(Nigeria)Mada (NorthCameroon)Nuer (Nilotic,Sudan)maat, "truth"; maa, "true"me, mee, mie, me!, meei."truth," "justice," and also"truthful." "righteous"moyo. "motive," "reason"(truth and reason areinseparable)moyo, "life," "soul." "mind"(same semantic field)ma, magic medicine (inorder to know the truth)mye, mie, "pure" (tabe mye."to be physically andmorally pure")mya, "to know" the truth(mya re isome, the selfnothi seauton)mo, "to know" the truth(knowledge)ma, "in fact." "indeed"(affirmative truth: ni ma naji, "I in fact heard it")mat, "genie," "goblin"(semantic specialization)mat, "total," "sum up";"forces" (ro mat. "to joinforces with. "Maat is indeedthe total of all virtues, allforces as ideals to guide manin his personal and spirituallife).ConclusionThe serious and careful study of African philosophyfrom antiquity through the present era will reveal thatAfrican philosophy has a very wide scope. All theContinued on page 50-49- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Continued from page 50 – Rape Epidemic fuels Fistula Cases inThroughout the conflict women have been brutalized byrape and sexual violence. An estimated 200,000 women andgirls have been assaulted over the past 12 years, with morethan 18,000 cases reported between January and September2008. This past May, the U.S. Senate foreign relationscommittee held a hearing to address how rape is being usedas a weapon of war in the DRC.Physical TraumaOften this rape takes on extremely violent forms and cancause injuries to a woman’s reproductive organs. Forinstance, it can cause a health condition called vaginalfistula, which happens when the wall between a woman’svagina and the bladder and/or rectum tears. Also calledtraumatic fistula when caused by sexual violence, it’s hardto know how many women in the DRC have this condition.But it’s been estimated that thousands of Congolese girlsand women have been impacted, and one assessment of sixDRC provinces found that out of 432 fistula cases, around14 percent were because of trauma.Jim Bliss, blogging on The Quiet Road, elaborates on thesituation. He says: In the rest of the world the condition[fistula] generally occurs due to serious complicationsduring childbirth.Most gynecologists and obstetricians will go their entirecareer without ever encountering a single case. In DRC,however, there’s an epidemic. And it’s not down to anincrease in complicated births.Many of the militias in DRC have adopted a deliberatepolicy of terror through mass rape…However rape – evenviolent rape – does not as a rule cause fistula. No, insteadthe militiamen, having already gang-raped the woman(often a huge number of times over a period of weeks ormonths) will deliberately inflict major damage to hergenitals before sending her back to her village. More oftenthan not this is achieved by carefully shooting the woman’svagina at point-blank range…Knives, broken glass or justsharp sticks are [also] used to cause as much damage aspossible. Girls as young as 12 months have been subjectedto this violence.Medical complications for women with fistula can includebeing permanently incontinent, infertility, miscarriages, andother health problems. On top of this, women with fistulaoften face stigma because of their status as a rape victim, aswell as their chronic incontinence.Treatment and health careMany wounded women are unable to get treatment, butthere are some medical centers that treat rape-relatedinjuries, including fistula. One such center is the PanziHospital in Bukavu, which was created in 1999.Surgeons at the hospital performed 540 fistula repairsin 2005, 80 percent of which were due to sexualviolence. In this video, a psychologist at the PanziHospital shows what life is like for women seekingtreatment for traumatic fistula.Endre Vestvik visited the hospital and took a series ofphotos of women and girls being treated for fistula.This is a photo of 4-year-old Vitonsi, who is preparingfor fistula surgery. She was raped by soldiers whentrying to cross the river with her pregnant mom and hersister.Hope for the futureDespite the positive work being done by thesehospitals, Emin Pasha, blogging on Congo Resources,felt highly discouraged after learning more about sexualviolence in the DRC.Little is being done about the problem, despite the factthat rape in eastern Congo has become such a wellknownand well-publicized problem. Research on thetopic remains preliminary; there are still only a handfulof clinics and hospitals addressing the needs of thewomen; police and local authorities still don’t have anycapacity or willingness to protect the population; andoverall it appears that the problem is getting worse notbetter.Still, Brad MacIntosh, blogging on A wide-angle viewof the DRC conflict, says his visit to the Panzi Hospitalin June gave him a glimmer of hope.It is hard to describe all the emotions as I walkedthrough the open corridors of the hospital complex on awarm and sunny day. I headed towards the operatingtheatres and found that the second building is now fullyoperational. This operating theater is for surgical repairof women who have survived rape. Surgeries areperformed by the head fistula surgeon, a gentle andwise doctor named Dr Yunga who I met previously.Beyond this building is a beautiful courtyard wheresurvivors of rape have a place to call their own, wherethey have workshops, sing, cook and learn skills…Ihave seen evidence of remarkable progress at PanziHospital. Layers of progress in fact, which leads me toconclude it is a place of immense potential andoptimism in city that has seen too much despair.http://www.conversationsforabetterworld.com/2010/01/rapeepidemic-fuels-fistula-cases-in-the-democratic-republic-ofcongo/http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/07/29/drc-rape-epidemicfuels-fistula-cases/☻☻☻☻☻☻-51- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

African Traditional Herbal Research ClinicVolume 6, Issue 1 NEWSLETTER January 2011FEATURED ARTICLESNo One Can Value The Black Wombman More Than She CanValue HerselfMama Mawusi AshshakirGuardian Director of the Body Temple Institute of Wholistic and Herbal StudiesDefinition of Black Womanby Sis LeTava Author of “The Black Woman’s Agenda”Posted on Monday, September 27, 2010 at 11:18am onFacebook.Black woman: (n.) the only true wonder of the world;mother of the oldest people on the planet; inspiration ormuse; ultimate contender; stand-in foreverything; fuel forevolution; the make-it-happen captain; The answer to theage old question, "which came first?"Black woman: (v.) miraculous act of making somethingout of nothing; love in action; process by which a mightynation is upped; means by which to "get shit done."Black woman: (adj.) serves as the perfect modifier ofany scenario, person, place or thing; signifies the qualityof an object or environment; implies multiplicity and/orgreat extent; distinguishes something from "somethingelse."Black woman: (adv.) transforms every action,description, preposition, proposition, thought, phrase,clause or sentence; expresses the ultimate relationship ofmanner, quality, place, time, degree, quantity, cause,opposition, affirmation or denial; the complete transcommunicationof a time and place for EVERYTHING.For many years we have allowed ourselves to be referredto as “The Holy Ghost” while we birthed, bleed andbegged for dignity. The ultimate dagger in our backs wasand is still being dealt by the white man – the coldestpimp, drug dealer and people stealer in the course ofwritten history – unconscious black men just follow suit.Religion, politics and education help to perpetuate theoutdated myth of the highlander who was born of TheFather, The Son and a Holy ghost.Sad but up held by unconscious Wombmen that allowthemselves to be erased from chieftaincy by “Belief”.Allow me to update the Knowledge:-52- Traditional African Clinic January 2011Mitochondria are structures inside cells which holdsour “collective memory”. Wombmen are human timecapsules read on:Mitochondrial DNA is Only Inherited from theMotherWhat sets mtDNA apart is that, unlike nuclear DNAwhich is equally inherited from both father and mother,mtDNA is inherited only from the mother, because allour mitochondria are descended from those in ourmother's egg cells.This means that Mitochondrial DNA is passed from amother to her children, which also makes it useful fortracing individuals’ maternal lineage. So, that whileboth sons and daughters inherit mtDNA from theirmothers, only daughters can pass their mtDNA to theirchildren.Mitochondrial Eve - Out-of-Africa TheoryImagine the mitochondrial DNA of all women livingtoday, then that of all their mothers, and their mothers’mothers. It is obvious that each set will be as small asor smaller than the previous set. Eventually the set willcontain only the mitochondrial DNA of one woman -"Mitochondrial Eve".The research group reported that genetic diversity inmitochondrial genes of all living humans could betraced back to one woman who lived in Africa approximately200,000 years ago.So to disrespect, disregard, disconnect yourself fromthe maternal source is to disassociate yourself fromAfrika! The Black Wombman must hold herself inthe highest regard as it takes a Highly RegardedBlack Wombman to give birth to a Highly RegardedBlack Nation!Mama Mawusi Ashshakir, Master Herbalist, is a featuredwriter on the ATC Newsletters.http://thebodytemple.ning.com/ is her website.☻☻☻☻☻☻

Who's Stealing Little BlackGirls?by Amanda KloerAugust 13. 2009Across America, young African-American girls arevanishing from homes, schools, and neighborhoods andreappearing in brothels, escort agencies, and strip clubs.But what's happening to them isn't magic- it's slavery.And the insidious part of the trick is that no one seems tobe helping them.Across America, about 800,000 children are reportedmissing each year, 33% of which are African-American.In New York City last year, half of reported missingchildren were black and 60% were female. And thesearen't 17-and-a-half-year-olds; most of the girls werebetween 13 and 15. Other urban areas like Atlanta,Washington DC, Chicago, and Los Angeles with largeAfrican-American populations also have high instancesof young black girls being kidnapped or "running away".But what's happening to these girls? Surely they don'tvanish into thin air?They vanish, in fact, into pimps' pockets; these girls endup as trafficking victims in the commercial sex industry.Some meet pimps on the street and are deceived orcoerced into street prostitution. Others are forced intostrip clubs or filmed for pornography. Still others areadvertised on Craigslist, escort agency websites, andother corners of the Internet. They are just as muchhuman trafficking victims as the Vietnamese womenenslaved in brothels in Thailand or the Guatemalan girlheld in a home in El Paso.However, many law enforcement agents still understandhuman trafficking as an international crime and seek itout primarily among communities of immigrants.According to the AMBER Ready Inc./Foundation,Law enforcement in general only discusses humantrafficking in terms of the Asian and Latino immigrantpopulation while ignoring the threat to young and underagedindigenous Black and Latino women.In addition to the lack of attention by law enforcement,significant public outcry has claimed missing black kidsare not featured in the national mainstream media asmuch as missing white kids. In an entirely un-scientificstudy, I thought about the last few missing kids Iremember, and yes, all of them were white. I live inWashington, DC, a majority African-American area, andall I can remember are stories of missing white kids.True, my memory could be faulty, but I think few wouldargue that missing black and white kids get truly equal-53- Traditional African Clinic January 2011time on the national news.So between a faulty understanding of human traffickingand a racially-biased national media, young black girlsare falling through not so much cracks as gaping holesin America's safety nets. And at the bottom of thoseholes are pimps waiting to make money and johnswanting to "get lucky". At the bottom of those holes isa life of rape and abuse and slavery.We know who's stealing little black girls, and theyaren't magicians or illusionists. They're humantraffickers, and it's time we put an end to their act.http://humantrafficking.change.org/blog/view/whos_stealing_little_black_girls☻☻☻☻☻☻Continued from page 39 - Domestic ViolenceTheir energy, ideas, skills, talents and opinions to theirfamilies, communities, places of worship, and thepolitical process are lost when their bodies and mindsare consumed by domestic violence. For an abusedwoman, violence causes health problems, sadness,isolation and a loss of self-confidence.In families, domestic violence creates an unpredictableand frightening environment. Children learn to feartheir fathers and worry about their mothers. Childrengrowing up in violent homes learn that violence andaggression are acceptable ways of expressing emotionor resolving conflicts. These children are more likely tocommit acts of violence on the street and in their ownhomes as adults.Our community also pays a high price for domesticviolence. Businesses lose money due to sick days andthe ill health of female employees who are beingabused. Substantial financial and human resources mustbe used for domestic violence intervention includinglaw enforcement, health services, court and legalproceedings, and social services.What can you do to prevent domestic violence?Becoming informed about domestic violence is animportant first step in addressing the problem. Learn asmuch as you can about the issue and share yourknowledge with others. When more people understandand refuse to accept domestic violence it becomes moreand more difficult for men to keep abusing. Here areother specific suggestions to prevent domestic violence:If you know a woman who is experiencing domesticviolence, reach out to her. Let her know you are therefor her and that you are ready to give her nonjudgmentalemotional support. Remember, she mustmake her own decisions about her life, do not try toContinued on page 55

The Effects of Child SexualAbuse on an Adult SurvivorSource: Survivors of Incest Anonymous, Inc.Any sexual contact between a child and a trusted individualthat damages the child, whether covert or overt, whetherflirtation or sexual intercourse, needs to be dealt withassertively. It scars virtually all facets of the victim's life,since she is left with little or no self-esteem.At least one out of five boys and one out of four girls will beabused before they reach the age of 18. The child’s emotionalgrowth will be stifled at the age of the first attack, and thevictim will probably not begin to recover until adulthood, ifever.Boys as well as girls can be victims of sexual abuse. Anyonecan be an abuser, especially if he is perceived by the child tobe someone in authority, including a brother, uncle, friend ofthe family, aunt or teacher -- the list is endless. However, forthe sake of clarity, we will refer to the victim as a girl and theabuser as her father.Some of the social maladjustments arising from incest arealcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution and promiscuity.Eating or sleeping disorders, migraines and back or stomachpains are just a few of the physical consequences that a victimmay suffer. Food, sex, alcohol and/or drugs deaden painfulmemories of the abuse and expel reality temporarily. If avictim perceives obesity to be unattractive, and if she believesshe was abused because she was pretty, she may overeat in amisguided attempt to defend herself from further sexualassault. "I felt like throwing up" is a common responseamong victims, and bulimia is a way of acting out thatfeeling. Anorexia is another form of self-punishment,eventually leading to the ultimate self-victimization, suicide.Many emotional problems can emerge from the abuse,including inability to trust, perfectionism, phobias andavoidance of both intimacy and emotional bonding. Thedenial system that insured the victim's survival as a child nowprevents her from enjoying an unencumbered adulthood. Shedoesn't trust her own perceptions; she was forced to becomean expert in disbelieving her own senses.She tries to convince herself that she overreacted--thatnothing really terrible happened: "My daddy would neverREALLY hurt me." When reality is too painful for a child smind, she learns to fictionalize. It is extremely painful to giveup a fantasy family, since children see themselves either inreflected glory or disgraced shadows. Therefore, the victimmakes excuses for the abuser: "He was drunk at the time. Hehad it rough as a child." She takes responsibility for theassaults: "I was too pretty, too sexy." Her father probablyreinforced her own nagging guilt and questions she had-54- Traditional African Clinic January 2011concerning her own innocence.Essentially, the victim defends her father by minimizing,rationalizing and taking the blame on herself. If shecontinues to use these coping mechanisms as an adult, sheis set up to be abused in her current relationships. InSurvivors of Incest Anonymous, she can learn to accept thefact that she was abused rather than loved by her father. Shecan then learn to seek out only healthy, lovingrelationships. She has been accustomed to accepting onlycrumbs, believing that she does not deserve anything better.The victim may have parenting problems and be alwayssecond-guessing her decisions, which is another result ofdistrusting her own perceptions. A victim may avoidparenting altogether, try to be a perfect parent or repeat theabuse. The worst possible consequence is when a victimperpetuates the abuse onto the next generation.Another repercussion of incest is that victims often regardauthority figures with anxiety. Passivity is comfortablebecause it is familiar, and she may accept familiar miseryrather than risk unfamiliar change. An experiment wasconducted in which dogs were forced to endure painfulelectric shocks without any means of escape. A secondgroup of dogs were compelled to endure shocks andquickly escaped when it was possible. When the first groupwas shocked again, with escape now possible, they did notleave. They had been conditioned to endure pain. Thisexperiment suggests why so many victims are sexuallyabused as adults by therapists, counselors, doctors orbosses. Victims are accustomed to losing battles and feelingpowerless. Victims do not believe they can win. Assertionis a difficult concept for an incest victim.The victim's inability to trust affects her feelings aboutmembers of the opposite sex. Women who have beenabused by men will often say, "I don't trust any men; theyonly want sex." Often, boys who are abused by more thanone male feel compelled to believe they MUST BEhomosexual. The assaults have been emotionally orphysically pleasurable to the victim, and this fact reinforcesthe suspicion that he himself must be made a homosexual:"Both my uncle and a male teacher were attracted to me,and since it felt good to me, I liked it, so I must be gay." Indefense of the abuser, he may say, "I am the one who is gayand my abuser sensed it, that's all."Another result of the conflicting messages of incest is thatmany victims confuse sex with affection and love. Manywomen will say, "The only time my father ever gave meany attention was in bed. I was special to him then. I feltloved." Since she desperately needs validation, this womanis likely to become promiscuous. She needs to know that apromiscuous child is often the result, but never the causeContinued on page 55

Continued from page 54 – The Effects of Child SexualAbuse on Adult Surviviorsthe cause, of incest. She believes that if someone hassex with her, then he automatically loves her. She hasmade an unfortunate mistake by confusing sex andlove.When the abuse is physically violent, maybe evenpainful, she may confuse sex with control and power. Atypical comment might be, "When I have sex withsomeone, I feel like he is controlling my body. I feelthat as I respond to him, he is manipulating me, and Iam a puppet all over again." This woman may shut offall sexual feelings and retreat from all sexual contact;she fears so that no one would validate her.Survivors of Incest Anonymous, a 12-step recoveryprogram, is an available resource for the adult survivor.A statement read at the end of each SIA meetingreminds us: "The pain is temporary; denial and itsconsequences are forever." When the victim tires of theconsequences and becomes willing to work diligentlyon the incest issue, she is then on the way to living herlife as a survivor rather than a victim.http://www.livestrong.com/article/13941-sexual-abuse-andincest/#ixzz1A9cUuc7A☻☻☻☻☻☻Continued from page 53 - Domestic Violenceforce her to do anything. Guide her to services in thecommunity that could also help her. If you know aman who is violent toward his partner, find anappropriate time and talk with him about it. Do notignore the problem. Ignoring it means you agree with it.Share with him healthier ways of expressing emotion ordealing with conflict. Make it clear to him that theviolence is unacceptable.From: Mobilising Communities to Prevent DomesticViolence: A Resource Guide for Organisations in East andSouthern Africa, Raising Voices 2003☻☻☻☻☻☻CHILD TRAFFICKING• Child trafficking is one of the fastest growingcrimes in the world.• There are 2.5 million child sex slaves in the worldtoday, some as young as 4 and 5.• More than 1,000,000 children worldwide willbecome victims of child trafficking this year.• Over 100,000 children in the U.S. are currentlyexploited through commercial sex.• The global market of child trafficking is over $12billion a year.• The total market value of illicit human trafficking isestimated to be over $32 billion a year.• An estimated 14,500 - 17,500 foreign nationals aretrafficked into the U.S. each year.• Approximately 80% of human trafficking victims arewomen and girls and up to 50% are minors.• 600,000-800,000 people are bought and sold acrossinternational borders each year; 50% are children,most are female. The majority of these victims areforced into the sex trade.• There are open sex slavery cases in all 50 states.• U.S. citizen child victims are often runaway andhomeless youth.• Runaways, orphans and the poor are targets for sexualpredators.• Approximately 80% of trafficking involves sexualexploitation, and 19% involves labor exploitation.• There are more slaves today than ever before inhuman history.http://aheartforjustice.com/blog/2010/08/23/some-humantrafficking-statistics-and-stop-child-trafficking-now/☻☻☻☻☻☻Bystander Apathyby ife piankhiHe hit meI don't know with which handbut i remember the sound it made.Time stood still as those aroundburied their heads in the sand.He turned aroundapologised to the proprietor'Sorry man'a hand on his shoulder as if to say'I know you understand'He left.I stood feeling heavy heat on my cheekI hadn't seen it comingFelt assured he wouldn't go therein the presence of othersWhy didn't they say anything?I gathered my childheld her hand and she held mineI knelt to meet her eyesShe cried as did I.Ife Piankhi is a performance poet and singer, creativewriter, educator, facilitator who through her work aims toinspire, and encouraging us to enqire and question what weknow as reality. ☻☻☻☻☻☻-55- Traditional African Clinic January 2011

Mission StatementOur aim at The African Traditional HerbalResearch Clinic is to propagate and promote theawareness in Afrikan peoples at home and abroad oftheir health, biodiversity, history and culturalrichness. We gather pertinent information on theseissues and disseminate these freely to our people inUganda, the rest of the continent, and anywhere inthe Diaspora where Afrikans are located…. One ofthe main ingredients for increasing poverty, sickness,exploitation and domination is ignorance of one'sself, and the environment in which we live.Knowledge is power and the forces that control ourlives don't want to lose control, so they won't stop atanything to keep certain knowledge from the people.Therefore, we are expecting a fight and opposition toour mission. However, we will endeavor to carryforward this work in grace and perfect ways.“Where there is no God, there is no culture.Where there is no culture, there is noindigenous knowledge. Where there is noindigenous knowledge, there is no history.Where there is no history, there is no scienceor technology. The existing nature is madeby our past. Let us protect and conserve ourindigenous knowledge.”☻☻☻☻☻☻C ALENDAR OF E VENTSSPECIAL EVENT: CLINIC OPENINGPLACE: AFRIKAN TRADITIONAL HERBAL RESEARCH CLINICTIME:Afrikan Traditional Herbal Research Clinic54 Muwafu Road, P.O. Box 29974Ntinda, Kampala, Uganda East AfricaPhone: +256 (0) 702 414 530Email: clinic@blackherbals.comHerb of the MonthHerbs for Wound HealingGotu Kola, a member of the parsley family, has been usedfor thousands of years in both Ayurvedic and Chinesemedicines. It is native to India and Sri Lanka, parts ofAfrica, and tropical regions of the New World. It has noknown toxicity. It is a rich source of vitamin K, containsmagnesium, calcium and other nutritional properties. GotuKola calms the body and is chiefly used to support thecentral nervous system. It helps to alleviate fatigue andreduces the effects of depression and insomnia. It isprimarily used as a brain and nerve strengthening tonic tohelp improve memory and mental and physical stamina.Gotu Kola is a traditional blood purifier, antibiotic, tonicand diuretic. Gotu Kola contains asiaticoside, an antibioticused in the Far East to treat leprosy, syphilis, psoriasis,cervicitis, vaginitis and blisters. Clinical trials have shownthat it can promote and improve healing of infected burnsand wounds; help those with chronic venous insufficiency;and prevent and treat enlarged scars (keloids). The tannin intea, made from the herb, may be inactivated by the additionof milk or cream. Aloe Vera, Aloe, originating from N.Africa comes from a succulent cactus-type plant, is widelyused nowadays for a variety of ailments and cosmeticpurposes. Aloe Vera plant is easy to grow even in coldclimates, however, and many people grow this attractiveand useful succulent as a house plant. The mucilage fromthe central part of the leaf has a multitude of medicalapplications. Aloe Vera is a safe and potent remedy forstomach and gastrointestinal problems, superficial skinirritations and mild infections, and as a complementarytreatment for more serious ailments such as diabetes andIrritable Bowel Syndrome. Its healing properties may bedue to rehydrating, insulating and protective activitiesresulting from its high water content. BHSN☻☻☻☻☻☻BULK RATEUS POSTAGEPAIDPERMITNO. 00000ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTEDMailing AddressStreet Number and NameCity, Country, etc.-56- Traditional African Clinic January 2011