Schoolgirls outside Cairo’s Alabaster Mosque. Photo: Flickr user Ed Yourdon

The Arab world has over 350 million people and stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf. Unified by a common Arabic culture and history, these 25 countries are at varying levels of economic and political development.

But there seems to be a set of demographic issues that apply to many — if not all — of the nations in the Arab world. We take a deeper look at high birth rates and gender inequality and then compare them to other regions of the world.

Martin Savidge hosts Magda Abu-Fadil and Bernard Haykel to discuss these issues:

• Youth bulge: jobs for young people, emigration, political instability
• Gender gap: young women, variation across Arab states, political power
• Big picture: comparisons to other regions, replacement level, demographic transition

GUESTS:

Magda Abu-Fadil is director of the Journalism Training Program at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and has years of experience as a foreign correspondent and editor with international news organizations such as Agence France-Presse and United Press International.

Bernard Haykel is a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, where his research interests include contemporary politics, Arabian history and Islamic fundamentalism.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producer: Ben Piven
Associate Producer: Mohammad Al-Kassim

Gay Pride Flag. Photo: Flickr user Stefan

Worldfocus partner World Pulse is a media enterprise covering global issues through the eyes of women. This post, written by Zimbabwean blogger Gertrude Pswarayi, is excerpted from their Action Blogging Campaign around LGBT Rights.

This story was written by a lesbian (name witheld for protection) living in Zimbabwe during a digital storytelling workshop. I have not edited the story because i wanted you, the reader to hear what she has to say. Here is her story:

My fears started when I was getting to know myself. My family and people around me said I acted like a boy. Although I was afraid I did what came naturally to me.

At school it was worse, I was afraid again because when the girls in my class were busy with the boys, I had feelings for some of the girls in my school. My fear grew, I could not control it since all the ladies around me were getting boyfriends and even my sisters were getting into troubles at home because of boys.

At that time I was not completely sure what was happening to me and why I was not interested in men, I was confused.

That made my fears grow stronger. I was afraid of what my family and friends would think or say if I told them what I was feeling. At that time I feared what the future would hold for me because I was told that I was a lady and that I have to get married to a man and have children and so on. Yet I knew that was not the life I wanted for myself.

Although my friends, my true friends are aware of my sexuality, I am still afraid that my family will find out one day and reject me. The fear is always there as I listen to comments made about homosexuality at home and in public places.

I listen hoping that no one will notice how silent I am or see the raw fear in my eyes.

Not being able to open up to my family about who I am, what I am, and the kind of feelings I carry inside me pushed me to join a group. It was in this group where I was able to share my story with other people. My fears disappeared as I got more answers for the question of my identity. I met people who seemed to hold a mirror in front of me, showing me who I was and letting me know that it was ok to be … who I am.

The president visits Ruhango. Photo: PaulKagame on Flickr

The East African nation of Rwanda has come a long way since a horrific genocide 16 years ago resulted in the death of around 800,000 Tutsis, as well as “moderate” Hutus who opposed the genocidaires.

President Paul Kagame’s Tutsi-dominated government has achieved economic, political, and military stability at a time when many surrounding governments face major crises. Many Western admirers look at the Rwandan president as a model leader in the developing world.

Martin Savidge hosts journalist and author Stephen Kinzer and human rights activist Noel Twagiramungu to discuss:

• Post-genocide politics: moving forward, justice & ethnic divisions
• Regional rivalries: security concerns, Rwandan alliances & Congo wars
• Big Picture/U.S.: Sarkozy visit, Clinton regrets & Obama policies

Guests:

Stephen Kinzer is a foreign correspondent who has covered more than 50 countries on five continents for The New York Times and Boston Globe. Kinzer’s most recent book is A Thousand Hills: Rwanda’s Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It.

Noel Twagiramungu, a PhD student at Tufts University’s Fletcher School, worked as a rights activist in Rwanda from 1991 until he fled in 2004. As general secretary of the Rwandan League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, Twagiramungu documented government abuses.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producer: Ben Piven
Associate Producer: Connie Kargbo

The president was taken into custody after soldiers attacked the presidential palace in Niamey, the capital of the former French colony. His whereabouts are unknown.

The deposed leader had rolled back democratic gains and tried to extend his own power. Deutsche Welle reports.

But while black South Africans are politically equal, they still don’t enjoy economic equality with whites.

The disparities are perhaps best illustrated by the country’s black townships.

Haru Mutasa reports for Worldfocus partner Al Jazeera English:

Has South Africa fallen short in living up to Mandela’s dream of equality for all South Africans?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Please be respectful and on-point. Malicious or offensive comments will be deleted, and repeat offenders will be banned.

The group is called Boko Haram and the fighting was sparked by the arrest of several of its leaders. An estimated 700 people were killed.

Ever since, there has been concern that the security forces may have killed many innocent civilians.

This report from Mike Hanna of Al Jazeera English shows new video purportedly showing such attacks.  Some of the images are graphic.

Daljit Dhaliwal spoke with Eric Guttschuss, a researcher with Human Rights Watch about the allegations. He says that the international community, including the United States, should be doing more to pressure the Nigerian government to ensure justice.

Umaru Yar’Adua at the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Photo: Andy Mettler/World Economic Forum on Flickr

The Nigerian national assembly voted today to install Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan as interim leader until ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua is fit enough to return to office.

Yar’Adua has been in Saudi Arabia since November 2009, where he is receiving medical treatment for a heart condition. His absence has left the country without a formal leader, and has led to a breakdown in a government cease-fire with fighters in the oil-producing Niger Delta.

In addition, there has been renewed sectarian violence in the central city of Jos, where almost 400 people were killed in two days of clashes between Muslims and Christians in November 2008.

Questions remain over the legality of Jonathan’s appointment as temporary leader, a measure approved by both houses of the assembly. According to Nigeria’s constitution, Yar’Adua must make a written declaration that he is unfit to govern - a move which he has not yet taken.

In Nigeria, bloggers have commented on living in a country of 150 million without a formal leader and the political uncertainty that it has unleashed:

From Nigerian Curiosity, the “musings of a concerned Nigerian”:

A ‘rule of law’ President all the way in Saudi Arabia does not help the average Nigerian and the confusion this absence leaves in its wake only compounds issues. What is beyond confusion, nevertheless, is that the political disorientation Nigeria currently experiences will not soon abate.

From Grandiose Parlor, commentary on Nigeria:

The president has broken his contract with the Nigerian people who voted him into office … [T]here are just too many controversies surrounding his medical stay in Saudi Arabia to warrant forgiveness from the Nigerian people. Dead or alive, Alhaji Umaru YarAdua is no longer fit to govern Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The leadership crisis has also triggered criticism of Nigeria’s political class. From Adeola Aderounmu’s blog, Thy Glory O Nigeria..!

Those who own and run Nigeria don’t care about the millions living in poverty and desperation … [S]ince we don’t have democracy in Nigeria and since those who run Nigeria do not give account to anyone, the rest of us can remain in coma with the runaway fake president. Welcome to Nigeria, a country ruled by mad politicians and gangsters called godfathers. They are sharing money, bribing themselves back and forth and everything is so uncertain.

The author of Nigerian Curiosity has also predicted that any statement from Yar’Adua on his capacity to govern will be questioned from many quarters:

This disturbing reality - questions about Yar’Adua’s capacity - lends itself to any letter that might be issued and signed by him. Already, there is a court case alleging that the 2010 budget introduced during the President’s absence has a forged signature on it. Hence, it is likely that any letter supposedly signed by the President to the National Assembly will equally be questioned and rightly so as it remains unclear whether President Yar’Adua is in a position, healthwise, to perform such functions. And, if he is capable, then how long will he be gone for? Will this time be added to the almost 80 days he has been gone? The questions are limitless …

- James Matthews

Photo: Flickr user Alkan Chagler

This week, an appeals chamber at the International Criminal Court ruled that the ICC should review evidence of genocide against the current President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir. Currently he faces charges of crimes against humanity and  war crimes in connection with the ongoing conflict in Darfur.

Worldfocus contributing blogger Ayo Johnson, who blogs at Africa Speak International, writes about the complexities of the ICC and its rulings.

I have always wondered if the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a fair organization and what criteria it uses when selecting individuals who can be put before its judges in the Hague.

There are increasing calls world wide for both former President Bush and Prime Minister Blair to face the ICC for wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan resulting in the death and the displacement of thousands of people…

The ICC up until recently was labeled a white elephant costing millions of dollars annually and failing to yield any tangible results. The ICC gained some respectability in 1999; when Slobodan Milosevic was indicted and convicting for atrocities against Serbian forces in Kosovo.

In 2003 a vocal and boisterous court; in its ambitious move to date, captured Charles Taylor and charged him with crimes against people of Sierra Leone. Taylor’s rebel group captured and drugged children who in turn chopped off the arm and limbs of innocent citizens during a 10 year brutal war…

The ICC has gone one step further charging Omar Al- Bashir a sitting president of Sudan, with crimes against humanity and violation against the people of Darfur…

The Arab League and the African Union had earlier requested that the Omar Al- Bashir arrest warrant be suspended, as both institutions were fearful of knee-jerk reactions and reprisals against aid agencies and the people of Darfur…

Sudan like the United States of America (USA) is not a member of the ICC. A defiant Bashir refuses to recognise the court, claims that the ICC is in breach of international law and has no jurisdiction in Sudan. This is an argument that has all the hallmarks of double standards, justified on the basis that the U.S.also does not recognise the court and the court has no authority over any U.S. citizens…

Nesrine Malik, a Sudanese-born writer and commentator who lives in London, argues that the ICC ruling may in fact backfire.

Despite my belief that Bashir may be guilty of crimes against humanity, not only in Darfur but in other parts of the country, I cannot help but think that the ICC has over-reached itself in this instance. The timing was again unfortunate, with the first Sudanese elections in 24 years due in April and the country holding on to a fragile peace in preparation for a referendum in 2011 when the south will vote on secession.

But as Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition, asserts:

Justice and accountability are essential components of the comprehensive solution required to finally end the crisis in Darfur… President Obama and other world leaders must ensure humanitarian aid and protection for Darfuri civilians – especially following the court’s latest decision — and push for a just and inclusive peace agreement to finally end the crisis in Darfur.

Tobacco is considered the single most important risk factor for cancer, which the WHO says accounted for 7.4 million deaths (around 13% of all deaths) in 2004. More than 70% of all cancer deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries.

Photo: Flickr user Seema K K

On average, smokers increase their risk of lung cancer between 5 and 10-fold and in developed countries, smoking is responsible for upwards of 80% of all lung cancers. Using American data, 24% of men who smoke can expect to developing cancer during their expected life time. Recently, the spread of tobacco use to developing countries has led to papers describing similar patterns there.

The Global Tobacco Atlas, funded by the American Cancer Society and the World Lung Foundation, present data on the rates of cigarette smoking around the world. Below are maps showing overall consumption and consumption divided by male and female.

Annual cigarette consumption per person:

Percentage of males who smoke cigarettes:

Percentage of females who smoke cigarettes:

MedIndia, an Asian health portal, focused on smoking prevention in the developing world.

The WHO makes no qualms about the fact that in the absence of timely intervention, cancer can claim the lives of 84 million people worldwide between 2005 and 2015, with the low and middle-income countries bearing the brunt as compared to the industrialized ones… According to the forecasted figures for 2030, there are likely to be 20-26 million fresh cancer diagnoses and 13-17 million cancer related deaths. China, Russia, and India need to watch out and tackle the growing burden of cancer, attributed mainly to increase in use of tobacco, fatty diets, adoption of western habits, and demographic changes.

The existing warrant is for war crimes, but the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, is trying to prosecute the president for genocide as well. Today judges at the Court ruled that the pre-trial chamber should examine the evidence for genocide again.

Worldfocus partner Deutsche Welle reports on the ICC’s efforts to bring al-Bashir to justice.

The magazine cover from January 16-22.

Aida Alami is a Moroccan freelance journalist who wrote for Le Journal Hebdomadaire until the magazine was closed.

Worldfocus interviewed her about why the Moroccan government shut down the independent news outlet last week.

Worldfocus: What happened to Le Journal Hebdomadaire?

Aida Alami: The police came Wednesday to take control of our newsroom and change the locks. By Thursday, we were completely finished. This came after we lost a trial and had to pay huge amounts of money to several people. Money we didn’t have.

Actually, we had already been dropped by 80% of our advertisers over the past few years. I heard that the king’s right-hand men got together last year with the advertisers and asked them to boycott us.

This wasn’t a surprise or a shock to me. I knew it would eventually happen. I haven’t been taking my laptop to work because I knew they would come, and I didn’t want them to take it!

We’re giving a press conference tomorrow to discuss the issue. I am not sure if they will let us go through with it — or interrupt it and kick everybody out.

Worldfocus: Will founder Aboubakr Jamai start a new magazine?

Alami: Aboubakr could start a new one. He did it once before, but I doubt there is money to do so today.

Worldfocus: What will you do now that you’re jobless?

Alami: It’s really discouraging. Everyone I know outside of Morocco has been emailing me, but here, no one cares. People I’ve known for 20 years haven’t even contacted me.

I am sure that if something similar had happened in France people would be camping outside of the president’s residence to protest. I don’t think they see it as something important. It’s hopeless.

I won’t be looking for work in Morocco. We were really the only independent news outlet here. I don’t see myself working anywhere else.

Worldfocus: Do most Moroccans value independent media?

Alami: In the Reporters Without Borders 2009 Press Freedom Index, Morocco ranks 127th.

The public doesn’t want to hear the truth about issues. The magazine had no friends. Even people who are high-income just saw us as anti-patriotic — too critical and undermining the country. Personally, I’m not political. I am just doing my job.

We drove people away for several reasons. Many people considered us elitist because of the language — French and too eloquent. As opposed to other magazines, we didn’t have covers with sex and stuff that sells. We were too serious and dealt with real issues that people were not necessarily interested in reading about.

I think that the public doesn’t really care. If they did, they’d be writing letters now. But they aren’t. My personal feeling is: why fight for people like that? The upper class has its own interests — to be close to power. Of course they’re not going to want to criticize our government or king.

Then, you have the small middle class who sympathize and are intellectual. Then there are the barely literate masses. Our readership was not that important. It was around 40,000.

However, our impact was a lot more important. Stories told in that magazine were told nowhere else.

Worldfocus: What was the trigger issue that motivated the government to close you down?

Alami: We often covered [Western Sahara indepedence activist] Aminatou Haidar, who was on hunger strike in Spain after having been kicked out of Morocco. They had taken her passport.

The entire country had extreme and very one-sided coverage and called her a spy, traitor, etc. During her hunger strike, we interviewed her every week and we even sent a reporter to Laayoune, her hometown, to interview her family. We were the only ones to give full coverage of the story. The coverage was terrific, and I am very proud of what we did.

Our editor, Aboubakr, wrote editorials arguing that Morocco was was making a huge mistake diplomatically. And that we [Moroccans] would end up looking like fools. TelQuel, our biggest competitor, never interviewed her.

I think that’s when the government decided, “We need to shut them up forever.”

As I said in my article published in the Huffington Post:

Many people have called us traitors because we were too critical. I think it’s the opposite, we are all people who loved their country enough to never sell out. We gave our readers the best we could and kept them informed like no other news team. The legacy left by Le Journal Hebdomadaire will stay with all of us no matter what, and the fight for freedom cannot stop here. I hope that reporters of the new generation will not compromise and will take on the fight Aboubakr Jamai started 13 years ago.

- Ben Piven

For a wider look at the issue of gay rights in Africa, Daljit Dhaliwal interviews Michael Heflin, the director of the Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, and Intersex Rights Initiative at the Open Society Institute.

Read our blogwatch: Gays in Africa face increasing homophobia.

A protester outside Uganda’s UN mission in New York City on November 19, 2009. Photo from Flickr user riekhavoc

Over the last six months there has been a worrying surge of institutional homophobia in a number of African states.

In October 2009, Uganda proposed an Anti-Homosexuality Bill that if enacted would introduce the death penalty for those who are HIV-positive and homosexuals with multiple convictions. In addition, South Africa is set to appoint an openly homophobic journalist, Jon Qwelane, as the country’s ambassador to Uganda. Qwelane has published several articles in which he expresses his disdain of gays and has even likened homosexuality to bestiality.

Meanwhile, in Malawi the first gay couple to marry openly was arrested in early January 2010 and faces up to 14 years in prison if the prosecution prove they had sexual relations; and lawmakers in Nigeria are drafting a bill to outlaw same sex marriage.

Gay activists affected by the continued criminalization of their sexuality have written about daily life under the shadow of the proposed Ugandan bill.

From GayUganda, commentary on “sexual minorities in Uganda and Africa”:

We live like ostriches, heads buried in the sand. We party and dance, and forget that we can be deprived of life and freedom. Because we are what we are. I was with some friends who are HIV positive. Asked them what they think about the bill. Silence.

I think I lost my temper. Told them in detail what the bill says. If they are ever caught having sex, them, because they are positive, then they are due to have the death penalty. I don’t joke, because those are the facts.

GayUganda also writes that the planned bill targets more than just homosexual males and makes no concessions to individual circumstances:

[T]his bill is hell on earth. We can’t fight it from the shadows. And, we have to fight it in the face of people who are ready to tell lies, even to the text of the bill, even when it is absolutely specific in language. Have gay sex when you have HIV, doesn’t matter whether you a man or woman. On conviction, life in prison, or death. It doesn’t matter that you have used any protection. It doesn’t matter that you have a partner who is a consenting adult. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know that you are HIV positive.

The Ugandan Member of Parliament responsible for the bill, David Bahati, acceded on January 21 that he will “amend some clauses” in the face of domestic and international opposition and President Yoweri Museveni has distanced himself from the proposed legislation. Observers and activists are concerned, however, that despite the setback to the bill, it will be put before parliament in the near future.

From AfroGay, commentary on gay rights in Africa:

[D]o you remember that the bill was going to be presented to the floor of Parliament in January 2010. Well, keep your eyes open for it. You are not going to see this bill tabled in Parliament this month. February perhaps? Ah, maybe, but most likely not. March? Oh, who is counting?

Others are concerned about the bill’s potential to influence African countries where homosexuality remains a criminal offense.

From BlackLooks, a blog on African affairs:

The Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill remains in place. It will set a dangerous precedent across the continent if it gets passed on any level let alone with the death penalty.  It could influence and encourage those behind the Nigerian Bill as well as the governments in Gambia, Senegal, Malawi, Kenya and Zambia which have all taken a draconian stance towards same sex relationships in their countries.

-James Matthews

Mohammad watches the football game.

The news of the football match between Egypt and Algeria is dominating the front page headlines in both Egypt and Algeria Thursday. The rhetoric is high, and the war drum beat is getting louder.

The Algerian newspaper Al-Fajr devoted a portion of its web site page to the coverage of the match. The same was for true for Egypt’s leading newspaper Al Ahram, whose website greets viewers with a large colorful picture of Egyptian fans waving the red, white and black flag of their country at a stadium.

Meanwhile, the Algerian government is helping to shuttle at least a thousand of its citizens to watch the match in Angola.

For the Egyptians, this match is an opportunity to settle scores and regain its wounded national pride after its loss to Algeria in a playoff match in Khartoum, Sudan last November.

Fans of both teams were involved in violent clashes and accusations of mistreatment flew. Whether similiar passions will be ignited after this game remains to be seen.

- Mohammad Al-Kassim

The topic on Al Jazeera Arabic’s controversial yet highly popular talk show “Opposite Direction” this week was the Obama presidency, one year later.

The host questioned the sincerity of President Obama’s outreach to Arabs and Muslims. Faisal al-Qasem, the Syrian host of al-Itijah al-Mo’akis, likened President Obama to a wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing.

Al-Qasem accused Obama of speaking from both sides of his mouth and alleged that the Arabs’ problem was believing Obama’s sugar-coated words:

Al Arabiya news channel reported on the upcoming African Cup football match between Egypt and Algeria. Egypt beat Cameroon 3-1 to set up a repeat of the intense World Cup playoff against Algeria.

The last time these two teams faced each other was in Khartoum, Sudan, which was followed with violence and enormous tension across the Arab world.

Today’s lead headline in Israeli center-left newspaper Haaretz was about Israeli president Shimon Peres’ speech to the German parliament. Speaking on the anniversary of the Auschwitz death camp’s liberation, Peres called for the surviving perpetrators of the Holocaust to be brought to justice.

Abdel al-Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, published in London, wrote an op-ed yesterday on the stalled Middle East peace process — in light of U.S. envoy George Mitchell’s recent visit to the region.

Atwan, who was born in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, is an outspoken critic of many Arab governments. He attributes Mitchell’s lack of progress to:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to retain Jewish settlements in the West Bank and keep complete control of those areas.

• The refusal of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiating table again without an Israeli commitment to a freeze on settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

• U.S. President Barack Obama giving in to Israeli pressure on the settlements.

Atwan argues that another intifada is likely because of the stalemate in the peace process. He also thinks Fatah and Hamas may be forced to reconcile if progress is not made.

- Mohammad Al-Kassim

Tension was under the surface as we negotiated with the contractor, trying to chip away another $10,000 from his bid. The price to build a school in South Sudan, I have learned, is exorbitantly high.

I am here with Gabriel Bol Deng, who is featured in my new documentary film, Rebuilding Hope. Gabriel Bol, one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” has been raising money for three years to build a school in Ariang, his native village. We were not prepared for just how costly such a venture is.

South Sudan came out of decades of devastating civil war only five years ago. Infrastructure was nearly non-existent when the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed in 2005, and now, five years later, its improvement has been creeping at best.

Students in front of the collapsing tukul that had served as the office of the former Ariang school, which met under trees. Photo: Gabriel Bol Deng

Nearly all the raw materials needed for construction is either imported from Uganda or brought in from Khartoum in the North. The price of the materials reflects the distance it had to travel to reach South Sudan. Located in Warrap state, Ariang’s isolation increases the cost as well.

Transportation to get all the building materials on site will cost almost $70,000. Cutting corners to get the price down is not recommended.

Three years ago, the NGO World Vision built four schools in Warrap State. The iron-sheeting roofs of all four blew off during last year’s rainy season. The climate is harsh and unforgiving in South Sudan.

Perhaps this explains why, as Lino Anyak Kuec, the director general of the Ministry of Education for Warrap state pointed out in our meeting last week, 90 percent of the 344 primary schools are still functioning under trees.

It is difficult to ascertain the exact population of Warrap state that these 344 primary schools serve. According to the 2008 census, there are close to 1 million people. Southerners, however, contest the census results and in fact, Kuec told us, the numbers of people who registered to vote in the 2010 elections surpassed the census results.

Warrap is a “new” state, born out of the signing of the CPA. Kuajok, the capital of Warrap state, was created in 2006. The problems faced by all states in South Sudan are intensified in Warrap, which had no previous experience or even minimal infrastructure to draw on.

The lack of constructed schools is one indicator of the challenges that the state faces. In Kuajok, the state capital, there are 5,220 students divided among only three primary schools, averaging 217.5 students in each classroom.

There are only eight secondary schools in all of Warrap State, which is about 220 miles in length, and only two of them have their own facility. The others use rooms in six of thirty-odd constructed primary schools. This arrangement will end soon; the primary schools are desperate for all their classroom space.

They are asking the secondary school classes to vacate their premises. There are only 2,000 secondary students in all of Warrap state—an indication of the drop-out rate, especially high for girls, as well as a commentary on the lack of education during the war and the subsequent need for Southern Sudanese to catch up. Many of the students studying in primary school are teenagers or adults.

Clearing straw from future Ariang School site. Photo: Gabriel Bol Deng

A school building, of course, is only one step towards a functioning school. Every school needs basic supplies, which schools in South Sudan are sorely lacking, whether they are housed in a building or under trees. Currently, only one-third of the classes in Warrap state have chalkboards.

Last year, UNICEF provided 1 chalkboard for each school. Each school had to decide—which class would be the lucky one to receive the chalkboard?

The quality of teaching in Warrap state is also a grave concern. During the war, there were a handful of scattered “bush schools”, so-called because they operated “in the bush.” The teachers were primarily untrained rebel fighters who gathered children during lulls in the violence to teach them whatever they knew from their own schooling. When fighting resumed, the bush schools stopped.

Many of these former rebel/bush teachers are now teaching in the primary schools. “We cannot ask them to stop teaching,” Kuec said. He suggested two reasons why. One is connected to the Government of South Sudan’s loyalty to those who fought and served with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army during the war. And, Kuec pointed out, there are not teachers with more adequate training to replace them.

The lack of trained teachers is perhaps the greatest challenge to providing an adequate education to children in South Sudan. Teachers lack not only methodology, but basic, general knowledge. Often, those with a sixth grade education level are teaching grade 4.

There are many qualified teachers among Southerners, but a large percentage of them received their schooling in Khartoum, following an Arabic language curriculum. The Government of South Sudan (GoSS) has determined that the language of instruction is English.

Educated Southerners fluent in Arabic cannot teach an English language curriculum. GoSS, strapped with budget deficits all around, pays teachers approximately $100/month. Subsequently, teachers often take second jobs to supplement this income. It is not uncommon for a teacher to send a friend to take over his class a few days a week while he is busy working as a driver.

Despite the constant uphill struggle, improvement has been made. 150 out of Warrap’s 3,000 teachers are currently in a training course and in February, 240 more will begin a three-month course.

Gabriel Bol teaches children in the Ariang school, which continues to meet under trees until he constructs their school building. Photo courtesy of Rebuilding Hope

In 2007, teachers complained that their salaries arrived months late if they came at all, and teachers had to travel to Kuajok to receive them, sometimes closing school for a week each month or two in order to make the journey on foot and return.

The salaries in 2010, though inadequate, are at least paid regularly. Teachers receive payment in their own district rather than having to travel to Kuajok. The system is computerized, enabling much better record keeping. Baby steps, but important ones.

Gabriel Bol continued to negotiate with the contractor, trying to convince him to reduce the cost of building the school without reducing the quality.

Even after the contractor agreed to shave off the $10,000, Gabriel Bol will have to raise an additional $50,000 when he returns to the U.S. in order for the construction to be completed. And he is well-aware, even as he negotiates the transport for gravel, cement, and iron sheeting, that building this school is only the first step. Gabriel Bol’s goal is not only that the children of his village have a school building, it’s that they have an education.

There is much work to be done.

- Jen Marlowe

A young boy in Addis Ababa. Photo: Tesfaye Negussie

Tesfaye Negussie is an American journalist whose parents emigrated from Ethiopia. Last month, Tesfaye traveled to Ethiopia to visit family and friends.

He writes how the desire to emigrate to America is common in the Ethiopian psyche — along with an equally strong desire to return to the homeland.

It was an elaborate scam: a beautiful bride, a dashing groom, a smiling best man and bridesmaids draped in matching gowns.

The photo was taken to bamboozle American immigration officials. Apparently, the bride was already living in America, and the groom, living in Ethiopia, just wanted to further his education in the U.S. So, he paid her a couple thousand dollars to marry him.

I’ve been told that some Ethiopian men living in America return to Ethiopia for a few weeks just to find a wife and bring her back to the U.S., even though they barely know each other. The man gets a young pretty woman who shares his culture, and the woman gets to come to America.

This is similar to what I used to hear of the young teenage women who lived in rural parts of Ethiopia. They would be married off to wealthy landowners who could afford to pay big dowries to the girl’s parents.

Still others come to America through diversity visa lotteries — a program that gives visas to countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.

The Ethiopian dream is just like the American dream — but with a twist. Ethiopians come to the U.S. to make a living yet often return to Ethiopia to retire.

The dream also casts its fairy dust on Ethiopian pop culture. Ethiopian TV, films and music often depict the experiences of Ethiopian-American immigrants.

Men’s Affairs is a comedic film that follows the antics of a poor Ethiopian carpenter who lies that he lives in America and is just visiting Ethiopia, so that he can get the girl that he desires. For my Father is a drama about a girl who breaks up with her boyfriend to marry a rich man from the U.S.

Ethiopians in America remit about $1.2 billion per year to their families back home. This amount is second only to the total that Ethiopia receives from exports. For the most part, Ethiopians go abroad to make a better life for themselves and give back to their families in Ethiopia, but most dream of returning again.

I grew up in the Washington, D.C. area, which has an estimated 200,000 people of Ethiopian descent — the highest concentration of Ethiopians outside of Ethiopia. As a teenager, I remember learning that Ethiopians owned many of the big nightclubs in the city. As soon as they made enough money, they sold their clubs, and returned to Ethiopia to rejoin their families and invest in their country.

My parents and many of their Ethiopian friends who live in America have lived in the U.S. for about three decades. But they still talk about how they will return to Ethiopia once they retire.

There is a sense of pride that links most Ethiopians to their country. We feel the joy of being with family and a yearning to stay close to our rich history and culture.

We also have a tacit amour-propre, as children of an ancient civilization and the vanquishers of the menacing evil of colonization. Moreover, we are the gatekeepers to an array of ethnicities, languages and religions that have coexisted for centuries.

And even though Ethiopia is now poor, most Ethiopian emigrants dream of the day they will return. Many of them will visit several times before permanently returning — coming back to a country that changes in the blink of an eye.

Ethiopia is the fourth fastest growing economy in the world, according to The Economist. Even though so much has changed, the love is the same, and it feels like they never left.

Many Ethiopian-Americans born in America will stay and raise kids here.  We, unlike our parents, have grown with American culture and taken it as our own. But our pride for Ethiopia burns strong. Many of us speak broken Amharic, Oromo, Tigrinya, Gurage — or the language of whatever region our parents are from.  We will dress in green, yellow and red patterns.  Or wear shirts with pictures of Halie Selassie, as to say, “I am Ethiopian.”

Because the Italians, Jamaicans, Mexicans, Chinese and others who settled in America share a similar journey as the Ethiopians, the Ethiopian-American story is the American story.

Tesfaye Negussie and his grandmother.

So, that is also my story.

My grandmother, who lived with us in America for 10 years, is now back in Ethiopia.

I visited her for several days in Addis Ababa. Since she is very old, it may have been my last time seeing her.

The day I was leaving, I had a terrible stomach ache from something I ate. My grandmother pulled out the one thing she knew would cure me: an old dingy plastic bottle filled with holy water.

It was refreshing as she poured the cool water on my aching belly and head. As she recited prayers under her breath, I remembered those days that I would go to her room to wake her up for breakfast, when she would already be awake thumbing her rosary beads.

And when my sister and I would return from school, she’d hand us huge chunks of ambasha bread that she had prayed over.  And we’d have to finish it. Even though our stomachs were full from whatever junk we had picked up at the ice cream truck, we obediently finished every crumb.

Afterward, we would sometimes take Grandma for a walk because she had been inside all day, and this was her only chance to spend some alone time with her grandchildren before Mom and Dad came home.

The water gradually warmed on my skin, and I felt the touch of my grandmother’s fragile hand on my forehead as she prayed. And then my stomach didn’t hurt anymore.

It was good to be home.

- Tesfaye Negussie

For more Worldfocus coverage of Ethiopia, visit our extended coverage page: Ethiopia Past and Present.

Soon afterward, General David Petraeus visited the Yemeni capital of Sana’a for a meeting with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, where he delivered a message of support from President Barack Obama.

The U.S. is pledging military aid to Yemen, a close U.S. ally and one of the world’s poorest countries, which is facing a civil war in the north and a separatist movement in the south.

Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for a conference to be held in London on January 27, 2010, to assist Yemen in its fight against al-Qaeda.

Mohammad al-Kassim interviews Abdullah Alsaidi, Yemen’s Ambassador to the U.N., about the Yemen’s battle against al-Qaeda in light of its own internal difficulties, as well as the Christmas day bomb attempt.

Also, listen to Worldfocus Radio: Yemen’s Multiple Wars.

Barack Obama, the first U.S. president of African origin, visited the continent last summer to great fanfare.

To discuss Obama and Africa, Martin Savidge is joined by Sarjoh Bah, a senior fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation, and Emira Woods, co-director of the Foreign Policy in Focus program at the Institute of Policy Studies.

For more on the Obama and the World series click here.

Women of Ariang village on top of bricks villagers made for their school. Photo: Gabriel Bol Deng

Jen Marlowe is an independent journalist with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. She is currently traveling through South Sudan.

As our white Toyota land cruiser drove on the freshly laid road from the market town of Akon towards Ariang village, we noticed something far on the horizon. Maybe…cows? Trees in the distance?

As we got closer, we saw it was a huge crowd of people. It was difficult to ascertain just how many with the dust cloud they were kicking up, their feet (either bare or shod in plastic sandals) pounding the red-dirt road as they ran, singing and dancing, toward our vehicle.

The last time I witnessed a reception like this had been in June, 2007, when the Ariang villagers were welcoming Gabriel Bol Deng, their long-lost son who had fled civil war as a small child, back home after a twenty-year absence.

When Gabriel Bol returned to Sudan the first time in 2007, he told the villagers his intention to build a school in Ariang. He had already been raising money by speaking and selling t-shirts and he redoubled his efforts when he got back to the U.S.

In January 2009, I returned to South Sudan with Gabriel Bol and his friend Garang Mayuol, who had raised money to drill wells. By the end of the trip, the villagers of Ariang had made 300,000 bricks for the school and six wells were drilled, immediately stopping a deadly cholera epidemic in their vicinity.

The goal of this trip is to begin construction on the school. Today’s celebration was supposed to mark the groundbreaking, but the villagers of Ariang were so enthusiastic about their school that they could not wait. They had already dug foot-deep trenches for the foundation before our arrival.

Procession with Ariang villagers celebrating the beginning of construction of the school. Photo: Gabriel Bol Deng

This trip comes just after the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (the largest of the South Sudan rebel movements) and the Government of Sudan, ending the longest running civil war in Africa.

I can say, with much relief, there are signs of concrete progress in Akon and Ariang in the two-plus years since my first trip here. People seem slightly better fed and clothed, though crippling poverty and malnutrition are still evident.

Akon, located in one of the most remote areas of South Sudan, has a nearly complete cell phone tower. There is now a police station at the entrance of the town and police officers walking around in crisp turquoise uniforms, touting well-worn AK47s. Roads have improved enormously since 2007.

Then, accessing Ariang village from Akon took 45 minutes on a grueling, bone-jarring dirt track, which was un-drivable during the rainy season. Today, we zipped along an all-weather dirt road, reaching the throng of celebrating people in less than fifteen minutes.

I chatted with three women this morning who cook and clean at the World Food Program compound where we are staying. They were eager to practice their English, which they told me, they are studying at the Adult Education Courses at the newly constructed Akon Girls’ School, built by the American NGO My Sister’s Keeper.

The majority of the women in Akon had had no formal education during the 20-plus years of civil war. Now, my new friends told me proudly, they were in third-grade and progressing quickly.

Perhaps most exciting was a visit to the Akon clinic. Built by the American NGO JumpStart Sudan, the finishing touches on the building were just being completed in 2007. Akon’s healthcare system then amounted to a community health officer sitting at a table under a large tree, dispensing whatever medicines he had to townspeople with various ailments.

Patients receiving IVs in the same room that stores construction materials and where other patients wait to be treated. Photo: Gabriel Bol Deng

Now, in 2010, the clinic seems to be functioning remarkably well, albeit with enormous challenges and difficulties. There are three trained staff: a medical doctor, a medical assistant and a health officer. They treat between 30 to 70 people a day. The clinic has a well-stocked pharmacy and solar panels to draw its electricity.

Though the physical building is too small to accommodate their needs (currently, people waiting for checkups are sitting on the concrete floor next to patients lying on mats hooked up to IVs), an addition to the clinic is currently being built, funded by the Egyptian government. There was an extremely effective hygiene education campaign, stemming the cholera epidemic that had claimed thousands of lives in the region last year.

A whooping cough epidemic is on the rise, but Enyasio Ajang Deng, the health officer, feels confident they will be able to treat the children who are able to access the clinic.

In 2007, we were told by everyone from villagers to government officials, that health care and education were critical aspects of development needed to transform a peace agreement to a stable, sustainable peace. The progress on both those fronts should be reason for cautious optimism.

But, as the clinic’s health care officer made clear, the Akon clinic’s success was not due to the fledgling Government of South Sudan (GoSS) but to JumpStart Sudan. Jumpstart provides the vast majority of the supplies, including the solar panels, and, in partnership with My Sister’s Keeper, pays small stipends to the doctor and the health officer, Only the medical assistant is paid by the GoSS Ministry of Health.

The biggest problem, Anyasio Deng emphasized twice, was a lack of trained medical personnel, in Akon and in all of South Sudan. During the war, the NGOs trained health care workers. After the CPA was signed, the NGOs pulled back but the GoSS has been unable to step in and fill that gap.

Ariang villagers celebrate the beginning of construction for their school. Photo: Barron Boyd

There is only one school in all of South Sudan to train all medical personnel aside from doctors. Gabriel Bol learned this morning of a woman in labor in Ariang giving birth to twins. The first baby was coming out as a stillborn breach. The second twin was still in the womb. The clinic in Akon, 15 minutes away, has no staff with training to deal with problematic births. Gabriel Bol sent a car to drive the woman to Aweil, an hour away.

The evidence of progress since 2007 is uplifting, but the context is sobering. Both the Akon Girls’ School and the Ariang School are being built and funded by American NGO’s, not the GoSS. The CPA has been steadily unraveling for the last several years, and the scheduled elections in April and a 2011 referendum for Southerners to determine whether the South will become independent loom as possible flash points that will drive the country over the edge back into civil war.

All the good work that is happening has that very real possibility as its backdrop. Even the vast improvements of the roads, without which no other development would be possible, could become a double-edged sword. Should the country go back to war, wide smooth roads would be much easier for tanks from Khartoum to drive through than the torturous dirt tracks had been.

The Akon WFP field compound we are staying in will be closing down next month. The field site’s closure is connected to both the progress that has been made and the pessimistic predictions for the future.

Because South Sudan is in what is considered a “recovery stage” rather than acute emergency or active war, large numbers of field offices are no longer necessary, staff explained. Additionally, the improved road system makes it easier to reach distribution points from a central office.

But, there is another, starker, reason. Abyei, an oil-rich area on the border of north and south Sudan and a flashpoint of conflict, was burned to the ground in May 2008. If conflict erupts there again, and conversations with several Sudanese and international WFP staff members made it clear that they fully expected it would, the displaced would flee to Wunrock as they did in 2008. The logistics staff in Akon is being moved to Wunrock in order to be prepared to provide life-saving services there.

Perhaps most disconcerting was an off-hand comment about the Ariang School made by the WFP Deputy Coordinator for Sudan when we met with him in Juba.

“We don’t build in that remote area,” he said, providing us with a chilling reality check. “It’s too difficult to access. And also—you never know if what you build will still be there in the near future.”

- Jen Marlowe