South Sudan grappling with disarmament challenge
Southern Sudan is facing a major challenge of disarming more than 150,000 soldiers and easing them back to civilian life when it becomes independent next week.
Southern Sudan Disarmament Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission chairman William Deng Deng said the country wants to get rid of excess forces including the elderly, disabled and children.
“These are soldiers seen not be in use after the war. We now need an organized, professional, controllable force,” Mr Deng told the Nation during an interview in Nairobi.
Southern Sudan is set to be Africa’s 53 state on July 7 and change its name to South Sudan.
Under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended 21 years of war between north and southern Sudan, the commission is to plan, manage and implement the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programmes in southern Sudan.
"The objective of the DDR process is to contribute to creating an enabling environment to human security and to support post-peace-agreement social stabilisation across the Sudan, particularly war affected areas.
Among those to be disarmed, demobilised and reintegrated back to the communities voluntarily are Sudanese People’s Liberation Army and Sudan Armed Forces and 90,000 from each group had been targeted under the CPA..
Appealing for support from donors, Mr Deng said the exercise is crucial and that if does not go well could pose a major security threat to not only southern Sudan but the region as a whole.
“If we cannot control small arms proliferation in southern Sudan it would affect the region. It is something that needs to be addressed if southern Sudan is to be stable and democratic. The neighbouring countries are also vulnerable as they are the easiest places for southern Sudanese to run as refugees,” Mr Deng said.
According to UN figures, there are estimated 2.4 million guns in the hands of individuals who are not in standing army in southern Sudan with a population of about 10 million.Mr Deng said the southern Sudan government is committed to the disarmament, demobilisation reintegration and that it has given the process the necessary support.
Mr Deng said he will soon table a policy to the Cabinet on the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration process and a framework on how it would be done so that the southern Sudan government could remain with about 100,000 armed forces.
The soldiers would first undergo a three months intensive training , then six months of integration and later three months of counselling and training. The exercise is to start in January and handle between10,000 to 30,000 soldiers per year in three transit facilities.
It will take six to eight years to complete the programme, Mr Deng said, adding that majority of those to be affected are the elderly and disabled.
Southern Sudan had until 2017 to re-organise itself and transform its armed forces.
Mr Deng said his commission is facing huge challenges due to the vastness of southern Sudan, poor terrain and small economy.
“The number of soldiers to be transformed to civilian is too big. They cannot be absorbed anywhere as we have no industries and private sector is not developed. We are only relying on subsistence agriculture and oil,” he said and called for creation of industries to avoid those removed from frustration and engaging in acts of lawlessness.
He said the country cannot afford a huge military force and needs to direct little available resources to building of schools and hospitals.
“This is an important programme that needs to be supported by all governments. It looks strange but it is very important. We need to instill to the minds of the soldiers who will be removed that they are being given another assignment and that they could do other businesses as civilians. Some of them have been soldiers for the whole of their life,” he said.
He said the country also needs to downsize and recruit an able and sustainable professional force despite current fears of a return to war due to fighting in Abyei and Southern Kordofan.
1 | 2 Next Page »
“The security threats are there but to bring an educated, able, professional force we have to downsize and recruit better equipped soldiers,” Mr Deng said.
The country also faces other challenges including demining, corruption and security.
After more than two decades of civil war, Southern Sudan has grappled with a contamination problem of a large scale landmine/Explosives Remnants of War (ERW).
The contamination continues to threaten civilians and impede economic recovery and development.
Contaminated land reduces agricultural activity and productivity and the sustainable livelihoods of rural communities. Southern Sudan has nine other Independent Commissions & Institutions established by the Constitution.
The chairpersons and members of the independent commissions and institutions are appointed by the President of Southern Sudan in consultation with the Vice-President and with the approval of the National Assembly.
They include the Anti Corruption Commission, Audit Chamber, Centre for Census, Statistics and Evaluation, Civil Service Commission, De-Mining Authority, Employees Justice Chamber, Fiscal, Financial Allocation & Monitoring Commission, HIV and Aids Commission, Human Rights Commission, Land Commission and Peace Commission. Others are Public Grievances Chamber, Reconstruction and Development Fund and Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/-/1066/1190460/-/item/0/-/2o4yblz/-/index.html
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Kenya fails to heal years after chaos
Published on 11/05/2011
Three years after Kenya bled from the post-election violence of 2008, there are fears merchants of hatred are re-grouping amid waning efforts to unite rival communities.
And growing negative ethnicity, unresolved historical injustices and ethnic hatred are mostly to blame for slow national healing process, analysts say.
Chairman of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission Mzalendo Kibunjia acknowledges the situation remains toxic but says his team is closing in on ‘loose-tongued’ politicians.
"Most Kenyans are saying never again to violence, but few leaders still want to play past politics by inciting people on basis of ethnicity, race and religion," he said in an interview.
Kibunjia expressed disappointment that politicians continue to play tribal cards, a move he describes as a setback to his commission’s efforts to promote national peace and unity. He says they are planning a programme that would see peace ambassadors posted in all 47 counties.
Peter Kamuyu, the Executive Director of Sychar Centre, says ethnic conflict trends were worrying.
"There is increasing evidence even where conflict has been subdued, psychological trauma left behind is seldom healed, especially among children and women," he says.
In a recent publication Poverty, Inequality and Conflict in Kenya, Kamuyu says besides ethnic hatred, the worsening poverty levels and the Government’s failure to cushion citizens against economic repressions were some of the factors putting the country in a conflict danger zone.
Wounds still fresh
Hostilities the Government faced when it searched for land to resettle thousands of IDPs was proof the wounds had not healed.
IDPs have been rejected in Narok, Muhoroni and Coast regions where locals said they would not live with them.
A Catholic priest Ambrose Kimutai of Segemik Parish in Bomet says the situation remains fluid.
"The wounds inflicted by the past tribal skirmishes and the election violence are still fresh. There is no healing. The seeds of discord planted by politicians have sprouted. There will be no reconciliation until the Government addresses the issues that caused the violence," said Fr Kimutai.
And Mr Chris Owala, a regional co-ordinator with the Partners for Peace, a consortium of organisations working towards sustainable peace in Nyanza, Western and Rift Valley provinces, says infiltrations of small arms into the country and poverty play a major role in fuelling the conflicts.
He adds: "Existing peace building mechanisms, such as District Peace Committees are not sustainable and lack the necessary independence, capacity or visibility to assert a leading role in response to conflicts."
But as political scientist Walter Oyugi in a paper Conflict in Kenya: A Periodic Phenomenon published recently in the African Journal of Political Science, says: "There is evidence where ethnic conflict has emerged in Africa, there has always been political machinations behind it."
Published on 11/05/2011
Three years after Kenya bled from the post-election violence of 2008, there are fears merchants of hatred are re-grouping amid waning efforts to unite rival communities.
And growing negative ethnicity, unresolved historical injustices and ethnic hatred are mostly to blame for slow national healing process, analysts say.
Chairman of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission Mzalendo Kibunjia acknowledges the situation remains toxic but says his team is closing in on ‘loose-tongued’ politicians.
"Most Kenyans are saying never again to violence, but few leaders still want to play past politics by inciting people on basis of ethnicity, race and religion," he said in an interview.
Kibunjia expressed disappointment that politicians continue to play tribal cards, a move he describes as a setback to his commission’s efforts to promote national peace and unity. He says they are planning a programme that would see peace ambassadors posted in all 47 counties.
Peter Kamuyu, the Executive Director of Sychar Centre, says ethnic conflict trends were worrying.
"There is increasing evidence even where conflict has been subdued, psychological trauma left behind is seldom healed, especially among children and women," he says.
In a recent publication Poverty, Inequality and Conflict in Kenya, Kamuyu says besides ethnic hatred, the worsening poverty levels and the Government’s failure to cushion citizens against economic repressions were some of the factors putting the country in a conflict danger zone.
Wounds still fresh
Hostilities the Government faced when it searched for land to resettle thousands of IDPs was proof the wounds had not healed.
IDPs have been rejected in Narok, Muhoroni and Coast regions where locals said they would not live with them.
A Catholic priest Ambrose Kimutai of Segemik Parish in Bomet says the situation remains fluid.
"The wounds inflicted by the past tribal skirmishes and the election violence are still fresh. There is no healing. The seeds of discord planted by politicians have sprouted. There will be no reconciliation until the Government addresses the issues that caused the violence," said Fr Kimutai.
And Mr Chris Owala, a regional co-ordinator with the Partners for Peace, a consortium of organisations working towards sustainable peace in Nyanza, Western and Rift Valley provinces, says infiltrations of small arms into the country and poverty play a major role in fuelling the conflicts.
He adds: "Existing peace building mechanisms, such as District Peace Committees are not sustainable and lack the necessary independence, capacity or visibility to assert a leading role in response to conflicts."
But as political scientist Walter Oyugi in a paper Conflict in Kenya: A Periodic Phenomenon published recently in the African Journal of Political Science, says: "There is evidence where ethnic conflict has emerged in Africa, there has always been political machinations behind it."
Monday, June 20, 2011
WORLD REFUGEE DAY!
“Why do women have to dance for you, just like you are a god?”
The bold question posed in 1975 in front of a large crowd by 22-year-old Marie Rose Mukeni Beya did not go over well with Zaire’s longtime dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, a despot best known in the West for his jaunty leopard skin hats. “Mobutu ordered: ‘Take her,’” Mukeni Beya recalled this month.
She was taken captive and tortured for three days, and from that time on was targeted, threatened, harassed and detained by Mobutu’s government and various repressive regimes that followed for questioning her government and standing up for women’s rights. Finally, she was forced to flee in 2002 and seek refuge in the United States.
Since arriving with her youngest daughter, with little more than the clothes on her back and in dire need of emergency medical care, Mukeni Beya has struggled to rebuild her life. Now, almost nine years later, the psychology professor and mother of five is finally realizing her dream: She is teaching again and will take her naturalization exam for U.S. citizenship in a few weeks.
Mukeni Beya is in some ways emblematic of the estimated 40 million refugees around the world who have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict or persecution. But, as the U.N. marks World Refugee Day on Monday, it’s important to note that her story also is in many ways different than that of the typical refugee.
Detention centers
Many refugees end up living in crowded camps for years, waiting for conflicts to end so they can go home. Others strike out on their own, heading to more stable countries in Europe and North America and applying for asylum. But often they languish in prison-like detention centers while their asylum cases are pending — and if they fail, they are deported to their country of origin.
Some 358,800 asylum applications were recorded in 44 countries in 2010, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
The greatest number of asylum seekers made their request to the U.S., which received approximately 55,500 asylum applications in 2010 but accepted only 21,113, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Story: U.S. system for refugee, asylum seekers explained
Mukeni Beya was one of the lucky ones. Thanks to the network of doctors and lawyers who helped her heal and gain asylum, as well as her own determination, she’s now back where she wanted to be: teaching in a classroom with the freedom to speak her mind.
‘I was humiliated'
Mukeni Beya, a calm, confident, soft-spoken 58-year-old, was the first female psychologist in the former Zaire, a sprawling country in the center of Africa with a population of 71 million. Mobutu was the all-powerful one-man ruler of the country from 1965 until he was ousted in 1997 by Laurent Kabila, who renamed the country the Democratic Republic of Congo.
From Congo to NY: a refugee's story of redemption .
..After presenting her dissertation in Belgium in 1980, Mukeni Beya returned to Zaire to teach. Before long, she was named to head the department of psychology at the University of Kisangani, and later assumed the same position at the University of Kinshasa, in the country’s capital.
Mukeni Beya said being the only female professor and the head of a university department in a male-dominated culture was not easy. She met resistance from both professors and students, who were not accustomed to working with or being taught by a woman.
“But I kept doing my job, because I was convinced that … if I got discouraged, I (would) show the Congolese that women cannot do something because they are weaker,” she said in a recent interview in New York.
A member of the Luba tribe, which was marginalized by Mobutu’s regime, Mukeni Beya was soon labeled as a troublemaker for pushing her students to be critical of their government, for trying to get rid of corruption among the other professors and for encouraging the female students to stand up for themselves.
“I thought that as a professor, it was my responsibility to raise the awareness of students,” she said. “My goal was not to say we are against the government, just to say we to question the government and be more critical.” She now says she was naïve and that there were government spies in some of her classes.
Forced to stand for two days straight Things came to a head when a mob attacked her as she was handing out an exam on Congo’s Independence Day, June 30, in 2002. She was grabbed, taken away again and forced to stand for two days straight in a secret government installation.
“They said, ‘You are the one we’ve been searching for. Here you are – show that you are the professor. You will stand up; because you are a teacher, you are used to standing,’” Mukeni Beya said.
She said her captors, including some former students, mocked her and put cigarette butts out on her legs. They also subjected her to what she described as psychological torture meant to demean and discourage her. “I was well-known, the great Professor Mukeni, and then I was reduced to nothing,” she said. “I suffered physically, yes — but I suffered more by this kind of humiliation.”
As a result of the torture she developed deep-vein thrombosis — or major blood clots in her legs — a chronic condition that can be life threatening if not treated. As she shared her story, she lifted her long skirt to show the compression stockings she wears to prevent new blood clots from developing.
After being released, she knew she had to leave the country. She recalls breaking the news to her children.
“I told them, either I get help and improve my health and we can live together for a long time or I stay here and you know what will happen,” she said. “They were very courageous. They said, 'Mom, go.'”
On Christmas Day 2002, she and her youngest daughter, who was 11, left for New York City. When she arrived at Bellevue Hospital, the doctors took one look at her swollen legs and said she needed immediate emergency treatment.
“Torture, as we know, can have devastating health consequences — physically, psychologically and socially,” said Dr. Allen Keller, the director of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, who treated Mukeni Beya when she first arrived. “She endured all of these — the physical injuries, including the chronic deep vein thrombosis; the psychological impacts, feelings of sadness, terror, sleep difficulties.”
From prestige to poverty
Keller added that sometimes the social challenges and feelings of isolation can be among the biggest obstacles refugees face.
“Here was somebody who had been an accomplished professor — a leader in her field in her country and she arrives here basically penniless. So I know it was very difficult for her,” he said.
The United States has a long history of accepting refugees and asylum seekers who have been forced to flee their homes because of persecution or fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion. In 1980 Congress passed the Refugee Act to bring U.S. law into compliance with the U.N. protocol on refugees, which prohibits any nation from returning a refugee to a country where his or her life may be threatened.
The U.S. provides refuge to victims of persecution through two programs: one for refugees outside of the U.S. and one for asylum seekers in the U.S. People in both groups go through lengthy processes to attain their immigration status.
Mukeni Beya received asylum in 2004, thanks in large part to Human Rights First, a nonprofit, nonpartisan international human rights organization.
Shoshana Altschuler, a member of the group and a young lawyer, took on Mukeni Beya’s pro-bono asylum case and helped steer her through the labyrinth that is this country’s immigration system.
“The way they treat me, they were with me every single day. I consider them as part of my family,” Mukeni Beya said of Altschuler and the other lawyers who worked on her case.
Even though she switched law firms, Altschuler continued working to win asylum for the rest of Mukeni Beya’s family and, in December 2004, the immigrant and her four other children were reunited in New York.
'A hard experience' Gaining asylum for herself and her family did not solve all Mukeni Beya’s problems. Her teaching credentials were no good here and she was no longer the well-respected professional she had been.
“Being here as a refugee is a hard experience. You experience humiliation — every single day,” said Mukeni Beya. “You experience unemployment, homelessness, sickness — all these experiences just push you down. But you have to be strong enough to just stand up and say, ‘I know why I am here.’”
When she discovered she would have to repeat in English all the courses she had taken in French as a young college student, Mukeni Beya’s response was “OK! I will do that.” She never told her teachers about her background, but her secret inevitably crumbled when she aced her exams.
As she worked her way back, she found time to teach French at the Alliance Francaise, volunteer at the Henry George School of Social Scienceand work odd jobs to support her family.
Now, nearly nine years later, her hard work has paid off. She became an associate professor at the City College of New York a few weeks ago.
Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com Marie Rose Mukeni Beya gives a lesson as part of an adolescent and youth psychology course at City College of New York on June 14. “I will teach what I have taught all my live: infancy and child development and adolescence," she said.
She is applying for U.S. citizenship and will take her naturalization exam soon. Her daughter, who is now in college studying medical engineering, has already become a U.S. citizen. Two of her sons are also attending college and the third is working full time.
Her lawyer, Altschuler, said she spoke to Mukeni Beya after she taught her first class at City College and that she was the happiest she has ever heard her.
“She’s made a real effort in the years that she’s been here to assimilate into our society,” Altschuler said. “She’s worked hard to follow the rules and get back to where she was. She is such a positive spirit and such a hard worker and has good morals, good values, and really just works to better herself and her family. Her determination is what made her story a success story.”
Not alone
For Keller, the doctor who treated her when she arrived in the U.S., Mukeni Beya’s story is what his work is all about.
“Clearly in many ways, Marie Rose represents the American dream: someone who overcame profound brutality and trauma, came here literally penniless and has not only rebuilt her life, but makes invaluable contributions to our society.”
Keller said that while Mukeni Beya’s story is remarkable, it is not uncommon. Survivors of Torture has cared for more than 3,000 individuals from more than 80 countries since it was founded 1995, and many of the refugees, asylum seekers and torture victims he meets on a daily basis have similar stories.
“Individuals come here — often individuals who were very high functioning in their countries, but they may come here not speaking the language, not having friends or family or jobs. Basically homeless, undocumented, uninsured, uneverything,” said Keller. “But the same determination, tenacity, survival skills that enabled them to survive what they were subjected to in their country, also serves them well in making it here and rebuilding their lives.”
Mukeni Beya said the road to a new life has not been easy, but she credits the “Four Ds” — dedication, determination, devotion and discipline — with keeping her moving forward.
She said that as an educated woman who has been given the opportunity to make the best of her life, she couldn’t stand for anything less.
“It’s up to me to make the right choice,” she said. “… You fight, struggle every day.
“Why do women have to dance for you, just like you are a god?”
The bold question posed in 1975 in front of a large crowd by 22-year-old Marie Rose Mukeni Beya did not go over well with Zaire’s longtime dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, a despot best known in the West for his jaunty leopard skin hats. “Mobutu ordered: ‘Take her,’” Mukeni Beya recalled this month.
She was taken captive and tortured for three days, and from that time on was targeted, threatened, harassed and detained by Mobutu’s government and various repressive regimes that followed for questioning her government and standing up for women’s rights. Finally, she was forced to flee in 2002 and seek refuge in the United States.
Since arriving with her youngest daughter, with little more than the clothes on her back and in dire need of emergency medical care, Mukeni Beya has struggled to rebuild her life. Now, almost nine years later, the psychology professor and mother of five is finally realizing her dream: She is teaching again and will take her naturalization exam for U.S. citizenship in a few weeks.
Mukeni Beya is in some ways emblematic of the estimated 40 million refugees around the world who have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict or persecution. But, as the U.N. marks World Refugee Day on Monday, it’s important to note that her story also is in many ways different than that of the typical refugee.
Detention centers
Many refugees end up living in crowded camps for years, waiting for conflicts to end so they can go home. Others strike out on their own, heading to more stable countries in Europe and North America and applying for asylum. But often they languish in prison-like detention centers while their asylum cases are pending — and if they fail, they are deported to their country of origin.
Some 358,800 asylum applications were recorded in 44 countries in 2010, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
The greatest number of asylum seekers made their request to the U.S., which received approximately 55,500 asylum applications in 2010 but accepted only 21,113, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Story: U.S. system for refugee, asylum seekers explained
Mukeni Beya was one of the lucky ones. Thanks to the network of doctors and lawyers who helped her heal and gain asylum, as well as her own determination, she’s now back where she wanted to be: teaching in a classroom with the freedom to speak her mind.
‘I was humiliated'
Mukeni Beya, a calm, confident, soft-spoken 58-year-old, was the first female psychologist in the former Zaire, a sprawling country in the center of Africa with a population of 71 million. Mobutu was the all-powerful one-man ruler of the country from 1965 until he was ousted in 1997 by Laurent Kabila, who renamed the country the Democratic Republic of Congo.
From Congo to NY: a refugee's story of redemption .
..After presenting her dissertation in Belgium in 1980, Mukeni Beya returned to Zaire to teach. Before long, she was named to head the department of psychology at the University of Kisangani, and later assumed the same position at the University of Kinshasa, in the country’s capital.
Mukeni Beya said being the only female professor and the head of a university department in a male-dominated culture was not easy. She met resistance from both professors and students, who were not accustomed to working with or being taught by a woman.
“But I kept doing my job, because I was convinced that … if I got discouraged, I (would) show the Congolese that women cannot do something because they are weaker,” she said in a recent interview in New York.
A member of the Luba tribe, which was marginalized by Mobutu’s regime, Mukeni Beya was soon labeled as a troublemaker for pushing her students to be critical of their government, for trying to get rid of corruption among the other professors and for encouraging the female students to stand up for themselves.
“I thought that as a professor, it was my responsibility to raise the awareness of students,” she said. “My goal was not to say we are against the government, just to say we to question the government and be more critical.” She now says she was naïve and that there were government spies in some of her classes.
Forced to stand for two days straight Things came to a head when a mob attacked her as she was handing out an exam on Congo’s Independence Day, June 30, in 2002. She was grabbed, taken away again and forced to stand for two days straight in a secret government installation.
“They said, ‘You are the one we’ve been searching for. Here you are – show that you are the professor. You will stand up; because you are a teacher, you are used to standing,’” Mukeni Beya said.
She said her captors, including some former students, mocked her and put cigarette butts out on her legs. They also subjected her to what she described as psychological torture meant to demean and discourage her. “I was well-known, the great Professor Mukeni, and then I was reduced to nothing,” she said. “I suffered physically, yes — but I suffered more by this kind of humiliation.”
As a result of the torture she developed deep-vein thrombosis — or major blood clots in her legs — a chronic condition that can be life threatening if not treated. As she shared her story, she lifted her long skirt to show the compression stockings she wears to prevent new blood clots from developing.
After being released, she knew she had to leave the country. She recalls breaking the news to her children.
“I told them, either I get help and improve my health and we can live together for a long time or I stay here and you know what will happen,” she said. “They were very courageous. They said, 'Mom, go.'”
On Christmas Day 2002, she and her youngest daughter, who was 11, left for New York City. When she arrived at Bellevue Hospital, the doctors took one look at her swollen legs and said she needed immediate emergency treatment.
“Torture, as we know, can have devastating health consequences — physically, psychologically and socially,” said Dr. Allen Keller, the director of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, who treated Mukeni Beya when she first arrived. “She endured all of these — the physical injuries, including the chronic deep vein thrombosis; the psychological impacts, feelings of sadness, terror, sleep difficulties.”
From prestige to poverty
Keller added that sometimes the social challenges and feelings of isolation can be among the biggest obstacles refugees face.
“Here was somebody who had been an accomplished professor — a leader in her field in her country and she arrives here basically penniless. So I know it was very difficult for her,” he said.
The United States has a long history of accepting refugees and asylum seekers who have been forced to flee their homes because of persecution or fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion. In 1980 Congress passed the Refugee Act to bring U.S. law into compliance with the U.N. protocol on refugees, which prohibits any nation from returning a refugee to a country where his or her life may be threatened.
The U.S. provides refuge to victims of persecution through two programs: one for refugees outside of the U.S. and one for asylum seekers in the U.S. People in both groups go through lengthy processes to attain their immigration status.
Mukeni Beya received asylum in 2004, thanks in large part to Human Rights First, a nonprofit, nonpartisan international human rights organization.
Shoshana Altschuler, a member of the group and a young lawyer, took on Mukeni Beya’s pro-bono asylum case and helped steer her through the labyrinth that is this country’s immigration system.
“The way they treat me, they were with me every single day. I consider them as part of my family,” Mukeni Beya said of Altschuler and the other lawyers who worked on her case.
Even though she switched law firms, Altschuler continued working to win asylum for the rest of Mukeni Beya’s family and, in December 2004, the immigrant and her four other children were reunited in New York.
'A hard experience' Gaining asylum for herself and her family did not solve all Mukeni Beya’s problems. Her teaching credentials were no good here and she was no longer the well-respected professional she had been.
“Being here as a refugee is a hard experience. You experience humiliation — every single day,” said Mukeni Beya. “You experience unemployment, homelessness, sickness — all these experiences just push you down. But you have to be strong enough to just stand up and say, ‘I know why I am here.’”
When she discovered she would have to repeat in English all the courses she had taken in French as a young college student, Mukeni Beya’s response was “OK! I will do that.” She never told her teachers about her background, but her secret inevitably crumbled when she aced her exams.
As she worked her way back, she found time to teach French at the Alliance Francaise, volunteer at the Henry George School of Social Scienceand work odd jobs to support her family.
Now, nearly nine years later, her hard work has paid off. She became an associate professor at the City College of New York a few weeks ago.
Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com Marie Rose Mukeni Beya gives a lesson as part of an adolescent and youth psychology course at City College of New York on June 14. “I will teach what I have taught all my live: infancy and child development and adolescence," she said.
She is applying for U.S. citizenship and will take her naturalization exam soon. Her daughter, who is now in college studying medical engineering, has already become a U.S. citizen. Two of her sons are also attending college and the third is working full time.
Her lawyer, Altschuler, said she spoke to Mukeni Beya after she taught her first class at City College and that she was the happiest she has ever heard her.
“She’s made a real effort in the years that she’s been here to assimilate into our society,” Altschuler said. “She’s worked hard to follow the rules and get back to where she was. She is such a positive spirit and such a hard worker and has good morals, good values, and really just works to better herself and her family. Her determination is what made her story a success story.”
Not alone
For Keller, the doctor who treated her when she arrived in the U.S., Mukeni Beya’s story is what his work is all about.
“Clearly in many ways, Marie Rose represents the American dream: someone who overcame profound brutality and trauma, came here literally penniless and has not only rebuilt her life, but makes invaluable contributions to our society.”
Keller said that while Mukeni Beya’s story is remarkable, it is not uncommon. Survivors of Torture has cared for more than 3,000 individuals from more than 80 countries since it was founded 1995, and many of the refugees, asylum seekers and torture victims he meets on a daily basis have similar stories.
“Individuals come here — often individuals who were very high functioning in their countries, but they may come here not speaking the language, not having friends or family or jobs. Basically homeless, undocumented, uninsured, uneverything,” said Keller. “But the same determination, tenacity, survival skills that enabled them to survive what they were subjected to in their country, also serves them well in making it here and rebuilding their lives.”
Mukeni Beya said the road to a new life has not been easy, but she credits the “Four Ds” — dedication, determination, devotion and discipline — with keeping her moving forward.
She said that as an educated woman who has been given the opportunity to make the best of her life, she couldn’t stand for anything less.
“It’s up to me to make the right choice,” she said. “… You fight, struggle every day.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Angelina Jolie traveled to the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa on Sunday to thank its residents for welcoming in the estimated 20,000 migrants who arrived after fleeing unrest in Tunisia and Libya.
Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, toured a migrant holding center, chatted with some refugees and then participated in a ceremony at Lampedusa's memorial for migrants lost at sea as part of commemorations for World Refugee Day on Monday.
"It is very hard to imagine looking out at this beautiful sea how many people have risked their lives and how many people have risked their children's lives and so many of them have lost their lives at sea," she said.
She thanked the residents who gathered for the ceremony for welcoming the migrants in and asked them to consider how "horrible" their lives must have been that they would risk everything for the chance of a better life in Europe.
"Can you imagine how it must feel to finally cross in" to Italy? she asked. "For the coast guard to save them and carry them to safety, save their children's lives and give them a chance to survive and to have a future, and what it means to them," said Jolie, wearing a plain black blouse and jacket.
U.N. refugee chief Antonio Guterres also was on hand to urge Europe to continue keeping its doors open to refugees. Italy's center-right government has begrudgingly accepted the migrants. It has also struck deals with Tunisia and the Libyan opposition to return those who don't qualify for asylum.
Guterres said the debate in Europe about immigration "doesn't correspond to the reality," given that the number of African migrants who have arrived in Europe is a fraction of the numbers who have gone elsewhere, such as Tunisia or Egypt.
'A drop in the ocean'
"Obviously, for a small island like Lampedusa, to have such a large number of people coming is a huge pressure," he told reporters. "But for Europe as a whole, it is a drop in the ocean, and so I believe that with an adequate form of solidarity this challenge can be overcome."
Lampedusa, with a permanent population of 6,000, was overwhelmed this spring by waves of refugees fleeing the social uprising in Tunisia, with an estimated 20,000 arriving on the island, which is closer to Africa than mainland Italy. Boats continue to arrive from Libya, but eventually the refugees are transferred to holding centers elsewhere in Italy or sent back home unless they qualify for asylum.
Pope Benedict XVI urged countries to welcome refugees for as long as they need sanctuary in a message delivered Sunday while visiting the tiny republic of San Marino, itself founded in the early 4th century by a Christian refugee from Croatia.
"I invite civil authorities and every one of good will to guarantee a welcome and dignified living conditions for refugees until they can return to their countries freely and safely," Benedict said.
Yet as he spoke, members of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government heated up the anti-immigrant rhetoric during an annual rally of the xenophobic Northern League party near the northern city of Bergamo.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni drew cheers from the crowd when he boasted of the hardline policies he has pushed through to return migrants back to their home countries
Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, toured a migrant holding center, chatted with some refugees and then participated in a ceremony at Lampedusa's memorial for migrants lost at sea as part of commemorations for World Refugee Day on Monday.
"It is very hard to imagine looking out at this beautiful sea how many people have risked their lives and how many people have risked their children's lives and so many of them have lost their lives at sea," she said.
She thanked the residents who gathered for the ceremony for welcoming the migrants in and asked them to consider how "horrible" their lives must have been that they would risk everything for the chance of a better life in Europe.
"Can you imagine how it must feel to finally cross in" to Italy? she asked. "For the coast guard to save them and carry them to safety, save their children's lives and give them a chance to survive and to have a future, and what it means to them," said Jolie, wearing a plain black blouse and jacket.
U.N. refugee chief Antonio Guterres also was on hand to urge Europe to continue keeping its doors open to refugees. Italy's center-right government has begrudgingly accepted the migrants. It has also struck deals with Tunisia and the Libyan opposition to return those who don't qualify for asylum.
Guterres said the debate in Europe about immigration "doesn't correspond to the reality," given that the number of African migrants who have arrived in Europe is a fraction of the numbers who have gone elsewhere, such as Tunisia or Egypt.
'A drop in the ocean'
"Obviously, for a small island like Lampedusa, to have such a large number of people coming is a huge pressure," he told reporters. "But for Europe as a whole, it is a drop in the ocean, and so I believe that with an adequate form of solidarity this challenge can be overcome."
Lampedusa, with a permanent population of 6,000, was overwhelmed this spring by waves of refugees fleeing the social uprising in Tunisia, with an estimated 20,000 arriving on the island, which is closer to Africa than mainland Italy. Boats continue to arrive from Libya, but eventually the refugees are transferred to holding centers elsewhere in Italy or sent back home unless they qualify for asylum.
Pope Benedict XVI urged countries to welcome refugees for as long as they need sanctuary in a message delivered Sunday while visiting the tiny republic of San Marino, itself founded in the early 4th century by a Christian refugee from Croatia.
"I invite civil authorities and every one of good will to guarantee a welcome and dignified living conditions for refugees until they can return to their countries freely and safely," Benedict said.
Yet as he spoke, members of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government heated up the anti-immigrant rhetoric during an annual rally of the xenophobic Northern League party near the northern city of Bergamo.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni drew cheers from the crowd when he boasted of the hardline policies he has pushed through to return migrants back to their home countries
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)