[authorme] PUBLISHING EMERGING WRITERS, JULY, 2007
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In this issue...
FEATURE... WRITING IN THE TRAGEDY OF DARFUR
........................................................
--BETWEEN THE CAMERA LENSES AND THE SCRIBE'S PEN, by John Oryem
--CHILDREN - THE DIAMONDS OF AFRICA, by Winona Rasheed
--YOUR PUBLISHING SUCCESS DEPENDS ON YOUR PLATFORM , by Patricia L. Fry
============================================================
Between the Camera Lenses and the Scribe's Pen
By John Oryem
I once read how an American marine serving in one of the African Union bases in
Darfur captured a dying child in his camera. It detailed that child's painful
moments until her premature death in the desert region of Darfur . After
reading his piece, a long poem had been knitted at the corner of the brains. In
Darfur , after capturing the scenes vividly in your camera and securing them
safely under your belt, there is always a feeling of haven't done enough.
Though for most of us, images should speak and explain more than a pen should
do. It is the competition of the lenses and pen to transmit the real life
situation of Darfur across the world that is too difficult. Rape, killings,
tortures, burning and all sorts of inhuman ways of reducing humanity into
nothingness took place in Darfur since 2003. One is left to wonder if any other
art of killing is left in this world yet to be applied and experimented in
Darfur .
In January 1999, fresh from academic life, I left for Nyala in Darfur
onboard an old Antonov plane en route to Central African Republic . Touring
northern part of Darfur and venturing slightly to the west was an unforgettable
experience. Jebel Marra peak was the most fascinating. Throughout peaceful
periods in the Sudan , newly wed couples would go to Jebel Marra to experience
the beginning of new life after rejecting bachelorhood. Until mid 90s banditry
had halted such tourism experiences by northern Sudanese who never experienced
war at their doorsteps. They always went to the south to fight 'infidels and
rebels,' the people whom they thought were always against Islam and Arabs.
Thank God, such thoughts are no more since late Dr. John Garang has put things
right through New Sudan philosophy.
Darfur was always ready to explode; it did so in 2003 when southern Sudan
was reaching peace with unlawful rulers in Khartoum . At hearing about the
beginning of that revolution, it was welcoming news for the marginalized
Sudanese. Sudan People's Liberation Army, SPLA, was badly defeated in Darfur in
September 1991 as it tried to take the revolution to Darfur . Commander Daud
Yahya Bolad, a man from Darfur whose blood haunted people of Darfur until 2003,
will rest assured in his unknown grave. His own tribe's men murdered him as he
was bringing revolution to them from southern Sudan . They have since called
him martyr, a great recognition in today's Sudan .
Darfur captured world's attention not because of the successes of the
revolution in Darfur, but because of the humanitarian catastrophe it presented
immediately when joint Sudan Liberation Army, SLA, and Justice and Equality
Movement, JEM, stormed Fasher airport one early February in 2003. Dreadful war
machinery of Khartoum that destroyed the south for long time suffered untold
defeats at the hands of the inexperienced revolutionaries. That first attack
became a landmark, scare in the face of Khartoum . Arab tribal militias used in
the south and popularly known as Popular Defense Force quickly changed its name
to Janjaweed with the same color of death remaining. The work of the fearful
Janjaweed, the racist militia force whose mission was to terminate another
racial group for a purpose came to light as camera lenses began beaming scenes
from the heart of Darfur.
As a writer, one feels there isn't enough written about once this peaceful
land of Ali Dinar ; a Fur Sultan who was known beyond Darfur because of many
wonderful things. The British, through its stooges in Khartoum annexed his
country to Sudan , 'elephant stomach' as others like to call the mess. While
in Darfur , the fresh images of deaths will continue to linger deep in your
mind, leaving you guilty because as if the dead are telling you; "you should
have not allowed us to die!" Each time one is for a purpose in Darfur , you
come out with a book in your head. The most unwritten book that refused to
vacate the mind is; Darfur: where God wrestled with the devil. Alex de Waal
and Julie Flint had the experience of the Nuba Mountains and now kudos to
them for sitting under baobab trees in Darfur to write Darfur, a short history
of a long war.
CHILDREN - THE DIAMONDS OF AFRICA
by Winona Rasheed
Plant the seeds and your garden will grow. Spring time comes and almost
everyone is out planting
something in their gardens to grow, it may be flowers, or it may be vegetables,
or it just may be both. It’s an exciting time when the little shoots start to
pop their heads up out of the ground because you know that soon you will have a
beautiful flower garden to show off, or some yummy vegetables to eat that you
grew and nurtured yourself. The seeds that you planted are prospering because
you are nurturing them, giving them your attention. You are taking pride in
your endeavors because you are about to reap what you have sown.
However, there are some seeds which have been planted generation after
generation which aren’t so lucky and those seeds are the children of Africa.
The lives of most African children are snuffed out before they can even begin
to grow. Their futures grow dim with each passing day as Africa’s gardens slip
away. Why can’t these precious seeds grow and prosper? Aren’t they just as
important as a flower garden or a vegetable garden?
Since the Darfur conflict there are thousands of minor children who are living
and working the streets in major cities across the dark continent of Africa,
from the top of the map where you will find Algeria to the tip where Botswana
is located; you will find thousands of children who are left to defend and
raise themselves, no place to call home and no parents to look after them.
Children left behind because of abandonment and poverty, but who have the will
to live.
Imagine your day as you prepare yourself in the morning to go to your place of
employment, perhaps you are getting ready to go to your dream job. Your
children, a girl and a boy, perhaps 7 and 8 years of age are sitting around the
table, dressed and eating a good healthy breakfast as they get ready to go to
school. Their faces are glowing because they are happy and they have no worries.
However, can you imagine a child, age 6 or 7 in any city in Africa as they
prepare themselves for a new day of survival. No class room to go to, their
education and experiences come from the streets that they have to work in order
to endure and survive. Instead of going to school, they go to work, and what
they call work is nothing more than an act of survival, coping with the
misfortune that has been laid on their narrow little shoulders because they
want to live. They have a desire to survive.
While you are sitting at your table, enjoying the company of your children and
eating a slice of buttery toast and scrambled eggs, the street children of
Africa are scrounging around trash cans looking for food, eating what ever
scraps they can find; children running around with bare dusty feet, begging or
stealing morsels of food just so they can live; living for the moment and yet,
preparing for another day because they do not give up or give in to their
circumstances all because they want to survive. Africa’s street children walk
the roadways panhandling, trying to get someone to notice and pay attention and
hear their cries of desperation as they try to eat and survive; but, in most
cases the well dressed and polished individuals whom these children approach
look at them in disgust and annoyance. They show no humanity and give no mercy
or helping hands to the young seeds of Africa. How can anyone treat a child
this way? What if one of those street children was your son
or daughter trying to survive after you were gone from their lives
permanently? What if the shoe were on the other foot?
Who and what is the blame behind innocent children being forced into the
streets? Why are there so many children both male and female having their
childhood snatched away from them as they try to survive their situations.
These are just a few questions to ask yourself if by chance you are reading
this because life at times can be so unfair, especially to the young in Africa.
Can you imagine a 7 or 8 year old being arrested because they are trying to
survive by any means necessary? They refuse to just lie down and die because it
seems they are always looking for hope.
Why do the young and defeated also have to cope with physical abuse, mental
abuse, and sexual abuse on top of being hungry? Who would do such horrible
things to a child who is already beaten down and feel good about it? In most
cases, you will find that it is the adults doing these things and taking
advantage of the helpless and innocent, not to mention the other rug rats that
are on the streets preying on Africa’s children. The streets are not safe and
friendly. Africa’s children are not living a fairy tale dream; they are living
in a nightmare of pain and suffering. This is not the life intended for a
child, and it certainly should not be the way of life for an African Child just
because that’s how things are in Africa.
There is so much turmoil and pain in glorious Africa. It makes you wonder how
diamonds can be of more importance the lives of children. The precious gems of
Africa are not the stones that are hidden in the earth, the diamonds, even in
the rough, are the children of Africa. They are the seeds that need nurturing,
especially the ones without parents. What would Africa be without its children?
Aren’t children supposed to be the future, the future of Africa? If the seeds
in your garden are hindered from growing and producing, what then happens to
your garden?
What will happen to the children of Africa when they come from broken homes and
their educational system is less then perfect, and don’t forget the ever
menacing threat of malnutrition and HIV? Are they the cause of their own
plight? Did the children bring their own personal, individual situations on
themselves? I can only say……….I think not!!!
The diamonds of Africa are just coping with the fate that the government and
society has dealt them. As children, they are being cheated out of a happy,
carefree childhood. Their lives have been stolen and rearranged. Their wings
have been clipped, and yet they still struggle to fly.
Is this hard for you to believe? Do you not think that these things are
actually happening, right now?
The statistics paints a very dim picture of what is actually going on in Mother
Africa. The numbers are astronomical and the proof is on the streets and in the
mind, body, and spirit of Africa’s children, Africa’s young diamonds.
According to a report made by “Abaana,” there are 17 million children who die
from malnutrition and starvation each year. There are 10 million children
involved in the sex trade, and 100 million young people living on the streets.
This shows a country-wide picture of the perils that exists for the children.
However, in Africa alone, 80% of her children are under the age of 15 and
living with HIV, and according to the Senegal government, there are between
50-100 thousand child street beggars. 21% of Kenya’s children do not have
access to schools, and there is an estimated count of 130,000 street children
living in Nairobi. All across Africa, you can see the children’s plight. Did
you know that there are 200,000 orphans just in Rwanda alone?
Aids is taking the diamonds right out of Africa. Because of this horrendous
monster of a disease, the mortality rate is very high, claiming the lives of
children under the age of five. In Kenya, the children who die because of aids
is 35%, in Namibia, its 48%, in South Africa and Zimbabwe the numbers are 50%,
with Botswana, having a high rate of 64%. Do you need more proof?
According to the Labour and Social Affairs Minister, there are 150,000 children
living on the streets of Ethiopia, 40% of Ethiopian children start working the
streets at the age of 6, working a 30 hour work week. Can you imagine your 6-
year- old walking up to strangers begging for hand outs?
The statistics does not paint a perfect picture if you are a child living in
the heart of Africa. Have you been to beautiful Ghana lately? According to
Ghana’s department of social welfare and local NGOs, there are 21,000 children
living and working on the streets of Accra. Nationwide, there could be as many
as 50,000 street children, with which most of them are in Kumasi. Are you
adding these figures up? Isn’t it a disgrace for these kinds of numbers to
exist? Isn’t it a disgrace to the human race that these conditions exist for
children? Where is the humanity? Where is the love for your neighbor, though
they may be far?
Take another look at the Aids statistic for these children:
Statistics on Africa
An estimated 24.5 million adults and children were living with HIV in
sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2005.
During that year, an estimated 2 million people died from AIDS. The epidemic
has left behind some 12 million orphaned African children.
The estimated number of adults and children living with HIV/AIDS, the number of
deaths from AIDS, and the number of living orphans in individual countries in
sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2005 are shown below.
Country
People living with HIV/AIDS
Adult (15-49) rate %
Women with HIV/AIDS
Children with HIV/AIDS
AIDS deaths
Orphans
due to AIDS
Angola
320,000
3.7
170,000
35,000
30,000
160,000
Benin
87,000
1.8
45,000
9,800
9,600
62,000
Botswana
270,000
24.1
140,000
14,000
18,000
120,000
Burkina Faso
150,000
2.0
80,000
17,000
12,000
120,000
Burundi
150,000
3.3
79,000
20,000
13,000
120,000
Cameroon
510,000
5.4
290,000
43,000
46,000
240,000
Central African Republic
250,000
10.7
130,000
24,000
24,000
140,000
Chad
180,000
3.5
90,000
16,000
11,000
57,000
Comoros
<500
<0.1
<100
<100
<100
-
Congo
120,000
5.3
61,000
15,000
11,000
110,000
Côte d'Ivoire
750,000
7.1
400,000
74,000
65,000
450,000
Dem. Republic of Congo
1,000,000
3.2
520,000
120,000
90,000
680,000
Djibouti
15,000
3.1
8,400
1,200
1,200
5,700
Equatorial Guinea
8,900
3.2
4,700
<1,000
<1,000
4,600
Eritrea
59,000
2.4
31,000
6,600
5,600
36,000
Ethiopia
420,000-
1,300,000
0.9-
3.5
190,000-
730,000
30,000-
220,000
38,000-
130,000
280,000-
870,000
Gabon
60,000
7.9
33,000
3,900
4,700
20,000
Gambia
20,000
2.4
11,000
1,200
1,300
3,800
Ghana
320,000
2.3
180,000
25,000
29,000
170,000
Guinea
85,000
1.5
53,000
7,000
7,100
28,000
Guinea-Bissau
32,000
3.8
17,000
3,200
2,700
11,000
Kenya
1,300,000
6.1
740,000
150,000
140,000
1,100,000
Lesotho
270,000
23.2
150,000
18,000
23,000
97,000
Liberia *
-
2.0-5.0
-
-
-
-
Madagascar
49,000
0.5
13,000
1,600
2,900
13,000
Malawi
940,000
14.1
500,000
91,000
78,000
550,000
Mali
130,000
1.7
66,000
16,000
11,000
94,000
Mauritania
12,000
0.7
6,300
1,100
<1,000
6,900
Mauritius
4,100
0.6
<1,000
-
<100
-
Mozambique
1,800,000
16.1
960,000
140,000
140,000
510,000
Namibia
230,000
19.6
130,000
17,000
17,000
85,000
Niger
79,000
1.1
42,000
8,900
7,600
46,000
Nigeria
2,900,000
3.9
1,600,000
240,000
220,000
930,000
Rwanda
190,000
3.1
91,000
27,000
21,000
210,000
Senegal
61,000
0.9
33,000
5,000
5,200
25,000
Sierra Leone
48,000
1.6
26,000
5,200
4,600
31,000
Somalia
44,000
0.9
23,000
4,500
4,100
23,000
South Africa
5,500,000
18.8
3,100,000
240,000
320,000
1,200,000
Swaziland
220,000
33.4
120,000
15,000
16,000
63,000
Togo
110,000
3.2
61,000
9,700
9,100
88,000
Uganda
1,000,000
6.7
520,000
110,000
91,000
1,000,000
United Rep. Of Tanzania
1,400,000
6.5
710,000
110,000
140,000
1,100,000
Zambia
1,100,000
17.0
570,000
130,000
98,000
710,000
Zimbabwe
1,700,000
20.1
890,000
160,000
180,000
1,100,000
Total sub-Saharan Africa
24,500,000
6.1
13,200,000
2,000,000
2,000,000
12,000,000
* Insufficient data available for Liberia
Notes
Adults in this page are defined as men and women aged over 15, unless specified
otherwise.
Children are defined as people under the age of 15, whilst orphans are people
under the age of 18 who have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
AVERT.org has further information about HIV and AIDS in Africa, more HIV and
AIDS statistics pages and a guide to understanding the statistics.
Sources:
UNAIDS/WHO 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic
An African Quote: See the difference?
“A small child from a developing country has the advantage, from a very early
age, of having access to toys which structure his mind, which constitute a sure
advantage over the little African child who has never even held a modern toy.”
Abdoulaye Wade
We can never really know what life it is really like for someone, not unless we
can walk in their shoes. But, do you really need to walk in the shoes of the
poor, the destitute, the young and helpless before we give a helping hand?
Where is the compassion for the human race and it’s children?
If you would like to read more on Africa’s street Children go to the following
sites:
http://www.stolenchildhood.net/entry/horrendous-life-of-street-children-in-bangladesh
http://www.streetchildafrica.org.uk/about.htm
http://abaana.org/projects/streetchildren.cfm
http://allafrica.com/stories/200705230220.html
Resources:
http://www.abaana.org/resources/statistics,CFM
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=48799
http://www.africanculturalcenter.org/5_2populations.html
http://www.irnnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=70620
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Your Publishing Success Depends on your Platform
By Patricia L. Fry
Call it popularity, prominence, visibility or expertise. In publishing, it’s
what you need in order to succeed.
Think about this: How many people will rush out to buy your book as soon as it
lands in Borders and B&N? Why would anyone choose your novel, cookbook, poetry
book, children’s story or self-help book over the competition? Before you
produce that book, you really must adequately answer these questions. If you
can’t come up with answers, I suggest that you start creating some. How?
Even before writing the book, if you don’t have a following, start attracting
one. If your name is not known in your field or genre, take steps to become
known. If you are not already an expert or authority, begin the process of
establishing yourself as such.
Start now, building your platform.
Don’t suddenly emerge from your writing cave into the bright lights of
publishing with a manuscript and hope to get it produced. Today, publishers
care more about what you can bring to the promotional table than whether you’ve
dotted all of your i’s and crossed all of your t’s. What is a hopeful author to
do? Take your responsibility as promoter as seriously as you do the task of
writing an excellent book. Here are some tips:
Write about what you know. This long-held rule is even more important now
because your expertise in the topic and your visibility can mean a big
difference in sales.
If you are not known in the subject or genre of your book, take steps to become
known before you attempt to publish. Build a web site, start a blog, present
workshops and circulate a newsletter, for example.
Launch or become involved in an organization related to the topic or genre of
your book—a poetry association, a national medical support group, a therapy dog
organization or a major horror/thriller web site, for example.
Make news and report it. Start a charity or a contest related to the theme of
your book. If your novel features a child with Downs syndrome, create an annual
fundraiser for the National Downs Syndrome Society, for example.
Write articles on your topic or stories in your genre for appropriate
magazines, ezines and web sites.
Patricia Fry is the president of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers
Network) www.spawn.org. She is also the author of 25 books, including The Right
Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html.
Follow her informative publishing blog: www.matilijapress.com/publishingblog
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Publishing New Writers, July, 2007 (No. 807)
Publisher: Cook Comm - Bruce L. Cook, P.O. Box 451,
Dundee, IL 60118 USA.
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