Influence of Kenyan Female Leaders Felt in Somalia
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Somali Radio Soap Opera tackles HIV/AIDS and Female Genital Mutilation
Posted by: 2311_DSLower on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 04:09 PM
How is a radio drama helping spread the word and open discussion oÂÂn the issues of female genital mutilation and HIV/AIDS in Somalia? Danielle Lower reports oÂÂn how Saxon Saxo is trying to stir the winds of change within Somalia.
Somalia is a nation in conflict – a conflict between its people, its culture and its history.
Years of civil conflict has left the people of Somalia displaced with limited access to health, education and information.
It is from this need for information and education that UK aide organisation Health Unlimited started the radio innovative program Saxan Saxo (Fresh Breeze).
During years of civil unrest radio was controlled by regional warlords who used radio as a means of spreading propaganda.
Saxan Saxo waged its own war against public ignorance and denial about health issues affecting Somali women and men – the practice of female genital mutilation, HIV/AIDS and safe motherhood.
First going to air in 1999, the program is produced in Hargeisa, Somalialand and broadcasted to listeners in Somalia, Puntland, Somalialand, Dijbouti, Ethiopia and north-eastern Kenya.
Utilising a soap opera format combined with discussion, interviews, songs, poems and personal testimonies, listeners are educated about the severe health risks associated with female genital mutilation, safe motherhood and HIV/AIDS – issues which affect the majority of Somalia.
A 2005 UNICEF estimate stated that 90% of Somalia women had undergone the procedure of female genital mutilation, while other estimates place the number as high as 98%.
HIV/AIDS is also oÂÂn the rise with an estimated 1% of the population infected; however the rate of infection may be higher due to lack of diagnosed sufferers due to ignorance about the disease and its symptoms.
The challenge for the Saxan Saxo team is for these messages to be heard and to overcome social taboos so that the issues are openly talked about in an attempt to instigate widespread cultural and social change.
HIV/AIDS is seen as an immoral disease.
Discussion about female genital mutilation is taboo as it concerns a practice which is believed to be ordained by the Qur’an and concerns the private matter of female genitalia.
For the message to get through it is necessary for social, religious and cultural boundaries to be knocked down.
Feedback about Saxan Saxo has show that it is having a positive cultural effect with villagers openly talking about the issues raised.
Listeners have expressed that they can relate to the characters and their situations.
Stories have even emerged of fathers racing home to their daughters claiming that they would not be mutilated after hearing oÂÂn the radio about the extreme health problems caused.
While change is still far off, initiatives such as Saxan Saxo show that there is still hope for change.
Changes that may oÂÂne day enable future generations the ability to handle the reality of HIV/AIDS and don’t have to experience the horrors of female genital mutilation.
http://www.newspace.uq.edu.au/modules.p ... =0&thold=0
Somali Radio Soap Opera tackles HIV/AIDS and Female Genital Mutilation
Posted by: 2311_DSLower on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 04:09 PM
How is a radio drama helping spread the word and open discussion oÂÂn the issues of female genital mutilation and HIV/AIDS in Somalia? Danielle Lower reports oÂÂn how Saxon Saxo is trying to stir the winds of change within Somalia.
Somalia is a nation in conflict – a conflict between its people, its culture and its history.
Years of civil conflict has left the people of Somalia displaced with limited access to health, education and information.
It is from this need for information and education that UK aide organisation Health Unlimited started the radio innovative program Saxan Saxo (Fresh Breeze).
During years of civil unrest radio was controlled by regional warlords who used radio as a means of spreading propaganda.
Saxan Saxo waged its own war against public ignorance and denial about health issues affecting Somali women and men – the practice of female genital mutilation, HIV/AIDS and safe motherhood.
First going to air in 1999, the program is produced in Hargeisa, Somalialand and broadcasted to listeners in Somalia, Puntland, Somalialand, Dijbouti, Ethiopia and north-eastern Kenya.
Utilising a soap opera format combined with discussion, interviews, songs, poems and personal testimonies, listeners are educated about the severe health risks associated with female genital mutilation, safe motherhood and HIV/AIDS – issues which affect the majority of Somalia.
A 2005 UNICEF estimate stated that 90% of Somalia women had undergone the procedure of female genital mutilation, while other estimates place the number as high as 98%.
HIV/AIDS is also oÂÂn the rise with an estimated 1% of the population infected; however the rate of infection may be higher due to lack of diagnosed sufferers due to ignorance about the disease and its symptoms.
The challenge for the Saxan Saxo team is for these messages to be heard and to overcome social taboos so that the issues are openly talked about in an attempt to instigate widespread cultural and social change.
HIV/AIDS is seen as an immoral disease.
Discussion about female genital mutilation is taboo as it concerns a practice which is believed to be ordained by the Qur’an and concerns the private matter of female genitalia.
For the message to get through it is necessary for social, religious and cultural boundaries to be knocked down.
Feedback about Saxan Saxo has show that it is having a positive cultural effect with villagers openly talking about the issues raised.
Listeners have expressed that they can relate to the characters and their situations.
Stories have even emerged of fathers racing home to their daughters claiming that they would not be mutilated after hearing oÂÂn the radio about the extreme health problems caused.
While change is still far off, initiatives such as Saxan Saxo show that there is still hope for change.
Changes that may oÂÂne day enable future generations the ability to handle the reality of HIV/AIDS and don’t have to experience the horrors of female genital mutilation.
http://www.newspace.uq.edu.au/modules.p ... =0&thold=0
This story is from our news.com.au network Source: Reuters
12 dead in Somalia fighting
From correspondents in Nairobi
May 25, 2006
TWELVE people were killed and 32 others wounded in renewed fighting between two militia groups responsible for Mogadishu's worst gun battles in over a decade, militia sources said today. Ibrahim Maalim, a militia member close to Somalia's internal security minister Mohamed Qanyare, said seven people had been killed and 20 people wounded in fighting between the Islamic courts militia and a warlord alliance in the Siisii area.
That adds to five deaths and 12 wounded in overnight fighting already reported earlier in the day.
"Seven people, the majority of whom were militia fighting in Siisi, died in the fight today. Nearly 20 others were wounded," Maalim said.
Ali Nur, a member of the warlord alliance, said fighting resumed in the afternoon after an overnight clash in the same area.
Nur said he expected the death toll to rise since the combatants were firing mortars, anti-aircraft missiles and other heavy machine guns at each other from close range.
"I can see the mortars and missiles the militias are firing," Nur said by phone from Mogadishu. "The death toll will rise because some of the mortars are falling on buildings nearly 5km away."
The renewed hostilities ended a nearly week-long ceasefire brokered by local elders.
The two rival groups last fought on May 17 outside the battle-scarred city when the Islamic courts militia ambushed a village controlled by Mohamed Dheere, a member of the warlords' coalition, and killed five of his men.
The same two militias have been locked in fierce battles that have killed more than 250 people since February. Analysts view the fighting - laced with commercial and political motives - as a proxy war between Washington and Islamic militants.
The United States considers anarchic Somalia, without an effective government since former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991, a sanctuary for al-Qaeda in east Africa.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 09,00.html
12 dead in Somalia fighting
From correspondents in Nairobi
May 25, 2006
TWELVE people were killed and 32 others wounded in renewed fighting between two militia groups responsible for Mogadishu's worst gun battles in over a decade, militia sources said today. Ibrahim Maalim, a militia member close to Somalia's internal security minister Mohamed Qanyare, said seven people had been killed and 20 people wounded in fighting between the Islamic courts militia and a warlord alliance in the Siisii area.
That adds to five deaths and 12 wounded in overnight fighting already reported earlier in the day.
"Seven people, the majority of whom were militia fighting in Siisi, died in the fight today. Nearly 20 others were wounded," Maalim said.
Ali Nur, a member of the warlord alliance, said fighting resumed in the afternoon after an overnight clash in the same area.
Nur said he expected the death toll to rise since the combatants were firing mortars, anti-aircraft missiles and other heavy machine guns at each other from close range.
"I can see the mortars and missiles the militias are firing," Nur said by phone from Mogadishu. "The death toll will rise because some of the mortars are falling on buildings nearly 5km away."
The renewed hostilities ended a nearly week-long ceasefire brokered by local elders.
The two rival groups last fought on May 17 outside the battle-scarred city when the Islamic courts militia ambushed a village controlled by Mohamed Dheere, a member of the warlords' coalition, and killed five of his men.
The same two militias have been locked in fierce battles that have killed more than 250 people since February. Analysts view the fighting - laced with commercial and political motives - as a proxy war between Washington and Islamic militants.
The United States considers anarchic Somalia, without an effective government since former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991, a sanctuary for al-Qaeda in east Africa.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 09,00.html
Snowfall in Somalia reported
Wed. June 01, 2005 10:36 am.
The first snowfall on this part of the world has claimed one life and caused extensive damage to properties. Puntland, northeastern part of Somalia has never recorded snowfall before last night when snow storms with high winds destroyed homes in Rako town.
The storm left a blanket of snow on the ground, something residents had never seen in their lives before. Aside from this unexplained snowfall on this tropical land, Somalia has experienced very strange weather in the past few months.
Floods killed people and forced rivers to overflow banks in almost all parts of the country. Many cities from Hargeisa in the north to Baladweyn in central were affected badly by heavy rains and floods. Many people were killed and thousands of livestock washed away by this strange weather. The country is still struggling to recover from last month’s killer weather.
With no effective central government, Somalia doesn’t have weather prediction or climate monitoring systems in place. Somalis think this unusual weather and last night’s previously unheard of snowfall are part of the global warming phenomena.
http://www.somalinet.com/news/world/Somalia/506
Wed. June 01, 2005 10:36 am.
The first snowfall on this part of the world has claimed one life and caused extensive damage to properties. Puntland, northeastern part of Somalia has never recorded snowfall before last night when snow storms with high winds destroyed homes in Rako town.
The storm left a blanket of snow on the ground, something residents had never seen in their lives before. Aside from this unexplained snowfall on this tropical land, Somalia has experienced very strange weather in the past few months.
Floods killed people and forced rivers to overflow banks in almost all parts of the country. Many cities from Hargeisa in the north to Baladweyn in central were affected badly by heavy rains and floods. Many people were killed and thousands of livestock washed away by this strange weather. The country is still struggling to recover from last month’s killer weather.
With no effective central government, Somalia doesn’t have weather prediction or climate monitoring systems in place. Somalis think this unusual weather and last night’s previously unheard of snowfall are part of the global warming phenomena.
http://www.somalinet.com/news/world/Somalia/506
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