- Title: 94JAN19V08
- Date: 24th March 2007
- Summary: 94JAN19V08
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- City: Africa
- Country: South Africa
- Reuters ID: 94JAN19V08
- Story Text:AFRICA JOURNAL #12
VARIOUS - SLAVERY
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.23
Elimina castle on Ghana’s coast. Built over 500 years ago, this was Africa’s first permanent trading post for slaves. For the next 300 years, millions of West Africans would be packed into dark dungeons like these, waiting for the ships that took them as slaves to the New World.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.10
Today, hundreds of people visit the castle every day to learn more about a trade that was officially abolished in the British empire 200 years ago this week and that still has repercussions today.
SOT R/T: 0.11 (Female/English)
Dr. DENEESE L. JONES
American Tourist
“For me it’s a connection to who I am, it is a way to close a gap, it’s coming home, a coming-home experience for me”.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.10
Ghana has already been celebrating the anniversary of the abolition of slavery for the past nine years. It was the first African country to mark Emancipation Day.
SOT R/T: 0.36 (Male/English)
ALIU MAHAMA
Vice President of Ghana
“Ghana once a major exit for slaves now offers itself as a major entry point, as the gateway to the homeland for our brethren in the Diaspora. With its numerous historic slave sites and relics, this country is well positioned and it’s indeed committed to serve as a bridge for Africans in the Diaspora to cross into Africa for the great and historic return.”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.07
All along the West African coast, the countries that once lost their people to slavery are now trying to bring them back as tourists.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.13
Most of the visitors can’t be sure of where exactly their ancestors came from. But Thomalind Polite has managed to trace her family all the way back to a girl sold in Sierra Leone in 1756.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.08
Priscilla would have left on a ship from Bunce Island, which is where Thomalind has come to relive her ancestor’s last moments in Africa.
UPSOUND R/T: 0.09 (Male/English)
“The door, there were two big wooden doors they were open here at the gate, during the day but at night the wooden doors were closed tight.”
SOT R/T: 0.30 (Female/English)
THOMALIND POLITE “It’s hard just imagining little girls being taken away, surviving, I don’t understand how they did it. I don’t know, they’d have the strength from within -- it’s powerful. It shows the determination seeing it, seeing this place.”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.11
Africa’s history of slavery certainly goes far beyond the Trans-Atlantic trade. Much earlier, Arab traders had already been buying and selling slaves off the East African coast.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.13
The Shimoni caves in Kenya were once a hiding place for escaped slaves, until they were discovered and used by slave traders as a holding point. Reminders of what happened here are still embedded in the walls.
SOT R/T: 0:22 (Male/English)
ATHMAN OMARI
“For those who tried to run away and managed to do so, it was luck to them but for those who tried and by bad luck ended into the hands of the Arabs again they were brought here and given a very severe punishment. Because a chain would just be put through there and another one through there and tie the hands of the person concerned and he would be whipped severely in front of the other slaves so that they can be scared.”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.14
Economic hardship has always played a big part in the history of slavery. Somalia’s ethnic Bantus are the descendants of southern Africans who came to Somalia hundreds of years ago and were enslaved by the local population.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.08
Stigmatised by other Somalis and with no clan affiliation, they couldn’t protect themselves from massacres and rape during Somalia’s civil war.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.14
13,000 were granted asylum to live in the United States in 2003. The New World, which meant enslavement for millions of West Africans, has meant freedom and an end to slavery for the Somali Bantus.
SOT R/T: 0.10 (Female/Serbia)
AMINA DADIRI MUSA
Resettled Refugee
“It was a very bad life, with no safety, no comfort for our kids. They were killing and beating us to loot our food. We had nothing. We are glad to be here.”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.16
The strong exploiting the weak –- people working to make others richer because that’s what their parents and grandparents did, slavery has many faces. And today, it does still exist, even if was officially banned 200 years ago.
======================================================================
MAURITANIA - SLAVERY
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.17
On the outskirts of Mauritania’s capital, Nouakchott, a shanty-town is building up. There’s no running water or electricity here. There are no jobs. But for many of the residents, this place represents a new start because until recently, they were slaves.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.14
2 years ago, Aichana grabbed her 5 children and escaped from her master. Aichana was born into slavery, inheriting her status from her mother. She was determined to save her children from the same fate.
SOT R/T: 0.28 (Female/Arabic)
AICHANA
“When I was a very young girl, being a slave didn't bother me, because at the time I thought life was perfect, it was normal to be like that. I was looking up to my master like a god, and I didn't think more of it.
But when I started to grow up, and saw how other people lived, I started to feel inferior, and it started to bother me, and the more I was talking to people the more I was feeling revolted against my situation. I started almost constantly looking for a way out, until one day I found the right people who helped me."
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.15
Aichana now earns a living from this kiosk, which she started 3 months ago with a group of other former slaves. They got a loan from SOS Slaves, which tries to help people like Aichana rebuild their lives.
SOT R/T: 0.19 (Female/Arabic)
AICHA FA
SOS Slaves
"It's mainly the women slaves that we know, and that we helped free from slavery. Once these women left their owners and came to Nouakchott, they didn’t have the financial means to integrate into the society so we thought of helping them take charge of their lives and live an honest life. So we thought of starting revenue-creating activities, for their convenience."
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.08
Slavery was banned in Mauritania in 1980, but a combination of poverty and tradition mean that children today are still born slaves.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.16
The number of slaves in Mauritania is estimated to be anywhere from 100,000 to 1 million people out of a population of 3 million. Part of the problem is that most Mauritanians don’t recognise that slavery exists or is a problem.
SOT R/T: 0.10 (Male/French)
ABDOULAYE ATTIR
Anti-Slavery Activist
“The state has given laws against slavery, but they don’t want to apply the law to the slave owners, because the state doesn’t want to get into conflict with them. They are the land owners - the richer people who have a say.”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.18
But recently it’s not just the rich who are getting their say in Mauritania. In December 2006, the country held its first ever-democratic elections and in recent weeks the streets of Nouakchott have been ringing with the campaigns of the Presidential candidates.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.11
Ibrahima Moctar Sarr was never tipped to win this election, but his direct approach to the black community and the issue of racism, won him 8% of votes in the first round.
UPSOUND R/T: 0.17 (Male/French)
IBRAHIMA MOCTAR SARR
Presidential Candidate
“Dear friends, if we have decided to get involved in these elections, it’s because we want unity in Mauritania. It’s to reconcile Mauritanians who’ve been divided for many years. Who wants to be part of a community where everyone’s against each other? We want the differences removed.”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.14
The Keube neighbourhood in Nouakchott is considered one of the city’s poorest. Many of the 70,000 people who live here feel they have no access to education, jobs or healthcare because of the colour of their skin.
SOT R/T: 0.05 (Female/French)
AICHA MAN
“I’d like to see a President who knows that there are blacks here and whites and that we all equal.”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.16
A world away in Nouakchott’s Presidential Palace, Ely Ould Mohamed Vall gave Africa Journal one of his last interviews as acting President. His military council organised the recent elections, but he will stand down when the new President is chosen.
SOT R/T: 0.25 (Male/French)
ELY OULD MOHAMMED VALL
Acting President
“I don’t think that we have a problem of national unity here in Mauritania. Our country is one of the countries, certainly in the region and in the world where national unity is the most solid, where the elements of national unity are most real and concrete and so for me there’s really no problem. We do have some social problems, but they’re not unique to us. They concern the whole of humanity and the whole world.”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.23
The first stage of dealing with any problem is acknowledging the fact that it exists. In the eyes of the law, Mauritania’s citizens are all equal, but Aichana’s feels that her experiences tell a very different story. Until attitudes change, issues of slavery and racism will continue to split Mauritanians.
======================================================================
GHANA - WATER
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.17
It’s 6am in Anamoly village, on the outskirts of Ghana’s capital, Accra. That means it’s time for Amelia Tetteh and her friends to fetch water. The 15-year-old comes here at least twice each day, before going to school.
SOT R/T: 0.03 (Female/Twi)
AMELIA TETTEH
“I come to fetch water for cooking, washing and bathing at home.”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.20
It wasn’t until 2003 that the community here got access to clean water. The local government and other charities helped them raise some funds to drill a borehole. For every bucket of water drawn, a fee of 2 US cents is charged which goes towards maintenance costs of the borehole.
SOT R/T: 0.08 (Female/Twi)
Alice Mambe
“Before there were diseases here because we were taking water from the pond, but now we have the borehole so we don’t have those diseases any more.”
SOT R/T: 0.31 (Female/English)
PATIENCE AKASRIKOU
District Officer
“When we get to the community and they don’t have water, we ask them what problems they have. They tell us they have bilharzia, cholera and diarrhoea, typhoid fever so when we talk to them about the borehole facility they quickly organize themselves, form the water and sanitation committee, they pay contributed money and then they pay it into their bank account so they benefited from the borehole.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.18
4 kilometres away residents of Ayawaso are collecting water from this stream for domestic use. They are well aware of the danger this poses to their health but they have no alternative.
Half of the country’s 21 million people still don’t have access to clean drinking water.
SOT R/T: 0.06 (Male/English)
EMMANUEL KWATENG ODURO
[Subtitiled]
“If someone is ready to provide piped water, we’ll be ready to pay for it so that we can get water to drink.”
SOT R/T: 0.18 (Female/French)
AYISSA TOURE SARR
Country Director, Water Aid
“The Government has decentralized in theory and on paper but in reality, the local governments are extremely weak and even if today we were to give them all the money that they need to put in place sanitation programmes, they would not have the capacity to do so. So you have to ask how willing is the government to resolve this problem?”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.15
Like most developing nations, Ghana still lacks sufficient infrastructure to collect, treat and distribute water throughout the country. The government is now working on plans to improve water supply over the next 10 years.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.14
In the capital city Accra, Nkunu Quansah is filling his tank with water. He’s a licensed water vendor and supplies water to those who need it in large volumes. A truckload of water costs about 30 US dollars.
SOT R/T: 0.12 (Male/English)
NKUNU QUANSAH
Trucker
“I look at my water, I check my water, I check my tires and then I check my oil. Then I drive to the station. Then after that I’ll wait for a customer to call. After he has called then I send the water to him or her.”
SOT R/T: 0.25 (Male/English)
COMMANDER ADDO
Private Water Tank Association
“Our water - that is water from tankers. They use it for house chores, they also use it for constructional purposes, some factories which don’t have water, they use the water to run their factories. And then sometimes individuals whose houses are on fire, they ask for our assistance since we have more carrying capacity than the fire company.”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.
Motorised carts are also used in the capital to transport water. Kobina Amamu is a member of the Adenta water tiller’s association, which sells water. The 32-year-old is getting ready to make his first delivery today. Most clients who want his services call him up.
SOT R/T: 0.09 (Male/English)
KOBINA AMAMU
Water Vendor
[Subtitled]
“It’s very important to have a phone, if you have a phone it’s good, because maybe you are at home or you are somewhere and a caller says bring me water – well it’s faster than coming, parking here and waiting for somebody to come.”
VOXPOP R/T: 0.08 (Male/English)
“They are helping but we don’t know how hygienic the water is though they are helping a lot –- without them we can’t survive.”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.10
On arrival at his client’s house, Kobina empties the water into storage tanks. This helps his customers save sufficient water to cater for their needs during the week.
SOT R/T: 0.15 (Male/English)
JOSEPH TAYLOR
Client
“For about a whole week we’ll get water once – it comes on Wednesdays. So if you are not able to store, -- when you are out of the house and unable to store water, you need to buy water and I was in extreme dire need for water, so I called them to come and supply me with water.”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.11
Kobina makes 6 trips daily; when business is good he takes home about 5 US dollars. Kobina is worried though that should the city have enough water supply, he may lose out.
SOT R/T: 0.14 (Male/English)
KOBINA AMAMU
[Subtitled]
“I like this job very well. So if the government can give us more water, produces more water, it will worry me a lot. Living here in Accra will be difficult for me.”
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.12
Much more still needs to be done before Ghanaians can enjoy a regular supply of clean water. In the meantime vendors like Kobina will continue to provide them with a safer alternative.
======================================================================
SOUTH AFRICA - FILM
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.15
Before attaining democray, a war was raging within South Africa. The fighting between the oppressive apartheid goverment and the outlawed African National Congress or ANC sometimes spilled over into neighbouring countries like Mozambique.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.10
The ANC had millitary training camps in African nations that were sympathetic to its cause. Once militants were trained they would go back to South Africa and fight for self rule.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.05
Sometimes the government infiltrated these camps and made sure that that didn't happen.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.10
The Hollywood film 'Catch A fire' is based on the life of Patrick Chamusso who is wrongfully arrested and tortured. These events force him to join the liberation struggle.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.09
The film stars Oscar award winner Tim Robbins. American actor Derek Luke plays Patrick Chamusso who now lives a quiet life in eastern South Africa.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.06
Patrick remembers coming back home from the ANC camp in Mozambique. His mission: to blow up a power plant.
SOT R/T: 0.25 (Male/English)
PATRICK CHAMUSSO
Former Freedom Fighter
[Subtitled]
"I was given insructios that no one must die in the plant. When I arrived there, people were still working. You couldnt blow up the reactor without killing anybody so I changed my strategy. I said no. There was a water pump there that had a chemical in it. Incase of a fire they would start pumping this water. I decided to blow that pump instead.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.04
It was Patrick's first and last assignment as he got arrested soon after.
SOT R/T: 0.19 (Male/English)
PATRICK CHAMUSSO
[Subtitled]
"They said, "you are going to prison, you will face the judge and he will hang you." I didn't care about hanging and everyone was there, even younger than me. I said don't worry about hanging. I will face the judge.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.13
Patrick Chamusso was sentenced to 24 years on Robben Island. He was locked up here together with ANC leaders like Nelson Mandela who founded the groups millitary wing 'Umkhonto we Sizwe' or 'spear of the nation'
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.13
The MK as the group was also known continued its guerilla operations. Some were later intergrated into South Africa's National Defence Force after a democratically elected government came to power in 1994.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.06
In 'Catch A fire', South African actor Tumisho Masha plays an Umkhonto We Sizwe commander.
SOT R/T: 0.12 (Male/English)
TUMISHO MASHA
Actor
"I can totally relate to the movie and the character as well. I can understand how one in that time would have been moved to join a revolution because you really had no choice at the time."
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.06
Filmed entirely in South Africa the movie was directed by Australian director Philip Noyce.
SOT R/T: 0.18 (Male/English)
PHILIP NOYCE
Film Director
"The biggest challenge in directing this movie was that I'm not South African. I'm Australian, and so I had to admit that it was going to be very difficult and throw myself at the mercy of all the black and white South Africans who were working on the crew and the cast and they became my advisors."
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.06
Patrick Chamusso and his wife weren't the only ones looking forward to see the film when it was recently shown in South Africa.
SOT R/T: 0.22 (Male/English)
PATRICK CHAMUSSO
[Subtitled]
"I'm very proud about this one. I'm pleased the story is being told when I'm still alive. And with an ordinary man there like myself it means that i'm part of the world and also part of freedom. During the apartheid really, an ordinary man like me wouln't come to the red carpet."
VOXPOP R/T: 0.10 (Female/English)
"I think every South African should see it, I think every African who has followed what has happened in South Africa must wach this and understand how we got to this point."
VOXPOP R/T: 0.08 (Male/English)
"We have to see our own stories. We have to celebrate our own stories. We have to make our own industry work – its all in the hands of the people."
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.10
Patrick Chamusso's life is slowly returning to normal back home in Mpumalanga where he runs an orphanage that takes care of kids -- many who've lost their parents to HIV-AIDS.
VOICEOVER R/T: 0.16
These children may not know much about the country's liberation struggle, let alone its unknown heroes like Patrick Chamusso. All they know is that they now have someone to make sure that they too will have an opportunity to reap the benefits of South Africa's hard earned freedom.
====================================================================== - Copyright Holder: REUTERS