The Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago, on November 9, 1989. Back then I was living in Los Angeles. I was only 15, but I could feel I was missing out on something really big. It was a historic moment in my country and I was at the other end of the world. My friends wrote to me about celebrating in the market place in Bonn. Within days, my high school history teacher in LA was proudly showing classes bits of concrete from the Berlin Wall that she received by express post. Funny to think that even in such a short space of time remnants of the Wall were being distributed around the world.
20 years later German media are in a frenzy about the day that changed European history. Strangely, I can't get excited about it. Of course I grasp the historic significance, but I never got excited about anniversaries, the much loved pegs for journalists to go overboard pondering history, to come up with endless specials or to seek bizarre angles and stories no one else has dreamt up.
So, you might say: what does that have to do with Namibia? Well not much, except that I too was asked earlier this year to research a strange African connection to the former East Germany.
Namibia was a former German colony and after WWI was occupied by South Africa for almost 70 years. For decades, the freedom fighters of the SWAPO – the South West Africa People’s Organization – fought for independence and lived with their families in refugee camps in neighbouring Zambia and Angola.
But in the 70s and 80s, the SWAPO sent several hundred children to East Germany (known as the GDR in English and DDR in German) for education and training. They hoped that after independence Namibia would need a new, educated elite. These kids became known as the "East German Kids". The Central Committee of the GDR supported the project - after all it was the height of the Cold War and freedom fighters across the African continent were encouraged to embrace communism and turn their back on capitalism.
The book pictured above is by one of these GDR-kids, Nambian author Lucia Engombe. At the age of seven she was catapulted from a refugee camp in Zambia to a secluded castle in East Germany. She then spent 11 years in this strange GDR microcosm thinking she would grow up to become one of the future elite of Namibia.
But then the Wall came down and her life suddenly changed once more. Along with hundreds of other Namibian teenagers, Lucia was packed onto a plane sent back home. A country that she no longer knew.
Lucia's account of her remarkable childhood and life in East Germany is entitled "Child Nr. 95“.
Back in May I met Lucia in Windhoek and spoke to her about her German-African odyssey. Below you'll find excerpts from her book and the interview - in German, sorry to all the English speakers!
I knew about casual or mufti Fridays - dressing down at the end of the working week, leaving your suit, shirt and tie in the wardrobe and coming to work in jeans, T-Shirt and sneakers. But here in Ghana I came across another very interesting idea: Traditional Friday.
This morning about half of the participants from our current affairs reporting seminar showed up in beautiful traditional dresses and shirts, made of colourful local prints and fabrics.
About two years ago the last government came up with this novel idea. Diana, one of the participating journalists tells me it's a way of promoting traditional clothes and boosting the local garment industry - including everyone from producers of local fabrics, to retailers and seamstresses.
Thanks to the British colonialists suits and shirts have long time ago taken over dress codes at the office, but Traditional Friday is a great idea, says Georgina, who wears a beautiful bright green and yellow dress. "It identifies you with the institution you work for. Mine here says GBC and has our logo on the print. So everyone knows that I work for the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation."
Kwarteng, one of our male participants, is wearing a Fugu - that's a traditional hand made shirt from Tamale, a town in the north of Ghana. Every Friday he wears traditional clothes. "It's not a law, but a moral thing", he says and "it protects what we have as Ghaneans". He thinks that too many clothes are being imported from Europe, Asia and other parts of the world and not enough is produced locally, so it's tremendously important to support the local industries.
Apart from boosting the economy, keeping the traditions alive, there's still another benefit, adds Georgina: "For all those who get their days of the week mixed up, on Fridays you're sure to know which day of the week it is."
P.S. This is a shot we took on our second Friday when we handed over the certificates to our participating journalists. If you look closely you can see that Christine and I also wore Friday wear...
The Firebird performance in Bucharest last week was one of the most moving performances I've ever seen. The kids were simply amazing and astounded the audience. I've never seen so many people cry in a theatre.
We mustn't let the fire of the Firebird go out. As Monique Gruber wrote earlier in the project's blog 90 percent of the necessary funds to stage Firebird were raised with the generous support of sponsors and donors.
However, we still need help to complete an important part of the project - the documentary film that follows the journey of everyone involved in this magic experience.
Tedy and his film crew have worked tirelessly to capture every moment of this endeavour. We've all seen the high quality that they can produce - just look at the trailers!
Film making is an expensive process and every euro will help bring the Firebird film to the big screen and show people what these Romanian children accomplished.
Here are the details for donations by bank transfer:
This Saturday, September 5th, more than 100 young Romanians will perform Stravinsky's Firebird at the National Theatre in Bucharest as part of the George Enescu Festival.
This dance performance is an initiative of „Jungen Rumänen eine Chance!“, the charitable trust founded by my mom, Monique Gruber. Under the guidance of the renowned British choreographer Royston Maldoom and Joseph Eder of Germany, it will be the first community dance project to be staged in Romania. The Bucharest performance of Firebird follows in the successful footsteps of similar performances in Berlin, New York, London and Luxembourg.
The young artists are aged between 11 to 22. Many are underprivileged and have experienced the hardships of living on the streets. Others have special needs. Yet together they have joined the intensive month long preparation to stage Firebird with great enthusiasm.
It's inspiring to read the project blog Dance With Us as it chronicles the journey the kids are taking in the lead up to Saturday's performance, and to read of the massive logistical effort to keep over 100 teenagers and volunteers housed, fed and happy over the past month.
I know any donation will make a difference. Details for donations by bank transfer are below. Every euro counts for these children.
The association is recognized by the Finanzamt Überlingen as a charitable corporation. Accordingly, your contribution can be deducted from your taxable income. For a donation receipt send a mail to: wm.gruber@gmail.com. If you do not object, your name will appear on the list of friends and supporters of the association.
"They simply do not have any idea how talented they are. With their past life, how could they? This project holds up a mirror and challenges them to be the best they can possibly be" Viv Trinder
Update 3.9.2009:
It was meet the press time for the Firebird Team yesterday.
Royston talked about the difference a dance project such as Firebird can make in the lives of youny people.
We're all very excited. Today is the first rehearsal in the theatre and everyone is curious to see how their costumes fit.
Only the bloody head remained on the stripped carcass of "Max". He was the dog belonging to the farming family who hosted us on our first night trekking in the Western Carpathian Mountains in Romania. Max was cleverly lured away from the farm late at night by a pack of wolves.
"He was a young dog, not used to wolves. Our other dog was much more careful," said Dorica, the matriarch of the family.
Life in the Apuseni National Parc is a step back in time. The mountainous region is inhabited by the "Moti" people who live in small isolated villages and remote farmhouses, some even without running water or electricity. It's hard to imagine that we're actually in the European Union. Horse lanes are the only connection to the outside world. It's a very traditional life people lead, following the chores of the day: milking cows, tending to their pigs and chooks, cutting hay with a scythe and working in the traditional saw mills. I can't tell you the pride I felt milking a cow for the first time in my life... I've lived in the city for too long.
Trekking an average of six hours a day, sleeping at farmers, feasting on local cuisine and sampling home made spirits - it's a very unique experience. Probably one of the last truly authentic rural societies in Europe. I particularly liked the landscape with the many hay cocks spread out on the rolling hills, the warm welcome of the local farmers and last but certainly not least our great guide Mirca, who knew everything about the region and its people.
Every time friends asked me where I was going on holidays, they were surprised if not baffled about Romania as a tourist destination. I must say it's a very beautiful and truly authentic part of Europe, and I hope to come back for more hiking soon.
I was hot, but I had no idea how seriously I was taking my reading.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's autobiography "This Child Will Be Great" is a very interesting book. After having absorbed many studies and country reports about Liberia, it was a welcome change to read a personal account of the country's past 30 years. I wonder what's next for Africa's first female president... even though she left it open in her book, it very much felt Johnson Sirleaf was laying the grounds for a second presidency in 2011.
Uganda was ravaged by a brutal conflict led by the rebel group Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) for two decades. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and more than 1.8 Million Ugandans were forced to leave their homes. As internally displaced people, many lived in refugee camps, in some cases up to twenty years.
Since a ceasefire in 2006, the security situation in northern Uganda has significantly improved, but the return of the internally displaced people or so-called IDPs is still underway.
The German NGO Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund, also known as ASB, is helping people to return to their homes in the northern districts of Lira and Pader. Faridah Bongoley, my coproducer and I traveled all the way up north to meet with humanitarian aid workers, IDPs and recent returnees. Listen to our feature story broadcast on Deutsche Welle.
At the height of the conflict 22,000 people used to live in the Acholibur Refugee Camp. Today there are 6,000 people left - but it’s still bustling with activity. During the day the sun is hot and scorching.
Agnes Aloyo is a 28-year old camp worker and shows us around the camp. We’re followed by a hoard of curious but emaciated kids. The poverty here is striking. The camp is crammed with tiny mud huts each no bigger than 5 square meters and housing 6 to 10 people. Agnes says it’s difficult to imagine that the camp used to be even more crowded.
Everyone in the camp obviously wants to go home, but there is one group of people who can not afford to leave the camp. They're called the EVIs - which in humanitarian aid jargon stands for extremely vulnerable individuals. Most of them are old people - mostly women who have lost all their children and relatives during the war. Now they can’t return to their villages because they don’t have the funds to rebuild their homes.
Pirina Akwoch is one of these EVIs and has been living in the Acholibur IDP camp for seven years. The 65-year old says she had five kids - four died during the war, the fifth one was abducted by the rebels and never came back. Her relatives recently returned to their home village, but they don’t have enough money to support her. The only person who does help is her 12-year old grandson Isaac, an orphan himself. Pirina can’t walk anymore and spends the whole day on a thin mat in her empty hut. She barely manages to sit up for the interview; her eyes are very sad. The heat under the thatched roof and the stench in her hut is unbearable. She says, she doesn't know how she would survive without the food provided by the World Food Programme.
"I would like to go back home, if someone could build me a home. Honestly, I’m frustrated, disappointed and disgusted. I know I’m going to die in this hut."
The displaced people here have suffered tremendously, says Lucy Andrews, the protection coordinator at the ASB’s Pader office. Spending so many years in the camps makes it very difficult for them to return to their villages. They have become used to international aid and the more urban life of the camps.
Yet, people are now returning home and it’s important to demolish the empty huts people leave behind. What became a really huge problem, explains Lucy Andrews, was how abandoned huts were used by thieves to hide whatever they had stolen, and even worse by men to rape and sexually abuse women and young girls.
In the district of Pader there are still 31 official IDP camps hosting a total population of 42,000 people. That's still a lot, says Lucy Andrews, but one should also keep in mind that over 80 % of the population has already gone home.
In order to support the return of the farmers and their families, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is funding so-called farmer field schools. Basically it's a school of around 30 farmers studying in the field or under a tree.
Emmanuel Otim is the programme coordinator for the German NGO ASB. He’s in charge of more than 100 farmer field schools in northern Uganda.
Over a year local farmers gather every morning for a few hours to learn new skills and improve their farming methods. Their training is based on a crop cycle, which means when its time to dig, they learn about land preparation. When it’s time to plant, they learn about crop planting. All the training is hands on, so each farmer can learn at his own pace.
The farmers learn by doing and they gain their knowledge through experiments. The farmer field school just explains the science behind the practices and closes the knowledge gaps. The theory is: if you train the farmers everyday on what they know, they will loose interest and won’t come anymore. "We're here only to find the gaps that are missing. And that's facilitation not teaching", stresses Emmanuel Otim. "It’s important that the farmers decide for themselves what they want to learn." But the farmer field schools are not all about farming - a lot of other life skills are taught as well:
"For instance you might find that in a certain community there is a problem of Malaria, the farmers are not coming for training, and when you ask very many people are sick. So then you know you need to train the farmers on Malaria control. If it's HIV/AIDS, than someone has to come and train them on positive living etc, so that the farmers are no only learning about agriculture, but also issues that affect their daily lives."
At the Awatngwenino farmer field school in the Oyam district around a hundred villagers are impatiently waiting for us. The farmers can’t wait to show us what they’ve learned since they’ve left the camp two years ago. Their welcome is simply overwhelming:
Francis Ojok is the chairman of the local farmer field school. In his welcome address he outlines the traumas his community endured over the past decade.
"During the war insurgents took all our animals, raped our wives and daughters. Healthy young men and boys were taken captive to become soldiers. Women abducted to become the wives of the rebel leaders, even older people were abducted to carry their luggage. And so many people were killed brutally, leaving a lot of orphans behind. HIV/AIDS is also a big problem here, because so many women were raped."
In June 2008 the ASB launched the farmer field school here in Awatngwenino. Francis recalls that the farmers had lost most of their skills, but they all worked together and have learned a lot within a year. On a study plot they grew tomatoes together and studied pest control. The study plot was divided into three sub-plots: the first one was the control plot where they planted tomatoes and let them grow. On the second plot they used chemical pesticides and on the third they used home made pesticides. The conclusion was: the best way to grow healthy tomatoes is to use home-made pesticides, because it not only treats pests effectively, it’s also the easiest and cheapest option.
In addition to the field studies, the farmers also started a successful little savings group. In one year they’ve managed to save roughly 900,000 Ugandan shillings or almost 500 US-Dollars.
They also set up a small piggery and learned how to build energy saving stoves.
Florence Omara is one of the farmers and a proud member of the local farmer field school. The young woman says she's benefited a lot from the energy saving stoves, as it saves her time, firewood and even improved her health. In northern Uganda there used to be a lot of firewood, but nowadays, there’s no firewood at all. It's a constant struggle to get firewood and with the traditional way of cooking women need seven or eight large pieces of wood. Today, with energy saving stoves they only need one or two.
Two years ago Florence and her family of five left the camp. The return was difficult, their village was destroyed. But no doubt the hardest thing was overcoming the trauma of the past and the abuses by the rebels and the army.
"There was constant fear... we were so afraid of going to the nearest village to look for firewood... and small small food to bring back for our children. The rebels would capture you, drag you into the bush, rape you and leave you there until the morning. That is what they were doing to we women."
Today Florence says she's free - and she can sleep again.
Her face lights up when she talks about the benefits of the farmer field school. Now instead of growing 10 different crops, she knows how to select the profitable crops and how to fight pests and diseases and achieve high yields.
But the farmer field school is more than simply improving farming skills. Florence tells us about her young daughter who fell sick earlier this year.
"She was in a critical condition, so I took her to the health center, but there was no good medicine. Then I took her to the hospital in Lira, the capital of our province. But they were demanding a lot of money, and I was having very little."
Florence sent her husband back to see if the savings group in the village could help.
"I said, go to my chairperson and ask him to give you at least 100,000 Ugandan shillings (35 €) so we can save our child. You know, nowadays if you don’t have money, you can easily die."
Thanks to the savings of the farmer field, school Florence was able to get the money she needed to pay the bills for the medicine, the hospital and also the costs of staying in town with her daughter.
Now, 5 months later she's already managed to repay her debt, including a small interest rate.
"I really benefited from it, because if I had not been in this group, no one would have given me the money I needed. Nobody in our village was having that amount. You can find someone with 500, 5,000, maybe even 10,000, but that's not enough, and you can’t go begging from door to door. So being in a group - that's the best thing I got from the farmer field school."
In the past Florence says the farmers used to only fend for themselves, now they’re working together. Francis, the president of the association, agrees.
"The farmer field school has changed the way we think. Before we only thought about ourselves and our families, people used to stay in isolation, but the farmer field school has brought us together and now we are a real community."
And as we're sitting under a tree listening to the songs of the farmers and eating the little feast they have prepared for us you can really feel the group spirit, it feels like a community is rebuilding. The farmers have used some of their savings to buy T-shirts and caps where they’ve printed the name of their farmer field school:
Nam Note Dagnyeko which means a farmer who’s empowered fights poverty.
I work for Germany's International Broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Petites et Grandes Aventures is about my travels - whether I'm reporting from the field, training radio journalists around the world or just having fun on holiday.
Next trips? I have plans to travel to Paris, Marrakesh, Tokyo, Kyoto and Sydney... so, stay tuned!
