Kenyans in Sweden have started a movement for kids

This is a good thing to do for kids. In Norway, it is the grown ups who enjoy and the kids are left out just like in Sweden. Your initiative should serve as an awakening. We hereby publish the letter we just got from Sweden. See below.

Apn - editorial 

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Dear fellow Kenyans

We are a group of Kenyans who have started a movement which is about involving our Kenyan kids or rather kids in general.

We are planning to have some events with different activities for the kids. As you have noticed all the parties we have done or attended are mainly for the grown ups.

Its we who end up having fun and its a pity that our kids are now fed up. For a change we would like to do something specifik for them. Hoping that you agree with us we would appreciate anyone with any suggestion, or ideas that could help our kids have some fun for a change.

We would like to include all of you “mujitolee” and help all you can. Remember we are all they’ve got. We are the parents, aunties, uncles, grandparents they have here.

We would appreciate any support we can get. We need toys from all ages, games, karaoke sets or anything that can be used by kids for fun. Any contribution will be put to good use and will be accounted for. If you have anything that you do not need you can pass it to us. it will make a difference. Remember “mtoto hulewa na kijiji”. We thank you in advance for your generosities. You can get in touch with us for any questions or information.

M. A . D  making a difference.
e-mail wambi73@yahoo.se or e-mail osayi5@hotmail.com
tel- 073-7012061, 073-9709573

Produced by African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no, tel +47 932 99 739 +47 6300 2525

Tanzanian President Kikwete on the move ……

The president will be in Norway on the 27 and 28th of February where he will be hosted by the Norwegian government.

In January he was in the UK.

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The President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, held talks in London on 16 January 2007 during President Kikwete’s official visit to the UK.

During his three day visit President Kikwete also held talks with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP; the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP; the Secretary of State for International Development, the Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, and the Minister for Africa, Lord Triesman.

The United Kingdom and Tanzania share a common interest in working together on bilateral, multilateral and global issues. Our shared historical partnership has enabled links to flourish in many areas, from investment to education, development to peace-building.

President Kikwete and the Tanzanian government applaud the deep and persistent commitment of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the British government to African development. The Commission for Africa, the G8 Gleneagles Summit and the Africa Progress Panel all provide crucial impetus.

Development

Tanzania has made significant strides in recent years; economic growth has exceeded 5% since 2000 and President Kikwete is committed to sustaining his predecessor’s impressive record of economic reform. Britain is one of Tanzania’s largest trading partners and its largest source of foreign direct investment. UK companies have invested about £230 million in Tanzania over the last 11 years. Trade between our countries continues to grow year on year.

Whilst Tanzania is still poor, it is making real progress - for example, increasing primary school enrolment to 96% and reducing infant mortality by a third over the last five years. Tanzania’s social stability and cohesion, its track record of constitutional government, its increasingly vigorous democracy, sound macroeconomic framework, reform of the public sector, and economic potential all provide a good basis for further progress. That is why the UK is confident in its significant development partnership with Tanzania.

In particular, the UK commends Tanzania for the strong progress it has made towards Universal Primary Education, placing it on track to meet the MDG of all children completing primary school by 2015. The Government of Tanzania welcomes UK support in highlighting the importance of achieving education for all and its commitment to help fund developing countries’ long term education plans to get every child to school.

The UK government recognises that Tanzania faces a significant challenge to scale up post-primary education and vocational training in order to cater for the greatly increased numbers of students graduating from primary school. An initiative to expand support for education has been developed by African Finance and Education Ministers, and the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer and other development partners, and was endorsed in Abuja in May 2006. In response, Tanzania, anticipating funding from the initiative, is refining its ten year plan for the sector. The British government is giving its full support to this work.

The UK announced on 15 January 2007 that it has committed £105 million (TSh 262bn) of general budget support for the Tanzanian government in 2007/8. This is an increase of over 15% from 2006/7 and will take the UK’s overall programme of support for Tanzania to around £400 million (TSh 1,000bn) for 2007-10.

The United Kingdom and the Tanzanian government consider budget support the most effective way to support the Tanzania’s National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction (MKUKUTA). Budget support allows the Tanzanian government to decide for itself how best to allocate resources and how best to design, develop and deliver its own programmes in key sectors such as water and health. The Tanzanian and UK governments note the need for massive additional investment in these sectors given the lack of access to clean water and adequate health services, particularly in rural areas.

In addition, the UK government will continue to provide targeted assistance to enhance public sector reform, public financial management, the deepening of democracy, the strengthening of civil society, the improvement of the environment for private enterprise, and access to financial services. The UK also provides support indirectly, through its contributions to the European Commission, the United Nations, The World Bank and The African Development Bank.

This UK support will be integrated with the contributions of other development partners as part of the Joint Assistance Strategy for Tanzania (JAST). This strategy, signed with the Tanzanian government last month, will increase the effectiveness of aid in line with the international Paris Declaration of 2005.

The Tanzanian government is committed to sustain and enhance the reforms required to accelerate and maximise progress.

Peace and Security

The UK and Tanzanian governments will continue to work closely together on international peace and security - as they did in the United Nations Security Council in 2005 and 2006.

The UK welcomes President Kikwete’s leadership in Tanzania’s facilitation of the peace process in Burundi. He also played a key role in the process which saw the adoption of the Security Pact by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region in December 2006. Tanzania and the UK are working closely together in the Somalia International Contact Group to build a lasting peace there. President Kikwete’s offer of assistance to international peacekeeping in Lebanon and Darfur underscores Tanzania’s commitment to working with the UK, the African Union and the wider international community, to support global peace-building. The United Kingdom is ready to provide training, where appropriate, to assist such deployments.

Both the UK and Tanzania have suffered the appalling effects of international terrorism on their own territory, and we both have important roles to play in international efforts to counter terrorism and violent extremism. Tanzania’s record of inter-communal harmony is an important example for others. The UK welcomes the Tanzanian government’s plan to establish a Counter-Terrorism Centre, and stands ready to provide advice from its own experience. The UK is also providing forensic intelligence training to the Tanzanian police.

The wide scope of Tanzania - UK relations reflects our strong strategic partnership and our shared vision to develop our countries and help create a safer, more prosperous and well governed world.

By Longstory Cutshort,

Lifted and published by African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no, tel +47 932 99 739 or +47 6300 2525

Another day for you and me in paradise

Am sitting in a McDonalds, eating my lunch since am uncomfortable taking a lunch box with me from home.

A lunchbox always reminds me of my school days and coz I didn’t like it then; it was no fun being forced to carry one, I don’t like it now. At a table in front of me, a waitress prepares for a painting session. You know, one of those days when the McDonalds treat its kid customers to a fun face painting. Soon enough a line of kids is quickly formed with difficulty as all struggle to be the first in line.

The winner of the queue struggle gets his face changed into a Spiderman’s mask within no time. After a pip in the mirror he runs off to show off to his mother with a big grin on his face! It’s easy to tell that he feels supernatural in his mask. The second boy in line wants to be turned into a lion. ‘No problem’ assures the waitress/painter who assumes the job with ease. She proceeds to do a wonderful job transforming, or rather close to transforming the little boy’s face into a lion’s.

Like the first, he too runs off with the same wide grin unlike the lion’s fierce look. At this point my mind wanders off to the lion’s kingdom.
Africa. Yes, Kenya.Somehow, a warming pride wells from within me and I can’t help the widening smile that slowly forms in my face. That’s where I come from. Close to the lion kingdom, neighboring with it. I smile some more as a system forms in my mind. The lion-boy and others like him must know of Africa: Well, that is what automatically comes to mind when you think of lions, right? If he does, then he would know about the people from that part of the world; Africans.

If he is bright enough in his child years, then he might easily guess that am an Africa coz I do look like one. Thus the connection between the boy, the lion and me. The world. Do you see it? Good. Its fun sitting here and watching the art but I have to get back to work, so singing ´´jambo bwana“ in my head, I go past the art session and out the door. 

The everyday sound of traffic is no surprise as I stop just outside the McDonald’s entrance to zip up my jacket after a cold wind blows by. ´This is no Africa` I say to myself as turn left and then right some meters away. This Sunday is unusually sunny and warm for a winter Sunday. The reflection of the sun by the glass walls of a buss stop shelter ahead, forces me to shield my eyes with the palm of my hand.

As I near the bus stop, and just as am about to walk past it, something catches my eye and the ´´jambo bwana“ freezes in my head! I stop and move a few steps backwards to have a better view and sure enough a photo of a black (read African) boy is plastered in the glass wall of the bus stop shelter. His sad big eyes staring almost accusingly at me. In the boy’s little hands is a huge empty bowl. I don’t need do read the text or be told, I get the message.

Hungry children in Africa need help. I force my self to look away and walk away embarrassed. The African pride is replaced by a very uncomfortable feeling as I arrive back to reality. The lion boy is long forgotten as my soul is haunted by the calamities that face Africa, the lion kingdom. The lion kingdom is replaced by  Darfur, faces and bony bodies of screaming children. These are not in line for a face painting. No. They are just not in line.  I start to think of a way to end this nightmare, but then am not a Madonna who could easily: with no complications from the law (the queen is law and procedure free, it seems), fly down and scoop a David off to her Disney land. Good for the David now the son of Madonna. Who knows maybe he will turn out to be a Malawian Barrack Obama in future .One saved, millions to go. 

But still am not happy when I think of Madonna and how the whole deal went. I also remember reading in the papers that the same Madonna does not like what Angelina Jolie is doing as a UN goodwill ambassador. She sees it as idiotic to build a home somewhere for the poor. The same Jolie who is said to have come up with the original idea and even presenting it to the queen of pop, when the two were good friends.

I picture Madonna doing her naughty, or sometimes Jesus imitation choreography and am glad that I can raise my own child. I remember reading somewhere in the same magazine that another star, Halle Berry, saying ´´ I wish I could be as boney as the kids in Sudan but I hate the flies all around them“. The big eyed boy with a big empty bowl. I am not happy at all.  Though the world all over sudden seems to realize the needs of the African child and the stars are now looking seriously into grabbing an African child from the seemingly futureless continent, I  feel a shadowy figure creepily creeping behind this helping hand. The same feeling I get when I see pictures of Maasais all over the world while their state never improves. Or when I hear Oprah bragging about helping African children, yet when she continues gathering billions, none of the children look like a Kenyan million shillings. The feeling of being taken advantage of. But we remain grateful for the much they do. Could we do without them? Soon, am back at my working station and flapping through the pages of Svd, one of the principal newspapers in Sweden. On the cultural section of it is a coverage of books written on how Africa was torn apart by western super powers as they scrambled for a piece of her. Books telling of the abuse, mistreatment slavery and worse. I make a ´remember note` to myself to read these books or some of them. Maybe by doing so, I might come to a better understanding of how it all started. From the white man to Madonna; the white woman.

I will read the books not expecting to learn anything new since we already have heard the stories. Just to get the terrible details, refresh my memory and see if I could possibly have missed something. Meanwhile, I’ll dream of an African boy, fighting to be the first in line for a face painting. An African traditional face painting session, somewhere in the lion kingdom. I’ll dream of the mother continent rising as her sun, her rays penetrating every part of the ´´Dark Continent“, her motherly warmth of love, reaching every country, spreading a smile to every African child.

Their milk white teeth reflecting a healthy care, they musical laughter, audible over the African plains, mountains and valleys. And not a David, in need of a Madonna. Maybe if we all have this same dream, it might get big enough to come true, after all only we Africans can save
Africa.  

                                                                                                         

By Njoro, Sweden

Published by African Press in Norway, Apn, africanpress@chello.no, tel +47 932 99 739 or +47 6300 2525

Statistics on viewer development today by 13.00

Country Share
Continent Share

Figure nr 1. shows viewers in percentage pr country by today at 13.00

Figure nr 2. shows viewers in percentage pr continent by today at 13.00

We update the statistics now and then.

By Statistics section

Published by African Press in Norway, APN, africanpress@chello.no tel +47 932 99 739 or +47 6300 2525

Be a foster parent in Norway and get rich quickly

Commentary by Holta to one of our earlier stories on Child Protection Agency in Norway. The agency is fond of snatching children from the weak in the society and handing them over to foster homes that get rich quickly because they are given alot of money. They get more money if they take the children with minority background. APN agrees with Arild Holta’s reasoning, APN editorial.

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Arild Holta writes:

Fosterparent with many children get a lot of money!! Normaly they have many children.

“Barnevernet”/cps helps with holidays, new bigger car, changes in the house (house modification and new inventary -editor). More money for children with problems.

Half a million Norwegian kroner is normal (for one child - editorial). Some work both in other jobs!

They make money!!

Haakon Rian Ueland can check more facts. Search Google: “fosterbarnskennel” :-P

By Arild Holta,

Mr Holta is reacting to the articles below:

Related stories:

• Haakon Rian Ueland says, it is necessary to take children from the minority!
• “Barnevernet” The Norwegian Child Protection Unit must stop splitting minority families in Norway!

Published by African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no, tel +47 932 99 739 +47 6300 2525

Adoption: Norwegian laws allows immigrants and refugees living in Norway to adopt a family member

After reading the adoption laws of Norway, I realise that there is a posibility for an immigrant or a refugee living in Norway to adopt a relative and bring her or him to Norway.

One can adopt a child under twelve, over twelve with the child’s consent and over 18 with consent as well.

This is interesting. The law requires that you are really interested to bring up the one you are adopting.

This is an opportunity that immigrants and refugees can use if they want to rescue a suffering relative instead of applying for family re-union which may never go through.

Read, understand and ask questions. The Norwegian government is here below: 

APN.

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Applications for adoption are handled by the five regional offices of the Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs. This applies to the adoption of children in Norway (national adoption) as well as to applications for advance approval for adoption of children from abroad (intercountry adoption).

The local authorities assist the adoption authorities in obtaining necessary information by carrying out the stipulated investigation of applicants and submitting recommendations to applications for adoption.

There are currently three adoption organisations in Norway that are accredited to deal with intercountry adoptions. These are Adopsjonsforum, Verdens Barn (Children of the World – Norway) and InorAdopt. The Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs serves as the national adoption authority as stipulated in The Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Intercountry Adoption. The Directorate monitors the activities of the various organisations involved in the adoption process. The Directorate also deals with appeals submitted in connection with decisions taken by the regional offices.  The Ministry of Children and Equality is the superior responsible authority in all matters pertaining to adoption. The regulatory framework for adoption comprises the Act of 28 February 1986 No. 8 relating to Adoption and the appurtenant regulations and circulars. On adoption, the adopted child is given the same legal status as if the adopted child had been the adoptive parents’ biological child. At the same time, the obligations and rights of the biological parents in respect of their parental responsibility are transferred to the adoptive parents, and the child’s legal relationship to his or her biological parents and their families is terminated. Today, the most common form of adoption is adoption of children from abroad. The majority of national adoptions involve the adoption of stepchildren. See link for statistics.   A fundamental principle of the Act relating to adoption and international conventions ratified by
Norway is that adoption orders are issued only when this is in the best interests of the child. It is further required that the person applying for an adoption either wishes to bring up or has brought up the child, or that there is another special reason for the adoption.  Children who have reached 12 years of age may not be adopted without their own consent. A person under 18 years of age may not be adopted without the consent of the person or persons who have parental responsibility. A parent who does not share in the parental responsibility shall, as far as possible, be given the opportunity to express an opinion before a decision is made. A person must be at least 25 years of age to be eligible to adopt a child. The Act relating to adoption stipulates that only spouses may adopt a child jointly.  A spouse may with the consent of the other spouse adopt the latter’s child. A partner in a registered partnership may with the consent of the other partner adopt the latter’s child, unless the child is an adopted child whose origin is a foreign state that does not permit such adoption.  In order to be approved for adoption, certain requirements must be fulfilled regarding the duration of the marriage or the registered partnership, and the age, health, finances and conduct of the parties involved.  

By the Ministry of Children and Equality

Published by Korir, African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no, tel +47 932 99 739 or +47 6300 2525

Kenya: Increased revenue cited as good sign winning corruption fight

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Nairobi (Kenya) Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has assured Kenyans that his government is fighting corruption as revenue collection in the country has increased from about $276 million five years ago to $501 million today, a growth of 81%.

President Kibaki was speaking in Nairobi on Thursday while launching a two-day economic symposium for the Institute of Certified Accountants of Kenya.

He vowed that his government will safeguard economic gains that it has achieved for the last four years despite the impending general elections slated for end of this year.

He called upon Kenyans not to allow politics to slow down the momentum of economic growth.

“Electoral politics will come and go but the practical necessity of meeting the needs of our people will remain,” said the president.

Speaking to APA at the same function, Kenyan minister for planning and national development Henry Obwocha said however that slow disbursement of donor funds had slowed down infrastructure development.

“External shocks such as high oil prices and drought are also other factors that have slowed down economic growth,” he said.

Obwocha regretted that development has never influenced voting patterns in African countries.

“Little is known where development has influenced voting patterns in African countries, a lot of awareness needs to be done in most of the African countries,” he said.

Last year the Institute of Certified Accountants of Kenya was chosen to host the secretariat for the Eastern, Central and Southern Africa Federation of Accounts.

 

Published by Korir, African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no, tel +47 932 99 739 or +47 6300 2525.source.JK/PM/APA

Pakistani minister accused of human smuggling to European countries

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The Norwegian embassy in Islamabad has reported a Pakistani government minister to the police for human smuggling.

It is reported that he has send seven women and 21 children to Europe claiming they are his family members.

The uncovering of the smuggling has been done by Tor Moe, an experienced police man who works for all the Nordic countries. He is stationed in Pakistan.

According to the press spokesman in the Norwegian ministry of foreign affairs, Mr Bjørn Jahnsen, all the information collected by the policeman in the case has now been handed over to the Pakistani police.

According to the Norwegians TV 2, the 28 people are allegedly said to have been send to Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain and Italy. Each person is said to have paid 30.000 to the minister.

By Korir,

African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no, tel +47 932 99 739 or +47 6300 2525. source.anb.ntb