One of the two UNESCO 2009 prizes for Literacy Education awarded by King Sejong and financed by the Korean Republic has been awarded to Burkina's "Tin Tua", an NGO in literacy and non-formal education, a press release from the UN special agency has said. The "Tin Tua" programme (Let's develop ourselves, in gulimancema, a local language in Eastern Burkina), got very good results by using the participants' mother tongue, producing material for specific reading and laying emphasis on issues of gender and sustained development of communities.

Would you like to write a review for Pambazuka News? We are looking for people to write reviews for a number of books and academic papers. Interested? E-mail us at [email][email protected] to let us know which title/s you are interested in and we’ll get in touch with you.

Still haven’t seen ? In this film, made by Jenny Morgan and distributed by Fahamu, members of Abahlali baseMjondolo, the grassroots shackdwellers' movement lay out their case – against forcible eviction and for decent services – with passion, eloquence, and sweet reason. is being screened at festivals in US and the UK in September and October.

Marina Sharpe reviews Chris Dolan’s . Commending Dolan’s counter narrative to the standard, short-sighted characterisation of the conflict enveloping northern Uganda, Sharpe applauds the author’s success in sensitively capturing the experiences and suffering of the north’s Acholi people.

Reflecting on the analysis of the Darfur conflict offered by Mahmood Mamdani’s ‘Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror’, Harry Verhoeven, Lydiah Kemunto Bosire and Sharath Srinivasan find the book to be praiseworthy in its deconstruction of the conflict’s role within global humanitarianism yet lacking in its engagement with contemporary Sudanese politics. While Mamdani’s analysis of the Western-led global community’s bid to entirely de-politicise the conflict is highly perceptive, Verhoeven, Bosire and Srinivasan contend, ‘Saviors and Survivors’ neglects discussion of significant factors such as the violent, exploitative role of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in the conflict’s evolution. These gaps notwithstanding however, ‘Saviors and Survivors’ represents a thought-provoking and insightful analysis of the misguided state of international humanitarianism and its relation to the Darfur ‘genocide’, the reviewers conclude in this week’s Pambazuka News.

Patients over the age of 50 on antiretroviral treatment in West Africa are at increased risk for death compared to younger age groups, Didier Koumani Ekouevi presenting on behalf of A Lokossoue and colleagues reported in a study presented at the 5th IAS Conference on Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Cape Town, South Africa.

Professor Issa Shivji pays tribute in verse – in English and in Kiswahili – to the late Haroub Othman, former professor of Development Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam.

My dear friend and comrade, Ho:

I shan’t write a letter,
I can’t.
I shan’t sing a song,
Or recite a poem.
‘Cause I don’t have the talents.
I shall say what I feel,
Deep down in me.

Those were the days,
Of the Vietnam war.
Ho Chinh Minh was your uncle,
My uncle, our uncle.
Demos, sit-ins and boycotts,
Petitions, pictures and panels,
Unclothing war criminals.
People’s courts sentenced, public opinion enforced.

Those were the days,
Of Bertrand Russell and Stokely Carmichael,
Sitting in Stockholm,
Hearing napalmed men, women and children.
The public gallery wept, students shouted,
‘Down with uncle Sam,
Long live Uncle Ho.’

Your kinship was unmistakeable,
Your Cause was clear.
You stood on the side,
Of the oppressed,
humiliated and exploited.
You proudly signed your name,
with a big ‘H’ and a small ‘o’, Ho.

Moderate in language,
Measured in tone.
Civil in demeanour,
Generous in kindness.
Gentle in argument,
Steadfast in disagreement.
That was our Ho.

In Lebanon and Palestine,
In Vietnam and Indonesia.
In Chile and Cuba,
In Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Mozambique, Angola and Guinea Bissau.
Wherever there was oppression and injustice,
Our Ho knew his side.

Imperialism he condemned,
Human rights he upheld.
On union, he stood his ground,
Often stoutly,
Seldom silently.
Unity he applauded,
Secession he feared.

More I say, more I want to say.
But a little more I’ll say.
Jenerali wrote:
‘Poor Saida!
She wanted to retire.
Now she’ll have to unretire,
To lead us from where Haroub left off.’

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Ndugu yangu, rafiki yangu, kamaradi Harubu:

Sitaomboleza kifo chako;
Sitatowa salamu za rambirambi.
Tumelia ya kutosha,
Tumehuzunika ya kutosha.

Tumesononeka, tumelalamika:
Ewe Muumba,
Kwa nini unatupora watu wetu wema?
Kwa nini?
Eti ulimpenda zaidi ya sisi,
Kwani upendo wetu una kikomo?

Sasa basi:
Mamia tumekutana Nkrumah,
Maelfu wametega masikio,
Moshi, Miatu na Mbezi.
Sio kuomboleza, wala kulia, wala kulalamika.
Bali kusherekea.
Kusherekea maisha yako,
Fikra zako,
Msimamo wako.

Kusherekea maisha yako, Harubu,
Mwana wa Miraji,
Mwana wa Zanzibar na Tanzania,
Mwana wa Afrika.

Tunasherekea fikra zako,
Tunatamani kuchota kutoka busara zako,
Hekima yako,
Mtazamo wako.

Fikra zako za uungwana,
Fikra zako za ukombozi,
Ukombozi wa wanyonge,
Ukombozi wa mwana wa Adamu.

Fikra zako zisizotingisika,
Kupinga dhuluma na ufisadi na ubeberu.
Fikra zako za kutetea,
Haki za wanyonge.

Harubu, umetoweka bila kutuaga.
Hatulalamiki, hatukulaumu.
Kwani, kila pumzi la uhai wako,
Ulikuwa na ujumbe na nasaha.

Enyi makamaradi, wana wa harakati.
Katika medani ya mapambano,
Hakuna kuaga wala kuagana.
Hakuna muda,
Hakuna anasa
Ya porojo za kuaga na kuagana.

La kesho, tendeni leo.
La siku, tekelezeni kwa saa.
Mapambano sio lelemama.
Ukombozi sio usanii.

Buriani ndugu yangu,
Rafiki yangu,
Kamaradi Ho.
Kwaheri za kuonana.

Late initiation of antiretroviral treatment following diagnosis is contributing to the continuing high death rate among people who present with low CD4 counts in eight sub-Saharan African countries.

A major decrease in the childhood mortality rate in children under the age of two (U2CMR), observed between 2001 and 2006 in northern rural KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, was associated with the rollout of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in that region, according to a presentation made at IAS 2009 in Cape Town this week. Although some of the benefit may have been due to the introduction of programmes to prevent vertical (mother to child) transmission in 2001, researchers found that it was most strongly associated with maternal access to ART.

Latest publications include , which features contributing chapters from Patrick Bond and Khadija Sharife, Demba Moussa Dembélé, Charles Mutasa and Samir Amin, and Yash Tandon's and Yash Tandon's [email protected].

Urban Voices International Arts Festival 2009 promises again to deliver the most original, diverse and cutting edge spoken word for the South African aficionados of the arts. “As always, the Southern African Arts Exchange has scouted far and wide across the world, searching for the most talented and relevant poets for the South African audiences”, says Roshnie Moonsammy, executive director and founder of Urban Voices and its mother body the Southern African Arts Exchange (SAAE). The Urban Voices Poetry Festival takes place in three cities, Joburg, Cape Town and Durban.

The Darfur Rehabilitation Project and Cutting Edge Art & Culture Works presents Blue Tales, Other Narratives and Beyond: The Art of Khalid Kodi, New Works of Story Telling, Saturday July 11, 2009 from 3-7PM at the Church of the Covenant, 310 East 42 Street, NY (between 1st and 2nd, next to Tudor Hotel). The exhibition is open to the public and features small and large scale paintings, drawings, and mixed media on paper. Sudanese food and music will be shared for this very special inaugural benefit /art sale. A portion of the proceeds will support the Darfur Rehabilitation Project and Cutting Edge Art & Culture Works.

The and Cutting Edge Art & Culture Works is presenting 'Blue Tales, Other Narratives and Beyond: The Art of Khalid Kodi, New Works of Story Telling', on Saturday 11 July in New York.

The 4th edition of the annual Lola Kenya Screen audiovisual media festival for children and youth in eastern Africa will be held at Goethe-Institut, Nairobi, Kenya, August 10-15, 2009. The only festival in Africa exclusively designed for children and youth, Lola Kenya Screen was established in October 2005 to explore, identify and nurture creative talents among children and youth in areas of filmmaking, cultural journalism, events planning and presentation and critical appreciation of creativity.

The landmark 30 th Durban International Film Festival brings together films and filmmakers from around the world in a celebration of the diversity and magic of cinema. Across eleven intense days DIFF will present over 200 screenings at venues across the city of Durban and in surrounding communities. While the selection of fascinating, passionate and entertaining films forms the centre of the festival, an extensive programme of free workshops and seminars – this year based at the Royal Hotel - will prime a new generation of South African filmmakers.

cc David Sogge reviews 'The Politics of Aid: African Strategies for Dealing with Donors'. Edited by Lindsay Whitfield, the book finds that donors continue to call the shots on aid, despite the promise behind new recipient-friendly policies. If anything, donor dominance and influence are becoming even greater.

Knowing the causes of death as well as mortality rates among patients on antiretroviral therapy in Rwanda may help improve service delivery, Innocent Turate and colleagues reported in a study presented at the HIV Implementers’ Meeting in Namibia earlier this month. Loss of patients to follow-up continues to be a significant problem for treatment programmes in many parts of Africa, but measures to improve patient retention in care require a better understanding of why patients are lost to follow-up, and in particular, the number of deaths and the causes of death among those who start treatment.

Africa in Motion 2009 aims to incorporate a number of screenings and events that confront issues of trauma, conflict and reconciliation. This symposium aims to foster discussion and understanding of old and new research dealing with the various realities and representations of reconciliation in Africa.

Poetry is dangerous,
Subversive.

It’s that so often talked about
Double edged sword
That cuts both ways.
It’s more lethal
Than Zuma’s Umshini Wami,
More deadly than the now ubiquitous
Post election violence panga
More than Rwanda’s genocidal machete.
It’s deadlier than Sierra Leonese, Sudanese child soldiers,
More powerful than the Shona-Ndebele, Majimaji, Mau Mau wars put together.

It can bless you
Or curse you
Deliver you to your grave-
Ask Pushkin.

It can build continents,
Empires, kingdoms,
And just as quickly,
Tear them down.
Ask Africa

Be careful how you use your words,
What you confess,
You will, without a single doubt
Soon possess.

So let’s sing dangerously progressive
Subversively possessive
Poetry for our motherland,
Africa.

Africa will arise
Not by Zuma’s Umshini Wami,
Or the P.E.V.’s menacing panga,
Rwanda’s machete,
North African child soldiers
Or Shona-Ndebele, Majimaji, Mau Mau resistance ire.

Africa will arise
By our dreamy
Amazing words,
Our outlandish prophecies,
Our ridiculously zany confessions
Of a better beautiful, peaceful, abundant Africa
Whose reach
Is within
Our possession.

After reading one paragraph of Zimbabwean writer Brian Chikwava's debut novel , Stanley Makuwa knows he has found the kind of book he has been looking for. Chikwava's tale of a youth militia trained to kill enemies of the state for the Mugabe government and who migrates to London (Harare North) is 'a very sad story told in a very funny way' that exposes the hardships of trying to live in a foreign land. Full of praise for 'an honest book that you feel the author wrote from his heart', Makuwa writes, 'Chikwava is an international award winner and this is clearly another triumph for him. If this comes with another major award, it shouldn’t be a surprise.'