Africa: Faces in Words - Salem-News.Com

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Unseen, unheard; no one should be the bearer of these two words. Unfortunately, Africa is often in the forefront of this association.

Our common humanity should change this; we should never look away because it is too distant. Our commitment to one another, to human rights, and the ability to learn should always keep us connected no matter the severity and complexity of problems.

African Leaders Buying Human Albino Parts: Group - A lobby group says politicians are involved in the trade of human albino body parts in Africa and use them as charms to bring them good fortune. Albino body parts are sold for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in parts of Africa. Coumba Makalou, president of the U.S.-based Salif Keita Global Foundation, a group that advocates for albinos' rights, says those who pay for body parts include rich businessmen and politicians looking to improve their political fortunes. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/10/11/world/africa/AP-AF-Africa-Albino-Killings.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Kenya: Elephantiasis Thrives Amid Funding Gap - Stigma has allowed a disfiguring microscopic worm to thrive in Kenya's coastal region, among other endemic regions, but if adequate funds were made available, the spread of lymphatic filariasis (LF), also known as elephantiasis, could easily be stopped in the east African country with the help of just a couple of pills a year. http://allafrica.com/stories/201010111706.html

Africa: School for Peacekeepers - A school to train soldiers of about a dozen African countries in peacekeeping operations has been launched in Congo with financial support from the French government. The National Regional Engineering School (ENVR-GT) was created as part of the Congolese Military Staff Academy in Makabandilou, a suburb in the north of the capital Brazzaville. http://allafrica.com/stories/201010121006.html

Zimbabwe: Thousands Drop Out of School - Matabeleland South Province has in the past three years seen thousands of children dropping out of school at both secondary and primary level, a development that has been partly attributed to poverty. The province has about 452 registered and 44 satellite primary schools. There are 152 secondary schools, 120 of which are registered while 37 are satellite. http://allafrica.com/stories/201010130193.html

Uganda: Radio Reporter Survive Lynching - Bwekumbule Frank, a reporter with the Masaka-based Top Radio, has survived being lynched by a mob as he was covering the demolition of a house. At 5 p.m. (local time) on 10 October, Bwekumbule, 26, a resident of Kanabukulira Kabonera Subcounty, Masaka district, was tipped off by a radio listener about a demolition incident which was taking place in Butaya village, Kabonera Subcounty. http://allafrica.com/stories/201010140329.html

Murdered Saudi servant had unusual bite marks - A servant allegedly murdered by a Saudi prince in a London hotel had bite marks to his cheeks of a pattern not seen before by an expert, a court has heard. Considerable force must have been used to cause the injuries to Bandar Abdulaziz within a few hours of his death, odontologist Alfred Martin said. A servant allegedly murdered by a Saudi prince in a London hotel had bite marks to his cheeks of a pattern not seen before by an expert, a court has heard. Considerable force must have been used to cause the injuries to Bandar Abdulaziz within a few hours of his death, odontologist Alfred Martin said. http://www.medeshivalley.com/2010/10/murdered-saudi-servant-had-unusual-bite.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+medeshivalley/JLIj+(Medeshivalley.com)

A Somali mother’s tale of betrayal, revenge and resettlement - A refugee's kindly gesture in her native Somalia was repaid years later with betrayal in Yemen when her teenage daughter was abducted. It was Khadija's* worst moment in a lifetime of pain. http://www.unhcr.org/4cb86ab56.html

Zimbabwe: UK Government to Resume Enforced Returns - The British coalition government on Thursday announced it will be resuming enforced returns of failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe. A ministerial statement read out in parliament by the Minister for Immigration, Damian Green, said the time was 'now right to bring our policy on returns of failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers into line with that on every other country.' Green told the House of Commons that they based their decision on the improved situation on the ground in Zimbabwe since the formation of the inclusive government in 2009. http://allafrica.com/stories/201010150073.html

Alysha Atma spends many hours working on projects that support and benefit the beleaguered people of African nations who spend way too much time off the western media's radar. This writer explains that she is a culmination of all her experiences, most importantly knowledge she says, and all that she still needs to learn; lessons of love, laughter and the extraordinary giving of both young and old. She says she has the enormous fortune of learning from the best; every person around her, and the amazing strength and fortitude of those she has never met but will always strive to listen to. "I continue to work and write because I believe in the power of community and the power of one, both contradictory to each other and yet can move together in a very powerful way. I feel a responsibility to use my place, freedoms and connections here in the US to stand up and yell for those who need my voice and actions. I have seen such strength in my fellow humans that I cannot even begin to comprehend, they have traveled distances, have gone without food, water, shelter and safety for days and weeks at a time. I have a responsibility as a fellow human to put our common humanity before anything else. Everyone deserves to look towards tomorrow, to dream of a safe future and to have a peaceful present." You can write to Alysha Atma at: alysha.atma@gmail.com