FEAST OR FAMINE

David Malouf, prominent Australian author, was in Canberra to bring back the classics. Not the classic novels though. In his lecture, Malouf spoke about his latest novel, Ransom, based on the aftermath of the Trojan War. He was invited to the Australian National University specifically to argue that university students still have much to gain by studying classical Greek and Roman cultures. Speaking at the launch of the new Bachelor of Classical Studies degree at the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Malouf discussed the multidisciplinary approaches of the course and its links to studies in history, language, literature and archaeology.

Since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, families in northern Uganda have been, and continue to be, highly mobile as they move from internally displaced camps back to their homelands. Therefore, tracking and monitoring student beneficiaries of child labour programs that remove children from exploitative labour and place them in relevant education programs has proved to be a challenge. The Livelihoods Education and Protection project funded by the United States Department of Labor implements a two-point strategy to track and monitor students: (1) regular follow-up of all beneficiaries (every six months); and (2) a verification process (every term). The follow-up process checks the progress of each student to ensure that they are receiving education, counseling and support. The verification process involves collecting the list of beneficiaries for each targeted school, then project staff or community mobilizers go class to class to conduct a roll call. Absent student...

In Tanzania on November 2, 2009, the high court sentenced four men to death by hanging for killing a 50-year-old albino man. The man's death was one of a spate of attacks on Tanzania's estimated 200,000 albinos in the past two years. The attacks have occurred in the remote north-west near Lake Victoria. Superstitions are said to have led to the attacks. Albinos, who lack pigment in their skin, eyes and hair, have pallid features and pink irises. Local witch-doctors believe that albinos bring luck in life and business. This has caused the spate of attacks, where people kill their victims and harvest their blood and body parts - hair, genitals and limbs - for potions. A Canadian human rights advocacy group urged the government for a swift decision and for justice for the deaths, as well as an education campaign to put an end to the killings. To date, there have been seven convictions leading to sentencing for murdering albinos.

The United States Department of Labor (USDOL) has devoted over $14.7 million since 1999 to combat child labor in Uganda. USDOL has also contributed over $27.5 million to regional projects in Africa which include Uganda. USDOL funded a $3.6 million 4-year ORACLE project implemented by IRC and AVSI, which ended in August 2007, and withdrew or prevented 5,657 children from exploitive labor in Northern Uganda. USDOL also funded the $3 million ILO-IPEC project, Combating and Preventing HIV/AIDS-induced Child Labor in Sub-Saharan Africa: Pilot Action in Uganda and Zambia, which ended in December 2008. In total across both countries, the project withdrew 2,642 children and prevented an additional 2,072 children from exploitive child labor through the provision of education, 2,942 of them from Uganda. USDOL funded the $14.5 million 4-year Combating Exploitive Child Labor through Education in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Ethiopia Together (KURET) project with additional funds by World V...

The United States Department of Labor (USDOL) is currently funding (2007-2011) a child labor project, Livelihoods, Education and Protection to Eliminate Child Labor (LEAP). The LEAP program strengthens existing school and youth clubs in five districts in northern Uganda to train them on child labor, child rights, and child protection issues, and motivate them through music, dance and drama (MDD). I had previously observed school clubs in September 2008 with disappointing results – students were not keen or motivated, they were under pressure from their parents to go straight home from school to help with housework, they were not overtly knowledgeable of child labor issues, were not strong or active in community advocacy and sensitization, and they believed that the clubs would disband after the program funding finished. The LEAP team have learned from these lessons and have re-invigorated the school clubs, to the point where students are keen, motivated, vocal on chi...

South Australia is facing its first ever November heatwave. November is typically springtime and the heat of summer commences from December to February in Australia. Yesterday record November temperatures were reached in most of the state. The hottest city was Ceduna reaching 47 degrees Celsisus, more than 20 degrees above the usual November temperatures. The capital of South Australia recorded 43 degrees. What constitutes a heatwave? It's a number of consecutive days over a high temperature (although the baseline varies). Adelaide has had 13 consecutive days over 33 C before, and 6 consecutive days over 40 C - both of these were in January. Adelaide's previous record heat wave for November was 115 years ago, with four consecutive days of temperatures over 35 C degrees. This year the new record is 13 consecutive days over 35 scorching degrees. Today the rain has arrived breaking the heatwave and bringing cooler temperatures (an estimated 27 degrees).

While undertaking a child labor assessment in Kitgum District, Uganda, the female principal of Palabek Secondary School, Mrs Otwana Severi, presented me with a letter of appreciation. "On behalf of the Board of Governors, the Parent Teacher Association, the teaching and non-teaching staff, the student's body and community of Palabek Secondary School on my behalf, I would like to sincerely express my gratitude and warm welcome to our region. Madam, your choice to pay such a remarkable visit to the school is not only your own interest and decision but it's God's blessing and grace which has propelled you to meet us at this particular moment. Your presence with us now has given us hope and courage despite the 20 years of insurgencies which has caused setbacks in all walks of life more especially psychological torture in which everybody has trauma due to the difficult situation he or she has undergone. Madam, northern Uganda, more especially this particular...

During my child labour assessment in northern Uganda in October, I interviewed girls removed from commercial sexual exploitation and placed in relevant education programs. The International Labour Organization (ILO) in Kampala, Uganda, conducted a study in conjunction with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in 2004, entitled "Report on the Sectoral Study of Child Labour and Commercial Sex Exploitation of Children in Uganda." The report estimated that 7,000 to 9,000 children in northern Uganda are involved in commercial sexual exploitation. The figure is likely to be an under-estimate, particularly as it was only undertaken in four districts, and there has not been a follow-up assessment. Of the children interviewed in the study, 91% were females and 9% were males. Almost half of those in the study were orphaned and 65% had either dropped out or never attended school. It also noted that many children were involved in less formal transactiona...

I have been working in northern Uganda in the districts of Moroto, Gulu, Pader and Kitgum to assess child labor and child trafficking in the region for the United States Department of Labor - more of that in subsequent blogs. Here I'll discuss my reflections on life in Moroto District. Moroto District is in the Karamoja region of north-eastern Uganda. Much attention has been drawn to the dramatic impact the violence has had on children and youth. The most prominent feature of the conflict has been the abduction by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) of an estimated 24,000–38,000 children (approximately 20% of whom were girls) to serve as porters, cooks, and combatants. The LRA have recently moved out of the region to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Government of Uganda has ordered a relinquishment of guns and weapons over the past two years. A mortality survey in 2005 found violence to be the third most common cause of death in the Karamoja region. While...