President Obama Visits Senegal
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/06/27/president-obama-visits-senegal
President Obama's Trip Schedule
http://www.whitehouse.gov/africa-trip-2013
Thursday
On Thursday morning,
President Obama takes part in a formal arrival ceremony in Dakar, Senegal.
President Obama
participates in a bilateral meeting and joint press conference with President
Macky Sall of Senegal.
President Obama
participates in a meeting with regional judicial leaders on rule of law at the
Supreme Court in Dakar.
In the afternoon,
President Obama tours the Maison Des Esclaves (Slave House) Museum at Goree Island.
President Obama drops
by a civil society event at Goree Institute.
President Obama
participates in an Embassy meet and greet.
In the evening,
President Obama participates in an official dinner with President Macky Sall of
Senegal.
Friday
On Friday morning,
President Obama participates in a food security event in Dakar, Senegal.
Saturday
On Saturday morning,
President Obama takes part in a formal arrival ceremony in Pretoria.
President Obama
participates in a bilateral meeting and joint press conference with President
Jacob Zuma of South Africa.
President Obama
participates in a town hall for Young African Leaders at University of Johannesburg
– Soweto Campus.
President Obama
participates in a joint Embassy and Consulate meet and greet.
President Obama
participates in a meeting with African Union Chairperson Dr. Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma.
President Obama and
President Jacob Zuma of South
Africa participate in an official dinner.
Sunday
On Sunday morning,
President Obama takes part in a Consulate meet and greet.
President Obama visits
Robben Island, the former prison where Nelson
Mandela was held.
President Obama
attends a community health center event at the Desmond Tutu
HIV Foundation
Youth Center.
President Obama
delivers remarks in Cape Town,
South Africa.
Monday
On Monday afternoon,
President Obama takes part in a formal arrival ceremony in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
President Obama
participates in a bilateral meeting and joint press conference with President
Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania.
In the evening,
President Obama participates in a CEO roundtable and business leaders forum.
President Obama and
President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania
participate in an official dinner.
Tuesday
In the morning,
President Obama takes place in a Consulate meet and greet.
President Obama
visits the Ubungo Power Plant.
Select Photos
President Obama,
First Lady, and members of the First Family are welcomed In Yoff, Senegal
First Lady Michelle Obama's Trip
http://www.whitehouse.gov/africa-trip-2013/the-first-lady
The First Lady, along with daughters Malia and Sasha, will
join President Obama’s official visit to Senegal,
South Africa, and Tanzania on
June 26–July 2. During the trip, the First Lady will meet with young people and
highlight the power of education.
The First Lady is traveling to Senegal,
South Africa, and Tanzania where she’ll meet with young people and
highlight the power of education – she’s inviting people all across the U.S. to follow
along! Check out photos from the road, travel journals from the First Lady and
more
Thursday
The First Lady will
meet with Madame Marème Sall, First Lady of Senegal. Later, Mrs. Obama and
Madame Sall will visit the Martin Luther King Middle School, an all-girls school in Senegal.
In the afternoon, the
President and First Lady will visit Gorée
Island and in the
evening, the First Lady will join President Obama for a dinner hosted by
President Sall.
Saturday
The President and
First Lady will visit Pretoria,
South Africa,
where the First Lady will meet with Mrs. Tobeka S. Zuma, First Lady of South
Africa.
Google+ Hangout
Later in the
afternoon in Johannesburg,
Mrs. Obama will host a conversation with youth, organized in conjunction with
MTV Base, an African youth and music TV channel, and Google+. The First Lady
will be joined by teenagers from across South
Africa, as well as students joining virtually in cities
around the U.S. via Google+
Hangouts, including in L.A., Kansas
City, New York City, and Houston.
Watch this event live: WH.gov/FLOTUSinAfrica & the White
House Google+ page
In the evening, the
First Lady will join the President for a dinner hosted by President Zuma.
Sunday
First Lady Michelle
Obama will travel to Cape Town, South Africa, where she will visit Robben Island
with the President.
Monday
Mrs. Obama will meet
with Mrs. Salma Kikwete, First Lady of Tanzania, and visit the Embassy Bombing
Memorial.
The First Lady will
attend a performance by the Baba wa Watoto troupe, part of a center that serves
underprivileged boys and girls between the ages of five and 18 years old.
In the evening, she
will join the President for a dinner with President Kikwete.
Tuesday
The First Lady
will participate in the African First Ladies Summit: “Investing in Women:
Strengthening Africa,” hosted by the George W. Bush Institute. At the Summit, African First
Ladies from across the continent will gather to focus on the important role First
Ladies from across the continent will gather to focus on the important role
First Ladies play in promoting women’s education, health and economic
empowerment
Obama connects with SA's youth
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Obama-connects-with-SAs-youth-20130629
Zuma: Obama visiting SA at the right time
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Zuma-Obama-visiting-SA-at-the-right-time-20130629
Obama: Africa's future is
in young hands
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Obama-Africas-future-is-in-young-hands-20130629
Obama meets with Mandela family
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Obama-meets-with-Mandela-family-20130629
Obama speaks to Mandela's wife
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Obama-speaks-to-Mandelas-wife-20130629
Obama tells leaders to follow Mandela's example
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Obama-tells-leaders-to-follow-Mandelas-example-20130629
Obama wishes Mandela well
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Obama-wishes-Mandela-well-20130629
Obama’s Tour And Witch Hunts In Africa
http://www.xewmedia.com/2013/06/obamas-tour-and-witch-hunts-in-africa/
Later in the month, President Barack Obama arrives in Africa
for a three-nation tour. Obama will visit
Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. He will use the
opportunity to strengthen ties and promote issues of mutual interests. In his
speeches and meetings, Obama will spell out his priorities and emphasize what
is important and central to American interest in the region.
I hope President Obama will, during his trip, speak out
against witchcraft related killings and abuses in Africa.
Unfortunately, most world leaders have maintained a scandalous silence over the
waves of witch hunt ravaging many parts of sub Saharan Africa. They have
refused to mainstream the issue into their foreign policy or international
development programs.
Belief in witchcraft and magic is strong and pervasive in
Africa including Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. Witchcraft accusation is
widespread, and related abuses are rampant. Witch hunt presents a major human
rights, humanitarian and development challenge to the continent. In fact belief
in malevolent magic and other occult powers presents the greatest obstacle to
African renaissance and enlightenment. Witch belief poses a serious threat to
human dignity, to peace and harmony, to mental growth, intellectual awakening,
moral, and cultural progress in the region.
Most Africans take belief in witchcraft seriously. The term
witchcraft evokes fear, panic and apprehension in the hearts and minds of
people. Witchcraft accusations corrupt and poison fellow feeling and family
relationships. Many Africans still think witchcraft is a real not imaginary
crime, and treat suspects like real criminals. They attribute their misfortune-
poverty, death, diseases- to witchcraft and evil magic of their family and
community members. They commission local witch doctors and finders to ‘smell
out’ these enemies within.
Those accused of witchcraft are treated without mercy or
compassion. Suspected witches or wizards are attacked, tortured, lynched or
exiled from their homes. They are subjected to different forms of trial by
ordeal. Some are forced to drink, sometimes, poisonous concoctions to confirm
or to disable the witchcraft powers in them. Most cases of witchcraft
accusation and ritual murder take place in rural communities and most victims
are un accounted for. Witchcraft accusation is a symptom of development failure
in the region.
In Ghana,
suspected witches are banished to ‘make shift camps’ in the North of the
country. In Congo DRC and Nigeria,
children accused of witchcraft are abandoned and forced to live on the streets.
They are subjected by pastors to torture, inhumane and degrading treatment in
the name of exorcism. In Uganda,
old women are often branded witches and children are killed for ritual
purposes. In Kenya,
witch burning is rampant particularly in Kisii region. In Malawi, elderly
women were until recently jailed for witchcraft. In Cameroun
and Central African Republic,
witchcraft is recognized by law and suspected witches are tried in state
courts. In Nigeria,
witchcraft accusation is illegal but accusations continue to take place across
the country with impunity. Witchcraft related murders often go unpunished.
In one of the countries Obama is visiting- Tanzania-
albinos are targeted and killed for ritual purposes. The body parts of albinos
are harvested, sold and used for ritual potions which many people believe will bring
good luck, power and wealth. Some people mistakenly identify witchcraft as
‘African science’ and witch hunting as part of African culture. Many people
fear to speak out against witchcraft related abuse because they believe witches
exist, and witchcraft is real.
President Obama should, during his visit, help raise the
profile of the campaign against witch hunt and related killings and abuses and
help bring an end to this dark age phenomenon.
Obama should join his voice with those working and campaigning
to stop witch hunt in the region. He should pressure African leaders to take
pro active measures against these horrific abuses- to decriminalize witchcraft,
enforce the laws against witch hunting and support victims of accusation.
He should ask Africans to draw lessons from the witch hunt
in Europe and in Salem America. Obama
should condemn ritual killing of albinos in Tanzania,
of people with hunchback in Nigeria,
witch killings and abuses in Kenya,
Nigeria, Lesotho, Uganda
and Sierra Leone.
He should help rally international support for victims of
witchcraft accusations and those internally displaced due to witchcraft –those
who are languishing in camps in Ghana
and Burkina Faso, and
accused children living on the streets of Congo Kinshasha, and in Akwa Ibom and
Cross Rivers
states in Nigeria.
The American president should speak out against the
superstitious and irrational beliefs that cause Africans to commit these
atrocities. He should ask African schools, colleges and universities to rise up
to the challenge of public education and enlightenment, to combat superstition
and other forces of dark age by inculcating the values of scientific temper,
critical thinking and human rights.
From recent developments in the UK,
it should not surprise Obama that witchcraft related abuse might be taking
place at least among African and Asian immigrants in the US. Obama
should not miss the opportunity of using his upcoming trip to Africa
to make a clear and categorical case against witch hunt, witchcraft related killings
and abuses. It is not only in the interest of Africa, it is also in the
interest of the United
states and the world.
School
Of Life: You Are A
Universe/ Vous Êtes Un Univers
http://www.xewmedia.com/2013/06/school-of-life-you-are-a-universe-vous-etes-un-univers/
Just Who Is In Control Over Your Life/ Qui Contrôle Vraiment
Votre Vie
http://www.xewmedia.com/2013/06/just-who-is-in-control-over-your-life/