Development Talk

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Creative Consulting and Development Works would like to extend our sympathy to the Asmal family as we join the rest of South Africa in celebrating Kader Asmal and his life as an activist academic and politician.  His ANC comrades hail him as a “selfless man of honour” and that “his death must be a reminder for all of us of the non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa we committed to build”.  Kader represented the anti-Apartheid movement as a committed ANC member from the United Kingdom during his early professional life after being exiled by the Apartheid government.  In exile he was awarded the Prix UNESCO award for his work in human rights, founded the British Anti-Apartheid Movement, and served as Chairperson for the Irish Apartheid movement.  When he returned to South Africa he became a professor of human rights at University of the Western Cape before he was tapped by the first democratic government to be the Minister of Water and Forestry and later as Minister of Education (a position for which he was appointed personally by President Nelson Mandela).  He was also involved in many other anti-racism and human rights commissions and movements throughout his life. 

Professor Asmal’s memoir will be released in August, and the official launch for the book will be in September at the Open Book Festival in Cape Town.

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Scientists at UWC are researching a male contraceptive. Photo: NIOSH via Flickr

Scientists at UWC are researching a male contraceptive. Photo: NIOSH via Flickr

Teenage pregnancy is one of the major problems faced by today’s youth. Girls fall pregnant at a very young age and are often left to deal with the consequences themselves, abandoned by the father and their family.

Some cannot see themselves as single mothers and give their children up for adoption or have abortions. In the worst and saddest of these cases, as was reported on the front page of The Times newspaper on 20 July 2010, mothers simply dump their babies.

Taking responsibility

Women often get the blame for these unwanted babies. People ask why they did not use contraceptive pills.  But men must also take responsibility. Not only are condoms freely available in clinics across South Africa, but the  University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) scientists, together with colleagues at the University of Missouri in America are now also conducting research on a male contraceptive pill, made from a plant extract.

According to the Cape Times, a molecule found in two varieties of olive trees and cloves, has been tested on males of three animal species including mice, rabbits and rats and was found to have a contraceptive effect.

 
It is indicated that the results were immediate and reversible. It took a couple of months for fertility to return after the molecule was taken away.

This molecule also has some anti-cancer, anti-HIV, anti-ulcer and anti-microbial effects.

However, Cape Times states that the scientists will not be able to test the molecule on humans until they find out how its contraceptive quality actually works.   

Elano Blumer scored a goal for his children.

Elano Blumer scored a goal for his children. Photo: http://pesindeyizgs.blogspot.com

After Brazilian football player Elano Blumer scored a goal last night in the 2010 FIFA World Cup match against Côte d’Ivoire, he took out his shin guards and showed them to the camera. The names of his children were written on them.

What a wonderful gesture on Father’s Day! Creative Consulting & Development Works acknowledges the potential that fathers have to protect and ensure the healthy, positive development of children. This is emphasised by the African Fathers Initiative which “aims to be a continent-wide institutional base for the generation, collection, and dissemination of knowledge and skills about responsible and involved fatherhood across all races and faiths in Africa”. Their website provides research on fatherhood in Africa, refers to policy involving fathers and gives tips to fathers on how to perform their role well. This includes how to tell your children you love them, how to raise a daughter and how to support your pregnant partner.

Teenage Tata - HSRC Press

Teenage Tata - HSRC Press

In South Africa the Human Sciences Research Council runs The Fatherhood Project. This Project aims to, among other things, “rally peer professional support to enable men to be more involved in children’s lives”. They recognise that fathers are often absent in South Africa and that cases of neglect and abuse are rife. However, the project celebrates those father figures, including brothers, grandfathers, uncles and cousins, friends, teachers and preachers that truly have a positive impact on the children for whom they are rolemodels.

The HSRC has published the books Teenage Tata: Voices of young fathers in South Africa and Baba?: Men and Fatherhood in South Africa.

But let’s not forget about Brazil’s  opponents in the game last night: We also have a story to tell about fatherhood in Côte d’Ivoire. Watch this video about a father’s love for his HIV positive son, posted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Living Proof Project on You Tube.