I stumbled over Shake Hands with the Devil; a book (also made into a film) by General Romeo Dallaire and immediately bought it. Reading it gave me a combination of feelings. First I felt horrified and then I felt again that we are all vulnerable. This book recounts the experience in Rwanda where human lives became cheaper than those of cows because of a system put in place by a colonial power that made politics more important than lives.
Living in the Niger-Delta and witnessing the level of violence among the youth, sometimes I fear that the experiences of Rwanda will be repeated in Nigeria. This book is a must read.
Nigerian Youth Leaders promote investment in education to tackle HIV/AIDS by Gabrielle Trenbath
July 2006 saw the second Nigerian Youth Leadership Summit in Enugu. Since young people account for 60% infected with HIV/AIDS, focusing on health and development seemed to be an important issues for them to address.
For 4 days in early July, delegates grappled with the effects that HIV/AIDS had on their country and potential solutions. Apart from skills development and sessions with eminent speakers, the summit issued the Enugu Youth Declaration on Health and Development.
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Theophilus Ekpon, in our Development Partnership International Discussion Group (Our group is hosted by TakingITGLobal), raises the issue of the African Youth Charter ([development] Do you have a copy of the African Youth Charter?), which DPI was involved in developing from Nov 2005 through UNFPA.
During November, DPI will be attanding the African Development Forum to talk about the role of youth in futhering the provisions of the Charter.
The charter is a very important tool for youth advocacy and participation at the national, regional and continental levels as Theophilus notes in his comments to the group…
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October 10, 2006, Port Harcourt, Nigeria – DPI is two years today! I am very excited that this is happening during my term as Executive Director of the organisation. In October 2004, we started DPI with one of the most ambitious initiatives to be carried out by a Nigerian youth organisation to facilitate youth participation in a major HIV/AIDS Conference- International Conference on AIDS and STI in Africa (ICASA 2005).
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