By Jessica Werb

A circle of chairs and a flip chart: are these the key to addressing poverty in the developing world? Absolutely, according to Bridges That Unite, a travelling exhibition at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre until Sunday (June 22), which uses photographs, text, video, and interactive Web-based tools to explore Canada’s role in international development.

A celebration of a 25-year partnership between the Aga Khan Development Network and this country, Bridges That Unite brings to light stories you don’t typically read in the papers: progress in the education of women in Afghanistan; the creation of the University of Central Asia, with its three campuses under construction in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan.

At the centre of all these initiatives have been the humble flip chart and chairs, explains Khalil Shariff, CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, by phone on his way home to Ottawa.

“It’s a symbol of the work we’ve done in helping to build strong, local, village-level institutions that then identify their own priorities at the village level and actually begin working toward them,” he says. “It’s not about handing things out. It’s really about investing in communities’ abilities to help themselves over a longer term.”

By enabling communities to define their own futures, long-term and meaningful change can be effected, Shariff insists. “We’ve used this approach for the last 25 years with Canada in the northern areas of Pakistan. Twenty-five years later, there’s a vibrant civil society that’s been created, that’s had incredible results.” Incomes have tripled, infant mortality has dropped by 75 percent, and literacy rates are at an all-time high, he says. “All of it, we think, sustainable, because ultimately it’s been led by strong community institutions themselves.”

In addition to addressing issues of poverty, education, and health, Bridges That Unite also posits that fostering and nurturing culture is another key to sustained success. “Why restore a 16th-century garden in war-ravaged Kabul, Afghanistan?” asks a section of the exhibit that explains how the gardens of Bagh-e Babur in Kabul, which contain the tomb of the first Mogul emperor Babur, were restored to their former glory, providing an oasis of calm for local residents.

“This is an exhibition of hope,” says Shariff. “What does it look like when Canada’s at its best in the developing world? The story, it turns out, is very positive.…Someone told me that a school not burned down is not a headline. That’s why we’ve done this exhibition: to give people a real sense of what it might look like, in a visceral way, to see these efforts up close.”

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This time round it was in the much anticipated Kenya Open and Relays Swimming Championships which were held on the 30th, 31st May and 1st June.

The team was well represented by seasoned swimmers who had sacrificed their mid-term break to represent their school in the prestigious and highly rated event in the KSF (Kenya Swimming Federation) calendar.

The girls’ team consisted of Soraya Walli, Dzame Muruu, Mildred Okello, Ester Okello, Dzidze Muruu, Qaisara Kassam, Aika Patel and Raveena Mehta led by Rachita Shah and Anham Salyani while the boys’ team consisted of Akshay Shah, Lawrence Williams, Antony Odede, Bhavik Mehta, Aditya Devani, Allan Nondi, Joshua Williams, Raj Hirani, Shivraj Vaghella, Alex Chia, Jesal Chandi and Samuel Williams.All led by Neeraj chandi and Jason Rose.

Most of the swimmers won gold, silver and bronze in their respective individual events and also clinched medals in the relay events.

The team managed to scoop around 50 medals in both relays and individual events.

Anham Salyani was awarded the victors trophy for being the swimmer with the most points in the girls overall standings while Rachita Shah was awarded the first runner’s up victrix trophy. All in all, the girls’ team was declared the Overall Best Girls Team 2008. And finally the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa was declared the 2008 Best Overall School in Kenya.

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19 May 2008

Stephen Ssenkaaba
Kampala

IT was the kind of production that dazzled, perhaps even puzzled some people. The Carnival of the Animals staged last weekend at Aga Khan secondary school in Old Kampala was not many Ugandans’ typical classical music presentation, not even to those that follow this genre.

Inspired by Le Carnaval des Animaux, a 19th Century musical suite by French Romantic composer, Camille Saint-Saëns, this year’s production comprised a most unusual amalgamation of themes and ideas.

The production by The Kampala Ballet and Modern Dance School in collaboration with Kampala Music School blended fine classical music, fine dance and improvised theatrics.

The fine orchestra conducted by Fred Kiggundu Musoke made fine accompaniment to the calculated dance steps of ballet students who at different intervals played out the suite’s 14 movements portraying different animal characters.

The lions roared, the hens and roosters crowed and patched their feathers, the elephants, tortoises, fish, kangaroos and swans made a musical appearance on stage, each accompanied by a rendition of different tunes and instruments.

As the music played, the young ballerinas swayed and swerved on the stage in fluorescent costumes. This was put into social context by the bold theatrics of the MC, John Mary Mukiza, whose poetic prowess and blaring baritone kept the audience abreast with the goings on.

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200805200090.html

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