Sugar and the natural environment

The food versus biofuel issue has raised its ugly head again, with an added bit of spice. In this case it is a story from Kenya that has appeared a few times, as it developed, on the BBC web site. The latest chapter can be found here and tells the story of how a group of concerned citizens, led by Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai have sued the Kenya government over their approval of a sugar plantation proposal in the Tana river delta, which is home to a variety of wild species including two rare birds of particular concern and a range of mammals such as lions, hippos and elephants and reptiles, at least one of them endangered.


The lawsuit claims that at least five laws and the Kenyan constitution are being broken, and right now the project is on hold as a judge has ordered a halt while the case is being heard.

Apparently the protagonists of the scheme claim that “the project will boost the area's economic growth and provide thousands of jobs.”

Sugar has a torrid, not to say horrid, history all over the world. Author Elizabeth Abbott’s new book found here and called Sugar: A Bittersweet History documents this history and makes it plain that at no point has sugar provided any sort of decent jobs for anyone except the plantation, mill and slave owners – whom she refers to as the plantocracy. Even where slavery is not occurring the jobs are back-breakingly hard, the workers suffer, and all-in-all the whole thing is bad news. She cites the example of modern-day Haitians in the Dominican Republic, where conditions are tantamount to slavery. If Abbott’s report is correct, there will indeed be economic growth – for one or two sugar barons, and the jobs will be a nightmare for the field workers.

A slightly earlier BBC report in found here in the thread quoted Nature Kenya spokesperson Sarah Munguti as saying “the project was flawed and did not incorporate concerns raised by environmentalists.”

What is certain is that if a sugar mill and plantation does get developed the entire sensitive delta area of the Tana River under consideration, some 20,000 Hectares, will be irretrievably altered, for ever.

The other groups who should be reading Abbott’s book are both sides in the argument about attempts in Uganda to excise one third of the pristine Mabira forest, which lies an hour or so east of Kampala and is a tiny island of only 300 sq km in the midst of a mass of humanity. This has been an ongoing battle that seems right now to be on hold, with round two going to the environment and the people who fought the initial moves, especially those who died. There is a petition put out by the folks who want to save the forest that currently has 11,694 signatures attached to it which you can view here.

I’d be willing to bet that there will be a third, and maybe more rounds, as the story, in which an Asian/ Ugandan sugar baron has stated that he needs the extra land to enlarge his estates, continues to rumble. Then there is the little matter of the millions of dollars of hardwood that would come out of the forest. The minimum estimate of its value that I have read is USD 50 million. At the other end the figure is three times that. Someone’s pockets are going to get heavy.

Storytelling. A cowardly prince and a rhino.

Have just started to come down off a high after attending a second storytelling conference, followed by a three-day workshop & class run by Jennifer Cayley and Jan Andrews.

The conference, the annual gathering of the Storytellers of Canada-Conteurs du Canada (SC-CC) followed only two weeks after the other storytelling gathering in Saskatoon that I reported on in my blog of June 22nd was organized in Saskatoon by the team led by Kathy Bennett, Judith Benninger and Bonnie Logan, with other members of our local guild helping out in various ways.

There were many high points during the conference, too many to relate here, but Judith’s last-minute filling-in for an absent concert star on the Saturday night was, for me, quite special, because she dipped in to her huge repertoire of African folk tales and told us about a cowardly prince who first rode on the back of a hyaena, then a hung-over lion (believe me, this was important to the story), grunting in terror both times, thus winning the heart of a princess in the next kingdom and the permission of her father for a wedding. The prince ended up routing an invading army as he rode, (the grunt in fright again) on the back of a huge horse. He was followed by his warriors, who copied the noise, assuming it was his war cry, as he pulled up trees in an effort to stop the animal’s mad dash towards the enemy, who collectively took one look at this amazing sight and fled. Of course they all lived happily ever after – it would not have been a folklore tale otherwise. In reducing this story from its original 15 minutes to 4 sentences I have lost the atmosphere, but even writing it out in full would not convey the proper feeling - especially the grunts.

The workshop that followed, also dubbed a master class, had only eight students, so we had lots of chances, over the three days of the sessions to learn techniques of voice pitch control, range, and the visualization of scenarios. The other “students” were all experienced storytellers who used traditional folk tales from a variety of cultures.

I try to tie African animal folk tales into life experiences and I started the story out with my first attempt to capture Black rhino, moving into the story of how rhino used a porcupine quill to repair his skin after being beaten up by elephant, which explains his territorial behaviour and his untidy skin. You can find it here in the form that I used for writing it as a piece for reading. Although it had interesting content the group quietly suggested that it could take a lot more scene-setting and personal involvement. Six hours of writing and re-writing, late at night and early in the morning, gave a whole new structure to the story. When I re-told it at the end of the gathering I had added quite a few elements and Ottawa storyteller Lucie Roy voiced a thought that “The first time you told it, it was an interesting anecdote. While this time you were telling a story.” This time the rhino really did have wrinkly skin. Another thing that soon became obvious was that writing for telling is a different skill than writing for reading. I still have to explore that side of things, as there are so many wonderful traditional tales that I can link to real-life experiences. Among them, why hippos live in water, how the zebra got his stripes, how the leopard got his spots and a favourite, how the tortoise’s shell became criss-crossed.

Storytelling. A cowardly prince and a rhino.

http://www.jerryhaigh.com/books/wrestling_with_rhinos/images/rhino_folk_tale.pdf



Have just started to come down off a high after attending a second storytelling conference, followed by a three-day workshop & class run by Jennifer Cayley and Jan Andrews.

The conference, the annual gathering of the Storytellers of Canada-Conteurs du Canada (SC-CC) followed only two weeks after the other storytelling gathering in Saskatoon that I reported on in my blog of June 22nd was organized in Saskatoon by the team led by Kathy Bennett, Judith Benninger and Bonnie Logan, with other members of our local guild helping out in various ways.

There were many high points during the conference, too many to relate here, but Judith’s last-minute filling-in for an absent concert star on the Saturday night was, for me, quite special, because she dipped in to her huge repertoire of African folk tales and told us about a cowardly prince who first rode on the back of a hyaena, then a hung-over lion (believe me, this was important to the story), grunting in terror both times, thus winning the heart of a princess in the next kingdom and the permission of her father for a wedding. The prince ended up routing an invading army as he rode, (the grunt in fright again) on the back of a huge horse. He was followed by his warriors, who copied the noise, assuming it was his war cry, as he pulled up trees in an effort to stop the animal’s mad dash towards the enemy, who collectively took one look at this amazing sight and fled. Of course they all lived happily ever after – it would not have been a folklore tale otherwise. In reducing this story from its original 15 minutes to 4 sentences I have lost the atmosphere, but even writing it out in full would not convey the proper feeling - especially the grunts.

The workshop that followed, also dubbed a master class, had only eight students, so we had lots of chances, over the three days of the sessions to learn techniques of voice pitch control, range, and the visualization of scenarios. The other “students” were all experienced storytellers who used traditional folk tales from a variety of cultures.

I try to tie African animal folk tales into life experiences and I started out with my first attempt to at capture of Black rhino, moving into the story of how rhino used a porcupine quill to repair his skin after being beaten up by elephant, which explains his territorial behaviour and his untidy skin. You can find it here in the form that I used for writing it as a piece for reading. Although it had interesting content the group quietly suggested that it could take a lot more scene-setting and personal involvement. Six hours of writing and re-writing, late at night and early in the morning, gave a whole new structure to the story. When I re-told it at the end of the gathering I had added quite a few elements and Ottawa storyteller Lucie Roy voiced a thought that “The first time you told it, it was an interesting anecdote. While this time you were telling a story.” This time the rhino really did have wrinkly skin. Another thing that soon became obvious was that writing for telling is a different skill than writing for reading. I still have to explore that side of things, as there are so many wonderful traditional tales that I can link to real-life experiences. Among them, why hippos live in water, how the zebra got his stripes, how the leopard got his spots and a favourite, how the tortoise’s shell became criss-crossed.

Musings on woodwork, the Wildlife Disease Association, and students in Uganda.

A more relaxed day today. Been putting finishing touches to a walnut and maple chess table. Now the challenge of making the drawers to hold the chessmen. Have also been using scraps from larger projects to make a laminated tray that will go the Wildlife Disease Association meeting in early August. Funds raised by this group (I have been a member since 1975, and you can find about more about the organization here) at their crazy charity auction (you have to be there) are used to support students in various ways. I have been granted a spot on the program to talk about our work in Uganda with Canadian & local students seen here working on a Uganda kob (Kobus kob thomasi).

Also out picking Saskatoon berries (Amelanchier alnifolia). We have several thickly dressed bushes in the garden, and there are lots of them in the neighbouring area.

They are known as Serviceberries or Juneberries in the USA, and have a very short season, right about now. The Juneberry name must be from the earlier flowering & growing season south of here.

Delicious on cereal, in pies,with ice cream, in cakes, syrup for pancakes and as a purée for jam, or a start for wine. Here a dinner guest - one of the students who came to Uganda and joined us for an evening - tucks in to a Saskatoon cheesecake - which tends to go fast!

Queen Elizabeth National Park bat caves and possible disease link

Interesting to see that a case of fatal Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever (MHF) has been linked to the Maramgambo bat cave in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. I picked this report up on the important listserv PRO/AH> ProMED-AHEAD Digest of 11th July, a service to which I have been subscribing for several years.

The report describes how one unfortunate Dutch tourist, visiting the cave that is the roosting site for thousands of Egyptian Fruit Bats went down with the disease not long after she returned home and died soon afterwards despite heroic care. Genetic analysis of samples showed that her condition was indeed caused by a previously unreported type of this virus. Marburg HF has been seen before in Uganda and the DRC. One of the list’s moderators wrote, “The involvement of cave-dwelling bats in transmission of the disease is compelling, but still circumstantial.” In the last case of Marburg disease reported in Uganda the death of one man was established as being linked to his skinning of a colobus monkey.

My interest is more than merely academic. I have been to the cave several times, each time with up to a dozen students, both Canadians and Ugandans, as we have studied the human x wildlife x livestock interface. Our students, seen here at the cave entrance, not only see a seething mass of bats, but there is at least one cave-dwelling python. Packed lunches, as it were.

An African Fish eagle seems to have taken up residence nearby, abandoning his more normal diet for a guaranteed lunch-on-the–wing . At least when I have visited one of these magnificent birds is usually hanging out with 15 metres of the cave entrance. The one shown here had just taken a fish in the Okavango swamp.

In other parts of Africa Egyptian Fruit bats are known to harbour filoviruses, the group to which MHF belongs. (Marburgvirus, fruit bats - W. Africa 23 Aug 2007: ProMED-mail.

If the Marburg and Maragambo bat link is clearly established the cave might fall off our list of places to visit.

The list reports very frequently, sometimes as much as three times a week, on infectious diseases of animals (including humans) from around the world. Avian ‘flu is a hot one right now, anthrax features with great regularity, but the moderators play no favourites, and anything is up for report, with pithy comments where needed. Subscribers are invited to add comments when they feel inclined

For another way to find out what ProMED can do, especially for those who enjoy a good read, I can recommend The Eleventh Plague by Dr. John S. Marr and John Baldwin. This novel is based on the efforts of a mass murderer to terrorize with the threat of a new plague, an eleventh, as he causes havoc by killing off people with horrifying ease in ways that mimic the Biblical plagues of Egypt. The authors show the world-wide power of ProMED and its subscribers as they race to solve the riddle before it is too late. Any more and I’ll be giving away too much of the story, but the dedication is important. It reads, in part, “This book is dedicated to (these) scientists (several groups are named) and to ProMED-mail.”

Ryan commented on this posting and I have replied in the comments box, but I think it may be worth adding here as well, in case a reader does not want to go to comments.

I should have added, in the original, that Marburg virus is in the same family as the better-known Ebola virus, and produces about the same effects. Ebola has not only been linked to many deaths in people, but has caused wide-spread epidemics in great apes. Dr. Jane Goodall told me how an acquaintance of hers who studies gorillas has lost her entire study group to this scourge, not once, not twice, but three times!