Emancipation Day at home

There should be no fear that you would compromise yourself if you want to go to the Kambule Parade organised by the Emancipation Support Committee, because what I am suggesting can be done before or after the parade.

I say light a candle, play a drum, say a prayer. These three ritual acts can be your spiritual foundation and guide for the celebration.

In the time before your celebration, I also suggest that besides calling your family together to remember its achievements, it would be good to pay some attention to your family’s health.

No doubt many times when we go through our family’s history we may forget to factor in the physical, mental and emotional challenges that continue to be a part of the African experience.

Africans should know that some of their health issues are genetically determined, sickle cell trait and sickle cell anaemia, for example.

In an article titled “The difference between sickle cell trait, disease,” Dr Helen Minciotti of the US wrote, “According to the National Institutes of Health, sickle cell anaemia is most common among families originating from Africa, South America, Central America (especially Panama), the Caribbean islands, Mediterranean countries, India and Saudi Arabia.

The sickle cell gene was thought to have evolved within these geographic areas due to its somewhat protective effect against malaria.

“Ap p r o x i m a t e l y 100,000 Americans have full-blown sickle cell disease, while sickle cell trait is found in two million Americans. Disease occurs in one out of every 500 African-Americans, with one out of 12 African Americans carrying the gene as sickle cell trait.” All African families in the Caribbean should have some understanding of what the presence of sickle cell trait and sickle cell disease may mean in a family and thereby take the necessary action to mitigate any complications.

But there is more. The Caricom Reparations Commission set out a 10-Point Action Plan for Reparatory Justice and it has been adopted by the TT National Committee on Reparations.

The action point, captioned “The Public Health Crisis,” says: “The African-descended population in the Caribbean has the highest incidence in the world of chronic diseases in the forms of hypertension and type 2 diabetes. This pandemic is the direct result of the nutritional experience, physical and emotional brutality, and overall stress profiles associated with slavery, genocide, and apartheid.

“Over 10 million Africans were imported into the Caribbean during the 400 years of slavery.

At the end of slavery in the late 19th century, less than two million remained. The chronic health condition of Caribbean blacks now constitutes the greatest financial risk to sustainability in the region.

“Arresting this pandemic requires the injection of science, technology, and capital beyond the capacity of the region. Europe has a responsibility to participate in the alleviation of this heath disaster.

“The Caricom Reparatory Justice Plan addresses this issue and calls upon the governments of Europe to take responsibility for this tragic human legacy of slavery and colonization.” That is not all. African males also have a serious problem with prostate cancer. The report from the Second Annual International African-Caribbean Cancer Consortium Conference in Miami in May 2008 stated that “there is growing literature on the disproportionate burden of prostate cancer among other black men of West African ancestry in the Caribbean islands, United Kingdom and West Africa.” It was further stated that the disproportionate burden of prostate cancer among other black men of West African ancestry follows the path of the transatlantic slave trade.

Unfortunately, seriousness about the message about prostate cancer has not gotten through to African males. There is no doubt now that too many dislike and distrust rectal examinations which check the size of the prostate while testing for any abnormal conditions. I want to ask that African males to listen to Heather McIntosh’s calypso, The Finger, at https:// www. youtube. c om/ watch?v=spV85recbN8 I really hope we use our Emancipation Day family celebrations at home as well so that we can become more knowledgeable about our several African achievements as well as our many health concerns.

AIYEGORO OME Mt Lambert