Newsday has a series about the summer of ‘69. I was featured in yesterday’s paper. This was an interview but done so it appears that I wrote it. http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/monday/news/ny-lvdobryn2812860349jun26,0,482679.story

Wonderful reading Arthur. I still treasure my original copy. I so appreciate this gift!
God bless you and yours.
Cici C.

A review of Spelling God with Two O’s

What an awesome book! I got to enjoy one of the readings at Assembly, (thanks to Ken) and I read one a day…fantastic!
Mai D

Spelling God with Two O’s

This book is an revised and expanded version of the text that serves as the Colloquies at various Ethical Societies. It is designed to serve as a kind of humanist breviary, There are about 100 topics presented, with a quote, a question, a parable or anecdote and a page or so of my own thoughts on the topic.

It is available through the American Ethical Union, in New York.

What to do with an aging parent

Anne Underwood writes about what to do with her 85 year father who, she thinks, is going to make a decision that aren’t in his best interest. This appeared as a NY Times blog and it has more than 100 responses. It raises the question of a reverse paternalism.

Ethics project podcast

I’m looking for new contributors to the podcast. Anyone interested?

While political stability may have returned to Kenya after last year’s turmoil that left more than 1,000 dead, the effect upon the lives of children is continuing and staggering.  I recently analyzed data from of a primary school in Chepilat, one of the centers of violence. On a test designed to measure post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), every one of the 76 children surveyed, from the third to eighth grade, scored above the cut-off point for PTSD and the average score the school was about a third higher than that. A few scored at the highest end of the scale.

Twelve months after the violence the most widely self-reported symptoms are severe irritation and anger. These children have great difficulty falling sleep and breathing, experience nausea, have trouble concentrating and have vivid and disturbing dreams. Pictures of the turmoil frequently pop into their minds, their hearts pound and they are easily startled. In other words, they are reacting like soldiers who have been traumatized by battle.

The school, Sema Academy, sits on the border that separates the Kisii and the Kipsigis people. When chaos erupted after the December 2008 disputed presidential election, this locale became a focal point of extreme tension. Dozens of people were killed in the area and hundreds of families were displaced. Chepilat, the trading post in which Sema is located, was burned to the ground. Only the school remained standing amongst the charred ruins, a result of hiring armed guards to keep the arsons at bay.

When the school reopened two months later, a quarter of the students didn’t come back. The missing 100 children were all Kipsigis. What had been one of the strengths of the school—the bringing together of two ethnic groups— turned out to be one of it weaknesses. Amicable inter-ethnic relationships are fragile here and the school suffered because these two groups supported opposing presidential candidates. Exacerbating the dispute in Chepilat was the simmering issue of which group had rightful title to the land.

Even before the violence, this was a region with serious problems. The area in which Sema is located has in recent years experienced one of the highest death rates from malaria in the world and a recent study found that about 15% of young adults suffer from HIV. Food shortages have hit these highlands, just as the price of tea, their cash crop in the area, is at a low in the world market.

As if this weren’t enough for anyone to deal with, the school’s founder was murdered soon after the test for PTSD was administered. The only thing that can be said for sure about the crime is that it wasn’t a robbery. That it was an assassination related to last year’s violence is one of several plausible motives.

You would think that these children could hardly function given all that they have gone through. But that isn’t the case. Although their national test scores declined over previous years, they still attend school, eagerly do their work, smile, and groom themselves and play, carefully avoiding the military bivouacked on the field that had once been their playground.

Despite the resiliency shown by these children, they are severely traumatized. Somehow, someone has to pay attention to their psychological state, not a likely prospect when teachers need to be paid and there’s barely enough money to buy chalk or books.

The school may be moved to a less volatile area and perhaps that is a good thing. The children will feel safer there. But the scars are deep and unless they are addressed the wounds that Kenya experienced last year will carry on well into the future.

 While political stability may have returned to Kenya after last year’s turmoil that left more than 1,000 dead, the effect upon the lives of children is continuing and staggering.  I recently analyzed data from of a primary school in Chepilat, one of the centers of violence. On a test designed to measure post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), every one of the 76 children surveyed, from the third to eighth grade, scored above the cut-off point for PTSD and the average score the school was about a third higher than that. A few scored at the highest end of the scale.

Twelve months after the violence the most widely self-reported symptoms are severe irritation and anger. These children have great difficulty falling sleep and breathing, experience nausea, have trouble concentrating and have vivid and disturbing dreams. Pictures of the turmoil frequently pop into their minds, their hearts pound and they are easily startled. In other words, they are reacting like soldiers who have been traumatized by battle.

The school, Sema Academy, sits on the border that separates the Kisii and the Kipsigis people. When chaos erupted after the December 2008 disputed presidential election, this locale became a focal point of extreme tension. Dozens of people were killed in the area and hundreds of families were displaced. Chepilat, the trading post in which Sema is located, was burned to the ground. Only the school remained standing amongst the charred ruins, a result of hiring armed guards to keep the arsons at bay.

When the school reopened two months later, a quarter of the students didn’t come back. The missing 100 children were all Kipsigis. What had been one of the strengths of the school—the bringing together of two ethnic groups— turned out to be one of it weaknesses. Amicable inter-ethnic relationships are fragile here and the school suffered because these two groups supported opposing presidential candidates. Exacerbating the dispute in Chepilat was the simmering issue of which group had rightful title to the land.

Even before the violence, this was a region with serious problems. The area in which Sema is located has in recent years experienced one of the highest death rates from malaria in the world and a recent study found that about 15% of young adults suffer from HIV. Food shortages have hit these highlands, just as the price of tea, their cash crop in the area, is at a low in the world market.

As if this weren’t enough for anyone to deal with, the school’s founder was murdered soon after the test for PTSD was administered. The only thing that can be said for sure about the crime is that it wasn’t a robbery. That it was an assassination related to last year’s violence is one of several plausible motives.

You would think that these children could hardly function given all that they have gone through. But that isn’t the case. Although their national test scores declined over previous years, they still attend school, eagerly do their work, smile, and groom themselves and play, carefully avoiding the military bivouacked on the field that had once been their playground.

Despite the resiliency shown by these children, they are severely traumatized. Somehow, someone has to pay attention to their psychological state, not a likely prospect when teachers need to be paid and there’s barely enough money to buy chalk or books.

The school may be moved to a less volatile area and perhaps that is a good thing. The children will feel safer there. But the scars are deep and unless they are addressed the wounds that Kenya experienced last year will carry on well into the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a eulogy to Maranga, from his daughter Peace

On my Dad

 

In life, there are events that shake your core being, events that send chills down the spine and make you question your faith and human decency. That event for me was the death of my father in December of 2008. It was not necessarily his death, but the way in which he died that has turned my world upside down.  My father, Professor J. S. Maranga, was murdered in his bedroom in front of his wife of fifty years!  It is hard enough to watch violence on TV or in a movie, what is worse is watching a loved one being murdered and for that loved to be a spouse of fifty years is beyond comprehension.  I cannot even pretend to understand what my mom is going through right now.

 

That night

My father who had recently been appointed to the Kenya Institute of Education and had unexpectedly returned to home after a meeting at the Institute.  They had dinner, prayed and went to bed where they were awoken by loud noise of someone breaking in to the house.  My parents have lived in this house for over 45 years and other than petty theft, no one has ever broken into the house. Shocked and confused, they locked themselves in the bathroom and started to pray.  Asked who they were and what they wanted, they replied “we want the old man! We were sent for the old man!”  These men had the audacity to thank my mom for praying for them, but that they were still going to kill mzee (old man).  After about two hours, the gang of six finally broke in and with one shot to the chest executed my dad in front of my mom.

 

Who was my dad?

My dad was born in 1932 during a time when Kenya was still under British Colonial rule in a poor section of western Kenya. In spite of the difficult road, dad was able to not only educate himself, but help educate his siblings while still educating his children.  My father believed strongly in education as the key to a better life. He especially believed in education of girls and how that investment had the capacity to change a community! Don’t believe me? Look at what his daughters have been able to achieve academically!  After a quarter of a century in education his passion for education had not wavered. He was at his happiest in the classroom; in fact, at his funeral, which was attended by thousands of people, the Minister of Education in Kenya said that one would be hard pressed to find a teacher who hadn’t been taught by dad or someone dad taught. 

 

As a father, he was a humble and generous man, he never wanted to amass large sums of money, in fact growing up we joked about my parents being the “American Red Cross” because of their tendency to sometimes overextend themselves! I don’t remember a single year where we didn’t have members of the extended family living with us. From the farm workers to the executives my dad treated everyone with the same distinction. He was grounded and confident with no hidden agendas; hence free to give the best advice based on years of experience. He listened intently without judgment and always wanted anyone to leave happier than they were when they came to him. In fact, one of his mantras was a quote from Mother Theresa: “Spread love everywhere you go, first to all your home; give love to your children, to a wife or husband, to a next-door neighbor. Let no one ever come to see you without leaving happier.” 

 

 

 

 

My Thoughts:

No doubt this was a heinous and senseless crime. Every day I ask myself why. Why him? Why?  Why now? He wasn’t involved in politics, or any risky behaviors so why him? I haven’t been able to find anyone who can explain why this crime happened or why my dad.  However, this being Kenya coupled with how investigations are conducted and the fact that some of the men who attacked wore Kenyan police uniforms, we may never find out why it happened.

 

At this point, I have two choices, one is to become consumed with anger and rage, or take the anger or frustration of a life cut short and channel it to fulfill dad’s dreams. His dreams of a great school which serves the under-served, his dream of helping those, especially young girls, who have the will but not the means to achieve academically his dream of making SEMA academy the model for what a school should be!

 

 

The Dalai Lama on Happiness and Anxiety

The main reason that people inflict suffering on others is that they do not understand the true nature of happiness. They think that other people’s pain will in some way bring about their own happiness, or that their own happiness is more important than that of others, regardless of any suffering incurred in the process of securing it. In the long run, causing others to suffer and trampling on their rights to a peaceful and happy existence only lead to one’s own anxiety, fear and doubt

 

Quote courtesy of The Dalai Lama’s little book of Inner Peace.

 

Ethics Project

The podcast now has more than 60 recordings. I am hoping to keep up the pace and have 100 by the end of the year. Any care to send in a recording?

Lost Art of Happiness

I received the following comments about Lost Art of Happiness from Stephen Post, Stephen G. Post, Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University. He was previously (1988-2008) Professor of Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Family Medicine in the School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University. He said:

This is truly brilliant book—a wonderful mix of humanity, religious thought, science and positive psychology. This beautiful book is deep and revealing.