My Sleepwalker

The phone on my desk rang. It was Silla from reception asking if I was available to see a client who was very upset and wanted to see someone right away. I asked what the problem was and Silla said the woman didn't speak much English, but that she had indicated that her son was in some kind of trouble with the police. From the tone of Silla's voice, I knew she really wished that I should see the woman. I respected Silla, for her many years of experience, and for that Mauritian flair with which she expertly and confidently executed her duties at the front desk. So I deferred to her judgement, set aside what I was working on and asked that the woman be shown in. 

The door opened and a 30-something year old Somali woman entered my room carrying a child in her arms, a toddler. Following behind her was a lean bespectacled teenager. The resemblance was obvious to see, I could tell immediately that these two were mother and son. Mrs G's frustration was clear, so I did the best I could to get them to relax. I then got down to the business of finding out what I could do for them. Mrs G spoke little English, but her son A, who was 18 and attended school, acted as our interpreter.

The story was that sometime the previous week, policemen had visited their home and invited A, the son, to the police station. After the visit to the police station on that date, the son had been released on police bail and was requested to attend the police station again today. Mrs G had accompanied her son to the police appointment this morning, and, (thrusting the charge sheet at me), said her son had now been charged with the offence of breaking and entry.

Their neighbour next door, a female Polish immigrant, had made a complaint to the Police that she had been awoken from sleep in the middle of the previous night. On waking she realised that what had roused her were sounds and movements in her bedroom. She lived alone in her flat and normally left her bedroom window open at night during the summer months. She was alarmed, fearing that there might be an intruder in her bedroom so she switched on the bedside lamp. To her utter dismay she found a black man standing before her, inside her bedroom. She screamed, and the black man seeing that she had awakened, suddenly turned around, rushed to the open window, climbed out, and vanished into the darkness on to the roof of the kitchen extension of her building. She called the Police immediately and some officers were sent over to make sure this woman was alright. 

Seeing that she was okay the officers requested that the woman attend the police station in the morning to make a statement. In making this statement in writing at the police station, the woman suggested that the black man in her bedroom bore a striking resemblance to the young son of the Somali family that lived next door to her. (I know all of these facts because I later got to read the statement that this woman gave to the police. During their first visit to my office, Mrs G and her son had only told their side of the story).

Now what Mrs G said to me during that first visit was that throughout his childhood A had suffered from somnambulism. He had been a serial sleepwalker, but that as he reached adolescence the incidence of sleepwalking had declined significantly. The family had been living in London since her son was about six years old, and as a child he had received medical treatment for the condition. She was afraid that his sleepwalking might have resumed, although apart from this present incident, there were no recent incidents that she knew of. She thought her son could have been sleepwalking when he climbed out of their upstairs bathroom window in the middle of the night, and made his way on to the roof of their patio extension. He must have crossed over to the roof of the neighbour's kitchen extension, crawled across that roof to the neighbour's upstairs bedroom window, which was open, and climbed into the neighbour's bedroom.

The son himself had no recollection of the incident. He told police that he did not remember climbing out of the bathroom window of their house. Mrs G said her son's bedroom was down the corridor from hers, and that she had heard nothing. But his bedroom was directly next to the bathroom, and going by the allegation made by the neighbour, she feared that her son might have done that which he was now accused of doing. I accepted the case because I thought this would be interesting. My client (A, the son) was due in court the next Monday morning.

Early Monday morning I arrived at the Camberwell Magistrates Court and obtained the Advance Information documentation from the Crown prosecutor. He (or she) is obliged to make these available to me. In this bundle of documents is contained the victim's statement, and the statements and reports of the police officers who had attended the scene and conducted the investigation. I also noted from the papers that the victim had subsequently positively identified my client as the "black man" she saw in her bedroom.

On the basis of the information contained in the Advance Information bundle I advised my client to plead "Not Guilty", and this is what he did when the charge was read out to him in the crowded courtroom. 

Monday morning in any magistrates court is busy because of the overnight cases from the previous weekend. Detained cases are given priority. These are mostly remorseful young men who let alcohol get the better of them during the Friday and the Saturday night just gone. On this day there was a wife beater too. I said the courtroom was crowded, but half of the public gallery was taken up by what seemed like the entire adult Somali population of the borough where my client resides. 

I genuinely doubted that the prosecution would be able to prove (to the standard of proof that is required) that my client "broke into and entered" the victim's "dwelling place, with the intention of committing an offence", the legal definition of the crime of 'breaking and entry', which is what my client was now charged with. I realised that the mental element, (the intent), was a crucial element of this offence and that the prosecution would have great difficulty in proving that my client indeed climbed into his neighbour's bedroom, if at all, with the intention of doing something unlawful.

It was a 'Not Guilty' plea then, so the matter was to be adjourned and a date set for trial. At this point I interjected, saying that my client would be relying on medical evidence in his defence. For this reason, a reasonable period of time was required to obtain the medical report. I requested an adjournment for four weeks, and my request was granted. The next date would be for a case management conference, a date for the court to assess the preparedness of the parties for trial.

Leaving court with me and surrounded by several loudly chattering Somali men and women, Mrs G was smiling, looking happier than I had ever seen her before then. I shook many appreciative hands, and I wondered why, since this was only the beginning of this case.

"Now to see to that medical report", I thought to myself, as I left them and headed back to the office.. (To be continued).

Another Icelandic explosion?

We have just seen more than 100,000 flights grounded across Europe and a beleaguered airline industry frantically trying to restore to itself the confidence of hundreds of thousands of hapless, stranded travellers. We have witnessed perishable fresh produce rotting away in warehouses in far flung locations such as in the Caribbean, South America and Africa, for want of transport to consumer markets in Europe. Businesses and schools have been disrupted, business meetings have been cancelled.

And all this because one relatively small volcano in Iceland erupted in icy conditions, causing huge volumes of ash to be produced, the ash cloud rising high into the atmosphere. The wind direction too by coincidence was such that it guaranteed that this ash cloud would drift across most of northern Europe. One week later, we are only now just starting to breathe a sigh of relief that this immense disruption has come to an end. But there is another fact that we must be aware of.

And the fact is this: A far bigger Icelandic volcano, Katla, is tipped to erupt in the following months, potentially causing much more severe and sustained disruption to industry and to society as a whole. Eyjafjallajokul erupted last week and records show that each time Eyjafjallajokul has erupted in the last 2,000 years - in the year 920, in 1612 and between 1821 and 1823, Katla has exploded within six months.

The ash from the Eyjafjallajokul eruption was sent to such high altitudes because the ice on top of the mountain melted as the volcano erupted and the mixture of cold melt water and lava caused explosions, which in turn shot the volcanic ash high up into the air. The ash cloud drifted far across Europe because of the high altitude to which the ash had been shot.

Katla however is ten times the size of Eyjafjallajokul, with a correspondingly larger ice field. Were Katla to erupt, there undoubtedly will be shot high into the atmosphere larger amounts of ash than we saw with Eyjafjallajokul, with even more serious disruption the likely outcome, if the winds were blowing in roughly the same direction as with the recent Eyjafjallajokul eruption.

"I certainly wouldn't be surprised if Katla erupted within the next year, but how much it affects Britain and northern Europe depends on what happens with the winds at the time," the volcanologist Bill McGuire told The Independent newspaper.

Bill McGuire is a professor of earth sciences at UCL and widely accepted as one of Britain's leading volcanologists, whose main interests include monitoring volcanoes and global geophysical events. He is a bona fide authority on the subject of volcanoes and his advice is for airlines to start from now to draw up contingency plans. However, it is obvious that not very much can be done if the airspace is taken over by a volcanic ash cloud. What perhaps businesses could consider is to stock up on supplies early on. And travellers could have a rethink about whether they really need to make that trip.

There are jokes being passed around that the volcanic ash is a hidden agenda by the Green movement to limit unnecessary flights. Some have even said that the ash cloud is Iceland's reprisal against Britain for demanding repayment from Iceland of the billions of pounds paid by the British government in compensation to customers of Iceland's failed banks...

God bless you, you're doing a great job

"You're doing a great job, thanks and God bless you. Your special number today was powerful and I believe that your ministration on Sunday will be even more powerful..." is the text of the SMS I received from the pastor of my church last Saturday. It's not the first time either that he has commended my efforts as leader of the choir. Sometime ago, I blogged about my appointment as choir leader in January this year. At first it was daunting, the prospect of managing the complex affairs of a choir. But I dug into my role with gusto and have found myself actually enjoying it.

I am in charge of a group of choristers many of whom are married women with small children, who also have jobs. So there is the fact that members of the choir oftentimes cannot find the time to attend choir practice, (small children can be such a handful sometimes). Then there are issues concerning family commitments and so forth, and it hasn't been an easy ride for me. But I've been open and honest with them about the fact that I am quite inexperienced at this. And by appearing to be naive, I've somehow warmed my way into their hearts, apparently, because all of the members seem to be much more enthusiastic about the choir now than I remember them ever being. And this enthusiasm shows too when the choir ministers during the church services.

I think this might have something to do with the fact that soon after my appointment as leader, I delegated various responsibilities to different members. Also, I have been careful to always seek their opinions, listen to their suggestions and defer to the judgement of the more experienced choristers when making decisions. Such that each of them feel as if they are actively participating in the decision making, and any previous resentment about my appointment as leader appears now to have dissipated.

It was my idea that rather than attending for choir practice on Saturdays and losing our Saturday evenings, we should instead meet for practice after service on Sunday, a time when I calculated that everyone would be in a good mood. This idea has turned out to be quite popular, hence the improvement in the quality of our performance. It is still my job to choose which song(s) the choir would sing at the Sunday service, teach the song to the choir if necessary and direct the music. But I'm not complaining, because I genuinely love doing this. For next Sunday I have picked this delectable song...

Zimbabwe, 30 years under Mugabe

On April 18th 1980, the Union Flag came down in Harare and the last Governor of Southern Rhodesia, Lord Soames, transfered executive power to the first Prime Minister of independent Zimbabwe. On the thirtieth anniversary of Zimbabwean "freedom", how is it working out?

This article is reproduced here with copyright permission from Independent News and Media Limited. You should read Mark Steyn's take on the Zimbabwe story too, which some think might be closer to the reality on the ground in Harare...

General Babangida must NOT become President of Nigeria

It is being reported that a spokesman for General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has told the international media that General Babangida will run for president in the 2011 presidential poll after seeking the nomination of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP)

Personally, I cannot think of a more inappropriate candidate for the presidency of Nigeria. If the PDP candidate must be from northern Nigeria, there is a multitude of Nigerians from the north who are better qualified than General Babangida and whose reputations are not tarnished in the way that Babangida's is.

As my friend and fellow blogger Akin so aptly put it, "New Blood NOT Incredibly Bad Blood" is what Nigeria needs at this moment for the country's leadership. "General Babangida is incredibly bad blood" Akin states, and I am in complete agreement. It was under Babangida's tenure as president that corruption became endemic in Nigeria, the economy deteriorated and democracy was shoved aside. In fact, it was on the back of Babangida that the evil Abacha regime came to power.

Nigeria as a nation is already in a weakened state, due largely to the inept and incompetent leadership of recent years, a malaise that potentially will only be exacerbated by a Babangida presidency.

Given that sycophants abound in Nigeria, many of whom were enriched and thereby empowered by Babangida and his evil progeny Abacha, and who therefore are today in positions of power and influence, I am justified in my fear that the voices of millions of concerned Nigerians will be ignored; those who like me dread the return to power of the "Evil Genius", (a nickname Babangida gave himself). Shockingly, Babangida on his website even refers to himself as "Nigeria's Best President". May God help us...

You may want to read this interesting piece written by Sola Salako.

Even after death the abuse continues

Even death cannot stop the violence against gays in Africa any more.

Madieye Diallo's body had only been in the ground for a few hours when the mob descended on the weedy cemetery with shovels. They yanked out the corpse, spit on its torso, dragged it away and dumped it in front of the home of his elderly parents.

The scene on 2 May 2009 was filmed on a cell phone and the video sold at the market. It passed from phone to phone, sowing panic among gay men who say they now feel like hunted animals.

"I locked myself inside my room and didn't come out for days", says a 31-year-old gay friend of Diallo's who is ill with HIV. "I am afraid of what will happen to me after I die. Will my parents be able to bury me?"

A wave of intense homophobia is washing across Africa, where homosexuality is already illegal in at least 37 countries. In the last year alone, gay men have been arrested in Kenya, Malawi and Nigeria. In Uganda, lawmakers are considering a bill that would sentence homosexuals to life in prison and include capital punishment for 'repeat offenders'. And in South Africa the only country that recognises gay rights, gangs have carried out so called "corrective" rape on lesbians.

"Across many parts of Africa we've seen a rise in homophobic violence", says London-based gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, whose organisation tracks abuse against gays and lesbians in Africa. "Its been steadily building up for the last 10 years but has got markedly worse in the last year."

To the long list of abuse meted out to suspected homosexuals in Africa, Senegal has added a new form of degradation, the desecration of their bodies. In the past two years, at least four men suspected of being gay have been exhumed by angry mobs in cemeteries in Senegal. The violence is especially shocking because Senegal, unlike other countries in the region, is considered a model of tolerance.

"Its jarring to see this happen in Senegal," says Ryan Thoreson, a fellow at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission who has been researching the rise of homophobia here. "When something like this happens in an established democracy, its alarming."

Even though homosexuality is illegal in Senegal, colonial documents indicate that the country has long held a clandestine gay community. In many towns, they were tacitly accepted, says Cheikh Ibrahima Niang, a professor of social anthropology at Senegal's largest university. In fact, the visibility of gays in Senegal may have helped to prompt the backlash against them.

The backlash dates back to at least February 2008, when a Senegalese tabloid published photographs of a clandestine gay wedding in a suburb in Dakar, the capital. The wedding was held inside a rented banquet hall and was attended by dozens of gay men. Some of them snapped pictures that included the gay couple exchanging rings and sharing slices of cake.

The day after the tabloid published the photographs, police began rounding up men suspected of being homosexual. Some were beaten in captivity and forced to turn over the names of other gay men, according to research by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

Gays immediately went into hiding and those who could fled to neighbouring countries, including Gambia to the south, according to the New York based commission. Gambia's erratic president declared that gays who had entered his country had 24 hours to leave or face decapitation. Many returned to Senegal, where they lived on the run, moving from safe-house to safe-house.

Read more https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna36376840?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwLJN2RjbGNrAsk3NGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAAEekHTsD68oxSB5KbPyJZwE8LVP5dPObCgF-YuiB481O0juTBAjs8L82qHcitE_aem_QLJP3T4jCN8BLM__UtPiHA

On that closet

I always knew that I was not going to remain in the closet forever. Indeed, as I reached adulthood and became even more comfortable with myself, I itched restlessly to communicate my inner feelings to those around me. The ideal situation would be if everybody, everywhere, was open-minded enough to understand that human sexuality is a bit more complicated than many assume it is. In those circumstances, being gay would be normal; heterosexual people would not feel threatened by same-sex attraction and gay and lesbian people could live happily, participating openly in the world around them. But unfortunately, that utopia remains firmly remote and exotic, nothing more than an imaginary Shangri-la. And expecially so when viewed in the context of the African society where I found myself in my younger years. But my life is not imaginary, neither is my sexuality.

The reality is that regardless of the intolerance that Africa's same-gender-loving people have to contend with, there are same-gender-loving men and women in African societies whether or not our societies acknowledge this fact and/or accept it. Expressing disgust and treating confirmed same-gender-loving people with contempt is not synchronous with eliminating same-sex attraction. Indeed, to eradicate it is impossible, since this is just a naturally occurring variation, a small part of natural human sexuality; of the expression of sexual feelings that are intrinsic to the nature of us all as human beings.

It is a fact that denying same-gender-loving people the right to live their lives as they ought to is detrimental to society itself. The mental health of some of them is affected, with a concomitant negative effect on their productive capacity as members of the community. Their specific health needs are ignored, whereas in truth, the majority of same-sex attracted African men are involved in heterosexual relationships, mostly in an attempt to conform with society's expectations. And the involvement in heterosexual relationships by these men of necessity implies that their specific health needs are quite more important that many African governments are willing to acknowledge.

I will try to elucidate as best as I can what I perceive to be the misjudgement of same-sex attracted people by the majority of Africans. These are mistakes that are often made when people in Africa respond to their calls for recognition:

• Firstly, homosexuality is not a 'lifestyle'.
• Secondly, same-gender-loving people do not choose their sexuality.
• Homosexuality is not a 'practice'.
• Homosexuality in males is not equivalent to the physical act of penetrative anal sexual intercourse.
• Homosexuality is a part of human sexuality. It is not a commodity capable of being transported across international borders.

The word "lifestyle" is defined here as: "the habits, attitudes, tastes, moral standards, economic level., that together constitute the mode of living of an individual or group".

I shall use the following illustration to clarify my point:

Let us think about the 'habits', 'tastes', 'moral standards' and 'economic status' of a gay African man, who is well educated, probably holding a post-graduate degree, the Director of a successful international business conglomerate with offices in an African capital city, who lives primarily in Africa, but who for pleasure and in his line of work is privileged to enjoy foreign travel; who is in a monogamous long-term relationship with his male partner (albeit this must remain a closely guarded secret).

Let us then imagine what might be the tastes, habits, moral standards and economic circumstances of a lorry driver who prefers to have sex with men; but who being the oldest among his siblings, is "expected to carry on the family name". So he is married to a woman whom he conveniently leaves at home while he goes on his long lorry driving trips from city to city, availing himself of the relative freedom and opportunity that his job offers to liaise with various men in various locations. Some of the men he meets are male sex workers. (There are places where men can meet other men in many African cities, despite the hostility that surrounds them).

These are just two hypothetical, but realistic, examples of possible circumstances of gay men in Africa. It is possible to describe numerous other scenarios, but the point here is that in no way can the lifestyles of these two individuals described above be said to be similar. Indeed, the respective lifestyles of the two men could hardly be more unalike. Yet they are both gay, both African and both living in Africa. 

I am quick to tell people I meet in African chat rooms on the Internet that I am a gay man. It is anonymous in the chat room so no one feels threatened, and I like to watch for a reaction to this 'news'. Some would just shrug it off and move on. However, an unsurprisingly large number would make an odious remark at first, but some would then become interested to chat with me, seeking to know how a gay person feels. But not without first asking the question, "So when did you become gay? Or something like, "So why did you choose to be gay?" Well, the simple answer to both questions is, "I didn't!" I did not become gay at any time. I still have not heard a heterosexual person tell me WHEN he or she became straight, or WHY they chose to become straight. You did not become straight, because you have always been straight. You did not choose to be heterosexual. You just found that you are. The same applies to me. I don't understand why some people find it difficult to grasp the notion that sexual orientation is not a matter of choice. Is it not preposterous that I would make the deliberate choice to be gay, being fully aware of the attitude towards same-sex love in the society I grew up in? They argue that when I love a man, it is against Nature. But I put this down to the arrogance of mankind. Who are we as humans to question Mother Nature, speak for her, or dictate to her? It is my nature to love a man. Don't ask me why, ask Mother Nature the question. (I will continue with this post later. I'm reticent to make it overly lengthy) See Part 2 here.

Malawi, Release Steven and Tiwonge. Love is no crime!

Today I attended the protest rally organised by OutRage! held in front of the Commonwealth Secretariat on Pall Mall in central London in support of the jailed Malawian same-sex couple, Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga. Turning the corner into Pall Mall from Lower Regent Street and Waterloo Place, I bumped into the duo of Davis MacIyalla and Rev Jide Macaulay. After exchanging greetings and shaking hands all round it was in this esteemed company that I strolled down Pall Mall towards the Commonwealth building, Rev Jide chatting away on his head-set about something that seemed really important. It was a bright and sunny spring afternoon and we had walked only a few steps when another gentlemen in our group, whom Davis had introduced as a friend alerted us that there was someone across the street waving at us. We all turned in that direction and there he was on a bicycle, Peter Tatchell, the embodiment of gay activism. We acknowledged him and then crossed over to join him and together we all made our way to Marlborough House.

Shortly afterwards on the pavement in front of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House, this core group was joined by several others, of all races, and Mr Tatchell handed out placards to those of us who wanted one. My placard read RELEASE TIWONGE & STEVEN. LOVE IS NO CRIME. OUTRAGE! Hence the title of this post. Another placard I liked read COMMONWEALTH COLLUDES WITH HOMOPHOBIA. 

Then the protest began in earnest with speeches made by Davis, Rev Jide, Mr Tatchell, one openly gay Green Party parliamentary candidate, two Malawian men, one who said he is gay, but it was the second Malawian man who announced the outcome of the case in Blantyre, Malawi against the gay couple. The Malawian court he said, had ruled that there was a case to answer, with a new hearing to be held on 3 April. Several other people came forward to give speeches.

The point that resonated most strongly with me was that made by one Godwyns, an African gay activist. He pointed out that whole governments of countries rally in support of animal rights. My thoughts immediately went towards the fact that blue-fin tuna and whales are important subjects of discussion at major international conferences, discussions in which the world's most important nations are involved. But gay Africans who are human beings are not considered sufficiently important for an international organisation such as the Commonwealth to openly take a stand against their persecution in their home countries.

These speeches were made on a megaphone as we stood on the pavement holding up our placards. I felt a bit incongruous, since I was the only one smartly dressed in a sharp dark business suit and tie, (I had left work to attend the protest rally). By this time we had started chanting loudly, "Malawi Malawi, No Homophobia! Uganda Uganda, No Homophobia! Nigeria Nigeria, No Homophobia! Africa Africa, No Homophobia!"

But soon, as is typical of London, the weather turned and it became quite windy and chilly. Most of the others had come prepared, wearing anoraks, duffel coats and the like. I alone was in this business suit that was clearly not up to the job of keeping me warm. The weather had fooled me, because it had been quite bright and warm when I left the office. What had been bright and sunny just an hour before had become chilly and windswept. I had no choice but to leave the rally while the protest was still in full swing, returning to the office to round up the day. I wish I had been able to stay right until the end. But I'll be staying with this story and following it closely.