Jabou and Latir,
Thanks for the information.
May ALLAH grant them eternal peace.
Their mission was clearly accomplished. The message is for all of us here and
back home to face realities rather than trivialities. Something must be done to
restore hope to the younger ones coming behind us.
We do not know all the answers but we can start with little steps towards the
future. The past is gone . Let's stop blaming others for our shortcomings. We
cannot bring back what transpired one hundred years ago but we can do something
about the future by amending the present trends. Working towards peace amongst
ourselves be it the Middle East or in Africa is the first positive step. Without
peace no one can progress no matter what you do.
Sierra Leone is a typical example . If all the different factions put their
efforts together in helping grow their own food and stop asking the UN for food
in exchange for hostages , it would not lead the young boys and girls of that
country to fight with the adult rebels or armies in search for something to do.
Instead they would be side by side growing their own rice and vegetables.
It sounds difficult but it is easy to do if we the adults stop teaching them hate
and differences . Emphasize on the common grounds rather than our differences.
May Allah guide us all towards peace (Islam) and help us through these difficult
& trying times.
Habib Diab Ghanim
[log in to unmask] wrote:
> [log in to unmask] (Latir Downes-Thomas) wrote:
>
> CONAKRY, Aug 7 (AFP) - Scenes of mass grief greeted the return
> here Saturday of the bodies of two African teenagers who froze to
> death while stowing away 30,000 feet (10,000 metres) up in the
> landing gear of an airliner bound for Europe.
> The tragic adventure of Yaguine (eds: corr) Koita, 14, and Fode
> Tourkana, 15, ended where it began, at the airport of the Guinean
> capital Conakry, where they smuggled themselves aboard a Belgian
> Sabena Airbus, bearing a letter to European officials appealing for
> "kindness and solidarity" to come to the rescue of Africa.
> "Help us, we are suffering enormously," it said. "We have war,
> disease, not enough to eat... a great lack of education, of
> teaching..."
> Koita and Tourkana were found frozen to death inside the landing
> gear well after the plane landed in Brussels Monday.
> Outside the mortuary in Conakry girls rolled on the ground in
> grief as the two bodies arrived.
> Members of the boys' families, officials and clergymen formed a
> cortege amid scenes of hysteria from a large crowd of relatives and
> friends, mainly youngsters.
> Poverty and lack of opportunity in a country with 65 percent
> unemployment were apparently among the reasons that drove the boys
> to a desperate attempt to seek a new life in the El Dorado of
> Europe.
> Yaguine explained his act in a message left for his father in
> Conakry. "Here nothing works, nothing is going right. If I stay,
> we're going to live unhappily until we die," it read.
> The two boys were being buried Sunday after prayers at a
> mosque.
> Hundreds awaited the arrival of the Sabena flight at the airport
> and a wave of grief erupted from the crowd as the two coffins were
> quickly lowered to the tarmac.
> The letter found on the boys' bodies in Brussels read: "We young
> Africans are asking you for a large and effective organization to
> bring about real progress in Africa."
> The letter also implied that its carriers knew they might not
> survive the journey.
> Koita's weeping mother, Saran Dumbaya, a divorcee living in
> France, was first off the plane in Conakry. A Guinean diplomat based
> in Brussels helped her down.
> Her son had lived with his father in Conakry.
> Security was heavy at Conakry airport where several government
> ministers were present for the arrival of the bodies, police said.
> Guinea sees more applications for visas to leave the country
> than anywhere else in Africa, the national assembly said last year,
> blaming the catastrophic unemployment rate of 65 percent or more.
> The difficulty of many Africans in obtaining visas for European
> countries was widely seen as an important cause of the tragedy.
> "If Yaguine had been given a visa in all due form to join his
> mother he would not be dead today," said Lamine Kamara, Guinea's
> public services minister.
> "If they opened the frontier, the vast majority of young people
> would leave Guinea," a Conakry businessman said.
>
> CONAKRY, GUINEA, 7-AUG-1999: The elder brother (L), the mother (C)
> and father 's second wife (R) of the late 15-year-old Fode Tourkana
> cry at Conackry Airport August 7 1999 after his body and that of his
> 14-year-old comrade Yaquine Koita were flown back to Guinea. Both
> teenagers were found frozen to death in the undercarriage well of a
> Belgian Airbus after it landed in Brussels August 2 1999. Their
> deaths have sparked sympathy in Belgium and focussed attention on the
> plight of many African states.
> ***********************************************
> l cannot stop crying as l read this.This is what happens to our youth in
> Africa because of the kind of leadership we have.How tragic, how sad, how
> infuriating this is.What a toll poverty, lack of opportunity, manipulation
> and victimization by those in power has taken on the people of Africa. Our
> leaders see their positions as tools to enrich themselves and their cohorts,
> while the masses of the people are dying from want of even the most basic
> and most fundamental of needs, i.e education, jobs, and opportunities for a
> brighter future. The level of abuse , mis-management and dishonesty
> displayed by our leaders is very clear to the youth, so that they are looking
> to others instead of at home. It is simply too tragic and heartbreaking such
> that l cannot even find the words to express it.
>
> Jabou Joh
>
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