CALGARY -- Emily Sikazwe's house in Lusaka, like untold thousands of others in Zambia, is full of orphaned children.
She pays to feed, clothe and school her own two children, along with three nephews and two nieces, all that is left of the family of her brother, Chandionci, and that of her sister, Mphikwa. Both of Ms. Sikazwe's siblings and her own husband died after long illnesses in the 1990s in a country where payment on the national debt has obliterated budgets for health care and other social services.
The result, especially with the accelerating HIV pandemic, has been to create a nation of orphans, she said. "This is not only me. This is happening in all of Zambia. The poverty is in every house," said Ms. Sikazwe, who was quietly protesting against Group of Eight economic policies outside a Calgary church yesterday.
She had a one-word communiqué for the G8 leaders in Kananaskis this week. "Zwa," she said in her native Tonga, which loosely translates as "Get out of here."
She wants Western countries to write off debts of Zambia and other poverty-stricken countries, allowing local governments to build social services to attack poverty and HIV infections sweeping through sub-Saharan Africa.
Ms. Sikazwe is one face among the thousands of protesters in Calgary this week to oppose various facets of the official G8 agenda. Their issues are as diverse as their backgrounds.
Donna McPhee, a 51-year-old aboriginal activist, said her main concern is the poverty and homelessness in Calgary.
Each year, during the world-famous Calgary Stampede, the soft-spoken Ms. McPhee cruises the lineups at pancake breakfasts to talk to people about the darker side of the wealthy oil city.
She figures that the G8 meetings may be an even better opportunity to show the international media the unseemly side of the so-called Alberta Advantage.
Ms. McPhee points to the growing number of street people in Calgary. The city recently announced that its homeless population jumped 34 per cent in the past two years.
The antiracism and poverty worker from Calgary tries to find out-of-towners to give them an eye-opener, but said many people are unwilling to listen. "A lot of people don't want to hear because they're one paycheque away from poverty themselves."
Ms. McPhee said an undercurrent of oppression still lingers for aboriginal people. She's still angry about a comment Prime Minister Jean Chrétien made to an Italian newspaper last month. To allay fears about summit security, he said Kananaskis is remote and protected by mountains, a river, 500 bears and an Indian village.
"It's like we're still wild and attacking white folks," Ms. McPhee said. "We've been the ones attacked for years."
Yutaka Dirks, on the other hand, is not one for quiet conversations. As part of the fledgling Calgary Anti-Capitalist Collective, he has helped plan a rally for tonight dubbed "Showdown at the Hoedown" to coincide with a western-themed party thrown by the city for summit delegates and journalists.
The union researcher said he sees this week's summit as a way to draw attention to the impact that globalization has had in Alberta.
Among other concerns, he points to corporate interests -- oil and gas, mining and forestry -- backed by what he sees as a permissive provincial government usurping aboriginal land and harming the environment.
The event outside the media gathering is meant to be educational, not spark a confrontation. "It's going to be a street party."
Lois Bordowitz will be staying far away from any tumultuous protests. The Roman Catholic religious sister, who spent more than a decade in war-torn Sierra Leone, said she travelled to Calgary from Toronto to push for additional funding for non-governmental organizations. NGOs are the best vehicle to help Africans, she said.
Ms. Bordowitz, 58, said she strongly opposes the New Partnership for Africa's Development, or NEPAD, because it places too many conditions on assistance.
Ordinary citizens of African countries should have more say in the decisions being made about aid, she said. "They are the recipients -- or not, as the case may be," Ms. Bordowitz said, adding that she is not optimistic that G8 nations will scrap their emphasis on trade over more direct assistance.
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