WE are today faced with an existential onslaught by the clerics who are threatening to lead a vote against the proposed long-dreamed new constitution for the reasons that that constitution allows abortion.
I believe that if there are any greater personal rights of a woman over which Church and State should have no control, it is the sexual right of a woman to say, 'Yes' or 'No', 'Yes' or "No" to conception, and 'Yes' or 'No' to abortion, at least until that time we all agree proper life worth saving as formed. These rights are so deeply imbedded in natural morality that no clear-headed, clean-hearted person should wish to controvert. Enforced motherhood is oppression. In the struggle for freedom, woman's most rigorous antagonist has always been the Church.
The clerics for a long time centuries ago opposed fire and marine insurance on the ground that it was tempting of Providence or an attempt to influence God's will. They regarded life insurance, as they do now abortion, as an act of interference with the consequence of God's will. For fear of witches, the church persecuted and burnt women.
We know that because of the church, Copernicus did not permit his book about earth and planets revolving round the sun to be published until he was dying and even then he published it with an apologetic lie by a friend that he had propounded the doctrine of the earth's movement not as a fact, but as a hypothesis.
We understand why Galileo was made to recant a discovery that the youngest of children now takes for granted. Also, today when the doctor administers quinine for malaria, or something for syphilis, he effects cures for these diseases by using drugs to which the clergy strenuously objected when they were first introduced. Future generations may well declare religion to have been the curse of humanity.
Religion has never accepted anything that science has shown to be a fact or of benefit to people until it was compelled to do so to save its face. Today in our country, religion constitutes a cultural lag and an active menace to our best interests. The church still resists the spread of information concerning contraception and birth control, and yet this information is so vital to the welfare of humanity. It is safe to say that the church is the last refuge of human savagery.
There are many reasons why a woman may opt for abortion such as where the parents are on the bread-line and have no means or insufficient means of supporting a child; or where the woman forsees life as a single parent and fears it. Dread of large families or of close interval pregnancies and a legitimate intention to maintain a higher standard of living is another cause of abortion. Also some women are influenced by comparisons. Seeing their neighbours leading less burdensome and more pleasure-full lives, they decide to follow suit. Wives of the unemployed or the precariously employed might also see wisdom in aborting.
Also, the modern desire for pleasure and freedom from responsibility has led many to lose sight of the ideal of the family as a service to the State and the unit of social life. Unwillingness on the part of the wife to give up remunerative work is a factor that operates in certain cases. Some women also abort purely out of thoughtlessness and selfishness. Abortion might be is a delayed, dangerous, and unsatisfactory form of birth-control. However the safer options of birth control have all been rejected by the church.
Women should have the right to exercise their reproductive rights unmolested by the church.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Child Adoption in Kenya:Finding Homes for needy Children OR Children for Western Homes
Westerners have been sold the myth of a world orphan crisis. They are told that millions of children are waiting for their "forever families" to rescue them from lives of abandonment and abuse. But many of the infants and toddlers being adopted by Western parents today are not orphans at all. Yes, hundreds of thousands of children around the world do need loving homes. But more often than not, the neediest children are sick, disabled, traumatized, or older than 5. They are not the healthy babies that, quite understandably, most Westerners hope to adopt. There are simply not enough healthy, adoptable infants to meet Western demand AND there's too much Western money in search of children. As a result, many international adoption agencies work not to find homes for needy children but to find children for Western homes.
ADOPTION IN KENYA
Adoptions in Kenya are governed by the provisions of the Children’s Act No. 8 of 2001. The law provides two categories of adoptions: Local Adoptions and International adoptions. The following institutions are responsible for adoptions:
• The Local Adoption Societies. There are three licenced by the Government these are: Little Angels Network, Kenya Christian Homes Adoption Society and Child Welfare Society.
• National Adoption Committee which is the Government body responsible for overseeing all aspects of adoption in Kenya.
• International Foreign adoption agencies. Only those which are approved by the National Adoption Committee (NAC) work in Kenya and only through one of the local societies. They cannot work independently. Operation licences for all the local and international services are renewed annually.
• Adoption secretariat, a department of the director of the Children’s services responsible for: Investigating adopting parents and giving reports to the courts; Giving letters of no objection for adopters wishing to leave the country.
LOCAL ADOPTIONS
There two categories covered under local adoptions:
a) Kenyan citizens living in Kenya
b) Foreign residents living in Kenya.
A person wishing to adopt must first contact an Adoption Society, which will assess them and establish whether they are fit as adoptive parents. The final approval for adoption is given by a case committee of the society.
Once approved, the adopting parent is then placed with a child for a three month care period. During this period the adopting parents may contact their lawyers to prepare the case. Once the care period has been completed (90 days) the parents may file the application for adoption with the Courts.
Once the application is filed, there must be two hearing dates:
The first (1st) for the appointment of the Guardian ad litem and orders for a Government Report;
The second (2nd) for the final hearing.
If the Court grants the application after the second hearing, then the lawyers will follow up the completion of orders and certificates.
Foreign Resident in Kenya
These are treated very much like international adopters.
INTERNATIONAL ADOPTIONS
An adopting couple must first be assessed and approved by an adoption agency in their country of residence.
That Agency must be licenced to operate in Kenya by the National Adoption Committee (NAC) and must be working with a Kenyan Adoption society.
Once approved by their foreign agency the adopter application is forwarded through the local society to the NAC for approval (all foreign adopters must be approved by this body before they can be placed with a child)
Once approved by the NAC, the foreign adopters will then be allowed to come to Kenya and upon arrival will be placed with a child by the local adoption agency.
They have to be in the care and control relationship with the infant for 3 months in Kenya. During this period the applicants may contact their advocates and begin preparations for Court.
The advocates will file the case after the expiry of the care period and go through the steps set out in 4.5 and 4.6 above.
Hearing Dates
At the first hearing, the Court will order for a Government Assessment Report. This means that the Adoption Secretariat will be served with an order to investigate the adopting parent(s). To do this the following happens:
The applicants will seek an initial appointment with the government social worker at the offices of Children’s Department;
The social worker will make an appointment for a home visit;
The Government social worker will prepare a report to be filed in Court. Beause the department thinks it is very busy, this process can take between 2 and 3 months. Once the Government Report is filed the advocate can get a date for the 2nd hearing and not before.
THE PROCEDURE IN SUMMARY
a) Appointment of Guardian ad litem;
b) Hearing of the Adoption Application;
c) Pursuing Adoption Order and Adoption Certificate;
Stages a) and b) are usually done in two separate Court hearings. The first is for the appointment of the guardian ad litem while the second is to have the application for the adoption determined by the Court. If the application is successful, we proceed to obtain the Adoption order from the Court and thereafter apply for the Adoption Certificate from the Registry of Births. This usually takes between two to four weeks, depending on the circumstances of the case.
TIME FRAME
The average time taken between the filing of the application in Court to getting the Adoption Certificate is 4 – 5 months. Once the application is filed the speed at which it proceeds is determined by the courts calendar and the Judges discretion and may go beyond 5 months.
TRAVEL
Applicants wishing to travel out of the country with the infant before the completion of the adoption process are required to make their own arrangements with the relevant authorities, as arrangements of travel documents is not considered part of the adoption brief.
The current immigration position is that travel is not encouraged until the final orders are granted. Most children’s homes will not give consent to travel before the Adoption Orders are obtained.
NOTE
a) It is important to have all the requisite documentation upfront to avoid delays.
b) Ensure you are working with a foreign agency licenced to work in Kenya.
c) It is important that the child to be adopted has been declared free for adoption by a local licenced adoption agency. Do not rely on anybody else whatsoever to give you a child. If you want to adopt a relative, please ensure that they too are declared free for adoption by an adoption agency.
d) When planning, keep in mind that in addition to the compulsory 3 months period, there is the Government report period and the Court period. The whole process can extend between 7-9 months. In addition foreigners have to process the travel papers.
e) Until all the orders have been granted, the child cannot travel out of the country.
ADOPTION IN KENYA
Adoptions in Kenya are governed by the provisions of the Children’s Act No. 8 of 2001. The law provides two categories of adoptions: Local Adoptions and International adoptions. The following institutions are responsible for adoptions:
• The Local Adoption Societies. There are three licenced by the Government these are: Little Angels Network, Kenya Christian Homes Adoption Society and Child Welfare Society.
• National Adoption Committee which is the Government body responsible for overseeing all aspects of adoption in Kenya.
• International Foreign adoption agencies. Only those which are approved by the National Adoption Committee (NAC) work in Kenya and only through one of the local societies. They cannot work independently. Operation licences for all the local and international services are renewed annually.
• Adoption secretariat, a department of the director of the Children’s services responsible for: Investigating adopting parents and giving reports to the courts; Giving letters of no objection for adopters wishing to leave the country.
LOCAL ADOPTIONS
There two categories covered under local adoptions:
a) Kenyan citizens living in Kenya
b) Foreign residents living in Kenya.
A person wishing to adopt must first contact an Adoption Society, which will assess them and establish whether they are fit as adoptive parents. The final approval for adoption is given by a case committee of the society.
Once approved, the adopting parent is then placed with a child for a three month care period. During this period the adopting parents may contact their lawyers to prepare the case. Once the care period has been completed (90 days) the parents may file the application for adoption with the Courts.
Once the application is filed, there must be two hearing dates:
The first (1st) for the appointment of the Guardian ad litem and orders for a Government Report;
The second (2nd) for the final hearing.
If the Court grants the application after the second hearing, then the lawyers will follow up the completion of orders and certificates.
Foreign Resident in Kenya
These are treated very much like international adopters.
INTERNATIONAL ADOPTIONS
An adopting couple must first be assessed and approved by an adoption agency in their country of residence.
That Agency must be licenced to operate in Kenya by the National Adoption Committee (NAC) and must be working with a Kenyan Adoption society.
Once approved by their foreign agency the adopter application is forwarded through the local society to the NAC for approval (all foreign adopters must be approved by this body before they can be placed with a child)
Once approved by the NAC, the foreign adopters will then be allowed to come to Kenya and upon arrival will be placed with a child by the local adoption agency.
They have to be in the care and control relationship with the infant for 3 months in Kenya. During this period the applicants may contact their advocates and begin preparations for Court.
The advocates will file the case after the expiry of the care period and go through the steps set out in 4.5 and 4.6 above.
Hearing Dates
At the first hearing, the Court will order for a Government Assessment Report. This means that the Adoption Secretariat will be served with an order to investigate the adopting parent(s). To do this the following happens:
The applicants will seek an initial appointment with the government social worker at the offices of Children’s Department;
The social worker will make an appointment for a home visit;
The Government social worker will prepare a report to be filed in Court. Beause the department thinks it is very busy, this process can take between 2 and 3 months. Once the Government Report is filed the advocate can get a date for the 2nd hearing and not before.
THE PROCEDURE IN SUMMARY
a) Appointment of Guardian ad litem;
b) Hearing of the Adoption Application;
c) Pursuing Adoption Order and Adoption Certificate;
Stages a) and b) are usually done in two separate Court hearings. The first is for the appointment of the guardian ad litem while the second is to have the application for the adoption determined by the Court. If the application is successful, we proceed to obtain the Adoption order from the Court and thereafter apply for the Adoption Certificate from the Registry of Births. This usually takes between two to four weeks, depending on the circumstances of the case.
TIME FRAME
The average time taken between the filing of the application in Court to getting the Adoption Certificate is 4 – 5 months. Once the application is filed the speed at which it proceeds is determined by the courts calendar and the Judges discretion and may go beyond 5 months.
TRAVEL
Applicants wishing to travel out of the country with the infant before the completion of the adoption process are required to make their own arrangements with the relevant authorities, as arrangements of travel documents is not considered part of the adoption brief.
The current immigration position is that travel is not encouraged until the final orders are granted. Most children’s homes will not give consent to travel before the Adoption Orders are obtained.
NOTE
a) It is important to have all the requisite documentation upfront to avoid delays.
b) Ensure you are working with a foreign agency licenced to work in Kenya.
c) It is important that the child to be adopted has been declared free for adoption by a local licenced adoption agency. Do not rely on anybody else whatsoever to give you a child. If you want to adopt a relative, please ensure that they too are declared free for adoption by an adoption agency.
d) When planning, keep in mind that in addition to the compulsory 3 months period, there is the Government report period and the Court period. The whole process can extend between 7-9 months. In addition foreigners have to process the travel papers.
e) Until all the orders have been granted, the child cannot travel out of the country.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
God(s) on the Dock
It is essential to intellectual and moral advances that the beliefs that come into existence should have free play. Antagonistic beliefs (beliefs that change the social and religious order) must have the chance of proving their worth in open contest. It is in this way scientific theories are tested, and in this way also, religious and ethical conceptions should be tried.
Arguments, for example, for abortion should be much tolerated and heard just as much as are arguments in favor of abortion. So should the debate about homosexuality and the debates we are currently having for or against the inclusion of Kadhis courts in the proposed new constitution for kenya. For my part I believe that everyone has a personal choice in self determination, including the aborting mothers of unborn entities and John and James who have decided to tie the knot.
The Mohammedan, the Jew, the Christian, will agree that the animism, the fetishism, and idolatry of the savage were man-made foolish beliefs. They can perceive that there was nothing supernatural, nothing revealed, in such beliefs; but they do not realize that to him, in his infantile development, the fetish and the idol were just as supernatural and superior as the modern conception of a Supreme Being.
In each age man creates his god, in his own image, and within the confines of his own mental development. The mind of man has expanded so that it has conquered more and more of his environment; it has grown and wrested from nature those secrets which constitute his civilization. Along with this has progressed the conception of a deity, but only to a certain extent.
The mind has embellished the outward appearance of its gods, consolidated them, and built upon them intricate systems of theology, upon which feed vast hordes of clergy; but the basic conception, the fundamental principle, that there must be something supernatural to explain something which we cannot explain at the present moment, that conception still drugs the mind of man.
Primitive man did not understand the meaning of lightning, thunder, shadows, echoes, and he placed these among the supernatural phenomena. The modern mind explains these phenomena, understands the laws governing their production. Yet, it is this same modern mind which persists in going back to our savage ancestors and their mental sloth, by attributing the myriads of phenomena which still elude its present stage of mental development, to a particular idol, this time, a Supreme Being. Brahmanism, Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Hebraism, Mohammedanism, Christianity. WHICH IS THE TRUE RELIGION?
"Men (and women) were born for the sake of men and (women), that each should assist the others". When the principles of free thought shall have dispelled the intellectual cloud of the God-idea and the vanishing dream of a heaven which has too long drawn men's (and women's) eyes away from this earth, then, and then only, will the above words have widespread meaning.
Arguments, for example, for abortion should be much tolerated and heard just as much as are arguments in favor of abortion. So should the debate about homosexuality and the debates we are currently having for or against the inclusion of Kadhis courts in the proposed new constitution for kenya. For my part I believe that everyone has a personal choice in self determination, including the aborting mothers of unborn entities and John and James who have decided to tie the knot.
The Mohammedan, the Jew, the Christian, will agree that the animism, the fetishism, and idolatry of the savage were man-made foolish beliefs. They can perceive that there was nothing supernatural, nothing revealed, in such beliefs; but they do not realize that to him, in his infantile development, the fetish and the idol were just as supernatural and superior as the modern conception of a Supreme Being.
In each age man creates his god, in his own image, and within the confines of his own mental development. The mind of man has expanded so that it has conquered more and more of his environment; it has grown and wrested from nature those secrets which constitute his civilization. Along with this has progressed the conception of a deity, but only to a certain extent.
The mind has embellished the outward appearance of its gods, consolidated them, and built upon them intricate systems of theology, upon which feed vast hordes of clergy; but the basic conception, the fundamental principle, that there must be something supernatural to explain something which we cannot explain at the present moment, that conception still drugs the mind of man.
Primitive man did not understand the meaning of lightning, thunder, shadows, echoes, and he placed these among the supernatural phenomena. The modern mind explains these phenomena, understands the laws governing their production. Yet, it is this same modern mind which persists in going back to our savage ancestors and their mental sloth, by attributing the myriads of phenomena which still elude its present stage of mental development, to a particular idol, this time, a Supreme Being. Brahmanism, Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Hebraism, Mohammedanism, Christianity. WHICH IS THE TRUE RELIGION?
"Men (and women) were born for the sake of men and (women), that each should assist the others". When the principles of free thought shall have dispelled the intellectual cloud of the God-idea and the vanishing dream of a heaven which has too long drawn men's (and women's) eyes away from this earth, then, and then only, will the above words have widespread meaning.
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