(He Who Knows How To Do Speaks to The Children of the Same Father – Message #4)
It is with mixed emotions that I write this letter. I have documented and explained the founding and the purpose of Ban-Faaba in my previous three messages as well as at Ban-Faaba meetings in Guinea Bissau. Thus, my initial excitement and hope has been somewhat diminished upon learning how much confusion still exists about Ban-Faaba and its mission. Worse are the rumors that have recently been brought to my attention that are working against the progress of Ban-Faaba. I am writing this fourth message to clear up this confusion and these rumors once and for all.
If you haven’t already, read THE CALL TO ORGANIZE BALANTA PEOPLE WORLDWIDE: BRASSA MADA N’SAN KEHENLLI BAM’FABA – MESSAGE #3.
It should be clear - now is the moment that Balanta are forming a multi-national corporation to manage its affairs globally. This is the logical requirement if Balanta people want to take their place in the world and compete as a free and independent people. Balanta people can not depend on anyone to do what we must do for ourselves.
The process and logic of economic and social development has already been determined by the Emperor of Ethiopia who had to rebuild his country after the Italian invasion in 1936. The Emperor explained,
“Planning ensures a simultaneous accomplishment of developmental projects with a view to achieving accelerated progress, thus avoiding wastage of financial resources, labor and time.” (March 23, 1966)
How will Balanta people accomplish multiple development projects without wasting financial resources, labor and time if it doesn’t create a mechanism to communicate and coordinate all Balanta people effectively?
Therefore, Ban-Faaba was created to be the vehicle through which all Balanta people and institutions can COORDINATE THEIR EFFORTS for ACCELERATED PROGRESS.
The Ethiopian Emperor also said,
“As has already been manifested by your endeavors the people themselves must come to realize their own difficulties in the development of their community and try to solve them by collective participation following an order of priority and taking their potentiality into account.”
This is why, in my third message, I explained,
“to ensure the development of all Balanta people in Guinea Bissau:
1. Each local Balanta community will determine its priority needs and make a full, detailed report and submit it to section coordinators.
2. Section Coordinators will collect all local reports and submit them to the Regional Coordinator.
3. The Regional Coordinator will collect all sectional reports and submit them to the Bam’Faba Coordinating Council.
In this way, for the first time ever, Balanta people in Guinea Bissau will have a national development plan.”
So this is how we organize the center in Guinea Bissau - there are 9 regions with 39 sectors. We must have 39 sector coordinators and 9 regional coordinators to make an effective communications network.
Bam’Faba started this process by taking a Census. You can see the results here.
Was the census complete?
Next, Ban-Faaba drafted a preliminary national development plan. You can see it here:
Now, the budget submitted was 400.336.320 XOF. That’s US $724,649.97.
Now, where are we, Balanta people, going to get such a large amount of money????
There are two ways:
1) from funders and donor agencies
2) from ourselves
To get money from funders and donors, we must solicit and submit professional project proposals with all the details and budgets. For an example, look at the project proposal that the Balanta B’urassa History and Genealogy Society in America (BBHAGSIA) is preparing for the Solar Water Pump project in Tchokman. This is an example of one micro-project for one tabanca in one sector in one region! It takes a lot of work to prepare such a professional project proposal.
Now, if every individual group of Balanta people all over the world works separately and independently of each other, each will have to do all this kind of work themselves, often repeating what other groups have already done. This is what the Ethiopian Emperor meant when he said,
“Planning ensures a simultaneous accomplishment of developmental projects with a view to achieving accelerated progress, thus avoiding wastage of financial resources, labor and time.”
By establishing the Ban-Faaba global network, we can use the Balanta census and Balanta National Development Plan (when they are completed) to identify ALL the micro-projects that need to be done and Ban-Faaba can then systematically assign the preparation of each micro-project proposal to competent Balanta people throughout the world.
However, producing the plan is just the first step. The real issue is getting competent Balanta people to execute the plan! This is what the Ethiopian Emperor said,
“ . . . Any plan which does not have the proper personnel to execute it will remain a mere plan on paper.” H.I.M. Haile Selassie I, July 2, 1963
“Let us not, however, be misled. The preparation of an economic plan is only half the task, and perhaps not even that. The real test comes in the implementation, and here even the best of plans can be subverted and destroyed. Once an overall economic plan is adopted, the nation’s budget must be tailored to the implementation of the plan. Individual development projects must be fitted into the priorities established in the plan. Haphazard and ill-coordinated economic activity must be avoided at all costs. Investment must be controlled and directed as the plan dictates. And, most important, all of this must be accomplished in a coordinated and efficient fashion. The responsibility of the plan does not rest upon any single ministry or department; it is a collective responsibility, shared by all development ministries concerned with economic and social development, indeed by all departments and officials.” H.I.M Haile Selassie I, November 4, 1967.
“What Our country needs now is an increase in the supply of trained and skilled manpower, men, of professional integrity.” H.I.M. Haile Selassie I, July 16, 1969
“We need well-qualified people who are proud of being Ethiopians; people who are proud of being Africans; people who are prepared to execute the plans that have already been envisioned.” H.I.M. Haile Selassie I, July 2, 1963
Once Balanta people understand this, there will not be any objection to Ban-Faaba except from those who wish Balanta people to remain in their current condition.
In the same way that Balanta people in Guinea Bissau are organizing and centralizing themselves, each Balanta community in each country must do the same. In my third message I explained:
“3. Bam’Faba Global – consists of Coordinators for North, South and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Under each Continental Coordinator will be a Country Coordinator, and under each Country Coordinator will be City Coordinators.”
THEREFORE, THE ORGANIZATIONAL PRIORITY FOR BAN-FAABA AT THIS MOMENT IS FOR BALANTA PEOPLE IN EACH COUNTRY TO ESTABLISH ONE LEGALLY-REGISTERED ORGANIZATION TO SERVE AS THE BAN-FAABA COUNTRY COORDINATOR.
WHY IS THIS THE ORGANIZATIONAL PRIORITY NOW?
Remember, There are two ways for Balanta people to get the large amount of money that we need:
1) from funders and donor agencies
2) from ourselves
How will Balanta people in each country access the country’s resources and submit project/grant proposals without a legally registered INSTITUTION?????
At the end of 2019, BBHAGSIA submitted 14 grants for a total of US $500,000.
In 2020, when the pandemic first arrived, BBHAGSIA was the only organization in the United States that was concerned about the people of Guinea Bissau, and especially Balanta people. As early as April 12, 2020, we appealed to the United States Congress and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to send emergency supplies, especially food, to Guinea Bissau. We also submitted the following Concept Paper to USAID for US $833,324:
WHAT WAS THE RESULT????
BBHAGSIA didn’t receive a single grant and USAID declined our proposal. That’s when we learned that we could only depend on ourselves. So what did we do? We made a video and organized our own fundraiser and we sent the money to distribute food in nine Balanta villages.
WE WERE ABLE TO DO THIS BECAUSE WE WERE ORGANIZED AND WE HAD AN INSTITUTION!
What other Balanta organization in other countries was helping?
BBHAGSIA also produced a number of books in both English and Balanta, we have sent medical supplies, and we have renovated a dual BBHAGSIA/Ban-Faaba headquarters in Bairo Militar, Guinea Bissau.
So when the United States refused to help, it was the Balanta B’urassa History & Genealogy Society in America that helped. Now imagine if each country had a Balanta institution - Portugal, England, France, Germany, etc. - and could have worked alongside BBHAGSIA…… Perhaps we could have helped twenty or thirty villages…..
So this is an example of the necessity and potential of Ban-Faaba becoming a multi-national corporation to access foreign aid as well as to execute self help in the form of a Balanta National Development Plan.
OUR FUNDRAISING STRATEGY IN THE UNITED STATES
To get funds and resources in the United States, you have to go to the people who have the funds and resources. It is important to understand the WEALTH GAP in AMERICA.
So the richest 400 people in the United States have more wealth than all of the black people in America - 47 million black people! Meanwhile, in 2019 the median white household held $188,200 in wealth—7.8 times that of the typical Black household which held just $24,100. So their is a VAST difference between the economics and financial condition of white and black people in America. Studies show it will take 228 years for black Americans to catch up to white Americans when it comes to wealth. It doesn’t matter how hard we work!
Now, when we consider WHO has the black wealth, it is important to understand that the top ten percent of black Americans hold more than 75% of black wealth.
Thus, BBHAGSIA realized that we couldn’t count on white Americans to give us money because they rejected all 14 of our grant applications. We couldn’t count on the white American government to give us resources because their funding agency, USAID, rejected our concept paper. So we could only rely on ourselves. However, the vast majority of black Americans have no wealth. The only black Americans who have any wealth are CELEBRITIES. Ten percent of black people control 75% of black wealth. Thus, if we want to get any significant development money from Black Americans, we will have to find celebrities who care about Guinea Bissau. And that is why we started the Decade of Return Initiative and started inviting BALANTA CELEBRITIES to return to their ancestral homeland. In fact, we have recently learned that one of the most famous and wealthy NBA players is Balanta and his brother is a member of BBHAGSIA. This former NBA Star has more wealth than the entire budget of Guinea Bissau!
BALANTA RUMORS AND SABOTAGE
While most Balanta people have commended us for the work that was done, a few misguided and bad-minded people attempted to distract the Balanta community by spreading rumors and wild speculations about myself (Siphiwe Baleka) and Mario Ceesay. Without presenting any evidence, some people spread rumors, suggesting that this is some kind of CIA operation and, incredibly, that I am somehow here to get information on the whereabouts of Antonio Indjai!!! Some even have said that Mario has taken money for himself and that he fled to Gambia and that he bought an expensive car! All of these are ridiculous and are not true. People who make such irresponsible statements with no investigation or no evidence are no better than those from the past who made witchcraft allegations against other Balanta people. What are you going to do? Accuse every Afrodescendant from America who wants to come to Guinea Bissau of working for the CIA or just Siphiwe Baleka?
If anyone wants to know about me and my background, I suggest they read my short biography for starters. Any Google search for “Siphiwe Baleka” will give you plenty of information.
More important, as the proverb suggests, is to “know the tree by the fruit it bears.” Examine the work that I have done and it is clear that I have the vision to know what to do and how to do it, I have the competency to see that it gets done. This is why my Balanta name is Brassa Mada.
Now, here is the truth about the BBHAGSIA/Ban-Faaba headquarters. When Guinea Bissau invited me to represent the country in swimming at the Tokyo Olympics, I wanted to come and train in Guinea Bissau to truly connect with my people and represent them. I asked the Ledger Hotel if they would allow me to establish my training headquarters there since that is where the swimming pool is. They agreed to let me use the swimming pool but they would not give me a suite. They said I would have to pay. The cost for living in a suite at the Ledger Hotel for three months prior to the Olympics was estimated at a minimum of $4,000. Instead of paying that money to the foreign owners of the hotel, I thought it was better that we use that money to help Balanta development. Since many of our members who have returned to Guinea Bissau did so through the help of Mario Ceesay and were staying with him in Bairo Militar, we decided that we could make a proper headquarters here that could serve as a guest house for our members. In this way, we were contributing to Balanta development while increasing our organizational capacity. How are we going to win the trust of Balanta celebrities if we can’t show them that we are a responsible institution that is capable of receiving Balanta people from America? So these rumors about Mario and him taking the money for himself and his family are completely untrue and show a lack of understanding of our vision.
THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF BALANTA
WILL THE BALANTA COMMUNITY WORLDWIDE RECOGNIZE THIS MOMENT AND ORGANIZE AND CENTRALIZE ITSELF TO FORM AN EFFECTIVE MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATION? WILL BALANTA PEOPLE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS SIMPLY BECAUSE IT UNDERSTANDS THE LOGIC AND NECESSITY OR WILL IT DIVERT ITSELF FROM THE TASK AT HAND BY CONCERNING ITSELF WITH QUESTIONS OF PERSONNEL AND POWER AND RUMORS. . . . .?
If everyone would just focus on following the instructions without worrying about petty jealousies and such, we, Binham Brassa, can establish ourselves as a powerful multi-national corporation capable of accomplishing our own development programs. Unless someone has a better plan, why not this one?