Editor's Note [Volume 22 No. 3 (2022)]

War in Ukraine

Here we are again with our regular issue of the journal.

The year is running quickly, as we continue to experience all kinds of problems worldwide. We have lost people in killer floods in South Africa, people have died in gas explosions in Nigeria and we have a bad drought in the Horn of Africa. And now see the negative impact the war between Russia and Ukraine is having on faraway continents like Africa. Just after setting forward-looking targets at some international forums, we get confronted by some other calamity. For example, just when we are trying to recover from the pandemic effects, the war in Ukraine breaks out.

What we see happening in Ukraine is completely unacceptable. How that can be allowed to go on when we have institutions such as the United Nations, beats me. The United Nations was founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations amongst nations and promoting social progress, better living standards, and human rights. Already the membership is 193. The UN has been hailed for its peacekeeping efforts in conflict-affected areas.

Now the war in the UKRAINE is affecting the whole globe economically, socially displacing people, and is horrendously costing lives. It is terrible to watch.

If the United Nations cannot do it, then who can do it. Pictures of buildings being blown up, people getting injured, bodies being pulled out of the rubble, and mass graves. This is unacceptable as those affected are innocent men and women, and the most vulnerable.

But then I have no ready answers. I wait to hear from those who do.

Please enjoy reading the 13 thoroughly reviewed articles. As always we could not do this without the dedication of our reviewers and the patience of our authors.

In this issue our youngest intern Natasha, a communications student shares something about her aunt who passed away recently. I requested her to share in order to begin to heal. Natasha lost her biological mother early in life and later found another “mother” in her aunt whom she describes. We at AJFAND have been supporting Natasha to pursue her degree work as she helps us with the journal work; I know all will be well for Natasha.

Ruth Khasaya Oniang'o
Editor-in-Chief, AJFAND