All across the globe, communities are dealing with loved ones who have been murdered or who have gone missing. The ‘disappeared’ are mourned by their families, friends and community.
A recent event at the West End Cultural Centre – Night of the Disappeared – raised awareness of disappearances and killings in Ethiopia and around the world.
Those who attended were treated to musical entertainment, engaging speakers and a delicious Ethiopian meal.
CKUW 95.9 FM was there to record three of the compelling speakers: Leah Gazan, Pedro Pontanilla and Gideon Adada.
Leah Gazan of the Wood Mountain Lakota Nation in Saskatchewan, Treaty 4 Territory, speaks about the issue surrounding murdered and missing indigenous women in Canada and how this tragedy impacts her community and the country as a whole. (Photo of Leah Gazan courtesy of Paul S. Graham):
Pedro Pontanilla was a member of the Chilean Air Force in 1973, when a coup occurred in Chile. Faced with orders to kill his own people, Pontanilla chose to go to jail and to eventually be exiled from his country. He has valuable insights into the missing and murdered of Latin America.
Gideon Adada focuses on the absolute immorality and senselessness by which millions of people around the world have been abducted or killed. “It is beyond human comprehension,” says Adada, who strongly believes that we must dig deep for answers on why this cruelty and inhumane behavior continues, seemingly unabated.
