Brought up a Catholic, my childhood was disrupted when two of my school years were spent evacuated away from city life in London to rural Newton Abbot in the County of Devonshire. My Christian upbringing continued, installing the belief that God monitored my every action, including my thoughts. Schooling in those days also emphasized the fact that the sun always shone on the British Empire.

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• But that's not gonna be the focus of our conversation as we walk.

• As we follow these warriors, we see them approach a church where we know that women and children have sought shelter. You and I hold our breath, wondering what's gonna happen. We freeze when we see one of the warriors hurl a can of paraffin at the church. We didn't even know they had paraffin. Now we do. Then we watch in horror as another warrior tosses a red-hot object at the church and it explodes in gigantic flames.

• And within minutes, there is quiet. The church crumbles. And we stand there wondering whether this is a dream or reality. But we don't have to wonder long because the warriors start to move on, sounding off war cries. They are ready to drive out all the Kikuyu!

• We go back.

• A week later we are strong enough to ask what happened in Eldoret and Naivasha. We are told that in Eldoret and in Naivashsa people died cursing those who killed them. We don't hear a single story of anybody who died with these words on their lips: I forgive you!

• Wretched things have happened in Kenya. There have been assassinations. Deceit. Corruption. Name it. But I also know that we all retain the capacity to look deep inside ourselves and make amends where we went wrong. It's in this vein that I call for a national day of forgiveness. Kenya desperately needs to start afresh. We all need to hear the agonizing cry of those kids in that Eldoret church and seek each other's hand in forgiveness and a pledge to never let anything so despicable happen in Kenya again.

• I'm waiting for the day when President Mwai Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka will invite Kenyans to Uhuru Park and lead the nation to a place of heartfelt healing on that national day of forgiveness.

In school, in history classes, students are taught about the African Slave Trade: how the black people were taken from the Continent of Africa to be slaves; how the black people were captured and raped and robbed of their culture; how the black people were forced to accept the religion of their captors; and how the black people had to, and still do, live according to the customs of their slave masters.

But did slavery all start on the continent of Africa? Were Hebrew/Israelites part of this slave trade? Were the Hebrew/Israelites even in Africa? And were the Hebrew/Israelites in Africa during the time of the African Slave Trade? .

George E. Lichtblau, author of "Jewish Roots in Africa," said "Claims of a historic presence of Jewish communities in certain regions of Africa, notably West and Southern Africa, seem esoteric when first mentioned. This presence goes back not just centuries, but even to biblical times." How many children know this? Mr. Lichtblau also said, " . . . the subsequent scattering of a Jewish presence and influence reaching deep into the African continent is less widely acknowledged." Why?.

If everything is left up to the school systems, black people in America will continue to live in darkness, especially, concerning the slave trade and its connection with the Hebrew/Israelites. There is a connection!.

First, it should be understood that the Hebrew/Israelites are black people. If that's not clear, please read "The Hebrew People of the Bible, What Color are they?" This will clearly explain what our captors do not want you to know. .

All through the biblical history of the Hebrew/Israelites, you will read how they disobeyed God, their Father, the God of Israel. In that the children of Israel are His only son (Exodus 4:22), they had to be disciplined by their Father, the Creator ofheaven and Earth, for their wicked deeds..

How did God discipline his children being a spiritual and not a physical being?.

The spanking that the Children of Israel received was through being defeated on the battlefield and by being taken into captivity by the nation or nations that their father, the Creator, raised to power. For example: Judges 2:11&14 says, "The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord . . . and the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that plundered them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies." Judges 3:7&8 says, "The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord . . . Therefore the anger of the Lord burned against Israel and he sold them into the hand of Kushan-rish'atayim, king of Aram: and the children of Israel served Kushan-rish'atayim eight years." And, Judges 3:12-14 says, "The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel . . . And he gathered to him the children of Ammon and Amaleq, and went and smote Israel . . . So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab, for eighteen years." So as you can see, the discipline came through the other nations by the God of Israel..

As the Children of Israel continued to do evil, and the God of Israel continued to bring other nations against them, knowing that they were going to be persecuted, and forced to serve another nation, they would run into other countries trying and thinking they were fleeing from their captors, that the Lord their God had raised and strengthened against them..

Although, the children of Israel was constantly wicked, they were already warned by the God of Israel that if they disobeyed Him that they would be cursed. As the Christians have the book of Revelations for their last book, the Hebrews have the book of Deuteronomy for their last book of revelations. And their curse is thoroughly outlined in Deuteronomy 28th Chapter. I am not going to quote the 28th chapter because it is very lengthy. But, please read it!.

There were several times when the Israelites, out of defeat, ran for shelter, and the Bible and other history books of the Jews hold the specific details of this matter. .

Second Kings 18:9-13 says, "And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hosea son of Elah King of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, (that is, the ninth year of Hosea king of Israel) Samaria was taken. And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them. Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them."

Knowing that king Shalmaneser did carry away Israel, and that king Sennacherib did take Judah into captivity, did any Hebrew/Israelites try to escape their wrath? Did any Hebrew/Israelites run into other countries? Is it all possible for them to have also run into Africa? I say Yes!

Solomon Grayzel, a white Jewish historian, wrote in his book, "A History of the Jews," in the ninth century CE (AD), a man appeared in north Africa among the Hebrews there, his name was Eldad from the tribe of Dan, he was a Danite. He said the members of his tribe had escaped Israel after Sennacherib had conquered Israel, and other Hebrews from other tribes also live in the land from where he came from.

Menasseh ben Israel, the author of "The Hope of Israel," said in his book there were Hebrew/Israelites that had been scattered into the Americas since the time of Sennacherib.

Mr Lichtblau, the writer of "Jewish Roots in Africa," speaking of the Jews said, "Pressed under sweeping regional conflicts, Jews settled as traders and warriors in Yemen, the Horn of Africa, Egypt, the Kingdom of Kush and Nubia, North African Punic settlements (Carthage and Velubilis), and areas now covered by Mauritania. More emigrants followed these early Jewish settlers to Northern Africa following the Assyrian conquest of the Israelites in the 8th century B.C.E...."

And, Rabbi Dahton Nasi, the author of the "Basic Jewish Studies Handbook," has placed the Hebrew/Israelites all over the African continent.

Shalmaneser king of Assyria and Sennacherib king of Assyria were not the only kings to have come up against Israel. Another very important time in the history of the Hebrews, and I say important because the Temple was destroyed for the first time, is when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon came and took Israel and destroyed the temple.

Here too, we tried to escape persecution and ran into the continent of Africa. Mr. Lichtblau statement above goes one step further, when mentioning the emigration of the Hebrews to Africa during the conquest of king Nebuchadnezzar. It says, " . . . and again 200 years later, when Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians, leading to the destruction of the First temple."

So, again two hundred years later the Children of Israel ran into Africa trying to flee persecution.

The people, not wanting to serve king Nebuchadnezzar, went into Egypt, even after they were instructed by the God of Israel, their Father, not to. Jeremiah, the prophet, in chapter 42, 43, and 44 tells the people that God said to stay in Babylon because he would be with them. But instead, they went to Egypt and when Jeremiah caught up with them in there, he said, due to them not listening to the God of Israel, he was going to push king Nebuchadnezzar into Egypt and take it and them.

I don't know what my reaction would have been if I had been informed of this by the Prophet. But as Rabbi Nasi stated in his handbook above (regarding this situation, and something I do agree with), "This warning would cause many Israelites to migrate deeper into Ethiopia and the Sahara desert."

After serving the Babylonians for 70 years, the Hebrews returned to Israel to rebuild the kingdom. Thinking that they would have known how to act, they had to be disciplined again because they wouldn't listen to the word of God.

In the year 334 B.C.E., Alexander the Great, came down from Macedonia and took Babylon, Egypt, Israel, and other areas that were occupied by the Persians. After Alexanders death, his kingdom was divide and the Hebrew/Israelites caught trouble again.

Around 176 B.C.E., king Antiochus ruled the Greek Kingdom and came up against Israel. Approximately two years later, the king attacked Jerusalem and destroyed the city, burned it down, and took the women and children captive. He also wrote a decree to all of his kingdom that the people should give up their particular practices and be as the Greeks, to be as one people.

The king told the Hebrews to "put a stop to whole burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings at the sanctuary, and to break the Sabbaths and profane the feasts and to build altars and sacred precincts and idol temples and sacrifice hogs and unclean cattle; and to leave their sons uncircumcised and defile themselves with every unclean and profane practice." The king made it known to the Hebrews, if they did not obey the command, they would be put to death. After the Greeks came, the Romans and around 70CE destroyed Jerusalem again. The Romans, too, refused to let the Jews circumcise their boys, observe the Sabbath, and study the laws of the God of Israel. Here, too, the Roman government said if we were to do the things that we are commanded to do by the God of Israel, that the Hebrews would be put to death.

The restrictions on the Hebrews forced them to emigrate in even greater numbers than before. Rome's vengeance forced the Hebrews that lived in Cyrenaica, which was approximately a hundred thousand and a million in Egypt to flee into the south of Africa and the west of Africa. Solomon Grayzel said, "such is the explanation how the Sahara desert first acquired Jewish tribes . . . "

But it wasn't always another kingdom that forced the Hebrews to flee their homeland.

The first three centuries of the Christian Era weren't easy for the Hebrews. There was a lot of confusion between the Hebrews and the Christians due to instigation by the Roman government saying the Hebrews killed Jesus. And, that false accusation has followed the Hebrews even until this day. But, at that time it did force the Hebrews to flee from persecution, while at the same time we also fled from the Christians due to forced conversion. It was a do or die situation. You either accepted Christianity or you died.

Next was the rise of Islam some several hundred years later, 6th or 7th century. Islam was gaining some dominance but not enough to convert the Hebrews. Mohammed sought the Hebrews, but the Hebrews didn't want to have anything to do with Islam. Eventually, a choice was given to the Hebrews either Islam or die by the sword. The threat of the sword was definitely carried out by the command of Mohammed, killing the Hebrew males and selling the Hebrew women. After the death of Mohammed, his successor (Abu Behr), with a tighter grip than Mohammed, continued with the caravan.

Africa wasn't the only country where the Hebrews dwelled because of them fleeing their captore and wanting to live a life of freedom. Spain and Portugal, to name a few, were two countries where the Hebrews tried to leave.

Life for the Hebrews in Spain was fair until January 2, 1492. This is the year that king Ferdinand and queen Isabella signed an order to deport the Hebrews out of Spain. Christianity had taken a strong hold in Spain and Ferdinand and Isabella approved the expulsion because the Jews were secretly maintaining their faith as Moses had instructed them and not embracing the Christian religion.

Ferdinand and Isabella gave the Jews until August 1, 1492 to get out of Spain or suffer severe slavery for sure. When August 1, 1492 arrived, a great number of Jews had departed Spain, returning to the northern and western parts of Africa, fleeing to the Caribbean islands, and fleeing into Portugal. "But the last group of Jews did not leave until August 2, 1492," said Rudolph Windsor, author of "From Babylon to Timbuktu."

This date should sound familiar to the world because this is the date Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World. And their were Jews on board his carriers. The Jews that stayed behind in Spain were either forced to convert to Christianity, be a slave, or die by the sword. The Jews that fled into Portugal were allowed to stay for thirteen years but no longer, to the year of 1505. To this date, there are a number of dark-skinned Hebrews in the Caribbean Islands, practicing and living the laws of Moses.

When 1505 arrived, the Hebrews that had stayed behind in Portugal were forced into being slavery by the order of the governor of Portugal. Also, the governor gave permission to import the slaves, those negroes, those Hebrews into the Caribbean islands and the West Indies.

But Spain and Portugal weren't the only culprits in this matter. The African people also played a part in the captivity of African slaves.

Although the slave trade began in 1441, at the hands of the Portuguese, it wasn't until 1619, when the first slaves were reported in English America, said Richard L. Green. He went further to say, "The participation of countries in the African slave trade became so profitable that slaves were viewed as black gold' and beasts of burden."

Black gold and beasts of burden is how Affonso I, king of the Congo, must have viewed the Hebrews of Africa because he gained a great deal of wealth from the slave trade. It is noted that Mvemba Nzinga, who was baptized Affonso I, ruled as the Mani Congo (king of the Congo) from 1506 to 1543. "Affonso I attempted to control the slave traffic," and by 1530, at least 5,000 slaves were exported annually from the Congo, said Mr. Green. Richard L. Green is the publisher and editor of "A Salute to Historic African Kings and Queens."

Of course, Affonso I, the king of the Congo, in the continent of Africa, wasn't the only king to get involved in the slave trade. There were other kings in Africa that did it out of profit, and their were some kings that were pitted against each other by the Europeans. But either way it goes, the Hebrews went into slavery by the hands of the kings of Africa and by the hands of the Europeans.

This document makes the connection between the Hebrew/Israelites and the African Slave Trade and explains how and why the Hebrews emigrated or rather fled to the continent of Africa. At the same time, it explains how the Hebrews got caught up in the slave trade. Many of the black people in America want to associate themselves with the African continent, when in fact it actually has nothing to do with the black people of America.

The history of the black people doesn't stop at Africa. There is more to black people than that. Take the time to study black history, and don't stop at Africa. Why, because it will be you who will make a difference in this world..

Q: What do you do?

Jon: I’m a glorified computer geek who works as a self-employed web developer and social media consultant in East Africa.

Q: What inspires you?

Jon: I’m a big fan of what’s going with the internet right now, specifically all the theory and development related to the semantic web (microformats, artificial intelligence, computational linguistics and dataparsing) where all that is heading. Simply put, technology inspires me.

Q: How did you get interested in Africa? Why Uganda?

Jon: I’m in Africa because of my girlfriend. She (also from the United States) works for an NGO called Water For People and they hired her as the African Regional Manager to supervise the launch of new offices in Rwanda, Malawi and Uganda over the next three years. At the time, I was spending a lot of time in San Francisco trying to find funding for various start-up ideas. It became clear to me that Silicon Valley VC space was becoming very insular, people were funding social networks built around other social networks and web apps for tasks like sorting email. My work was more social entrepreneurial and the response in the Valley was lukewarm at best. So I decided I’d go to Africa with her and execute my own ideas.

Q: Appfrica.net sprung onto the scene earlier this year. Where do you see that going, and how will you utilize it as a platform while in Africa?

Jon: App+frica is an initiative that facilitates African software developers and internet entrepreneurs. It’s entirely self-funded. Unfortunately, there aren’t many organizations outside of Africa that see the benefit of mentoring students and entrepreneurs in technology.

Appfrica also organizes events and workshops for local developers. Things like the Facebook Developer Workshop (18 October 2008) and Kampala Barcamp (19 August 2008), the upcoming µganda (Mobile Apps Uganda) and App+Asia. I also do hands on workshops where I’m teaching young developers programming and web development skills that will make them more competitive in the world market. You can read more at Appfrica.org.

The blog is Appfrica.net. Essentially it’s about innovation, development, social media and the internet as it all relates to Africa. There’s been some pretty healthy discussions around the content and Although I currently write everything, I’ve reached out to some local people who are considering joining the staff.

code.appfrica.net is a software repository that hosts and facilitates African developers. You might call it an Amazon S3-like service for Africa. Because there is no easy way to purchase things via the web in Africa (because many financial institutions don’t offer credit cards), something that many people don’t really have is access to is personal space on web servers outside of school. An even bigger problem is that there are very few local servers here and using anything hosted outside of the continent can be incredibly slow. It’s my goal to offer free, local server space to developers so that they can learn from each other, communicate freely and share. The site consists of a forum for African programmers, a subversion (SVN) server and a web version control system (TRACS). It also offers distributed file storage for developers like S3.

Beyond that, I try my best to help reshape misconceptions about Africa in the west by participating in technology conferences around the world. Even in the age of information people are surprisingly ignorant about Africa…especially when it comes to technology. When I mention Africa to people in the western business world, they overwhelmingly start asking questions about Darfur, Idi Amin and Robert Mugabi. It’s especially difficult to get technology conferences to let anyone in to even represent Africa or African technology companies.

The people of Africa account for over 14% of the worlds population and despite the AIDS epidemic, that number is growing (according to the C.I.A’s World Factbook). Why do people to often look the other way when it comes to technology and business here? Are businesses really afraid or do they just not understand the African market enough to care? The blog has largely become a way to get people in the West noticing all the wonderful things going on in the IT space here while also reporting the latest tech news for Africans.

Q: What is Question Box and what are your plans for that project?

Jon: QuestionBox.org is a project launched by Rose Shuman who lives in Los Angeles, CA in the United States. Her idea was to essentially allow people in rural areas around the world to use the internet via their mobile phones. It works like this: people in rural areas call or SMS the service with their question. A local operator consults a database (which also includes web searches) to discover the answer to those questions. The operator then responds in the local language.

My role as Chief Technical Officer is to build the software backend and to help direct growth and scalability. The service will allow for use via mobile device, the web or phone. For the SMS portion we’re integrating a micro-messaging application. When people SMS in their questions, we can index them and add them to a database that can be searched quickly offline. We can also publish the database online for the benefit of researchers or people using the web. Since internet connections aren’t as reliable as they are in the West, the service is built to work offline and only crawls the internet when it has a connection.

This allows people in rural, developing areas to get access to relevant information without the need for computers which are often not an option. What is an option, often already available, is mobile devices which have very high penetration numbers in the African market.

It’s our goal to democratize information in emerging markets using technology. So far the pilot programs have been huge regional successes. QuestionBox ran pilot programs in India last year and it encouraged her to expand to other areas of India as well as Africa starting with rural Uganda.

Q: You’ve been on the ground in Uganda for a couple weeks. First impressions?

Jon: One month exactly and we’ll be here for the next three years. We just got a house in the suburbs of the capital city Kampala. Getting reliable internet has been a huge chore, but that could be expected. I love it so far. Kampala is great, it’s very diverse and friendly. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Africa. I’ve got meetings next month in Rwanda and Tanzania and I’m working on going to Kenya and Egypt which are among the leaders of ICT development in the region.