Archive for March, 2011
Don’t Try To Do This
Karen wrote: Flying from Boston into Jburg SA the 3rd week in Nov, want to spend few days in SA, week on safari in Serengeti & end in Zanibar (approx 2 weeks total). Specific suggestions what to see/do that time of year? 2 women, 1 college girl & 1 12 year old girl. Need help [...]
Enter Emperor Wadongo
Posted by jimheck in "Modern" Africa, Economy, Environment, Politics, Poverty, Twevolution on March 31, 2011
People just don’t get the social tsunami smashing the world right now. Obama’s Old News! Notwithstanding the media starred war in Libya, societies are changing at the drop of a text message. Billionaire industrialists and fat politicians aren’t the only ones running the show, anymore, in fact their days may be numbered. Meet Evans Wadongo. [...]
Lutheran Miracles in Tanzania
Posted by jimheck in African Traditions, Culture on March 29, 2011
Does unmitigated faith cure, kill, lead or mislead to victory? Ask the tens of thousands of people flocking to a faith healer near the Serengeti. Or ask the ragtag fighters pushing into Sirte. It’s all the same. And who are we to interrupt the jihad? An endless line of cars, bikes, walkers trekking into a [...]
Cote d’Ivoire in Context
Posted by jimheck in Economy, Ivory Coast, Politics, War on March 28, 2011
by Conor Godfrey on March 28, 2011 So far on this blog we’ve discussed the humanitarian crisis in Cote d’Ivoire, and the merits of military intervention. Our profile would not be complete without discussing the economic context in which all of this occurs. This is also true in Libya of course: by Libyan nightfall yesterday, [...]
Posted by jimheck in "Modern" Africa, Culture, Economy on March 25, 2011
by Conor Godfrey on March 25, 2011 I hate to give Facebook anymore publicity then it already gets, but a post on Online Africa was interesting enough to bring to your attention. In 2010, Facebook gained its 3 millionth member in South Africa. That means that Facebook use has been growing at near 25% for [...]
South Africa Makes BRIC
Posted by jimheck in Economy, Politics, South Africa on March 24, 2011
by Conor Godfrey on March 24, 2011 In two weeks, South Africa will be formally accepted into the BRIC grouping of Brazil, Russia, India And China at an economic summit in Beijing. Just in case you don’t read US weekly—these are the new cool kids on the block. Gone are the days when the EU [...]
Urbanization: The Rising Tide That Will Lift All Boats…or Sink Them
Posted by jimheck in "Modern" Africa, Economy, Poverty, Urban Planning on March 22, 2011
by Conor Godfrey on March 22, 2011 When I lived in Guinea I would make a trip to my regional capital once a month to meet with other Peace Corps volunteers, chat in English, and buy beer and toilet paper. A lot of volunteers would note that coming into the city felt like entering “real [...]
Intervention is Back on the Menu
by Conor Godfrey on March 21, 2011 It’s happening. If I had told you four weeks ago that U.S. forces would be bombing another Muslim country in less than a month, you would have said that I was out of my mind. As I write this, U.S. carriers are beginning a second night of cruise [...]
Is South Africa a “Welfare State or A Developmental State?”
Posted by jimheck in "Modern" Africa, Economy, History, Poverty on March 18, 2011
By Conor Godfrey, on March 18, 2011 Near the end of Jacob Zuma’s recent State of the Nation address, he made the point, “[South Africa is] building a developmental and not a welfare state..” Welfare vs. Developmental State. This intrigues me. Selling South Africa as a developmental state is tough; currently 30% of South Africa’s [...]
So You Want to Write on Africa…
Posted by jimheck in "Modern" Africa, Culture, History, Perceptions of Africa, Poverty, Stereotypes on March 17, 2011
by Conor Godfrey on March 17, 2011 I was going to continue exploring why some people, or states, support pariah regimes (this time with a more sympathetic view towards the supporters), but I was side tracked by a wonderful article from GRANTA magazine entitled “How to Write About Africa”. (The article is actually from a [...]
What Does Success Look Like?
by Conor Godfrey on March 15, 2011 What do you get when you spend no money on defense, and instead funnel the vast majority of your budget into developing your population, including huge tranches on universal health care and education? What if you also embrace intense multiculturalism, and reach out to historical trading partners in [...]
AU Finally Re-affirms Ouattara- Who Were the Hold Outs?
Posted by jimheck in Ivory Coast, Politics on March 14, 2011
by Conor Godfrey on March 12, 2011 A few days ago the African Union finally issued a definitive statement on the situation in Cote d’Ivoire, reaffirming Alassane Ouattara as the winner of the November 28th, 2010 elections. Why did it take so damn long for the AU to come on board? Well, up until last [...]
Is Foreign Aid as Hopeless as Republican Freshmen Say it is?
Posted by jimheck in Foreign Aid, Politics on March 12, 2011
by Conor Godfrey on 11 March, 2011 The Republican wave has brought a new crop of development aid bashing freshman to the fore, and even among Suzie-Q public, cutting aid is much in vogue. U.S. citizens appear to be all sorts of messed up when it comes to foreign aid; surveys report that, on average, [...]
South Sudanese Safari Anyone?
Posted by jimheck in Ecology, Economy, History, Politics, Tourism Trends, Wildlife Management on March 12, 2011
by Conor Godfrey on March 10, 2011 In the last month, South Sudan has asked neighbors and the international community for teachers to staff universities, for money and logistical help for demobilization, disarmament, and rehabilitation of combatants, for ideas on a new national anthem, for help with their financial sector and several hundred other large [...]
Winners in Burkina
Posted by jimheck in African Films, Arts and Culture, Economy on March 12, 2011
by Conor Godfrey on March 8, 2011 I have led everyone astray by failing to warn you that the bi-annual, Pan African Film Festival in Ouagadougou (FESPACO) opened Saturday, February 24th, and ended this past weekend. FESPACO is the most important film festival in Africa, and I would go even further and say that the [...]