tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51468912012-01-29T11:29:30.533-08:00thoughts about african news and culture, as seen from the u.s.daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comBlogger1901100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1092328699472978432004-08-12T09:38:00.000-07:002004-08-12T09:39:34.206-07:00

After a brief-- what? two months!-- retreat into my ordinary life, the allure of blogging has got me in its tiny clutches. Actually, two things stirred me from my slumber. First, Afroblog guru Ethan Zuckerman's treatise on the power of blogs, which I'm still digesting. And second, a cool-sounding public radio documentary on Mandela that's airing tonight (at least in the Bay Area): Hear a rare

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1086107892692700152004-06-01T09:38:00.000-07:002004-06-01T09:38:12.693-07:00

And so it continues. The soon-to-be retired Robert Mugabe is now trying to read his opponents' email.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1086107664160144912004-06-01T09:34:00.000-07:002004-06-01T09:34:24.160-07:00

I'm sitting here listening to South African satirist Pieter Dirk-Uys on NPR's Fresh Air. You can hear it online, too. Listen, if only to hear him clarify the difference between Dame Edna Everage and Evita Bezuidenhout and his passionate, angry take on the AIDS crisis.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1085526276519667942004-05-25T16:04:00.000-07:002004-05-25T16:04:36.520-07:00

Thanks to its new free public education system, Kenya's oldest primary-school student is 84-year old Kimani Maruge: Mr Maruge did not have the chance to go to school when he was younger because he took part in the Mau Mau rebellion against the British in the 1950s. He said one of his main aims for starting school was to learn to count the money he expects to receive in compensation from

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1085425759096980722004-05-24T12:09:00.000-07:002004-05-24T12:09:19.096-07:00

Two interesting articles in yesterday's New York Times. The first, titled "When Real Food Isn't An Option", chronicles the extreme lengths people in extreme hunger will go to in order to put something-- anything-- in their stomachs. The piece seems to have been inspired by photos the paper ran a week or so ago of a Haitian woman baking "dirt cakes." Africa figures prominently in such tales of

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1085420035565484332004-05-24T10:33:00.000-07:002004-05-24T10:33:55.566-07:00

The latest outburst by Robert Mugabe is a classic: he accuses Desmond Tutu of being "an angry, evil and embittered little bishop".

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1085167091624481272004-05-21T12:14:00.000-07:002004-05-21T12:19:33.516-07:00

A woman from the DR Congo was just awarded asyluym in the U.S. after three years in prison. Her husband already had U.S. residency and she that if she returned home, she'd be imprisoned and tortured by the government. But Homeland Security insisted she had no reason to be granted asylym. Another example of the twisted logic of post-9/11 immigration policy at work. The Philadelphia Inquirer has

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1085157263489984682004-05-21T09:34:00.000-07:002004-05-21T09:36:56.710-07:00

Victor Bout, who sold arms to Charles Taylor, Jonas Savimbi and Mobutu, has turned up in Iraq. But while the notorious merchant of death is wanted in Africa, he has some poweful patrons and protectors in his new zone of operations: the U.S. and Britain. This report has more on our newest partner in "rebuilding" Iraq: Today the United States and Britain are using his extensive mercenary

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1085156241458778152004-05-21T09:17:00.000-07:002004-05-21T09:21:07.813-07:00

A few days ago, Robert Mugabe said he might someday retire. Now comes this open letter to the dallying despot. NOTICE OF TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT Letter From The People Of Zimbabwe Dear Mr Mugabe, Please receive notice that the people of Zimbabwe, your employers, hereby advise that your services are no longer required and therefore give immediate notice of termination of your employment.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1085071278304944202004-05-20T09:41:00.000-07:002004-05-20T16:05:24.500-07:00

If you've been following Namibian news, you know that there is a behind-the-scenes in the SWAPO party over who will succeed Sam Nujoma. That there is the possibility of a political succession in Namibia is a positive development. But there are many kinds of power hand-offs. For instance, in South Africa, Mandela effectively ceded all of his power to Thabo Mbeki, while setting the stage for

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1085022173006600462004-05-19T20:02:00.000-07:002004-05-20T12:42:13.060-07:00

The other day, I found that Wouter "Dr. Death" Basson has been making the rounds as a public speaker. Chris at Isangqa wonders what P.W. DeKlerk will speak about when he comes to San Francisco in a couple of weeks: The death squads that operated on his watch? The township wars that his security services fueled, even as he negotiated with Mandela and the ANC? I heard P.W. on the Beeb a few

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1085021207777224772004-05-19T19:46:00.000-07:002004-05-20T12:48:28.926-07:00

There's a profile of Somali author Nuruddin Farah in the Times today. His new book, Links, is set in the beyond-Wild West setting that is contemporary Somalia: "Links" takes place in modern-day Mogadishu. " 'Through me the way into the suffering city," Mr. Farah writes at the beginning of "Links," quoting Dante's "Inferno." " 'Through me the way to the eternal pain,/ Through me the way that

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1084921738471337702004-05-18T16:08:00.000-07:002004-05-20T12:43:45.143-07:00

The Dave-Eggers affiliated mag The Believer has done some good features on Africa recently. Last month, they ran an interview with Chris Abani, author of Graceland. This month, there's a fascinating first-person history from Dawit Giorgis, the former international spokesman for the Ethiopian Marxist dictatorship known as the Derg. And Eggers continues his oral history of a Sudanese "lost boy."

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1084642325719648162004-05-15T10:32:00.000-07:002004-05-20T12:46:49.250-07:00

Guess which African leader reportedly said the following: I want to retire from politics. I have had enough. I am also a writer and would like to concentrate on writing after this term of office is over.... I don't think I will miss a successor. Out of 30 million people, there must be a capable person to take over after me and he will be the chosen one. The answer: Robert Mugabe, who says he

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1084552639430532202004-05-14T09:37:00.000-07:002004-05-20T12:47:14.720-07:00

Tim Kingston has an interesting piece on ZNet on life in post-apartheid Western Cape. But what caught my eye was this: The white community's conservatism is indicated by a speaking invitation from the Chamber of Commerce to Dr. Wouter Basson, better known as "Dr. Death" for allegedly masterminding a chemical and poison warfare campaign against Anti Apartheid Activists. Why anyone would

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1084552189685713822004-05-14T09:29:00.000-07:002004-05-20T12:47:42.786-07:00

South African pop diva Brenda Fassie died a few days ago. She was 39. I wasn't a real fan, but liked her songs, from the breezy "Weekend Special" to the triumphant "Black President." The BBC article linked above gives a good sense of her volatile, self-destructive personality-- think Courtney Love. But the best piece on her is in Mark Gevisser's Portraits of Power, a decade-old yet still

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1084489094332529132004-05-13T15:58:00.000-07:002004-05-20T16:08:10.940-07:00

The Beeb is collecting questions to pose to Sam Nujoma when it interviews him on the 21st. You can submit your queries here. Update: Whoops, sorry. Nujoma's not taking questions anymore.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1084488892665076902004-05-13T15:54:00.000-07:002004-05-20T12:49:13.103-07:00

The Namibian government is politely forcing some white farmers to put their land up for sale. One of the farms has allegedly mistreated its workers, including six who are living in a riverbed after being fired and rehired by the farm manager, whom Nujoma has called a "criminal." Let's see what happens next.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1083273821370434312004-04-29T14:23:00.000-07:002004-05-20T12:49:37.356-07:00

The New York Times' recent man in Africa, Howard French, has come out with a memoir, A Continent for the Taking. Allafrica.com reviews the book positively, saying that it balances harsh realities with hope, and criticism of Western involvement with a recognition that African governments must do more for their people: French's book does feature massacres, illness, violent elections and other

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1083265049019847912004-04-29T11:57:00.000-07:002004-05-20T12:50:01.170-07:00

The Afrikaner enclave of Orania has a bright idea-- it's created its own currency that can only be used in the town. Kind of like Chuck E. Cheese skee-ball tokens, but with a nasty racial edge...

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1083264763353606702004-04-29T11:52:00.000-07:002004-04-29T11:56:53.373-07:00

Black is Bountiful Interesting story on Salon about South African "buppies" and Jo'burg's first black-owned BMW dealership. South Africa reportedly has the fastest-growing middle class in the world. But that doesn't mean the rising tide is lifting all boats.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1083185694171700942004-04-28T13:54:00.000-07:002004-04-29T11:49:07.530-07:00

Worth Being Pissed Off Over? This is weird-- Brussel's famous statue/fountain, the Mannekin Pis, has been dressed up as Nelson Mandela. It's supposed to be a tribute to South African democracy, but seems a bit odd to me. Photo here.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1082756508397291612004-04-23T14:41:00.000-07:002004-04-23T14:45:50.983-07:00

All Together Now As zablogger rightly notes, South Africa has "the best national anthem in the world." But not everyone knows the words to "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" yet. I've heard and/or hummed along to it dozens of times, and even have a cheesy tourist mug on my desk with the lyrics, and I can't get past the first verse. But I'm an American (and yes, I do know all the words to the oft-mangled

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1082755976673893882004-04-23T14:32:00.000-07:002004-04-23T14:38:18.043-07:00

Step in the Right Direction Namibian president Sam Nujoma says he will step down when his third term comes to an end. Really. Maybe. Let's hope so. Considering what might be called Nujoma's grudging acceptance of the responsibilties (and in this case, concessions) of being the head of a democracy, such an action would help move Namibia in the right direction. No presidents for life, please!

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1077778698118457582004-02-25T22:58:00.000-08:002004-02-25T23:01:04.170-08:00

Bumpy Landing After months of uncertainty, it looks like the Namibian government is going ahead with some land seizures. It says it will fairly compensate the farmers whose property is expropriated. Let's hope it has learned from Mugabe's disastrous example. That it is straying from its "willing buyer, willing seller" policy is not encouraging. But clearly, the desire to redistribute white

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1077759733086947532004-02-25T22:50:00.000-08:002004-02-25T22:50:36.310-08:00

Under Our Noses I confess to being underinformed about what's been going on in Sudan. This forwarded message from Eric Reeves, a professor at Smith College, has helped dispell some of my ignorance. I haven't seen this piece posted online, so I'll excerpt parts of it. To hear Reeves tell it, another African genocide has started while the world sits on its hands. An all too familiar scenario.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1077732689071734222004-02-25T10:11:00.000-08:002004-02-25T10:49:13.530-08:00

"A Different Breed of Man" This is real nice: "Apartheid isn't that cut and dry. All men are not created equal. The preponderance of South Africa is a different breed of man. I mean that with no disrespect. I say that with great respect. I love them because I'm one of them. They are still people of the earth, but they are different. They still put bones in their noses, they still walk

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1077137892778635242004-02-18T12:58:00.000-08:002004-02-18T13:00:55.576-08:00

Worth Seeing It looks like the fantastic documentary "The Lost Boys of Sudan" is getting a wider release in the U.S. I saw it last year and thought it was excellent.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1077064448561230532004-02-17T16:34:00.000-08:002004-02-17T16:38:00.403-08:00

Hardship Post The discerning folks at the Economist have ranked Harare one of the worst cities in the world for expats to live. The reasons are obvious. However, it's ironic that the Economist rates living conditions for expats when the benchmarks it's measuring (security, corruption, transportation, etc.) are the same that affect the ordinary residents. So why just say Harare or Lagos or

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1077039615104233412004-02-17T09:40:00.000-08:002004-02-17T09:47:08.200-08:00

Horror Movies Raoul Peck, who directed "Lumumba," is now working on a film for HBO about the Rwandan genocide. The actors are Rwandan, many of them survivors themselves: Already, though, the project is bringing the events of that April back to life for many Rwandans. Survivors fill most of the acting roles in the film and make up much of the crew. Recreating the horror has been a traumatic

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1076999030977735642004-02-16T22:23:00.000-08:002004-02-16T22:31:34.810-08:00

Stiffed The New York Times slams Bush's foot dragging and politicking on AIDS: The delay of a year is an indictment of the administration's decision to set up a new bureaucracy. It could have started saving lives right away by giving the funds to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an international group desperate for money that has received high marks from auditors

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1076998631194982832004-02-16T22:17:00.000-08:002004-02-16T22:21:30.653-08:00

Miss Livingstone, I Presume? The recent unfounded rumors about John Kerry's affair with an intern have an African connection. The woman in question turned up in Kenya, where she told reporters that the story was utter B.S. Murray at Southern Cross had this to say about the earlier reports that she had escaped Kerry's clutches (or was it the right-wing media's?) in the terra incognito that is

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1076961202444550092004-02-16T11:53:00.000-08:002004-02-16T22:26:40.090-08:00

Sorry State of Affairs Desmond Tutu on Bush and Blair's bungle: How wonderful if politicians could bring themselves to admit they are only fallible human creatures, and not God, and thus by definition can make mistakes [...] Unfortunately, they seem to think that such an admission is a sign of weakness. Weak and insecure people hardly ever say "sorry". It is large-hearted and courageous

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1076653680072494452004-02-12T22:28:00.000-08:002004-02-12T22:32:18.966-08:00

Wild West There's some bad stuff going down in western Ethiopia, where the government is in conflict with the Anyuak ethnic minority. A couple hundred people were killed in recent events-- not entirely clear what happened, but some observers are calling the killings genocidal: [E]yewitnesses say uniformed Ethiopian soldiers were aided in the murder of more than 400 members of the Anuak tribe.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1076548171934726472004-02-11T17:09:00.000-08:002004-02-11T17:14:33.810-08:00

Special Delivery Axum obelisk update. The Italians are ready to send the 160-ton monument home. But first they need a really big plane. I think this is what they're looking for.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1076461514585015652004-02-10T17:05:00.000-08:002004-02-12T22:55:24.920-08:00

(White) Flights of Fancy From the MotherJones.com blog: Over at the National Review's The Corner, John Derbyshire entertains some far-fetched ideas about South Africa: ...the rumor mill in South Africa says that when Mandela dies (he's 85) there will be a general massacre of whites. Mandela seems to be aware of the rumors. South African whites are aware of them too, and all sorts

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1076009131025741792004-02-10T17:00:00.000-08:002004-02-10T17:18:42.013-08:00

Postcarters from the Edge Jimmy Carter wrote a blog while he visited West Africa during the past week. He had some interesting observations, especially regarding the impact of American policies there: It is disturbing to observe the adverse effect of some U.S. policies on the less-developed nations. Despite helpful contributions of USAID and military assistance in Mali, for instance, the

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1076008456981947202004-02-05T11:14:00.000-08:002004-02-10T17:22:52.780-08:00

Outside the Bubble Former US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill took thousands of pages of documents with him when he left the Bush administration. Many have been posted online, including this schedule of his 2002 trip to Africa. Turns out the White House didn't like the trip, especially O'Neill's hobnobbing with Bono.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1074191130377174882004-01-15T10:25:00.000-08:002004-02-10T17:25:36.153-08:00

The Beeb has a new African music site. I haven't had a chance to check it out thoroughly, but it looks pretty slick. It includes music samples and a nice glossary.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1074110883143056722004-01-14T12:08:00.000-08:002004-01-14T12:09:53.746-08:00

Arrested Development Oh well. So much for the bid to bring Mugabe to trial in the UK.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-10741040652820672004-01-14T10:14:00.000-08:002004-01-14T10:16:15.716-08:00

Sahara Club The war on terror spreads to Mauritania, Chad, Mali and Niger. The US is spending $100 million and already has sentdefense contractors and trainers. Hey, wasn't it Niger that helped Saddam build his nuclear bomb? Oh, wait...

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1073933640261328002004-01-12T10:54:00.000-08:002004-01-12T10:55:47.483-08:00

Movement of the People Another story to watch: Israel is planning to airlift the rest of the Falasha Mura, the remaining Ethiopian Jews.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1073671854506738632004-01-09T10:10:00.000-08:002004-01-09T10:12:38.420-08:00

See You in Court? This could get interesting: human-rights activists in Britain are trying to get Mugabe stripped of his immunity and extradited to the UK. A long shot for sure, but efforts like this-- like the attempted prosecution of Pinochet a few years ago-- are worth something, if only to put more pressure on these guys.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1073601368418809902004-01-08T14:36:00.000-08:002004-01-08T14:37:50.856-08:00

Comic Relief The funny folks over at The Onion ask what you think about Third World debt relief. Sample answer: "No fucking way we should let them off the hook—I want back those 80 bucks I lent Honduras."

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1073498027567335512004-01-07T09:53:00.000-08:002004-01-07T09:55:28.170-08:00

Diallos Get Their Due NYC will pay Amadou Diallo's family $3 million for killing the unarmed Guinean immigrant in 1999. As you'll recall, Diallo was shot 19 times (out of 41 bullets fired) as he reached for his very suspicious-looking, potentially deadly wallet. Diallo's mother says some of the settlement money will be used to aid other immigrants.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1073413465814524862004-01-06T10:24:00.000-08:002004-01-06T10:26:05.530-08:00

Sun, Sand and Special Forces A short report about the US' anti-terrorism efforts in coastal Kenya, centered on the sleepy town of Lamu. Joint US-Kenya operations have stepped up (bizarrely codenamed "Operation Edged Mallet"), though the US denies it's planning a base there.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1073340244035040412004-01-05T14:04:00.000-08:002004-01-05T14:05:42.890-08:00

Diamonds Are Not Always Forever Gotta link to this gripping tale of diamond-smuggling gone wrong from Nairobi. I recall a friend almost getting involved in a similar situation involving gemstones in Namibia. Fortunately, being completely broke, he didn't see it through.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1073337680292237992004-01-05T13:21:00.000-08:002004-01-05T13:23:29.763-08:00

Dude, Where's My Cash Crop? A modest proposal for marijuana-based economic development in Ghana: Ghana is one of the most peaceful countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The country rarely sees any violence (a benefit of pot-smoking?), has a democratically elected government and boasts one of the freest societies in Africa. Pot has been grown and smoked in the country for decades, drawing little

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1073325250626364972004-01-05T09:54:00.000-08:002004-01-05T09:56:43.170-08:00

In the Land of Magic Journalism A few months ago, the New York Times Sunday Magazine ran a piece about cannibalism in Congo. I thought it was rather sensational. My problem wasn't with the admittedly heinous subject matter but rather with how it was luridly portrayed by the author, Daniel Bergner. Now Adam Hochschild reviews Bergner's latest book on the violent, childlike, irrational people of

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1073071091555167512004-01-02T11:18:00.000-08:002004-01-02T11:19:46.170-08:00

On Pirate Satellite... Interesting piece on SW Radio Africa, AKA Radio Free Zimbabwe, in the Guardian. In a country where Mugabe's regime ruthlessly controls all radio and television output, and where the only independent newspaper has recently been shut down, SW Radio Africa is the only independent voice. It broadcasts not from Zimbabwe but from the third floor of an office block in a

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1072924824881610072003-12-31T18:40:00.000-08:002004-01-01T12:11:15.983-08:00

Furaha ya Mwaka Mpiya! ... just dusting off my Swahili to wish you a very happy new year.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1072421937139819152003-12-25T22:58:00.000-08:002003-12-25T23:01:08.090-08:00

An "A" for Effort? Take the Beeb's end-of-the-year Africa quiz. I got 6 out of 12 right-- but some of the questions are kinda silly if you ask me. (Call me a sore loser.)

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1072421404730715272003-12-25T22:50:00.000-08:002003-12-25T22:54:30.840-08:00

Once Upon a Time in Africa... Kwame Anthony Appiah gives a thumbs up to Nelson Mandela's new collection of African folktales. It's an eclectic and ecumenical assortment: Mandela ignores the temptations of a "folkish" Africa in another way: the stories here include "Malay-Indian" tales from Cape Town, like the one about Ali, a young man who, while seeking shelter at a mosque, spends his last

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1072204699203313892003-12-23T10:38:00.000-08:002003-12-23T10:40:26.123-08:00

A Battery of Tests It is going to be pretty slow around here for the next couple of weeks, what with holidays and an increased work load. But I'd like to wish both of you a happy holiday season. And before you go off and quaff your favorite festive brew, I'll leave you with this cautionary tale of what goes into the popular Namibian homebrew, tombo: Tombo contains more than 80 per cent

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071795234624625422003-12-23T06:53:00.000-08:002003-12-23T10:24:24.810-08:00

The Malan Files Today, by sheer coincedence, two posts involving South Afican author Rian Malan. Malan's the author of the memoir My Traitor's Heart, a complex and often frustrating tale of being an anti-apartheid Afrikaner. I've broken the posts in two. In Part 1, Malan plays lit critic and psychological analyst. In Part 2, Malan seems in need of some analysis himself. Part 1: International

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1072202524456867402003-12-23T05:02:00.000-08:002003-12-23T10:23:40.546-08:00

Part 2: Loony Tunes Now on to Rian Malan's extracurricular activities as an budding AIDS dissident. Anyone who's read My Traitor's Heart knows that Malan is anything but doctrinaire, but it's still strange to see how he's now come out as a "plague skeptic" and "moral leper." Malan's "research" says that estimates of infection and death rates are wildly exaggerated and that populations across the

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071771077441675122003-12-18T10:11:00.000-08:002003-12-18T10:12:32.343-08:00

Campus Notes "At any hour you must be ready to fight. On the Metro, on the road, on the street, everywhere." So says a Cameroonian exchange student in Moscow, where a dorm housing foreign students was recently torched, killing 42. The New York Times has a disturbing piece about the violence against foreign students, particularly Africans, in Russia. Things are so bad that one Liberian student

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071725022216481622003-12-17T21:23:00.000-08:002003-12-17T21:27:36.436-08:00

Ignoble Prize Ouch. From the Chicago Sun-Times' review of JM Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello (not available online): The new Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee, a South African who teaches at the University of Chicago, has come one whale of a cropper in Elizabeth Costello. It is a succession of almost unimaginably tiresome ruminations, cast in the form of formal academic addresses, about big-ticket

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071724550487464752003-12-17T21:15:00.000-08:002003-12-17T21:17:04.560-08:00

Common Sense for Dummies As Andrew at Southern Cross notes, this Guardian columnist who got taken by a 419 scam (hand-written, no less!) is playing with a few cards short of a full deck. That she blames the prevalence of such cons on the crony capitalism of Bush & Co. is going a bit overboard, even for my tastes. C'mon, you can't blame Dubya because you have no common sense.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071720598212290812003-12-17T20:09:00.000-08:002003-12-17T20:11:12.310-08:00

Debt of Attitude A question-- why does the US insist that the world forgives the massive debt racked up by the power-mad and corrupt Saddam Hussein while it ignores the long-standing plea to forgive the debts racked up by power-mad and corrupt leaders in sub-Saharan Africa? Just wondering.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071685680736527392003-12-17T10:28:00.000-08:002003-12-17T21:20:27.793-08:00

Senz-sational! The folks who make Senzero, the first Ethiopian-made plastic doll, have asked me to tell both of my readers that the li'l guy is available for international purchase. Proceeds go to fight polio and set up a child-care training center. Just think how jealous your kids' friends will be when they see the only Senzero in town!

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071614234182162572003-12-16T14:37:00.000-08:002003-12-16T15:12:56.403-08:00

Read His Lips George W. Bush's AIDS policy, as satirized/ distilled by the folks at the infamous whitehouse.org: Early this year, during my State of the Union address, I stunned the world by announcing that I would request $15 Billion dollars in funds to combat AIDS in the nation of Africa. Of course, within a matter of days, when my dearest friends from the Christian Coalition discovered

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071605485692698022003-12-16T12:11:00.000-08:002003-12-16T13:12:27.873-08:00

Putting the "Awwww" Back in Addis After dissing his blog, I'd like to point out a piece that Abraham McLaughlin wrote on Americans adopting Ethiopian kids. OK, his recent blogging from Addis was not real inspired, but I found the article interesting. And call me a sucker, but those triplets are darned cute.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071182354641845862003-12-11T14:39:00.000-08:002003-12-11T14:40:43.140-08:00

Power Trip An interview with the multitalented Samantha Power about her visit to Zimbabwe (via mostly Africa).

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071178009208780112003-12-11T13:26:00.000-08:002003-12-11T14:46:07.246-08:00

Stop the Presses Last week's genocide conviction of three Rwandan journalists was celebrated by several Africa bloggers ("[T]hey should count themselves lucky that they continue to breathe," wrote zombyboy at AfricaBlog "That is far more than they deserve."). I was inclined to join the fun. Anyone who's familiar with the story of the Rwandan genocide knows the role that Hutu media played in

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071173174002745022003-12-11T12:06:00.000-08:002003-12-11T14:47:24.170-08:00

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together If you can come up with a way to deliver Charles Taylor to justice, Northbridge Services Group would like to hear from you. The British security outfit says it needs an investor to fund an effort to nab Taylor. If it all works out, the investor will split the profits from the $2 million award. So presumably, your plan would have to cost less than that. I

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071166795092897692003-12-11T10:19:00.000-08:002003-12-11T10:21:00.593-08:00

Profiles in Coinage After vowing to eradicate the type of personality cult fostered by his predecessors, Kenyan prez Mwai Kibaki has OK'd his face being put a coin. Jeeze, good thing such a shameless attempt at public-mandated ubiquity for a living leader couldn't happen here. Oh wait-- I'm wrong.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071082624046231952003-12-10T10:57:00.000-08:002003-12-10T10:58:08.576-08:00

Lost in Translation Over at Slate, Jeremy Kahn acknowledges how difficult it can be for journalists to get accurate translations in the field. In order to interview Ouedraogo, I pose a question to my translator in English. He translates it into French, and tells our driver, who in turn translates the French into a Burkinabe language and asks Ouedraogo. When he answers, the process reverses

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071080610629643532003-12-10T10:23:00.000-08:002003-12-10T10:28:49.810-08:00

Holiday Surprise According to today's Wall Street Journal, Bush is already reneging on his promise to increase funding to fight AIDS in Africa and the Carribean. Since registration's required to see the article, I'll invoke Fair Use and provide an excerpt: President Bush plans to ask Congress for relatively small funding increases to fight AIDS and poverty in the developing world, stepping

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1071078958024840342003-12-10T09:55:00.000-08:002003-12-10T09:57:03.310-08:00

Waiting for the Librarians JM Coetzee isn't getting his props back home: Coetzee is not well-known in his native South Africa and few newspapers bothered to report his Nobel win, said the BBC's Barnaby Phillips in South Africa. 'Local newspapers have shown no interest... and black intellectuals say he is not a worthy winner,' he said in a report for the BBC's Today programme on Radio 4

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1070993577688588522003-12-09T10:09:00.000-08:002003-12-09T17:33:04.763-08:00

Soft-Boiled Detective Stories Alexander McCall Smith speculates on the popularity of his Number One Ladies' Detective Agency series in the States and Botswana: "These books are very non-aggressive, very gentle,’’ says McCall Smith. “They’re quiet books, there’s a lot of drinking of tea. They’re about good people leading good lives. I think the Americans who read them are fed up with

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1070992312865306742003-12-09T09:51:00.000-08:002003-12-09T09:53:19.560-08:00

Bill Gates, Move Over Mugabe's headed to Switzerland to an Internet confab. Word is that he's going to unveal his new blog, InstaDespot.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1070930990732210462003-12-08T16:49:00.000-08:002003-12-08T16:52:29.046-08:00

Traffic Control How illegal weapons are tracked down-- parts of this first-hand account read like a thriller: We started our investigation by looking at weapons held by deserting government soldiers and rebels from neighbouring Sierra Leone brought across the border into Liberia. And it was in no-man's land, in the middle of the Mano River Union bridge between Sierra Leone and

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1070927942877459552003-12-08T15:59:00.000-08:002003-12-08T16:53:36.716-08:00

Among the Thugs On Slate this week, a travelogue from rebel-held Ivory Coast. Jeremy Kahn says Les Forces Nouvelles are deceptively charming: The rebels grow on me during my two days in Bouaké. I meet with members of the Forces Nouvelles' political wing, the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (which goes by the French acronym MPCI), who I find to be extremely intelligent and articulate.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1070911835509423862003-12-08T11:30:00.000-08:002003-12-08T13:36:30.593-08:00

Eyes Wide Shut Andrew at Southern Cross is not impressed with Christian Science Monitor scribe Abraham McLaughlin's first impressions of Jo'burg: I don't know what irritates me more about the post, the fact that the guy expresses surprise that Jo'burg has 6 lane highways, 'just like LA', the fact that it's, 'more sophisticated and functional' than he was expecting it to be or, perhaps this, the

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1070673581303193692003-12-05T17:15:00.000-08:002003-12-05T17:20:39.310-08:00

Important Business Details Modalities Nigeria is busting 419 scammers. So far a new anti-fraud unit has retrieved $200 million from the sons, brothers, widows, and erstwhile business partners of Africa's deposed and deceased leaders.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1070672656323094662003-12-05T17:02:00.000-08:002003-12-05T17:05:16.590-08:00

Focus on Polio Sebastiao Salgado's latest subject: the crippling disease that is almost-- but not quite-- a thing of the past.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1070671043602971992003-12-05T16:33:00.001-08:002003-12-05T17:12:47.966-08:00

Look, But Don't Touch Wow-- this is the kind of silly thing I only thought they did for Bush when he goes abroad: As leaders of her former colonies converge for a Commonwealth summit, Queen Elizabeth II was to visit a mock-up Nigerian village populated by actors playing villagers, coming as close to ordinary people of this country as she is likely to because of security concerns. [...]

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1070670813769285002003-12-05T16:33:00.000-08:002003-12-05T16:34:31.543-08:00

A Bad Rap in Soweto A music columnist in the local alt-weekly looks at what happened when American rap stars visited South Africa. Not everyone was feeling the love. Kinda interesting, even if you're not into the music. There are stories going around Johannesburg and Cape Town about Ja Rule. Earlier this year, Ja (who's still very popular in other parts of the world) trekked to the mother

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1070672217418301522003-12-01T16:37:00.000-08:002003-12-05T17:00:14.263-08:00

Something to Digest I'd be remiss if I didn't provide links to the two big stories that came out over the holiday. I wonder if their release was timed to coincide with Americans' celebration of their bounty. FAO's report on hunger UNAIDS' Epidemic Update Some of the devastating stats from the UNAIDS report: • Sub-Saharan Africa remains by far the most devastated by AIDS, and the

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069710364322270652003-11-24T13:43:00.000-08:002003-11-24T13:46:47.450-08:00

Where's the Beef? The Beeb has posted readers' comments on whether Western fast food is "colonizing" Africa. Interesting subject.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069709681266060092003-11-24T13:19:00.000-08:002003-11-24T13:49:59.810-08:00

Top Ten Reasons Mugabe Should Go Samantha Power (author of the excellent "A Problem From Hell": America and the Age of Genocide) has a piece in this month's Atlantic titled, "How to Kill a Country." It gives a level-headed explaination of how Robert Mugabe turned Zimbabwe from "the breadbasket of Africa" to another "basket case." The piece is not online, so I'll summarize her top-ten list of

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069547382659517842003-11-22T16:29:00.000-08:002003-11-22T16:33:30.200-08:00

Bubba's Book Club Bill Clinton has released a list of his alleged 21 favorite books. (I say "alleged" because one of them is Hillary's Living History.) But I was surprised and glad to see that Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost made the list. Funny, The Very Hungry Caterpillar isn't there.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069396312555236152003-11-21T05:31:00.000-08:002003-11-21T09:15:13.576-08:00

The High Cost of Living Here's what a few everyday items cost in Zimbabwe on November 11. The prices have undoubtedly increased since then. To put this in context, the average Zimbabwean earns between Z$200,000 and Z$800,000 a year. 1 loaf bread $2,800 1 dozen eggs $3,500 2kg sugar $2,000 500g powdered milk $18,000 1kg mince $25,000 2kg chicken portions $20,000 750ml cooking oil $7,500

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069365245405653432003-11-20T13:54:00.000-08:002003-11-20T16:02:54.153-08:00

Bubba Come Back! Is this item from The Onion right on, or what? African Leaders Still Treating Clinton As President NAIROBI, KENYA—Kenyan President Emilio Mwai Kibaki said Monday that his country continues to enjoy excellent diplomatic relations with former U.S. President Bill Clinton. "I have always enjoyed working with Mr. Clinton, and the recent international Agricultural Development

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069358307010850832003-11-20T11:58:00.000-08:002003-11-20T13:36:44.780-08:00

Kalahari Dreamin' Alexander McCall Smith's piece on Botswana in the Sunday New York Times travel section makes me want to hop the next flight to Gaboronne. I guess I'm a sucker for semi-arid southern African countries. McCall, of course, is the author of the sleeper hit Number One Ladies' Detective Agency, which I've plugged before.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069353829599422882003-11-20T10:43:00.000-08:002003-11-20T10:44:44.170-08:00

Turning up the Volume on the Silent Epidemic South African AIDS activist Zackie Achmat describes his reaction to his government's long-overdue decision to provide free retrovirals: "I danced the whole morning." This is going to be the largest single public health intervention the world has ever seen. [...] I think the consequences of the epidemic on our society makes it impossible not to

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069353274936606292003-11-20T10:34:00.000-08:002003-11-20T10:35:11.576-08:00

Africa Blog Catalog Allafrica.com is compiling a list of Africa bloggers. Check it out.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069199918496052432003-11-18T15:58:00.000-08:002003-11-20T11:24:07.030-08:00

To Hell and Bok Way South suspects I don't like rugby. In fact, I don't really have a strong opinion, but stories like this confirm that some of these guys really should have worn head protection in their youth: Springbok players were forced to strip naked and ordered around at gunpoint in a bizarre effort to prepare them for the Rugby World Cup in Australia. "Despite being sworn to

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069181294346929492003-11-18T10:48:00.000-08:002003-11-18T10:48:48.200-08:00

Living History Solanna over at Namibia or Bust profiles her co-workers and provides a glimpse into a few episodes in recent Namibian history: When Julia was five years old, her mother was accused by SWAPO members of being a spy for South Africa and was then jailed in Angola (Angola supported SWAPO), where she (as was common) was not simply imprisoned, but was also tortured and subjected

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069109918832965572003-11-17T14:48:00.000-08:002003-11-17T14:59:25.250-08:00

Official Secrets Speaking of the CSM, it has an interesting piece on Uganda's hush-hush AIDS clinic for government bigwigs. Even in a country that's long been on the forefront of fighting the disease, it's not easy to convince public figures to protect themselves or get treatment.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069099705671448452003-11-17T12:08:00.000-08:002003-11-17T14:45:04.966-08:00

Contrasting Beautiful Namibia Thanks to Way South, I just came across Namibia or Bust, a blog written by a Canadian woman working in Windhoek. Her tales of beauty pageants and soya mince bring back fond memories, as does her mention of Sister Namibia magazine, which famously printed a cover depicting Sam Nujoma and Robert Mugabe kissing... Also: A new blog by the Christian Science Monitor's

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069093199487505582003-11-17T10:19:00.000-08:002003-11-17T10:20:32.420-08:00

Snow Job A modest proposal to reverse the melting of the Kilimanjaro ice cap: ring the mountain's summit with a Cristo-like wrap: Getting hundreds of thousands of square yards of fabric to the mountain top would be fairly easy — pack it up tightly and throw it out the back of a transport plane. Hanging it off the ice cliffs would be tricky, and require a lot of help. But it is hard to

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1069002816600207092003-11-16T09:13:00.000-08:002003-11-16T09:14:00.793-08:00

Voting With Their Feet According to this story, as much as 20 percent of Zimbabweans have tried to find sanctuary in a neighboring country. But getting over the border and making a living isn't easy.

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1068936034645828362003-11-15T14:40:00.000-08:002003-11-15T22:02:45.950-08:00

Lift Every Voice... Tom Tomorrow blogpal Bob Harris really digs how the South African rugby team sings the national anthem: I only wish you all could have seen the South African side singing its anthem before each of its games. This was something beyond words for me: the entire team, multiple cultures, side by side, black and white -- all belting out words of peace and freedom in four

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1068856953180821882003-11-14T16:42:00.000-08:002003-11-14T17:05:13.780-08:00

Panning the Pan-Africans I've never been real keen on the idea of Pan-Africanism. Let's start with its political manifestation, which proposes that the continent's woes could be ended by erasing the colonial borders and establishing a "United States of Africa." OK, that's a pretty reductive summary, but then, Pan-Africanism is a pretty reductive ideology. African nations do have a lot of

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1068832554414521442003-11-14T09:55:00.000-08:002003-11-14T09:56:22.920-08:00

Armed and Dangerous? Reports of a new armed anti-Mugabe movement in Zimbabwe are circulating. According to a British activist, the Zimbabwe Freedom Movement has thousands of members, drawn from the police and military. There are reportedly no links to the MDC. Whether this is hype and whether this is a good thing remain to be seen. This could easily be used by Mugabe as an excuse for a further

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1068769497144049922003-11-13T16:24:00.000-08:002003-11-15T14:25:34.840-08:00

(No) Relief Map The BBC has posted an interactive map showing the spread of AIDS in Africa (and around the world).

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1068758412244482482003-11-13T13:20:00.000-08:002003-11-15T14:25:57.640-08:00

Sad... Tales of child slaves being used in Nigerian granite and sand mines. The survivors spoke to The Beeb. One of the recently rescued children, Macenia Boha, says they were beaten if they did not work hard enough and also if they asked for food, even if they were hungry. "You are always hungry," he said. "They are bad people. They did bad things to us." Macenia is lucky to

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146891.post-1068665117456088372003-11-12T11:11:00.000-08:002003-11-12T11:27:59.966-08:00

Hail Cesaria! Last night, I was lucky enough to see Cesaria Evora perform for the second time. It was a wonderful show, though I recall the previous one being more lively, thanks to a larger band. Evora, who doesn't speak English, was charming and almost shy last time around. This time, she was more confident, but also less aware of the audience, for better or worse. Once again, she took an

daudihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04835960717784137476noreply@blogger.com