:: louder than swahili

Misunderstood solidarity

Let me say it the kali way;

If you, the mzungu who come to Tanzania or any other country in Africa for a shorter period of time, suddenly find yourself faced with the evident lack of fairness and inequality, and you decide to support, let's say a school child with his or her education, you better stick to it.

Via my job I have received my share of emails from people who have been here, returned to Denmark, and realised that this support they promised while they were here, is a financial burden and a logistical challenge. Or they need someone to document or check up.

This morning I just received a letter from someone in Denmark explaining me his financial constraints contra his promise to pay a young man's school fees; and his failed attempts to get an NGO or others on board.

In general, I don't mind wazungu supporting Africans on a private level. What I don't get, is that a lot of wazungu don't understand the range from how easy it is to make a promise while they are in it in Africa, to how difficult it is to fullfill it back home. A lot of wazungu don't understand that they have to take the full responsibility for what they embark on and for the expectations they create.

What really pisses me off is when a person writes me from Denmark appealing to my conscience, attempting to make me feel guilty (while listing a lot of extremely important facts which appear only to apply in that particular case), because that person wants someone to take over his/her promise.

I find it immensely selfish, and those cases are, in my opinion, in fact the worst examples of misunderstood solidarity.

Climate Change: Again. What do African media say?

I tried to do a sum up here. (Not fully comprehensive at all.)

One of the fastest ways to get a one-way ticket home...

Canadian Diplomat in spitting row is recalled from Tanzania.

I guess, if you don't act diplomatic, you don't deserve the right to unlimited diplomatic immunity?!

No matter what happened here exactly, spitting on an official on duty in a country where you are a visitor, while representing an embassy, only has one predictable outcome.

How to find your way Africa?

BBC Africa has an excellent article on how to find your way in African cities.

I have been horribly lost more than once. Sat there in the car, stuck, off track, sweared at the people I was going to find.

Last time I got on a big detour around Mansese - one of  the biggest uswazi in Dar es Salaam. At night. Pitch black.

All because it is a question of 'go straight, continue through the deep pot holes and where the road goes down hill and a little to the right, then turn left at the mango tree, look out for the duka with the Tigo sign....'

The 'Danish text leak' - as a wordle

 

Make you own at www.wordle.net.

'Danish Text Leak': What does Africa say?

I'm blogging for the NGO I work for here about issues related to the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit. This is my post for Friday:

Not being in Copenhagen, but in the other end of the African continent, namely Johannesburg, things are not just remote in a geographical way, it is also not easy to get a real idea of the atmosphere in Copenhagen. However, for the past few days I've been following what the Africans say about the so-called 'Danish text leak' on on-line newspapers, Twitter, Facebook and blogs.

The 'Danish text leak' does not exactly support the rich countries' attempt to bring on that rich and poor countries are equal in the negotiations or in real life, though Ban Ki-Moon has been working overtime to reassure the good intentions; 'I have been very consciously engaging with developing countries,' he said. 'Even if there have been some trust issues, we have been bridging this gap as much as we can. This is what I am going to continue to do.'

On the other hand; it hasn't exactly caused an avalance in the African media.

When the 'Danish text leak' hit the social media a Kenyan friend of mine opened up with this Facebook status on Wednesday: Is anyone surprised? But the World Bank, seriously? Shame on you Denmark! And then she linked to Gado, the Kenyan illustrator's Facebook page, where people amongst others have commented on the illustration below as follows:

 

• - Talks, talks and much more talks. That is all! It has been like this since WW2. Participants get allowances during such meetings and they go back to their countries with just recommendations that are not binding!
• - Its a climatic talkshow...just too much co2 emission with no action after the show
• - God is the only King who can change all situations in the world don be cheated by the copenhagen gathering nothing will take effect....lets pray enough prayers n all shall be well.
• - It's time we Africans took responsibility for our problems instead of always blaming foreigners. 
• - prayers are for the faint hearted....we need to stop hiding in Gods name and act on his behalf may be......doing whatever you can to save his creation iif you believe in that.....www.climatedebtagents.com visit that site for more.

The South African Mail & Guardian on Wednesday here delivered an observant analysis quoting Lumumba Di-Aping, the Sudanese chairman of the group of 132 developing countries known as G77 plus China, when he explained 'why the poor countries he represents were so incensed' about the text leak: 

'We will not walk out of the talks at this late hour, because we will not allow the failure of Copenhagen. But we will not sign an inequitable deal; we will not accept a deal that condemns 80% of the world population to further suffering and injustice.'

However, some of the comments replying to the article are in deed indicating that the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit isn't just black and white (for all comments look here):

• - 132 developing countries, and they choose Sudan to represent them! WTF?
• - It's most hypocritical for world governments to lecture everyone about reducing greenhouse gases when they spent time flying around the world for countless conferences. There are just too many world jamborees. I will just name a few - UN, AU, Sadc, EU, G8, G20, now G77, East Asia Community, South American Confederation, NATO, China-Africa, East Africa Union, West Africa Union,Non-Aligned Movement, Arab Confederation,Food Summit, Climate Change, etc.
• - If Zuma and his ilk are so concerned about climate change, why aren't they driving small, energy-efficient cars, like the Toyota Prius, instead of huge gas-guzzling R1 million Beamers?? Where is the gvt's long-term plan to reduce carbon emissions? Why are new houses for the poor not fitted with solar panels as a matter of course? Why all those overseas visits in private or army jets? If I were the West, I'd want to be sure that my money was actually going to be used to combat climate change, instead of being just another gift to the corrupt politicians.

Adam Welz, a South African, participating in the summit in Copenhagen is here blogging a first account of the Di-Aping speech:

'He then went on to forthrightly address the weakness of many African negotiating delegations, noting that many were unprepared and that some members were either lazy or had been “bought off” by the industrialised nations. He singled out South Africa, saying that some members of that delegation had actively sought to disrupt the unity of the bloc. He said that civil society needed to hold its negotiators to account, but warned of a long and difficult struggle for a fair climate deal (words to the effect of ‘you have no idea of the powers that are arrayed against you’, spoken in the tone of someone who has spent years interacting with these powers.).'

The limited amount of reactions to the 'Danish text leak' and the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in African media does not mean that Africans are indifferent to climate change.

My personal guess is that the majority of Africans have no idea of what's going on in Copenhagen this week, nor of its potential impact on their lives; secondly, the Africans, who do have an engagement on this account, simply have very few illusions in regards of  the expected outcome of the Climate Change Summit. Thirdly, a recurrent issue is that Africans suspect that their politicians are not in this for real; i.e., The Tanzanian government has been criticized of bringing the secondlargest delegation (and for chasing the per diem) and South Africa's Jacob Zuma didn't make up his mind until last minute.

Climate change does matter to Africa; Africans do talk about the weather, the sudden mud slides, the draught and the rising water levels. These are real factors in many Africans' lives. However, the complex discussions dominating the agenda in Copenhagen dealing with man made temperature rises, CO2 quotas and fossil fuel are simply not matching most of the Africans' reality.

The 'Danish text leak', in my opinion, sadly underlines this, and the big question really is; whatever happens in Copenhagen, will it improve the everyday lives of the Africans?

Illustration by the Kenyan illustrator, Gado. Taken from here.

South African Flag: It gotta be right

I went back again today to Pimville in Soweto to interview some more kids.

In between an interactive, sudden session occurred on which way the South African flag must turn.

The kids finally got it right.

No uswahili lingering here.

Copenhagen Climate Summit: The Danish text leak. Give me your opinons!

The UK Guardian is reporting that the second day of the UN Copenhagen climate summit erupted in even more controversy today after developing countries reacted angrily to documents that were leaked showing world leaders will be asked to sign an agreement next week that gives considerably more power to rich nations and curtails the UN's role in all future climate change negotiations.

 

Read more here.

 

I'm writing on a blog post for http://ms-action.dk/blogs/climate about reactions from the Africans bloggers and tweeters on 'the Danish text leak'.

 

Africans, please, give me your opinions!

South Africa: What is football really about?

Today I spent the day in Soweto, most of the time at Tshebedisano Primary School in Pimville, where the NGO Grassroot Soccer has arranged a week full of football and education on HIV/AIDS for about 100 pupils.

The daily programme is mixed between educational sessions and soccer matches.The children were told the rules for the soccer matches; That it is not only about the goals you score, it also is about team spirit - basically about how much cheering, dancing and singing you can come up with on the sideline.

I couldn't help thinking that that is what life is exactly about, that this is what should apply to the politicians ruling the world (but that most of us forget it when we enter our offices).These children did not. I didn't come across one sulky teenager. In stead you had children listening and asking questions when their Skillz Coaches shared their own personal experience with HIV/AIDS. And then you had children going absolutely crazy cheering, dancing and singing while supporting their team. Take away the vuvuzela, you'll still get noise for the 2010.

And that is how it should be.

Yesterday I was again reminded how capitalism runs this continent.

Everybody talks about fottball and the 2010. South Africans want to want the football, too.

But who can afford the tickets?

What national football team will be cuddling up in comfortable Knysna - flying in and out for the games, never getting in touch with how the majority of the South Africans live? (The Danes, of course)

Who will make money on the visitors' fear of South Africa?

I asked one of the girls at the school what she thought 2010 would bring on for South Africa, and she looked at me and said: Honestly?! I really don't know.

To some the answers come easier. People explain that the infrastructure (around the bigger cities) will improve; to others it is about image and pride. During the draw in Cape Town on Saturday Jacob Zuma held the trophy and said it is going to stay in Africa after the cup. That might be wishfull thinking, but it is a huge thing that probably the most football crazy continent finally get to host a world cup. But it is also a challenge when you see the distance between the expectations from the national teams to what is Africa on the ground.

Climate Change Summit Catering in Copenhagen stocking up nyama choma?

Thanks to the journalists, Mkinga Mkinga and Beatus Kagashe, at The Citizen for pointing out the humongous number of Tanzanians going to Copenhagen for Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change!  

Tanzania appears to be sending the 2nd-largest delegation from Africa to Copenhagen!

This is an interesting article in terms of observations and conclusions, including research involving statistics and a visit to the Swedish Embassy (where you get your visa to Denmark these days).

Jamii Forum has picked up my blog post from yesterday (which of course is a great honour), where I criticized the not so curious microphone holders among the journalists covering news in Tanzania.

Evidently there is - in any country - a strong relation between the degree of this phenomenon and the government's desire to control what the media express. In this regard, let me just emphasise one thing: It is my personal experience that Tanzanian media are improving in terms of playing a watchdog role, and that an article of this kind is part of sparking the debate on i.e. the government's priorities.

Climate Change: Acclimatize today!

In Denmark Tine Aurvig-Huggenberger, chief of public affairs in Prime Time Communications, a while ago used the term 'climate fucked'.

And the media flipped.

I do understand her, and find her arguments completely in place. The past week I have myself had an overdose of climate correct words. I am not the only one - when I posted my climate nausea (klimakvalme) on Facebook, I instantly got supportive comments in return.

However, I realised that my problem here in Tanzania is different from the ones of my Danish friends. Here I'm not being told to perform a long line of political correct things; I drive many kilometres in a Nissan Hardbody and I work in an office with aircondition, and nobody winks an eye.

I'm on the other hand being menthally challenged by the rethorics of the international climate change agenda, which I think have taken over the whole picture. The NGO I work for has surely gone overboard, too, and have so far been operating with a new range of climate related words; climate agents, climate campaign coordinator assistants, climate solitaire, climate debt, climate diploma, climate scoundrels, climate heroes etc.

It is as if it is all about adding the prefix 'climate' to something, and then people will listen. But what if you overdo it? I agree with the blogger here that this kind of campaigning is targeting the lowest denomitator, thus recquiring little from the receiver in terms of really understanding what this is about.

It is not new, and the Tanzanians have also becoming rather good at it. For a while climate has been integrated as the new buzz word in all important agendas. Kikwete says it and last week even Mama Nyerere took up the climate agenda, too.

I am blogging for the NGO I work for on climate change here, and I am desperately looking for links between the meeting in Copenhagen and the ground: What are all the climate words really about when it comes to a Tanzanian village?

I still don't know for certain. Climate change is complicated. And so far I'm stuck with the idea that for many of the NGOs and governments in both developed and developing countries it is very much about publicity, funds raised, donations gained - and then there'll be climate change.

Or..?!

Surely someone needs to acclimatisize soon, as the Tanzanian Kilimanjaro beer slogan suggests. Follow our blog here, and do not shy away from letting me know what you think!

African leaders advise Bono on reform of U2 (love this)

A while ago I complained about Bono here.

I wrote:

I don't have a final decisive stand on Bono and Africa. I think Bono is a bit over-hyped, too obsessed with black shades and being Bono, and I don't listen to U2's music anymore with the same enthusiam. Too mainstream. But in terms of 'telling Africa's stories' I think the long line of African artists (or people who stayed around long enough to at least try to get it under their skin), who promote Africa and who integrate Africa into their actual work, write or sing about Africa because they can't help it, do a much better job.

...

Funny, today I read that An expert commission of African leaders today announced their plan for comprehensive reform of music band U2. Saying that U2’s rock had lost touch with its African roots, the commission called for urgent measures to halt U2’s slide towards impending crisis.

“Our youth today are imperiled by low quality music,” said Commission chairman Nelson Mandela. “We will be lending African musicians to U2 to try to refurbish their sound to satisfy the urgent and growing needs for diversionary entertainment at a time of crisis in the global music and financial sectors.”

FANTASTIC. I'm all in line with Mandela!

Hata mimi!! My photos are published in a South African photo magazine

I've gone very serious and adult. Am very happy.

Dowload the Photo Comment Magazine here.

I live my life on the African continent between two explanations

The question 'Who does Mo Ibrahim think he is?' is being asked over at Swahili Street.

My two favourite answers to questions regarding big or small mysteries on the African continent are at the moment:

That's how it is. Followed by the fatalistic piece of advice: Forget it, you can't change it anyway!*

or

Capitalism. Followed by the advice: Make noise, go tell them that it is bad for Africa!

I live my life on the African continent between these two explanations.

Swahili Street is right, and I hate to admit it. Because Youssou was still good, old, beautiful Youssou last night and Angelique Kidjo was radiating, in spite they're being paid for by mobile phone company Zain to play for the rich people in Dar es Salaam.

When we walked out the entrance gate of the Karimjee Hall, the casual workers on the load of the taka taka truck shouted, while the truck left an unmistakenly reminder of the uswahilini on its way to collect our rubbish.

Of course, this is absurd.

As absurd as Mo's idea of a cash prizes for ‘good’ presidents - or, well, in this year's case: no prices. We all know that presidents don't need extra pocket money or being invited to VIP concerts. We all know who need it the most.

But Mo's got airtime (in more than one way), and big men listen to money.

However, last night, I said That's how it is, and enjoyed the fact that I got to see some of the greatest African artists under circumstances which would never have worked in Europe.

* Probably a more frequent explanation is the popular  'TIA', short for 'This Is Africa' made famous by the film Blood Diamond, and somehow very bling among newly arrived wazungu on the continent.

7 seconds away. I'll be waiting

Just returned from an intense concert in a beautiful garden in Dar es Salaam.

All I can say is that more African men ought to wear light blue shirts like Youssou N'Dour.

The man is beautiful.

He said; Africa can be happiness like this.

Makes me feel like visiting West Africa.

Never had that idea before.

Sauti za Busara versus Mafia Dance Festival

  I have taken the first photo at this year's Sauti za Busara in Stone Town, Zanzibar. a

The second is from Mafia Dance Festival announcing dates for a coming festival in August.

Seems like the wazungu go to Mafia, and that people wear clothes on Sauti za Busara.

Kweli...(?)!

So much more reason to go to Sauti za Busara 11-16 February 2010.

Please i want you to write me back Because i will like to have a relationship with you,so that we will know each other very well. so will you write me back in my email address

This e-mail I also don't get:

Hello,
How are you hope fine, I Want to introduce my self to you before i go further, My Name is Sofia Umar from southern part of sudan.Please i want you to write me back Because i will like to have a relationship with you,so that we will know each other very well. so will you write me back in my email address (miss_sofia_umar_y@yahoo.com) i have an important discussion that i will like to discuss with you urgently, so I am look forward to hear from you soon!
Thanks and God bless you,
Miss Sofia Umar.

Not a single clear reason included for writing back: Sorry!

Twitter: Check out the 'FAKE Official Spokesman Of the Jovernment Of Kenya'

Check out the tweets of the 'FAKE Official Spokesman Of the Jovernment Of Kenya' @alfredmutua.

This is hilariously funny. Fantastic humour:

• Government urges all Kenyans to report to the nearest police post if they are being followed on twitter for their safety
• Government is sending a 50 man delegation to the LA Galaxy to watch Victoria Beckham play
• Government has in fact scored 134% on reforms but modesty compelled me to say 90% in my advertisement
• This state house chef is a hoax! Bean stew CANNOT be made with coffee beans!
• Govt would like to assure Kenyans that Aaron Ringera is the best KACC director that money can buy
• I would like to assure Kenyans that they have the best government that money can buy
• I've not received SMSes from anyone that died of hunger. I hereby declare famine a figment of imagination
• If you are dying, or recently died of hunger, send me a SMS
• Government does not understand Kenyans complaining about no maize. Why not eat ugali instead?
• Can't understand what all the rationing fuss is. Half the night Kenyans sleep in the dark anyway!
• To save water, government is encouraging Kenyans to shower together.

and go on yourself here @alfredmutua

Who made us, here, and why...

On days like this, I crank up this song, and when I have a decent Internet connection I watch the video. As I noted here, I do know that Scatterlings of Africa is old fashion in present South Africa, but it means something special to me. It is no secret to the frequent reader of this blog that I have a crush on Johnny Clegg. His son is cool, too, not to forget his wife (which still is one of the most frequent searches leading to my blog).

Also, I'll argue anytime that the amount of times Johnny Clegg's music is now going to be used for the World Cup soundtracks only understates the fact that his work goes beyond the mainstream.

Many videos have been made to illustrate Scatterlings of Africa, however, this one is my favorite. Shot in the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe. Johnny Clegg was brought up by his Zimbabwean mother, in his mother’s native land of Zimbabwe. She later married a South African journalist and immigrated to South Africa when Johnny was seven years old.

My first trip South of Sahara went to Johannesburg in 2003, then off 14 hours overland in a car to Harare. I went with my then boyfriend, who was born in Zimbabwe, and who later moved to South Africa, then Denmark. When we went to Harare he brought a guitar, CDs, flipflops, boxes of food, diesel and absolutely no suitable clothes for the wedding we were invited to. It didn't matter. The guitar did. Making stops, people would ask for a song, out the guitar came. After a few drinks the zulu dance moves, too. The people in Denmark didn't really get it, here it made perfect sense. 

I heard Johnny Clegg for the first time then. Everybody jumped around like mad. I didn't know what it was, didn't feel the song belonged to me.

It does now.

I arrived to Africa in a complex mode of feeling innocent and open - but also intimidated and worried if I could take it. I was invited by friends, and welcomed into their families and culture. All the other times I came to Africa, I came due to the fact that I work for an NGO. That completely changed my perspective, that and the experience you gather from living 26 months along and across the Ugandan border to Sudan, or the 26 months I have now lived at the Swahili Coast.

It is no secret that I feel that my NGO contract obliges me in certain ways: My presence has a very specified work purpose, I'm a resident, not a tourist. I drive a car with a logo. I work, I get per diem and travel reimbursement. I often end up argueing politically corrrect, defending my presence, though I feel like letting go for the simpler way. NGO workers are serious people, we like to be taken seriously. Sometimes I just wanna be me.

Fortunately, I started in the real way. I know exactly what I love about this continent, I got that under my skin the first time around. Scatterlings of Africa sparks that feeling.

Finally, as a curiosity; I doubt many people know that Johnny Clegg made a reference to Tanzania in his most popular song: Olduvai (or Oldupai) is in Tanzania.

Full lyrics here.

2010 South Africa FIFA World Cup Advert: Start imagining

And the Africa Leadership Award Goes to … No One

It's not a good sign when your leadership prize runs out of eligible candidates to honor after a whopping two years. Welcome to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation's Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, whose winner was meant to be announced in London yesterday: 

This year the Prize Committee has considered some credible candidates. However, after in-depth review, the Prize Committee could not select a winner."

Read more on Foreign Policy.

Gotta give it to Mo Ibrahim, and I suggest that this interesting approach would be considered next time the Nobel Peace Prize is up (though Bono disagrees here); or at the coming Euro Vision Music Contest.

Sometimes there just aren't any winners.

World Food Day: HungerFREE

It is World Food Day 2009 today. ActionAid's HungerFREE campaign goes:

 

What's the problem?

• Over one billion people are going hungry right now.
• That's nearly a sixth of humanity.
• Last year, a food price crisis pushed 100 million more into hunger.  Poor people ate less frequently and cut back on the nutrient-rich food they need most. 
• Local food prices remain much higher than before, so hungry families have to make a horrible choice between buying food and doing without healthcare or school for their children.
• There is enough food in the world to meet everyone's needs, but not everyone gets a fair share.

Who is suffering most?

• The problem is worst in rural areas, home to 75% of the world’s poor. 
• Poor people lack control over land and access to other basic farming resources like water.
• Women are particularly disadvantaged. While women in poor countries grow more than 60% of the food, they own less than 1% of the land.
• Climate change, high prices, trade barriers and agro-fuel production are all hitting the poorest people hardest.
• Poor people in rural communities can feed themselves if they have the right support, but the current system isn’t working.

What's the solution?

• There is enough food in the world to feed everyone - the problem is political. And that means it can be fixed.
• Low-impact farming by small-holder farmers is the best way to tackle hunger.
• A UN study found sustainable agriculture increased crop yields in Africa by an astonishing 116%.

What can I do?

• We need Gordon Brown to demonstrate international leadership in improving the way the global food system is governed.
• We need governments to be monitored and held to account for eradicating hunger.
• We need the UK government to support small scale, sustainable farming of the kind that can best support women farmers.
• Take action now!

Support Lubna Hussein

Africa's new Disneyland

On September 6 2009 this article here by Alex Renton was published in the British Observer. Renton reports on the plight of the Maasai as they are evicted from their homelands to create vast 'nature refuges.

It begins like this:

Twilight is swift near the equator. As the cloud castles on the western horizon turn a tandoori red, the children are hurrying the goats into the thorn enclosure that keeps them from the leopards. A Masai elder passes on the path up the hill, striding easily into the slope. His purple plaid wraps him from shoulders to knees; there's a long-bladed spear in his left hand, a furled umbrella is strapped to his back. With his free hand he is busy with a mobile phone. He looks up to nod a greeting. I can smell the smoke of cooking fires from the nearby Masai village. It is an ordinary evening in the highlands of East Africa.

So it's particularly odd that I've just received a text message welcoming me to the United Arab Emirates. "Enjoy the best network coverage and other unmatched services only with Etisalat," it says. "Enjoy your stay in the UAE!"

Read on here to find out why it is poosible to receive this kind of text messages in northern Tanzania.

The article is extremely well-written and critical, while presenting many different perspectives of a problem not just present in Tanzania, but in several other places in Africa; there's the conflict between capitalistic interests - some call it development - and the promotion of a culture/tribe as a touristic object (with the idea of profiting on it, while the wazungu observe it), the role of the government, the investors and tourism companies - and then finally the people of the land.

Which again leads on to a debate about what people have the right to what land?

A question which is going to be more and more relevant for Africa in the time to come.

Old enough to become a real Tanzanian politician?

Zitto Kabwe is only 32 years old. MP for Kigoma North, and many young Tanzanians' favourite MP. The young man, who is also a deputy secretary general of Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema), one of the two biggest opposition parties in Tanzania, caused a stir in late August by announcing that he would be challenging Freeman Mbowe (48), the party's secretary general, in the party's forthcoming elections.

Chadema has 11 seats in the National Assembly. Five are constituency and the rest, special seats. Chadema is the second strongest opposition party after the Civic United Front (CUF), which has 32 seats.

Yesterday, however, Kabwe, withdrew his decision, which has caused a really interesting stir. The assumption goes that the elders of Chadema have persuaded Kabwe to withdraw. Kabwe himself reiterated to the Daily News that his decision to withdraw came from "the deepest part of his heart" and it was for the best interests of the party. And Kabwe admitted that he had always believed in socialism whereas Mr Mbowe believes in capitalism, the fact that has often provoked strong debate between them.

In the Citizen Dr. Azaveli Lwaitama from the University of Dar Es Salaam is challenging Tanzanian politics. It is no secret that the tradition in this country tends to favour the wazee over the young. But it hasn't always been like that, he notes;

Mwalimu Julius Nyerere was one year younger, 31, when he contested and was elected as chairperson of Tanganyika African Association in 1953. Lwaitama suggests that leaders of the 1950s were more prepared to allow youth participate in politics then.

Today a candidate must be 40-50 years to be considered material for a leading position. Kikwete is namely considered young, in spite of the fact he is 59 years old (!)

Lwaitama does also refer to the young late politician and MP Amina Chifupa (whom the singer Nakaaya by the way also asks us to remember in her popular song Mr. Politician, encouraging politicians to shake up), who like Zitto was extremely popular among youth.

Back in the Citizen Lwaitama lifts the problem up on a higher level, by emphasizing that these elders do not seem to appreciate that Africa is passing through a period similar to the one it passed through in the 1940s and 1950s in terms of seeking ideological clarity to guide political struggles.

In a country where youth make up around half of the population, it is rather interesting how little space they are granted for participation in democracy. At one point you are no longer young, you stop thinking from a young person's perspective, and then you can become a politician.

But maybe a change is in the making? Maybe this really is about something else?

Photo from here.

Coming Up: MTV Africa Music Award (MAMAs)

Originally African artists were awarded an MTV Europe Music Award voted by MTV, but then the MTV Africa Music Awards (also known as the MAMAs) were established in 2008 by MTV Networks Africa.

On 25 August 2009 MTV (and Zain) disclosed the contenders for the 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards in Nairobi: See the list here.

The winners will be unveiled on 10 October 2009 at the Indoor Arena, Moi International Sports Centre, Nairobi, Kenya. Read more here.

My favorite nominees are P-Square from Nigeria, and the South African Cassette.

Anyone who can get away with singing 'Taking back Zimbabwe. Fuck you, Mugabe!' deserves the MTV Africa Music Awards!

Zanzibar: The first meal of the Ramadhan

Saturday was the first day of the Ramadhan, the ninth month in the Islamic calendar where the Muslims fast, initially in order to concentrate on reaching a higher degree of patience, modesty and spirituality. Amongst others. In Dar Es Salaam, a Muslim friend of mine is hoping that the Ramadhan might help him combat his smoking habit.

In Stone Town during this period of time a lot of restaurants close at day time, and you are advised not to eat or drink in the street when others are going through the hardship of fasting. At 18.32 yesterday, the fast was broken, and eating was allowed. I know for certain, as yesterday evening I was sitting in the car of Isidori with his cousin brother, Hamisi, and our common Italian friend, Simona. We were stopping to buy passion juice in a little duka at the outskirts of Stone Town on the way to Isidori’s home where dinner awaited us, when we heard the call for the fourth prayer of the day, Maghrib.

Obviously, I feel lucky to be invited inside, to someone’s home. Possibly also due to the fact that I’m Danish. I come from this country in Scandinavia which previously and rather randomly has offended Islam, its culture and its people on several occasions. Most infamously, probably, through the publication of the cartoons, however, less known are all the indirect ways the Danish politicians try to distance Danes as a nation from other cultures and religions which, according to our democratically elected politicians, appear strange.

I’m not proud of it. In fact, it makes me both angry and ashamed every time I have to read in a Danish newspaper that another Danish politician tries to define what is strange and ‘non-Danish’. Last week the Conservative People’s Party suggested banning women wearing the bhurka, (un)aware that possibly only 50-150 women wear the bhurka in Denmark (!)

I do understand the dynamics which occur in your head, when you find yourself in a culture which works completely differently than the one you grew up with, and that this can evoke a certain degree of confusion and fear. But I can’t watch silently when politicians use this fear and confusion to create unnecessary stir, when the politicians move people’s attention from the real problems, or when no proper research is being done.

Last night back in Stone Town on the island of Unguja we celebrated the first meal of the Ramadhan with a Zanzibari family. Not a traditional family, but food wise we certainly went along the classical Zanzibar dishes: We had mhugo wa nasi (cassava with coconut); mwali wa nasi (rice with coconut); pweza wa nasi (octopus with coconut), jodari (tuna) and kaimati (small, sweet and spiced donuts).

And of course, the passion jusi. ‘No beers’, our host smiled and apologised rethorically.

After all, this is the Ramadhan, the holy month, and in spite we deal with young Muslims who declare themselves 'happy muslims', who don't go to the mosque to pray five times, and who refer to their Ramadhan practice with a 'nusu nusu' (half half), they do fast during day time. In my opinion and in regard of the few young Muslims I know, I reckon that trying to do your best to follow the concept of the Ramadhan is in fact not such a bad idea. Researching for this blog post, I read that there is an increasing group on non-Muslims practising fasting, too, during the Ramadhan, pursuing the same aim. 

But to be honest, I have no clear, conceptual idea of a good way to get familiar with a new culture which on many levels is far off your own. I was raised in a home where at least one adult throughout life has been voting for the Conservative People's Party and the other for the Liberals ('Venstre' in Danish), but I was also taught to behave politely towards strangers, say 'yes' and 'thank you very much' when offered something, and to greet people with respect. I know for sure that the adults raising me with these values had no idea - what so ever - that I'd be practising these in Zanzibar.

However, I know that there is a lot to learn by observing how others go about it. The majority of wazungu hang out in the regular tourist places, and so would I have done last night, if not for my Italian companion, Simona, who is so much better than me about this. Curiousity is another good thing - apropos trying to figuring out the differences of another culture - my sympathy goes to this guy. Curiousity is probably my main strenght in this perspective.

Our evening ended at the Forodhani Gardens (photo above), which has been renovated with the support from the Aga Khan Foundation, and has finally given Stone Town back its vibe. Zanzibarians were munching food, sugar cane juice and smoking cigarettes. According to the rules of the Ramadhan you must get up before dawn to eat Sahur, the pre-dawn meal, and then perform the fajr prayer. There is no eating or drinking before the call for prayer starts until the fourth prayer of the day, Maghrib. You may continue to eat and drink after the sun has set until the next morning's fajr prayer call.

Basically, it is about getting a routine going and planning. For some people, I guess, it turns day and night around, and probably lowers work efforts in some offices. The Ramadhan is ending at September 19th, and will be marked with an important celebration; Eid Ul-Fitr.

Now, my question is; Who's gonna invite me for this?

Read more about the Ramadhan here, which has also been used as the source for the Ramadhan facts in this blog post.
 

Photos from the MaKuYa Festival in Mtwara

 

 

More to come, but check out these photos here in the meantime.

Gone Tribal. MaKuYa Festival in Mtwara

You should have been here.

It's cheap, wild, tribal and hot.

KenyaAirways on Twitter: Cool!

KenyaAirwaysAre you travelling today with Kenya Airways?Need any info on Flight Status?Please tweet us and we will let you know #travel #nairobi #flight6 minutes ago from web

I have been up-dating myself on 'social media' tools as I co-facilitated a training session on new media last Friday for staff at Tanzania Media Fund. In particular, I have been trying to work out Twitter, which I haven't been overtly fond of, but I realised new opportunities if I connect it with my blog, Flickr and Facebook - amongst them a new way to reach - or be reached - by a different target group.

I like Twitter now, and will try to use it a bit more focused.

I  also like Kenya Airways' approach on Twitter. It made me wonder what a Precision Air Twitterstream would look like...! (I even wondered what Mugabe's Twitterstream would look like).

What the f**ck is 'new media'? Try these guides.

 

Going to the MaKuYa Festival in Mtwara

The Mtwara region of Tanzania contains a rich and unique tradition of performing arts among the Makonde, Makua and Yao tribes. Because of Mtwara’s isolation many traditional dances have not yet been lost to modern trends, until now.

With development, radios and televisions are making their way into rural Mtwara, and many people are being drawn into current modern trends of music and fashion, abandoning their interest in traditional dance and music.

But there are some who still treasure it and wish to perform, and many village elders see the value of preserving it and wish to serve as advisors to young performers.

Check last years festival out here, from where the above text derives.

I'm off next Thursday to Mikindani and Mtwara - the road less travelled.

Promote Africa!

At Promote Africa, we partner with talented artists and musicians to promote African culture, and with community development partners to foster social empowerment and economic development.

Must be cool to be working for these guys. Check out their site here!

Lords of the Bling

A presentation depicting the amount of treatment that could be paid for with the amount of money spent on extravagant purchases and events by political leaders. Check it here.

It feels like having sex without a condom....

...when I have to plug in the great variety of USB flashsticks in my laptop, when I cooperate with people here.

I'm so left with no choice, but that or laying down the work. And yes, give me all your good advice, but this is rural Africa, and we plug the USB sticks in whereever, forgetting the anti-virus protection, or maybe it just isn't an option, when here's no Internet.

My laptop is now suffering from a wide range of virusses popping up, while I try to kill them with a virus detection programme, slowing down my machine. I hope it doesn't die before I reach Dar Es Salaam!

Man, I'm tired of this.

Link: Bongo the Film

I'm passing on this link to Bongo the Film. Check it out: 

From the streets of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, comes a film about opportunity. Bongo, from the Swahili word for “brain”, represents the cunning resourcefulness that it takes to survive on the streets of Dar es Salaam and, for that, the city takes its nickname.

Also thanks to Bongo the Film for Twittering a cool reference to me: 'bongofilm - Came across some amazing shots by artist/aidworker/blogger living in Dar es Salaam. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/lyhkhd @PernillaAfrika.'

(Makes me feel very cool).

Blogging from paradise: How to use blogging as a part of your job?

My Kenyan friend, Liz Mwambui, who's also among my favorite bloggers at The Deeper Meaning of Life, has left Nairobi for the Seychelles. To save paradise.

She's now blogging on Saving Paradise - while working for a leading environmental organisation in the Western Indian Ocean and the Birdlife partner in Seychelles.

The blog is regularly updated with photos and text about very specific issues related to the organisation's work. However, I'd like to emphasise Saving Paradise in particular for Liz' way of using blogging and other new media as part of her job, and I believe it could serve as inspiration to others.

Bagamoyo Wall Grafitti Poetry

No retreat

No surrender

No true love

No job

No house

No money

No girlfriend

No car

A grafitti poem on a wall in Bagamoyo.

I love it.

Don't we all know the feeling when we hit bottom:

No girlfriend.

No car.

I take it that the inspiration must have come out of trying to make a living from being an artist - and from the Civic United Front slogans...

Obama in Africa (only a reflexion in Tanzania)

Yesterday I came by this Tinga Tinga painting in Oysterbay in Dar Es Salaam.

A young boy is holding up a mirror (?), reflecting Obama in front of the Kilimanjaro.

But he wasn't here.

Was he...?

NB. The painting isn't finished, and is lacking some colouring.

What is it with Johnny Clegg's wife?

After a Johnny Clegg concert in Johannesburg on June 29 2008 I ecstaticly admitted that I had googled 'Johnny Clegg's wife'. No interesting results came up, though. But I realise I am not the only one. In fact, at present 'Johnny Clegg's wife' seems to be the most popular top search word leading to my blog.

Last Searches (max 25 shown)

• freshwater fish species (18 hours ago)
• johnny clegg's wife (1 day ago)
• johnny clegg's wife (1 day ago)
• obama (1 day ago)
• mzungu kichaa (2 days ago)
• obama in africa, pernille (3 days ago)
• nkoaranga (4 days ago)
• saba (5 days ago)
• johnny clegg's wife (5 days ago)
• indian, dar es salaam (5 days ago)
• johnny clegg's wife (6 days ago)
• johnny clegg's wife (7 days ago)

Apologies to Mrs. Clegg.

Africa, How' You Doing?!

Stole the graphic icon from my friend at Scarlett Lion Liberia.

And I love it, too.

Originally it comes from this site, where Bono shares his somewhat predictable views on Africa, though I gotta give it to the man: He doesn't sit still.

Maybe things really are changing in terms of rebranding Africa? Or maybe Bono comes round too seldom?

Tanzanian Kanga Tribute: Michael Jackson

If the Tanzanians love you for real, the image of your face wil eventually be found on a kanga. In Uhuru Street in Kisutu the MJ kanga was found in bulk yesterday.

The kanga sellers reported a bit differently on the progress of the sale. That it sells quuickly, or that it takes some time before people will know of it.

With the kangas it works like this: You see someone else wear a specific kanga, you want it, and you start asking at your local kanga shop - or you go to the place nearest to the source: Uhuru Street in Kisutu.

Visiting the Kamusi Project working in Dar Es Salaam

I am a very fond and frequent user of the Kamusi Project’s dictionary, and Wednesday last week I was invited to visit the Kamusi Project working in Dar Es Salaam.

The invitation said that 'the week had been organised by tzLUG (the Tanzania Linux Users Group) and Kamusi Project International in association with ANLoc (the African Network for Localization), with the support of IDRC (International Development Research Centre), and that it is hosting a blitz to complete at least 15 Tanzanian language locales this week.’

The Kamusi Project is a collaborative work by people all over the world working to establish new dictionaries and learning resources for Kiswahili - both within Swahili and between Swahili and English. Kiswahili is the most widely spoken African language, with as many as 100 million speakers in East and Central Africa. Kiwahili is a national language of Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda, and it is an official language of the African Union.

I found the tzLUG group after walking up five stairs in the NRC Life House building on the corner of Ohio Street and Sokoine Drive. Hamna umeme - no electricity. On the 5th floor I found a tiny room full of Tanzanian twenty-somethings scattered around laptops and cables.

They almost lost me there.

And I still don’t know exactly what a ‘blitz’ or a ‘locale’ is. And I had to google ‘kamusi’ only to find out that it means ‘dictionary’.

So I asked them why they had decided to spend all their free time in a tiny room in the centre of Dar for a whole week - to do something so unusual: to volunteer?

Some of the answers were:

- My name appears (on the product), and I feel proud.

- No other person will do it.

- You learn.

- It is the future of IT in Bongo (Dar Es Salaam). 

One of the concrete ideas behind the Kamusi Project is to make it possible that you don't have to know English in order to use IT. Another that the different IT products use the same vocabulary for the same things.

In Tanzania, along with other African nations, the oral tradition favours the written word. In today's world managing the written word gives power. Hence, securing and developing a language in terms of structure and vocabulary adjusted to the current development is of great significance - not just for a national or cultural identity, but also on an individual level: If you use Kiswahili to formulate your first thought, or if this is the language you dream in, Kiswahili is a fundamental part of you.

Check the Kamusi Project here, and note that you can support the project.

African Weather

I know I write a lot about the weather in Africa.

I am such a cliche, I want it to be African sky blue and copper sun sinking low all the time, which also makes up a main reason for why I like to live in Dar Es Salaam. Lakini, looking out my window from the office in Upanga the weather resembles an average Danish summer: Gray, unpredictable and cold.

Yesterday the weather was - fortunately - as it should be on a Saba Saba - crossing with the Magogoni Ferry from Kigamboni.

Kenya: Tackling corruption via spitting image puppets

From the BBC Africa:

At a recent prayer breakfast in Kenya, religious matters were pushed aside and instead gluttony was the order of the day.

President Mwai Kibaki struggled to eat a whole chapatti in one go, Prime Minister Raila Odinga spilt tea down his suit and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka struggled after getting a sausage stuck in his mouth.

Luckily, these were just puppets being filmed in the cramped dining room of a Nairobi home for the latest of 13 episodes of the XYZ show.

More here.

Sauti za Busara 2010

Now is the week of the Danish Roskilde Festival, held every year in the first month of July. I don't do Roskilde anymore - it seems - but I'll use the opportunity to pass on a message from East Africa's friendliest music festival, Sauti za Busara:

After six successful festivals in Zanzibar, Busara Promotions urgently needs to acquire its own quality sound, lighting and stage equipment. If you have contacts for organisations that may be able to supply us with new/used equipment either by donation or at a reasonable price, do let us know. A full list of requirements can be supplied on request.

Such technical equipment is in extremely short supply in Tanzania and is a resource that can be used throughout the year to generate employment and enhance the social and cultural lives of the region, as well as to build financial sustainability for the festival.

Read more here. Busara also calls for artists and sponsors.

And finally, do read my previous blog posts from Sauti za Busara 2008 and 2009 here.

3 interesting articles from the East African

Sex in a time of famine

An example from Kenya on how one specific problem leads to another: climate change→draught→famine→prostitution→HIV→

EA has to wait longer for Seacom, Teams cables

The thing we are all waiting for: A decent Internet (price and speed wise) in Tanzania. However, the process is delayed, but who would have guessed that the reason for the delay is to do with the Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean (!!)

“They’re (the cable-laying ships) very slow when they’re laying the cables and they really can’t get away,” the article explains.

Pornography, drugs boom as our cities fill up with lonely people

When I lived in Uganda 'the personals' in the Ugandan newspapers were always splendid entertainment as they usually put a very explicit life on display. “Newly arrived Indian girls” and “European ladies,” is only one example.

Enjoy.

A Sign Painter's Shop in Dar es Salaam

Yep, it is Osama on the right.

Obamania in Kenya

More Obamania here from Africa.

Sura Kitabu - Facebook in Kiswahili!

Recently, Facebook launched a version in Kiswahili, Sura Kitabu, which targets nearly 110 million Kiswahili speakers.

From the BBC Africa:

Symon Wonda, one of the project's initiators, said they wanted to launch a Swahili version to safeguard the future of the language.

"The youth, the future generation, if you look at the biggest percentage of users on Facebook, they are the youth," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

Very interesting ways of thinking in deed.

Jambo Network has a guideline here on how to set your Facebook to Kiswahili.

Obama for sale in Moshi (but no safari boots)

I am on a safari, which today took me from Lushoto (where the freezing cold convinced me that Europe is never gonna be real fun again) through Moshi to Usa River.

I stopped in Moshi for a short walk. Departing Dar es Salaam in flip-flops, is a Swahili Coast habit hard to beat.

Hence I tried to buy a pair of safari boots in Bata Shoes.

None my size. though. But I gotta get some. Seems like the northern Tanzanian thing to do.

Albino killers on the front page

On today's newspaper front pages it is very evident that the so-called albino trials have started.

The BBC Africa is reporting about it here. BBC Africa refers to 'about 17,000 albinos living in Tanzania'. The Tanzanian newspaper 'The Citizen' has the photo (above) from High Court in Kahama, Shinyanga Region on their front page, and refers to '150,000 albinos living in Tanzania '.

I have almost given up on finding an (supposedly) accurate number. I doubt it is a matter of the ability to count. However, the diversity of numbers used (when you google for it) might illustrate the reasons why the whole albino issue is rather confusing.

The Citizen is, not to forget, digging into the creepy details describing the actual actions of the accused men in the photo. Not at all unusual around here, and the fact that a newspaper has the above photo on the front page, where the accused persons stare into the camera with an intensity which appears strange if you really are guilty.

I mean, why would someone voluntarily expose one's guilt on the front pages?

Another interesting fact is that the file name of the photo is 'albino killers' - rather symbolic for the initiative the government embarked on back in January 2009, where the agenda was to solve the albino killings in a rather fast and easy way. Maybe a bit to fast, considering that Tanzania has a constitution, which does emphasise that legally, the men cannot be 'albino killers' until proven guilty?

The men in the photo do look back at me in a way I do not understand. In Southern Sudan I experienced something similar when I took photos in Yei Prison, where prisoners however were very unwell, and besides, claimed innocence.

Chances were high that they were. I don't know about the men in the photo - the trial has to show. 

All in one place: Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, Julius Nyerere - and Barack Hussein Obama

Shop owners, offices and institutions in Tanzania are obliged to have a picture of the present president hanging on the wall.

In many cases the former president, Nyerere, hasn't been taken down.

Obama pops up in various forms all the time as a constant reminder of the fact that there is more to life.

I just read his recent speech from Cairo here, which filled me with hope. I know that the rest of the world is working overtime to analyse what the speech really will mean.

Sometimes things are what they are, and should just be kept simple.

Like when expressed on a kanga.

Financial Times/Arena: Is aid working?

The FT's Arena blog is a forum for the debates of the times. Its latest discussion is on the the controversial and difficult issue of aid, and whether it works. Over the coming days, FT specialists and guest commentators and economists will join the debate. Readers are also invited to leave comments. 

Check it out here.

Not sure I'd drink out in Chad...

Hungry people in the central African nation of Chad have raised an old culinary fad from the dead - to get their fangs stuck into fried blood. 

The blood is not just used for food - which is no more unusual than when my grandmother made me help her prepare blood sausage, which in spite it is regarded a nutricious supplement, never was among my favourite.

In Chad, blood is nevertheless also used for producing the local brew, and Ironically, the locals have dubbed it 'vampire'.

'Vampire' is making a killing in Walia's ubiquitous bili bili (local millet brew) bars, where liquid diets require some supplements. "The taste is good, a bit like liver. I really like it," said James, a Saturday-morning drinker.

A bit like liver.

From the BBC Africa. 

Dar 411 - News and Information Portal

If this News and Information Portal on Dar es Salaam, Dar 411, gives me what it promises, I am impressed. I haven't cheked it out fully, but so far it looks interesting.

In particular, I find this part interesting. Not to forget the effort of compiling the information on this city's transportation system.

Only problem is that I can't find out who is behind...?

The Economist: Waiting for that great leap forward

THE country already gets 40% of its government budget in aid, but now it wants even more foreign cash to help it through the economic downturn. How much is enough? Tanzania’s president, Jakaya Kikwete, smiles grimly. “We’re trying to bring down our dependency, but we’re grateful for what we receive.”

Read the whole article from the Economist here.

'Into Africa: Intercultural Insights' (Africa tricks me everyday)

I'm reading a book at the moment called 'Into Africa: Intercultural Insights' by Yale Richmondand Phyllis Gestrin. The book explores the complex cultures of contemporary sub-Saharan Africa, and provides intercultural insights for anymore with an interest in Africa.

I have only two problems with this book - the first one is that it is in fact 10 years old, and that even though the most fundamental things have not changed, it doesn't pick up on newer trends (i.e. the influence from Internet, mobile phones, TV etc.), which play a significant role on the continent these days.

Secondly, in spite the book appears to be extremely accurate in its descriptions, and to provide very concrete examples, on occasion it is almost too precise as it also tends to genereralize a lot: 'When an African says this, he means that...'

However, the book is actually the best one I have found around trying to give an introduction to living and working in Africa, in fact it put words on a few concepts which I hadn't been able to grasp or explain.

One interesting example, I stumbled over today, is the chapter on 'The Expat and the Extended Family', where one piece of advice is that one shouldn't let oneself be drawn into an extended family, if one doesn't accept to play according to the African rules.  

Very true. Reading the book does in general give a good foundation for understanding African culture and its people, but it also provides good answers to a regular expat's questions, which might just solve some typical misunderstandings. - But as in real life, don't take it all too literally - make your own experience.

Africa tricks me everyday.

Find the book here.

Africa according to Desmond Tutu

      “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”

Quote by Desmond Tutu.

Afrobarometer

 

 

 

A comparative series of national public
attitude surveys on democracy, markets,
and civil society in Africa.

The Afrobarometer is an independent, nonpartisan research project that measures the social, political, and economic atmosphere in Africa. Afrobarometer surveys are conducted in more that a dozen African countries and are repeated on a regular cycle. Because the instrument asks a standard set of questions, countries can be systematically compared. Trends in public attitudes are tracked over time. Results are shared with decision makers, policy advocates, civic educators, journalists, researchers, donors and investors, as well as average Africans who wish to become more informed and active citizens. www.afrobarometer.org

Zuma on front

On Sunday the Tanzanian newspapers on display in Kariakoo were reporting on Jacob Zuma's, inauguration, the new president of South Africa.

Self-proclaimed polygamist Mr Zuma, is also at present one of the most frequently blogged personalities in the African blogosphere.

Controversial presidents are good material for media, and chances are good that Zuma will keep it coming. I realise I might be suffering from a lack of regular gossip and soap series intake, - embarrasingly I must confess that I am expecting more entertainment from that side.

Homosexuality in East Africa - a taboo

When I lived in Uganda I followed the debate on homosexuality out of great curiosity. It is an issue which has been discussed in the Uganda public sphere and in the blogosphere. More than once I have myself been told off in harsh words for giving space on my blog to the topic. However, public debates on so-called taboos, i.e. homosexuality, does give a lot of information on a society's balance between conservatism and actual change. It also tells something of what a society fears and how far it will go to deal with it.

Interesting when you try to get familiar with a new culture.

I grew up in a place with a completely different take on homosexuality.

An example is the fact that 66-year old Johanna Sigurdardottir, was named as Iceland's prime minister in January 2009 - being the first openly lesbian head of government in Europe, if not the world - created a lot of attention abroad, whereas the Icelandics couldn't be bothered. One of my South African friends read about it in a conservative, Afrikaans newspaper, and started texting his overtly happy congratulations for being so liberal in Scandinavia. My Icelandic brother-in-law would rather discuss the PM's political compentences, which he disagreed with, than her sexual orientation.

Jackfruity has written an interesting article on gay rights bloggers in (mostly East) Africa. It is mainly referring to Uganda and Kenya where gay rights bloggers appear more active expressing their thoughts. Rebekah explains that Uganda is the only country in the world whose cabinet includes a Minister of Ethics and Integrity. The position is currently held by Dr. James Nsaba Buturo - a man who considers homosexuality a greater threat than corruption. He has accused the UN, UNICEF, Amnesty International and a host of other international organizations of promoting an “abnormal, unhealthy, unnatural” lifestyle in Uganda.

In Tanzania the (English-speaking) blogosphere does appear rather silent in regard of homosexuality. It doesn't mean that some people here aren't struggling with the taboo. Hence let me throw this article into circulation: 'When gay is not happy'. It is a personal and well-written article from the South African Mail & Guardian which questions the culture of silence in Tanzania when it comes to being gay.

When Ernesto Guevara was 37...

I have recently found myself slightly disillusioned in regard of development work in Africa. In particular, and let me emphasise that, my own role in this context. Which obviously is problematic on more than one level, as I happen to live in Africa, and have made a living based on a relative long line of jobs in the international NGO sector for the past 10 years. 

I hope it is a phase similar to the ones you get in other types of job sectors? Well, I also had malaria recently, and having my favorite part of the family visiting me a month ago, only made me miss them more, now that they have returned home.

I am not much for ranting effortlessly on emotional issues on my blog, however - just let me say that it isn't always a long line of palm trees in sunsets or bushy adrenaline driving this mission I am on.

Nevertheless, I'll leave it to Ernesto Guevara's 'The African Dream - 'The Diaries of the Revolutionary War in the Congo', which I took down from my bookshelf the other day (see also here). Guevara wrote these diaries in the Cuban Embassy in Dar es Salaam over a period of two months. He was 37 years old.

Dar es Salaam. 37 years. And the big Africa question.

Interesting coincidence, I thought. (Or maybe not, after all I am made of somewhat different substance than Guevara).

Guevara went to the Congo in 1965-1966 via Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Guevara, one of the heroes of the Cuban Revolutionary War and a minister in Fidel Castro's government, simply vanished, travelled via the U.S.S.R. and surfaced in the heart of Africa where he with 100 Cuban guerilla fighters to assist him put into action his theories of how to help the oppressed peoples of Africa.

Guevara believed in fighting imperialism, in revolutions - he had experience, ideals, and he tried to set himself as a good example. However, Congo was different than anything else he had tried, and it didn't exactly go as planned. His diaries were kept a secret up till the 1990ties, though the experience Guevara put forward was supposedly implemented in Cuba's ongoing support to African revolutions.

It obviously made me think about my own African context (which is where it gets messy, I admit)

Like what do the development agencies actually do when today's development support to Africa fails? Do they actually manage to link properly between the theories in Europe and the actual needs of the beneficiaries here? Don't the agenda of advocating the causes of poverty, of making celebreties taking an interest and of fund-raising for it all, take too many resources from the actual point? What when development agencies move on and apply a new set of methods or programmes instead of analyzing, adjusting to and admitting mistakes? And what is it exactly that Africa want? Development, but no change?

What I like the best about Guevara's diaries is the fact that he admits that there simply are things in his theory which never matched Africa, that he is insufficient and that there are things he doesn't understand. In these diaries Guevara analyzes his doubt in a simple and very honest way, but also with a remarkable respect for Africa.

What a relief!

Read it here.

South Africa: The Bang Bang Club goes to Hollywood

I quite enjoyed reading Greg Marinovic's book 'The Bang Bang Club, which takes place in the early 1990ties' South Africa. It is a book written by and focusing on the press, in particular photographers, covering the violence in the townships. It is also a book which lays out the background for some of the most iconic photographs from that period.

Now it is being filmed. Read more here.

Honey, can you do something for Kenya?

Aristofanes' old, Greek comedy 'Lysistrata' - it is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War. Lysistrata convinces the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands as a means of forcing the men to negotiate a peace, a strategy.

Somebody must have been reading that in Kenya? Or maybe the idea is just plain simple:

In seven days, women in Kenya will refuse to go to bed with their husbands. Women in Kenya fear that the bickering between the country's president and the prime minister will lead to new unrest in Kenya.

Therefore, they initiated an alternative campaign: They will refuse to have sex with their husbands in seven days. The women behind the campaign hope the government rivals' wives Lucy Kibaki and Ida Odinga will also participate. 

'Big decisions are taken in the bedroom, so we ask the two women to ask their men: Honey, can you do something for Kenya?', explains Patricia Nyaundi, one of the women behind the campaign to BBC.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga last year in March agreed to share power among themselves to establish peace in Kenya, though they came from each their own party. Unrest in Kenya followed the elections in December 2007 when Kibaki declared himself the winner, while opposition leader Odinga claimed that there had been fraud in the election result and he was backed by international observers. Disputes after the election claimed 1,500 lives and drove 300,000 from their homes before the rivals ended peace.

Respect to the women of Kenya for thinking out of the box.

The text is partly taken from politiken.dk and from BBC Africa.

Latest news from BBC Africa on the deadly blast in Dar es Salaam

Latest news from BBC Africa on the deadly blast in Dar es Salaam - read here.

People uses the word 'earthquake' to describe how they felt today. I thought of gunshots or thunder. Irregular though. Others that they thought that the al-Qaeda had returned. People saw the wall crack and a big screen crack in the book shop in Shoppers' Plaza (where I live close by).

ITV is reporting the facts, but no one is asking why there is an ammunition dump close to a residential area in Dar es Salaam. No one is asking how this could go so wrong? And possibly worse as the ammunition is spread all around now as depicted on TV.

The BBC article also cites people for saying that the city is in chaos. That might be true in terms of the central part, but it is not visible i Upanga, Ada, Regent, Mikocheni and Mbezi - relatively far off the area where the explosions took place.

Serious though, two people are reported dead, and about 300 seriously injured.

But not one word about this on IPP Media in English (nor on This Day) but instead a highlight from today on President Kikwete's inauguration of the construction of the 240-km Arusha-Namanga-Arthi River highway at Lengijavu in Arumeru District, Arusha Region.

Interesting media approach - is all I can say.

Huge blasts rock Tanzanian city

I heard explosions from the distance, but was clueless. No one winked an eye.

Typically, you have to read it on Facebook, the BBC or watch Kenyan TV (!!) to figure out what's happening in your own town.

Huge blasts rock Tanzanian city

Why hasn't Bono got Africa under his skin?

Pascal at The Citizen blog from Uganda (who is finally blogging again) is making an interesting point here:

Bono has been criticized for being yet another European who insists of telling Africa's stories. We have no trouble talking about ourselves. What we have trouble with is finding people who want to work with us. In this case, Bono and Hewson (Bono's wife) deserve a nod for letting their actions do the talking.

I looked further into the comments from Tumwijuke at the Ugandan Insomniac, who can't stand Bono, and Pascal who thinks that he (Bono) tends to overshadow Africans in his rush to help out. Our pride is even bigger than our problems.

I used to big a big fan of Bono, from before Bono knew of Africa. Back then I was 14 and thrilled when our English teacher used U2's lyrics where we then discussed Northern Ireland, IRA, conflicts, politics - and artists taking a stand. The difference I suppose is that Bono is a catholic and he is Irish, and that back then he spoke about his own stuff. Back then my experience of Africa was limited to the famine in Ethiopia, Idi Amin and apartheid. It wasn't very nuanced, and neither was I.

Later Bono took on Africa. In fact one of U2's first experiences were to play concerts in South Africa after the abolishment of apartheid. I read the book Bono in Conversation with Micka Assayas some time ago - not an especially outstanding book - but there is one passage I like, where Bono admits that he didn't get one thing: the majority of the spectators at the concerts were white people. U2 had expected them to be black, now that U2 had been fighting against apartheid.

I don't have a final decisive stand on Bono and Africa. I think Bono is a bit over-hyped, too obsessed with black shades and being Bono, and I don't listen to U2's music anymore with the same enthusiam. Too mainstream. But in terms of 'telling Africa's stories' I think the long line of African artists (or people who stayed around long enough to at least try to get it under their skin), who promote Africa and who integrate Africa into their actual work, write or sing about Africa because they can't help it, do a much better job.

Like Hugh Masekela when he performs The Boy's Doin' It, Stimela or Bring Him Back Home. It comes with a heartfelt message on culture, poverty and political struggle. When Johnny Clegg performed 'The Crossing' in the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg on June 29 2009 - people cried because he talked from a personal experience which was part of a South African context. Or just listen to him perform Asimbonanga where he welcomes Mandela on stage. When Freshlyground sings Mowbray Kap at concerts in Europe, the Europeans suddenly realise that Africa is different from what they imagined - that Africa rocks.

Back in the 1930ties the Danish authour, Karen Blixen, wrote 'Out of Africa', which might seem altmodish today, but back then was unusual. Jacob Ejersbo wrote 'Eksil' (a Danish novel about growing up in Tanzania in a boarding school environment), which was published a month ago. And The Weekenders is a real good example of making Africa inspire authors for them to write about it (one of my favorites is Irwine Welsh, the author of Trainspotting, who is taken to a little Southern Sudanese town and afterwards writes about homebrew). Interesting is also this CD In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2, where Africans sing U2. Funny at times, but truly original.

U2 hasn't embraced Africa in this way. Bono is still on about his own personal struggle with God, catholicism and what not. On the side he does Africa, which is where my main doubt about Bono lies: How come Africa hasn't got under his skin, yet?! (I am saying this without having checked U2's latest CD, but notify me if wrong!)

Let me conclude along with the Tanzanian singer, Nakaaya Sumari, who in an interview on 17 April 2009 says that Africa needs African solutions to African problems.

The African continent has a long line of fantastic people already promoting Africa. Maybe Bono should start hanging out with some of these instead of the boring guys in the NGOs, Vanity Fair, World Bank and governments?

Win a trip to Tanzania (in Danish)

In Danish. Please read more here.

South Africa: The Importance of Voting

On March 4 I joined one of my Danish friends at work while I was visiting South Africa. He is a journalist and had scheduled an interview with the chairwoman, Ms Brigalia Bam, of South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in Pretoria for a TV programme about Denmark’s support to the anti-apartheid movement.

But there was also time to talk about the up-coming elections on April 22. 117 political parties were registered, 42 met the deadline on the Monday we waited in IEC's reception after our meeting with Ms. Brigalia Bam for our taxi to take us back to Johannesburg. 

There we overheard the debating of some of the representatives' of a political party which had missed the crucial deadline. My friend joked; 'Do you think they are from the ANC?'

ANC did make the deadline. In fact the ANC is today leading the polls.

Yesterday two South African friends called: ‘We are standing in the queue. We are voting’. Calling from a nursery school in Johannesburg. A nursery school outlined by barbed wire. Some people call you at special occasions. This is one of them, and I felt honoured.

‘Do you know where you want to put that cross?’ I asked

‘Not yet’, he laughed, while I self-righteously tried to explain that in Denmark being a ‘couch voter’ is considered pathetic, and than voting by leaving a blank ballot is better than not voting at all.

At least you made it up from the couch.

Some wicked comfort, I admit, to a nation where the actual right to vote in itself means more than a Dane can ever imagine.

My friend went on explaining about his dilemma of where to put that cross. Of what he truly believes in (ANC) and what (Jacob Zuma) has subsequently changed.

‘But we are sending you photos to put on your blog’.

About half an hour later I received this SMS: ‘Just did it. Feel like a South African again.’ Both my friends are in their 30ties. One of them voted for the first time, the other didn’t vote since 1994.

Whatever is to happen for a South Africa under Jacob Zuma, leaving the couch for leaving your cross, shouldn't be underestimated.

Zanzibar: Warming up for the World Cup 2010

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is going to take place in South Africa next year, however, it is a thing a lot of Africans are looking forward to. 

It isn't yet yet, but the wood carvers in Stone Town on Zanzibar are so ready for 2010.

Bizarre Foods in Tanzania: The clotted tissue

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern is an American TV-programme, featuring Andrew Zimmern who travels around the world to taste strange food. At least, the kind of food which appears strange to the Americans and most likely the rest of the western world.

One of the researchers behind the programme wrote me about a year ago asking me for suggestions in regard of Tanzania. I asked some Tanzanian colleagues, and I ended up, amongst others, suggesting this kind of drink here.

I haven't tried it myself. Not sure I will stomach it, and I suggest you don't eat or drink while you watch this.

Taking back Zimbabwe. Fuck Mugabe: Clear message from Johannesburg band

When I was in South Africa in March a friend introduced me to Cassette. Another Johannesburg band. Apart from a new and lovingly lively version of Elvis Costello's Pump It Up, the CD also offers an excellent song called Get In The Ring, which basically is a very direct message to Zimbabwe's President Mugabe to get lost.

I can't find the lyrics online, but the most fascinating part of it goes like this:

Taking back Zimbabwe
Fuck you, Mugabe

Politicians ought to listen, not only to people, but to rock musicians, too.

'Zebra & Giraffe'. According to the Tanzanians

In a conversation late last night with one of my Tanzanian colleagues, he explains that in Dar es Salaam it is not unusual to label women 'zebras' and 'giraffes'. His examples are vivid, and it is not difficult to imagine that 'giraffes' are the tall ones, and the 'zebras' the ones with the wide asses.

Frankly spoken.

However, 'Zebra & Giraffe' also happens to be the name of a very popular Johannesburg rock band which started out as the solo project of Greg Carlin. In May 2008, Carlin released Z&G debut album "Collected Memories" and then formed a live band with members Alan Shenton, Rob Davidson, Darren Leader & Andrew Maskell.

Do the South Africans know what 'Zebra & Giraffe' means in Tanzania?

Competition: Education in Africa

We know that kids who master the fundamentals of education are more likely to live longer, be healthier and, ultimately, be more prosperous. Starting on March 18, 2009, we hope to find the innovative educators in Africa who are making learning happen.

Submit your entry by the early entry deadline, April 15, 2009, and be eligible to win a cell phone and digital camera! Read more here.

I received the above encouragement for me to promote the initiative on my blog - not an unusual thing. However, this one caught my attention, firstly because Valentino Achak Deng is one of the competition judges. Deng told his story - about fleeing Southern Sudan as a child due to the war - to Dave Eggers, who turned it into the the book 'What is the What?'. A book, I truly wished I had read before I worked in northern Uganda with the Sudanese refugees, because it makes you understand what difference you can make to other people with very little means.

Secondly, because not only do kids who master the fundamentals of education become more likely to take control of their own lives, they are also more likely to put their own children to school, and to set their own agendas for change, not someone else's.

South Africa: The Slightly Edited Party Slogans (according to Zapiro)

Join Zapiro's cartoon universe on Facebook here. It gets better.

South Africa: Clegg and tequila

I am a big, big, big fan of his father, but the son, though on a completely different mission than the father, has actually produced quite an addictive CD, you want to listen to over and over.

I skipped his father's works this time, and last week I bought the son's first CD in Ficksburg, the second busiest and important town in the Eastern Free State region of the Freestate province in South Africa, in order to avoid listening to the Afrikaans radio stations (it got so much more wicked proportionally with the distance from Johannesburg).

While in the Free State, I also learnt that asking the bartender for 'more Johnny Clegg' after a million tequila shots is so not up-to-date-South-African. But, come on, you can only love these two.

Besides, tequila, Clegg and South Africa really go together.

Condoms are not wrong, but right (if you ask me)

The Pope is visiting Africa for his first time. Read more here at BBC Africa. Not surprisingly, he has on this occasion chosen to deliever the message that 'condoms are wrong'. According to the Pope 'abstinence and fidelity, not condoms' are the means to tackle HIV.

He is in fact right about this. Somehow. However, anybody who has been out there and about recently has to agree that this is one of the most stupid and unrealistic standpoints proposed by an authority of this calibre.

Not a new one, unfortunately.

Not to forget the fact that the message is coming from someone with absolutely no experience in the field: Why on earth should I believe in the advice on abstinence and fidelity coming from someone who, at least officially, has absolutely no personal experience with sex, relationships or African reality?

Let the people abstain and practice fidelity if they must, but don't abuse the authority to preach to the rest of us that condoms are wrong!

Cricket

 

Escaping Tanzania

   

Photos from this morning's departure from Dar es Salaam.

The fast reader has already guessed where I have landed.

Still on the continent.

Holidays.

Final Final Update: Sauti za Busara

Have a look at the photos from Sauti za Busara 2009 here, which I have finally got together in a set.

Do also check the Baobabconnection's sum up here, and the UNAA Times here, who picked up on the Omega Bugembe Okello performance.

Meanwhile, I will try to finish an article for this new Danish magazine about the Sauti za Busara.

Where to buy the Obama kanga?

Much debate here on where to get the Obama kanga, if you live outside Tanzania. The solution is near - get it here.

Zimbabwean Poetry: Love You Like A Riot

I am composing an article for a Danish world culture magazine about the Sauti za Busara.

Some of the music experiences fortunately fade straight away (like this one), but some stay and repeat themselves on my CD player. Like Comrade Fatso and Chabvondoka.

I think that was true love at first listening.

This one is a favorite:

...But to live a day without your touch
Well that’s asking too much
‘Cause I need you like a riot needs a petrol bomb
I love you like a freedom fighter loves freedom
I need you like a bottle store needs to break laws
Like capitalism needs wars
I need you like struggle needs Nehanda
Like mbira loves ngoma
Like art loves inspiration
Like destruction craves creation
I need your power, your lips
Your philosophies your hips
Your strength, your beauty
Your love, your poetry
Your fire, your desire
Your body, your energy

(cc) Comrade Fatso

Samm Farai Monro, better known as Comrade Fatso, is one of the most popular and controversial poets in the Zimbabwe arts scene. Cde Fatso calls his poetry Toyi Toyi Poetry, radical street poetry that mixes Shona with English and mbira with hip hop. Its an art form that is an uprising against the bloody ZANU (PF) regime.

My personal favorite: Comrade Fatso and Chabvondoka

Just one note on yesterday's Sauti za Busara (and then I will go to bed and try to figure out why I thought I could stomach the mishkaki from the food stall) - Comrade Fatso and Chabvondoka from Zimbabwe were fantastic, and something which I believe hit me straight.

When Comrade Fatso swung his dreadlocks, jumped around the stage and then suddenly grabbed the microphone holder, offering his political viewpoints on Zimbabwe, the ordience inhaled collectively, not expecting this urban, rebellious and political performance.

The performers even picked up on the typical Precision Air characteristics (they were redirected over Kenya) and the 'Jambo Bwana' CD which the hustlers try to impose on tourists on Kenyatta Road.

Even better: I got the CD!

Panorama: Sauti za Busara in all colours

People Watching

What the Sauti za Busara festival bar shelves might lack in diversity, the mix of people, performers. colours and flavours compensate. It almost sounds like such a cliche to be repeating the fact, that this is the core of Zanzibar. However, this variety, which is so unique to Zanzibar, is strongly reflected within the Sauti za Busara, the people and the performers.

In fact, this is one of the most interesting parts of this festival; People watching.

A huge sea cruise ship has plunged its anchor in the Stone Town bay, shining bright at night from what seems like a thousand tiny windows. From here groups of elderly wazungu, sensibly dressed with sunhats, some with supporting sticks, enter the festival from smaller boats taking them from the ship to the shore. Yesterday, an elderly couple walked up to me and a friend, asking about the state of Forodhani Gardens (wonder if anyone knows the answer to this), assuming we were 'some of these young students studying at the university.'

And there are many of them at the Sauti za Busara. And in the eyes of someone twice my age, we might at first sight appear to belong to this category of the young, western European volunteers or tourists, who are not only 10-15 years younger than us, but also people who seem to spend most days on the beach, and typically dress too minimalistacally in terms of cultural sensitivity.

An issue which seems completely irrelevant to this category, in spite the largest parts of the ordience are people from Stone Town, who dress more conservatively and according to Islamic and Swahili tradition.

It is quite interesting to see how this mix, nevertheless, is lived out in a confined space like the Old Fort.

Maybe it works because there also exists an interesting balance between the performers who range from i.e. Omega, a Uganda/American singing in Luganda and English (photo above); Sansa, a Ugandan ngoma (traditional folk music) troup, Tarbia - a local Zanzibar group, based in a madras a (an Islamic school) and who performs on a spiritual and religious base - to last night's politically engaged and loud, British performer, TY (photo below), who gave a whole other impression of hip hop, than I'd expected from reading about him in the programme.

Hip hop with soul and heart. 

I stood next to a somewhat 9-year old girl, shouting out loud; 'Love you, TY!' In spite, the man was awesome, I left the confessions to the 9-year old. Man, this power, dressed up in a Zanzibar print one-size-fits-all shirt, did also reach me!

Sansa - the traditional folk music band from Uganda - I'd usually say that I have had my share of ngoma - but when a guy last night walked up to me in a mixture of joy and pride presenting himself with a big smile and a; 'Hi, I am Charles from Uganda. Did you see me perform?', I truly did regret that I hadn't.

These meetings and conversations are, so to speak, the stuff Sauti za Busara is made of - and what makes this so different to a music festival in Europe.

Sound Tests

Today I walked through the Old Fort after lunch and watched the performers do sound tests.

This is the best time to get photos of performers - they pay attention, the sky is blue and the light is sufficient.

It is burning hot at this time of day, and visitors and artists withdraw to the right corner below where there seems to be a bit of shade. The photo is taken with my mobile phone's panorama function, and might give an impression of the festival settings. In evenings the place is crowded.  

When I left the Old Fort a song by the Zimbabwean Comrade Fatso, performing on Sunday at 9.15, blasted through the space: House of Hunger. I can't wait to watch this guy!

Check today's photos here - sound tests with Carola Kinasha & Shada, and Joh Makini. I have just learnt that Carola is from Longido, a place I visited back in October 2008 - see photos here.

Africa: According to Gaddafi

Tanzania's President, Kikwete, last month handed over the chairmanship of the African Union to Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi who is already keeping me entertained with his ability to think out of the box.

Literally.

Why didn't the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, invite him to spice up his Danish Africa Commission which is there to adress future challenges in Africa?

Like this week Gadafi apparently said he would like a United States of Africa to include 'Caribbean islands with African populations'. He also sympathised with Somali pirates, describing their actions as self-defence, and that multi-party democracy only led to bloodshed in Africa and that the best model for Africa was his own country, where opposition parties are not allowed.

The BBC Africa writes on that the response from many of his fellow African leaders was lukewarm and raised eyebrows.

Interesting.

Crazy About Obama: But keep it to yourself

Whenever I see Obama iconised I want to capture it.

To share the good news.

However, not all Tanzanians agree with me that this is a good idea.

In Zanzibar I haven't had any problems so far, but taken into consideration that they have devoted probably the finest square in Stone Town for Obama, it might explain their enthusiasm for sharing the good news.

I have, however, wondered a bit about this phenomenon - not wanting to share - when I for God's knows what sensible reason - found myself in a souvenir shop in the Slipway Village, browsing through their t-shirts, looking for a gift.

The shopkeeper appeared to manage the shop in horisontal mode, dozing, but finally got on her feet. I asked her if I could take a photo.That I collect Obama icons from Africa for my website.

She just looked at me and went: 'And then you will copy our t-shirt design and sell it in the US and make lots of money.'

I actually argued that I have no such idea, also that it would be troublesome, after all I'm Danish, and have by the way never been to the US. And have no plans to. In particular I have no plans to set up a t-shirt design business based on her t-shirts, which are not really that unique and therefore is unlikely to provide me with a source of income.

Highly unlikely. Not only for the practical matters and the fact that I am no business person. But also because I haven't seen anything really new yet (not since the kanga here), in terms of putting Obamas portrait on merchandise.

In fact I am sure that the one who printed these t-shirts in this souvenir shop, got inspired from someone else. The t-shirt design seem to repeat itself endlessly. Not much new.

Obviously the reluctancy towards not wanting to share deives from the fact that copyright in Africa isn't often respected, not just concerning t-shirt prints. It goes for photos, texts, lyrics, project proposals, CVs, recommendations, job applications - and blogs.

The copying mentality and the accept of breaking fundamental copyright rules unfortunately put a heavy lid on the creativity - and the willingness to share - a prerequisition for development.

Top 50 Blogs For Studying Africa

The continent of Africa is the second-most populated in the world and has 53 countries within its border. Yet despite both its diversity and enormity, the African continent remains one of the least studied by American students.

In an attempt to provide students, laymen, and educators with a single resource from which they can begin their own exploration of the richness and diversity of Africa, we have compiled a list of what we consider to be the 50 best blogs to learn about African culture, news, politics, and viewpoints. Blogs are an excellent way to learn about nations and cultures due to the passion, diversity of perspective and honesty of the writing, which you won’t often find in textbooks. We have categorized these top 50 blogs as follows: Politics and Human Rights, News, Culture & Art, Technology and Entrepreneurship, and viewpoints from many of the African Countries.

Happy to have my blog included on one more list here.

More Fire! The Sauti za Busara is on this Thursday

This coming Thursday the Sauti za Busara - the Zanzibar music festival - is on in Stone Town. 

It is the sixth edition of the Sauti za Busara music festival and it will take place in Zanzibar, 12-17 February 2009; admission is free to all each day before sunset.

I am obviously going, the event is too good to miss.

I'll also be blogging from the festival - so check my blog from the 12th for festival impressions, and do also check posts here and photos here from last year.

In particular I'm looking forward to these performers: Natacha Atlas (Egypt / UK),  Culture Musical Club(Zanzibar),  The Moreira Project (South Africa), and Comrade Fatso and Chabvondoka (Zimbabwe).

100 Best Blogs for learning on Africa

My blog has been included on this list here which recommends blogs on Africa:

The continent of Africa is the second-most populated in the world and has 53 countries within its bounds. With so many people and nationalities, it should be no surprise that the diversity found there is enormous. While poverty and war are a part of Africa, so is technology, bustling cities, and unique culture found nowhere else on Earth. These blogs bring together the richness and diversity that is Africa with voices covering specific countries, experiences across the borders, news, technology, art, and culture.

I do appriciate when people 'back home' as well as in Africa find my blog useful or inspirational. However, the list of bloggers who blog on Africa is long - so check it out!

Driving in Africa: On Course with Mick Farmer

When I worked and lived in northern Uganda from 2005-2007 I was offered a 4WD course at On Course's facilities between Kampala and Entebbe.

I think it is one of best and most useful courses I have had in many years, and one of the reasons why I both enjoy and feel comfortable driving long distances myself - on African roads.

For a whole day I was taught the theoretical background for potential problems which often occur on African roads, and then I was put behind the wheel next to On Course's Australian lead trainer /director, Mick Farmer, and told that you can do it as in hit 60 (on what felt like a too short piece of road) and still navigate the car.

Which was the best part - mainly because Mick Farmer managed to do what no other man had done so far - he made me believe that I could drive a 4WD!  

Today I realised that Mick Farmer blogs about road safety and driving in Africa - from a really nicely lay-outed blog - so I do not just recommend his driving courses here, I'd also strongly recommend reading his blog here.

The Baobab Connections: How do you see yourself contributing to change?

The Baobab Connections features its members and interviews them under the title: How do you see yourself contributing to change? 

Interesting questions, though not easily answered. It was my turn today - see what I answered here. In particular I'm flattered by someone asking me this question: As someone who is ‘conscious’ and aware of things happening around you, what advice to others starting off in this path?

Maasailand 01: Back in Dar es Salaam from a dusty 5-days trip

Young woman and girl child carrying water in Orpopong'ni Village in Kiteto District, Maasailand. 5 days in Maasailand, and my hard disc and head are full of images and inputs.

Much more coming up.

Advertising: Diva Club Account 1

To talk about being proud to be a woman in a country with 120 different tribes and as many languages, cultures and traditions is complex.

 

Differences in perceptions and relations are huge - gender roles change not only within tribes but also throughout life leaving very different responsibilities and expectations to men and women depending on their age, marital and economic status, children, etc.

Women and men in Tanzania are in most areas secured equal rights in the legal framework but traditional cultural and customary practices still disadvantage girls and women.

 

The biggest constraint to achieving gender equality is, however, the general level of poverty where Tanzania is ranked 151 out of 173 countries (UNDP, Poverty and Human Development Report, 2003).

 

I am wondering what women exactly this billboard targets? Where are the divas in Tanzania, who deserve to be provided for?

Help: Tips wanted for an article on corruption - and corruption vocabulary

I am working on an article dealing with corruption vocabulary – in Africa.
And I need some help from you (see the last line)

You might know the common Kiswahili ‘Kitų kidogo'-' a little thing'- which seem familiar to most people who have stayed even shortly in East Africa. For instance, it is frequently used by the traffic police, when hesitating to give a fine, and in stead offering to ignore that you crossed the speed limit. In daily talk the Tanzanians also use words like ‘chai’ (tea), or simply ‘I’m hungry’, pointing to the stomach. In Kenya I have been asked for ‘cookies’.

The term 'usitoe hongo' - 'say no to corruption' - has been the usual parole in many anti-corruption campaigns in Tanzania. And then there are 'rushwa', which is also used on corruption in general. Put together with the verb 'to eat' (kula) you get a 'mlaruswa' ( 'walarusha', pl.) - 'A person who eats / feed on corruption'. The concept is certainly triggered by a general understanding, that a thick stomach is synonymous with prosperity. In principle a very tangible explanation, if you live in a country where it is estimated that about 1 / 3 of people every night go to bed on an empty stomach.

Then I asked a South African/Zimbabwean friend, who gave me this story:

In South Africa we don’t really have a saying. We would say something like; ‘Can we sort the problem out here?’ Or a traffic cop might say; ‘If you wash my hands, I wash yours’ (never heard that one myself).
In Zimbabwe I have been asked for a Christmas present. But usually they just lean into the car and say; ‘What are we going to do about this?’ (Sorry, not particularly useful or interesting).  I usually reply; ‘Well, if I have broken the law you have better do what you need to do’, and they get confused and let me go anyway.

Last time I was speeding in Zimbabwe on the way to Malawi the guy said he couldn’t write me a traffic fine because I was over 30 km over the limit. I had to go to court. I was in a town 300 km from Harare, it was Sunday and courts only opened Monday morning…..so I said;
‘OK, is there somewhere I can stay in the village?’ 

He nearly fell over, and he asked if I was really prepared to stay the night. I said yes. Now he got nervous - this white guy is going to give some big stress and lots of paperwork, so he says;
‘OK, I can do something; I will bring your speed down and give you a fine’. 
I got a bit nervous because the inflation there is quite hectic (I paid ZAR 100 for a trillion Zimbabwe Dollars), so I was nervous he would nail me. Hence, I said:

‘Well, what is the fine?’ 

He says; ‘9 million Zimbabwe Dollars’. 

I did the maths quickly and nearly fell over laughing (inside of course); it’s about 5 Cents. The paper he wrote the fine on was worth more than that….and besides the smallest denominations I had were 50 Billion Dollars (about ZAR 5) so I gave him one and cruised. 

At no time did he suggest a bribe though which is commendable. Weird ass place, man.

If you have a similar story dealing with everyday life corruption, i.e. in traffic, at work, home or in offices, what people say, how they deal with it, words being used – I’d like to hear it. From Africa preferably. Please write it as a comment – or directly to my email: pernille at fastmail dot fm

South Africa: Buy a car, get a free sheep!

One of my South African friends sent me this advert from a car dealer in Johannesburg.

He was laughing, imagining what to do with that sheep, living in a Johannesburg suburb.

I'd say it might work in Dar es Salaam.

Kenya: Freedom of Information?

Kenyans are struggling with higher prices on food and fuel while their MPs reject to pay tax (!), and furthermore squeeze the freedom of information through the Media Bill.

Doesn't sound fair. In fact, it sounds ridiculous.

Just read this on Sukuma Kenya for an update on the suppresion of the media in Kenya, well in East Africa in general. Additionally, the regional newspaper 'The East African' (photo) features the incident on Jamhuri Day in Kenya on this week's front page and is discussing the media situation in East Africa further in an article and an editorial.

Thanks to Sukuma Kenya and other Kenyan bloggers for keeping the news coming.

Illustration taken from Sukuma Kenya.

Good news: Men who read Mandela turn women on

Long-time readers of my blog know that I am a great fan of Nelson Mandela and travelling to South Africa - maybe also that I like men who take an interest in reading - men who engage politically and socially. However, I never thought I belonged to the majority of women in terms of reading habits. Apparently, I do. Hence the result of the survey carried out by the the National Year of Reading is somehow a funny surprise:

For men, the book most likely to win over women is Nelson Mandela's autobiography, 'Long Walk to Freedom', while men were impressed by women who had inspected news websites before a date, the report in the British daily said.

And this next one made me laugh: Have I really ever done that...!?

According to the study, nearly one in five adults - 18 per cent - said they would read while waiting for their date to arrive in order to make a good first impression. More than quarter - 26 per cent - said they would try and entice someone into bed by leaving a copy of the book they had been discussing earlier in the evening by the bed.

And this is where I admit that I still have to read the second half of 'Long Walk to Freedom', in spite I stole it years ago from my South African ex-boyfriend (who actually did read it along with a long list of other autobiographies of various freedom fighters):

But beware: For both men and women, exaggerating the extent of your literary appetite is second only to false boasts about previous conquests in bed.

Mandela is a brand - a world icon. He is a symbol of freedom and inspiration to people all over the world for his opposition to the apartheid and for a long list of other personal and humanitarian achievements. At the end of the day it shouldn't come as a surprise that being associated with these characteristics might enhance your chances for romance or sex.

Got to finish that book now, though it is a little low on the Top Ten List (#6) on what to read to impress a man.

Regarding my personal reading habits: First I read blogs (I skim the African and development aid blogosphere several times daily in Google Reader), I read lyrics - always and a lot, I read Tanzanian newspapers (which usually leaves me more puzzled, but aware), I read photo books for inspiration and motivation, I read too few novels (which I have to improve on) - and I read too much crap in terms of internal policy papers and strategies in NGO-lingo.

 'Long Walk to Freedom'? Check it here, and buy it here.

...And enhance your own chances here:

Top ten reads to impress a man:

1) Current affairs websites

2) Shakespeare

3) Song lyrics

4) Cookery books

5) Poetry

6) Nelson Mandela autobiography Long Walk to Freedom

7) Jane Austen

8) Facebook/Myspace

9) Religious texts

10) Financial Times

 

Top ten reads to impress a woman:

1) Nelson Mandela autobiography Long Walk to Freedom

2) Shakespeare

3) Cookery books

4) Poetry

5) Song lyrics

6) Current affairs websites

7) Text messages

8) Emails

9) Financial Times

10) Facebook