Monday, November 29, 2010

Blink

As I try to work out the best way of indulging my desire to share the stories that fascinate, educate and amuse me, without annoying every body else, I am going to try to consolidate things in to a weekly blog post I will be calling ‘Blink’...a beyond cunning combination of blog and link that has probably only been used 767 times before...

So, here goes:

Witchcraft and superstition in Africa continues to challenge and trouble me, as I imagine it will do for quite some time. Check out this video about 'The Witches of Gambaga'.

You don't do much on-line research about Liberia before you come across the story of Pastor Joshua Blahyi. His story is used by numerous journalists and film-makers to pose the huge questions of forgiveness, redemption, evil, justice and reconciliation which strike anyone looking at post-war Liberia. The reason this pastor's story is so fascinating is because he wasn't always called 'Pastor Joshua' - during the war he was fearfully known as General Butt Naked.

A piece on the impact the global economic crisis has had on efforts to reduce carbon emissions with some comment on President Sirleaf's position in Liberia - The Green Cage.

A UN video clip about Liberia's women.

People visiting Sierra Leone are often surprised by the number of mobile phones they see in people's hands. Africa generally is a huge market for mobile communications technology and this, coupled with how few people take part in any form of traditional banking, is a situation that has been jumped on by some perceptive business types. The result is a rapidly growing system of mobile banking.

I enjoyed this look at the paradoxical nature of what Americans want. And it all begins with Seattle's love of candy...

And finally...

Who doesn't love Harry Hill?

Thursday, November 25, 2010

The Shadow of the Sun

I am currently cobbling together a little home-made postgraduate course in African Studies and have been trawling through Amazon's used books to see what I can get on a budget. Already arrived is Ryszard Kapuscinski's 'The Shadow of the Sun' and I am excited to get stuck in to it...I think it might be number 3 or 4 on my ever changing list of what to read.

A Polish journalist, author and historian, Kapuscinski writes this little note before launching in to his book:

I lived in Africa for several years. I first went there in 1957. Then, over the next forty years, I returned whenever the opportunity arose. I travelled extensively, avoiding official routes, palaces, important personages, and high-level politics. Instead, I opted to hitch rides on passing trucks, wander with nomads through the desert, be the guest of peasants of the tropical savannah. Their life is endless toil, a torment they endure with astonishing patience and good humour.

This is therefore not a book about Africa, but rather about some people from there - about encounters with them, and time spent together. The continent is too large to describe. It is a veritable ocean, a separate planet, a varied, immensely rich cosmos. Only with the greatest simplification, for the sake of convenience, can we say 'Africa'. In reality, except as a geographical appellation, Africa does not exist.

All suggestions of titles to be added to the reading list will be gratefully received!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Saving the Children

Risking the possibility of being considered a constant misery guts I am throwing up five stories of poverty told in the words of people from the west african countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia. The videos were made by Save the Children as part of two different campaigns to highlight the kinds of problems people are encountering on a daily basis in these places.

I am trying to learn about both of these places, what they share and what is unique to them in terms of development, culture, religion and so on. At the moment I am loving listening to Liberian's talk - contrasting their Liberian English with Sierra Leonean Krio. They are really distinctive. Whenever I first went to Sierra Leone I shared a house with two Liberians and hearing the rhythm and accent of Liberian speech gives me warm memories of good friends.

Liberia is actually now deemed to have a lower level of human development than Sierra Leone. Talking to a friend in Liberia today he shared the difficulty of getting access to electricity in Monrovia, Liberia's Capital. "It's not like Sierra Leone", he commented and believe me when I tell you that Sierra Leone is not exactly aglow with electric light.

The most random, fun thing I learned today while watching one of Save the Children's other videos from Liberia is that kids there play 'Noughty' just like our kids in Sierra Leone...so that'll be fun to go and make a fool of myself with some day! It's a game which requires strategy, quick thinking and...this part being my downfall...rhythm.

These are desperately sad stories. But this is part of life as it currently is in Sierra Leone and Liberia. To hide from it is to lie to ourselves. To pity those who share these stories is to patronise them. To feel compassion and to allow that compassion to move you to action...now that can lead to special things.

So pick at least one story from each country, have a look and a think and a pray. It'll take you just 5 minutes.


Stories from Sierra Leone









Stories from Liberia





Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Take Ten

Take a ten minute break and enjoy the magnificent Mumford and Sons playing with the french.

I was treated to a front row centre view at Seattle's Paramount Theatre recently and was suitably impressed by the power and passion of their live performance. If you ever get a chance to see them grab it with both hands...even if it means delaying your flights home by a few weeks...



Mumford & Sons - The Banjolin Song / Awake my soul - A Take Away Show #105 from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Could geography matter?

I remember the first time my father showed me what the world actually looked like. I was standing on the soft blue carpet of his book lined study and asked why the map pinned up on his door looked so funny. He looked up from his desk at my childhood self and explained that everything I thought I knew was wrong.

This is what I thought the world looked like:


But in actual fact, my father explained, this is how the world really was:


My american sister (because in-law sounds like a government is forcing me to care about her) came across a map detailing the actual size of africa in relation to other countries and areas of our planet. Because that sneaking suspicion you could never shake is in actual fact terrifyingly true.

Geography teachers lie.


(Click here for a more detailed version of this)

In an episode of The West Wing some lobbyists came for a meeting with staff in the White House to argue that the traditional world map's distortions subconsciously help feed a northern hemisphere bias. Their solution was not just to do a better job of getting the sizes right, but to turn the way we represent the world on its current head. There is, after all, no 'up' in space and why should long dead Europeans get to decide everything? While their solution was not taken seriously, in the sense that it is unrealistic, the writers of the show clearly believed that their general argument should be.

The question then is what impact have our various ways of seeing and representing the world had on us and had on it?
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