Nobel Liberia

Helloooo - can we start the week with a major foot-stumping cheer to Leymah Gbowee and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf?!? Way to represent Liberia, Africa, and women all over the world!

P.S. Big Cheers to Tawakkol Karman of Yemen as well!!!!


{Photos: Advocates for Human Rights + bet.com}

Kenyan Flowers of the World

As I walked to work yesterday, I passed by a tree with beautiful new blooms and basked in the glory that is a wet spring morning in Washington. I thought about my current efforts to grow my own flowers and how mother nature makes it look so nice and easy until the seeds are lying dead in a pot of the "healthiest organic soil on the market!!!" No, no, no, all those beautiful bouquets we see in the supermarkets or garden stores are the not only the work of mother nature, but most likely the work of Kenyans. Yup - Kenya is the top exporter of flowers quickly followed by countries such as Colombia and Ethiopia!

Pics from here

This isn't such a news flash for anyone who has been to parts of Kenya where flower farms seem to go on forever and are only rivaled by tea farms. Even in Nairobi, flowers can be found for chump change just about anywhere. As the world continues to struggle with a not-so-rosy economic scene, countries like Kenya and sectors like horticulture are definitely feeling the squeeze. When fewer lovers out there but roses this year for V-day basically someone's belt in Kenya was getting tightened as well.

Now, I honestly don't buy a lot of flowers but my venture into eating as locally as I can leads me to meeting a lot of local gardeners selling beautiful stems grown right here in my backdoor of Maryland, Pennsylvania or Virgina. This always leaves me wondering who has the better deal: the Kenyans whose flowers make it into just about every corner of the EU (Colombia pretty much has the U.S. market) but I'm sure the Kenyan pickers only get a small slice of the pie; or the local farmer who doesn't have access to all the local supermarkets and mega-flower auctions and has to sell their stems for an extra $1 or $3?

So who do you think has the better end of the stick?

Check out more on Kenyan flower power here and here. You can also learn more about one of the biggest flower firms in the country here.

Evora Legion d'Honneur

I love countries that hand out honorary recognition just for being good at what you do. In the UK, one has the chance to become a SIR or a DAME whereas in France you have the Legion d'Honneur. Back in 1802, Napolean decided to create an order based not on chivalry or nobility, but instead on pure, good-to-the-last-drop MERIT! While this is technically only for French nationals, the powers at be (French Presidents who are the Grand Masters) have bended the rule over time so the likes of Clint Eastwood, Quincy Jones, designer Valentino, and several Bollywood stars have made the cut and now so has Cape Verdean singing guru Cesária Évora!!!

I am honestly a little confused by the whole thing. Is getting a Legion d'Honneur the same as winning the Nobel Prize (if singing was even a category for this prize)? Do they get something other then a pretty ribbon? I guess it must be the ultimate resume-booster. Either way, three cheers to the mama of morna music!!

Anyway, you can check out the story right here.

Africans Have Their Say

Ok, this is my last post about all things Obama related, I PROMISE!

One of the things I love about this inauguration is all the enthusiasm coming out of Africa, especially Kenya, for this new president. BBC News has a wonderful section called 'Have Your Say' where Africans from all over the continent and world get to through out their thoughts about the new American president. Here is a little snippet:

We are so hopeful oh Obama. We as Zimbabweans we had a hope on Bush kicking Mugabe but he failed us. This time we hope Obama will come to the rescue of the Zimbabwean people because Mugabe has caused unnecessary suffering to ordinary people . Go Obama ,Go Obama..

President Obama has already done the most important thing he could for Africa. To the people, he has given hope that their efforts to develop will now be supported by the international community with America leading the way. To African leaders, he provides an example worth emulating, and a vision which calls on each of them to adopt a humanist philosophy at the core of their leadership agendas. It is the only way Africa can reverse the effects of the past and change its development trajectory.

Africans takes some notes and do what you do best learn other peoples theories and systems, and only hope that maybe obama will sort your problems. Obama said god bless America not Africa. why can we not have our own obamas, our own theories and systems that work ?i hate to be African others are celebrating we are still fighting its a curse to be African

I celebrate Obama. My message to him is not to give us, in Africa, fish but to give us the opportunity to fish in the vast waters of the global economy.

Obama is the president of the USA (which is a good thing) - not Africa. Sometimes i wonder why we Africans can't do anything about our own problems. Africa's hopes are in her hands not in Obama's - besides he'll focus on the problem the USA is facing at hand, which every African leader & politician worth their votes (or however they got their mandate) should be doing right now for their own country. leave Obama alone - let him do his job. i.e. being the president & hope of the USA!

There are tons of these that you can breeze each reflecting the diversity of feelings about this new president although I must say that many echo the last comment above, mainly that Obama is not the savior of Africa.

This is something that I've thought about several times during this whole election/inauguration process. Will any African nation ever reach the point where political institutions are sound enough and people trusting of each other enough to democratically put the best candidate into office despite his race, background or any other identifier? There appear to be so many hurdles in the way of some African countries (especially political corruption) that I don't know how they can clear them all. I guess the point is to have hope and never stop trying. Maybe that's the only thing any person can take from this whole thing.

Let's not forget

The crisis in the Congo has been in the news a lot recently and after attending a presentation of the conflict in Eastern Congo, the whole situation has been at the forefront of my mind.I'm not going to go into the depths of this crisis (mostly because I'm only slowly scratching the surface about what this whole issue is about - besides the obvious control of natural resource bottom line that is often at the root of so many crisis throughout the continent. I am constantly amazed at the human capacity to destroy and shocked by those you actually take pleasure in such destruction. While I try not to focus on the negative things taking place throughout the various countries in Africa, reflection on struggles that so many people go through definitely makes me appreciate all the beauty that comes out of that continent even more. Here are a few shots of both perpetrators and victims of the recent Congolese crisis.



Pictures from here and here on Flickr

Bata Dies

Just as I'm abut to log off the computer, I notice in the NYTimes that Thomas Bata passed away. During any other time in my life, this fact would have gone completely unnoticed by me. However, with the Bata shoe stores in Africa still salient in my mind, I pick up on these things. While I never did buy any shoes from the store (I just stuck to my Chaco flip flops), I certainly appreciated the fact that when I did get out of Sudan and hit places like Nairobi and Kampala, I could at least LOOK at decent shoes at Bata. Who would have guessed that a Czech guy living in Canada would hit the big times in Africa?!?

Extended families

One of the things I've always loved about many African cultures (as well as Latin America cultures) has always been the strong connection of the extended family. When I say 'family' I really include all the friends and neighbors who are so close they may as well be blood relatives. It is only when I am talking to friends who come from families with only one cousin or who have a nonchalant attitude about hanging with their siblings and parents that I really realize just how darn lucky I am. My sister is by far my best friend and love hanging out with my relatives. In fact, 2 weeks after I came back to the states, one cousin was visiting with his family from California and a simple Sunday bbq quickly turned into a 50 people together with every surface covered with kids, adults yelling at kids, pets running around, and more food than you could believe and this wasn't even a wedding!!

Now, this isn't one of the most salient characteristics of the typical American family so you can imagine how articles such as this one published in the NY Times warms my heart. It's about a centenarian who lives alone, housebond, in a one bedroom apartment in Murray Hill. While she may be physically alone, but she certainly isn't 'alone!!!' Over the years, Ms. Goodyear has gained a little network of neighbors and friends who regularly visit her to read to her or just hang out. These are just regular New York citizens who have met her and continue being in her life even after they have moved to other states or traveled to other countries. It's cool that a 101 year old woman who may not have blood family still has a 'family' of people who can care for her and make sure that her last days aren't lonely.

Land Rover - Out of Africa

While reading a very serious and depressing article in the New York Times about the economy, I noticed a link to another article in the auto section titled 'Out of Africa, to Brooklyn.' I clicked over and see an image of a huge 1965 Land Rover Series IIa.

This car is a staple in my memories of East Africa and clearly is a key piece of nostalgia for Geoffrey Good as well. The article goes on to explain how this jewelry designer spent years searching for the Land Rover of his youth and finally found this one in 2004. The best part is that the car is so unique that he doesn't have to worry about it being stolen just because it's so complicated to even start it!

I know two guys who had (have) old Land Rovers and despite the various headaches associated with maintaining it, they are both so attached to the car and when you get in it, you can totally understand why. It totally makes going anywhere (even the supermarket) feel like such an adventure!

In addition, these cars are just so freaking strong! In Sudan, one N.G.O. only bought Land Rovers just because they could get out of anything. While other vehicles were swallowed by rivers and mud, the Land Rover could just rip right through it!

Losing Buchanan?

Back when it all started - meaning my life - my mother moved us from Germany back to a coastal town called Buchanan in Liberia. This is where I spent the first chunk of my life and even though my memories are dim, thinking about this place still bringing back warm, fuzzy feelings about my youth and Liberia in general.

So you can only imagine how shocked and sadden I was when I read an article about coastal erosion that is destroying homes and displacing people. In the article, in IRIN news, a government authority states 'the situation is clearly posing a threat to the entire city. Since 2006 the sea has been gradually encroaching on Buchanan leaving more than one hundred homes destroyed and displacing hundreds of people, and it is still getting worse.'

The problem stems from people looting metal barriers and even rocks from the breakwaters to construct their homes. Ironic how those same homes are being destroyed by very ocean that was providing them a livelihood (fishing is a big local industry)!!

Photos from: www.acwwoodcuts.com/Site/Photography/Africa.ashx

Made in Africa

The Moment is one of the daily blogs coming from those folks over at the New York Times. While I already have way too many blogs in my favorite lists, I check this out if something hits the front page of their website.

On the 7th, there was a post called Made in Africa (take a look, it's really short) and I was VERY excited when I read the tag line 'Putting Africa on the Fashion Map.' Basically this filmmaker spent 'several years' traveling in Africa looking for links between western clothing and their 'African' origins or connections. Well, the author took a complete beating from readers who commented and I have to agree with the comments. I started reading the article thinking the author would FINALLY start a discussion about getting all the great fashions coming out of Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, etc on the fashion scene. Instead it seems the film allows the shopper to " scan special tags from Barneys merchandise made in Africa, which prompts short movie clips (filmed by Hahn) of boys dancing in Madagascar or smiling horsemen in Lesotho, to a remixed track of Toto’s song “Africa.”

On elle.com, the director says "I want to hit the consumer emotionally in the store with my art. If people see how beautiful and spirited the African people are, maybe they’ll think about how we affect their economy." Instead of focusing on how 'beautiful and spirited' African are I which she could have focused on how TALENTED African people are in the fashion industry and not only as a source of cheap labor or a place to discard second-hand clothes.

Is it better that this director did SOMETHING about African that is allowing rich American consumers to see the links between what they buy and the continent, or would it have been better had she said nothing?