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}

Forest Catwalk

Ok - I admit that I am still speechless at the sight of these now famous Hans Silvester photos from the Omo Valley. Tyra Banks clearly stole the word fierce from right here! Of all the outlandish things that fashion designers do to models that they send down the runway or on the pages of editorials, none of it can match the beauty created so naturally by the people of the Surma and Mursi tribes.

{Photos: Daily Mail, Joel Cooner, Saharan Vibe}

{Loving This!}...Djimon Hounsou

Just in case you haven't seen Blood Diamonds, In America, Gladiator, Amistad any of his other movies or his turns on the Parisian catwalk, let me introduce you to the Beninese actor Djimon Hounsou. One of five children born to his parents in Cotonou, Benin back in 1964, Hounsou eventually move to France where he broke into modeling with the help of fashion designer Thierry Mugler. While modeling helped get him off the streets where he was homeless, his dreams really belonged in acting and in 1989, he moved to the City of Angels to successfully pursue his dreams.


While Hounsou has lived in the U.S. and France for his adult life, he remains deeply rooted in the continent his work, advocacy, and frequent trips to the continent.


Should these images be too gentle for you, you can certainly check out Hounsou in the Calvin Klein ads! There is only one word to describe him in those ads: STUNNING!

{Photos from The Insider, FilmGordon and Liz's Blog}

Fulani

I was just thinking of a friend of mine while going through Flickr and I was reminded of some pictures I saw a few months ago done by a Polish photographer of a group of Fulani in Sudan. While the pictures were very moving, the story of this particular group of Fulani and the discrimination they survived through in Sudan was even more moving. I have not done a similar post recently, but I still have so much to learn about the various tribes that exist in Africa that move beyond the borders established by the colonists, that the very least I can do is at least show a few images....

All photos from Flickr. Click image to take you to it's 'home'

Turkana

Loki is in the Turkana Distrist of Kenya. While everyone always hears about the Maasai tribe when they come on safari, and a lot of western fashion designers that go through their 'African' phase seem to be heavily influenced by this tribe, there are tons of other tribes in Kenya, including the Turkana. I'm sure many of you saw the movie The Constant Gardner and most of the scenes outside of Nairobi were shot in this district near Lake Turkana. Above is a picture taken this afternoon when I was rolling into town of a very typical Turkana girl, however photographer David Lacana does better justice with the pictures below. Really, these women are stunning, and every time I see them I wonder what it would be like to wear all those beads around my neck. I'll have to figure a way and let you know the results! ;)