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2 items tagged "tedglobal07"

• June 06, 2007
• 0:06

  NN

   » ‎ bankelele

  Tags:  tedglobal07  

  I am newsless newswise (NN). TED has been great so far but I also want to know more about Tanzania on my first trip here (wandering around Lunga Lunga does not count)
  
  One of the ways to appreciate what's happening in a country (political, financial, investment, government, arts, developmentetc.) is to read as many local newspapers as possible - because while there are billions of things found online that a newspaper will not contain, there are also thousands of things in a daily newspaper that cannot be adequately captured online. However here at TED i have had a very hard time getting a newspaper to read.
  
  I woke up on Day 1 (Monday morning) expecting to find newspapers available (free or tot buy) in the hotel lobby or gift shop. But I was told that daily newspapers would only arrive in the afternoon – which I found strange. And unlike in Nairobi or Kampala, there are no vendors milling around hotels selling newspapers. Have i found stumbled upon something here? Is the reading culture different from Uganda or Kenya and does that mean anything for the East African Community? Or is it just that guests at this premier hotel are usually not interested in the Tanzanian daily papers?
  
  On Day 2 (Tuesday) I even got up at 5:30 a.m. and went in search of any shuttle driver (who transports delegates across town to conference) to buy and bring me a papers in the morning and I even left money at the reception.
  
  So, after two days, I have got three newspapers. Day 1: Citizen, and Mtanzania (Swahili), that I that I bought at 1 PM from a vendor at the hotel. Day 2: the African that I believe was brought by a shuttle driver at about 12 PM. I have also had a change to read the Tuesday daily nation (Kenya) - a copy which belongs to the hotel.
  
  I have become something of a newsless nuisance (NN) to the hotel staff who seem bemused at my desire to locate a newspaper in the morning (fresh with news for the day) – as if I am awaiting an important fedex package which I can't trace.
  
  It seems I may have to go to town myself to buy more papers like the business times, Arusha Times as well as other newspapers.
  
  We'll see what Day 3 brings....
• June 05, 2007
• 7:20

  TED Global: History Rhymes

   » ‎ bankelele

  Tags:  tedglobal07  

  
  
  Dr. Ken Vickery of North Carolina State University gave a talk on past leaders in Africa and their engagement in entrepreneurial zeal and partnerships on their own terms to benefit their people.
  
  - Nzinga Mbemba the Manikongo (leader) of the Kongo in the 16th century who entered into a joint venture with the Portuguese where his people would receive education and Christianity in exchange for ivory and slaves. His son was eventually consecrated by the pope as the first African roman catholic bishop. But Portuguese did not fulfill their end of the deal, negotiating around him to get greater even greater numbers of slaves and corrupting his court. His relationship with the Portuguese is chronicled in 22 letters that are now widely published.
  
  - Ja Ja, King of the Opobo Kingdom, in the 1880's. Got into a partnership with the English for ship palm oil. When he felt he was not getting a fair deal from shipping companies so he set out to establish his own shipping line. For this he was captured and exiled by the British.
  
  - Third was African counties in the post independence area (early 1960's to mid 70') their economies GNP's grew post independence and they delivered services such as education and health care and largely performed as governments. They were not basket cases until the oil crisis and collapse of raw material market shocks destabilized their growth patterns.
  
  So even as we stand at the dawn of a new era of partnerships of trade, development, debt, aid, etc., remember that history rhymes.