15 items tagged "tedglobal2007"
Related tags: TEDGlobal [+], QuotesInspiration [+], Kenya [+]
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11:32
Look Ma I’m on TV!
» Kenyan Pundit So my natural instinct is to want to go off and run and hide somewhere because my Ted talk is finally up on TED’s website…I barely remember what I said, I was so nervous and ish…and its also very personal. But I might as well enjoy my 15 mins of fame on the interwebs…maybe one [...]
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14:32 Video & Short Summary: Chris Anderson on Charlie Rose
» Afromusing Charlie Rose interviewed Chris Anderson of TED on his show…below is the video.
There is another famous Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired Magazine and author of the popular book ‘The long Tail’…so just to make it clear, the Chris Anderson on the video is not the same as the Wired guy, though they are both just brilliant. The wired Chris Anderson spoke at a TED conference; his talk on Technology’s long tail is available on TED.com as are other amazing talks. I recommended his book on this post in 2006, and Erik did an interesting post on The long tail of Banking in Kenya. What is going to be the next big idea in business this year?
On the digital activism front; i cant wait to hear about the ‘Cute Cat Theory’ by Ethan Zuckerman at Etech March 3rd. Ethan will also be live blogging TED2008 Conference in Monterrey from Feb 27th - March 1st. I would bookmark his blog/subscribe to his rss feed for his coverage and other Africa-watching-tech-digital-activism posts.I am becoming more cognizant of the fact that embedded videos are not easily viewable on mobile phones; and since some of this blog’s readership is in Africa, i will summarize a bit of the interview.
You can read about Chris Anderson’s background on the TEDblog
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Chris gives an introduction of what TED is, and mentions its rapid expansion. Just to paraphrase, TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) is about bringing together scientists, architects, artists, leaders - basically a diverse group of people from many fields to talk about their work and how it fits into the bigger global picture.
Charlie says it sounds elitist to him: In response, Chris points out that it is indeed expensive, at $6000 a person to attend, but that the content is available on the internet for free. He touches on some of the speakers that have graced the TED stage including Craig Venter’s interesting research on creating synthetic lifeforms. Craig’s work could solve the energy crisis and global warming -more on that here. Chris also mentioned the Google founder’s talk several years ago, where Sergei Brin and Larry page talked about their company.
Charlie asked about the TED prize, which Chris explained as not just a $100,000 award for the recipient to make his/her wish come true, it is also the commitment and assistance from others in the TED community that makes things happen. They cut to a video showing E.O Wilson’s TED wish for the Encyclopaedia of Life; Chris mention that it would be unveiled in march. Here is a link to the EOL site.
Chris mentions some of the speakers and TED Prize winners lined up for TED2008, Dave Eggers, Neil Turok - A physicist who is setting up an institution for science in Africa…and Karen Armstrong. More info here.Charlie Wilson brings up JJ Abrams; (creator of popular TV shows Lost and Alias) and they cut to a video of JJ’s talk. Chris explains that JJ’s talk centered around the role of mystery/hiding in cinema, a technique used by the likes of Spielberg (You never saw the shark in the movie ‘Jaws’ till the very end.) They discuss a bit more on the mission of TED being ‘Ideas worth spreading’, and Chris notes that its about seeing ideas take shape, and in the coming years actually see the ideas in practice.
Charlie asks “Why 18 minutes long?” - Because it is long enough not to be trivia, but short enough to hold your attention. This reminded me of Andrew Mwenda at TED Global last year who said; that a TED talk should be like a miniskirt - “long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to maintain interest”. Moving along…Chris talked about how the lives of the speakers at TED are transformed. Their work; which they have often been doing over many years without much exposure, gets recognized and becomes widely known. The example of Hans Rosling’s talk which has now been watched by more that a million and half people around the world.
Chris also talked about the teaching profession and how the broadband and video revolution is redefining this role. He feels that we shall continue to see an explosion of knowledge that is far reaching.Charlie asked Chris about 3 people who changed his life, and Chris responded
- His editor when he was a journalist showed him the importance of passion and enthusiasm for good work. Adding emotional richness to experiences is important and that is why they include musicians and artists as part of TED (I am paraphrasing!)
- Jonathan Haidt, the author of ‘The Happiness Hypothesis’
Charlie wraps it up and asks about the dates of TED2008 - Feb 27th - March 1st. Chris mentions some of the big questions anchoring the conference this year…a full list from the TED site include…Who are we?
What is our place in the universe?
What is life?
Is beauty truth?
Will evil prevail?
How can we change the world?
How do we create?
What’s out there?
What will tomorrow bring?
What stirs us?
How dare we be optimistic?
And the point?
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8:48
New month, new hopes
» bankelele seeking bloggers: Mediation talks are going on in Nairobi, and we hope for a better month than January. The last post I did was on winners - one of whom was Kenyans online who have been inspired by the political crisis to start blogging. I’d like to add new bloggers to the blog roll (the list on the right, below the advertisements) - an update of the list is long overdue and some blogs there have since become dormant. Regular readers are invited to submit any interesting blogs they have found (and which are likely to be running for the next few months at least) and I may do a write up of them
Other opportunities
most from the daily papers this week
TED Africa registration opens today
Import finance: the Government of Japan has through Kenya’s ministry of finance come forward with a 1.5 billion yen (884 million shillings) facility for Kenyan businesses to import raw materials and finished goods from Japan. Applications are on a first come, first served basis, minimum amount is 5 million shillings, maximum 40 million ($560,000) ; terms are down payment of 10% and finance is up to 90% to be repaid over 1 year and secured by a bank guaranteed. Info is from crown agents (crownagents@ke.crownagents.com)
Ford foundation scholarships: The 7th round of the Ford foundation international fellowships program is up and running. 48 scholarships are available to Kenyans – details online and D/L is 7/3
Jobs
- Credit analysts at Africa trade insurance company
Consolidated bank: branch manager, credit manager, credit admin manager, credit analysts. Apply though snail mail by 15/2
- Regional learning & development coordinator at Deloitte. Apply to hr@deloitte.co.ke
KCB: divisional director HR - apply through hawking associates by 11/2. Also investigators (frauds-forensics) and head of central services. Apply to recruitment@kcb.co.ke by 8/2
- Kenya Airways: Ramp Bus Operator,
Sales & Ticketing Agent, Multilingual In-Flight Attendant, Customer Service Agent, Qualified Pilots
Nimble Africa: industry experts (hospitality, financial, retail). Apply to recruitment@nimbleafrica.com by 10/2
- Safaricom: Area sales representative, M-PESA new business sales officer. D/L is 6/2
- Standard group: financial & commercial services director, group managing editor. Apply through PWC at ess.ke@ke.pwc.com by 15/2.
- USIU; management accountant, financial accountant. Apply to jobs@usiu.ac.ke by 15/2
- Independent financial advisors at Winton investments: Apply to jobs@wintoninvestments.com.
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6:36
TEDAfrica - Registration opens today.
» Afromusing 
The TED Africa conference in Capetown South Africa, promises to build on the magic of TED Global 2007. The concept for this years’ conference makes that quite clear.
What if Africa had no borders? What if her boundaries extended as far as those living in the diaspora, or even further? What if you could fly directly from Cape to Cairo, Lagos to Luanda, Bujumbura to Abuja? Or what if you could drive to every city and every town and every village? What if the Internet was a reality for every African? What if you could call the world from atop the Kilimanjaro, or from deep in the forests of the Congo? What if a lingua franca was spoken and understood by every African? What if we could halve the number of poor Africans by 2015, or eradicate poverty altogether someday? What if there was a cure for every disease and the average African could live beyond the age of 33? What if Africa embraced innovative thinking, and in the process, reinvented her future?
I would recommend registering early for this exciting event, and if interested in the African Fellows program, to apply for it as soon as possible. There are 50 fellowships available this year.
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23:11
Quick notes
» Afromusing I have a new post on Global voices, rounding up environment news from blogs. You can add the code showing all the pieces I do for GV to your website. Incentive? My perpetual gratitude.
Via Carbon Copy
A cool mashup site with base maps showing CO2 emission levels, power plant locations, photos, videos etc. ExploreOurPla.net.Cho of New Zambia has an excellent intro to the Zambian blogosphere
Confession: I do not like traffic jams at all…one thing that’s been making it bearable for me is listening to Ted Talks and other podcasts on the Ipod (o.k, ok, i watch abit at stop lights and such). Thing is, i got a weird, albeit puzzled look from another motorist at a stop light because i was clapping my hands. An unintended consequence of watching inspiring ted talks in public places.
The video I was applauding to was that of Zeray Alemseged, specifically where he saidA positive African Attitude towards Africa is the Key
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TED Global Africa Talks are up
» Kenyan Pundit The first series of talks from TED Global have been posted, so you can now all see what we were raving about. Two of my favorites are up - Ngozi Okojo-Iweala’s nuanced summary of the themes that permeated the conference (best line - infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure) and William Kakwamba’s earnest story of his [...]
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7:43
Clean Drinking Water Pumped by Wind Energy!
» Afromusing This installation in Chifiri, in North Eastern province Kenya is an example of how wind and solar installations can be used to provide the needs of marginalized communities in arid and semi-arid areas.
Simon Mwacharo, TEDGlobal speaker and renewable energy innovator has written about it in wonderful detail and provided pictures. Read more about it here.The turbine also provides some power to the nearby manyattas (traditional samburu huts), Simon noticed a Japanese guy camped out near the turbine. That was the only place he could charge his laptop and phone!
Do note that next week, the TEDGlobal talks will premiere on Ted.com. Subscribe in itunes by searching for tedtalks and also check the TED blog for a series of posts from bloggers who attended the conference. A piece i wrote is is alread posted on the TED blog, Like Emily said ‘This is the bloggers story to tell’, because there wasn’t as much coverage of it in the mainstream news. I hope you enjoy the talks.
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14:36
Solar tech in the medical field - Salam cardiac surgery center sudan etc.
» Afromusing While at TEDGlobal I met Manuel Toscano, a gentleman who works for Emergency USA. We talked shortly about solar power being a great technology for use in remote areas. He filled me in on a hospital that was designed using the following guiding principles.
-The idea of a “hollow” space and a pavilion-based system;
-The choice of the best possible technology given the context;
-The search for an ethical language for this type of architecture.The choice of solar power for a hospital in an oil rich country might seem a bit ironic, but there is more to this. The specific details of how the energy produced by the panels is used is particularly interesting.
Solar panel: free healthcare, free energy
The average temperature in the Sudan is 29°C, and in the hottest months it can reach 45°C. In order to cool down the hospital, a number of measures were taken during construction. In addition to this, air conditioners were installed after the building was constructed. In the first case, a series of insulating techniques were used. The external walls for example are 58 cm thick and contain an insulating cavity that prevents the building from heating up. The use of traditional cooling systems would have implied high levels of electrical energy or fossil fuel consumption (the needs in terms of volumes of air to be cooled down are hefty: 28,000 m3). In a country rich in oil resources, EMERGENCY has sought out alternative sources of clean energy: the sun. Nine containers left Italy for Khartoum with 300 solar panels, bringing to the country an almost unknown technology, and one that is very seldom used in Europe. Today a plant that contains 288 solar collecting items (for an equivalent of 900 m2, or the area of 10 houses) produces 3,600 KW- as much as burning 355 kg of gas – without producing one gram of CO2. Each collecting item is made up of a number of copper tubes that contain water; these are themselves placed in insulated glass tubes that allow the water inside the copper tubes to heat up. The water transfers the accumulated heat to an insulated 50 m3 tank that keeps the water between 80-90°C. The heat is then cooled down to 7°C in two “chilling” machines. Solar power thus allows the center to produce cold air without discharging any particles into the atmosphere, and limits the use of electric power to water circulation pumps. Two regular boilers have also been installed in case the solar power is not sufficient to run the two “chilling” machines. The cold water is used to lower the levels of heat in the rooms that need to be chilled for medical or other purposes. The machines used for this last part of the cooling circuit are called UATs (Units of Air Treatment). There are 8, each one designed for a specific area of the hospital (CPR, surgery, administration, etc). The UATs draw air from outside and “force” it into a 7°C tube that cools it down. A second system of tubes subsequently transports the cool air to various hospital rooms according to need.In short, the surgery center is kept cool using a combination of the water from the Nile and the Solar panels. For more detail on the design guidelines of the salam center please click here [pdf]. (Thank you Manuel).
It is becoming increasingly clear that solar tech is flexible enough to allow for innovation in any field. Another example of solar being especially useful in the medical field is the ‘Hospital in a box’ invention by Dr. Seyi Oyesola, a TED Global Speaker and innovator.
Jason Pontin of TR summarized his invention asIt was a simple, portable (well, 150-pound), resilient set of medical devices that makes surgery possible even in the worst parts of the world. The hospital in a box has anesthetic equipment, a defibrillator, a burn unit, plaster-making tools, surgical tools, and an operating table.
In my post on tales of invention, i noted that the ‘Hospital in a box’ can be charged using a truck battery or a solar panel.
Note: TED fellows Dr. Chikwe Iheakweazu and Dr. Ike Anya from Nigeria started the blog ‘Nigeria Health Watch’ to discuss and bring to the fore health care issues in Nigeria and Africa in general. Do visit them and subscribe to their feed if you are in the medical field and want to be in the loop.
Back to architecture: This ted talk from Cameron Sinclair is very inspiring.
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13:24
TEDGlobal - The X Files
» Mentalacrobatics Lost in translation
At one of the evening dinners at TED Global I ended up sitting next to a group of Americans and we started discussing the TED bags that each one of us got. I told them the best thing in the bag for me, apart from the bag itself, was the torch (each bag came with a small yet powerful LED torch (number 6) ).
When I mentioned this, there was short silence, then they asked me,
“You got a TORCH?”
“Yeah”, I reply wondering why they would be so impressed. OK it is a bloody good torch but still.
“In your TED bag?”
“Yeah.”
“Can we see it?”
“Sure.”I pull it out of my bag wondering which company these guys work for if they have never seen a torch before. Once they saw it, however, the disappointment on their face was telling.
Perplexed I ask them, “What did you expect?”
They explained that when I had said torch they thought I meant open flame, fire, as in burning torch, you know those things you dip into petrol and light at the end, to them that is a torch. You know, like that guy in the Fantastic Four who runs around on fire that is a torch.
To them what I was holding in my hand is a flashlight. To me, a flashlight or a flash is something you stick on top of camera when you want to take pictures in the dark.
OK I can see now why they were initially impressed. Imagine having one of those open flame “torches” in your rucksack just waiting for an opportune moment to light the petrol.
I blame Micro$oft and their “English (US)”!
How the players play
I asked another bunch if this was their first time in Africa, they said yes, they had been in Morocco for a couple of days and then flew to Arusha. So I asked them if they flew through Nairobi.
No, they said they flew straight from Morocco to Arusha.
So now I’m looking at them wondering what kind of a muppet they think I am, why the hell they would lie to me so badly, I mean which airline flies direct to Arusha from Morocco?
Just before I launched into a mini argument with them another Kenyan next to me notices the look on my face and whispers to me, “You guy, they came in their own plane.”
OHHHHH!Serena Mountain Village, Arusha
Everyone thinks they had it going on but seriously the TED Group at Serena Mountain Village was fantastic. One of the guys predicts the future, another one is a leading Nollywood director, one has built the building with the most solar panels in Africa, one had a brilliant way of keeping intellectual debate going and another had the guts to show this picture during his 3 minute talk, meanwhile this geezer gave the best 3 minute talk any roommate of mine has ever given at a TED conference, at the same time Manu and I spent time debating the merits of a good single malt.
The TED veterans ensured we mixed and to be honest they even outlasted us and still sounded coherent at 5am. A better bunch of crazier yet interesting and completely unpretentious people you would not meet. All we were missing was a neo-con! I think there is a conspiracy going on here, aren’t neo-cons allowed to have passports by the US authorities? I have never met an American who says they voted for Bush. Aren’t they allowed to travel and leave America?
The lodge is very romantic and very honeymoon like. Luckily my roommate has already been on his honeymoon a couple of years back.
A Radio!
You may have heard that due to the generosity of the Google and AMD each of the TED Global Fellows will soon be getting a new Mac or PC laptop. What you may not have heard is that due to generosity of Noah Samara from Worldspace each fellow is also getting a satellite radio and an annual Worldspace subscription. As you can imagine we went, as a famous Kenyan blogger would put it, bananas. But I quickly realised I was going bananas for a different reason from everyone else. All the other fellows are going nuts over the Macs (is anyone seriously choosing a PC?) But me, I was going bananas over the radio.
Walalala.
Satellite radio, for one year. Yani I can wake up at 3am and tune into what the good people of Papua New Guinea are up to? And I’ve always wondered what the theme music for radio news in Peru sounds like. Now I’ll know. On News Year Eve I’ll start listening from Time Zone 1 and check out how each time zone celebrates the New Year! Imagine how many countdowns I will catch! Yeah ok, Macs are cool, very very cool. Lakini, you guy, a radio with a ka small satellite dish, come on now, what is cooler than that! Seriously!Body no be wood
Umm well, yeah umm, ah ehhhh hmmm!!! If you know you know, if you don’t know, you don’t know, or ask a Nigerian. Don’t ask Google, it will just confuse you! However BNBW in the TED Global context may be slightly different from the traditional context. We kinda switched it into an ICT cheetah thing, (cough cough), let me just put it this way, YMMV, and I do not mean THAT mileage.
Kilimanjaro International Airport
Is there any reason why Kisumu airport can not be expanded to look and feel like Kilimanjaro airport?
© Mentalacrobatics for Mentalacrobatics, 2007. | Permalink | 12 comments
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Why TED Global rocked
» Mentalacrobatics Experienced bloggers are by nature a questioning lot. A less kind person would call us a cynical lot. You tell us something, we will question it. You raise a point, we will debate it. You lie, you will eventually get caught, usually by another blogger who notices inconsistencies. Like a girl on a first date, we are not easily impressed. To remix that old quote, you can fool one blogger one time, but you can’t fool all the bloggers all the time.
Experienced bloggers are by nature an articulate lot. We spend hours each week not just telling but analysing whatever we find important. It is vital that we are able to put our point across to our readers. We defend our positions, usually by employing intellectual debate. Experienced bloggers are generally not dazzled by your personality, popularity, or prosperity. We want to hear what you have to say and we will judge you on that basis.
So this TED Global thing, what is it about it that has us who attended walking around on cloud nine, talking about a “cheetah generation” and “forget making poverty history we want to make Africans rich“? It is almost like we were indoctrinated by the some powerful force. Every single blogger who was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend TED Global came out very very very very very impressed!. Why? Recently we got an email asking us to rate the conference, the organisation, the speakers on scale from poor to excellent. Talking with some other TEDsters over the weekend we were of the opinion that the scale should start at bloody brilliant and end at flipping unbelievable. (Thanks Hash for putting all those links together!)
In my experience there are a couple of reasons why I had a fantastic time.
- I am not alone.
- The explosion of ideas and learning.
- The 1958 feeling.
I lie in bed sometimes thinking about Kenya and Africa and I can not sleep because my head starts feeling like it is about to explode. Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? In what way can I be most helpful? Where do we even begin? At TED Global I was in a whole room of people who go through the same thing. Young people across the continent who have a passion about this motherland called Africa that really surpasses all logic. They see what you are doing, you see what they are doing and suddenly you realise that you are not alone, and you do not have to do it alone. Instead of wondering if we will ever rise, now I am like, there is no way, absolutely no way that anyone can keep us down. The next 20 years will not be like the last 20 years, that I can guarantee you. In 2027 this will be the most linked post on Mentalacrobatics and you can all start calling me prophet!
What a speaker line up. You walked out of the room rubbing your head wondering how you are going to process all that knowledge. Next time you bump into one of those idiots who starts asking you questions like, “where is the African Mozart, or where is the African Brunel, implying that Africans do not think send them a copy of Ron Eglash’s study of fractals in African architecture and watch their heads explode as they try to understand just what the hell is going on, and that is just one of many many examples that were shared at this conference. Sending txt messages in Amharic, no problem, want to build a computer that thinks like a brain, easy peasy.
This is the big one for me. I have often wondered how it would have felt to attend THE pan African conference of all pan African conferences, The All-African People’s Conference in Accra in 1958 as the wind of independence was sweeping over the continent. How exhilarating it must have felt to watch freedom galloping over the horizon coming closer and closer as one colonial power after another was kicked out. But I wondered more about how powerful it must have been to walk into a room and you have all those brains there, all those visionaries in one place at one time. Imagine standing in the queue for lunch and you see Nyerere chatting with Lumumba or W.E.B DuBois sharing a knock-knock joke with Nkrumah or something like that. At TED Global I got that same buzz, you got the sense that there were people in that room that would revolutionise this continent. Now you know why I was smiling strangely at all of you at lunch at TED, I was trying to figure out which one of you was Nyerere and which one was Lumumba, who would be DuBois and who Nkrumah! In the 1958 conference they elected a young man called Tom Mboya from Kenya as their chairman, in his summing up speech he called for a reversal of the Scramble for Africa addressing the colonial powers thus:
“Your time has past, Africa must be free. Scram from Africa.”
Substitute colonial powers then for your pet hate today. Corruption, nepotism, tribalism, maybe even neo-colonialism? Whatever it is, tell it to scram from Africa. Like 50 years ago, change must come and change is in the air and that change is unavoidable. But we have learnt the lessons of 50 years ago, this time the pact between African leaders and African people must be paramount.
Kudos to the Tom Mboya of TED Global, Emeka Okafor.
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TEDGlobal2007
TEDGlobal-
11:08
TED Video and Picture Links
» Afromusing Ted Talks just released the video of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Brookings Institution fellow and speaker at TED Global 2007. The video is from the talk she did at Monterrey California, but will give you a taste of what we heard this past thursday in Arusha.
Click here to watch - How to help Africa? Do business there
TED Global felt like a seminal moment in Africa. I may have said this already but i will say it again. It was unlike any conference i have ever attended. Stupendous, challenging, interesting, eye-opening, heart-opening literally with Dr. Seyi Olesola and figuratively with Binyavanga Wainaina, Chris Abani and the music of Vusi Mahlasela. It was not uncommon to see people quietly wiping away tears during some of the talks. I would be curious as to the psychology behind the organization of the conference, it literally does something to your brain, sort of like neuron shock-therapy. By this i mean the speed, content, superb production, entertaining ‘mental breaks’ and the mix of amazing people. Its like being given knowledge speed in an engaging syringe with extra tablets of wonderful food. (Yeah i know i am a little corny but seriously, its just fantastic).
A few more pictures posted on my flickr account.
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Panic mode
» Mentalacrobatics Last month in a blog post called a “Tale of Two Kenyans” I wrote about how the Kenyan police woke up an entire slum when two suspected cop killers decided to hide amongst the residents. A couple of readers expressed doubts to put it politely. One of the emails I received even accused me of making the whole episode up claiming the Kenyan authorities did not have enough manpower to mount such an operation.
Kenyan police round up suspected Mungiki members in Nairobi’s Mathare slum. Click on the image to see the full size image.
Well, well, well. I get back from TEDGlobal in Arusha to find the world has gone mad back at home. Yesterday a combined force of 500 made up of regular police, administration police and the elite General Service Unit raided Mathare in a crackdown on the gangsters of the Mungiki Sect that is responsible for the deaths of at least 20 people included at least 12 who were beheaded in the last three months. So far the police operation, code named Operation Kosovo, has resulted in around 30 deaths and 300 arrests. Of course the police claim that they have good reasons to suspect that all those they have arrested and killed are members of Mungiki. Mathare is under siege. After months of harassment by Mungiki now they have another threat to watch out for, trigger happy police.
A policeman with a police dog rounds up suspected Mungiki members in Nairobi’s Mathare slum. Click on the image to see the full size image.
Another Kenyan blogger, Majonzi, writing on this story uses a powerful headline
Wananchi vs Mungiki vs The Police
I would change it to
Mungiki vs Wananchi vs The Police
The wananchi, the ordinary Kenyan citizen, is now caught in the middle of a battle between Mungiki and the police for the control of parts of Nairobi and parts of Kenya. Month after month, year after year this sect has grown unchecked, harassing, beating, killing and beheading ordinary wananchi going about their lives. This sect was seemed untouchable by the police. Well the authorities have woken up and as one policeman was quoted saying,
“Lala chini ung’orote. Unajua kuna serikali?”
(Lie down and sleep. Do you know there is a government in Kenya?)
Kenyan police round up suspected Mungiki members in Nairobi’s Mathare slum forcing them to lie face down. Click on the image to see the full size image.
Where has this “government” been up to now?
This is a clear example that we have to take the optimism, positive energy and empowering ideas from TEDGlobal and start making change in our society at a fundamental level. James Shikwati in his talk urged Africans to start panicking, to enter “panic mode”. We have to open our eyes to our society is breaking and in many ways in broken and perhaps if we enter panic mode we will start to deal with issues with the urgency they require.
Thanks M4 for sending me the images.
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Saudi Ok, Africa Not
» bankelele After listening to a week of stories on aid, development, and entrepreneurship, we emerged from Ted Global in Arusha to find one of the proponents of a new vision for development in Africa - outgoing British prime minister Tony Blair endorsing shady dealings that involve Saudi Arabia in the name of strategic relationships
The implications of this are that (accoring to the US & UK governments) is that corruption/economic transgressions in Saudi Arabia are ok, but not in Zimbabwe or (former aid darling) Uganda. But the effects of these are that no British high commissioner can come preach good good governance to Kenya, or any other African country.
Africans are not all corrupt, not are we without faults, but so are British and American and their agents. In the words of George Ayittey we will find African solutions to African problems and be wary of cheerleaders on governance. -
NN (Part II)
» bankelele In Part I I was unable to get enough local newspaper content. But when I got back to my room at the end of Day 3 (Wednesday, around 7 pm), I found a “dear me” letter from the hotel reception and attached to it were three English newspapers – just as I had requested, and even though it was the end of the day, that was great! But unfortunately they were from the day before (Tuesday). Still you work and I was later able to get several Swahili newspapers on Thursday.
So here goes: highlighting local financial & development issues and challenges specifically addressed to during the TED week
- There is a shortage of a new anti-malaria medicine - ALu (syrup), made by Norvatis to be given to infants. And the government will come up with a national HIV testing program. combating malaria and HIV were cited as major steps needed to be achieved to enable Africa to develop
- Celtel has lowered its Internet access charges from Tshs. 1766 to 475 (about $0.4) per MB downloaded. The company has also extended its East Africa network to Congo, Gabon and the giant DRC
- The Tanzania Chamber of commerce, industry and agriculture won an afriglobal African achiever award in South Africa.
- Tanzania exported 51,000 tons of coffee last year, earning the country earning about $100 million
- Education will get the highest allotment (17.1%) of the country’s 5.1 trillion ($4.2 billion) budget to be announced this month.
- In preparing for the budget, the government has commissioned a report to crack down on vehicle misuse – it is estimated that the government owns over 800 land cruiser VX's that costs over 33 billion a year ($26 million) to run
- Ben Enterprises launches – kazitanzania.com - a database of quality jobs.
UNICEF donates 1,500 lap desks to Salei primary school in Arusha
- The government denies knowledge of Integrated Property Investments - a British firm that is reported to have acquired 120 acres of Indian Ocean shoreline in the Dar es Salaam area to set up a $20m mangrove plant.
- The University of Dar es Salaam has an evening MBA program
- The Tanzania government plans to start auditing all foreign mining companies to verify their processing and export figures
- Last year, the Tanzania post office system processed 17.7 million letters which was 8% less than the year before. Also reducing (by 5%) were the number of parcels leaving country and the number of registered letters (down 19%). All these were attributed to advances in technology (email, SMS, fax).
- Tanzania wants most of the 500,000 refugees from Burundi to return to their country by year end
- Zara solar limited (of Northern Tanzania) has been nominated an Ashden Award (winners to be announced on June 21 in London) that recognizes outstanding sustainable energy projects. Zara sold over 3,600 solar PV systems, benefiting 18,000 people. It is estimated that 10% of the country and only 2% of rural population have access to the electricity grid.
- Fastracking of teachers to fill acute shortages at newly built secondary schools may be lowering the quality of education.
- USAID has commissioned a 2 year environmental education program that will be administered by the Jane Goodall Institute.
- The World Bank will offer vulture aid to help developing countries stuck with high & expensive commercial debt following an infamous fleecing case of the Zambia government by a European investment- vulture fund. -
Vanity Fair Africa
» bankelele From Crunk & Disorderly
In his talk, Bono had mentioned that he had persuaded Graydon Carter to have Vanity Fair do an issue highlighting Africa. Here's one of the 20 different covers.
What's inside? See the table of contents
