The ‘dusty foot philosopher’ makes waves again

Somalia-raised, Toronto-based rapper K’naan thinks like Bob Marley, flows like Eminem and mixes African music with conscious hip-hop, unabashed pop and even metal. The results are usually catchy and interesting – Rolling Stone, Feb 5, 2009

Along with his mother and his brother, 13-year-old Keinan Warsame left Somalia on the last commercial flight from Mogadishu to join his father in New York; the family settled in Toronto’s “Little Somalia” shortly thereafter. K’naan has been speaking out publicly about his country’s plight since 2001. Recently he joined Youssou N’Dour, to appear on his album of “refugee voices,” Building Bridges, and a subsequent tour.

K’naan’s Troubadour hits stores on Tuesday, Feb. 23. Check out “Bang Bang” by K’Naan free on iTunes this week. http://urlbrief.com/f7aef1

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can discarded phone booths be used to kickstart micropayments?

andrewhyde: rt @dllavoy just occurred to me. could payphones be considered the first micropayment model? about 2 hours ago · Reply · View Tweet

Andrew Hyde of TechStars retweeted  a simple thought by Deb Louison Lavoy on why pay phones could not be used for micropayments. I thought I’d share this on my blog for your thoughts.

This reminds me of an equally interesting project called Question box that converts discarded phone booths in rural villages into a knowledge re-sources.

The idea was simple:

Users place a free call by pushing the green button. They connect to an operator sitting in front of an Internet-enabled computer. Users ask the operator questions. The operator goes online and finds their answers, translating them into the local language.

Question Box brings relevant information to people who cannot access the Internet directly. It overcomes barriers of illiteracy, language and limited penetration in rural India and Africa. Villagers have access to immediate, relevant information using the most simple mode of communication:  voice.

While this is great, Question Box’s successful pilots coupled with Deb’s post brings up an interesting question. Can these same discarded phone booths also serve the purpose of collecting micro payments? – Phone booths already have the ability to collect money and transmit data over phone lines.

With little modification, phone booths could serve to kick start micro payments in rural Africa for those still be disconnected to the banking and communication grid.

These are my $0.02 ; your thoughts welcome ..

tag: afrigadget, appfrica, jobsworth

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The U.N. discusses mandating the Right to Water

Today’s San Francisco Chronicle has a wonderful story about the U.N. considering mandating the right to water.

This is in part a response to water riots in Bolivia, Mali, Uruguay, Argentina and South Africa where the governments were unable to anticipate or explain unusually high water rates brought on by privatization of water services.

While private industry is critical to better purification and delivery systems, water must remain a public resource so as to prevent its exploitation. Classifying water as a human right would send the right message – that Governments have an obligation to allocate adequate resources that provide equal access to water for all their citizens.

Enshrining water as a right sounds innocent. But it carries multiple implications. On one level, such a right would put nations on notice to upgrade water systems to make sure all their citizens have access. It’s an inarguable ideal for a human necessity.

Poor nations, the real audience for the water-as-a-right campaign, have experienced a confusing spin cycle of rich-country ideas. First, foreign aid failed to improve water deliveries, as weak governments weren’t up to the task of rebuilding. Then a new wave of aid from the World Bank and the United Nations came with a condition: Here’s the money, but it needs to be handled by private companies with the management and experience to pull off an infrastructure rebuild.

source:  Is there a right to water?, San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, December 26, 2008

Why I blog about Africa

Why write about Africa? There are many reasons why people choose to blog about Africa, but few have ever been challenged to share their reasons. Interestingly enough, African bloggers have been responding to a wonderful post by Théophile Kouamouo, a blogger based in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), who started a meme asking why you blog about Africa:

Why do you blog about Africa? Do we blog for the diaspora and for the world at large, cut off from our contemporary on the continent? Is blogging about Africa done in the same way as blogging about Europe or Asia? Does the African-oriented blogosphere have something specific to offer to the world version 2.0?

To understand why I write about Africa, there are a few things you must know about me:

1. I am a third generation Kenyan.
2. Like many in his time, my father’s grandfather came to Africa as a laborer for the great East African Railway from India. The journey was hard, their future was uncertain but he was determined to find his destiny in a land that his forefathers would have known little about.
3. I am also an Indian.
4. My mother comes from a state where the seeds of peaceful revolution were planted by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, later known as the Mahatma – this state, Gujarat has been the powerhouse of Indian Industry ever since.
5. Lastly, I’m American educated.  I believe strongly in mankind’s responsibility to protect some basic inalienable rights for every human being as outlined in the American Declaration of Independence , “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness “.

I write about Africa because I believe in Africa; I believe in the dream of a  self reliant and prosperous Africa; I believe in the unwavering strength of its people, and the richness of its cultural history. My Africa is undergoing a revolution – a silent revolution, a peaceful revolution, an information revolution. The youth are vocal and demanding a better future. Rather than look at the west for answers, it is engaging the west to define it’s own future. Lastly, I write about Africa because its my home – and this is why I write about Africa.

Why do you blog about Africa? I’d love to hear from you …

• Tag: Ken Banks at Kiwanja
• Tag: Erik Hersman at WhiteAfrican
• Tag: Kahenya at Virn Instruments
  
• Tag: David Kobia at dkfactor
• Tag: Stacey Monk at Epic Change
• Tag Jon Gosier at Appfrica
• Tag: Joshua Goldstein at in an African Minute
• Tag: the wonderful rangers at the Mara Triangle

Ben Affleck tours War torn Eastern Congo

“I’m not an expert in international affairs or diplomacy, but it doesn’t take that to see the tremendous suffering here”

Actor, Ben Affleck traveled to Africa’s Congo region three times over the last eight months, hoping to understand firsthand one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises of this century.

Affleck and the “Nightline” team traveled through refugee camps, hospitals and clinics, meeting with warlords, relief workers, child soldiers and members of parliament in an effort to better understand the place where over the last decade more than 4 million people have died in the deadliest conflict since World War II.

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Is this the begining of a green revolution in Africa?

sugar cane plantation in Mauritius

With the sharp rise and fall of global grain prices, many affluent countries with limited arable land have begun looking to Africa for food security.

Countries like Angola, Tanzania and Ethiopia have already shown interest in foreign investments and have restructured their land allocation laws to allow for this. The horticulture industry is one of the fastest growing non-traditional export sectors of many African countries, including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi.

South Korean firm Daewoo has unveiled plans to plant corn on one million acres of land in Madagascar, to sharply cut its reliance on US imports.

Daewoo is leasing the vast tract of land – half the size of Belgium – for 99 years and hopes to produce 5 million tonnes of corn a year by 2023.

It will use South African expertise and local labour on the plantations.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Large Investments in Ethiopia and Kenya have been very profitable and now with countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait looking to invest, the African Agricultural sector seems like a great bet.

On why Obama’s win matters to Africa and what the continent expects from America

Today in the Daily Nation, Kenya’s premier newsprint, there is a beautifully written article on Obama’s win, what it means to the country that gives him his last name, and what Africa expects from an Obama-Biden administration.

On what Africa expects from the United States:

Africa does not expect alms from the United States now that an African-America is soon to be sworn in as its president.

That was not the point of the overwhelming goodwill and support that the continent lent to President-elect Barack Obama in his audacious, and wildly successful, fight for the most powerful office on the planet.

Kenya is proud of Mr Obama, his almost unimaginable achievement, and just like he has inspired tens of millions of Americans, we too shall draw inspiration from his example.

On what Barack Obama’s win means for Africa:

His victory provides evidential justification for disadvantaged minorities and people of color to reassure their children that they too can rise above the limitations of their station, the sins of their parents, and the disadvantages of their circumstances.

And it is a lesson to every African father to create the right conditions for their children, to not allow the limitations of their own vision to be a hindrance to the aspirations of their offspring.

To Africa and the entire black race, Mr Obama is the vindication of our humanity.

and On Africa’s hope for Barack:

Africa hopes Mr Obama realizes that access to opportunities is not a preserve of Americans. While protecting America’s prosperity, he must have something to say about fair trade, particularly for Africa.

The earth is dying, poisoned by the avarice of man. Those who profit from the poisoning will not even acknowledge that their activities pose a danger to humanity.

Africa expects Mr Obama to add his voice to those cautioning that we shouldn’t live just for today but must take care of tomorrow too.

What just happed in America on Nov 4th, 2008 with Obama’s win

These pictures were were taken at the election eve rally at the Prince William Fairgrounds in Prince William county, a few hundred yards from the city limits of Manassas, Virginia, November 3, 2008.

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Why Ushahidi must succeed in the DRC Congo and how to help?

The DRC deployment can be found at http://DRC.ushahidi.com, and the mobile number to send SMS reports to is +243992592111

Internally Displaced People leave Kibati heading north from the city to their villages, Kibumba and Rugari, north of the provincial capital of Goma, Congo, on November 2, 2008. Several thousand people displaced in the fighting between rebels and government troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo began returning home Sunday as a ceasefire held, an AFP correspondent on the scene reported. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images)

Full Photo Set from the DRC here: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/conflict_in_congo_refugees_on.html

The Ushahidi team released an instance of their crowd sourced crisis reporting engine for the Congo today.

Just days after announcing their alpha release Ushahidi already has it’s first major crisis deployment at hand. The team took a collective decision last week to work overtime and deploy in the Democratic Republic of Congo even though the Engine is still in Alpha and has some kinks — everyone agrees that the current situation is dire and we could not justify the wait.

The Congo poses a difficult, but all too common crisis situation and the team is working overtime to tackle multiple challenges. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced into refugees, many of them sick, wounded and starving. Since this is an open source project, a major part of the work is done by volunteers ALL of whom believe in the necessity of accurate reporting in a time of crisis.

Ushahidi was very effective when first deployed to document the incidents of violence and looting during the post-election crisis in Kenya, but more than the need for accurate reporting, the assimilated incident reports help Coordinate Humanitarian Resources and Aid to those most afflicted by the conflict.

I believe in Ushahidi. There are numerous reasons why Ushahidi must succeed, but most of all because it holds parties accountable for their atrocities when humanity is at its worst — thus preserving some dignity for those dispossessed.

How to Help?

1. Get the Word Out Help spread the word that the website is live. Share this with everyone you know – the more the people know about what is happening on the ground, and the more the media keep their focus on this story, the more likely our leaders will intervene to make a difference.
2. Help verify and collect reports: Unlike our first installation in Kenya, the Congo poses some real challenges for the Ushahidi team. UN peacekeepers and NGo’s are being evacuated in droves and we need to get the message to the people on the ground in the Eastern Congo that this tool is now available for them to report incidents in on. If you have contacts there, or can help spread the word through some other means, tell them about our SMS number +243992592111
3. Help make Ushahidi better: Since Ushahidi is an open source effort, we are always looking for help to make the tool better. We are still in the Alpha Stages of development but David Kobia and the team decided that we had a stable enough install to have a working version for the Congo. We are always working out kinks and incorporating lessons learnt. Hop on over to the Ushahidi blog for up to date updates and reach out if you think you can help.

Learn more about Ushahidi and how you can help here

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Le Tour du Faso, Burkina Faso

BBC NEWS: Sierra Leone's Mohamed Thorley rides past spectators during the third stage of the 22nd Tour du Faso, a major African cycling event, which has been taking place in Burkina Faso this week. Photo: Christophe Ena/AP

What’s fascinating about this contest is that twelve of the 18 national teams are from the continent and the race is run by the organizers of the Tour de France. Oh, and in case you are wondering Burkinabes have won 10 of the past 19 Tours.

More than 100 cyclists from around the world are pedaling their why across Burkina Faso this week in the 20th annual Tour de Faso. Burkinabes are passionate for the event.

In the capital Ouagadougou, police try to hold back excited crowds as cyclists enter the city.

After the races speed by, one spectator says it was a thrill to see the caravan. He says he was not able to catch it on television, so he went to see it in person.

The Tour de Faso is Africa’s premier cycling event.

source: Cyclists Converge on Burkina Faso for Tour de Faso Competition

The Stages