December 2009
11 posts
Back to the Bay
I am temporarily residing in the Mission in San Francisco. My host is my kind friend Rebecca and her awesome roommates. They live above a laundromat and around the corner from a delicious taqueria.
Rebecca tells me that last week she went out looking for brownie mix but all she could find was churro mix. I think this pretty much sums up the neighborhood. There are Mexican markets galore whose...
I want to speak Bambara so bad! →
A quote from one of my favorite Malian blogs to read:
“Bambara is a very poetic language. The word for fruit, for instance, is JIRIDENW, which means ‘children of the trees’. N’dusu ka sira, means ‘I am sad’. But in literal translation: ‘my heart is crying’.”
(for more interesting reading, click on the title for the link)
Photographs of Chinese Presence in Africa →
Speaking of investment in Africa…
The New York Times Lens photoblog recently featured a series of images of Chinese migrants in Africa. I wish there were more pictures from West Africa! In any case, it seems that all over Africa the Chinese presence is a hotly-debated political and social issue that stirs up all sorts of fears about neo-colonialism and economic exploitation.
People in the...
Waste to energy in Bamako - too good to be true? →
When I was in Bamako, I met a man at the Ministry for the Environment who was a representative for the Philadelphia-based company VICA. Over lunch, we talked about the project, which has the potential to totally transform (both systematically and physically!) waste management in the city. VICA’s mission is to convert the solid waste generated by a city into energy that can be used on the...
A few goals for Mali
Become an active community member in Sikoroni, the neighborhood where I will be working.
Learn more about community organizing and participatory planning.
Finish the song I started writing with a friend last time I was there.
Attend a childbirth.
Learn how to kill and pluck a chicken.
Speak better Bambara.
Learn a traditional song.
Memorize some useful proverbs.
Teach what I know about...
Back to l'Afrique
There is nothing quite as thrilling, or nerve wracking, about clicking the online pay button for international air tickets. Once that button has been pressed (and the credit card tapped into), there is no turning back. There is a little seat outlined for you on the aircraft, and your name is on it. It’s weird to think that in under 3 weeks someone will be making me a little gluten-free meal...
IRIN Africa | GUINEA: Timeline | West Africa |... →
A very helpful website for keeping track of all the political happenings in Guinea. From IRIN, a humanitarian news and analysis service from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Another rumble from Guinea
On December 3rd, one of Captain Moussa “Dadis” Camara’s presidential guards fired on him in an assassination attempt. The international press is describing the incident as a major point of destabilization in Guinea. Some even predict that civil war is on the way in the country. There are reports of youth undergoing military training by foreigners, although it is unclear who all...
Adding to instability in Guinea →
Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara shot in head →