[youtube]VIqRvg3TAfk[/youtube]
HIV/AIDS Is More Than Statistics
About the Speaker
Kristen Ashburn’s poignant photographs bring us into close contact with individuals in the midst of enormous hardship — giving a human face to struggles that much of the world knows only as statistics and blurbs on the news. She has photographed the people of Iraq a year after the U.S. invasion, Jewish settlers in Gaza, suicide bombers, the penal system in Russia, victims of tuberculosis and the aftermath of the tsunami in Sri Lanka and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. One of her more recent works, BLOODLINE: AIDS and Family, looked at the human impact of AIDS in Africa.
Her unflinching photographs from the Middle East, Europe, and Africa have appeared in many publications including The New Yorker, TIME, Newsweek, and Life. She has won numerous awards, including the NPPA‘s Best of Photojournalism Award and two World Press Photo prizes.
[youtube]T3vZbEJXCAE[/youtube]
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: Want to Help Africa? Do Business There
About the Speaker
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a director of the World Bank, was Nigeria’s Finance Minister and then briefly Foreign Affairs Minister from 2003 to 2006, the first woman to hold either position.
During her tenure as Finance Minister, she worked to combat corruption, make Nigeria’s finances more transparent, and institute reforms to make the nation’s economy more hospitable to foreign investment. The government unlinked its budget from the price of oil, its main export, to lessen perennial cashflow crises, and got oil companies to publish how much they pay the government.
Since 2003 — when watchdog group Transparency International rated Nigeria “the most corrupt place on Earth” — the nation has made headway recovering stolen assets and jailing hundreds of people engaged in international Internet 419 scams.
Okonjo-Iweala is a former World Bank vice president who graduated from Harvard and earned a Ph.D. in regional economics and development at MIT. Her son Uzodinma Iweala is the celebrated young author of Beasts of No Nation.
[youtube]-YpticqS9-8[/youtube]
TED TALK
Patrick Awuah: Educating a New Generation of African Leaders
About the Speaker
Patrick Awuah left Ghana as a teenager to attend Swarthmore College in the United States, then stayed on to build a career at Microsoft in Seattle. In returning to his home country, he has made a commitment to educating young people in critical thinking and ethical service, values he believes are crucial for the nation-building that lies ahead.
Founded in 2002, his Ashesi University is already charting a new course in African education, with its high-tech facilities, innovative academic program and emphasis on leadership. It seems more than fitting that ashesi means “beginning” in Akan, one of Ghana’s native languages.
[youtube]J-KfKxCaDVA[/youtube]
TED TALK
President Jonathan, I Can Hear You
Last week President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria presented what he referred to as “the plans” that his administration will be implementing in 2011.
The President posted on his Facebook page what he anticipates the budget to help Nigeria to accomplish. Among the many things he said, the one that interests me most is what appears to be Mr. Jonathan’s commitment to fight malaria.
This is what he wrote:
“As part of the budgetary allocation to the health sector are funds to establish scientific research institutes that will focus on areas that directly impact health care in Nigeria such as HIV, Malaria, Cholera, sickle cell anemia and Cancer.”
He said he will work with his administration to tap the creativity of Nigerian scientists in solving the country’s greatest health challenges because
“some of these diseases are peculiar to Africa; they may not be a priority to the research institutes of governmental and private pharmaceutical research industries of the West.”
I could not agree with the President any more. One of our goals at talkafrique is to promote the idea that African problems must be solved by Africans and also that politics must be about problems and solutions and not just signboards and slogans. As Gen. Collin Powell said,
“You can’t just have slogans; you can’t just have catchy phrases. You have to have an agenda”
I believe on this, President Jonathan is on the correct path.
Malaria was eradicated in the US and Canada about 5 to 6 decades ago. It is laughable for us to expect American corporations to focus on malaria research and development in such challenging economic times while such efforts could be expended in the development of drugs that target erectile dysfunction. Malaria, like some other diseases, is referred to as a ‘Neglected Disease’ for a reason. No financial consultant or market analyst will encourage a client to borrow money to develop anti-malaria drug, except on humanitarian grounds. We salute the few companies that continue to screen for anti-malaria drugs and vaccines.
To us as Africans, malaria is a pressing issue. A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is not just statistics
I hope that President Jonathan will stay true to his word. I will be checking his Facebook wall for updates. I will also be watching very carefully for what the Presidents of Ghana, Togo, Kenya, Botswana and the rest of our leaders have to offer.
Thanks for reading
Sudan: George Clooney In Southern Sudan To Monitor Referendum For Independence (update 12.50 Est)
Hollywood actor George Clooney is in Sudan to show his support for and keep an eye on the independence referendum that is underway in Southern Sudan. The people of Southern Sudan are going to the ballot this week to decide on secession or otherwise remain part of the United Sudan.
Speaking about his mission in Sudan over the weekend, Mr. Clooney said
“I am excited to see a country vote for its freedom for the first time. I’ve never been around to see one of those before and I’m very honored that I’m able to be a witness of this kind of independence,”
The Hollywood Star has been a fervent activist for human rights in Sudan. He is currently collaborating with Google and other agencies of the United Nations to monitor the situation in Sudan and prevent possible pandemonium that may result from the vote this week. Their endeavor is referred the ‘Genocide Paparazzi’ in some quarters while Mr. Clooney is officially dubbed the ‘Messenger of Peace’ for the United Nations.
Some 3.9 million Southern Sudanese have registered to vote in the referendum, which is part of the 2005 peace agreement that ended a 22-year north-south civil war in which around two million people were killed.
Voting commenced over the weekend. Isolated violence has been reported in some places but overall, the process seems to be moving as envisioned.
Update: There has been clashes in Sudan’s disputed oil-rich Abyei region. At least 30 people have been killed including police, reports say
Reflections From The Year 2010
Reflection from 2010
This is a thread that I planned to do towards the end of 2010 or the first few days into 2011, so I hope it is not too late. We are going to use this thread to reflect back on 2010: the major events that happened to us as individuals, as a nation, and as mankind.
I invite readers share their reflections from 2010 in the comment section. Please have your name under your post. If you want to submit a full article on your reflections from the past year, please feel free to do so and submit to editorial@talkafrique.com.
For me, it can be nothing but the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
2010 South African World Cup:
2010 was the year Africa held its first World Cup. Prior the start of the tournament, the world’s media prophesied what would be an African Catastrophe of Biblical proportions. Nay Sayers were certain that the only reports that would be coming out of South Africa would be hotel lootings, gang rape of World Cup tourist, and empty stadiums. How wrong they were. It turned out to have been the most successful tournament ever held.
For me, the image that comes to mind when I think of South Africa 2010 is the couple of minutes just before and after Asamoah Gyan missed the crucial penalty kick that would have seen the first ever African side in the World Cup semi-final stage. I can still feel how over those few seconds, the hopes, aspirations and pride of one billion people rested on the shoulders of one man. But it was not the Good Friday we were expecting. Deferred hope, cracked confidence, and broken heart. That exactly how I felt the weekend that followed
Needless to say, that pain cannot diminish the pride and sheer joy that South Africans brought to all of us by their expert organization of the tournament.
2010 will forever be missed
Kwabena Amponsah-ManagerYou Cannot Do That in Public
The Islamist group al-Shabab has barred men and women from shaking hands in public in Jowhar district of Somalia.
In addition, men and women who are not related are barred from walking together or chatting in public.
Under the law, offenders will be subjected to public flogging as required by Sharia law.