[I don’t usually join in blog memes, but this one I just couldn’t resist… Théophile Kouamouo, a blogger based in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), started the “Why I Blog About Africa” meme, which has crossed the Francophone and Anglophone Africa divide and I think holds a certain amount of power as I read others posts. See a good mini-aggregate post at Global Voices]
Where others see a broken continent, I see Africans trying to fixing what is eminently fixable.
Cliche, Irony and Hope
I find great irony and humor in writing about Africa and technology. About the oddities and the entrepreneurs. About the vast differences between East and West. About the fact that we all generalize (like this post) and then say how it’s so different even within each country.
Where others see cliche, I do too – and value it’s strength. The sunsets, animals, people… it’s all cliche, but it’s also the Africa I know and love. Beyond the picture book material, I also appreciate the annoying inefficiencies that drive us all mad from time-to-time. It’s what makes Africa Africa.
Most of all I write about Africa because my other half (the West) doesn’t see our Africa. My goal is to pierce that veil and tell a story about the Africa they don’t see. To talk about the people that are changing things, and who very well might change the world. To help us all better understand how the use of technology is leading the way.
I also write about Africa because it gives me hope. In a crazy, hectic, selfish world I can still rely on the timelessness of Africa, and of people who invest in each other.
Tagged
Thanks to Kaushal for tagging me, read why he blogs about Africa. In time-honored meme tradition, I now tag the following 5:
Kari
Jeremy Weate
Rebekah Heacock
Mike Stopforth
Ethan Zuckerman
December 29, 2008 at 6:35 pm
lovely, thoughtful post. you have such a heart. it really shows through.
December 30, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Great piece, the image most people have about Africa is based on the imagination not the reality on the ground. The mention of Africa in any of western news channels are all about negativity. To them there is nothing good news worthy in Africa. At the end we acknowledged that Africa and Africans have their own short comings but as we see in the world over there is no perfect place.
Currently everyone is running to China or India for the piece of cake but very soon and i say very soon the race will be towards Africa. Watch this space….
January 5, 2009 at 6:41 am
I really like your entry because I think I was also having some of the same thoughts just before holidays: http://kdiga.blogspot.com/2008/12/beauty-of-africa.html
January 9, 2009 at 11:45 am
It’s up. Thanks for the tag, and for the eloquent post.