Highbrow Magazine - africa https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/africa en The Coup in Niger: Why Resource-Rich Countries Are Poor https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24086-coup-niger-why-resource-rich-countries-are-poor <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 14:32</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1niger.jpg?itok=VbGkRclz"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1niger.jpg?itok=VbGkRclz" width="480" height="312" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The leaders of Niger’s coup have suspended the Constitution, demanded the removal of foreign troops, and threatened to ban uranium sales to the West. Neighboring countries, like Burkina Faso and Mali, which have close ties to the Kremlin, have heralded the coup, echoing the words of coup leaders, that now the wealth of the nation will remain with the people, rather than benefiting Western colonialist powers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The reality, however, is that the country is now under military rule and the economy will get worse, not better. Supporters of the coup ask how a country, which is rich in uranium, coal, and gold, could be so poor. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Many other resource-rich nations are also poor. Venezuela has oil; the Democratic Republic of the Congo has diamonds; and Angola has both oil and diamonds. And yet these countries are all poor. Like Niger, many countries suffer from what is called the resource curse or the paradox of plenty. The reasons why resource-rich countries are often poor include lack of productive capacity, mismanagement and corruption, dependency and volatility of commodity prices, lack of diversification across industries, and undeveloped infrastructure and human capital. These are all largely matters of domestic governance, rather than the actions of Western nations. And historically, coups have not managed to fix these problems.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2niger.jpg" style="height:650px; width:650px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Niger Snapshot</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Niger is located in the Sahel region of West Africa. It has a population of 25.25 million. And its capital is Niamey. Niger gained its independence from France in 1960 and endured a period of single-party rule and military governance, marred by frequent coups, until 2021. It marked a significant turning point in its history when it achieved its first peaceful transition of power to President Mohamed Bazoum, who was democratically elected. On July 26<sup>th</sup>, 2023, elements of the military seized control of the nation, deposing <a href="https://apnews.com/article/niger-tensions-presidential-guard-96f8f63b838af5467d4c95ba7b998b32" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">the president</a>. Coup leaders claim that they have the people’s best interests at heart, given the country’s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/niger-tensions-presidential-guard-96f8f63b838af5467d4c95ba7b998b32" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">worsening security situation</a>, failing economy, and unequal distribution of wealth. Before the coup, Niger was one of the poorest countries in the world, with a per-capita GDP of <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/448611/gross-domestic-product-gdp-per-capita-in-niger/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">about $584</a> per year. Around <a href="https://www.worldeconomics.com/ESG/Social/Employment-to-Population-Ratio/Niger.aspx" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">28% of the population</a> is unemployed and <a href="https://www.worldeconomics.com/ESG/Social/Population-Living-In-Poverty/Niger.aspx" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">41.4%</a> lives in poverty. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Allegations of inequality are supported by the data. Niger’s Gini coefficient, a measure of wealth inequality, <a href="https://www.worldeconomics.com/Inequality/Gini-Coefficient/Niger.aspx#:~:text=Niger's%20Gini%20Coefficient%20Index%20is,D.C.%20United%20Nations%20University%2C%20Helsinki." style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">is 50.8</a>, where 100 represents a perfectly equal society. Life expectancy in Niger is <a href="https://www.worldeconomics.com/Demographics/Life-Expectancy/Niger.aspx" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">62 years</a> of age, compared to a global average of 72.8. The average adult in Niger has <a href="https://www.worldeconomics.com/ESG/Social/Average-Years-Of-Schooling/Niger.aspx" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">about two years</a> of formal education, whereas the global average is approximately nine. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4niger.jpg" style="height:421px; width:652px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>The Resource Curse</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The first problem with natural resources is that the countries that possess them usually do not have the technology or capital to extract the resources or the markets to sell them. Resource extraction operations cost a great deal of money to set up. This is why resource-rich countries almost always have foreign partners who provide investment capital, to establish the mining and refining industries and to take the resources to market. The bulk of the profits go to the foreign investors, while the host country receives a percentage. This is why the narrative that Western countries exploit resource-rich countries is hard to shake. At a glance, yes, France may be making more money on uranium than Niger, but France put up all the capital, took all the risks, and has to wait years to recoup the initial investment. Given the general instability in Africa, with frequent coups, civil wars, and terrorist attacks, waiting for an investment to pay off is extremely risky. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The next issue is corruption. Local politicians can enrich themselves by awarding mining contracts to foreign entities. Looking at Transparency International’s list of most corrupt countries and comparing with lists of resource-dependent countries, there is a definite corollary. South America, <a href="https://assets.aeaweb.org/asset-server/articles-attachments/jep/app/3001/30010161_app.pdf" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Asia, and Africa</a> are high in resource dependence and are generally <a href="https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">higher in corruption</a> and poorer than North America or Western Europe. The U.S., Canada, and Australia are exceptions to the rule of resources being correlated with poverty and corruption. Other rich countries such as Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Germany have very few natural resources in comparison. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arabic Emirates are both oil-dependent and rich, but most OPEC nations are poor, such as Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, and Congo.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Countries become resource-dependent because resources are the low-hanging fruit. The government can easily make money by selling resources, and thus is not motivated to invest in other projects and businesses that would generate greater revenue in the future. This creates a number of problems. First, it makes the ups-and-downs of the entire economy dependent on the prices of resources, which may vary dramatically over the period of just a year. If demand for a particular commodity drops, the country’s economy goes with it, as does its currency value. Lower currency values make it difficult for countries to pay their foreign debts, which have to be paid in dollars. Niger’s <a href="https://www.worldeconomics.com/Debt/Niger.aspx" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">debt-to-GDP</a> ratio is 57%. When Niger’s currency, the West African CFA franc, goes down in value, the country needs more of them to buy dollars to make interest payments. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Even the most valuable natural resources have to be processed, and then made into products. Each step, from raw material to finished product, adds value, meaning the natural resources, drawn from the ground, are the least valuable step in the chain of production. A ton of iron ore is worth about $107 when it is extracted from the ground. In order to use it to make a car, the iron has to be refined into steel, valued at about $700 a ton. This refining is generally not done in low-income or developing countries, but rather in middle-income and richer countries like China, Japan, India, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. Next, Japan, South Korea, or the U.S. will use about half a ton of steel to make a car that will sell for an average of about $33,000. And the resource-rich country that provided the iron ore will receive some fraction of $100. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">This leads to the final point about why resource-rich countries are usually poor. In order to earn more money, countries must move up the value chain. Japan makes cars and is much richer than the countries that produce iron. Singapore has almost no raw materials but earns a great deal of money selling technology and banking services to companies around the world. As a result, the average Singaporean earns over $72,000 per year, which is more than what the average American makes. It also means the average Singaporean earns almost as much in one day as the average Nigerien earns in a year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">To move up the value chain, the governments of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore invested heavily in infrastructure, particularly technology. They also invested in human capital so that their own people would be able to do the higher value-added jobs. The average Japanese person has12.4 years of education, <a href="https://rankedex.com/society-rankings/mean-years-of-schooling" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">South Korea 12.1</a>, Taiwan 13.9, and Singapore 11.5. As stated earlier, the average Nigeran has just two years, and would not be suited to working in higher value-added jobs. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3niger.jpg" style="height:434px; width:654px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Effects of the Coup</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The United States, France, EU, and other Western nations that condemned the coup have cut off  <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/niger-loses-aid-western-countries-condemn-coup-2023-07-29/#:~:text=NIAMEY%2C%20July%2029%20(Reuters),democratically%20elected%20president%2C%20Mohamed%20Bazoum." style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">financial aid</a> to Niger. The coup leaders closed the borders, shut down government institutions, suspended the Constitution, and ordered foreign troops to leave. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The reason the United States, France, and Western countries had troops there was to conduct <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/which-western-countries-have-foreign-forces-niger-2023-07-28/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">counterterrorism operations</a> against groups active in the region, such as Boko Haram, the Islamic State, and an affiliate of al-Qaida Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM). Now, it is expected that Niger will replace the Western troops with Russia’s Wagner Group as a security partner. Wagner has had a record of human rights abuses and crimes <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96AtUhBebY4" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">against humanity</a> in Mali, the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/29/africa/prigozhin-niger-coup-wagner-intl/index.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Central African Republic</a><u>,</u> and Sudan. Additionally, the coup leaders have threatened to halt <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Economy/niger-puts-an-end-to-uranium-and-gold-export-to-france" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">gold and uranium</a> exports to France and the West, in favor of Russia. If Niger is no longer selling exports on world markets, they will be forced to accept whatever discounted price Russia offers. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The coup is unlikely to address the problems that continue to keep Niger poor: lack of productive capacity, mismanagement and corruption, dependency and volatility of commodity prices, lack of diversification across industries, and undeveloped infrastructure and human capital. Consequently, the average Nigeran will see their already-low standard of living decrease. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em><strong>Antonio Graceffo, a </strong></em><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong><em><strong> contributor, is a Ph.D. and also holds a China-MBA from Shanghai Jiaotong University. He works as an economics professor and China economics analyst, writing for various international media. Some of his books include: The Wrestler’s Dissertation, Warrior Odyssey, Beyond the Belt and Road: China’s Global Economic Expansion, and A Short Course on the Chinese Economy.</strong></em></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Image Sources:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--U.S. Dept. of State (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Secretary_Blinken_Meets_With_Nigerien_President_Bazoum_in_New_York_City_%2852370167613%29.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Staff Sgt. Alex Fox Echols III (<a href="https://www.usafe.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2002196087/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">U.S. Armed Forces in Europe &amp; Africa</a>, Public Domain, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--NigerTZai (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Niger,_Bougoum_%281%29.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--James St. John (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gold_nugget_%28Australia%29_4_%2816848647509%29.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/niger" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">niger</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/coup-niger" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the coup in niger</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">africa</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/resource-rich-countries" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">resource rich countries</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/military-coup" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">military coup</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nigeriens" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">nigeriens</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Antonio Graceffo</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 07 Aug 2023 18:32:21 +0000 tara 12026 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24086-coup-niger-why-resource-rich-countries-are-poor#comments Virtual Tours You Can Take for Free https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/12073-virtual-tours-you-can-take-free <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/travel" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Travel</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 04/21/2021 - 18:50</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1safari_pxfuel.jpg?itok=sfclINOv"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1safari_pxfuel.jpg?itok=sfclINOv" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>Ever since the pandemic struck, our lives have changed. We are now governed by new rules – wear a mask, sanitize, maintain social distance.</p> <p>Although life is considerably different from what we are used to, most of us have adapted to the new changes. People still need to travel and experience new environments, and one solution is virtual tours.</p> <p>Virtual tours are the perfect way to ward off the COVID-induced boredom to which most of us have succumbed.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/britishmuseum_rept0n1x-wikimedia.jpg" style="height:450px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Virtual Tour of a Museum</strong></p> <p>There are multiple virtual tours to different museums around the world. Each museum has its share of history and displays. Some of the museums to visit include:</p> <p><a href="https://blog.britishmuseum.org/how-to-explore-the-british-museum-from-home/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong>The British Museum</strong></a>, London. It’s compiled with ancient historical artifacts from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Oceania, and Africa.</p> <p><a href="https://www.seeit360.com/360-virtual-tours/high-museum-art" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong>High Museum of Art</strong></a>, Atlanta. It showcases the story of the Civil Rights Movement.</p> <p><strong>Metropolitan Museum of Art</strong>, New York City. It contains 30 exhibits from iconic artists such as Johannes Vermeer and Vincent Van Gogh.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>A Virtual Tour of Ancient, Sacred, and Religious Places</strong></p> <p>Some of the places to visit are Google virtual tours of the Taj Mahal, a virtual pyramids tour, an Angkor Wat virtual tour, and a tour of the <a href="https://insidethevaticanpilgrimages.com/pilgrimage/virtual-pilgrimages/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvob0loaQ8AIVCrjICh2txgDqEAAYASAAEgKs0PD_BwE" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Vatican</a>.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1mars_esa_and_mps_-_wikipedia.jpg" style="height:600px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Traveling Virtually</strong></p> <p>Travel via your mobile device to any of these destinations:</p> <p><a href="https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/virtualtours.htm" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong>Yellowstone National Park</strong></a> – which offers unique geologic and hydrothermal wonders. The park has lakes and rivers, which provide a suitable habitat for several people, plants, and animals.</p> <p><strong>The Atlanta Zoo</strong> – which has preserved a lot of animals that are rare in the United States. Some of the zoo's original animals include camels, lionesses, gazelle, jaguar, monkeys, and Mexican hogs.</p> <p><a href="https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong>A virtual tour to Mars</strong></a><strong> by NASA</strong> -- NASA recently partnered with Google to offer users the opportunity to tour Mars virtually. The tour includes views of actual valleys and dunes. You'll also get to visit the four sites vital for NASA's Mars Lab mission: Murray Buttes, Pahrump Hills, Curiosity's landing site, and Marias Pass.</p> <p><strong>Berlin</strong> -- Berlin is a city rich in history. Some of the places you'll see include the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Museum Island, Berlin Wall Memorial, German Historical Museum, Berliner Fernsehturm: Berlin's Television Tower, and the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.</p> <p><a href="https://www.asiliaafrica.com/the-journey-s-worth-the-wait/safari-at-home/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong>A virtual Safari tour</strong></a><strong> of select national parks and game reserves in Africa -- </strong>A safari in national parks and game reserves in countries like Kenya offer a worthwhile experience, and offer glimpses of marine life, wildebeest migration, hunting, and the struggle for survival, mating, etc.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1berlin_dronepicr-wikimedia.jpg" style="height:399px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Robert Andrew Faulkner is a family and child psychologist. He has been working with couples from all over the United Kingdom and wants to share his experiences. Faulkner's hobbies include reading psychology books, football, and traveling around the world.  One of his biggest dreams is to climb Mount Everest and photograph the dawn. More information about Faulkner can be found on one of his </em></strong><a href="https://datingmentor.org/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong><em>sites</em></strong></a><strong><em>.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p><strong><em>--</em></strong><a href="https://www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-ekdex" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong><em>Pxfuel</em></strong></a><strong><em> (Creative Commons)</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>--Rept0n1x (</em></strong><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inside_the_British_Museum,_London_-_DSC04221.JPG" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong><em>Wikimedia</em></strong></a><strong><em>, Creative Commons)</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>--ESA and MPS (</em></strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OSIRIS_Mars_true_color.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong><em>Wikipedia</em></strong></a><strong><em>, Creative Commons)</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>--Dronepicr (</em></strong><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial_view_of_Berlin_(32881394137).jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong><em>Wikimedia</em></strong></a><strong><em>, Creative Commons)</em></strong></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/virtual-tours" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">virtual tours</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/virtual-travel" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">virtual travel</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/british-museum" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the british museum</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/vatican" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the vatican</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/metropolitan-museum" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the metropolitan museum</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/high-museum" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the high museum</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/atlanta-zoo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">atlanta zoo</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/berlin" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Berlin</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">africa</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-safari" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african safari</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Robert Faulkner</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 21 Apr 2021 22:50:07 +0000 tara 10304 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/12073-virtual-tours-you-can-take-free#comments Lord’s Mountain Orphanage: Giving Birth in Zambia https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/8985-lord-s-mountain-orphanage-giving-birth-zambia <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/travel" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Travel</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 16:00</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1orphanage.jpg?itok=vk5qvTsS"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1orphanage.jpg?itok=vk5qvTsS" width="480" height="360" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>My husband and I got married relatively late in life. We were pushing, <em>cough cough,</em> 50, after all. Clearly, we were not going to have kids. And that’s the one thing that made us wonder, and even a little sad. Why hadn’t we met earlier? We would have made great parents. During marriage counseling, our pastor, Alisa Lasater-Wailoo, blew up that concept.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Think about birthing as a broader concept,” she said. “Beyond the notion of a nuclear family.”</p> <p> </p> <p>And that is how we ended up at Lord’s Mountain Orphanage in the little town of Zambezi, in the far northwestern corner of Zambia. We tossed around many ideas, throwing the proverbial spaghetti on the wall to see what stuck. I had never been to Africa; and an orphanage that nurtured children who had lost their parents to HIV seemed the perfect fit.</p> <p> </p> <p>Honestly, I was terrified the first time we visited, in August 2015. I had visions of malaria-bearing mosquito swarms, venomous pythons lurking in the jungle, and skulking lions. It took two days to get there, including a 14-hour flight to Addis Ababa, a 4-hour flight to Lusaka, a 14-hour bus ride on pothole-filled roads to a regional town, and another 7-hour bus ride on a somewhat better road. I was exhausted when we arrived at the orphanage, promising myself this was my first and last visit there. This wasn’t the answer, after all.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2orphanage.jpg" style="height:469px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>And yet, it’s amazing how life gets in the way of the best-laid plans. The second we showed up at the orphanage complex, a group of the cutest kids surrounded us, dressed in their best clothes, and sang us a welcome song. Heavenly notes wrapped us in love. Smiling faces that I would get to know as little Henry, endearing Kafunya, sweet Precious, rambunctious Abraham, crafty Wisdom, smart brothers Obren and Oliver. They were beautiful, each and every one of them, and I felt a rayon of warmth penetrate my soul.</p> <p> </p> <p>Over the next few weeks, we taught the kids baseball, held English and math classes, helped with homework, walked down to the Zambezi River (watching for crocodiles), and took a field trip to a terrifying swinging bridge at Chiningi. And I tell you, those kids have nothing close to material wealth. They dress in hand-me-downs. They eat meager meals that fill their stomachs but nowhere near provide the well-balanced nutrition children need: nshima (a thick maize porridge), little fishies, boiled greens. And yet, those children exude so much joy. They love holding our hands and chatting and joking and just having fun. They embraced us with all their hearts, and called us Mum and Dad.</p> <p> </p> <p>And David and I felt something. We felt relationships blooming. With the kids, but also with the heads of the orphanage, Pastor Bernard Lumene and his wife, Betty. The couple founded Lord’s Mountain Orphanage (LMO) about 15 years ago. They had come from Congo as missionaries and felt compelled to help displaced children in this out-of-the-way corner of the world. They built two dorms on a hillside, a kitchen with a dining area (that’s also used as a study hall/hanging out area/etc.), and a library. A church, a mission house, a reception hall, and their residence complete the complex.   </p> <p> </p> <p>Betty and Bernard both gave up a comfortable life in Congo to serve these children. They live on the edge, oftentimes worrying they don’t have the funds to pay for the kids’ tuition, or for their rice and beans, or for school uniforms. And yet, somehow, it always works out.</p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3orphanage.jpg" style="height:469px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>David and I have returned to LMO three times, and we’re headed there twice this year. During our visits, we have seen what an amazing job Bernard and Betty are doing to raise those kids. But we’ve also seen what is lacking, especially in the realm of education. The teachers at the local schools do the best with what they have, but they don’t have sufficient educational materials to do their jobs. They teach from one textbook or notes, which they read aloud or write portions on the chalkboard, and the children are obliged to take notes from which to study. If the kids miss a class, or even miss a few sentences, they don’t have any way to go back to research it or look it up. They have no internet.</p> <p> </p> <p>And here’s where miracles can happen. Through a contact David and I made at the Library of Congress, we were introduced to Libraries Without Borders. This is an international organization that strives to put information into the hands of those who are most vulnerable. Their vision is to build sustainable digital libraries, and their executive director, Allister Chang, took us under his wing to help us build a digital library in Zambezi.</p> <p> </p> <p>Through the extraordinary technology of a palm-size Raspberry Pi and tablets, we have been able to transport thousands of books and videos (mostly Khan Academy and Wikipedia) to Zambezi, where we are working with the orphanage as well as two local high schools to develop an electronic library program that can supplement the teachers’ teaching plans, as well as help kids study better.</p> <p> </p> <p>And it doesn’t stop there. Another concern is that, once the children hit 12th grade and take their final exams, they are obliged to move out of the orphanage. It’s time for them to make a place for themselves in the world, and to allow more children to move in. If the graduates pass five out of seven of their final exams (and have the financing), they can go onto higher education. Through stateside donations, we have managed to send two young men to college to date, Brudas and Hanel.</p> <p> </p> <p>But if the kids don’t pass at least five exams (and, honestly, I doubt I would have passed the math or science portions without my father’s dedicated private tutorials every evening in high school), their path to higher education is lost. They need to find something else to do with their lives. And in this remote corner of rural Africa, there’s not much else to do.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4orphanage.jpg" style="height:469px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>And that’s where this electronic library is playing a role as well. Through a small grant offered by the Women’s Methodist Organization, we have been able to hire four graduates to work as managers and curators of that electronic library. They send us weekly reports and keep it moving when we’re not there.</p> <p> </p> <p>We have big dreams for our kids, the largest of which is to build a technology center there in town. It would provide internet access for the general public, a place to use the electronic library, as well as job opportunities (there’s one young graduate, for example, who makes delicious scones; I would love to see her selling them at the internet café that would definitely have to be part of the technology center). All in good time.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the meantime, I look back at everything that has happened over the past few years and shake my head. Pastor Alisa was absolutely right. Birthing doesn’t have to be solely about the nuclear family. David and I have become part of a loving family on the other side of the planet. Thanks to Facebook Messenger, which is free for them to use, we communicate with Bernard and some of the older kids on a daily basis. The kids are always in our thoughts. We can’t wait to see them on our next trip. All 35 of them. I mean 37. I mean, wow, the number keeps growing! </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>To donate to Lord’s Mountain Orphange, click <a href="http://www.umcmission.org/Give-to-Mission/Search-for-Projects/Projects/14420T">here</a>. </strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Barbara Noe Kennedy worked as an editor at the National Geographic Book Division for more than 20 years. She has written four books, and her writings have also been published in </em></strong><strong>National Geographic, The Daily Telegraph<em>, and the </em>Los Angeles Times<em>, among other publications. She is a contributing writer at </em>Highbrow Magazine.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/lords-mountain-orphanage" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">lord&#039;s mountain orphanage</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/zambezi" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">zambezi</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/zambia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">zambia</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/charities" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">charities</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">africa</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/charity-work" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">charity work</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/parenting" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">parenting</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/orphans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">orphans</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Barbara Noe Kennedy</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Barbara Noe Kennedy</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 25 Mar 2018 20:00:29 +0000 tara 7993 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/8985-lord-s-mountain-orphanage-giving-birth-zambia#comments How Democracy Continues to Grow in Africa https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4805-how-democracy-continues-grow-african-continent <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 03/12/2015 - 17:26</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1africa.jpg?itok=yc5pC0cc"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1africa.jpg?itok=yc5pC0cc" width="480" height="360" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner New America Media: </strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Lately, the United States has moved to aggressively bolster pro-Western forces in the Ukraine and promote democracy in the Middle East and Asia. But once again, the U.S. and other western powers are largely ignoring Africa, even as democratic movements are quietly spreading throughout the continent after a generation of leaders who often hoarded power and wealth at the expense of their people.</p> <p> </p> <p>This neglect is a harsh echo of the exploitation the continent has been subjected to ever since European powers met at the Berlin Conference in the late 1800s to draw boundaries that wound up toppling traditional African societies in favor of a map that gave these outside powers control over Africa’s rich array of natural resources.</p> <p> </p> <p>Now, even as new, global powers like China move in to exploit Africa’s riches, there are powerful signs that Africans are marching into a new phase of their history, as they attempt to assert the principles of self-determination, freedom and democracy, sometimes against difficult odds.</p> <p> </p> <p>Some of these signs are coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the country’s constitution does not allow President Kabila to run for a third term in the 2016 election. Sworn in as president in 2001 after the assassination of his father, Kabila won two subsequent elections for five-year terms. </p> <p> </p> <p>Kabila has refused to comment on his future, raising concerns that he plans to cling to power past 2016. But a government spokesman has said that the president intends to respect the constitution, according to Reuters.</p> <p> </p> <p>The DRC is not the only African nation where there are flickers of democratic hope. As a result of disputes over the elections of 2007, Kenya entered a dark period of violence that was driven by ethnic rifts. Indeed, a number of leading Kenyans were charged with crimes against humanity in the aftermath of the violence, according to reports.</p> <p> </p> <p>But by 2013, the dynamics in this country changed dramatically, as legions of voters participated in what were widely regarded as peaceful elections that brought Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of famous independence leader, to victory.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2africa.jpg" style="height:416px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>A similarly peaceful transition took place in Zambia, where Edgar Lungu was sworn in earlier this year as the country’s new president, after winning a hotly contested election that was held after the death of the previous president, Michael Sata.</p> <p> </p> <p>Reports showed that Mr. Lungu won slightly more that 48 percent of the vote, compared with the nearly 47 percent picked up by the opposition candidate, Hakainde Hichilema. While the opposition complained that there were irregularities in the election, the African Union congratulated Zambians for “organizing an exemplary, successful and peaceful election,” according to published reports.</p> <p> </p> <p>To be sure, there is a long way to go in Africa. Consider, for example, the fact that Nigeria recently delayed its hotly contested presidential election at the insistence of the ruling party as it faced possible defeat for the first time in more than 15 years. The opposition party quickly denounced the move as a significant setback for democracy in Nigeria.</p> <p> </p> <p>Africans are nonetheless moving in the right directions – if not always that smoothly. And so while the United States and other western powers focus on bringing democracy to Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Africans know that they cannot afford to wait for the West.</p> <p> </p> <p>But the West is making a grave mistake in ignoring what is going on in Africa. Why? Because the stakes in Africa are enormous. In a 2012 article looking at the state of democracy in Africa, <em>The Economist</em> put the matter in perspective: “Setting aside the quality of African democracy, all but a few of the continent's 1 billion people now expect to vote in regular national polls. That is something which 1.5 billion Asians, for all their impressive economic performance, cannot do.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>New America Media</em></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">africa</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democracy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">democracy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/zambia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">zambia</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/kenya" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">kenya</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nigeria" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Nigeria</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tanzania" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tanzania</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-continent" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african continent</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-governments" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african governments</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african elections</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democracy-africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">democracy in africa</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Khalil Abdullah</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Google Images; Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 12 Mar 2015 21:26:18 +0000 tara 5810 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4805-how-democracy-continues-grow-african-continent#comments Modern African Poetry Finds Its Voice Online https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4663-modern-african-poetry-finds-its-voice-online <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 02/23/2015 - 11:18</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumbooks_1.jpg?itok=qI1ksgI1"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumbooks_1.jpg?itok=qI1ksgI1" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From ISP News and republished by our content partner New America Media:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>From the pages of private notebooks to the dog-eared copies of rare published editions, the works of modern African poets are emerging with great fanfare thanks to a dedicated handful of writers and teachers building a network of libraries and websites on the Internet.</p> <p> </p> <p>The South African Badilisha Poetry X-change is one such group which recently posted its archive of poems and writings on a “mobile-first” site. It’s considered the largest online archive of African poetry, accessible via mobile phone, in the world.</p> <p> </p> <p>“We have a rich oral tradition and it’s important that we document what is happening in history poetry-wise,” said Linda Leoma, Badilisha’s project manager. “Africa has a history of a lack of documentation and we really didn’t want this to happen to our poets.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Badilisha aims to reach the seven out of 10 mobile users in sub-Saharan Africa who use their phones to browse the web. Mobile broadband connections in Africa, now numbering 96 million are set to rise to 950 million by the end of 2019″, noted a study by the analyst firm Ovum.</p> <p> </p> <p>To date, almost 400 African poets from 31 countries in Africa and across the diaspora have been posted in 14 different languages. Users can navigate the site by searching theme, poet, country, language, emotion or by their “Top 10″ list, a popular feature curated by a guest poet each month.</p> <p> </p> <p>Users can actually hear the poet’s voice recite their work,” said Leoma. Some 3,000 visitors log into the site each month.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/dawes.jpg" style="height:409px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Among the “Top Ten” writers recently picked by Badilisha is Kwame Dawes, a Ghanaian-born Jamaican poet and the award-winning author of 16 books of poetry.</p> <p> </p> <p>Last year, Dawes launched the African Poetry Book Fund with a collective of like-minded writers. This year he helped choose Mahtem Shiferraw as the 2015 winner of the Sillerman Book Prize for African Poets. The Ethiopian-American poet will receive a $1000 cash prize and publication next spring of her manuscript “Fuchsia.”</p> <p> </p> <p>“Every year, we wonder where the new and dynamic voices will emerge from to grab our attention, and this year has been no different,” said Dawes in an interview. Shiferraw’s verse explores with sophistication the complexities of exile and return, of memory and hope through sharply-honed images, and through a vulnerability that is haunting and disarming.”</p> <p> </p> <p>The book fund has also helped launch poetry libraries in the Gambia, Kenya, Botswana and Uganda. ”So far a lot of places have been asking to be part of it. The response has been fantastic,” he said.</p> <p> </p> <p>“People who say the physical book is dead have not been to other parts of the world. Many of these places, because of colonialism and exploitation, have not yet even had the chance to engage in print culture.” He currently teaches in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">africa</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-poetry" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african poetry</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-literature" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african literature</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-poets" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african poets</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-writers" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african writers</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/south-africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">South Africa</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Lisa Vives</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Google Images; Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 23 Feb 2015 16:18:27 +0000 tara 5752 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4663-modern-african-poetry-finds-its-voice-online#comments Africa Activists Urge Obama to Act on Extractive Industries Law https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4202-africa-activists-urge-obama-act-extractive-industries-law <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Fri, 08/08/2014 - 09:14</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1excavation.jpg?itok=VnQXdwHF"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1excavation.jpg?itok=VnQXdwHF" width="480" height="319" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/08/africa-activists-urge-obama-to-act-on-extractive-industries-law.php">Inter-Press</a> and reprinted by our content partner New America Media</strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>WASHINGTON - As the three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit got underway here Monday, anti-corruption activists urged President Barack Obama to prod a key U.S. agency to issue long-awaited regulations requiring oil, gas, and mining companies to publish all payments they make in countries where they operate.</p> <p> </p> <p>“The companies need to be held accountable, and we would ask President Obama to also support us in this message,” said Ali Idrissa, the national co-ordinator of Publiez Ce Que Vous Payez (Publish What You Pay, or PWYP), in Niger, a country rich in uranium and iron deposits.</p> <p> </p> <p>Anti-corruption activists are losing patience with what they see as pressure by the extractive industries to prevent the emergence of tough new disclosure requirements.</p> <p> </p> <p>“We need to look at the entire production chain of these extractive industries; we need to continue putting pressure on this industry …so we can fight poverty and corruption and ensure we have a better development,” he added.</p> <p> </p> <p>Idrissa, one of scores of African activists who have descended on Washington for this week’s unprecedented gathering, was speaking at a forum sponsored by the Open Society Foundations (OSF), Global Witness, Human Rights Watch, and Oxfam America, among other groups, on civil society efforts to promote government and corporate transparency and accountability on the continent.</p> <p> </p> <p>The activists, whose numbers are dwarfed by the size of official government delegations, most of which are led by heads of state, as well as U.S. and African corporate chiefs eager to explore business prospects, nonetheless claimed at least part of the spotlight Monday.</p> <p> </p> <p>At what was billed as a “Civil Society Forum Global Town Hall” meeting at the National Academy of Sciences, both Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry echoed Idrissa’s concerns in general remarks.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Widespread corruption is an affront to the dignity of your people and direct threat to each of your nations,” Biden declared. “It stifles economic growth and scares away investment and siphons off resources that should be used to lift people out of poverty.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Kerry also stressed the importance of “transparency and accountability” not only in attracting more investment but also in “creat(ing) a more competitive marketplace, one where ideas and products are judged by the market and their merits, and not by a backroom deal or a bribe.”</p> <p> </p> <p>While their words gained applause, it was clear from the OSF forum that anti-corruption activists are losing patience with what they see as pressure by the extractive industries to prevent the emergence of tough new disclosure requirements from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the federal agency that regulates U.S. stock and related markets.</p> <p> </p> <p>At issue is section 1504 of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, an anti-corruption provision that requires all extractive companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges to publish each year all payments they make to the U.S. and foreign governments in the countries where they operate.</p> <p> </p> <p>According to the legislation, which is designed to counter the so-called “resource curse” that afflict many developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, taxes, royalties, fees, production entitlements and bonuses should all be reported down to the project level.</p> <p> </p> <p>Eight of the world’s 10 largest mining companies and 29 of the 32 largest active international oil companies would be covered by the Act, which requires the SEC to develop specific regulations to implement its intent.</p> <p> </p> <p>After nearly two years of consultations with businesses, activists, and other interested parties, the SEC issued draft regulations, but they were immediately challenged in a lawsuit filed by the American Petroleum Institute (API), a lobby group that represents the powerful oil and gas industry here.</p> <p> </p> <p>The SEC has since reported that it does not plan to resume the rule-making process until March, 2015, a source of considerable frustration for the anti-corruption activists.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the meantime, the European Union (EU), whose member countries have historically shown much less willingness than Washington to enact legislation to deter bribery and corruption by its companies operating abroad, has adopted and begun to enforce its own tough disclosure measures that go beyond the energy and mining industries to include timber companies as well.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Until 2000, corruption and bribery by European [companies] was not only legal; it was tax-deductible,” Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese-British telecommunications entrepreneur and prominent philanthropist for good governance in Africa, told the OSF Forum. “The United States, which has been a leading light on corruption, is now dragging its feet. Do you have a backbone, or what?”</p> <p> </p> <p>He echoed the concerns of an open letter sent to Obama and signed by the heads of the national chapters of PWYP, an OSF-backed international anti-corruption group, in Guinea, Niger, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Chad, Ghana, and Nigeria, on the eve of this week’s Summit.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2excavation.jpg" style="height:349px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>“It has been more than four years since you signed the Dodd-Frank Act, section 1504 of which obliges all U.S. listed extractive companies to publish the payments they make,” the letter, which was also signed by the African representatives on the PWYP global steering committee. “The law will yield crucial data that can help us hold our governments to account, but it has yet to come into effect.</p> <p> </p> <p>“We ask you to urge the SEC for a swift publication of the rules governing section 1504 to ensure that they are in line with recent EU legislation and the emerging global standard for extractive transparency,” it said, adding that more also needs to be done to strengthen multilateral rules on taxation and creating a public registry of corporate beneficial ownership information as other critical parts of the anti-corruption struggle in Africa.</p> <p> </p> <p>Harmonzing the SEC regulations with those of the EU is particularly critical, according to Simon Taylor, co-founder and director of London-based Global Witness. “If the SEC gets it wrong, we will then have a double standard,” he noted, suggesting that some European companies could move to the U.S. if the latter’s requirements are less stringent.</p> <p> </p> <p>API and other critics of the section 1504 have argued that strict rules will put U.S. companies at a disadvantage in bidding for mining or drilling rights, especially vis-à-vis China whose trade investment in Africa, particularly in the continent’s extractive resources, have exploded over the past decade and now far exceeds the U.S.</p> <p> </p> <p>Beijing has failed so far to join the 12-year-old Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), an Oslo-based international organization that promotes transparency and currently includes 44 governments, as well as extractive companies, civil-society groups, international development banks, and institutional investors.</p> <p> </p> <p>But Ibrahim said it was “not acceptable for Europeans or Americans to say, ‘We want to be moral and ethical, but we can’t until this guy’” joins. “China is learning; it can understand and can change. They’re trying to find their feet [in Africa].”</p> <p> </p> <p>George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who created OSF, as well as a number of other foundations, said it was important to get China on board because “otherwise they are the spoilers. It is so important that I think we have to be willing to reconsider the whole structure of the [EITI which] they consider [to be] a post-colonial invention.</p> <p> </p> <p>“They have to be involved in the creation of the system that they will abide by. That’s where civil society in Africa can be influential,” he added.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Jim Lobe’s blog on U.S. foreign policy can be read at Lobelog.com. He can be contacted at <a href="mailto:ipsnoram@ips.org">ipsnoram@ips.org</a></em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/08/africa-activists-urge-obama-to-act-on-extractive-industries-law.php">Inter-Press</a> and reprinted by our content partner New America Media</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">africa</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/excavation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">excavation</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/excavation-companies" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">excavation companies</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/archeology" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">archeology</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-leaders" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african leaders</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/corruption" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">corruption</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Jim Lobe</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Fri, 08 Aug 2014 13:14:08 +0000 tara 5050 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4202-africa-activists-urge-obama-act-extractive-industries-law#comments Who Are Nigeria’s Boko Haram? https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3975-who-are-nigeria-s-boko-haram <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 05/12/2014 - 10:32</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1bokoharam.jpg?itok=W3R_aFhY"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1bokoharam.jpg?itok=W3R_aFhY" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://www.newamericamedia.org/">New America Media</a>:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p> <br /> <strong>Editor’s Note: </strong><em>Professor Michael Watts teaches geography at UC Berkeley and is the author of many books, including “Silent Violence: Food, Famine, and Peasantry in Northern Nigeria” and “Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta.” He spoke to NAM editor Andrew Lam about the recent kidnappings of more than 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria by the radical group known as Boko Haram, and the apparent inability of the Nigerian government to either prevent or respond to their crimes. At the time of this writing, 276 of the girls that were kidnapped three weeks ago remain in captivity while 53 have escaped. On Tuesday, Nigerian officials reported that the group had struck again, abducting 11 more schoolgirls in the country’s northeast region.</em><br /> <br /> <strong>Who are the Boko Haram and what should we know about them?</strong><br /> <br /> First of all, those individuals who are identified with Boko Haram do not refer to themselves as Boko Haram. Boko Haram, in the local Hausa language, means something along the line of, “Western education is forbidden.” It’s a term applied to them by residents in the communities in which the movement arose in the early 2000s, in the northeast of Nigeria. They refer to themselves differently, as <em>Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad</em> (People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad). I'm raising all of this because I think it's very important that Boko Haram is not [a name] they deployed, and it's not something that describes what they're movement is about.<br /> <br /> They made it clear in the past that they have no objection to women being educated in Islamic schools, the madrassas. One of their leaders, Shakau, has said that they are clearly opposed to Muslim women being educated in Western schools, or more importantly, [schools that are] not Islamic. [But] in the last couple weeks there have been other attacks that were not on schools – they have been on public places in the capital city (Abuja) -- that are designed to send a very different political message. And if you look at the escalating violence since 2009 [it has been directed] primarily at police or security forces, and on prisons that have been holding their members. There have been attacks and assassinations on politicians and traditional rulers. And last but not least on Muslim clerics who have, in their view, said unworthy and critical things about their movement. <br /> <br /> All of which is to say that education is indeed a part of what concerns Boko Haram. But the types of activities they have been engaged in point to larger issues – firstly, the extent to which they [believe] that Sharia law, which was adopted in the 10 states of northern Nigeria (a largely Muslim region)… has been corrupted. Secondly, they are extraordinarily critical of state violence and state corruption, which they feel has contaminated the Muslim community in the north [and been] hostile to the Muslim community as a whole. Thirdly… they want the reconstruction of communities that have been destroyed by the Nigerian security forces, and the release of many individuals that have been picked up and are currently in prison. That last issue is clearly about what they see to be human rights violations perpetrated by what we know to be extremely violent and often undisciplined Nigerian security forces.<br /> <br /> <strong>Only now, with mounting international pressure, does there seem to be any movement on the part of the Nigerian government. Why have they been so unresponsive to the kidnappings?</strong><br /> <br /> This movement -- as offensive as we might consider it in light of the types of things that have been perpetrated -- has to be put on a much larger and deeper historical landscape [with many other] popular Islamic movements in northern Nigeria that have largely appeared in the last couple centuries.<br /> <br /> This one has a particular form because it was shaped by two important forces: We now know that this group has connections with global jihadist movements – [including] the <em>Shabaab</em> in Somalia and Mali -- and this has all sorts of implications for the military capability of this particular group. Which is to say, they've been trained. They're capable of providing explosive devices for car bombs and so on. The second is that this group emerged and established itself in the northeast and was essentially a small and arguably insignificant movement until 2003 when politicians began to use the group for political thuggery. They (candidates) promised them all sorts of things if they were elected, vis-à-vis the implementation of Sharia law. And indeed there is evidence that politicians armed this group, then, after they were elected, broke a whole bunch of promises [which] produced tension between the government and the movement. <br /> <br /> As to why they have not done anything, one reason is that historically there have been close connections between people in the Nigerian state and this movement. There are some suspicions, in fact, that in certain parts of the country at least, they have influential supporters. [An investigation] would potentially have exposed the connections… between the Nigerian state and this movement. The second reason is that the north is a majority Sunni Muslim area. The ruling elites in particular don't want to… be seen publicly [associating] the communities in the Muslim north [with] terrorists. The president (Goodluck Jonathan) is not from the north, and is not a Muslim. I think it's very tricky… to prosecute a series of military actions against Boko Haram, because the military themselves have a long track record of being extraordinarily violent and making matters worse. They’ve attacked Boko Haram and many civilians [have been] killed collaterally. Some individual members of Boko Haram have been imprisoned, tortured, or killed extra-judicially. The military forces are sufficiently corrupted and violent, so you can imagine why a president or a security council might be a little sensitive about unleashing the full force of the military on this group. <br /> <br /> If you look at the American invasion of Iraq, prosecuting insurgency groups is incredibly difficult. They operate in parts of the country where they know the terrain incredibly well. They're indistinguishable often from civilian communities. They've clearly been trained militarily. And they're clearly capable of conducting a guerilla war, which is going to be very difficult to prosecute by the military. </p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/gooduckljonathan.jpg" style="height:417px; width:625px" /><br />  </p> <p>So for all of these reasons, over the last four to six years, whoever is in power in government has typically not had a clear strategy. Sometimes they let the military go [at it] and there has been conflict. The groups are driven out to neighboring countries, to Cameroon and Chad, then they reorganize and come back more powerful and more angry than before. Particularly now -- we're in the run up to the presidential election in February 2015 -- I think Goodluck Jonathan does not want to do anything to rock the boat. His opposition will say, "See what's happening? They're sending military [to] disrupt the election and prevent people in the north from voting for their opposition candidates."<br /> <br /> <strong>The U.S. is offering to come in and help with the rescue efforts. Could U.S. military involvement help, or would that simply escalate the crisis?</strong><br /> <br /> I think it's very unlikely that you're going to see greater American [military] involvement. The U.S. government has been offering and providing various types of military support -- which means military training to the Nigerian security forces for counter insurgency. But the U.S. has never had a serious military presence in the country. I would think it's unlikely that Obama would want to get drawn into a nightmare of this sort, particularly in a majority Muslim part of the world. It would be madness and they know that full well. <br /> <br /> More importantly, Nigeria is a strongly nationalist country. The Nigerian leadership is fully aware of how inflammatory it would be -- not only to the Muslim community, but other communities -- to have an expanded American presence on the ground. In the past 20 to 30 years, whenever there's been a political crisis, the Nigerian government has always rebuffed U.S. military support. They'll buy arms, of course, but that's a very different issue.<br /> <br /> <strong>What is the likelihood that these kidnapped girls will be recovered?</strong><br /> <br /> A video released by Abubakar Shekau, one of the leaders [of Boko Haram], is polemical in the sense that he wanted to make a big splash in the international press, to highlight [the group’s] struggle as they see it. When he referred to selling these young women as slaves, I really am not sure what he is referring to there… What I do think is that [the young women] have been broken up into smaller groups and sent to other countries, into Chad and Cameroon. So it'll be extraordinary tricky to track these people down, even with U.S. military surveillance. <br /> <br /> My suspicion is that some type of deal will be cut. Whether that will take some form of negotiation with Boko Haram, I can't really say. But my suspicion is that some type of conversation is already happening, and as a result of that there'll be some type of release of these young women. <br /> <br /> <strong>Has kidnapping young women and girls become a strategy for radical groups to get international media coverage? </strong><br /> <br /> Sure. There are lots of ways of to get international coverage. Whether we're talking about Nigeria or other insurgent movements around the world. We saw this in the Nigerian Delta over oil. Back in the early 1990s to early 2000s, the leaders of these militant groups made it absolutely clear that the reason why they started kidnapping oil workers was that no one in the foreign press gave a crap about their concerns. But as soon as a white person gets picked up, or held hostage, then they can guarantee it's going to be on the front page of the <em>New York Times</em>, on the front page of the <em>Wall Street Journal</em>. My suspicion is that Boko Haram are just as savvy about the media as any insurgent group, and they caught on [to the fact] that something of this sort (kidnapping young women) will get on the front pages.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://www.newamericamedia.org/">New America Media</a></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/boko-haram" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">boko haram</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nigeria" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Nigeria</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nigera-kidnappings" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">nigera kidnappings</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/goodluck-jonathan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">goodluck jonathan</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">africa</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/radical-islam" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">radical islam</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/islamic-fundamentalists" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Islamic fundamentalists</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/muslims" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Muslims</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/terrorists" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">terrorists</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Andrew Lam</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 12 May 2014 14:32:22 +0000 tara 4698 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3975-who-are-nigeria-s-boko-haram#comments Why Somali Immigrants Are Heading Back Home https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3956-why-somali-immigrants-are-heading-back-home <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 05/05/2014 - 15:09</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1somalis.jpg?itok=P9YyuXsU"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1somalis.jpg?itok=P9YyuXsU" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>From <a href="http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/">Twin Cities Daily Planet</a> and our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/05/minnesota-somalis-heading-home.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>When the civil war in Somalia broke out more than 20 years ago, Jaylani Hussein and his family were among the first to move to the United States.</p> <p> </p> <p>Hussein has lived in the U.S. since 1993. He speaks English without any hint of an accent, holds two bachelor’s degrees, goes deer hunting in the fall and works for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.</p> <p> </p> <p>In 2008, Hussein returned to his birthplace, the city of Hargeisa, for the first time.</p> <p> </p> <p>“As I was landing in Hargeisa, I was thinking, ‘Oh my God. What have I gotten myself into?’” Hussein said. “When I was on the way home, I was thinking, ‘Why didn’t I come sooner?’”</p> <p> </p> <p>Just like Hussein, more Minnesotan Somalis are going back. An ongoing University of Minnesota research project from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs is collecting stories from immigrant Somalis in the Twin Cities to find out why.</p> <p> </p> <p>Though the number of people returning is “impossible to quantify,” signals such as airlines flying daily to the capital of Mogadishu or “chatter in the community about returning” can’t be ignored, said Ryan Allen, principal researcher and assistant community and economic development professor.</p> <p> </p> <p>Humphrey research consultant Kadra Abdi said other research has looked at the financial side of people returning, but they wanted to focus on the social aspect.</p> <p> </p> <p>Allen and his research team have so far completed about 60 oral interviews with Twin Cities residents who have returned to Somalia, most of whom were men in their late 20s or 60s.</p> <p> </p> <p>The researchers presented their findings last month in Washington, D.C., to the National Security Council and the State Department, among other stakeholders. Since the study is ongoing, the findings are currently preliminary. But Allen said he hopes to finish the data collection by the end of May.</p> <p> </p> <p>A report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that more than 1 million Somali refugees are living around the world. Of those, about 10,000 have returned to Somalia.</p> <p> </p> <p>But the research at the University has found that those returning are usually not doing so permanently.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Some had no qualms about feeling at home in both Somalia and the Twin Cities,” Allen said. “They don’t want to move, but their culture is important to them and their families.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Whether it was due to feelings some Somalis have toward the U.S. or because some Americans distrust Somalis, Allen said, he’s found returners feel safer if they have as little to do with the U.S. government as possible.</p> <p> </p> <p>Allen said those returning might get a temporary job or internship in Somalia, or they come back because they’re concerned with security there.</p> <p> </p> <p>“It’s hard to say there’s a peace there,” said Hussein Ahmed, executive director of the West Bank Community Coalition. “These people might go to Kenya or Uganda first to make contacts in a safer place.”</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2somalis%20%28fotopedia%29.jpg" style="height:416px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Or, as in Hussein’s case, the researchers found that returners worked on humanitarian projects. As a board member of American Relief Agency for the Horn of Africa, Hussein helped set up schools, distribute food and improve infrastructure in northern Somalia and along the Ethiopian border.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Even regular people are going back,” Hussein said. “People who didn’t think they could make an impact found they could.”</p> <p> </p> <p>The researchers have mostly collected information from people beyond their early 20s.</p> <p> </p> <p>Mohamed Shire, president of the University’s Somali Student Association, said most young Somalis have no intention of going back to Somalia, though many will send money back to their families. It’s mainly the older generations that want to return to Somalia, he said.</p> <p> </p> <p>“There’s a huge difference in culture. The younger kids are American. It’s never occurred to them, going back,” Shire said.</p> <p> </p> <p>But Hussein said he sees it differently.</p> <p> </p> <p>“There’s the first wave of immigrants who’s lived the horror of Somalia,” Hussein said. “We, their children, were sheltered from it. They don’t see it as a place of hope. I look at Somalia as an opportunity.”</p> <p> </p> <p>The Somali-Americans who return to Somalia mostly work in the government or for nongovernmental organizations, Allen said. Many start businesses there. Some have run for office, and some even intend to run for president.</p> <p> </p> <p>“People who go back are highly engaged, both in the U.S. and Somalia,” Allen said. “They’re doing the same thing there. They care about Minnesota, but also about Somalia.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Abdi said those who return are in tune with both countries, and that shapes their dual identities.</p> <p> </p> <p>“A few years ago, some young men from Minneapolis returned to Somalia and joined [the terrorist group] al-Shabaab,” Abdi said. “That’s the narrative that’s stuck with most people. We want to provide a broader narrative and highlight the positive changes.”</p> <p> </p> <p>From <a href="http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/">Twin Cities Daily Planet</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/somalia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">somalia</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/somalis" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">somalis</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/twin-cities" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">twin cities</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/somali-immigrants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">somali immigrants</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/immigrants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">immigrants</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">africa</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-immigrants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african immigrants</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/minnesota" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">minnesota</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ethan Nelson</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Fotopedia</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 05 May 2014 19:09:49 +0000 tara 4661 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3956-why-somali-immigrants-are-heading-back-home#comments How Poverty, Food Shortages in Kenya Have Led to Catastrophe https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3160-how-poverty-food-shortages-kenya-have-led-catastrophe <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 11/04/2013 - 09:17</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1kenya%20%28CIMMYT%20Flickr%29.jpg?itok=mWxo_9Zj"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1kenya%20%28CIMMYT%20Flickr%29.jpg?itok=mWxo_9Zj" width="480" height="365" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">Inter Press Service</a> and our content partner, <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/10/when-poverty-quietly-morphs-into-catastrophe.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> NAIROBI/NEW YORK, Oct 17 2013 - Wambui Karunyu, 72, and her 7-year-old grandson are the only surviving members of their immediate family. Karunyu’s husband and five children all succumbed to the hardships of living in the semi-arid area of lower Mukurweini district in central Kenya.</p> <p>  </p> <p> In 2009, a drought struck parts of central and southeast Kenya, leaving 3.8 million people in need of food aid. Four years later, conditions in the area remain dire. According to the regional Drought Management Authority, while the upper parts of Mukurweini receive an annual rainfall of 1,500 mm, lower Mukurweini only receives 200mm.</p> <p>  </p> <p> A new report by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a U.K.-based think tank, identifies Kenya as one of 11 countries most at risk for disaster-induced poverty. The report, entitled “The geography of poverty, disasters and climate extremes in 2030”, warns that the international community has yet to properly address the threats disasters pose to the poorest parts of the world.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The report includes locations where both poverty and natural disasters will likely be concentrated in 2030; and in many instances, these locations overlap.</p> <p>  </p> <p> However, the severity of disasters – such as drought, floods and hurricanes – depends on what “disaster risk management” policies the government has put in place, according to ODI.</p> <p>  </p> <p> In 2010, for example, the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti killed 11 percent of people who felt its tremors, while the Chilean earthquake – of an even higher magnitude, 8.8 – killed 0.1 percent; and in 2008, Cyclone Nargis killed 138,000 people in Myanmar, while Hurricane Gustav of similar strength killed 153 when it struck the Caribbean and the U.S.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Slow-onset” disasters – such as the drought afflicting Karunyu and her grandson in Kenya – are often the harshest setbacks for development, especially in poor, rural areas that lack social safety nets, according to ODI.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “I plant maize and beans every season, but I harvest nothing. I never stop planting because I hope that this time will be better than the last time. But it’s always the same, loss and hunger,” Karunyu tells IPS.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Simon Mwangi, a resident of Mukurweini and a service provider with the Dairy Goats Association of Kenya, an association of small-scale goat farmers, tells IPS that Karunyu’s story is not unique.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Life here is characterised by poverty and hunger. A great majority live in rural areas, and they are farmers. Due to prolonged dry spells, the situation is alarming, since they have no other livelihoods,” he says.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Mwangi notes that unreliable rainfall, frequent droughts and the inability of residents to adapt to harsh climatic changes has affected the growth of a variety of crops, such as maize and beans, which used to grow successfully.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Lower Mukurweini is no longer a corn zone, but farmers continue to plant maize with no success. There are drought-resistant crops that can do well here, including fruits, such as pineapples and indigenous mangoes. But the lack of extension officers has made it difficult for people here to adapt to the dry climate,” he says.</p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2Kenya%20%28CIMMYT%20Flickr%29.jpg" style="width: 640px; height: 429px;" /></p> <p> There is also a lack of NGOs and aid workers in Mukurweini to address the residents’ plight. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) operated in Mukurweini for nine years, but left in 2011. “Things were much better when [IFAD] ran irrigation and trainings for farmers. Some sub-locations were doing much better, and there was food. But many parts of lower Mukurweini are now at risk of starvation,” says Mwangi.</p> <p>  </p> <p> In Kenya, each child born in a drought year is 50 percent more likely to become malnourished, according to the report. And from 1997 to 2007, less than 10 percent of Kenya’s poor escaped poverty, while 30 percent of Kenya’s non-poor entered poverty, partly due to the multiple natural disasters affecting the country.</p> <p>  </p> <p> In July 2012, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon assembled a team of 27 advisers to help him achieve the lofty goal of ending world poverty. Ten months later, the team – known as the High Level Panel of eminent persons (HLP) – produced a report that advised Ban, among other things, to “build resilience and reduce deaths from natural disasters” by a percentage to be agreed.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The HLP recommended this target on disaster-mitigation to be included in the post-2015 development agenda, a list that would replace the eight current Millennium Development Goals –which do not include the word “disaster” once.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The intensity of natural disasters is expected to increase with climate change. ODI predicts that up to 325 million impoverished people in 49 countries will be exposed to extreme weather conditions by 2030.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The regional Drought Management Authority says that Nyeri County, where Mukurweini is located, should expect more prolonged dry spells moving forward.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “During the day, you barely see anyone outside, it’s too hot. Even the earth becomes too hot, you cannot walk barefoot,” says Mwangi.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Without food or access to water, the elderly starve and fade away quietly,” he says.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/">Inter Press Service</a></p> <p>  </p> <p> <em><strong>Photos: CIMMYT (Flickr).</strong></em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/kenya" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">kenya</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nairobi" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">nairobi</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/poverty" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">poverty</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/food-shortages" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">food shortages</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">africa</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/poverty-africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">poverty in africa</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/food" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Food</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/world-food-shortage" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">world food shortage</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/kenyan-farmers" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">kenyan farmers</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Miriam Gathigah and George Gao</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">CIMMYT (Flickr)</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 04 Nov 2013 14:17:14 +0000 tara 3788 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3160-how-poverty-food-shortages-kenya-have-led-catastrophe#comments An Eye on Africa’s Faltering Economy https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2881-eye-africa-s-faltering-economy <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 10/10/2013 - 09:58</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1african.jpg?itok=Ih2fAiFB"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1african.jpg?itok=Ih2fAiFB" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://allafrica.com/">allAfrica</a> and our content partner, <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/10/africa-isnt-rising-say-ordinary-africans.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> JOHANNESBURG—African leaders, foreign investors and formal indicators of economic growth may say that "Africa is rising" - but most ordinary Africans don't agree.</p> <p>  </p> <p> A pioneering new survey of public opinion in 34 countries across the continent suggests that the relatively high average growth in gross domestic product (GDP) reported in recent years is not reflected in the experiences of most citizens.</p> <p>  </p> <p> An average of one in five Africans still often goes without food, clean water or medical care. Only one in three think economic conditions in their country are good. Fifty-three percent say they are "fairly bad" or "very bad".</p> <p>  </p> <p> The survey suggests that either the benefits of growth are being disproportionately channeled to a wealthy elite or that official statistics are overstating average growth rates (or possibly a combination of both).</p> <p>  </p> <p> The survey was directed by Afrobarometer, a research project coordinated by independent institutions in Ghana, Benin, Kenya and South Africa, with partners in 31 other countries. Afrobarometer says the margin of error in its face-to-face public opinion surveys is around 2 percent. It has been surveying public opinion in 12 countries since 1999, but has grown to include 35 countries for the period 2011 to 2013.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The results of the latest survey - released in Johannesburg on Tuesday - are the first to reflect public opinion across such a wide swathe of the continent. Interviews for the survey were carried out between October 2011 and June this year.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Speaking at the release of the results, Boniface Dulani of the University of Malawi, the project's operational field manager, said they indicated that three-quarters of Africans thought their governments were doing badly in closing the gap between rich and poor. Nevertheless, most remained optimistic about the future - with west and north Africans more optimistic than east Africans, and southern Africans "somewhere in the middle".</p> <p>  </p> <p> A policy brief analyzing the results said the data, "based on the views and experiences of ordinary citizens", shed light on the debate over whether growth is helping reduce poverty, "suggesting that doubts about the extent of progress achieved in the fight against poverty are well founded".</p> <p>  </p> <p> In the 16 countries surveyed over a period of a decade, there was little evidence for systematic reduction of the poverty experienced by ordinary citizens, despite average GDP growth rates of 4.8 percent, the brief added.</p> <p>  </p> <p> While "lived poverty" was reduced in Cape Verde, Ghana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, it increased in Botswana, Mali, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Professsor Robert Mattes of the University of Cape Town, a co-director of the project, said the data suggested that the reduction in poverty in Zimbabwe was a consequence of the formation of a coalition government after the 2008 elections.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Respondents across all 34 countries were asked how often they had gone without basic necessities in the past year:</p> <p>  </p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;"> •           53 percent of the sample said they had sometimes gone without medical care, with 20 percent saying they had gone without many times;</p> <p> •          </p> <p> •           50 percent said they had gone without food sometimes (17 percent many times);</p> <p> •          </p> <p> •           49 percent had gone without water sometimes (21 percent many times);</p> <p> •          </p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;"> •           41 percent had gone without cooking fuel sometimes (13 percent many times);</p> <p> •          </p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;"> •           76 percent said they had gone without cash income sometimes in the past year (44 percent many times).</p> <p> •          </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2african%20%28Marhoons%20Flickr%29.jpg" style="width: 650px; height: 441px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> Other findings of the survey:</p> <p>  </p> <p> •           "People in Burundi, Guinea, Niger, Senegal and Togo experienced the highest average levels of lived poverty, while those living in Algeria and Mauritius experienced the lowest.</p> <p> •          </p> <p> •           "People living in countries undergoing or emerging from conflicts appear to be particularly vulnerable to lived poverty, especially food shortages. Five of the seven countries that experience the highest levels of nutritional deprivation - Burundi, Liberia, Madagascar, Sierra Leone and Niger - are all emerging from recent conflicts. And the two worst performers in North Africa - Egypt and Sudan - have recently faced internal conflicts as well.</p> <p> •          </p> <p> •           "Comparing regional experiences of lived poverty, we find that both West and East Africans encounter the most shortages, while North Africans experience the lowest levels of deprivation."</p> <p> •          </p> <p> Afrobarometer also said that rural people tended to be poorer than citizens living in urban areas, and that those with access to electricity, water, paved roads, sewage systems and health clinics were usually better off than those without.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Countries included in the 2013 results are: Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Results from Ethiopia, the 35th country to be surveyed, are still being compiled.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The core partners coordinating the Afrobarometer are the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, the Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy in Benin, the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Nairobi, the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in South Africa and the Department of Political Science at Michigan State University in the United States, backed by another 30 independent research institutes in universities and the private sector in each of the countries surveyed.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://allafrica.com/">allAfrica</a></p> <p>  </p> <p> <em><strong>Photos: New America Media; Mahroons (Flickr).</strong></em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">africa</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-economy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african economy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-nations" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african nations</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/poor-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the poor</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/economy-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the economy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/welfare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">welfare</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/food-shortage" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">food shortage</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/gdp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">gdp</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-continent" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african continent</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/poverty" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">poverty</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/starvation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">starvation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">John Allen</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 10 Oct 2013 13:58:26 +0000 tara 3655 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2881-eye-africa-s-faltering-economy#comments