Well at least it had the right date of birth. Happy Birthday Mabida. mylowercase: tsepeaces: Nelson Mandela’s Ethiopian passport, issued in 1962, under the false name David Motsamayi, he was not allowed to travel at that time. Upon his return to South Africa he was charged and arrested for this trip. During his time in Ethiopia he received military training, most likely in Holeta Military Academy. In his words: “Ethiopia has always held a special place in my own imagination and the prospect of visiting [it] attracted me more strongly than a trip to France, England and America combined. I felt I would be visiting my own genesis, unearthing the roots of what made me an African. Meeting the emperor himself would be like shaking hands with history.” In related matters, the Namibian ex-president & liberation fighters were trained in Ethiopia. The plane that took the president into Namibia on independence day was Ethiopian Airlines flown by an Ethiopian pilot who still gets invited to participate in independence day festivities. — info brought to you via very resourceful friends of mine, who were active members of the Ethiopian Students Association International (@myESAi). The 10th Annual Ethiopian Students Association International Summit is taking place March 25th - 28th, 2010 in Toronto, Canada for the first time outside of the U.S.A. Follow @Esai2010 for updates. I did not know this!

Well at least it had the right date of birth. Happy Birthday Mabida.

mylowercase:

tsepeaces:

Nelson Mandela’s Ethiopian passport, issued in 1962, under the false name David Motsamayi, he was not allowed to travel at that time. Upon his return to South Africa he was charged and arrested for this trip. During his time in Ethiopia he received military training, most likely in Holeta Military Academy.

In his words: “Ethiopia has always held a special place in my own imagination and the prospect of visiting [it] attracted me more strongly than a trip to France, England and America combined. I felt I would be visiting my own genesis, unearthing the roots of what made me an African. Meeting the emperor himself would be like shaking hands with history.”

In related matters, the Namibian ex-president & liberation fighters were trained in Ethiopia. The plane that took the president into Namibia on independence day was Ethiopian Airlines flown by an Ethiopian pilot who still gets invited to participate in independence day festivities.

— info brought to you via very resourceful friends of mine, who were active members of the Ethiopian Students Association International (@myESAi).

The 10th Annual Ethiopian Students Association International Summit is taking place March 25th - 28th, 2010 in Toronto, Canada for the first time outside of the U.S.A. Follow @Esai2010 for updates.

I did not know this!

“Wiki-Bike believes that bicycles would be invaluable tools to improve living conditions in Africa, reducing poverty, improving access to health care, education, potable water, and combating climate change. They’ve just announced the African Bicycle Design Contest with the aim of producing a bicycle that is well-suited to the the needs of future bicycle riders in Africa. The guidelines are pretty straightforward; the vehicles should be durable, sustainable, and able to be produced locally. 5 finalists will be chosen to have your ideas prototyped; then the best prototype will be delivered to Kenya, where the winning designer will train and assist a local team in the bicycle’s production. To compete, get your entires in by September 30th.”

“Wiki-Bike believes that bicycles would be invaluable tools to improve living conditions in Africa, reducing poverty, improving access to health care, education, potable water, and combating climate change. They’ve just announced the African Bicycle Design Contest with the aim of producing a bicycle that is well-suited to the the needs of future bicycle riders in Africa.

The guidelines are pretty straightforward; the vehicles should be durable, sustainable, and able to be produced locally. 5 finalists will be chosen to have your ideas prototyped; then the best prototype will be delivered to Kenya, where the winning designer will train and assist a local team in the bicycle’s production. To compete, get your entires in by September 30th.”

Kenya’s Tech Innovations, Japan’s Digital Divide

If you follow my blog, you know that I like to report on the many technological innovations coming out of East Africa, especially Kenya. There is no shortage of subjects to report on, from the nationwide spread of mobile money to portable solar solutions, but also the inventiveness of individual “hacks”, such as SMS-powered remote locking systems and home-made mobile phone sonar fishing devices.

While Kenya’s young tech entrepreneurs show no shortage of ingeniousness, the lack of technological advancement in Japan, of all places, is becoming a major cause of concern for policy makers and analysts.

“Police stations without computers, 30-year-old “on hold” tapes grinding out Greensleeves, ATMs that close when the bank does, suspect car engineering, and kerosene heaters but no central heating.”

In a recent piece for the BBC entitled Revealing Japan’s Low-tech Belly, Michael Fitzpatrick paints an alarming picture of a nation whose hi tech prowess was once the envy of Germany and the US.

“Japanese banks, post offices, government offices, all are staffed with three to five times the employees because they must do every process once on paper and then again on computer.”

An aging technophobic population, a government bureaucracy which refuses to go digital, local phone manufacturers rapidly losing market share to Apple, “tech standards and business practices incompatible with anything beyond its borders”. This is the digital divide crippling Japan that we rarely hear about.

listening to "Tito Puente-Tito and Mongo on timbales"

@EFR56: Tito Puente - “Tito and Mongo onTimbales” from “Puente in Percussion”(1957)For percusssion aficionados and lovers of good Afro-Cuban rhythms”

Why do people tweet? What is the driver of them spending time doing this? I think it’s because they think they have people giving them attention, and they do everything to play with that attention. The reason Twitter works so well is that they don’t have a feedback-loop, where people can realize just how little attention they’re getting. I’m not saying the system was set up that way deliberately, but it’s a very well setup system. People can fool themselves into believing that others are listening, which is not easy in real life. When you’re talking to other people on the street and nobody is listening, after a while you sort of have to stop talking. Not so on Twitter.
Amazon’s Former Chief Scientist, Andreas Weigend
Eight Indian states account for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African countries combined, a new measure of global poverty has found.
BBC South Asia News Desk via @Ethnicsupplies

A few weeks ago I wrote about the upcoming Amputee Football World Cup. Just came across this video about an amputee player from Sierra Leone, via @virn_news

thedailywhat: Life-Altering Android App of the Day: The “Road SMS” Android app lets you text and walk with ease by projecting the view in front of your phone onto the screen using your cell’s built-in camera. I know at least one person who might find this app quite useful. [likecool.]

thedailywhat:

Life-Altering Android App of the Day: The “Road SMS” Android app lets you text and walk with ease by projecting the view in front of your phone onto the screen using your cell’s built-in camera.

I know at least one person who might find this app quite useful.

[likecool.]

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22 plays

Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté - ‘Sabu Yerkoy’

From Nonesuch Records, July 9, 2010:

“Metacritic.com, the site that aggregates major reviews of music, film, and other media, has released its mid-year report of “The Best Music of 2010 So Far”—albums released over the past six months met or exceeded a Metascore of 81 (out of 100), and three Nonesuch releases have made the cut: the late Ali Farka Touré’s collaboration with kora player Toumani Diabaté came in at #2, and Laurie Anderson’s first studio album since 2001, Homeland, followed it at #3.”

It’s great to see the second collaboration between two of Africa’s most renowned musicians receiving so much critical acclaim, and good to see them in such good company too.

What constitutes breaking news seems to have changed ever so slightly over the last 20 years.

What constitutes breaking news seems to have changed ever so slightly over the last 20 years.

Although I can’t claim to have carried out any scientific data collection on the subject, it seems that 30 days of 24/7 media exposure may not have been enough for fresh African motifs to permeate the Great Wall of Western Media Clichés. With only 2 matches to go, apart from a few condescending pieces on Gauteng’s “Black Diamonds”, I don’t recall the World Cup being used as a backdrop for any major features on the various hubs of tech innovation in Africa, or the spread of mobile money solutions, or the fact that mobile phone penetration in Africa has finally passed the 50% mark. But photo essays of dirty, forlorn looking children in rags playing with home-made footballs (fashioned from condoms, straw and plastic bags). Now that’s more like it! Especially if your photo essay can be be published in the New York Times under a headline as crass and trite as, “To Those With Nothing, Soccer is Everything”. Photo credit: Jessica Hilltout

Although I can’t claim to have carried out any scientific data collection on the subject, it seems that 30 days of 24/7 media exposure may not have been enough for fresh African motifs to permeate the Great Wall of Western Media Clichés.

With only 2 matches to go, apart from a few condescending pieces on Gauteng’s “Black Diamonds”, I don’t recall the World Cup being used as a backdrop for any major features on the various hubs of tech innovation in Africa, or the spread of mobile money solutions, or the fact that mobile phone penetration in Africa has finally passed the 50% mark.

But photo essays of dirty, forlorn looking children in rags playing with home-made footballs (fashioned from condoms, straw and plastic bags). Now that’s more like it! Especially if your photo essay can be be published in the New York Times under a headline as crass and trite as, “To Those With Nothing, Soccer is Everything”.

Photo credit: Jessica Hilltout

Yes, Les Lions Indomptables (The Indomitable Lions) are out and Paul Rys, writing for the Al Jazeera Africa Blog, doesn’t pay them any compliments. “A certain myth has grown up around Cameroon in the past 20 years since reaching the quarter-finals of the Italia 1990 World Cup. Much like the myth that England are a major footballing power, the perception is that the “Indomitable Lions” are giants of African football – a flagship for the continent. This was a record sixth appearance at a World Cup finals for an African nation. And what is their best showing? That quarter-final defeat to England in Naples.” exiledsoul: bananaboattimes: SAD FACE :(  … Cameroon is Out of the World Cup :(

Yes, Les Lions Indomptables (The Indomitable Lions) are out and Paul Rys, writing for the Al Jazeera Africa Blog, doesn’t pay them any compliments.

“A certain myth has grown up around Cameroon in the past 20 years since reaching the quarter-finals of the Italia 1990 World Cup. Much like the myth that England are a major footballing power, the perception is that the “Indomitable Lions” are giants of African football – a flagship for the continent. This was a record sixth appearance at a World Cup finals for an African nation. And what is their best showing? That quarter-final defeat to England in Naples.”

exiledsoul:

bananaboattimes:

SAD FACE :(  … Cameroon is Out of the World Cup

:(

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35 plays

Régis Gizavo - Tsikaholy

Régis Gizavo is a Malagasy accordionist and member of the Madagascar All Stars.

“The idea of mixing traditional Madagascan music and the accordion may appear a little strange at first. However, the two have a shared history going back hundreds of years. The accordion - or the “poorman’s piano” as it is known in French - was introduced to Madagascar by sailors in the early 19th century and went on to become an integral part of the local culture.”

In May Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile network operator launched Kipokezi, a service which allows ANY mobile phone to send and receive emails and IMs by converting them into text messages. ForgetMeNot is the company behind the gateway software. At the moment Kenya is only the second country where the service is available (it was piloted in Lesotho), however, ForgetMeNot has signed up operators in other African markets, so expect the service to spread across the continent before the end of the year. According to Russell Southwood of CIO, “15 million mobile phone subscribers in Kenya – over a third of the country’s population - will now be able to access email and online chat regardless of the make and model of their mobile phone. The new Kipokezi service is being rolled out by Kenya’s largest telecoms operator, Safaricom, suppliers of mobile phone connectivity for almost 9 in 10 Kenyan mobile phone subscribers.” Kipokezi is just the latest in a range of innovative products introduced by Safaricom this year. In May the company finally announced the launch of both MXit in Kenya as well as the long-awaited M-Kesho service.

In May Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile network operator launched Kipokezi, a service which allows ANY mobile phone to send and receive emails and IMs by converting them into text messages. ForgetMeNot is the company behind the gateway software.

At the moment Kenya is only the second country where the service is available (it was piloted in Lesotho), however, ForgetMeNot has signed up operators in other African markets, so expect the service to spread across the continent before the end of the year. According to Russell Southwood of CIO,

“15 million mobile phone subscribers in Kenya – over a third of the country’s population - will now be able to access email and online chat regardless of the make and model of their mobile phone. The new Kipokezi service is being rolled out by Kenya’s largest telecoms operator, Safaricom, suppliers of mobile phone connectivity for almost 9 in 10 Kenyan mobile phone subscribers.”

Kipokezi is just the latest in a range of innovative products introduced by Safaricom this year. In May the company finally announced the launch of both MXit in Kenya as well as the long-awaited M-Kesho service.

“The Happiest Losers Ever (Ghana vs Germany) Celebrations via Nana Kofi Acquah”

“The Happiest Losers Ever (Ghana vs Germany) Celebrations via Nana Kofi Acquah”