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!

“Chosen Few, South Africa’s only openly gay female football team, was created in 2004 by the Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW) to fill a void for many of the passionate, soccer-loving women who attended their sessions but who had been expelled from their township teams because of their sexuality.”

Source: CNN

“In 2007 a list of ‘South Africa’s Top Web Startups’ was released. We look at where they are now, and if they made it as big as predicted.”

Click here to see the full article and an extended list of companies.

(H/T @whiteafrican)

Biltong, is cured meat South African style. It’s similar to “beef jerky”, although many biltong aficionados are offended when noobs innocently compare the two.

“Biltong is dry cured and not cooked and there are no preservatives. Dry cure means that the biltong has a soft texture when you chew it. Jerky is saturated with preservatives and then cooked at 160F for 6 hours. You may as well eat a piece of cardboard with some flavor in it.” - 1-800-Biltong

The UK has strict border control policies when it comes to importing cured meat from outside the EU, so DIY products like the Home Biltong Factory and BiltongBox are designed to “satisfy the cravings for that mouth watering delicacy which is so difficult to get outside South Africa”.

While I was surfing for info on Biltong preparation (don’t ask) I came across GiftofAfrica.com, a web shop with a fairly narrow profile. Basically it sells three items, the Biltong Kit, African beads and the above album. Not exactly the long tail.

Anyway, I love the album cover but I’m not so sure about some of the remixes.

Wishing you all a Happy and Peaceful Christmas wherever you are.