Comments on: Looking at Africa, from Camden, Maine

By: WorldChanging: Another World Is Here

WorldChanging: Another World Is Here — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 21:07:26 +0000

Ultra-Low-Cost Handsets and the African Future

NextBillion has a great overview of recent pieces exploring the implications of cheap handhelds in developming countries. Ultra-low-cost handsets are expected to pass 36 million…

By: …My heart’s in Accra » Overstating AIDS

…My heart’s in Accra » Overstating AIDS — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 02:36:42 +0000

[...] There’s a more subtle effect of the UN’s misstated numbers: the extent to which the story of contemporary Africa and AIDS have been intertwined. At the Pop!Tech 2005 panel on African issues, moderator David Kirkpatrick expressed surprise that a two-hour conversation hadn’t touched on AIDS, and asked the panelists to address the crisis. Panelists responded angrily, with Emeka Okafor of Timbuktu Chronicles declaring: My problem with the question is that when mainstream media frames Africa, two or three topics come up again and again: AIDS, AIDS and AIDS. The relentless focus on AIDS plays into the framework of helplessness associated with the continent. [...]

By: andy carvin

andy carvin — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 21:36:56 +0000

Speaking of a Kenyan version of thomas.gov, did you see the AllAfrica.com story a few days ago about the reason why the Kenyan parliamentary website was down? MPs were embarassed about having their biographical info online - ie, their age, education, hobbies - claiming it was too "sensitive" for public consumption. I blogged about it here.

By: David G

David G — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 15:04:27 +0000

Belatedly,, This may seem like some mutual ego stroking, but again and again Ethan delivers, the blog gives me a wonderful insight into elements of our interview that i couldn’t dwell on sitting up there and thanks for your big part in getting us to that wonderful event.

By: …My heart’s in Accra » Missed the Africa panel at Pop!Tech? Listen in.

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 18:46:02 +0000

[...] Two weekends ago, I wrote about a great session at Pop!Tech, a two hour conversation where African attendees at the conference got to talk about their view of the problems facing Africa and their reactions to conference presentations. [...]

By: Kenyan Pundit » Apologies…

Kenyan Pundit » Apologies… — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 04:33:43 +0000

[...] Since I wasn’t able to cover the last day of Poptech, I’ll just link to Ethan’s great summary of the panel featuring the Africa fellows (and my uummm “moment”). A podcast of the panel should be available here at some point in the future. –> [...]

By: Ethan

Ethan — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 22:11:25 +0000

Thanks, Ben! I assumed you’d stayed in your seat because you were pinned in place by Alex Steffen and me on either side of you, not out of interest in the topic… :-)

By: …My heart’s in Accra » The Medical Brain Drain from Africa… to rural America

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 14:54:18 +0000

[...] Whether you believe that the economic contributions of the diaspora outweigh the costs of losing great minds from the continent, it’s hard to ignore the disastrous effects on Africa’s national health systems the loss of trained doctors to jobs in the North is having. Sokari Ekine has written extensively on the topic; David Gyewu spoke about the problem at Pop!Tech this past weekend. [...]

By: Ben Saunders

Ben Saunders — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 19:29:47 +0000

“It was an absolutely amazing morning.”

I’d agree with that. After far too little sleep in the preceding few days, I’d considered staying in bed on Saturday morning! It was a truly mind-blowing event, and one of the highlights of PopTech for me.

Thanks for playing your part in bringing the discussion together, Ethan.

By: Kate

Kate — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 01:37:45 +0000

Thanks for covering this so thoroughly!

I’ve been reading about the Barefoot College. It’s good to know places like that exist. I’m thinking about the rain falling here tonight that no one is collecting.