Politics and Activism: the Case of Darfur

All other entities, including the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) which have considerable presence on the ground and therefore have their own sources of information and analysis, have been intimidated into silence. They are often reduced to responding to an agenda set on the other side of the world by organizations with only a fraction of the knowledge. The UN, with its thousands of monitors and its detailed local knowledge and analysis, was overshadowed by hit and run missions by western human rights groups, which often arrived, spent a few days mining the information of UN and AU staff members and Sudanese professionals, and then left to create their own interpretations of the information they had extracted. Read more..

The Career Africanists in Washington D.C.

Perhaps you are familiar with those seminars in Washington D.C. that address challenges typically associated with Africa—HIV/AIDS, inadequate healthcare, famine, poverty, war, dictatorship, poor infrastructure, low agricultural productivity, gender inequity, insecurity—the list is long though quite predictable. You may have noticed, too, that the "expert" orators at these gatherings are fairly consistent and essentially constitute a circle of recycled speakers that speak to an equally consistent bunch of recycled listeners. Read more..

How do We Reverse the Brain Drain?

For 10 million African-born emigrants, the word “home” is synonymous with the United States, Britain or another country outside of Africa. Personally, I have continuously lived in the United States for the last 30 years. My last visit to Africa was 17 years ago.

On the day I left Nigeria, I felt sad because I was leaving my family behind. I believed I would return eight years later, probably marry an Igbo girl, and then spend the rest of my life in Nigeria. But 25 years ago, I fell in love with an American girl, married her three years later, and became eligible to sponsor a Green Card visa for 35 of my closest relatives, including my parents and all my siblings, nieces and nephews. My story of bringing 35 people to the United States exemplifies the way 10 million skilled people have emigrated out of Africa during the past 30 years. Read more...

The Rainmaker

Spend a few minutes with Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin and you will know that she is a woman of great substance. A truly soulful personality, she is ambitious, vivacious, and focused. Currently, Eleni and her team are in the process of building an institution that may completely transform the way agricultural commodities are traded in her native country of Ethiopia. The implications of this endeavor are huge: among other benefits, it may effectively address Ethiopia’s age-old struggle with food insecurity. Armed with a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University, years of research in international institutions including the World Bank and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and lots of passion, Eleni has set out to redress failures in the current market system in Ethiopia where drastic fluctuations in food prices (mainly due to variations in rainfall) have made hunger and starvation a persistent looming threat to millions of people. This is the story of a visionary and inspiring woman. Read more...

Ethereal Mission

Brother Ishmael Tetteh is the Founder and Director of the Etherean Mission, a trans-denominational metaphysical organization established in Ghana in 1973. For over three and half decades, Bro. Ishmael has been teaching philosophies and practices that are based on ancient African mystical practices.

Bro. Ishmael says that, over the years, he has been pulled by a vision of a peaceful universe. Inspired by this vision, he spent several years conducting research into the workings of the mind of human beings to find a way to achieve peace in the world. He found that negative emotions, especially fear and anger, are the main cause of wars, confusion and destruction on the planet. As long as these forces prevail on the planet, universal peace would continue to be a mere dream.Read more...

NEEDCSI

Established in 2006 by Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba, the New Era Educational and Charitable Support Initiative (NEEDCSI) is a Nigeria–based, registered non-profit organization. NEEDCSI is committed to the revival of human values that transcend religious, ethnic and cultural differences. These values include a sense of belonging to a common humanity, respect and consideration for all people, compassion and non-violence, a commitment to preserving the natural environment, and a social service ethic.

NEEDCSI’s mission is to provide local communities with an array of educational programs that encourage individual creative self-expression, exploration and experimentation, and increase awareness, understanding and appreciation of the creative process by facilitating communication and interaction among educators, learners and the general public.Read more...