BlogAfrica

I don't remember how I got there today, but I got there somehow.

If you are really, really, interested in new and fresh voices out of and about Africa, you have to check out this outstanding directory of Africa weblogs and African bloggers. Click on the BlogAfrica link in the lefthand column of their homepage to get some additional background on the project. BlogAfrica seems to be another brainchild from the folks at AllAfrica.com, GeekCorps and Busy Internet in Accra, Ghana who I have been following for a couple of years. Excellent!

Just click on this link Blog Africa or on the post title above and "...I'll take you there!".

That's all the time I've got for today. More good pics next week, I promise. The sun is shining after weeks of cool, cloudy weather here in North Germany. It's late on a Friday afternoon, and I'm going to pick up the Boyz over at the Lab, go down to the Weser river, and enjoy a cool beer or two in the shade.

Auf Wiedersehen bis...

Good Blogs about Africa

By the way,

If you are interested in the continent and people of Africa as I am, perhaps you may enjoy the following weblogs of note. A Taste of Africa is a very nicely done photoblog from a young aid and development professional, Yvette Lopez, who is presently working at the Horn of Africa in region named Somaliland.

You can link to Yvette's excellent weblog at: http://insidesomaliland.blogtales.com/ or just click on this posting's title above.

After reading a few of her weblog entries, you'll feel like walking into the UN Security Council and kicking total butt!! Another blatant failure of the U.N. and friends to support these people down on the Horn of Africa. Most of us have never even heard of the place, and yet the people of Somaliland seem to be moving faster toward stability and democracy than anybody in their region. Maybe that is why we have international troops at the Horn of Africa, to help these folks in Somaliland out, oder?

Somaliland is not to be confused with that hellhole Somalia, where a whole nation is being held hostage by bands of serial killer warlords and their child soldier militias, with lots of backing and financial support from their Lords across the Red Sea and beyond. Why doesn't any of the big international media outfits cover this Somaliland story!!? Is peace and progress on the African continent not newsworthy?

Correction: I learned last night that the BBC World and BBC U.K. media companies will be bringing out in May and June 2004 a heartbreaking documentary on child soldiers in Mogadishu, Somalia______ well, at least that is close by. Seems that the young star of the documentary got blown away before they could finish editing and air the program.

Another interesting weblog on Africa is African Pundit located at Blogspot.com (Blogger), the very fine technology people behind my own weblog. African Pundit is interesting in that it provides more than an alternative point of view of African issues and politics vs. the view from the developed world at large.

You can link to the African Pundit blog at: http://africapundit.blogspot.com/

I'm sure there are plenty more good blogs on Africa, but let's face it, I've just got back from Mars re: weblogs and I have some catching up to do.

Ciao

Village Girl at Festival

Young village girl watching dancers at welcome festival.
Photography by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

New Photos Coming !!!

Boy! I've been working all weekend on reviewing and editing digital photo files for use on this blog. Susanne Behnke (the Photographer/Co-Ordinator for the Jewels-Juwelen Project) took literally 1,000's of pics on the field trip down in Uganda last year.

I've just got my hands on the photo CD's last week, and there is some outstanding work Susanne has accomplished in Uganda. So stay tuned to this Blog to get the 1st peek preview of these photos before they go to print in an upcoming book by Ms. Behnke.

Must give credit to the folks at Idealab (makers of Picasa and Hello software) for use of their excellent software tools which help me to both manage and edit photo libraries and to effortlessly publish photos to this weblog. Thanks loads Idealab.

It should go without saying that Unauthorized Downloading and Use of any Photos on this weblog without prior consent from the author is Strictly Prohibited. Violators will be found and punished by the Jengi Spirit of the Jungle!! In other words, your computer might stop working, and you could become very, very sick! So Ask First, Please.

And if you don't believe that "Spirits of the Forest" exist, just take a look at the website of the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Ooooga-Booga Baby!

Pictures Worth A Thousand Words II

Young student at blackboard in village schoolhouse.
Jinja District, Southern Uganda - February 2003
Photography by Susanne Behnke

Pictures Worth A Thousand Words I

Schoolgirls busy with artwork and drawing lesson in their 1-room village schoolhouse.
Jinja District, Southern Uganda February 2003
Photography by Susanne Behnke

Pictures and photos do help to get the point across, don't they. This photo is one of my absolute favorites in the whole world, and it speaks volumes about the needs of these beautiful young schoolchildren.

Jewels meet Juwelen in Uganda - Feb 2003

Ugandan children inspect handcrafted jewelry before the Jewels-Juwelen Project photoshoot. Jewelry designs created by students at the Institute of Art and Design in Pforzheim, Germany.
Photography by Susanne Behnke, Uganda February 2003 

Welcome to the JEWELS in the JUNGLE Weblog

Whoa!!,

Blogger finally got their application updates act together and we are back online with the Jewels in the Jungle weblog....after months and months. Now if we could just recover our old material from our first Jewels in the Jungle 2003 Blog from Blogger we might be gettin' somewhere.

Well, a bit about this new Blog. "JEWELS in the JUNGLE" is a phrase I used to describe an aid and development project for orphaned children in Uganda in 2003. A dear friend and colleague of mine here in Germany came up with the project idea (the actual project name was Jewels-Juwelen, auf Deutsch), and I advised and directed her re: strategies and technology issues from the background (Shadow Camouflage directing is my specialty). You can learn more about the project by visiting their website at www.jewels-juwelen.de

The objective of the Jewels-Juwelen Project was to raise funds to construct a new schoolhouse and provide new learning materials to rural Ugandan village children in Jinja District, southern Uganda near Lake Victoria. Money was raised for the project via charity auctions of handcrafted jewelry created by students of the renowned Art and Design Institute in the city of Pforzheim, Germany. The project received good participation nationwide and some respectable press coverage in the German media. However, it is still unclear (to me anyway) whether they reached their objectives for those wonderful kids down in southern Uganda, or not. I'll advise on that later after I get the lowdown from my "people on the ground" down there.

JEWELS in the JUNGLE 2004 is an expansion along several channels on that original project idea, which will include not only humanitarian assistance initiatives but also programs to help foster sustainable social and economic development of communities throughout Africa's Great Lakes region and Central African communities.

I lead these initiatives and projects together with an international team of business, technology, and education professionals and we are confident that our goals and those of our partners in Africa will be accomplished.

The Jewels in the Jungle in my heart and mind are those precious young people one finds all over Africa, especially in the rural areas of the continent. This project weblog is dedicated to those young people, making sure we use new technology tools to extend our communications reach to them and our friends and partners around the world. Rising again, together, helping to insure a bright future for the children of Africa.


Follow this blog to learn more about how we are progressing with our plans and activities together with our partners down on the Equator, down in the Jungle. Feel free to make comments and suggestions to our regular Blog postings.