Fellow Ugandans,

As a creative consultant, it is not often that I get to work on a project that both pays me and also contributes to the development and well-being of Uganda. I would like to introduce you to such a project.

I met Pratheepan “Deep” Gulasekaram in DC at the Clinton Global Diaspora Forum. He, along with a crew of determined colleagues put their skills together in the wake of the Asian tsunami and built a fully functioning hospital in Sri Lanka. They successfully negotiated a public-private partnership with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health to complete and ensure the long-term success of the newly constructed Matara Children’s Hospital.

After the completion and hand over of the project that was recognized by Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr., they have set out to build a children’s hospital in Uganda. “Project Heart: Uganda” has already broken ground. The walls and roof are already up and completion is in sight.

After a long talk with Deep last month, I agreed to assist their efforts to connect to members of the East African Diaspora that would bring value to their initiative. Not because they are my clients, but because it is a much needed initiative that will bring value to Uganda’s medical system. Additionally, I wanted to share this project with you as a plea for all of us to help support this initiative to make sure it is successfully launched with as much of our buy-in as possible. After all, it will be our family members that will benefit in the long run. The above video of one such child who was helped by these very same doctors to repair her heart

Here is a project that is reaching out directly for us to be part of its success and the re-invention of Uganda’s medical services & facilities. For once, it is not another aid project that FAILS to request to partner with us. It is a project that we all know could save the life of one of our family members.

On Sept. 24th, “Project Heart: Uganda” is having a fund-raising event in Los Angeles. If you are in California and are interested in meeting Deep and his inspiring colleagues, I am sure they won’t fail to inspire you with the vision that they have for the hospital.

Here are some things you can do to help this project:

I look forward to seeing us all rise to the occasion for this initiative. Even if all you do is  donate $1.00 (though I secretly hope it is more than that, nearly $3 billion in remittances is sent to East Africa annually-let’s put some of it towards a sustainability initiative). If you’d like more information, I’d be happy to put you in touch with Deep and his team. A new web site with more information is in the works that will keep all of you updated on the project.

I was stopped in my tracks tonight by this ad:

Which is intentionally playing on fears of identity theft, unsecured data transmission and Nigeria’s unfortunate reputation as being full of internet con men. This on the heels of highly touted District 9′s portrayal of Nigerians as backward, criminals, whores and cannibals. The roots of which are discussed in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie great op-ed for the Guardian “Why Do South African’s Hate Nigerians”. These recent examples are part of a long trail of really negative portrayals of Nigerians in film and television. The recent X-men Movie Wolverine has an extended segment set in Lagos Nigeria… where yet again Nigerian criminals are at the forefront… this time Diamond traffickers. In October of 2008, even Saturday Night Live got a jab in when Anne Hathaway, fresh from discovering that her boyfriend was a con artist/criminal opened with a joke about her new boyfriend the Nigerian Prince… sigh. Hilarious.

We have all heard the jokes, seen the emails, heck, we’ve all been in conversations where in the conversation turns to internet crimes or con men, Nigeria is sure to come up. Clearly brand Nigeria is suffering. The question is… who will defend it?

After Sony released a commercial that played on the Nigerian criminal stereotype in order to sell a few more games, the Minister of Information forced Sony to apologize and edit the ad.

More actions like these certainly help control the damage, but do nothing to turn the tide. If the Nigerian Minister of Information is responsible for brand Nigeria what is being done to change the story? The Ministry launched a new website in May that is intended to help improve Nigeria’s brand… when I went to visit it, I got a malware warning… yeah, no matter how good the content on the site, not many folks are going to visit it with that window popping up. Not only that, but the Daily Trust article that reported on it also mentions how Nigeria’s own Government site was inoperable due to a conflict with its ISP. Way to build that brand guys.

So who can take the bull by the horns and turn this brand around? Ah, well that is the trick isn’t it? Nigeria has a booming music and movie industry why not use it to tell the west stories of Nigeria that are not out in the public view? If District 9 proved anything it proved and a well made African film can succeed in the West. So how about it? Who is writing the next book, song, movie, tv show that turns these stereotypes on their head and telling the whole story. Not just he seamy bad side (which every nation shares lets not forget) but also the stories of triumph over adversity, hope, friendship, family, love and loss, joy, humor and all the rest? Where are those stories? Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has been accused of writing stories for the West instead of for African’s and maybe her critics are correct… but its only more people like her that will be able to turn the tide and present the World with the true face of Nigeria. So what do you say? Are you ready to defend brand Nigeria?

As previously mentioned, team PD is packing up shop and heading to dreary London to brighten things up at Africa Gathering this weekend. We are planning on meeting up with these enterprising founders of Made in Africa that were featured on CNN. One of the founders is none other than fashion designer Ozwald Boateng, who’s been blazing fashion runways from Accra to Paris with his sought-after men’s fashion line.

We will post our one-on-one chat with Ozwald, and his MIA co-founders, Hassan Kimbugwe & Chris Cleverly if our schedules manage to sync up in London. In the mean time, enjoy the above CNN profile of these enterprising Diasporas hard at work building a better brand for Africa.

Well, we have returned from Africa and a wonderful visit with the Women of Kireka. There is much exciting news with regard to the women and their transition to sustainable work that will get them out of the Kireka quarry. We have a firm order for 100 bracelets, both leather beaded ones and ones made out of paper. That is hopefully the first of many orders for hand-crafted items from the women. They have also brainstormed several really unique ideas and we are really looking forward to the prototypes. However in with the good news and the forward momentum there is still some gritty reality that must be addressed.
Before we get into that I thought I would share a bit of the celebration we had with you. They really did make us feel welcome!

A Performance by the Women of Kireka from Project Diaspora on Vimeo.

The Children of Kireka from Project Diaspora on Vimeo.

The children are due to start school and we just discovered that there are no monies at all to send them to school. Actually like Mother’s every where their very first order of business was to talk to us about the children’s schooling. For these ladies keeping their kids in school tops out any interest they had in their own training program! The costs to send a child to school in Uganda are nominal, but when you don’t have it… well you don’t have it. School starts on September 7th and it is our hope that we can raise enough funds to make that happen for all the Kids of Kireka. If you are interested in helping these children get to school this term please donate via the Women if Kireka donation button to the right.

If you are interested in sponsoring a particular child or family please let us know and we will keep you up to date on the child’s progress in school and other details. I know the mother’s and children would love to thank you for your support.

Here is a break down of the families and the needed fees (US Dollars):

Mother:
Alice Ajok
Children:
1. Patrick Ochora, 14 yrs
Sponsored in full by David Sisaki 9/6/09 THANK YOU DAVID!
$27.00/55,000 ug sh

2. Nancy Adongo, (Dreams of being a Nurse) 8 yrs
Sponsored in full by Sandy Wickberg. 9/6/09. THANK YOU SANDY!
$27.00/55,000 ug sh

3. Patricia Achiro
Sponsored in full by Tammy Theis. THANK YOU TAMMY!
$27.00/55,000 ug sh

4. Innocent Odutuka
Sponsored in full by Tammy Theis. THANK YOU TAMMY!
$27.00/55,000 ug sh

Mother:
Sabina Layet
Children:
5. Susan Aceng, 15 yrs
Sponsored in full by Melanie Spiegel. THANK YOU MELANIE!
$103.93/210,000 ug sh

6. Daniel Okema
Sponsored in full by Vickie Barcomb 9/5/09 THANK YOU VICKIE!
$49.40/100,000 ug sh

Mother:
Angella Alwoch
Children:
7. Ocuc Alwoch, 13 yrs
Sponsored in full by Jeff Stephens. THANK YOU JEFF!
$27.70/60,000 ug sh

8. Ayaa Alwoch, 8 yrs
Sponsored in full by Jeff Stephens. THANK YOU JEFF!
$27.70/60,000 ug sh

9. Aber Alwoch, 16 yrs
Sponsored in fill by Jill Humphries. THANK YOU JILL!
$153.43/310,000 ug sh/font>

10. Ayon Alwoch, 14 yrs
Sponsored in full by Doug Dawson. THANK YOU DOUG!
$44.54/90,000 ug sh

Mother:
Agnes Aneno
Children:
11. Juliana Laker, 4 yrs
Sponsored in full by Judith Cannon. Thank you JUDY!
$27.70/60,000 ug sh

12. Samuel Bitek, 8 yrs
Sponsored in full by Judith Cannon. Thank you JUDY!
$27.70/60,000 ug sh

13. Amone Aneno, 12 yrs
Sponsored in full by Judith and Lisa Cannon. Thank you JUDY and LISA!
$27.70/60,000 ug sh

Mother:
Christina Aloyo
Children:
14. Thomas Aloyo, 12 yrs
Sponsored in full by Robert Jones. THANK YOU ROBERT!
$27.70/60,000 ug sh

15. Stella Aloyo, 13 yrs
Sponsored in full by Robert Jones. THANK YOU ROBERT!
$27.70/60,000 ug sh

16. Achan Aloyo, 8 yrs
Sponsored in full by Heidi Pickering. THANK YOU HEIDI!
$27.70/60,000 ug sh

Mother:
Gloria Achan
Children:
17. Stuart Nsingwire, 16 yrs, S.4
$222.72/450,000 ug sh

18. Stefan Alinda, 11 yrs, P.6
Sponsored in full by Mike Martin. THANK YOU MIKE!
$98.98/200,000

19. Vicky Aol, 12 yrs
Sponsored in full by Mark Fleitman. THANK YOU MARK!
$49.40/100,000 ug sh

20. Prisca Acayo, 5 yrs
$79.19/160,000

21. Michael Ochira, 3yrs
$79.19/160,000

Mother:
Scovia Arach
Children:
22. Junior Okello, 11yrs
$42.07/85,000 ug sh

23. Godfrey Odongo, 9 yrs
Sponsored in full!
$27.70/60,000 ug sh

24. Cosmos Otim, 7 yrs
$42.07/85,000

25. Bonny Opinyo, 3 yrs
Sponsored in full!
$27.70/60,000 ug sh

26. New Lady Acen, 3yrs
Sponsered in full by Barney and Barbara Boeder. THANK YOU BARNEY AND BARBARA!
$27.70/60,000 ug sh

Mother:
Gertrude Abo
Children:
27. Geoffrey Obo
$44.54/90,000 ug sh

28. Sarah Akot
Sponsored in full by Sarah Meaders 9/6/09. THANK YOU SARAH!
$39.59/80,000

Mother:
Sarah Abonyo
Children:
Awaiting information

Mother:
Santa Akech
Children:
29. Nancy Aneno, (Dreams of being a Nurse) 19 yrs, P6
Sponsored in full by Vickie Barcomb. THANK YOU VICKIE!
$49.40/100,000 ug sh

30. Edward Ojara, (Dreams of being a Doctor) 16 yrs, S1
$227.67/460,000

31. Gerald Pekorom, (Dreams of being a Business Man) 13 yrs, P6
$49.40/100,000 ug sh

32. Barbra Lanyero, (Dreams of being a Teacher) 10 yrs, P4
$49.40/100,000 ug sh

33. Mercy Achiro, (Dreams of being a Police Woman) 8 yrs, P2
$49.40/100,000 ug sh

Mother:
Grace Lamunu
Children:
34. Innocent Alimochan, 17 yrs, S1
$183.12/370,000

35. Denis Lubangakene, (Dreams of being a Driver) 14 yrs, P5
$79.19/160,000

36. Brenda Anena, (Dreams of being a Teacher) 10 yrs, P5
$79.19/160,000

37. Gloria Abalo, (Dreams of being a Police Woman) 7 yrs, P2
$44.54/90,000 ug sh

Mother:
Hellen Anyek
Children:
38. Denis Okwera, 17 yrs, S1
$242.51/490,000

39. Isaac OKello, (Dreams of being an Engineer) 14 yrs P7
$54.44/110,000

40. Nelson Onenchan, (Dreams of being a Lawyer) 10 yrs, P5
$49.40/100,000 ug sh

41. Carlo Langoya, (Dreams of being a Doctor) 7 yrs, P2
$49.40/100,000 ug sh

42. Geoffrey Opwonya
Nursery next year

Mother:
Christine Auma
Children:
43. Beatrice Lanyero, (Dreams of being a Teacher) 17 yrs, P5
$44.54/90,000 ug sh

44. Nancy Akello, (Dreams of being a Teacher) 14 yrs, P2
Sponsored in full by Dinah DeLuca. THANK YOU DINAH!
$39.59/80,000

45. Fiona Apio, 10 yrs
Sponsored in full!
$39.59/80,000

46. Bob Nyeko, 7 yrs
Sponsored in full!
$39.59/80,000

Mother:
Milly Auma
Children:
Awaiting information

Mother:
Jennifer Achiro
Children:
47. Daniel Akemkwene, 9 yrs, P3 Sponsored in full by Lisa Cannon, Thank you LISA!
$48.01/97,000

48. Ronnie Okot, (Dreams of being a Doctor) 8 yrs, P3 Sponsored in full by Lisa Cannon, Thank you LISA!
$48.01/97,000

Racheal Apio, 1 yrs

Gabriel Ochen, 1 yrs

These folks are headed to Mozambique in June. They are very interested in connecting with any members of the Diaspora in preparation for their trip; as well as after. Drop us a line if you are interested in connecting with them.

The Kujilana Project: Trailer from Kujilana on Vimeo.

Visit their project: Kujilana

Under the heading Information is power. I am excited to see the focus of this new event is mapping technologies and how it can be leveraged for the good of the continent. Ushahidi has shown the power of crisis mapping so I am excited to see what develops from this first of its kind event in Africa!

WhereCamp is the free unconference for geogeographers, mobile location experts and social cartographers and all kinds of folks interested in place. We run shortly after the annual CGIAR-CSI meeting and bring together software developers, artists, geographers and academics for a one day extended discussion.

Topics might include:
Mobile location
Remote Sensing
Geoinformatics
Mapping and Agriculture
Food Security and Location
Community Mapping
Local Search
social cartography
Crisis Mapping
Iphones Androids and the way the web is falling into mobile
Expect to participate in conversations on the nature of place as described in pixels, with rays, on paper, and by social practice!

I was lucky enough to catch organizer Jubal Harpster and find out more about the world of mapping in general and this camp specifically.

Wherecamp Africa: Interview with Jubal Harpster from Tracy Pell on Vimeo.

Check out these other great mapping projects that Jubal shared with me.
Africa Soils
Harvest Choice
Crop and economic modelling for the whole contintent

And look for a new Water project (Agriculture Water Management) in a few weeks. I promise to post an update as soon as that is live.

WhereCamp Africa
Saturday April 4th
John Vercoe Conference Room, at the ILRI Headquarters in Nairobi.

Sponsored by:
CH2M Hills, AG Commons, CGIAR-CSI, Harvest Choice, ILRI, ict-km, and Ushahidi

WE HEART SOCIAL MEDIA
Thanks to the generosity and enthusiastic support of all our Twitter supporters, family and friends, Women of Kireka quickly tipped their $1,000 fund-raising campaign at The Point in less than 18 days. As Siena stated, after a lengthy conference call, Project Diaspora decided to lower the fund-raising goal to $1000 due to the stressful economic situation in hopes of raising the $1000 by March 1st. What we didn’t count on was the generous willingness of everyone who donated to pass on the message for others to donate as well. The result was a deluge of good-hearted giving and social media putting its best foot forward.

For the first time, we saw the power of social media pushing this campaign to the “tipping point”. To some, this might not be a massive accomplishment, but to us, it is a massive first HOOOrah! into the many projects that we have on tap here at PD. As noted in our list of things one should know about development projects, this is very much a manageable budget, with manageable goals for our first project.

Our next step is a strategic review of our planned use of the funds that you have generously awarded the women. We will have a budget and timelines in the coming weeks. Thanks to everyone who donated. We hope to have some training activity on the ground in the first weeks of March ’09 with continued escalation of updates.

OH BUT THERE’S MORE…
On my visit to see the women for the first time last December, I had shot some video at the quarry. The footage went missing and I had a sinking feeling that I had left it in Uganda. This week, while cleaning off my desktop (I love a clean desktop), something told me to double-check an untitled folder before I deleted it.

Boom! Gold!

So it is my pleasure to share the videos with you. They have been uploaded to our newly-minted Youtube channel. Here’s one of those videos. You will have to excuse the goofy-haired, blabbering host. He’s new at this.

A little bit of Hollywood is coming to the suburbs of Nairobi. Animated:Kenya will be held December 6th at Sarit Center, Westlands. Their mission?

To break the myths about Kenyan Animation.

It is time to break the myth, that highend animation is a foreign art skill

It is time to break the myth that all highend animation seen in Kenya is done “down south”

It is time to break the myth that you need big expensive fancy computer to do worldclass animation

It is time to break the myth that animation is “not a valuable skill set” and is for “kids”

If the one video I could find from their panel of speakers (Jim Chuchu) is any indication, attendees can look forward to a fun day full of smart people who have alot of great information to share.

This free one-day seminar promises inspiration, networking and a full panel of speakers including:
kwame nyong’o
celestine wamiru
gado & james kanja
daniel muli
majiqmud & gado
mike onyango
jim chuchu
wesley kirinya
alfred muchilwa

One of the biggest hurdles to development in Sub-Saharan Africa is lack of access to banking. We have lamented the degree to which this gaping hole stymies the Diaspora and their efforts to send money back home, and commented on the reality that banks want a piece of this money. Which in many respects gives Diasporans a certain amount of leverage that the average African worker just does not have. Wizzit seems to get it. There is a way to serve the needs of the poor, have a socially responsible business model and still make money. Wow, what a clever bunch of folks. Actually doing business and banking the old-fashioned way!

So here is the deal. Traditional banks have tremendous overhead. These days a bank means, a branch office, corporate offices, bank tellers, computers, and all the rest. All of which costs money; money banks get not by earning interest on their deposit investments, but off the fees they charge their customers. So many fees in fact, that for most unbanked people it makes no sense. If up to 25% of your deposit will get eaten up in fees, why not take your chances and just deal in cash? It is a gamble, sure, but why not take the gamble? A sure 25% loss versus the risk of your hard earned cash getting stolen out from under your mattress? I might take that bet myself if I were in their position. Banks are require all sorts of things like minimum opening deposits, minimum balances, they are flat out inconvenient and expensive. On top of this it is incredibly difficult to get an account, period. As an example Post Bank of Uganda has the following list of requirements to open a transaction account:

UGH! Anyone who has opened a bank account in the US finds this list a bit difficult to swallow. For a loan sure, some proof of ability to pay and general responsibility is expected. However, to open an account for deposits and withdrawals, this laundry list of requirements is almost laughable. Essentially all I need to open an account here in Texas is a photo ID and some money to put in the account. I give them some personal information sure, but unless I want credit, all they care about is the cash.

Ok let’s review.

Wizzit a relatively new player on the banking scene in South Africa (founded in November 2004 as a division of South African Bank of Athens) set out to change all that. Their target is South Africa’s 16 million unbanked. So Wizzitt does not have bank branches, they have a dedicated mobile sales force known as WizzKids. If you call Wizzit and tell them your Mum wants to open an account, a WizzKid heads out to her and gets it set up. There are no fees for having the account, there are no minimum balances. They set up tents in farming communities and open accounts with the local farm worker, the average time to open and account? 20 seconds. Not too shabby. In addition to the WizzKids sales force they have also partnered with Dunnes stores. Wizzit and Dunnes target the same customers. 99% Dunnes customers are unbanked, so now you can open a Wizzit account at your local Dunnes store. So With a Wizzit account, you primarily do transactions with your phone via sms; you get a Maestro branded debit card which can be used in businesses that accept debit cards. Want to withdraw money? Use and ATM or get cash back at a local debit card accepting buisness. Convenient, cheap and easy. What could be better!?

There are a few wrinkles. CNN reported that there have been complaints about the amount of time it takes for checks to clear, and if you are relying on cell phones you have to deal with the instability of the phone network. No phone service? No banking services… not so good.

From the Nextbilion.net

WIZZIT is a cellphone-based banking facility whose target market is the estimated 16 million unbanked or underbanked South Africans – about 60 percent of the country’s population. Unlike its competitors (FNB and MTN), WIZZIT does not require users to have a bank account and is compatible with early generation cell phones popular in low-income communities. The facility even works with customers who use pay-as-you-go cellphones – another distinction. In addition to being able to conduct cellphone-to-cellphone transactions, WIZZIT account holders are issued Maestro debit cards that can be used at any ATM or retailer. WIZZIT charges per-transaction fees that range from 99c (USD 0.15) to R4.99 (USD 0.78) and does not charge a monthly fee nor require a minimum balance. There are no transaction limitations – the service is purely pay-as-you-go. WIZZIT employs over 800 “Wizz Kids” – typically unemployed university graduates from low-income communities – to promote the product and help unbanked customers open accounts.

All in all a great model, that offers real banking solutions to South Africans. There is alot of lip service to mobile banking through out sub-saharan Africa. Nice to see a business model that is offering a great product, employing people and making a profit!

The World Bank on Wizzit

Coverage on CNN focus on Africa
Coverage on Business Q&A
Coverage on SABC 2

Latin Grammys not on your radar? Can’t think of a reason why Africans might give a flying fig about which Grupera, banda or random Cumbia cantante is winning an award tomorrow night? Ah, well do I have a treat for you! Concha Buika is nominated this year for Album of the Year for her amazing work on Niña de Fuego.

Concha Buika was born raised in Mallorca, where her family imigrated to escape persecution in Equetorial Guinea in the late 60′s. She grew up as a lone black face in the Mallorcan gypsy community and in her recent interview with NPR says of the experience:

“I was always the only black in the movie theater, the only black in class, the only black in the library, the only black in the discotheque,” she says. “I always felt observed and judged.”

Her music fuses, flameco, jazz, and blues all twisted together with her personality given the smokiest gorgeous turn I have had the pleasure to enjoy in quite some time! Just like her life was filled with the mix of Africa, Spain and Gypsy culture so now her music combines those influences and so many more. We wish her good luck tomorrow night! Buena Suerte Concha!

BBC: World Review of La Niña de Fuego:
Despite the title, Concha Buika is clearly no longer the little girl of fire, showing with grace and passion that she is courageous and self-aware enough to expose her soul around the juerga. Many commentators are giving her the mantle of the new flamenco starlet. Yet on this LP she proves – guided by the sensitive and poignant direction of producer Javier Limón – that she can lend her sun-drenched, oaky voice both to the traditional and the fusion.
Embellished by Limón’s purposeful guitar and the exquisitely adroit piano playing of Ivan Lewis, her third album is really a pleasure to behold. Produced with understanding and wisdom, Limón allows Buika to express her inner anguish, adding lines and chords to coax her into further introspection.
Their rendition of Volver Volver is notable for this, as is the tender, self-penned Miénteme Bien. Accompanied by Lewis, whose light touch and sense of gaiety cleverly adds an almost swing-like foil, the mournful Concha is now a clear distance from the hotels of Las Vegas or the house clubs of Mallorca.

The title track, originally written by Caracol, puts Buika around the campfire, warming to her past and maybe her roots; more soulful and eased along by muted trumpet. In a sense this is new flamenco, but Culpa Mia shows her ability to adapt rhythmically. From the palmas intro to the gypsy-like rumba ending, the track triumphs in its anticipation of a climax, only to be knowingly faded out by Limón. The effect is an almost forced contemplation of the gravitas of ensuing Miénteme Bien.
The troupe becomes the sums of its parts with No Habrá Nadie En El Mundo, and floats to the arabesque and beyond with Volverás. However, María Concepción Balboa Buika is at her most poignant when exposed with only Limón or Lewis as accompaniment. Looking beyond the mirror, she funnels her essence into her voice. Other critics have compared her with Simone, Vaughn or even Gray. Earnest she is, and maybe being a late developer the Schadenfreude will come later. Until then she has no need to do it any other way.

Congratulations to all the members of the top 10! The work done by all these amazing people is inspirational and truly a model for all us that want to make a difference in the lives of others. In the group there are three members of the African Diaspora all working in unique ways to effect the situation back in their home countries.

Viola Vaughn is more of a Reasporan… a native of Detroit who found a home in Senegal. Her mission has been to provide educational opportunities for girls. She founded 10,000 Girls aimed at giving girls and education and marketable skills they could use to support themselves and their families.

Vaughn learned that the regional pass rate for girls was low because it was rooted in the economic need of young girls to work at home. They begin missing classes, then failing exams, often ultimately failing or dropping out of school. So in 2001, Vaughn turned her grandchildren’s bedrooms into classrooms and began supplementing girls’ education. “I found every one a girl younger than she and said, ‘You’re responsible to make sure she learns.’ I taught them how to teach each other.” It worked. In two years, the group of girls had grown to 80 — and they were succeeding in school. With a grant, Vaughn was able to hire teachers, and the program continued to expand despite her attempt to set a limit of 100 girls. “The girls wanted to take it to 10,000,” says Vaughn.

Find here story here

Yohannes Gebregeorgis, founder of Ethiopia Reads a grassroots non profit/non government organization geared toward bringing literacy and literacy related resources to Ethiopia.

“Most Ethiopian children have only access to textbooks in the classroom,” says Gebregeorgis. “Books children read outside of school, those are the spices of education.” It wasn’t until he became a children’s librarian in the United States that he realized what the children of his native home were missing. Forced to flee Ethiopia to the United States as a political refugee in 1981, Gebregeorgis ultimately put himself through university, obtaining a graduate degree in library science. He relocated to the Bay Area, taking a post at the San Francisco Children’s Library in 1985.
 

Find his story here

Marie Da Silva of native of Malawi living in Las Angles, knows first hand the raveges of AIDs in Africa. She lost 14 members of her family to the disease. Moved by the plight of the children in her home village she founded The Jacaranda School to provide a place for AIDs orphans to get an education.

In 2002, Da Silva learned that the school in her southern Africa home town was going to close. Consumed with concern for the students, she urged her mother to let them gather and learn in their family home, with her financial support. “All the while I was doing my best for the kids here — making sure they’re doing their homework, eating well,” she remembers. “I couldn’t sleep just thinking about the children that need the same thing back in Malawi,” says Da Silva. Thanks to Da Silva’s passion, the school is now thriving in her childhood home and more than 200 children, most of whom are AIDS orphans, receive porridge every morning and education, free of charge. It is an effort that Da Silva funds almost entirely herself, sending $1,000, about one-third of her monthly paycheck, to pay the salaries of 12 teachers and the headmaster, and purchase whatever supplies she can afford.

Read more about her here

Wow is all I have to say. At the age of 15 this guy built his own windmill for his parents. Whoot! Nothing like a little African Ingenuity.

Check it.

More info on BarCamp Africa. So read all the latest news straight from the source!

So today we got accused of making the convention look boring. So yes… we have to admit that we in fact did not attend as many of the fun social actives as there were on offer. The one we did attend (the Opening Ceremonies) was not all that fun.

Well things did perk up during the Ekimeeza. But I am pretty sure that this is not the kind of fun this commenter had in mind.

Actually City Limit Crew from Kampala did their damnedest to put on a good show. Honestly, they jumped around impressively high, sang, danced and generally did their thing at an energetic level that I have to say the lackluster audience did not deserve. The room was almost completely empty except for some politicos even at intermission. All I have to say is that these guys deserved better than that! They were pretty good and they were working SUPER hard.

I have a terrible recording of them… just to prove we were really there
City Limit Crew: UNAA Opening Ceremonies (mp3)

But for a real taste here is one of their videos:

Sadly we flew out on Sunday and missed Afrigo and the big party at the end of the convention. Which we were really bummed about. We promise next year!

In the spirit of blog action day we here at Project Diaspora are going to do our little bit and join the conversation. Are you in?

Not too long ago we interviewed Fred Mutebi and learned a bit about his Art Therapy program, Let Art Talk. This brief video gives a glimpse into the lives of two of the youth benefit from this innovative program.

Ghanian-born lead singer of Soulfege, Derrick Ashong, aka DNA, waxed poetic in support for Obama’s presidential run at a recent rally in Hollywood, CA. DNA was interviewed, ok “ambushed” by an identified reporter only referred to as “Mike?” outside the Kodak Theatre. I am unsure what Mike’s motive’s were nor did I care for his interview tactics, but I don’t think that he was prepared to run into a lyrically-armed, Harvard-educated African.

There are also some answers offered to those who misinterpret Obama’s message of hope as “empty rhetoric”, yes we are looking at you Mr. Project Innovation.

We’ll do our best to follow up on the music of Soulfege and Derrick in short order. In the mean time, spread the word on this video and please sound off in the comments if you know any other African luminaries hiding in the West and in need of a stage. We’ll do our best to promote (and recruit) them to the cause.

Uganda’s Andrew Mwenda was at TED this year. The video was a gold find as he clearly touches on a few key points on African Aid that we’ve written about here at Project Diaspora. He lays the smack down on what’s wrong with the African Aid model – much to the chagrin of Bono, who was in attendance . Of specific interest is the budget/expenditure structure of a good number of African governments. Uganda, for example spends 110% of it’s annual budget! Why? So that the world bank can pick up the shortfall. We touched on a lot of these issues here and here. Something’s afoot in the African jungle, and that something is knowledge. We need more of this realization for people to wake up.

So my gut has always told me that throwing money at a problem never solves anything. I look at all the aid money that has been thrown around Africa, Central America, actually anywhere…. ever. Was there ever a measurable positive result that could be tracked back to money alone? No.

So today I read this article, from Speigel Online International and I have even more to talk about. The three part article breaks down what the flaws and problems are with the current aid model and actually gives examples of models that have led to improvement.The truth is… there is plenty of money in Africa. In 2006 Africa received $26 Billion dollars in aid money from Europe alone….. 26 BILLION. The Washington Post reported in December of 2006 that President Bush (and ain’t he a brain trust) plans to triple US Aid to Africa to a projected $9 billion by 2010 As a point of comparison the GDP for Sudan in 2005 was 27,542,190,000 . So what do you think? Did you get $26 billion worth of improvement in Africa from the money Europe spent this calendar year?

There are lots of big brains out there that don’t think aid is the answer… as a matter of fact as early as 20 years ago Lord Peter Baur (former professor at the London School of Economics and adviser to Margaret Thatcher) was blasting aid as part of the problem and not part of the solution. Today lots of big brains like: Dr. Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank; James Shikwati, founder and director of the Inter Region Economic Network; Iqbal Z. Quadir, founder of GrameenPhone in Bangladesh; Edward Green, Director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project; Michael Fairbanks, Co-founder of OTF Group and the SEVEN FUND, and William Easterly, Professor of Economics at New York University, joint with Africa House all agreed that money alone is not the answer as part of their essays for The John Templeton Foundation. In 2002 The Gaurdian reported that both Sam Nujoma and Robert Mugabe told Tony Blair what they thought of “help” from Britain. Yet both of these countries and the rest of Africa, continue to receive foreign aid.

The solution lies in the hands of the people. Governments, African and foreign, have been mucking it up for decades. Insanity prevails as we all continue to follow the same model and expect different results. Who understands Africa better than Africans? Innovative, effective solutions can only come from those who truly understand the problems, and their core causes. Uganda’s AIDs plan is a prime example. A locally developed solution the resulted in a decrease in infection rates that had been seen no where else on the continent, despite all the money and condoms. And when did the program stop seeing it’s stellar results? When Bush decided to withhold US funds unless abstinence was the core message (did I mention what a brain trust he is?) Nothing like a little western arrogance to derail a perfectly good program.

Remittance flows to, and from within Africa are upwards of $40 billion… compare that to the$26 billion Europe is sending annually. According to the IFAD:

East African countries heavily depend on these flows, with Somalia standing out as particularly remittance dependent. For the entire region, these transfers are 13 per cent of per capita income and on a country-by-country average represent 4 per cent of GDP and 4 per cent of exports.

What kind of impact is this African-earned money having? Business Daily Africa reported that remittances are such a big part of the Kenyan economy that:

The investment forum dubbed Kenya Open for Business to be held at Kennsaw State University in Atlanta, Georgia, will address how best to engage the Diaspora in the country’s investment opportunities, capital markets and financial services.The potential is vast. With little or no formal efforts to attract their funds, Kenyans working abroad sent a combined Sh70 billion home last year, up from Sh32.8 billion the year before. This near doubling in funds sent home saw them top the foreign earnings of the country’s entire tourism industry by a full 25 per cent.

Now that is a measurable sign of success… and where did it come from? Africa and Africans.

Now, imagine with me, an Africa in which the Western World… INVESTS. An Africa where improvement is expected, where people and companies go to EARN money. Sigh. Is it a fantasy? God I hope not.

Take for example… Nigeria. Nigeria has the second largest economy in Africa. Why? This article from IM Diversity states:

Over the past six years in Nigeria, for instance, the government has pursued a policy of trade liberalization — making the operating environment for businesses less rigid and more friendly to foreign investors; and privatization — allowing private ownership of previously government-owned operations. As a result, many opportunities for global business operators have been created in Nigeria — the second largest economy in the region after South Africa.

And Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told TED attendees what it took to make that happen.

(if you see code click here)

African’s making a choice to fix the problem themselves… and look at the results. A strong and thriving Nigeria. This scenario can be replayed across the continent for the benefit of all Africans and every smart investor that decides to do their research and look for the opportunities that are right in front of them.Publications like Money Week and the Motley Fool are encouraging investors to look at Africa in a new light. IBM has dollar signs its eyes. It will happen if African’s can take control of their finances and their economies not just at the governmental level, but on the ground… in the countryside, streets, towns, villages and cities all over Africa. At home and in the Diaspora that is where the REAL aid is coming from. And that is how lasting change will come about.