An Africa Facing South.

I am going to write this as a two perspective blog. One is on the plane as I fly to South Africa and one will be post visit. 

Part 1: 

I am curious about this place. It is the most mixed reviewed country I have encountered in candid discussion. People often stay 'it is gorgeous, a different world, not the Africa you know."  This is coupled with 'what you see, unless you try, is not the full reality. You must really try to see the other side. " I feel a bit like a trader going there oddly as my 'home' is the rest of Africa. Mostly, I feel I am hitting shaky ground, unsure of the underline meaning of my actions in a place that is not straight forward and has such a divisive history. 

Part 2:

This what you call a delayed reaction. It has been almost two weeks since I left the Rainbow Nation. I spent the first four days on Jo'burg at tech conferences. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with and exploring the tech community but to my surprise, these Africa themed events were not the Africa I have been involved with. It was...well...almost all white. I knew almost all 'Africans' and sadly I was more acquainted with Africa as whole than the vast majority of South Africans, many of who had never explored their continent outside their country. 

South Africa is undoubtably more advanced in many ways visible ways that the rest of Africa. But that said, much of the rest of Africa has advancing as well. It seemed SA is on the edge of  exclusive and quite myopic, not considering the rest of Africa. They don't know that Its not just shanty towns or charity case. Kenya, Senegal and Uganda have better internet connections and more advanced mobile markets than South Africa. Nigeria has 572 %  more internet users despite relying almost entirely on generators for electricity.  South Africa is ideally positioned to take advantage of the maturing lions to the north. It will be to their loss if they don't look north. 

Look a bit like Bishops Peak? 

All ranting aside, I throughly enjoyed the people I met and had an incredible time drinking cappuccinos, sipping wine, being cold,  getting a bit of exposure to Cape Town night life (thanks Devin) and running along the coast. There were a few definite surprises including Monte Casino in Jo'berg and the entire city of Cape Town. It looks strikingly similar to my college town, San Luis Obispo. Don't worry my California peeps, I still like you better...although there was some pretty amazing sushi and dancing to be had. 

Bridge to Liberia

I am in liberia writing this blog live in front of an audience of here for a tech training from Google.  Blogging is easy. Have a voice, do say something because you can. This is a way to tell the world something from you, to a be a news source and to provide a perspective only you can have.

Bloggers of Liberia, see you soon!

Out of Office...Into the Wild.

I have been working..let's just say, a lot. Luckily, I love my job but it most often captures the day and leaves the night for digital catch up, a nap and typically packing. Not your or my idea of an exciting narration of life in Africa. So the past few weekends I have abandoned the web for the wild. Here are a few escapades.

Riding to Egypt: 

Heading out of Uganda's capital city Kampala, the populated hills quickly become lush tea plantations, subsistence farms and then jungle. My coworker and I took this stunning drive to spend a day hiking and getting some peace in the lush Rain Forest Lodge. We watched monkeys searching for fruit in the tall trees and listen to birds competing for airwaves. 

The next morning, we traveled further East to Jinga. On the edge of town, the massive waters of Lake Victoria escape from the northern tip to start a 6,650 kilometer journey to the Mediterranean Sea. The incredible flow creates a series of class 5 to 6 rapids serving as hub for adventure junkies. They are among the top three ranked commercially rafted rapid in the worlds. Needless to say, breathtaking - both from the scenery and from being ejected from the boat on engulfed with monsoon of  thrashing water.  By far the best and most ridiculous ride in a large dingy. 

4 by 4 by 4 in Kenya:

Last weekends journey began in Nairobi. I rented a 4x4 and three of my friends from church and I headed out of the city to their parents and grandparents village located in the Great Rift Valley near Nakuru. After a three hour drive, we were welcomed into their grandmothers old, well occupied in home - by her, a number of animals and lots of guests. The farm was stunning. In their tribe (Kikuyo), sons inherit the fathers land, each building a home on it. For this reason, I was able to meet a large extended family, see their herd of goats, extensive garden, primitive kitchen, and get attacked by safari ants.

Then we traveled to their parents home, cooked dinner, shared stories and headed off to bed to get up at 5:30 AM in time to beat the rise of the animals and the sun in Nakuru National Park. This is where the 4x4 really came in handy. I took the wheel to practice staying left and also charging through ENORMOUS puddles to find the massive beasts. 

We saw a myriad of animals including water buffalo, giraffe, baboons, rhinos, hippos, hyenas, antelope, flamingos, monkeys and a million birds. Most memorably, we got chased and nearly attacked by a baboon... twice, nearly drove into a river, sat to observe young hyena cubs in their den, challenged a water buffalo with a Rav 4 and nearly got stuck at least a dozen times. This is my second safari and I must say, behind the wheel, is where the real adventure happens. ...just ask my passengers :)

Since then, I have been working mostly except randomly last weekend, I ended up at a  free jazz concert and unknowingly met a bunch of Kenyan celebs. Rappers are exactly what you think they are...except shorter :)

Now I am in South Africa but more to come on that later. Here are lots more picks.

Just in case you are curious, here are a few of the infamous Kenyan musicians.  Eric Wainaina, Collo, and Makemende, who was the first viral YouTube video star in Kenya. 

A "Real" Africa Perspective.

There are a few things that bother me about how people reference Africa. The way the media, especially, BBC World goes out of its way to hunt down the five tribesmen in a modern city in Mombasa, Kenya to do a report on technology.  I often hear people say when they see a nice house, a mall or a great city skyline “this isn’t REAL Africa.” Yes, it may not fit your image of Africa and it is in no way the majority, but is it Africa and in many places, there is progress that should be acknowledged.  

Nairobi Skyline from Google Office.

The image of poverty sells and people, NGOs and governments who profit from it, perpetuate pictures.  Yes, absolutely there is poverty, disease, poor infrastructure, corruption. Liberia has absolutely no electric grid, the city hums with generators. Nigeria has a province declared a war zone due to oil disputes. The DRC has the highest rate of rape victim in the world.  But these are the stories you already hear. There is another perspective. Africa is full of entrepreneurs, and able-bodied people, with good minds, working hard and being incredibly scrappy with the resources they have.  

1 of 7 huge computer labs at university in Kampala

One of my Nigerian co-workers has a theory – across the globe, the percentage of geniuses fairly consistent across populations. Given the high rate of natural selection in Nigeria and the population of 150 million, there must be a significantly higher rate of Einsteins roaming the streets of Lagos.  This just might be the case (Welcome to Lagos).  

Working in tech, I admittedly have a skewed perspective. I meet the some of the brightest geeks in Africa including the likes of Jojo, Fritz, Ushihidi, Encipher. They are making strides and overcoming barriers western techies would never encounter. They are working hard to develop modern technologies often in what a westerner might consider primitive conditions. But, they see potential in an emerging market with rising consumer demand. You see only the dusty dirt roads, mud huts and Maasai warriors, not a place worth building technologies for. 

These guys, along with many African's, have changed my picture of Africa. No doubt, life here is more difficult and opportunities harder to come by. But this group of self-starters, visionaries and dare I say, geniuses are making it in a very "real" Africa.  

Sometimes I just smile and say "TIA"

Things don’t always operate in Africa as my western mind would expected. I am constantly surprised by amazing and ridiculous things. Sometimes they are great surprises, like finding that a University of Nairobi's choir practices on the bleachers next to the dirt track where I often run. Sometimes its just mind blowing, like seeing guys carrying 80+ water cans on a single motorbike. Sometimes it is just unbelievable. Often I find myself muttering the commonly used phrase “TIA," which stands for, “This is Africa.”

Wikipedia defines “TIA”  as meaning go with the flow/don't expect anything to run on schedule/enjoy life. I define TIA everyday. Here are a few recent definitions. 

Yep, my flight stopped in three countries not listed on the itinerary. Pretty sure I spent at least 2 hours in Mali. 

I left my office in Nairobi for a meeting, an hour later, I could still see it as I sat in the parking lot called a road.

From my car window in Accra, I can buy anything from baby shoes to a mounted six foot poster of Jesus.

We spent nearly an entire day looking for a staple gun in well stocked stores in Nairobi. Five stores later we found one, but they did not have staples that fit it. Back to the previous four.

Public transit does not stop, you just get out.

No, we don’t take our local currency to pay for your visa into Kenya, you need to go exchange it for US dollars and come back to stand in ocean deep line.

“Why yes, this was the chicken that was just running around.”

The potholes are so enormous and frequent in Uganda, the locals have a saying that, “You can tell a drunk driver here, because they drive straight.”

Taxi driver to me: “I have always wanted to go to the US. Are you married? “ Total number of proposals: 68. Most recent: This morning.

Me: ‘How much for these sandals??” Shop owner: “For you, I give a very nice price. My best price. (pause as he takes stalk ) $50......actual price $2.

You want to rent the City Hall Monrovia, Libera, no problem, $1500 a day. The cost includes the room. If you want power, that is an additional + $475 for 50 gallons of diesel to power the generator.

The plane ticket is only $159. It’s the +250 for taxes that makes it expensive.

Daily discussion with the security guard “You want to marry a Kenyan man or an American?”

Anything can be carried on your head or  transported by bike, who says you need trucks.

The ATM just gave me 500 Ghana Cedis in bills of 100.  No one has change.

The ATM just gave me 500 Ghana Cedis in 5 Cedi bills.  All I have is change.

Sorry Madame, we stop taking credit cards at 5 PM. Cash only now. 

I bought a crappy expensive hair dryer from in Ghana. The power plug was for South Africa which fits in exactly zero outlets in Ghana and zero international converters.

When I order take-out, the motorcycle taxi asks where to drop it. Since there are very few or no addresses, its always a fun game of reference. “I live near the city Water Works, by Palm Wine Junction…”

Quote from colleagues, “The pastors in Kenya are some of the richest people.”

 Kenya “we found out today three years after being in office, that the politician rigged the elections. They kicked her out to have a reelection. She is running again.”

A Ugandan woman on my last flight to Kampala tried to open the rear emergency exit in search for a restroom. Luckily, a flight attended returned to get some more tea, and caught her. She then spent the next 10 minutes screaming at the woman. 

Article headline in Uganda’s national paper, New Vision states, “Computer-linked illness paralyzes woman.”   The illness they are referring to is Multiple Sclerosis. Not sure this is scientific.

Change of Latitudes, Change of Scenery

I continue to fail at blogging. Since I wrote last, I have been on seven flights, making a path from Accra to London to Tel Aviv to Nairobi, Kampala, and back to Nairobi. Fun ride. I had a bit of a 'workacation' in London - meaning I worked 8 hour days and played the other 16, taking full advantage of the late summer nights of the northern hemisphere. 

In London, I did not see the Big Ben, Tower or Westminster. This trip was more about absorbing good friends, good food, and double-dip recession shopping - oh, Google food again! Big Dave, Aaron, Hannah, Mike, Dave and Joseph were just what the witch doctor ordered to cure a coming case of burn out, and a great way to celebrate the 4th of July (or Rebellion Day as the Brits call it). 

After five memorable days, I rushed off to Heathrow to hop a flight to Tel Aviv.  It was not that fast. When I arrived at El AL, the Israeli national airline, I was greeted with hostility, interrogated, forced to demonstrate that all my electronics functioned, stripped of all my belongings except my phone and passport, escorted by security guards to my gate airport and then amusingly noted that my bra took a trip a security conveyer belt on its own. To top it off, one of my Israeli armed escorts, asked me out on a date - he said he never saw someone so amused during an 1.5 hour security briefing :). Moral of the story, don't by a one way ticket on an Israeli airline,  and try to explain you are living a nomadic African life working for a tech company. In general, they find it very unplausible. 

Israel is amazing. This was my second time to visit the historic epicenter, it just keeps getting better. I stayed in Tel Aviv right on the coast of the Mediterranean. Tel Aviv is the secular center,  the king of night life, the Miami of the Mediterranean, not to mention, full of incredibly gorgeous people. If only I was Jewish. 

My work brought me between Haifa and Tel Aviv. The first afternoon, I spent working at a colleagues house in a small coastal village and then the entire night wrestling and playing on the beach with her three kids. During the week, I reveled in some World Cup action, went on a date with the Israeli security guard from Heathrow, enjoyed great music, hot summer nights and fell back in love with hummus. 

I took a three day weekend as Friday is a not a working day in Israel. I walked the Old City of Jaffa,(the longest inhabited city in the world), strolled some markets, and met up with Kurt Hoyer, a friend who is stationed with the State Department. Sadly, his family was out of town but he was an absolutely fantastic host. We explored the old ruins of Caesarea. As Kurt says, Herod the Great had an eye for real estate. 

Sunday, we drove through the West Bank to Jerusalem. The Old City was as fastinating as I remember but much hotter. We walked the tops of the city walls, roamed the ancient streets, spend time on the temple mount and to cool down, walked through the Hezekiah's Tunnel  (Chronicles II, 32:30) in the City of David. 

The tunnel a is narrow man-made water channel that built by King Hezekiah i to divert the potable liquid into the city wall and protect it from invadors. Kurt and couldn't have had better timing. WIth 45 feet of dirt above us, we submerged ourselves in pitch black tunnel up to our knees in water to walk the half mile length of the tunnel with about 20, thirteen year old girls on a school trip who screamed, yelped and shrilled their way through the reverberant tunnel. 

Now I am back in Africa, working tons but with a bit of time for running, Karaoke and up coming, rafting the Nile. This weekend, I am sorting out a temporary apartment in Nairobi as it looks like need to be in East Africa for the next 7 weeks minus two small trips to South Africa and Liberia. I departed Ghana for London June 29th with one carry-on which is now going to last me until September 10th. Need to do laundry.....again. 

More Pics can be found here and here.

Tour de Africa with Guest Appearances by.....

Let’s just say it has been a while but my mom’s persistent public banter on Facebook has convinced me to write an update. I will just hit some highlights rather than make this a 3.5 hour marathon to test your endurance. I last wrote from Dakar before hitting the southern delta of Senegal near Gambia with two other Googlers, Tidjane and Ayite. We took a boat ride, shared a meal with family friend’s of Tidjane’s who also let me and Ayite take his horse and cart out so we could make a movie.

After Senegal, I headed back to Accra to worked on my stamina for labor – working +90 hour weeks to pull together a Google tech event  with +450 people called G-Ghana  (pics). In the midst of the madness, YouTube partnered with the world’s top street soccer team, headed by the famous goggles wearing, Edgar Davids. We hosted the team in Ghana, took them dancing til dawn, by bus to the north to play local footballers in the street, and out shopping because the thieving Kenya Airways, “lost” their luggage. In fact, the first day, they had a match – many of them wearing my socks including Pinto, who succeeded in begging me to give him the socks off my own feet. (pics)

The last night they were here, Edgar wanted to go meet a bunch of famous footballers in Ghana (Adabayor, etc) despite needing to be at the airport. I drove them around to elaborate MTV Cribs style houses with butlers, a circular drive showcasing their five pimped out rides and living rooms that look like fancy showcase rooms. When we finally left, we had about 20 minutes to make it to the airport. I was pulled over 3 times in 10 minutes, blew of one police check point and bribed a copy with a Google t-shirt as I did want to give him cash but was in a hurry.

Besides footballers, G-Ghana and the 21 Googlers in town consumed all wake hours. The event went off with only a few minor glitches – the second day, the combination of a tropical pour down flooding the streets and the President closing roads for an impromptu motorcade, caused attendees to come about an hour late.

After a crazy event, I hit the beach and local markets with the Google crowd and then set off with my manager for less two days in Senegal. Next to Nairobi to where I surprised a few churchies when I randomly showed up. In Nairobi I met with a bunch of tech hubs, put on tourism conference pulled off with 3 days planning, and watched as much World Cup as possible.

Last weekend, I was asked to help out a project called Field of Dreams which was a joint project with Google and the BBC to teach young girls in the Kenyan beach village of Kilifi, computer skills. At night, we projected the games on a giant outdoor inflatable screen (so cool, check out OpenAirCinema). Rain or shine, a huge crowd gathered to cheer on the African teams.

                                   

One of my three days in Kilifi, myself and a colleague rented creaky walmart-quality super workout mountain bikes to explored the villages meeting people, taking pictures, sitting with a local soap stone carver, and generally reveling in the beauty and peace of this place.

Monday through Wednesday of this week, I was waking up in my favorite city in Africa thus far, Kampala, Uganda. They city is built on seven lush hills on the edge of Lake Victoria. It is vibrant , proud, friendly, talkative and young. I hosted a lunch with young programmers who were hilarious – commentating and arguing about every aspect the educational system, the government,, the roads, the potential for technology, ending on the fact that what they really need is consistent electricity and better elementary education.  That said, Africa is growing, developing and hungry for business. The consumer market is booming. The Africa of National Geographic is not the reality for 98% of inhabitance. Progress is happening and business is driving it.

For those wondering what exactly I am doing, here are a few things. I am involved with WhereCamp Nairobi, BarCamp Cameroon, G-Ghana, G-Africa, Apps for Africa, iHub, etc.

For now, I am on a(nother) plane back to Accra to watch the Ghana vs. USA game among other tasks like laundry, paying rent, working, resting and packing for another 3 weeks on the road – London, Israel, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and back to Accra before Nigeria.

BTW, Africa is HUGE. ENORMOUS even. I am on a 8 hours flight over land in a Boeing 737 to get from East to West Africa. In total, it will take me 27 hours to get back to Accra. Flying in Africa sucks. I will explain later. 

*More pics coming soon