In Africa, Bush Touts AIDS Efforst and Basks in Popularity
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Kwesi Amukwah, who sells Ghanaian soccer shirts, has nothing but praise for President Bush, if only because the world’s most…
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From the Department of That’s-Not-What-I-Meant
Bush’s visit is all the buzz, in Africa and back in the States. I had a similar experience to The New York Times when…
Read MoreIn Real News from the Region…
This will be a hopefully frequent “feature” on the blog, where I’ll break with my more fun, writerly self to objectively share news from…
Read MoreThe contradictions of cleanliness
The first thing they tell you when you say something like, “I’m going to the middle of Africa,” is Don’t drink the water. This…
Read MoreShort is the new tall
Coffee, that is. That’s right, people. There’s a Starbucks-like coffee shop in Kigali. Only here, a tall is a medium. Even for those of…
Read MoreThings whiny white people in Africa think about
Getting your luggage back, when you haven’t changed your clothes in a week, is like indulging in a shopping spree without spending a dime….
Read MoreKigali by night
It’s 8:30 p.m. on my second day in Kigali, and I’m walking, alone (note to readers, particularly mothers of anyone: This is into as…
Read MoreForget the malaria, the dengue, the yellow fever…
Let me tell you what will really kill you in Africa. I arrived in Kigali in the late morning on Thursday, utterly beaten by…
Read MoreQuasi-lands time zones forgot
They are airports. I have never liked layovers—I can’t think of anyone who does—but I like to think I have always been rather stoic…
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A Human Rights Statistician Finds Truth in Numbers
PALO ALTO, CALIF. — The tension started in the witness room. “You could feel the stress rolling off the walls in there,” Patrick Ball…
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