Sierra Leone’s “Family Talk” Heals Scars of war
KAILAHUN DISTRICT, SIERRA LEONE — John Caulker might know the rough, red-rock roads of rural Sierra Leone better than he knows the hallways of…
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A note on Zimbabwean notes
Saw this on the BBC headlined, “No paper for Zimbabwean money.” It’s wrong, I know, but that’s kind of funny: The Germans supply the…
Read MoreHappy birthday Rwanda, happy birthday America
So the 4th of July is also Rwandan liberation day, the day in 1994 when the Rwandan Patriotic Front took control of the country…
Read MoreTourism in Rwanda Take I, or, ‘Which way to the mass graves?’
I don’t understand this . There are a hundred million things to write about here—me and my professional compatriots are trying to get a…
Read MoreTourism in Rwanda Take II, or, Baby Gorillas Are So Damn Cute
Two weeks ago, Rwanda held its fourth annual Kwita Izina, or naming ceremony for baby gorillas. For three or four days before, baby gorillas…
Read MoreEver on the edge
I’m keeping a list of things I need to blog, and I’ll get there, I promise. In the interim, a newsflash from the other…
Read MoreRwanda-isms I
I can’t believe it hasn’t occurred to me to do this sooner. Like every place in which English is not the mother language, the…
Read MoreThe universalities and idiosyncracies of civil service
The mail in Kigali works. I can finally vouch for it personally. It takes a while–one month, door to door, for a package from…
Read MoreA step, or a leap, or maybe nothing at all, for African women
About a week ago, the Christian Science Monitor ran an article I wrote from Sierra Leone on a new law protecting women in war…
Read MoreObservations in three acts
I. I have met only one person in Africa–though I’ve only been to four countries–who is, as a rule, early. But I’ve found the…
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