Discovering development successes in Africa

Take a trip with me as I try to uncover development success cases in Africa. From Algeria to Zimbabwe – including South Sudan, and contentiously Somaliland – this blog will highlight development successes in each of these African nations in order to promote a different perception of a continent that has been mired by negative publicity and one-sided views.

No longer is Africa a continent wallowing in extreme poverty, disease and civil war. Yes, there are numerous cases of poverty, corruption, human rights abuses and disease. Let us not conveniently forget these cases also exist in western nations. But more interestingly now in Africa is the focus on improving economic prosperity, eradicating disease and poverty, and creating an investment climate that encourages greater investment and development.

The future of Africa is exciting, and its tarnished history is now complemented by many success stories - stories which this blog will seek to illustrate. With each success story comes greater investment, greater development, and greater opportunities for both investors and beneficiaries to be part of the ever-changing landscape of Africa. A landscape which is now characterised by developments in ICT, financial infrastructure, and advancements in health care to name a few.

It is no wonder that 5 out of the 12 fastest growing economies of 2011 are African in a report compiled by EconomyWatch using data from the IMF. Ghana tops the list with the highest GDP growth (constant prices, national currency) of 20.146%. That’s more than double the growth of China and India! Other African countries in the top 12 included: Liberia (9.003%), Angola (8.251%), Ethiopia (7.663%) and Mozambique (7.584%).

So as Africa develops, we should not hesitate to praise the improvements that are changing the lives of its citizens. I would certainly be grateful for any development stories to be included in each country, and feel free to email me on the following address for any ideas, comments, recommendations: promotingafrica@yahoo.com

First report: ALGERIA!

The next chapter…

Saying goodbye is never an easy task. Especially when the people to whom you are saying goodbye are such kind-hearted, warm, loving, passionate people. You’ll meet enough jerks in your lifetime, but it’s only when you meet people who are completely opposite that you realise there are some amazing people out there.

1 month ago I decided to follow a gut instinct and come out to Burundi. I didn’t know what to expect, nor did I think I would be of much use here. 1 month on from then, and I now realise why my life had taken the course it has up until now. It doesn’t make complete sense, but I have a clearer picture.

And so as I pack my bags and prepare for my flight in a few hours, I accept that all endings are also new beginnings. I think back to the people I’ve met and worked with, and I stand in awe of their heart for helping others, their motivation through difficult times, their persistence in doing what they feel is just, and their dedication to social causes. I also think of those who impacted me albeit through a fleeting encounter; the street merchants, the laborious people up-country, the smiling community kids, and the mêler during rush hour amongst other things. And as I think back, I realise that I truly have been blessed during my time here.

I may say goodbye with a heavy heart and watery eyes, but a part of Burundi will always be with me. Turikumwe!

Most members of the FWA team

Members of FWA and HROC team

Members of the HROC team

Oh really? (Facts about Burundi)

With 2 days left to go and my time in Buja quickly winding down to a close, I thought I should dispel/confirm some of the views people have about Burundi, or perhaps enlighten some of you on this amazing country in the Great Lakes region.

Here are some random facts about Burundi:
- It is HOT! in May/June. Now, I’m pretty good at handling heat, but gosh it gets really hot by 9am. It takes some serious deodorant spray in the morning to counter the amount of sweat I produce. But evenings are generally cooler.
- Tap water is treated in Bujumbura so it is safe to drink tap water. The money I spent on water purification tablets was certainly a waste due to reading silly & false travel advice.
- Only women are employed to sweep the streets of Buja. I’ve talked to a few people but haven’t received any decent response on why this happens to be the case.
- In order to show respect and politeness, people touch their right forearm with their left hand as they shake your right hand. Also, almost everyone I’ve met has accepted things (money/goods/anything) with their right hand, and given things with their right hand.
- With Saturday mornings (7.00am to 10.30am) being community work period, you can find residents in Buja keeping fit from as early as 5.30am (I have spotted many running up hills whilst I was trying to capture the sunrise on camera).
- Most residents of Buja speak 3 languages; French, Kirundi and Swahili. It’s not uncommon to find some who speak 4, with English being the fourth language.
- Bicycles are one of the most common ways for locals to transport goods up-country. You see bicycles laden with tons of goods like crates, sacks, food, whatever – stacked to the point of disbelief – and being laboriously pushed up and down hills for hours. These people are laborious!! Some of the bravest will even mount their bikes and descend down hills at great speed in order to make the most of the downward descent and I suppose as a sort of treat for the uphill struggle.
- There are about as many right-hand drive cars as there are left-hand drive cars. And this is despite the fact that cars drive on the right side of the road (and so traditionally the cars should be left-hand drive). Apparently, this is because right-hand drive cars are cheaper to obtain and repair.
- Most Burundians are FASCINATED by “muzungus” (white people)! And the more blonde you are, the more you will be stared at. Muzungus are stared at all the time. Even in the capital city where most are based. Up-country, it is not uncommon for locals to just walk up to the car and peer through the window to stare at muzungus. However, I have seen some locals up-country run away from muzungus because apparently they grew up believing that white people eat humans (really funny when I saw a woman bolt away when she saw my Swedish colleague in the car). But rest assured, the staring is done out of fascination and not threatening at all (unless you are a muzungu who hates attention).
- In Buja, there are about half as many bicycle riders as there are cars. Bicycles are popular!
- Many [adult] Burundians do not like it if you take a picture of them without asking them. In fact, many run away once they see a camera. For kids though, taking 20 pictures of them is not enough. They will plead for you to take a million pictures!
- The President, 1st Vice President, and 2nd Vice President (don’t get me started on how the cabinet is composed!) all have heavily armed army convoys when they travel, and military personnel camped outside their offices. I suppose keeping power isn’t an easy task.
- Less than 1 in 100 people smoke in the capital city (based on my random sample), and even fewer smoke up-country. I guess the Europeans were unsuccessful in passing this habit.
- The CNDD-FDD (the current ruling political party) headquarters is one of the most expensive buildings in Buja.
- The vast majority of the population are Christians, and the vast majority of Christians are Catholics. Church attendance is very high.
- On most nights, you can have a clear view of the stars whilst in Buja, but you’ll have an even better view just outside the city.
- Cars horn/hoot incessantly. People hoot to: say hello, say goodbye, warn of their presence, premeditate danger, say they’re angry, say they’re happy, signal to get out the way, signal you’ve got right of way, seek business, seek answers, show appreciation, seek attention, and for countless other reasons!

My list is by no means exhaustive, but I hope this gives you a little taster of this unique country on the coast of Lake Tanganyika.

Hidden treasures in Burundi

First of all, I’d like to start off with a rant: I am completely disappointed with the Geography and History taught in high schools with respect to Africa!
Now, some of you might think this is an isolated case, but I’ll state my point to prove universal application.

I spent most of my high school years in Nairobi (also spent some time in Lusaka and Johannesburg), but all the schools I went to followed a British GCSE/GCE curriculum. Therefore, no doubt I was learning the same things as students in England. I have met several people from North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania (therefore 6 out of 7 continents) who have known very little about Africa, and so forgive me if I take those people to represent their respective continents.

Most people who studied about Africa in high school will no doubt have mostly been taught about the dark side of Africa; Apartheid in South Africa; Civil war in Rwanda, Zaire (the DRC) and Burundi; Persecution of ethnic minorities in Uganda; Land reform conflicts in Zimbabwe; to name a few. Ask these people about any of the positive developments in Africa, and I’ll be stunned if you can find one person with a regular education who can name more than 5.

Similarly, in the schools that I went to, hardly anything positive was said about African history or the geography of its treasures. I say all this because it has only been during my time here that I’ve really appreciated just how little I know about my continent. And so when I hear or read about advice for people travelling to Africa (most of the advice is not even country specific), it comes as no surprise that many people arrive with the fear of almost everything.

But the purpose of this blog post is not to rant, but rather to celebrate one of Burundi’s hidden treasures. Yes, you may only know this country for its 13-year civil war, but the treasures of the Lake Tanganyika are reserved for the curious. Today I went to Blue Bay, an exquisite beach located about 1hr south of Buja along the coast of Lake Tanganyika. I guarantee you that if you were blindfolded and flown here, you would think you were on some exotic beach location over-looking an ocean, and not in a country ravaged by civil war. But this is just a lake; yes, the clear-blue-waters may deceive you; yes, the clean-cream-sands may deceive you; yes, the green-palm-trees and fresh breeze may deceive you. But this is just a lake – a lake with treasures that would rival any of the world’s oceans. And there was I thinking nothing could top my visit to Bora Bora beach on my first weekend here.

And so folks, cast away your history and geography books and really try to find out the truth about matters before forming opinions. This weekend, I’ll go to a hot spring source in the south, I’ll try to capture the awakening of the city during sunrise, I’ll see what else I can pack into a short weekend, and I know there will still be heaps that I won’t know about this country before I leave next week.

Blue Bay beach

Blue Bay beach

Blue Bay pier

Blue Bay – fishing boat

Blue Bay beach

Lunch at Blue Bay – Mukeke

“Overwhelmed” – an understatement

Finally a picture including myself in coaching mode, with Coordinator & Accountant at HROC

 Far from the coziness of my £1,000 seat on the trading floor of an investment company watching multiple blinking screens (I treated myself daily to CNBC & songs on YouTube), or even before that, the vast amount of access to knowledge and resources I had at a Big 4 firm, I now feel like I’m a shrimp on a plank in the middle of the ocean (why shrimp? I don’t know – it sounded better than fish…).

With no one I can turn to for instant support, and with intermittent access to internet and electricity (we have power cuts mid-morning for about 4 hours everyday), I can’t even turn to trusted Google to find out answers to my queries. And yet, all eyes are fixed on me to provide direction and guidance.

Where do I start? With so much to do (or at least so much that I’ve tasked myself to do), one would say just start somewhere and go from there. But even what I consider to be the simplest of things tends to reveal more issues which show just how much more there is to do before task 1 can be achieved.

Everything seems to sap energy out of me; the hot weather, the thought of work, and the fleeting time. 1 month working for 2 organisations = 2 weeks each = 10 work days each. Take out 3 work days to complete an organisation review, 1 day attending a celebration up-country, plus Burundian timing, and you’re left with a mammoth task if you’re about as ambitious as me who think if Rome wasn’t built in a day then the workers weren’t trying hard enough!

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, my hosts still show so much appreciation for the little I do. And when I look at the end beneficiaries of the completed projects, and how their lives are transformed by the selfless work of the employees of the small organisation, I can’t help but think that I should be the one showing appreciation for what THEY do.

Being out here really puts things into perspective. And when I see a group of people running down the hill, singing and chanting as they keep fit, or watch little kids chase each other in the dust, or hear 3 languages in one sentence, I realise it’s the simple things that will make this experience one of my most memorable experiences.

(I hope you noted the little link to Shakespeare. Keeping you on your toes!)

A different type of wedding

I love weddings, and jump at any opportunity to attend one. But on reflection, it’s probably the receptions that I like most. Can’t knock free food and drink.

However, the wedding I attended in Buja was vastly different to what I’ve witnessed previously, and that is compared to weddings I’ve attended in Cameroon, Kenya, England (Indian and British weddings) and Thailand. 

The day before the marriage, there’s a “dowry ceremony”. This is where traditionally the groom’s family would turn up to the bride’s family’s house to “pay” for the groom to marry the bride. Payment varies from money to livestock. There’s banter between the two families to see how much the groom really wants the bride. Food and drinks are shared at this close family affair.

The day of the wedding consisted of four parts; civil signing of marriage register, church service, reception, then private reception. This all started around noon. We first turned up for the church service at the Anglican Church in Buja. This was meant to start at 3pm, and the couples were already sat in church. I say “couples” because apparently Fridays and Saturdays are very popular wedding days, and due to the demand for churches then joint marriages are held to accommodate demand. There were 3 couples in church on this saturday.

Given the polé-polé nature of timing here, the service didn’t begin until 3.45pm to give late-comers time to arrive before beginning the service. Choirs sang, 3 pastors officiated the 3 weddings, a sermon was read, and offering was taken. Service was over by 5pm. Next stop, wedding photos before reception.

A wedding convoy drove to two locations to take pictures in front of adequate greenery and the clean beaches of Lake Tanganyika. At the reception, about 200 people were accommodated. Everyone was served 1 soft drink, apart from the couple and immediate family who were served 2 drinks. More banter between both families, a few speeches, and some performances took place. Proceedings were finished by around 7.30pm. No food! I was beginning to think; the couple must’ve only had breakfast before the civil ceremony and hadn’t eaten anything since. Next event; couple were heading home to change before going to the private reception. There would be food there. I wouldn’t be there. Sigh…

But weddings are such a glorious occasion wherever you are in the world.

Wedding at Anglican Church in Buja

Saturday; a popular wedding day (3 couples)

Praise group

Little angel

Wedding reception

Wedding dance

A splendid celebration

On Friday, I joined the HROC team on a 2.5hr drive to Mutaho (in Gitenga province) for a celebration in honour of the water filter project that HROC had successfully delivered in this community. The drive was a pleasant drive for 1hr through hilly paved roads which revealed the beauty and naturalness of the plains of the inner country, and 1.5hrs of off-road bumpy terrain which showed why transport infrastructure is one of the main priorities of the current government.

Below are some pictures that I took and a couple of videos (for more pictures, please check the Flickr gallery on the right column). Needless to say, the whole ceremony was officiated in Kirundi, but luckily one of the HROC staff was sat next to me and translated what was being said into French.

My most embarrassing moment; we were being introduced by the HROC coordinator and we all had to get up to say a word or two. The other international volunteer has been taking Kirundi lessons and so could say a few words to the delight of the crowd. I, on the other hand, got quickly told a couple of words by the staff member sat next to me before my turn, but when I got up I said something completely different to what she told me. Everyone looked on silently as I tried to smile my way out of this pickle. Still no sound from the crowd. I tried to say the other word I was told, but even that came out muffled and wrong. I should’ve just spoken in Swahili or French. Anyway, I smiled again, sat down and gave myself a mental telling-off.

My most memorable moment; seeing the faces of the people whose lives have been changed by now being able to have drinkable filtered water. Despite the rain which interrupted proceedings (the locals said we were a good sign because they had been asking for rain given the summer heat’s effect on crops), everyone was in good spirits.

In the car ride back to Buja, the team sang church songs in Kirundi, Swahili, French and English. Luckily I had brought my shakers to keep everyone in tempo.