AfroSpirit

Do African Americans Have a Culture?

2014-03-31T03:33:00.001-07:00

Anonymous asked: Don’t you just hate when people say that african Americans don’t have a culture???….

They attempted to disconnect us from homeland, erase our native tongue, and shun our native religions. They attempted to beat us physically, emotionally and spiritually into submission. But we held on. We held on to our ways of life, our creativity, our spirituality and our dignity.

Outlawing and denying us the rights to read and earn an education, we relied strongly on our long African oral tradition. This tradition manifest itself in the black church, as well as in our music today.

Oh, our music.

We created jazz, rock & roll, rhythm and blues and hip hop. Sounds that influenced many, transcending races. Giving joy and hope to millions. Robbed to the point its now American Music, drop the African and hyphen.

We created cuisine from scraps during slavery and economic hardships thereafter.

Hughes knew rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of blood in human veins. And Maya Angelou spoke how a cage bird, wings clipped and feet tied, still sung of freedom.

The persistence of Black Life to survive in the face of annihilation. Turning, bending, leaping, Alvin Ailey’s Revelations told a story of faith to endure slavery to freedom. Jacob Lawrence with vibrant Harlem colors in The Great Migration, showed what the Black experience is, a Beautiful Struggle.

Alvin Ailey

Nina Simone

Malcolm X

Fats Domino

Little Richard

Maya Angelou

Gordon Parks

Prince

Carol Weems

Toni Morrison

Stevie Wonder

Ella Baker

Black Panthers

Billie Holiday

Ray Charles

Assata Shakur

Langston Hughes

James Baldwin

Tina Turner

Angela Davis

Jimi Hendrix

Dr Martin Luther King

Josephine Baker

Harriet Powers

Richard Wright

Kara Walker

Sam Cooke

Diana Ross

and the list goes on. We have culture. Our culture is deep. Deeper than the rivers. Born from our struggles in America, but still suckling from our Mother Africa.

Don’t let no one tell you different.

Black Love

Have you ever been told African Americans do not have a culture?What would you say to those that believe we have no culture?

29 Powerful African American Quotes

2014-03-31T03:30:00.002-07:00

We sought to gather a list of African American quotes that inspire and uplift. We hope you enjoy the the quotes and find that it illuminates the strength and beauty that embodies our people.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Martin Luther King Jr

“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.” –Muhammad Ali

“We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.” - Angela Davis

“In order for us as poor and oppressed people to become part of a society that is meaningful, the system under which we now exist has to be radically changed… It means facing a system that does not lend its self to your needs and devising means by which you change that system.” – Ella Baker

“The thing to do is to get organized; keep separated and you will be exploited, you will be robbed, you will be killed. Get organized and you will compel the world to respect you.” - Marcus Garvey

“To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” –James Baldwin

“One had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap.”- Ida B. Wells

“When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” – Audre Lorde

“There is in this world no such force as the force of a person determined to rise. The human soul cannot be permanently chained.”- W.E.B. Dubois

“The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others.” - bell hooks

“If we have the courage and tenacity of our forebears, who stood firmly like a rock against the lash of slavery, we shall find a way to do for our day what they did for theirs.” – Mary McLeod Bethune

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning.” – Frederick Douglass

“The walls, the bars, the guns and the guards can never encircle or hold down the idea of the people.” – Huey P. Newton

“You have to be taught to be second class; you’re not born that way.” – Lena Horne

“Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.” - Coretta Scott King

“I’m not going to sit at your table and watch you eat, with nothing on my plate, and call myself a diner. Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner.” - Malcolm X

“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” - Maya Angelou

“We ask for nothing that is not right, and herein lies the great power of our demand.” Paul Robeson

“A violinist had a violin, a painter his palette. All I had was myself. I was the instrument that I must care for.” – Josephine Baker

“Powerful people never educate powerless people in what they need that they can use to take the power away from powerful people; it’s too much to expect. If I was in power, I would not educate people in how to take my powers away.” - Dr. John Henrik Clarke

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” - Martin Luther King Jr

“You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation.” - Marian Wright Eldelman

“Those are the same stars, and that is the same moon, that look down upon your brothers and sisters, and which they see as they look up to them, though they are ever so far away from us, and each other.”– Sojourner Truth

“If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there’s no progress. If you pull it all the way out that’s not progress. Progress is healing the wound that the blow made. And they haven’t even pulled the knife out much less heal the wound. They won’t even admit the knife is there.” – Malcolm X

“I did not get on the bus to get arrested I got on the bus to go home.” - Rosa Parks

“Freedom is to come to the Negro, not as a bequest, but as a conquest.” - Carter G. Woodson

“I freed thousands of slaves. I could have freed thousands more if they had known they were slaves.” - Harriet Tubman

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” - Alice Walker

What are your favorites in the list? Do you know of another quote about Blackness that should be included in this collection? Share it in the comments and if it’s worthy, we’ll add it in!

Top Five Tips You Need for Healthy Black Hair

2014-03-31T03:26:00.002-07:00

There are so many different regimes for people to follow to maintain their hair and its health. I find these five things that I DO consistently have helped me maintain my hair and its health.

TRIMMING:

SO ESSENTIAL, yet, often neglected. People sometimes go months, even years before they give their hair a good trim. Why is it so important? Because it prevents the split end from continuing up the hair shaft and this can cause severe breakage. How often do we see products that say “Repair Split Ends”(which is false advertisement)? Can you bring the dead back to life?! NO, and neither can you do the same with split ends. They’re inevitable, but can be controlled. Limiting the amount of heat (i.e. curling irons, flat irons, blow dryers) can cut down on how bad your split ends can get. For those ladies natural and relaxed please do not forget this step! Every 4-6 weeks!

CONDITIONING:

OH HOW IMPORTANT! CONDITION CONDITION CONDITION!!! Our hair gets thirsty! And if it doesn’t get quenched properly it will let you know. The amount of conditioning is different for everyone. Some may not need intense moisturizers as others, so get to know your hair. Also, switch your products up after while. Your hair can stop responding to the products you use, especially your shampoo. There are so many products out there so do your research! Its worth it.

VITAMINS/HEALTHY DIET:

What we put in is what we get out! I recently just started a new vitamin called Hair Infinity and I have already seen results! I highly recommend them! Biotin is also a good vitamin to take, however be aware that it is also for your metabolism. Drinking plenty of water, is such a cliche thing to say but it is a staple! Fruits & veggies of course are important in your diet. Take care of your inner and your outer will be happy!

CHEMICALS/OVER PROCESSING:

Man, can this be detrimental. Please be careful with the amount of chemicals and what chemicals you choose to use on your hair. If you are relaxed (as I am) try to breakup the time up as long as your hair can allow before you relax it. I have known some people to relax their hair every 3 weeks and wonder why their hair is breaking. Allow for there to be at LEAST over an inch of growth before you decided to relax it again and make sure you ONLY RELAX THE NEW GROWTH and try your best to stay away from the hair that is already relaxed which can cause your hair to be over processed. When it comes to color, wait 3-4 weeks after your initial color or relaxer. Over processing can cause a lot of damage.

PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE:

Do your research when it comes to your products! There are so many hair care products on the market and which ever we decided to purchase make sure you pay attention to the ingredients in the back of the product. Mineral Oil, Sulfates, Isopropyl Alcohol are some of the few ingredients to look out for. A lot of products contain these ingredients, so be mindful of what you purchase and use in your hair care regime.

What are some of the tips you have picked up to maintain healthy black hair?

Liberia confirms Ebola's arrival from Guinea

2014-03-31T03:19:00.002-07:00

Government says patient dies after catching disease in Guinea, where 70 have died in one of worst outbreaks for years.

Guinea has confirmed Ebola cases at hospitals in the capital, Conakry [AFP]

Liberia has confirmed two patients have tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus, which is already believed to have killed at least 70 people in neighbouring Guinea.

Walter Gwenigale, Liberia's health minister, told the Associated Press news agency late on Sunday that one patient was married to a Guinean man and had returned ill from a recent trip there. She died in Lofa County.

The second patient is the sister of the dead woman. Gwenigale said she is alive and has been isolated in a medical centre outside of Monrovia, declining to give further details "because we don't want to cause panic".

Guinea confirmed last week that dozens of victims of hemorrhagic fever in the country's southern region had tested positive for Ebola. Cases have also been confirmed in the capital, Conakry.

Senegal on Saturday said its border crossings to Guinea would be closed "until further notice", while Sierra Leone has also reported suspected cases of the disease.

No treatment or vaccine is available for Ebola, a highly infectious and virulent disease which can cause uncontrollable bleeding. The Zaire strain detected in Guinea, first recorded 38 years ago in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, has a 90 percent death rate.

It can be transmitted to humans from wild animals, and between humans through direct contact with blood, bodily fluids or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.

Tell us what you think in the comments section.

Sunday in Brazzaville

2014-03-29T22:30:00.003-07:00

We explore the hip side of Congo-Brazzaville with a style icon, a rap artist, a wrestler, and a radio talk show host.

More than a decade ago, Brazzaville was considered the worst city in the world to live in. But beyond the war and suffering, there exists a different side to the Congo.

In Sunday in Brazzaville , young radio talk show host, Carlos La Menace, unveils in his weekend show three figures of Congo's capital, Brazzaville.

The Sapeurs adhere to a subculture of high fashion. While they may be surrounded by extreme poverty, they are always dressed impeccably in Versace or Prada, as Yves Saint Laurent, the president of the Sapeur Association, explains.

Elsewhere, rapper Cheriff Bakala is working on recording his first album in a country with almost no producers. Bakala is not a usual rapper; he mixes hip hop with Congolese folk, and uses local instruments, such as drums made up of water cans.

And finally, Palmas Yaya, Brazzaville's wrestling champion is relying on voodoo to defend his title at a crucial moment in his life.

Filmmaker's view

By Enric Bach and Adria Mones

Most documentaries about Africa that we watch in the Western media portray a sad and dangerous continent, full of wars, refugees and misery. But there is another side of Africa, and we wanted to show it.

We chose the Republic of Congo, seduced by the phenomenon of the ‘Sape’ (Society for the Advancement of Elegant people), a movement of fashion lovers - known as the Sapeurs - who were born in Brazzaville and who were, until recently, practically unknown.

The Sape originated after World War I when Congo was still part of French Equatorial Africa. Many Congolese soldiers defended France against the German army. During their time in France they were impressed by `the style and good manners of Parisian dandies - men who placed particular importance upon their appearance.

The Congolese soldiers not only loved their elegance, but also their attitude against war and violence. Back in Brazzaville, they adopted that style and transformed it into a genuine Congolese expression. Some people think that the Sape is a veneration of colonial style and a rejection of African tradition - and this can be a controversial issue. However, when filming our central character Yves Saint Laurent and his fellow Sapeurs, we decided not to judge them. We only asked them to explain who they were and why they chose the Sapeur way of life.

Filming Cheriff Bakala and his band, the FB Stars, was an inspiring experience. Being with them you realise that great music can be made with very few means. Like many bands in Congo, they cannot afford to have a drum set. Instead, they use big plastic cans and they get a great sound out of them, because of their talent.

We were very lucky because we were filming while the band was in the process of recording their first album. The studio was a 20 square metre room, lit up with only one bulb. There was no distinction between the musicians and the sound engineer and, as is usual in many African countries, power cuts often interrupted work. But even in such poor conditions, it was a great quality recording. Cheriff is still trying to find an international label to distribute the album.

We got into the world of wrestling thanks to our local producer, who got access to the main wrestlers and introduced us to the local champion, Palmas Yaya. He was not the strongest wrestler but he said he relied on magic to defeat his opponents. We managed to film a spectacular night of fighting between Brazzaville and Kinshasa’s wrestlers, where Palmas retained his champion’s title.

We got some of the best shots of the film when we followed the Carnival that announces the fighting event. All the wrestlers stood on top of taxis in a parade that travelled around the city. A brass band followed them playing popular Congolese music and people came out of their houses to watch them pass. It is their unique way of advertising the event and it is truly impressive.

Finally, we met Carlos La Menace, one of the best radio talk show hosts in Brazzaville, who allowed us to film his show during the weekend and ended up becoming the narrator of the film. This was our first documentary and it was a great human experience. We really look forward to showing this side of Africa again.

Nigeria's Boko Haram insurgency creates humanitarian crisis

2014-03-29T22:11:00.001-07:00

Boko Haram has been accused of numerous attacks in the north

More than three million people are facing a humanitarian crisis in three northern Nigerian states hit by an Islamist-led insurgency, the government's relief agency has said.

The conflict has displaced about 250,000 people since January, it added.

President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the three states last year to crush the insurgency.

However, the militant Islamist group Boko Haram has stepped up attacks in recent months.

The group operates mostly in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, where the state of emergency is in force.

'Unprecedented crisis'

In a statement, the Nigerian government's National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) said the "needs of the affected population are increasing by the day and the support of all is urgently required".

Borno was worst affected, with about 1.3 million people - most of them women, children and the elderly - in need of aid, Nema said.

In Adamawa, the number stood at around one million and in Yobe at more than 770,000, it said.

The government has vowed to defeat the militants

About 250,000 people were living in camps or with relatives and friends after being forced out of their homes, the agency added.

Nigerian Red Cross Society representative Soji Adeniyi said what has happening in the north-east was unprecedented.

"We have never had this kind of displacement caused by conflicts before in the country,'' he is quoted by Nigeria's privately-owned This Day newspaper as saying.

Earlier this month, Boko Haram fighters attacked an army barracks in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Its fighters also looted and torched several villages and towns in the state after launching attacks with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles.

Last month, the group was accused of killing at least 29 people in an attack on a rural boarding school in Yobe.

Boko Haram has waged an insurgency since 2009 to create a strict Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

The president insists that the state of emergency has been effective, saying the militants have been confined to a small area near the border with Cameroon.

Tell us what you think in the comments section !

Source: BBC

Ten African artists to look out for

2014-03-29T21:59:00.001-07:00

Kudzanai Chiurai, Zimbabwe

Kudzanai Chiurai Moyo II 2013. Ultrachrome inks on fiber paper 150 x 100 cm Edition of 10. Courtesy Goodman Galler

Exiled from Zimbabwe after producing an unflattering portrait of the country’s president, Robert Mugabe, Kudzanai Chiurai, the first black artist to get a BA in fine arts at the University of Pretoria, has become an important figure in African art. Chiurai uses dramatic multimedia compositions to confront pressing issues from government corruption, conflict and violence to xenophobia and displacement. Based in Johannesburg, Chiurai’s work is a mixture of digital photography, editing and printing, painting, and, more recently, film. His work is also featured at This is not Africa, this is us, a three part exhibition, organised by West in The Hague and the Kunsthal, Rotterdam, showing the work of the three African artists: Kudzanai Chiurai, Simon Gush and Kemang Wa Lehulere until 29 March 2014.

Tracey Rose, South Africa

Detail from Tracey Rose's Maqueii 2002. Lambda print 118 x 118 cm Edition of 6. Courtesy of Goodman Gallery

Born in Durban and currently living in Johannesburg, Tracey Rose is an established contemporary multimedia artist and feminist, best known for her bold, provocative, narrative-less performances, video installations and photography. Rose confronts the politics of identity, including sexual, body, racial and gender issues. Her themes often convey her multicultural ancestry and experience of growing up as a mixed-race person in South Africa. She skilfully combines popular culture with notions of sociology to evoke powerful emotions and illustrate the disparities of South Africa’s political and social landscape. Rose has held solo exhibitions in South Africa as well as in Europe and America and has participated in a number of international events, including the Venice Biennale.

Meschac Gaba, Benin

Meschac Gaba's Souvenir Palace, 2010. © Julian Stallabrass/Flickr

Meschac Gaba is perhaps best known for his Museum of Contemporary African Art, a travelling exhibition inaugurated at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 1997. Created in the form of a nomadic museum, Gaba’s extraordinary project consisted of 12 exhibition rooms set up in various European art institutions over a period of five years in an ingenuous attempt to create a space for African art. In 2013, the Tate Modernpurchased and showcased Gaba’s entire ‘museum’. With a natural talent for expressing his ideas through the visual arts, Gaba’s museum depicted subjects from fashion in the Summer Collection Room and food in the Museum Restaurant, to excessive overproduction of food in the Draft Room. Employing local craftsmanship with a European flair, Gaba’s works vary from paintings and ceramics to installations, using a range of materials such as paint, plywood, plaster, stones and decommissioned bank notes.

Nástio Mosquito, Angola

A multimedia and performance artist working across music, videos, spoken word and a capella, Nástio Mosquito flirts with African stereotypes in western contexts. Often portraying himself as the central figure of his art, Mosquito’s work makes powerful political and social statements, slightly discomforting at a first glance. Past exhibitions include the 9 Artists show (2013) at the Walker Art Centre in Minneapolis, and Across the Board: Politics of Representation at the Tate Modern in London in 2012.

Julie Mehretu, Ethiopia

Julie Mehretu, Stadia Series. © Allie Caulfield/Flickr

A key young African artist with a growing international exposure, Julie Mehretu’s large paintings draw on elements of aerial mapping and architecture. With an underlying calligraphic complexity, her energetic pieces represent accelerated urban growth, and densely populated city environments and social networks of the 21st century. Mehretu creates each painting by adding consecutive thin layers of acrylic paint on canvas and then finishing it off with delicate superimposed marks and patterns using pencil, pen, ink and streams of paint. She portrays a compression of time, space and place, independent of historical significance. From constructivism and geometric abstraction to futurism, Mehretu describes her paintings as "story maps of no location"

El Anatsui, Ghana

El Anutsai, Nukae (detail), 2006. Image courtesy of cliff1066/WikiCommons

One of Africa’s most influential sculptors, Ghanaian El Anatsui is at the forefront of contemporary artists of his time and has received considerable international attention for his work. A professor in sculpture at the University of Nigeria, Anatsui’s preferred media are clay and wood which he uses to create objects expressing various social, political and historical concerns. In his later works, he has turned to installation art and sewing. Using unconventional tools such as chainsaws and power tools, he has reshaped and given new meaning to materials such as railway sleepers, driftwood and aluminium bottle tops. In an interview, Anatsui said, "the amazing thing about working with these metallic fabrics is that the poverty of the materials used in no way precludes the telling of rich and wonderful stories."

Ibrahim El Salahi, Sudan

Ibrahim El Salahi's Self-portrait-of-suffering. © Ibrahim El Salahi

Often referred to as the godfather of African modernism, Ibrahim El Salahi has created visionary artwork for more than five decades. Former diplomat and undersecretary of the Sudanese ministry of culture in the 1970s, El Salahi was imprisoned for six months without charge after being accused of anti-government activities. An articulate and avuncular figure, El Salahi has developed his own unique art history, pioneering on many art fronts such as being one of the first artists to elaborate Arabic calligraphy in his paintings and the first African artist to get a Tate Modern retrospective. Elementary forms and lines dominated his early artwork, and over the years his work has taken a meditative and abstract turn, with a strong emphasis on lines, and use of black and white

Sokari Douglas Camp, Nigeria

Sokari Douglas Camp, RSW bus & London Eye, Anita Roddick memorial. Courtesy of the artist

-born Sokari Douglas Camp has broken into the male-dominated field of sculpture to become one of the first generation of female African artists to attract the attention of the international art market. Originally from a large Kalabari town in the Niger Delta, Douglas Camp’s work is greatly inspired by Kalabari culture and traditions. Employing modern sculptural techniques with the predominant use of steel, she creates large, semi-abstract figurative works, adorned with masks and ritual clothing, reflecting her close relationship to her homeland despite having lived in London for many years. Douglas Camp has had numerous solo and group shows all over the world and permanent collections of her work can be found in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and the British Museum in London.

Abdoulaye Konaté, Mali

Pouvoir et Religion (Power and Religion), Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts) Window commission, 2011, Textile. Courtesy of Kate Elliott, © the artist

A prominent contemporary art figure in Mali, Abdoulaye Konaté artwork is a striking combination of installation works and painting. After pursuing a degree at the National Art Institute of Bamako, Konaté completed his painting studies in Cuba. Most of Konaté’s large-scale work is based on textiles, a readily available and cheap medium in Mali. Treating textiles as a limitless palette, Konaté dyes, cuts, sews and embroideries scraps of cotton and traditional bazin fabric to produce his signature monumental tapestries. Konaté's major works have focused on the political tensions in the Sahel region, and, since the start of the millennium, on the devastating impact of Aids in Mali.

Chéri Samba, Democratic Republic of Congo

Chéri Samba, Quelle Solution pour les hommes, 2001. Image courtesy of African Contemporary Gallery and the artist

A leading contemporary African painter, Chéri Samba’s later work often features himself as the main subject. Samba started his career working as a billboard painter and a comic strip artist and gradually moved to painting on sacking fabric, as canvas was too expensive. He began to use the comic style of word bubbles to add commentary in his works, which became recognised as a signature of his style.

Source: thegardian

Tips to make you rich: Africa's top entrepreneurs share secrets to success

2014-03-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

CNN's African Start-Up talked to some of Africa's brightest business stars to find out their advice on how to make a fortune on the continent. Click on the flashing icons below.

Magatte Wade, CEO and founder of Tiossan

Many Africans are unaware that the "cultural creative" demographic in the U.S. and Europe actively seeks out high-quality products from exotic cultures. With a sophisticated branding strategy that targets this demographic, we can replace the negative connotations of the Africa brand with a positive appeal, and bring the best of African culture into the global marketplace as a prestige brand.

Alpesh Patel, CEO and founder of Mi-Fone

Young entrepreneurs should come into the game with some of their own savings, so get some corporate experience in your chosen field and learn how the system works. Save as much as you can from your income, and create some key relationships. Look for the gaps in what big companies are not doing well, and make sure you take advantage of this to create a niche for yourself.

Use social media as much as possible to raise awareness at a low cost, and build your brand every day.

Issam Chleuh, founder of Africa Impact Group

It's important to carefully think through the whole ecosystem and supply chain of your business to make sure you cover all the steps along your way to success. Be mindful of people's promises and double check their work -- your employees, clients and partners. Africa has a laid back culture, and it's important to have control and oversight over all segments of your operations.

However, opportunities are endless -- dare to innovate in Africa, the rewards will make you forget about all the risks

Heshan de Silva, founder of DSGVenCap

Transplanting what works in the West and the East over here doesn't cut it. You need to innovate locally and address challenges that people face on the ground. Make the start-up relevant to the masses in a way that's accessible, and you're on the right path.

You need good market research. Often we think we're "on to something" when we are not. Make sure you're addressing issues that are really affecting people, not just those you think are affecting them.

Ashish Thakkar, CEO of Mara Group

You need to be mindful of the fact that Africa is diverse. The biggest problem that those who are new to doing business in Africa face is that they tend to treat it as a homogenous entity, whereas in fact this is a place where you have many different cultures, parliaments, political and regulatory systems -- it's important to understand this. You cannot engage with Africa from a distance -- you need to be able to gain first-hand knowledge of the environment in order to properly know the market.

Patrick E. Ngowi, CEO of Helvetic Solar Contractors

You should start small, with lean operations, and scale up as you go along. I started my solar company being the only employee, going on roof tops to install one solar panel at a time. I made sure every client got value for their investment and, most importantly, was satisfied. Our clients became our ambassadors, especially at a time when there was no budget for marketing.

Jason Njoku, founder of iROKO

You have to be on the ground in Africa. I personally don't believe that you can start a business in Africa if you don't immerse yourself in the market 100%.

You also have to keep speaking to your audience -- don't make assumptions about what you think they want as you might be wrong, especially if you have moved back to Africa after a long spell abroad -- many Western models do not apply to African audiences and consumers. You need to have African solutions to African nuances and challenges.

Do you have any tips, or comments to share ? Do it in the comment section !

Source: CNN

West Africa scrambles to prevent Ebola spread

2014-03-26T14:42:00.001-07:00

Guinea and neighbouring countries try to contain outbreak that has killed at least 59 people so far.

West African nations scrambled to contain an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus suspected to have killed at least 59 people in Guinea, with symptoms of the disease reported in neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia as well.

The spread of Ebola, one of the most lethal infectious diseases known, has spooked nations with weak health care systems. In Guinea's southeast, home to all the confirmed cases, residents are avoiding large gatherings and prices in some markets have spiked as transporters avoid the area.

Health authorities in Liberia said they had now recorded eight suspected cases of Ebola, mainly in people who crossed the border from Guinea.

Five of these had died but tests were still being carried out to check if the cases were indeed Ebola, the Reuters news agency reported.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said a total of 86 suspected cases, including 59 deaths, had been reported in southeastern Guinea near the border with Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Laboratory tests have confirmed 13 cases of Ebola in Guinea so far, the first outbreak of the disease in West Africa.

"People are really frightened. They have seen people die in a matter of just two or three days. They are constantly worried who is going to be the next fatality," said Joseph Gbaka Sandounou, who manages operations for aid agency Plan International in Guekedou.

Samples taken from those who died in Liberia had been sent to Conakry for testing, according to the Geneva-based WHO.

In Guinea, authorities have taken steps to quarantine suspected cases in the districts of Guekedou, Macenta, Nzerekore and Kissidougou.

In Sierra Leone, authorities set up a task force after the death of a 14-year-old boy who had attended the funeral of a suspected Ebola victim. Authorities have yet to confirm if the boy died of the disease.

No handshakes

Ebola was discovered in 1976 in then-Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo. Scientists have identified the outbreak in Guinea as the virulent Zaire strain of the virus.

Because people who fall sick with it tend to vomit, have diarrhoea and suffer both internal and external bleeding, their bodies are often "covered in virus", Peter Piot, one of the co-discoverers of Ebola and now director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told Reuters.

This means anyone in close contact with them - such as nurses, doctors and carers - is at risk, he said.

The virus causes a raging fever, headaches, muscle pain, conjunctivitis and weakness, before moving into more severe phases of causing vomiting, diarrhoea and haemorrhages.

In the southeastern Guinea town of Macenta, prices - especially for products like chlorine - have risen due to shortages, resident Mamady Drame said.

People have also started avoiding shaking hands. "Can you imagine that people are hesitant to even greet each other? That is a shocking symbol in our culture," Drame said.

In the distant capital, where there have not yet been any confirmed cases, some bank staff handling cash wore gloves and clients were encouraged to wash their hands before entering.

What do you think about this crisis ?

Source:

Reuters

Swim in Senegal's Pink Lake

2014-03-26T14:23:00.001-07:00

WATER COLOR | A wooden pirogue filled with salt harvested from Lac Rose. Evan Sung

SAMPHIRE IS a vegetable that tastes nearly as briny as the waters of the coastal regions where it is harvested. It's typically vibrant green, but on the shores of Senegal's most famous lake, it is an intense shade of magenta.

And the lake itself? That would be pink.

Lac Rose, or Lake Retba, was long known as the finishing line for the Dakar Rally, an annual off-road car race from France to Senegal that began in 1978. The reward for more than 15 days of driving was to wade into the lake, whose salinity levels are so high that swimmers bob effortlessly on its surface, much like in Israel's Dead Sea or Utah's Great Salt Lake.

Salt is scooped from the lake bottom in a basket. Evan Sung

The rally was moved to South America in 2009; the lake, of course, remains. In fact, it's becoming one of Senegal's most popular tourist destinations—a relative distinction given that Senegal has not garnered tourist love the way countries such as South Africa and Morocco have in recent years. Still, Unesco is considering designating Lac Rose a World Heritage site, and in-the-know travelers are starting to make the trip.

I'd come to the frenzied streets and outdoor markets of Dakar to research a cookbook, not to see pink water. But after eight days in the Senegalese capital, my ears were ringing from blaring car horns, my eyes were filled with dust and my head hurt from the intense negotiations required to get anything done. I needed an escape, and a local chef assured me the lake was worth the journey.

Lac Rose is situated on the edge of Cap Vert, the lush coastal region popular with tourists and locals for its beachside restaurants, white sand beaches and prime bird-watching opportunities. It's just 20 miles from Dakar, but a 2½-hour bus ride thanks to traffic and chaotic transfers. So the chef, a photographer and I hired a car to make the round-trip in air-conditioned comfort.

Dakar is a sprawling city whose streets are constantly congested; it requires patience to escape the tumult. Once we were finally out of the city, we followed a highway clogged with cars, buses, motorbikes, donkey carts and bicycles. The roads narrowed and we passed through smaller and smaller villages, but the traffic never completely subsided. At least the roadside vendors, who sold everything from mangoes to a local spiced coffee known as Café Touba to bottles of ivory-colored baobab juice, provided us with a movable feast along the way.

We eventually ended up on a dirt road as rosy and smooth as a new penny, then on a spindly pathway along the edge of lake. Lac Rose doesn't just hint at pinkness—it's not rose-hued if you manage to catch it in just the right light and squint a bit. It is vividly tinted, like strawberry sorbet or Pepto-Bismol. The color is the result of a micro-algae called Dunaliella salina that produces a red pigment to absorb sunlight. We stopped and got out of the car, then stood on the edge of the lake in silence, trying to adjust our baffled senses.

The lake is pink like strawberry sorbet or Pepto-Bismol

I was temporarily distracted from the sight of the water by the hundreds of samphire bushes that flourished in its white sandbanks—I never knew the plant came in anything but green. We broke off bits of the plant and nibbled on them, then piled armloads of samphire into the car to use in salads later on.

After another few minutes of driving, with terra-cotta-colored sand dunes on one side and the lake on the right, we found ourselves surrounded by salt cones as tall as people. Lac Rose is separated from the Atlantic Ocean only by a narrow corridor of dunes, resulting in salinity levels exceeding 40% in some parts of the lake.

Men and women come from all over Western Africa to harvest the coarse salt from the floor of Lac Rose. The salt is used by Senegalese fishermen to preserve fish; that, in turn, is a component of many traditional recipes, including the country's national dish, a fish stew calledthieboudienne.

Dozens of harvesters, baskets balanced on their heads, waited to add their loads to the hills of salt that grow bigger throughout each day. They work several hours a day in the punishing heat, rubbing shea butter derived from the nuts of local shea trees into their skin to protect it from the sun. I picked up a large discarded crystal on the shore and in its jagged shape could see a rosy hue—it seemed like a rougher cousin of pink Himalayan salt.

We soon realized that Lac Rose is not a place for shoes; salt dust covers the roads, and the beach is made up of silky black mud. We let our bare toes sink into the softness. It was tempting to turn the beach into a makeshift spa, but before we had time to don mud masks, a guide approached us offering a boat tour of the lake.

We settled on a price of around $10 for an hour-long ride. He helped us into his wooden rowboat, called a pirogue, and set out for the center of the one-square-mile lake. People in surrounding boats hopped into the waist-deep water, using shovels to scoop salt from the lake bottom. After a few spry shakes to remove excess water, they dumped the salt into their boats. When the vessels were nearly sinking under the weight, the harvesters walked them back to shore.

Our guide invited us to try harvesting salt with him, jumping out with a basket and shovel. We followed—but as soon as my feet met the sharp salt crystals, I knew I was not cut out to be a harvester. Instead, we floated for a while in the bathtub-warm water.

Eventually, our guide propelled us back to shore with a pole, like a Venetian gondolier. We thanked him, rinsed our feet in water from a nearby well, and set out for a late lunch, driving past white-and-brown-speckled cows, cone-shaped salt mounds and weary harvesters.

Beachside shacks abound at Lac Rose; we settled into one a few feet from the shore for a meal of yassa poulet, a traditional dish of grilled chicken and vegetables in a caramelized-onion sauce. It was accompanied by the hot red pepper condiment called kani. While we waited, we snacked on our samphire and drank chilled bottles of the local beer, Gazelle.

The simple lunch mirrored the straightforward nature of the harvesters' work. I regretted that we were heading back to Dakar so soon, and wished we could spare a few more days—there was so much left to explore around Lac Rose. But at least I knew that every time the clamor of the city streets started getting to me, I could daydream about floating in a pink lake on the edge of the ocean.

Tell us what you think in the comments section !

Source: The Wall Street Journal

How Guinness Became an African Favorite

2014-03-26T14:11:00.001-07:00

As revelers from Chicago to Dublin celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, they’re sure to be filling up on Guinness, Ireland's hallmark brew. In the United States and elsewhere, Guinness is synonymous with Irish tradition and St. Patrick's Day celebrations. But, there’s one continent where Guinness has absolutely nothing to do with wearing green or hunting down leprechauns at the end of rainbows: Africa.

Most Africans don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but they still love their Guinness. The dark brew makes up about 45 percent of beer sold by Diageo, the company that owns Guinness, on the continent, and Diageo is one of four companies that split about 90 percent of the African beer market. Popularity varies from country to country, and Guinness is a particular favorite in Nigeria.

As opposed to the standard Guinness draught that you might order at the local pub or the Guinness Extra Stout you might pick up at the grocery store, the vast majority of Guinness consumed in Africa is called Foreign Extra Stout. It's essentially the same beer that Guinness began exporting to the far reaches of the British Empire in the 18th century.

In his book Guinness: The 250 Year Quest for the Perfect Pint, historian Bill Yenne discussed the popularity of Guinness abroad with brewmaster Fergal Murray, who worked at the Guinness brewery in Nigeria in the 1980s. “I’ve talked to Nigerians who think of Guinness as their national beer,” Murray recalled. “They wonder why Guinness is sold in Ireland. You can talk to Nigerians in Lagos who will tell you as many stories about their perfect pint as an Irishman will. They’ll tell about how they’ve had the perfect bottle of foreign extra stout at a particular bar on their way home from work.”

Africa now rivals the UK in their stout consumption. In 2004, Guinness sales in Africa beat those in the United Kingdom and Ireland, making up about 35% of the global take. In 2007, Africa surpassed Ireland as the second largest market for Guinness worldwide, behind the United Kingdom, and sales have only climbed since then (by about 13 percent each year).

The story of Guinness in Africa begins in Dublin. When Arthur Guinness II took the reins of his father’s brewery in 1803, he gradually expanded their exports – first to England, and then abroad to Barbados, Trinidad, and the British Colony of Sierra Leone. Originally dubbed the West Indies Porter, Guinness Foreign Extra Stout was first brewed in Dublin in 1801 and arrived in West Africa in 1827. Where the British Empire established colonies or stationed soldiers, Guinness shipped their beer. By the 1860s, distribution reached South Africa as well. Like Coke in its globalization of soda, Guinness developed partnerships with local breweries, who bottled the beer.

As many indigenous populations began to overthrow their colonial rulers and the British Empire began to crumble, Guinness remained. In 1960, Nigeria gained its independence from the UK, and two years later, the Nigerian capital of Lagos became home to the first Guinness brewery outside of the United Kingdom. (Technically, a brewery opened by Guinness in New York in 1936 was their first foreign effort, but it closed in 1954.) Success in Nigeria spurred the building of another brewery in nearby Cameroon in 1970. Today, 13 breweries produce Guinness in Africa.

Part of a 1968 advertising sheet for Guinness in West Africa

The Guinness Extra Foreign Stout consumed in an African bar is a bit different. Instead of barley, it’s typically brewed with maize or sorghum, which produces a more bitter taste compared to barley. African farmers have a long tradition of brewing the grain, so the product is well suited to the African palate. At 7.5 percent alcohol by volume, it also boasts higher alcohol content compared to the roughly 4-5 percent found in Guinness draught and Guinness Extra Stout. That's a relic of efforts to preserve the beer while it traveled to foreign ports. But, the flavor is essentially the same: since the 1960s, overseas brewers have added a flavor extract, a “concentrated essence” brewed in Ireland, so that no matter where you ordered a Guinness it would stay true to the original Dublin flavor.

Advertising campaigns in the 1960s introduced one of the beer’s ad slogans: "Guinness gives you power"— a variation on a contemporary European ad slogan, "Guinness for Strength," evoking the idea that tough, masculine men drink the stout after a hard day's work. In the last decade Guinness revisited the old slogan with a hugely successful marketing campaign across Africa that cast a young, strong journalist character named Michael Power as a sort of African "James Bond." At the end of a television or radio adventure, Power saved the day and uttered the same catchphrase: “Guinness brings out the power in you!” In 2003, Guinness took things a step further, launching a feature film called Critical Assignment with Power as the hero and plotline of political corruptiona and clean water issues (here's the film's trailer). It was filmed in six different African countries and released in theaters across Africa and in the U.K.

Two things made the Michael Power campaign hugely successful. First, it played into cultural ideals of a strong African male—not unlike hypermasculine ads employed in Ireland, the U.K., and elsewhere by Guinness and other beer brewers. Promoting the idea that tough guys drink whatever beer you're selling is hardly revolutionary. However, Power lacked ethnic affiliation, so he could appeal to everybody regardless of ethnic or tribal group. This African “James Bond” was both universally appealing and the guy one could aspire to be. Michael Power was phased out in 2006. Guinness has continued to play on similar themes, associating their stout with the concepts of "greatness" in all men and being "more than" on billboards across the continent, with steady success.

This year the beer made headlines with a new ad that taps into its African roots and highlights sapeurs, a group of well-dressed men in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Formally known as the Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes, sapeurs come from all walks of life and evoke the elegant fashions of Paris.

The ad has drawn praise for its positive portrayal of Africans and criticism for its failure to clearly connect the brand with the culture, but interestingly it’s not aimed at an African audience. At least for now, it’s used in European marketing. But, as MIT media scholar Ethan Zuckerman notes on his blog, the ad “could easily run on the continent, and features a form of actual African superheroes, not an imaginary one.”

Whether audiences across Africa would embrace them, remains to be seen. But, either way, Guinness seems to be embracing its African connections.

Tell us what you think in the comments section !

Rosario Dawson helping Africa become a fashion powerhouse

2014-03-26T14:00:00.001-07:00

Tanks to Miranda Priestly's infamous Devil Wears Prada lesson, we know that the world's most recent obsession with the color cerulean began, as Priestly put it, when "Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns." Then it trickled down to the average person from the runways of Paris, New York, and Milan.

But given that seven out of 10 of the fastest-growing economies in the world are in Africa, in another generation, designers in Accra, Brazzaville, and Cape Town might be the places setting fashion trends. Creative projects like Rosario Dawson and Abrima Erwiah’s Studio One Eighty Nine hope to catalyze that transformation.

Indeed, the platform, which Dawson and Erwiah launched in 2012, helps creatives in Africa—from designers and photographers to foodies and activists—promote their wares. Think of it as Pinterest meets Etsy. In conjunction with the platform, they've also launched a line called Fashion Rising that directly employs Africans, trains them through pop-up fashion schools, and provides the kind of market feedback they need to dominate the fashion scene.

Despite the abundance of talent in Africa, artisans there aren't able to easily sell goods across the globe. "For some reason, something made in Africa doesn't hold the same weight as something made in Italy," Dawson says. That doesn't make sense, considering the same handcrafted care and skill you'd see put into making clothing and accessories in Italy is found in Africa.

"You can see it in all of the different brands that go down to Africa and say, 'We're going to do a Masai collection, or we're going to do the Africa-inspired collection,' " says Dawson. When you buy an African-inspired piece, you're buying a garment that's probably made in a Chinese factory before being sold by a European fashion label. "It was inspired by Africa, but it wasn't made there, and it doesn't benefit [Africa]. And that doesn't make any sense," says Dawson.

Investing in a model in which goods are designed and manufactured in a nation such as Congo is a smart economic move. In England alone the fashion industry is worth £26 billion and is nearly 3 percent of the GDP. What if Congo could be transformed in the same way? Given the economic growth across the continent, Dawson says it just makes sense to encourage young Africans to have careers in fashion and pursue their dreams.

Providing young men and women with the ability to pursue their dreams is a thread that carries through all of Dawson’s work. "Some people think I only do women's issues because I'm on the board of V-Day," a global movement to end violence against women. "Or they say, 'You're only doing voting stuff but only with Latinos.' "

Dawson points out that, yes, she talks about Latino Millennials, "but I talked about Millennials in general, including the fact that two-thirds of the world’s youth population will be in Africa by the year 2100. That's something to pay attention to."

Dawson is also a proud New Yorker whose Puerto Rican, Afro-Cuban, Irish, and Native American roots reflect the globe. She's known Erwiah since they were both teenagers with dreams of their own. In 2011 they took a trip to Congo for the opening of City of Joy, a transformational leadership community started by V-Day for women who've been impacted by rape and abuse.

Getting to Congo was an ordeal of thunderstorms and canceled flights, but once there, they saw women who'd been through horrific trauma because of the civil war "dancing, and they've designed the space, and they've had so much input into how the program would work." They'd been "given yeses when they’ve been told no their whole lives," says Dawson.

Inspired, Dawson and Erwiah began thinking about how they could combine their backgrounds—Dawson in media and Erwiah in luxury—and resources to partner with people who've seen diplomats and politicians come and go but haven't seen real change. That led to Studio One Eighty Nine and Fashion Rising.

To produce the first collection, they worked with designers in Liberia, Uganda, Kenya, and Ghana, focusing on wax prints. Their next line works primarily with South African designers and focuses more on batiking. The pieces are made to be mixed and matched and are, says Dawson, priced fairly. "It's not charity. You're not going to haggle down the price."

You can open your closet and see a scarf from Japan, a pair of shoes from Korea, and a blouse from France. Why not gorgeous, handmade luxury goods made in Africa? "We are really trying to appeal to the world citizen," says Dawson. "I don't have those ideas or weird mythologies about Africa. I know Africa is not a country. I get that, and there’s a lot of us who do."

We're living in a time when "we have the ability to communicate with each other and share with each other, and it's not just about being a woman or being of a certain age or being of a certain color," says Dawson. Projects like Studio One Eighty Nine and Fashion Rising have the potential to help us, she adds, "really see that we are not so disconnected or dissimilar after all."

What do you think about it ?

Source : Take Part

Lupita : a Cinderella for everyone

2014-03-23T14:43:00.001-07:00

Dignified and inspiring words spoken by young woman who looked like a fairy princess on Hollywood's most spectacular night. Lupita Nyong'o won the Academy Award for best supporting actress -- and black, brown and "other" women and girls all around the world exhaled with relief and cheered with delight.

The Cinderella story endures because deep down, people want to believe in improbable beauty and equal access to happily ever after. You know how it goes: A kind young girl alone and far from home is placed in a hostile environment, ignored and abused. Against all odds, she finds the power of her imagination, transforms into a graceful beauty and becomes the belle of the ball.

Nyong'o's ascent into media stardom mirrors this legendary narrative. This is from Facebook: "I admit it. I can't go more than three days without looking at a picture of her. #LupitaNyongo."

That's one of the scores of daily posts on every social media platform about the breakout actress, mostly from women and girls of color. The image of Nyong'o is feeding an old hunger familiar to the hearts of women of African decent and quenching a newfound thirst for everyone else.

She is refreshing. She added, as they say in the fashion world, a "pop of color" to the neutral landscape of types in the 2014 awards season.

The beginning of Nyong'o's fairy-tale rise to Hollywood's new It Girl began with her brilliant portrayal of Patsey, a filthy, psychologically abused and violently beaten slave in the best picture winner, "12 Years a Slave." And yet in a matter of months, the prevailing image of her is an exquisite beauty queen conquering every red carpet and glossy fashion page she's graced. And there have been many.

The Golden Globe Awards were Nyong'o's first major glamorous arrival. She didn't take home the best supporting actress award for which she was nominated, but from Vogue to tumblr, she reigned on all the best-dressed lists.

It was a Cinderella moment. It wasn't the stunning fire-engine-red winged column dress by Ralph Lauren Couture that made her splash so significant. It was her unlikely beauty, her exquisite "otherness" that made the style media explode with excitement. And she has been slaying every other appearance ever since.

Hollywood can be a hostile and stubborn place for diversity: Only 31 black people have won an Oscar in the 85-year history of the Academy Awards.

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Nigeria, the new African giant is waking up

2014-03-23T14:34:00.001-07:00

... But seems kind of unready on its feets.

LIKE a heavyweight boxer who has gone too many rounds, Nigeria sometimes seems punch-drunk. One minute it acts like a champion by virtue of the size of its girth and the smile on its face, the next it could be flat on its back, groaning in anguish. On the whole, the country is tottering along, acclaimed as much for its massive potential as for its actual achievements. It is still a sick man all the same.

Tracts of the north of Nigeria are poorer than ever and ravaged by Islamist terrorism. The brutal efforts of the police to suppress it make ordinary northerners all the more sullen. The oil-soaked Delta in the south is anarchic, gutted by the continuing large-scale theft of oil and riddled with corruption at a level that is high even by Nigeria’s lofty standards. The kidnapping of prosperous people across the country, especially in the south and in and around Lagos, the bubbling commercial capital, has become increasingly frequent. The mother of the finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, suffered such an ordeal in December, though she was released after five days.

Do you have an opinion on the matter ? Tell us what you think in the comments section.

Is natural hair just a trend ?

2014-03-23T14:24:00.001-07:00

Trends are always moving in and out of time.

Black women learning their natural hair texture should not be linked to the frivolousness of a new trend. That is like saying the act of discovering who you essentially are is temporary.

Self discovery is continuous; never fleeting.

Black women making efforts to not only explore, but understand their natural hair texture will continue and never go away.

Once black women begin to learn their natural kinks and curls, there will be no turning back!