“yo mate, ok I`ll give you my trick but if you give it someone else I`ll fuckin kill you ”

What to say…
They’ve pleaded, oozed, destroyed, tricked, manipulated, fired randomly, and now I’ve seen flat out threated. Of course it’s designed to engage you and do the opposite of what it threatens, but for some reason that just makes it all the more funny to me. (I’m sure it’s not the first time, “they” have threatened, but it’s amusing to me and thought it might be amusing to you)

As this is a starter job, I’m also looking at doing other things in addition (or perhaps under the appfrica umbrella) as well. I’m headed to Gulu here tomorrow for another opportunity which might also prove interesting.

In America we have an almost mystical love for organized crime in drama.  Characters such as Al Capone/Scarface, John Gotti, Pablo Escobar as well as the numerous gangs and organizations they are know for riddle our cinematic and fictional ethos.  Yet ironically, for all of our love of these organized criminals and the fascination of these illegal organizations, the motivations behind the global existence of organized criminals is distinctly lacking.

Take for example the Somali pirates which have been gracing the international section of news magazines over the year and more.  Perhaps one of the more thrilling highlights are the  US Navy Seals who killed pirates.  What is far more useful is to understand not the event, but the context of the events, which includes it’s history and the current political existence.  Before we demonize the Somali’s for being moralless thugs out for a free ticket, let’s back up and realize that they are a failed state.  In failed states instability and insecurity reigns, infrastructure is likely poor if it exist, despotism and corruption are generally common, governmental control weak, and the economy is in the tank.  It’s a painful existence, one consumed by the here and now.  There are good reasons that the Pirates who succeed in ransoms from corporate shipping return to a heros welcome.

It’s not a positive existance, not one that provides for civility, prosperity, and a chance for improvement as we in the west think of our own lives, but it is not one to which most have any capacity to change, except for the worse, or by taking those drastic “immoral” measures.

What’s worth understanding about this is that organize crime is generally understood to be a fact of life.  The corporations involved in shipping are adding ransom insurance and payouts as a cost of their business, as that route is still the fastest way to go and therefore worth the one in some number of ships delayed/lost.

The pirates in Somalia are only a taste of this global organized criminal market, which has a huge impact on our daily lives in ways that we don’t currently understand. To this end, I have created a new area on my blog call the Citizen Continuing Education which I will occasionally post at least a triplet of sources that will give you a brief overview of thoughts about a topic which we all need to begin to display some proficiency. I’ve started with Organized Crime, which shouldn’t take you more then a few hours between the interviews and videos, plus a bit more for the optional information. By the end of it I hope you’ll come away with far more information then you had, and a useful understanding of the subject. I’m also looking to make these interesting and engaging, unlike the dry lectures that you sometimes get out of the lecture hall.

I have another on American History which involves audio books, but I’ll let you know when that’s finished. Should you have a useful mini-course suggestion, please feel free to contact me, or post a comment!

As I like to quote “We live in an exponential growth of technology,” which will give us dilemma we can’t imagine facing–such as the oldest living and youngest living becoming more and more separated by a gulf of age never seen. Being faced with so much information and so much change, especially in an era where we “rational” decision are easily manipulated, makes being an informed citizen hard to actually achieve. What’s more it’s sometimes impossible to retain a global perspective, but it’s absolutely necessary that we balance the local with the global and realize that we are all interdependent in this web of life. I do hope you enjoy your Citizen’s Continuing Education.

Frankly I find it strange that people would fight this.  It’s not going to cause any further deaths, unlike driving while talking on a cell phone, so for those of you who are outraged, I might ask you to find something more sane to be outraged about.  Say perhaps pork barrel spending of your senator, the horribly low Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard that contributing to your asthma, or even US made and dropped cluster bombs that continue to kill people today.  It’s worth remind you that you are more likely to get killed by a lighting strike then to die on an airplane in the US (As compared to 50,000+ people a year die in auto accidents per year, 20 times the amount of people who died on Sept 11th, 2001).  With the harden electronics on an airliner, a cell phones could possibly do something, but it’s a risk that is hotly debated and to me seems unlikely.

Sorry the outrage gets to me occasionally.  I’m here in Kampala listening to people talk about Rwanda’s brutal nature, riots about land and other uniquely African power struggles and when people whine about using your cell phone it can be a bit overwhelming.  On the plus side though, it is a culture where you can whine about it if you want.  I might be outraged, but it’s your right to talk about it.

There’s a debate going on within the ex-pat activist community, beyond the basic outrage at this, as to how this might affect their ability to work here.  Some organizations work on gay rights, others support gay rights in their countries of origin, others just work with persecution in all it’s forms, as well as those organizations that have LGBT staff or fund such organizations in and around the region.

In general Kampala was considered stable and safe to work in and from.  The hit squads of years ago cleaned out the gangs and crime making it rather safe from thieving and mugging.  Similarly the LRA conflict is in the north, and hasn’t entered the city.  In this way the number of guns and soliders in Kampala are much more limited then in Bujumbura, Nairobi, or etc.  Essentially Kampala an ideal places to base regional organizations out of because it’s relative safety for muzungu and locals, as well as it’s  ease of access to other areas in the Great Lakes region of Africa which are far more volitile.

That’s not to say that Rwanda isn’t safe, it’s possibly the safest country to live in within the region, however, that’s only true if you don’t cross the government.  It’s this lack of political freedom which might be changing, as the laws passed and introduced are broad enough that anyone advocating on behalf of LBGT could be considered to be violiting the laws and arrestable.  This is true even if it’s not a direct correlation, say a person is caught doing business with a gay activist or something equally silly.

It’s a debate, because it’s not clear that this is going to be enforced. (Previous laws were not, there were no convictions in Uganda based on the less strict gay sex laws).  These laws could be used as an excused to harass and imped some organizations that Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi feels is counter-government.  The backlash involved from the international community is an unknown factor.

What’s pretty clear is that this is a political move based on conservative populations of highly religious peoples (Africa in general is the highest growth rate of all religious groups world wide, as well as being the most conservative) where anti-gay sentiments have been increasing for the last several years.  Although sentiment is on the rise, I’m lead to understand that in the case of Burundi it was a leverage issue in political gamesmanship that brought it out rather then outright lobbying.

This in addition to the riots that have shut down the city for the last two days (and are likely to happen tomorrow and perhaps into the future), I’ve arrived in K’la during an interesting time.  Given some of my reason for leaving Cape Town was security, it has made interested in politics and culture here in order to assess stability.

To digress for those who are interested Human Rights Watch has a good write up on this.  There have been several riots in K’la due to the Buganda king being barred from visiting part of his kingdom.  Although it’s part of his kingdom the people within the region want nothing to do with him.  There’s more to this background such as the impact of the downturn, long running governmental antagonism to the kingdom, and recent land disputes, but I’ll leave it at this for the moment.

The president and several ministers are apparently sparring with kingdom officals in a reckless disreguard for the rioters.  This could be settled peaceably, but rather threats and bravado are being shown in public face offs.  Inevitably it’s the poor who are hurt, as 4 were killed yesterday, and more likely were killed today.  There are squads of quasi-police/governmental hitters that are beating people on behalf of the police.  Earlier tonight, half a kliometer away at the airstrip, I heard gunshots.

As I’ve come to learn, thing here in Africa can go pear shaped far quicker then what westerners are used to.  Wednesday there was a few articles about this in the paper, but it was business as usual and no hint of trouble.  Today, it’s not a good idea to do much outside.  Although I’ve made lots of progress on finding a job, I might even have an offer if I can get a work permit, life has some reconsidering to do…

Let’s hope the new anti-gay laws and this Buganda/Government issue settles.

We were having Jon and Sarah over for some pesto and wine, so I was making racket in the kitchen, with the drawers below the counter open after finding the right pan, and in my own world with my audio book. As I was preparing for tonight’s pesto-ctular meal I also left the sliding glass door open. Little did I know that had cat burglars coming in the house. The littl’n were wandering around the living room exploring when I came out of the kitchen to place a dish on the table.

Like watching children play hide and go seek, they scattered in a curve all heading for the door… except that one that decides that the couch looks like a good place to hide. I got him/her out from under the couch, only to have him/her run into the kitchen. Of course that’s a lost cause with the stove, refrigerator, and an open counter drawer open.

I took apart the kitchen and couldn’t find the littl’n so I assume he/she got out when I wasn’t looking. And figured I’d try again later.

Dinner was great. Salad, pesto pasta, “French Bread” Ugandan style, and banana bread crumble with a few bottles of wine made a great conversation and fun night. Then I see a head pop out of of the kitchen… At which point I recount the early happenings and we all laugh while I take the kitchen apart again.

Cute though he/she might be, he’s also smart enough to find a spot out of view, as he/she managed to follow a pipe hole into another drawer and was behind a box so entirely unseen, and sprung right back the same way he/she came in to fast for me to track. The chase leads back to the couch at which point everyone is standing and cat clucking, trying to entice the littl’n out the door to rejoin mom.

Meanwhile this explains why mom and kids were outside hanging out more then usual outside the window. No meowing, but in retrospect they were definitely worried family. (Not to mention probably hungry).

So after a bit of chasing around (and a few smacks into now closed doors) we managed to re-unite mama and littl’n, who I hope has learned from this curiosity experience so the proverb won’t come true…

A majority of the time, he’s absolutely right and it’s more useful to reverse the technological application, i.e. if it works in Burundi, then it can most likely survive America. In many respects this is part of a larger debate about the western to african mindset of international development, aid, colonialism, and empowerment, but what I particularly like about this post though is the thought that Africa can give back to the world’s tech community, and for that matter has.

Re-framing Brand Africa (Tech)

I’ve had some recurring thoughts over the last couple weeks, mostly pertaining to how technologists in Africa present ourselves, and how those outside Africa see us. How does “Brand Africa” – from the technology angle – play out, and why? What is unique that we offer to the world, and why should African technology matter in the global context?

It’s about “Brand Africa”

We need to re-frame the way we think about technology in Africa before we can expect others outside of Africa to do the same. Our challenge is to get people to realize that there is a real competitive advantage to developing and testing software in Africa. After all, if it works in Africa, it will work anywhere.…

I’ve been loving the new house I’m in back in Cape Town. but I’m running low on funds and finding the visa/job market in Cape Town a bit hard to work out.  So coupled with Angela’s imminent return to the US–she’ll be done with her dissertation in November and her visa is up in January–I’m contemplating my next move.  Ideally I’d like to find a job here in Eastern Africa, but I may have to return to the states myself as money is getting low.

I don’t relish this idea, especially now as I’m in Kampala and enjoying the chaotic, non-western existence.  Strangely, my fear being in Cape town has diminished somewhat by being a more chaotic place.  The distinct inequalities of Cape Town with it’s wealthy and tourist centers surrounded by the poorer townships and there informal settlements coupled with a political background which breeds a sense fear and uncommunity vs the unknown of a new city here in Kampala which, although might be just as inequal but has a very different inital feel when walking on the street.  Maybe it’s the heat or the altitude, but I feel amped at being here, keen to find a job and make it a home if I can.

It’s strange as when I walked off the plane and out of the terminal, I found myself feeling comfortable and somewhat content at the thrill of a new place. Of course that might have been the sleep deprived disorientation after having spent an overnight on Jo’burg’s airport bench (good god I hate airports that don’t think about people who want to sleep). In any case I’m kicking it around Kampala till the 10th, and I hope to get out to another of Andrew’s friend who’s doing a Peace Corp stint two hours away. I’ve been timelapsing my life away, so maybe I’ll have something to show here after a few months…

I don’t know what the articles looks like, nor do I know what other photos will be used, all I can tell you is that it’s upcoming (which might mean December given the lead time on magazines, but it could be sooner) and it should include these five photos.

If you see it can you grab a copy for me, I’d appreciate it. I’m curious if the article’s any good and I’d love to see my pictures in print.

The suspicion is not unwarranted–as you often hear here, it’s not a question of IF you will be mugged or otherwise attacked, it is only a question of WHEN.
When, for Rich and I, was last night–we were fortunate that no one was hurt and nothing was taken. Rich was able to fight the guy off and chase him away, but what struck him the most was the anger in the boys eyes and his willingness to use violence–which caused Rich to question why that was the case.

Truthfully, I think Angela has managed to talk about lots of what I’ve been thinking about in the last 24 hours. I encourage you to read her post in it’s entirety. I have been thinking about more stuff, but much of it right now is unrefined and rather a blob of stuff that isn’t entirely coherent enough for a blog.

In all I have to say this is rather ironic. In during and after the moment of being assaulted with a deadly weapon, I was fine. As a man in a storm, I survived decently. The real shock didn’t set in until much later… realizing much later that we were ridiculously lucky to have a calm head, good reactions, decent preparations, and lady luck on our side and to stupidly paranoid and panicky later.

Needless to say my first impressions of things here in Cape Town aren’t all that great right now. I do hope they improve.