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Child Support in the Upper West, Ghana
August 26, 2009 – 3:52 am
Entering Ghana at Hamale, we’re greeted by a friendly immigrations officer who buys us pop-corn, no gendarme, and a language we all understand: English. Comforting to know that frightful looking poster on the wall of the immigration office is a warning about avian flu, and not a warning about a monster chicken on the loose. [...]
Bamako, Bobo and Mr Barnabe
August 26, 2009 – 3:45 am
We leave Bamako at 8:30am with assurances the bus, bush power on overdrive, would cover the 670km to Bobo Dioulasso in 5 hours. A little over 5 hours later, at 11:30pm, we cross the border into Burkina Faso and seven weary travellers are unloaded on a side street in the quietly charming city of Bobo. [...]
Bamako, Mali: Bright Young People
August 15, 2009 – 4:15 am
With the Bamako Express train sitting idle on a siding, we take the bus from Dakar to Kayes, then on to Bamako, a marathon two full days of travel along mostly dirt roads. The 5am bus from Dakar is delayed by an hour and a half, but the “Swede Group” is soon on its way, [...]
Nouakchott to Dakar
August 9, 2009 – 9:22 am
Leave Nouakchott packed tightly in a classic bush taxi, an 20 year old Mercedes station wagon, four people to a row and two up front. Our rucksacks walled up at the back. The journey out of the capital takes us along mostly good roads that cut across the desert, and past the tents and enclosures [...]
Moktar Ould Daddah Foundation
July 31, 2009 – 3:34 am
Our host in Nouakchott is Azzedine Ould Daddah, the son of Mauritania’s first and most respected president, Moktar Ould Daddah. During our stay we visit the foundation established in his memory, and meet the foundation’s patron and Azzedine’s mother, Miriam Ould Daddah. Our concerns that the foundation would be politically motivated were totally unfounded. What [...]
Doulos: Serving the communities of Nouakchott
July 22, 2009 – 7:18 pm
In Nouakchott we visit doulos Community, a Christian NGO and one of the more successful small NGOs operating in Mauritania. doulos has been working with the poor of Mauritania’s emerging capital since its foundation in the mid-1980s, when a small group of inspired young American students decided they could no longer ignore the plight of [...]
An epic odyssey on the notorious Mauritanian iron ore train
July 14, 2009 – 5:11 am
Every guide book and blog states the same: 3 trains leave Nouadhibou for Choum daily, one with 2 passenger wagons. Departure at 2:30 pm. We arrived at 1:30 at the train station 5km out of town. The station is a surreal bustle of lazy activity amongst rolling sand dunes, Women seated by small ramshackle stalls [...]
Experiencing Occupation: Layounne, Smara and Al Dakhla
July 9, 2009 – 2:22 pm
From Agadir the group head south to Layounne in Morrocan occupied Western Sahara. On the way we pass through seven police checkpoints. At each our passport details are taken and we are questioned as to the nature of our visit. In Layounne we meet and stay with a known Sahwari activist with good connections with [...]
Arrested Development in Morocco
July 5, 2009 – 4:44 am
Last Saturday we went to a Gnaoua music festival in Essouria, a celebration of culture, art, and dance on the beach of Morocco. There were concerts around the city. Shows started at 4pm and went through the night. We secured interviews within a few hours of our arrival. American main act performers Arrested Development were [...]