I’m about 50 pages into King Leopold’s Ghost and it’s already rote with great quotes.
Congolese perceptions of slave traders
“The whites were thought to turn their captives’ flesh into salt meat, their brains into cheese, and their blood into the red wine that Europeans drank”
The Congo River
“So great is the drop and the volume of water that these 220 miles have as much hydroelectric potential as all the lakes and rivers of the United States combined”
Interesting position on British expedition.
“another expedition member was simply listed as Volunteer and Observant Gentleman.”
What’s wrong with the brits?
“At a rare calm stretch (of the Congo River) Tuckey observed, rather provincially that “the scenery was beautiful and not inferior to any on the banks of the Thames.”
Today I met with people from GTZ (Dutch-German Partnership Energising Development) about a solar product that they are attempting to launch both here in Boane and in Matutuine in districts that are off the energy grid. There are two products 1) a solar lamp with built in radio ($40) 2) a larger battery unit that you can plug lights, cellphone chargers, radios, etc. into. ($100). While that price may seem cheap to you, it seems a bit expensive to me. Let me tell you why.
GTZ wants to microfinance the purchase of these products with a loan term of 6 months. $40 is around MT 1200, so over 6 months you would be paying back principal of MT 200/month plus interest. A typical monthly energy bill for a Mozambican family is around MT 300-400. So in financing your solar lamp you’re almost paying the equivalent of an entire months energy bill while only getting one lamp. Won’t these people feel cheated, or do you think the marginal benefit of one unit of lighting is so great that it is worth making a payment almost equal to a monthly energy bill. Obviously after 6 months you don’t have to make any more payments, but the lamp is also only guaranteed for 6 months. And keep in mind that these people don’t otherwise have energy. So maybe I’m wrong?
If a solar panel can be produced for $2/watt and LED lamps can be run with 1 or 2 watts of energy shouldn’t a solar lamp products cost less than $10? Scientists?
That’s the title of a piece I just posted to the Kiva Fellows blog.
Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe, right? Well, yes and no. Although that text is lifted directly from the about us section of Kiva’s website it doesn’t tell the complete story. If your zeal for Kiva has lead you to spend late nights combing through Kiva loans you may have also noticed loans for housing, education, and personal use. Alas, how is building a home, going to school or buying a refrigerator an entrepreneurial activity. None of these activities are inherently entrepreneurial, but they are all deeply connected to Kiva’s umbrelic mission to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Let me tell you a few things you may not know about the housing market…
Read the rest of the post and watch the video here
When asked “what do you want to be when you grow up?” as a wee little 1st grader a lot of thoughts came to my mind. I wanted to be like Christopher Columbus or Vasco da Gama, sail on ships, explore new lands and drink beer with peg legged salts (not slaughter the natives). It didn’t take long (probably 2nd grade) to realize that I wasn’t going to live my life sailing the high seas and fighting scurvy. Nevertheless I’ve done a decent amount of adventure seeking in my life. That being said never ever did I think I would be able to say “yeah, you know, last weekend I went to a Mozambican wedding in my Ugandan suit, did some dancing, it got pretty crazy”, but that’s exactly what happened last weekend. Here’s the video complete with dancing, dancing, more dancing, singing and a short interview. Enjoy!
In Mozambique toys are a real luxury item. When I’m out in the field walking around during the day there are always gangs of children out in the streets ingeniously entertaining themselves. Some are playing Mozambican forms of tag, others are playing “road” games with rocks and game boards drawn into the dirt road, and the most industrious and resoureful are playing with toys they built themselves, usually with discarded materials found in piles of trash. My favorite toys are always the wire framed cars. These things are awesome! Before I leave I want to make friends with one of these juvenile rabble-rousers and learn how to make my own car. Here’s a pic.
Update: My friend Julie, member of the KF7 class in Cambodia, wrote a great blog post, replete with videos, about children playing in rural Cambodia. Here.
I just uploaded some videos of my favorite kiva/hluvuku clients. Sousa Lipanga is by far my absolute favorite, I have eaten beef and drank beer on many occasions at his fine establishment. Bernardo Armando is the organic farmer that I have previously written about. Beware that the content of his video is a lot more Monsanto Corporation than it is Michael Pollan, but please forgive him, he’s just trying to feed the Mozambican people. Magret Banda is a real powerhouse, Martha Stewart type, the day I visited her she was simultaneously reprimanding her son for not wearing the proper school uniform, giving orders to a team of electricians and answering my questions. Enjoy
So apparently Winston Churchill really liked Uganda. While defiling a Ugandan bathroom I noticed a Churchill quote on the wall, “A lot of people are asking me about my journey to Africa, it can be summed up in three words ‘concentrate on Uganda’”. Pretty typical imperialist quote from a pretentious Englishman.
Anyway, while I don’t much like England, I really liked Uganda. Read more and watch the video about the adventures on the Kiva Fellows blog here!
Also, if you missed my last video, you can check that out here!
Here are a few more pics of the Paris of South Eastern Africa. From this angle she actually shines mighty fine. I took these pictures last Friday while taking the ferry from Catembe to Maputo. It was an extremely beautiful day. I felt like I was out on the French Riviera or something, minus the yacht and the caviar.
You have to support the national champion, especially when you show up for your flight an hour beforehand and nobody has yet arrived to check people in. I also like the fact that they still fly prop planes. Here’s the plane I flew on for the first leg of my Uganda trip.
The finest bird in the LAM fleet (I took this from Maputo to Jo'burg)
Angola Airlines
The national champion of oil and diamond bloated Angola. You have to respect any airline that has daily flights from Jo’burg to Benguela (for personal reasons one of the cities closest to the top of my “to visit” list).
I apologize for having left my loyal readers high and dry for the past week. Last Wednesday Hluvuku’s total internet connections went from two to one (my connection was the one that was sacrificed). That was the first impediment to my continual stream of blogging. The second issue that I faced was four days of arduous travel in Uganda (Another post and video about Uganda is coming soon)!!! Over the last couple days I have been devising a plan that should get me back to the internet with decent frequency and ensure that my blog updates continue as normal. For your troubles I have created (and found a way to upload) a fun, comedic video about where I live and a couple things that go on here. Enjoy!
