africa

In Africa, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has captured children, brainwashed them, and forced them to become brutal soldiers–or die. The LRA defines army training as killing another child, and they murder the children who refuse to comply.

Humanitarian organization Invisible Children wants to rescue these abducted children. Invisible Children started the Rescue, an event to raise awareness about the LRA abductions in Uganda, the DR Congo, and South Sudan. On April 25, 2009, participants in 100 cities around the world will abduct themselves in honor of the LRA’s child soldiers. Supporters will circle themselves in a family photo and leave the photo at the abduction site to symbolize their capture. They’ll march 1-3 miles, linked by a rope, to the “LRA camp” where they’ll stay overnight.  Read More »

I have a yearning for a place worlds away with strangers I have never seen, yet I hold an unexplainable love for.Africa holds an attraction I can neither convey to you, nor myself. Passion, some people strive for it, some feel they have it, but few hold it in their hearts. I never knew true passion until I discovered my attraction to Africa.  Read More »

On Wednesday February 11th 2009, a history was made. Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe by President Robert Mugabe. The winds of change were finally materializing in this long suffering country. The gravity of this occasion may not have been obvious around the world, but it was a massive day for all Zimbabweans, including myself.  Read More »

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
16 January 2009

STUDENT ORGANIZATION GOES NONPROFIT
TO BENEFIT HEALTH IN AFRICA

East Lansing - To suggest that college students armed with bananas could create anything wholesome and family-friendly may raise a few eyebrows.

But to suggest that college students and bananas are the backbone of a dynamic, progressive organization that has raised more than $150,000 to date and inspired countless people to improve basic health care in Africa? That may raise more eyebrows.  Read More »

The contrasts between the so called third and first worlds are so stark one often wonders if this is the same planet. We have sent men to the moon but there are still children in Africa dying of preventable diseases. Women in the west are more and more progressive in society while in the Congo women are the battleground with rape used as a weapon of war.  Read More »

Previous entry: a first glimpse: zonke

13 May 2008

South Africa is much the same and different as many African countries that I have visited. Same in the sense of the smell of burning oil and gasoline, shipping containers as buildings, the red dirt, the friendly people, passenger vans as taxis, crazy driving, dogs for security, chickens and goats roaming everywhere, and the seemingly common practice of taking things as they come. The differences and nuances come in the country's history - white minority oppressive rule. White people are not unheard of in this area of Africa and South Africa specifically - uncommon, but not unseen. You get a sense that you are always being watched, but in a different way than what may be experienced in other African countries without such a history. It is more of a, "why are you here" look instead of the, "oh! You are white." The history of white oppression and the current issue of white organizations taking away from the communities makes the dynamic similar in skepticism, but different in why.  Read More »

I will now begin filling in the gaps from my summer travels. I was only able to post four times during my three months in southern Africa.

My travels began in the South African capital city of Johannesburg and took me to a community development project (which became an official non-profit organization (NPO) this summer) in an informal settlement known as Zonkizizwe. Shortened to Zonke, the settlement was started during the apartheid years as a place for people commuting to live closer to their mostly inadequate jobs as farm hands, domestic workers, miners, and other menial jobs. The settlement is surrounded by farmland from which it owes its birth. The former Afrikaner farmland now houses close between 150,000 - 200,000 people (estimates are not clear). There are now other Zonkizizwe areas known as extensions. Where I was is called Zonkizizwe Proper as opposed to the five other extensions just nearby.  Read More »

Our journal focuses on relationships between development, foreign aid, health care and Africa. Articulate is a forum for students to contribute to, as well as make, the debates in international development. Undergraduate students remain a vital, untapped force that can bring new ideas, perspectives, and concepts into the development dialogue.  Read More »