It's hard to really understand big problems. The best communicators know how to make statistics real. There's a group of San Diego college students who are making the AIDS statistics of Africa real on their campuses by

1. Wearing orange t-shirts at school to replicate the proportion of children who are orphaned by AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa-one out of 20

2. They are also inviting people to experience AIDS through a 1600 sq ft interactive exhibit complete with audio and visuals telling the story of people's lives affected by AIDS

Read more about it here Acting on Aids

It seems that the Bush administration is still having a difficult time with putting pressure on Sudan. With an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 death count and over 2.5 million people displaced I would venture to call that terrorism. So what happened to the war on terror? Evidently there is not enough oil to put pressure on an obviously corrupt and evil regime. Read more about the U.S. "involvement" in the Darfur conflict here Activists glum despite approval of sanctions

Yesterday my wife asked me how I developed a passion for Africa?

Of course I had a numbered list:

1. Being African American my roots are in Africa so I desperately long for the culture, history, and brotherhood of my fellow Africans.

2. My family particularly my grandfather and uncle influenced me in being proud of being black and proud of being from Africa.

3. I remember watching the miniseries Shaka Zulu and thinking "I am drawn to the people and the places of this movie"

4. In my college geography class my teacher Matt Ebiner had actually been to the places he taught about including Africa and so he showed the pictures and I was raptured. Especially the ones from Ethiopia the oldest country in the world and the only non colonized christian nation in Africa.

5. Last but not least it's just in me. You can't really explain some things like why you prefer chai tea to peppermint or why you like the mountains more than the beach. It just is. My passion for Africa just is.

It's not all bad news in Africa say a roundtable of 200 journalists from all over the continent.

Africa seems to have the same problem as inner city America. Bad press. It seems as though the powers that be only want to portray what's bad in Africa and not what's good and so it contributes to hopelessness and apathy on the part of foreigners and the citizens of Africa's 52 nations. There is more than war, aids, and poverty in Africa. Positive economic and democratic developments are being made daily. Not to mention the achievements of some of the richest cultures and brightest minds on the planet.

Let's have some good news on Africa

Here is a link to Invisible Children an organization that is doing alot of work for the children of northern Uganda. They led a big event in 2006 called the global night commute where people from 136 cities signed up to sleep outside as an urgent plea to the US government to help put a stop to the war in northern Uganda.

So many people say the situation in Africa is so big what can I do? Well Invisible Children has shown us.

Uganda: LRA Rebels Threaten to Quit Talks: "The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have threatened to abandon peace talks with the Government."

Let's pray that the LRA doesn't abandon peace talks with the Ugandan government. This is the group that recruits child soliders. Not only is this fighting detrimental in the short term but they are contributing to a whole generation of broken and messed up Ugandans.

Check out Lonely Planet's guide for Somalia

The travel preparations for visiting a country should not include a kevlar vest!

What can be done to stop the ongoing conflict that is now escalating to include other nations like Ethiopia and the United States?

Somalia: Islamists Threaten to Combat Ethiopia As More New Troops Reach Baidoa: "Somalia's Islamic Courts have today said that large number of Ethiopian troops entered Somalia."

I was recently in Ethiopia when we first heard the news of these troop deployments. The Somalian leader Yusuf is relying on Ethiopia for backup. It's funny but this leader's attempt for peace is dividing Somalia and creating more enmity between the two countries. Once again it's a political and potentially violent clash that has it's source in religion.

Extremists tear down an Anglican cathedral in Nigeria.

Extremists in Nigeria

What makes religion so violent? Is it when a religion becomes all of your life? Islam and Christianity are very holistic. I think this breeds an intense dedication and devotion. Is this love and devotion why they have been some of the most violent religions?

This is my first post. This blog is totally dedicated to Africa. News, culture, and my own random observations