A year since Africa

She's a young mother now; I met her and her rowdy friends when they

'kidnapped' me several years ago and made me take them through the 

jungle to a restaurant and buy them lunch.  :)

As of this month, it's been a year, but my heart still wanders back there.

In front of their elementary school, my friends are still

in their uniforms at the end of the day.

Calls from friends in Kenya, Facebook chat with Djibouti, Benin, Nigeria, and Sao Tome & Principe; we're still connected.

Reports come regularly from our friends and efforts.  A fellow in college, more than a hundred in schools, several families and their businesses, and a community building a preschool.

Over the years traveling in Africa, I've been offered several children for adoption; by their parents, surprisingly.  They were hoping their kids could go to the U.S. and have a better life.  It broke my heart to decline, but we're past the age where we might succeed at raising children again.

Mom and Grandpa clown around with the kids.

Nice folks; thoughtful.

My first African friend and her

family pile in for a trip to the shore.

We've partnered with several families to help them step up a bit.  Home repairs, water and electricity, kid's school uniforms and fees, ... rabbits!  They've graciously included us in their families and communities.

Sitting street-side with one of my teens.  He and the rest are

grown up, married, and with kids of their own now.

Life is simple and difficult.  Education and healthcare are a long way from universal availability.  Economic opportunity is hard to find.  Even an adequate diet is hard to pull together, and many children are undernourished with the health consequences that follow.

They spend no time at all worrying about the things that are common in the developed world.  They don't worry about their 401k, their lawn, their insurance, their bank account ... they don't have any of those things.  No careers, no job security, no choice of this college or that for their children.  Interestingly, they're better at community than their developed-world counterparts.  They're in many ways happier than most folks.  We've perhaps much to learn from them.

With a couple dozen Africa trips behind me, it looks like maybe next year before I get to see my friends in person again.

You can cal me Al; Africa sings with the world!

Mama Hope uses
humor to change
the West's view
of Africa

Nyla Rodgers is one charity official who is fed up with the way nonprofits represent Africa. Too often she sees depictions of AIDS, warfare, famine, hopelessness, desperation, and dependence on a Western hero. 

That kind of concern came to the surface when she saw the “Kony 2012” campaign by the advocacy group Invisible Children.

“When I saw the Kony campaign, it made me so mad,” says Ms. Rodgers, founding director of Mama Hope, aSan Francisco charity that works in Ghana, Kenya,Tanzania, and Uganda to start farms and build schools, health centers, and other facilities that strengthen communities.

RELATED: After Kony 2012: Three ways NGOs can work with Africans as equals

But long before that campaign, her charity started working to create new perceptions of Africa and to show that it is full of capable people with the potential to support themselves. Her nonprofit has released three videos over the past year as part of its “Stop the Pity” campaign, using humor to create a new conversation about the continent and humanize the people who live there.

In the first, published in February 2011, a 9-year-old African boy explains in detail the plot of his favorite movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Commando.” 

In another, Americans and Africans sing along to Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al.”

The most fun

Of the occasions in life for being happy, playing at the beach perhaps tops the list when you're young.

In the distance, tiny silhouettes... the kids have the beach pretty much to themselves today.  Big sister and grandma are watching from the shore, in case you were wondering. 






In an as yet undiscovered country, smaller than most actually, the beaches are rarely crowded and then, not with tourists.  

Local folks enjoy the beauty and moderate weather of the equatorial climate.  Sao Tome & Principe is a tiny island country in the Gulf of Guinea on the western side of Africa.

It used to be a Portuguese colony, but has been independent since the seventies.  Among the world's nicest folks.  No significant violence or crime, no really dangerous animals, and no reason to rush.

It's a rare blessing to visit such a place.   

It's Friday afternoon, and all things considered, I'd rather be in Africa.

(just some photos from a recent trip; reminders in this cold February of what it's like to be warm)

African harvest!

Dad and daughters at the family farm; this is the okra section!
Sao Tome & Principe, West Africa

OKRA!

Our friends show off the okra on their farm. Apparently, this stuff is prolific in the right climate. Dad and daughters say they walk through the okra section about once a week to pull down a fair number of pods; more than enough to eat and to sell. It's healthy stuff, of course.

This year's upgrade to the farm; they've run a water line to the northern edge. It lets them water the plants that are sensitive to the need. The climate is fairly polite about raining when you need it, but having a water line means you can maximize the return from your work.
Okra, beans, corn (maize), manioc, and a lot of things I don't recognize. Palm oil too. My friends are hard workers, and it was entertaining for us all to walk the farm; they're justifiably proud of their success. 
Mom and baby boy (left); he's grown a bit, we notice; about 6 feet tall now.  

They live maybe two miles from the ocean. Beautiful and still undiscovered by most of the world.

I don't take most of the photos you see, by the way. The kids do, usually, and sometimes their folks get in on the fun.

Mom and girls on an unoccupied beach; if it was anywhere near my house, I'd be here instead of home most days.