amyuyma

He stands at 5 foot tall (generous estimate) and I put him at perhaps 40 years of age. Multiple strands of beads hang from his neck, thin and wiry like the rest of his frail looking body. His scraggly facial hair looks disheveled yet kempt at the same time, framing a wrinkled face containing large eyes romantically described as deep like pools of… No, don’t fall for it. You read about men like him in the LP!! He calls himself Kashibaba, which sounds complicated and special, but broken down just means “Kashi,” an old name for Varanasi, and “baba” which is the general term for the holy men in the city. Unimpressive, just like his general get up. He doesn’t even look all that benevolent and he’s not really trying that hard. I run through these ... read more

I am laying on a beach in Montego Bay, Jamaica. To my left, a heavyset man on his fluffy white bath towel sips gingerly from his pina colada as his pasty white man-boobs develop tell-tale red splotches. Past him on his horizon of a belly, countless other American folk bake in the sun, either sporting extremely large straw hats or torsos idiotically slathered in tanning oils, but all similarly sprawled out on bath towels that are blinding white, riddled with offensive quotations, or a neon color bright enough to assault the eyes. Conversation in English surrounds me, the American accent tinkles over every crashed wave, and the Bob Marley wafting through the air is becoming increasily untolerable. "Is everybody having fun today?" "Hey there sport, pass me the beer, will ya?" "Well I´ll be! He looks ... read more

In 1974 in Awash Valley, a 40% complete skeleton was found of the oldest known human, believed to date back 3.2 million years. She is now widely-known as the infamous "Lucy," and holds the Amharic name "Dinkenesh" as well. Archaeologists believe humans have inhabited the Awash Valley since the beginning of the species; the area is also famous for being the place where many hominid (pre-human) remains have been found as well. Africa isn't called the Cradle of Humanity without reason. To be more precise, this said Cradle is the area along the deep East African Rift amidst mountains, valleys, and plateaus. Historians and archaeologists believe this is the continent that all of our ancestors originated from, landing Ethiopia smack dab right in this Cradle which we all are said to have sprung from. Lucy's home ... read more

Armed conflict in Africa overall seems to have eased a bit in recent years but obviously still rages in certain pockets, primarily now in Darfur, Somalia, and the Congo. Conflict in Africa festers immediately in the current environment, lacking democracy, development, control on human rights, and proper governance. Really, the fundamental peacekeeping I would think should lie with Africa itself, and in fact some African governments have contributed to facilitating negotiations (such as I believe the Congo negotiations in Nairobi currently.) In reality though, Africa lacks sufficient capacity both financially and militarily, and does require the assistance of other countries beyond the continent. Other countries may provide assistance in many ways: training, intelligence, deployment, diplomacy. Why do we provide this assistance? What is Africa to us? If we were to look at this as simpl... read more

I want to describe to you how it feels to travel through Ethiopia. I want to take you with me, so that you feel like you are sitting right here next to Jos and me on this torn, itchy, plastic seat in this totally dilapidated minibus decorated with gaudy, colorful, beaded pieces of cloth that sway against each other with every jerk, creating a sound not unlike one you would get if you shook a Rastaman with beaded dreads really hard by the shoulders in rage. Sometimes Jos and I, one ear-bud for each, sing obnoxious African songs outloud out of boredom - think Toto, Lion King and Jungle Book soundtracks, and the whole bus of locals both laughs and stares at us in wonder. Shortly after our musical debuts, the driver inevitably turns on his ... read more