Archive for the ‘West Africa’ Category
Today in “diplomats who didn’t answer the question”
US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice’s statement and q&a at the Security Council stakeout: REPORTER: Madame Ambassador, just one follow up, there has been a lot of talk about this possibly turning into renewed civil war, and we have seen this standoff now dragging on for several days. How concerned is the United States [...]
Media training dollars run amok?
Thanks to @penelopeinparis for highlighting this great opinion piece from Tom Kamara, editor and publisher of Liberia’s New Democrat newspaper. Kamara questions the utility of the media training donors seem so eager to pour money into. He makes some good points: “Journalism is a profession requiring training and skills development. It takes years, not days [...]
If you’ve got a radio, you can hear my voice
I have a short radio essay, “The Music of Language,” about the cacophony and the calm of working across a handful of languages, on National Public Radio’s World Vision Report this weekend. Check your local listings for times, or listen to it online starting at midnight, pacific time. Thanks to my favorite Dutchman, who shall [...]
On Liberia, justice, the TRC and the Diaspora (or, Get thee to Staten Island!)
Here’s an invitation I got by email for a fascinating event on Liberia happening in New York soon. Jerome Verdier, TRC chair, keynotes. If anyone happens to attend I’d love to hear about it. SAVE THE DATE! SYMPOSIUM ON THE LIBERIAN TRC PROCESS: REFORM, REDRESS, AND RECOVERY Presented by African Refuge, Inc. International Trauma Studies [...]
Liberia’s “Rape Court”: Progress for women and girls delayed?
Last year, I reported with the intrepid Glenna Gordon a story about Liberia’s Court E, a court chamber in the capital city of Monrovia dedicated only to rape cases. The court, which will turn two in Februrary, was a direct response to what many people we met called a rape “epidemic” in Liberia. The country’s [...]
Africa: “A whole continent for helping white people understand poverty”
This is a series of photographs called “I Studied Abroad in Africa!” in which white people are called out/picked on for their real or presumed ridiculousness in Africa. They’re not bad, though the targets’re pretty easy (on the other hand,the Justin Bieber joke is classic). Really I’m sharing the link (h/t Glenna Gordon) because of [...]
I am a freelance journalist and multimedia producer who covers human rights, Africa and foreign affairs. [