Archive for the ‘West Africa’ Category
Can diamonds be a (socially responsible) girl’s best friend again?
Recently, I learned about The Clarity Project, an effort to bring fairly-mined, fairly-sourced diamonds into the jewelry market. Impressed by the venture and the website, I did an email interview with Jesse Finfrock, one of the founders. In addition to making diamond engagement rings a possibility again, The Clarity Project is a fascinating exercise in [...]
Naomi Blood Diamond Campbell?
I’m watching the live feed of the Taylor trial happening in The Hague. I’m sitting at my hotel in Freetown, with a few Sierra Leonean staff, as a defense lawyer drags out what sounds like character assassination against someone I’ve never heard of (and possibly also against Mia Farrow?) in order to un-assassinate Campbell’s character. [...]
In Sierra Leone, things are exactly as normal as they appear
In Freetown recently, I came face to face with something that made me a believer: a trash truck. A believer in what? That depends on what or whom you credit with the appearance of the trash truck. A newly buoyant national government? A streamlined UN better supporting national needs? Aid? Whatever your preferred church of [...]
The White Reporter’s Burden in Africa II: Journalists who get over it
In an effort to be productive in my criticism, here are nearly two dozen or so Western journalists I think do good work in Africa. This all started with Phil Bronstein’s Easterly-inflected praise of the courage of Nick Kristof to admit “that there is a white man’s burden in reporting on Africa.” That’s the wrong [...]
On wads of crisp, clean West African cash
Today I withdrew cash at a bank in Freetown. A dollar here is worth almost 4,000 leones, and the largest bill they print is 10,000. “Wait until you smell the money,” people always tell me before I come here. It’s true, or it was: money so dirty it had a special scent that rubbed off [...]
How to bring peace to Africa
Okay, I have no idea. That’s a teaser, one designed especially for Twitter. Sometimes, it takes a bit of cyberwhoring to get a click or two… I actually have no idea how to bring peace anywhere, but I want to know. Which is why I’m spending these coming months wandering around Africa for the Pulitzer [...]
I am a freelance journalist and multimedia producer who covers human rights, Africa and foreign affairs. [