September 6, 2006

Rebecca’s mom sent us an article from the Times Sunday Styles section about Americans, especially American celebrities, becoming more involved in Africa.

The premise of the article is, essentially, that Americans find that in a complex world, Africa’s problems are simple and easy to understand. There are poor people with AIDS stuck in a continent ravaged by civil war. Let’s help them. It’s a lot easier than getting involved in Iraq or Lebanon or even fighting global warming. There’s a clear problem and apparent solution. One young woman interviewed in the article said something like, “Africa’s simple.” Plus, Africans like the help and it makes us feel good.

I’m not going to take issue with celebrities coming to do “fact finding” missions in Africa. Sure, some of them are silly, unserious people. But Bono and Angelina Jolie and Don Cheadle and George Clooney know their stuff. I may not agree with the conclusions they’ve drawn on their “fact finding” missions, and I think one of those people managed to get himself snookered far too easily by the snakes who run our country, but they’re engaged and knowledgeable. That’s all that matters. Lindsay Lohan? Not so much. But if visiting a Kenyan AIDS orphanage makes her feel good and doesn’t hurt anyone, who cares?

The issue I have is with the premise that Africa is simple. It’s not. Even writing, “Africa is” makes me cringe. There are 53 countries, and each of them has its specific batch of problems. The article points out one church that raised money for a hospital in Tanzania, and that a group in Dobbs Ferry did a silent auction to support some cause or another in some country or another. I think that’s great that people care so much. They see the suffering and the work not getting done and decided to do something about it. The hospitals and stuff need to be built. They just shouldn’t be built by us. That’s where the questions in Africa stop being simple.

Cameroon’s roads are deadly. Does the government fix them? No. Do Cameroonians clamor for their government to fix them? A little, but not that much. Do Cameroonians slow down on their terrible roads and avoid occasionally death-defying, but all too often death-enabling, passes on the bad roads in the rain? Definitely not. So all the hospitals built by churches and the roads built by France, Italy or China aren’t going to do all that much. And all that money from debt relief? I’ll believe it goes where it’s supposed to go when the Cameroonian government builds the roads and hospitals.

I love the American instinct, even if it shows a little bit of neediness on our part. It’s nice to feel liked and wanted, right? There’s nothing wrong with that. But if people think that there are simple answers that don’t require real changes within Africa by Africans, they’re not actually helping.

……….

Cameroon beat Rwanda, 3-0, in Kigali on Sunday in a qualifying match for the 2008 African Cup of Nations. I didn’t watch, but my heart was with Cameroon. I’ve just felt better here, for all its problems.

But I got an e-mail on Monday from my dear friend Magnus bemoaning the loss, saying that except for a couple of players, Rwanda was just as good. I really can’t speak to that. He might be right. Yesterday, I was taking photos for a potential story (see below), and all these Cameroonian musicians were laughing about the Rwandan footballers. I felt an urge to defend the Rwandan side, but chickened out. My French isn’t that good yet.

………..

The dream is dead. The mysterious wireless Internet that had been flowing into our apartment has been locked. I don’t have the password, and I don’t know who to get it from. Bec and I figured that after the around three weeks that we’ve had the connection, the people who actually owned it wouldn’t bother locking it down. But they did, and that means that I can no longer watch Yankee day games on the ESPN.com Gamecasts. Have you seen this? It’s amazing. In real time, it follows every pitch of a baseball game. There’s no commentary or video, but I at least know who’s winning, and I can feel like I’m watching.

We have a friend from the American embassy that just moved in down the street. I can’t wait for him to get his Armed Forces Network television hookup. He’ll get all the games. It almost makes joining the Foreign Service seem worth it. But after talking to friends, it’s not necessarily a happy place to be these days. One person told me “the noose is tightening” in reference to the Bushies. What have we done?

………

I created a minor security incident today at the US embassy. Normally, when visiting someone there, a visitor has to be escorted out. When I was done with my appointment, I just went out on my own, bouncing down the hall. I’ve been there enough to know my way out.

The Marines were buzzing in their security booth. One of them said, “Who’s office were you in?” I mentioned the two people. They asked if they accompanied me. I said no. "Should they have?" The Marines looked really worried.

I guess they think I stole some secret documents or something. I’m hoping they went into lockdown.

………..

I’m still not sure if I’m going to Chad. Hopefully I’ll know soon, like within the week. Meanwhile, before I go to vacationland, I’ve been working on a fun story about musicians and their fight against music piracy. I won’t tell you whom it’s for until it actually gets published. Because it’s the first time I’ve written for this paper, the story’s on spec, which means I give it to the editors and they decide whether they want it or not. So as always, no jinxing. I should have it done within a week or so.

………

Finally, if you’re in Brooklyn, you have to go to Joyce Bakeshop . I’m putting in this link because it has the address and phone number. For those of you who don’t know, Joyce is Mo’s wife. And she’s a fabulous pastry chef. Skinny Mo even had a belly for a little while.

Give her a try. You won’t be disappointed.