I ran into a Kenyan couple last weekend at a party in Chicago.  I thought I was being gracious when I mentioned to them how excited they must be to see Barak Obama do so well in the US presidential primaries.  To my utter amazement, they eyed me suspiciously.  So I persisted, “You know, he […]

The fact that most Haitians live well below the poverty level should baffle us all. It should make us sit up and wonder how it is that such a proud nation, with such a revolutionary history, that started off as such a leader in the African Diaspora has fallen to this level. An […]

President Bush has embarked on a whirlwind tour of Africa - 5 African countries in 6 days! A few things strike me about this trip. First, how do you visit 5 countries in 6 days? Are you hoping to really visit or just touch down and make a point? For instance, […]

I’ve been watching, with a mixture of fear and horror, the fight for power between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga in the wake of the last Kenyan presidential elections. People went to the polls in Kenya, hoping for a smooth political process. The Kikuyu, the Luo, and other ethnic groups worked to keep Kenya […]