Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been named one of the “100 Top Global Thinkers of 2010” by Washington, DC-based Foreign Policy (FP) magazine. President Sirleaf is the only African head of state on the coveted list of who’s who in international politics and governance. In an introductory letter, Susan Glasser, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, says the list “fully reflects the new world.”
“With the world’s most developed economies still in crisis, it’s no surprise that many thinkers on our list are political leaders, big-time technocrats, and intellectual combatants struggling to make sense of what’s happening,” says Glasser.
FP magazine says President Sirleaf belongs to the global “smart crowd” because, among other things, she has moved Liberia “away from a troubled past” to a prosperous future in just four years.
The premier international magazine developed rigorous selection criteria and assessed hundreds of personalities worldwide to come up with 100 of the finest brains and “unique portraits of 2010’s” world leaders who are truly making a difference. The list includes billionaire philanthropists Warren Buffett and Bill Gates both at number one, with U.S. President Barack Obama at three, France’s Finance Minister Christine Lagarde at 22, while President Sirleaf is at 85, among many other global luminaries.
In selecting Africa’s first female president, the magazine recognized Johnson-Sirleaf for uplifting the lives of ordinary Liberians and rescuing the country from the abyss since taking office in 2006, which has won her a boatload of accolades around the world.
“The years since have seen impressive success: Liberia boasts one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, former warlord-president Charles Taylor has been captured and put on trial for war crimes,” writes FP. “Sirleaf has appointed women to lead a quarter of her ministries, and the country is beginning to rebuild its battered institutions and infrastructure.“
Nevertheless, FP acknowledged that President Sirleaf’s, also known as the “Iron Lady”, toughest fight is against “endemic corruption,” which has dogged her administration and seen “some of her closest allies being forced to step down amid ongoing investigations.”
“Today we have a much empowered society in which accountability is demanded by the people,” the magazine quoted her as saying.
Despite these challenges, FP says President Sirleaf, who is running for a second six-year term, still enjoys tremendous respect and “the world’s trust” for her competent stewardship over Liberia and its resources.
Lane Ayres of Books for Africa's Law and Democracy Initiative, Former US Vice President Walter Mondale, Tom Pfeifer of Thomson Reuters, former Mayor of Minneapolis Sharon Sayles Belton and Tom Gitaa, Books for Africa Board President watch on at the signing of the MoU at Thomson Reuters. Photo: Guy Western/Mshale
Lane Ayres of Books for Africa's Law and Democracy Initiative, Former US Vice President Walter Mondale, Tom Pfeifer of Thomson Reuters, former Mayor of Minneapolis Sharon Sayles Belton and Tom Gitaa, Books for Africa Board President watch on at the signing of the MoU at Thomson Reuters. Photo: Guy Western/Mshale
Books for Africa, the largest shipper of donated text books to Africa and Thomson Reuters – Legal, the legal publishing behemoth, on Monday signed a $1.2 million agreement aimed at supporting governing institutions and the rule of law in Africa’s emerging democracies.
The agreement signed at Thomson Reuters’ headquarters in Eagan, Minnesota, is directed at Books for Africa’s Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative and will include the provision of $1.2 million worth of legal education books and materials to law schools in Africa’s developing democracies. Thomson Reuters funds to offset the shipping costs of the legal texts and will continue to provide advertising, logistical and printing support to Books for Africa and the Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative.
Since 1988, Books for Africa has shipped 22 million books from its St. Paul warehouse and new Atlanta warehouse to fill the empty shelves of the libraries of 45 African countries.
The signing on Monday was a culmination of more than three years of collaboration between Books for Africa and Thomson Reuters.
Present at the formalization ceremony were former United States Vice President Walter Mondale, Thomson Reuters CEO Peter Warwick, Chief Judge Michael Davis of the U.S. District of Minnesota, Director Lane Ayres of the Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative, and former Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton. Former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, gave remarks via a recorded message.
The memorandum formalizing the partnership was signed by Board Chair Tom Gitaa for Books for Africa and CEO Peter Warwick for Thomson Reuters – Legal. Also signing in their respective roles was Mr. Walter Mondale as co-chair of the LDI, Lane Ayres as the LDI Director and Tom Pfeiffer, Senior VP at Thomson Reuters and Sharon Sayles Belton, VP for Governmental Affairs at Thomson Reuters.
Thomson Reuters CEO Peter Warwick holds up the signed MoU at the Thomson Reuters headquarters. Photo: Guy Western/Mshale
Kofi Annan’s message was highly supportive saying that “the rule of law as a mere concept is not enough . . . it must permeate our lives” and that BFA/TR partnership was a needed effort to provide the tangible means to bring this about. Former Secretary-General Annan said the formalization of the partnership was a fitting tribute to the memory of his former classmate, Jack Mason.
Vice President Mondale voiced his hope that providing these much-needed books would become the means to educate role models throughout the African continent to nurture home-grown respect for justice and “the Rule of Law, including the right to vote in free and fair elections, or the right to establish a business without the threat of militia rule or extortion.”
Law and Democracy Initiative Director, Lane Ayres, whose determination made the partnership a reality, directed the hard work of selecting the more than 350 titles most critical to build resource libraries, supply classroom texts, and provide the necessary background sources on human rights. A set of more than 600 volumes required to form the educational foundation of the democratic movement toward greater nation-by-nation justice and the rule of law.
Director Ayres introduced Christina Holder, an attorney with field experience in Zambia, and Masango Matimura, a U of M Humphrey Fellowship scholar from Zimbabwe. Ms. Holder told Mshale that the concept and the desire for the rule of law were there, even in the rural areas of Zambia, and that education was the key to making it a reality.
Masango Matimura had been a community organizer in Zimbabwe and is a Humphrey Fellow at the University of Minnesota Human Rights Center Law School. He told Mshale that the momentum for the establishment of the rule of law as a human rights authority must come from the people in the local communities. Mr. Matimura said that local leaders will see the benefit of the rule of law for themselves and for their community members when the practical benefits are made available to them by fellow Zimbabweans schooled in the application of justice and human rights. Without the textbooks supplied by this collaboration, such a movement would not be possible.
Mr. Matimura said he would urge members of the African community of the Twin Cities to “take advantage of the opportunity while here in America to get the benefit of learning and experience to bring a positive influence back home”, underscoring the theme of the formalization ceremony between Books for Africa and Thomson Reuters-the need for education and the physical means to make that possible–22,000 books per year to feed the hunger of African nations for justice, democracy, and the rule of law.
The Law & Democracy Initiative is named in honor of the late Jack Mason, a federal magistrate judge and former Books for Africa board member. Former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan and former United States Vice President, Walter Mondale, are co-chairs of the initiative.
At a time when immigration reform keeps floundering in Congress, the US Army still offers a fast track to citizenship for immigrants who enlist.
Emma Cott, co-director/producer of New American Soldier, discusses her documentary, which focuses on immigrants who join the armed forces and on the way the military is portrayed in films.
Posing for cameras at a red-carpet event is an everyday occurrence in the entertainment world, an almost mandatory requirement for Celebrity 101.
But for Sade, a woman who has had arguably the most uncommon career in music, doing things that typical stars do is atypical. So when she decided to walk before paparazzi at Alicia Keys’ Black Ball for Keys’ Keep a Child Alive charity a few months ago, it was an event in itself, and a first for the enigmatic performer.
“I don’t think I’m a good star. I don’t do all the stuff,” remarked Sade in a recent interview, chuckling about her career milestone at the charity event, where she also performed. “I think I’ll remain a novice; I’m not going down there again, at least not for a while.”
While red carpets may not be in her future, Sade seems to be sharing a bit more of herself with her most recent comeback, the release earlier this year of “Soldier of Love.” The critically acclaimed album, which has a strong chance to be among those mentioned when the Grammy nominations are announced Wednesday, debuted at No. 1 on the album charts when it was released in February. It came after a 10-year break from recording for Sade, the band that she fronts and bears her name.
The 51-year-old Sade is known as much for her reclusive nature as her captivating, hypnotic slow grooves. In an era when performers rarely cede the spotlight, putting out project after project and lending their names to clothing lines, fragrances, video games and more, Sade only appears when she has new music, and a new Sade album is, in itself, an event. Her last album was 2000’s “Lovers Rock,” and that followed an eight-year break from making music.
So it was slightly surprising to see Sade singing on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” after the album’s release. She appeared in a hilarious skit with Wanda Sykes on the comedian’s now defunct late show, and appeared on shows like BET’s “106 & Park” to promote the platinum-selling album.
She acknowledges that she’s feeling slightly more comfortable in the media’s gaze.
Media owners from across the African continent have vowed to end reliance on donor funding and rid the industry of corrupt practices.
“This is a watershed moment that holds out the promise of a new dawn in African media,” said Trevor Ncube, co-chairman of the African Media Initiative, a continent-wide body that sponsors the African Media Leaders Forum.
The three year old Forum brought together more than 225 African media owners from 48 African countries, as well as international media experts. The purpose of the meeting was aimed at coming to a consensus around the best ways to develop an African media that meets the needs of a dramatically changing media landscape, while instilling the highest professional standards and ethical reporting.
Attending the meeting were representatives from African financial institutions that pledged to assist in transforming media institutions into both viable businesses and effective purveyors of credible news and information.
“News businesses across the world are facing fundamental shifts due to changes in content, demographic profiles, and technology” said Amadou Mahtar Ba, ChiefExecutive Officer of AMI. “By bringing African media owners together, the AMLF hopes to raise the profile of issues central to development of African media , as well as African democracy.”
Headlined speakers included H.E. Issa Bakary Tchiroma, Minister of Communications; Trevor Ncube and Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Co-Chairs of the African Media Initiative (AMI), Arnold Ekpe, Group CEO of Ecobank, Papa Madiaw Ndiaye, CEO Advanced Finance & Investment Group, Colin Mukete, CEO, Spectrum Media Group and host of AMLF 2010; Eric Chinje, World Bank Manager for Media Development; and Amadou Mahtar Ba, CEO, AMI, among others.
“We are delighted to welcome African media leaders to Cameroon for the first time,” said Colin Mukete. “African media are playing an important role in democratic development, a contribution that needs to be nurtured and nourished with ideas, financing, and best practice.”
The Yaoundé meeting focused on critical issues affecting African media, including new financing tools; easing barriers that impede access to capital; promoting principled journalism through professional, ethical reporting; strengthening media’s role in African development, and curtailing the threats to media freedom that undermine democracy and limit people’s participation in democratic processes.
The AMLF is the single-largest annual gathering of African media owners meeting to discuss issues concerning media development and financing in Africa. The Yaoundé meeting featured a mix of plenary and technical break-out sessions.
“Media can help accelerate Africa’s economic and social advance,” said Hunter-Gault, an award winning journalist based in South Africa. “This meeting comes at a time when Africa is experiencing sustained economic growth in many sub-Saharan African countries. Africa needs a strong media to record these changes and to help its people understand and be a part of what could finally result in an African Renaissance.
Eric Chinje, a World Bank Media Development specialist and a member of the AMI Board, said he was happy to see the Forum meeting in his native Cameroon. “By convening the Yaoundé Forum in Africa’s heartland, we want to send a strong message that media matters for African development. The AMLF is a credible, professional association that is committed to bringing about transformational change in African media.”
Among those also in attendance were representatives from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, early supporters of AMI and this first initiative, Omydiar Network, the African Development Bank , Norwegian Development Agency, the African Union , the International Center for Journalist, the Coca Cola Company, the Spectrum Media Group.
The African Media Initiative Headquarters is in Nairobi, Kenya.
Honors for “Excellence and Service” at the African Awards Gala
Hollywood actor, Adetokumboh M’Cormack, of “Blood Diamonds” and “Lost” keynotes
MINNEAPOLIS – A veritable who’s who of the African immigrant community in the Midwest strode through the doors of the downtown Minneapolis Hilton on September 18 for the second annual African Awards Dinner presented by Mshale Newspaper.
Guests comprising of African professionals, academia and the business community dazzled in colorful African ceremonial attire and handsome black tie.
Sponsored by among others M & I Bank, the evening shone a light on this year’s honorees of the African Awards. The four individuals and a multi-million dollar African owned business were then serenaded by a special song composed and sang by Leila Gitaa, daughter of Mshale founder and publisher, Tom Gitaa.
The elegant evening featured a keynote speech by Hollywood actor, Sierra Leone born, Adetokumboh M’Cormack, who has starred in such movies as Blood Diamonds and the TV series LOST. Mr. M’Cormack shared his story of how he made it Hollywood by overcoming naysayers and “staying focused”.
Former Minneapolis news anchor, Robyne Robinson, was the evening’s emcee.
Four categories were awarded: Community leadership, African Business of the Year, Friend of the Community and Student of the Year.
The evening kicked off with a cocktail reception followed by a sumptuous dinner consisting of Chicken and rice pilaf.
First off on the stage to receive her Student of the Year Award was Elly Roimen-Mathenge, a native of Kenya and an MBA student at Capella University.
She thanked her husband of three years, Patrick, for nominating her for the award. She said ‘this motivates me to aim even higher,” to cheers from the audience.
Despite being a full-time mother, a student and having a full-time job, Mathenge still finds the time to give back to her community. She has volunteered with the Catholic Charities to cook and feed for homeless people during the holidays for the last two years.
Mathenge has been in a leadership position with the Kenyan Women in Minnesota (KWM). She is active in the Kenyan community in Minnesota promoting unity within it.
Mathenge is a mother of two and lives in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota with her husband, Munene Mathenge.
Receiving the Community Leadership Award was Ahmed Sirleaf, a native of Liberia. He is a program associate in the International Justice Program at The Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis. In the African community and especially within Liberian circles in the United States, he is best known for his involvement and leadership role with the Liberian Reconciliation and Truth Commission, which encouraged Liberians in the Diaspora to take part in an investigation of human rights abuses during the civil war.
Clutching the specially designed trophy commissioned by Mshale and made in Africa, Mr, Sirleaf said “i really appreciate this award and this trophy as it is from my people.” he then shared with the guests that what he enjoys most about his work is the ability it provides to have “a positive impact on people’s lives while promoting human rights.”
Mr. Sirleaf and his wife Venus live in the Twin Cities and have two little girls, Hawah Jasmine and Oumu Koja and their son born in July.
Dr. BraVada Garret-Akinsanya, a licensed clinical psychologist and the Executive Director of the African American Child Wellness Institute, was this year’s recipient of the Friend of the Community Award.
Dr. Garrett- Akinsanya was so moved by the award that she gave the most tearful of acceptance speeches, thanking Mshale for the award and Mshale Founder, Tom Gitaa, for his “vision” in having the awards and “giving to those who have not asked for anything”. She concluded a well received acceptance speech by calling for love in the community.
In addition to her many accomplishments, Dr. Garrett-Akinsanya currently sits on the State of Minnesota’s Sub-committee for Children’s Mental Health. She has worked in the field of mental health for over 28 years in a variety of public and private treatment settings.
Dr. Garrett-Akinsanya enjoys racquetball, writing, African cooking and traveling to exotic locations. She currently lives in Plymouth, Minnesota with her husband and soul mate of twenty-three years, Mr. Akinyele Akinsanya.
Metropolitan Transportation Network, Inc. (MTN Inc.) is one of the leading companies providing standard transportation services in Minnesota. It is one of the leading companies in the school bus transportation industry and is one of the fastest growing transportation companies in the upper Midwest region with estimated revenues of over US $7 million in 2010.
The company was started by Ethiopian-born, Tashitaa Tufaa after he lost his job with the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. He was later joined by his extended family consisting of Gebi Koji, Anbassa Bukula and Tibesso Dayassa.
Mr. Tufaa was joined on stage at the African Awards Dinner by his extended family to give the acceptance speech to demonstrate the importance that team work plays in the success of their company. All three family members emphasized the importance their employees play in making the company a success.
“In this difficult economy, MTN has created and still provides employment opportunities to the African and mainstream communities. With nearly 190 employees, MTN Inc. makes sure to create jobs while maintaining our good name and helping our community as well,” said Gebi Koji.
“Our communities are our daily life and no one can live without it. Anything that affects the community is bound to affect you. That is why we work real hard to be a leader,” added Tufaa.
“Six years ago, we couldn’t imagine being at this level, forget getting an award from Mshale. This is really special. This is a symbol of strength and growth to us.”
The evenings’ keynote speaker, Mr. M’Cormack, shared his early experiences about following one’s dreams. He said when he first told his father that he wanted to pursue a career in acting, after a brief pause his father replied, “you are going to do this the right way” by attending acting school to receive the right raining. He moved to New York and signed up at the prestigious Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film at SUNY Purchase.
“My parents encouraged my siblings and I to dream big. And it didn’t matter if we wanted to be doctors lawyers, presidents – it was about being the best we could be”, he said.
The Actor/Producer described the challenegs that he has faced and overcome to be a success. he has declined Hollywood roles that have portrayed Africans and Blacks as not intelligent enough, sharing how when he was asked to play a taxi driver teh role called for him to “dumb it down” as he was playing it “too intelligently”.
He added : “I think Chinua Achebe said it best when he said “One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised”. We cannot compromise who we are because we fail to be a good example. I wanted people to know that my chocolate skin and wide African nose can play other characters. I would tell my agents I wanted to play characters that were more interesting and compelling and do projects that made an impact.”
Mr. M’Cormack said he was happy to be part of the Blood Diamonds movie as it made a political statement and brought attention to a decade long civil war.
He called on those present to be pillars of support for each other and to “push each other to succeed.”
The winners were chosen through a nomination and voting process by authenticated users on AfricanAwards.com. Nominated names in the different categories were then submitted to a panel of four judges chaired by retired Hennepin County Judge, the Honorable Harry Crump. The panel then pared down the names to three for each category. The finalists were then voted upon by the same authenticated users on AfricanAwards.com.
Congratulating the winners, Mshale founder and publisher, Tom Gitaa, also thanked the guests “for joining us tonight to celebrate our colleagues in the community in our collective quest for excellence and all that is good in the African community”.
Notable guests at this year’s African Awards Dinner included; Robert Ngwu, president of the National Black MBA Association-Twin Cities chapter and the first African-born person to ascend to the post; Felicia Ravelamanantosoa, Vice-president at M & I Bank and native of Madagascar; Michael Essien of Essien Law office and his wife Stella; Lane Ayres of Books for Africa and wife Marion; Wayne Doe, VP at Wellsfargo Bank; Bonita Martin of the Neighborhood Development Center (NDC); Lynn Owino of ETIA. Also in attendance was Hilda Nyaboke Mauya, 2010 Miss Africa USA finalist.
The name Serengeti is a corruption by English and Swahili of the Maasai word Siringet. Siringet means a vast land that runs forever. Our modern understanding of Serengeti is that it is a straight and elongated grassland ecosystem, which is interspersed with wooded savanna and shrublands.
In 1959, German bush pilot and filmmaker Alan Root made a film about the wildlife of Serengeti called “Serengeti Shall Not Die”. The film made an attempt to unravel the complex interrelationships between the predators and the prey that inhabit this wonderful ecosystem.
The Serengeti ecosystem is an awesome, natural laboratory that scientists over time have studied to try and understand the concept of predator-prey relationships. In 2007 this ecosystem was proposed for consideration as one of the wonders of the world. The ecosystem, together with the adjoining Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya, is undisputedly the largest habitat for myriad fauna in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is home to Africa’s “Big Five”- the lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and the leopard. A majority of the inhabitants of this ecosystem are the wildebeest, zebra and Thomson’s gazelle.
Every year, during the months of September and October millions of grazers, together with the predators and scavengers (mainly vultures circling above) migrate across the Mara River. The predators stalk the grazers to prey on the weak and the newborn. The vultures clean up the leftovers from the predators’ kill. The Mara River, across which the migrants cross, is heavily infested by the giant ferocious Nile Crocodiles. This is a great death trap for the animals during this period and a great feast for the crocodiles.
Over the last three to four years, a dark cloud has appeared over this critical ecosystem – a new issue that is threatening its sustainability and indeed its very existence. All the signs show that the potential for a threat to the sustainable functioning of the Serengeti Ecosystem is real and high.
During the just concluded Tanzania’s national election campaigns, the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Presidential Candidate Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, who ultimately won the elections, made several promises to the electorate, as is usually expected of politicians. One of these promises that caught the attention of national and international environmental and conservation agencies is one on the construction of a trans-Serengeti Highway. The highway is expected to link the town of Arusha to the South and the two towns on the shores of Lake Victoria, Mwanza and Musoma. The highway, if build through the ecosystem, is likely to introduce a stream of traffic through traveling game, particularly the two million plus wildebeests, gazelle and other grazers during the migration period. It will be tragic, to say the least.
This promise immediately put the CCM candidate on a collision course with national and regional tourism operators. One of the national operators stated with rage “if anything happens to Serengeti, then we are finished”. In response to this, one of the President’s spokesmen Mr. Salvator Rweyemamu, stated, “the decision has been made. If this government comes back into power – and we will – the road will be built”. Mr. Rweyemamu further stated that Tanzania had done more to protect wildlife than most countries. He added with clear frustration at critics that “you guys always talk about animals, but we need to think about people”. The President’s spokesman seemed unaware of the fact that hundreds of thousands of Tanzanians depend on tourism for their livelihood. Serengeti is like a cash cow for Tanzania, attracting more than 100,000 visitors each year, generating millions of foreign currency in park fees, thus helping to propel Tanzania’s multi million-dollar safari business.
Many environmentalists and conservation stakeholders, including academics, are wary of what could happen next: poachers will access the park with ease, kill rare animals like rhinoceros; invasive plant species will be introduced into the park; animal migration will be disrupted and even blocked; animals will be frequently knocked down by over speeding vehicles and the entire ecosystem will be irreversibly degraded, thus setting in motion the death of the Serengeti ecosystem.
To avert the death of the Serengeti, researchers, practitioners (private sector), the academia and the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) need to continue to engage the government of Tanzania with a view to convincing it to rescind its decision to bisect the Serengeti ecosystem. One avenue that these stakeholders can pursue is to provide technical support in Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) reporting on the impact of the planned highway on the Serengeti ecosystem. They could assist in providing situation analyses, which hopefully will feed information into influencing the decision-making process of the government of Tanzania on enlightened environmental management.
These kinds of engagement are expected to be a step in the right direction and should be seen as a modest beginning to a larger more professional and more effective and useful undertaking in addressing the many challenges of sustainable conservation of the Serengeti ecosystem.
Editor’s note: Views expressed are those of the author and are independent of his employer, Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
Prince William proposed to his girlfriend of eight years last month by a lake on the slopes of Mount Kenya, more than 12,500ft above sea level.
The peak is Africa’s second highest mountain and bears a striking resemblance to the Scottish Highlands, with lakes of rainbow trout, fish eagles, heather and temperatures often little above freezing.
Two of the lakes on the mountain’s slopes, Lake Alice and Lake Michaelson, are accessible only by helicopter. Prince William, an RAF pilot, is understood to have flown Kate Middleton to the lakeside in a borrowed helicopter to propose, with a backdrop of the Rift Valley spreading far to the north below.
Mount Kenya stands above Lewa Downs, the wildlife conservancy owned by the parents of Jecca Craig, Prince William’s friend.
The Prince and Miss Middleton spent 10 days at a lodge in the game reserve.
Silas Koikaren, a Masai warrior who worked with the Prince in Kenya in 2007, said: “I send congratulations from all the Masai of Lewa.”
Kenya is a country the Prince holds dear and he has spoken fondly of the anonymity Africa affords him. He is patron of the Tusk Trust, an African conservation charity.
Royal history was also made there in 1952 as it was where the Prince’s grandmother learned she had become Queen. The young Princess Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip were staying at the Treetops Hotel in Nyeri when her father, King George VI, died during the night.
Prince William spent several months working on Lewa Downs as part of his gap year after Eton. He was rumoured to have had a teenage romance with Miss Craig, even staging a mock engagement, but the pair have stayed firm friends.
Timeline leading to the royal proposal in Kenya
– June 21, 1982 – Prince William is born at St. Mary’s Hospital in London at 7 pounds, 1 1/2 oz.
– Aug. 4, 1982 – Prince William Arthur Philip Louis is christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Robert Runcie, in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace.
– July 1995 – Prince William begins his studies at Eton College, the exclusive school founded by King Henry VI in 1440.
– Aug. 31, 1997 – Prince William’s mother, Diana, Princess of Wales is killed in a Paris car crash.
– Sept. 6, 1997 – Prince William and his younger brother Prince Harry walk behind their mother’s cortege at her funeral.
– Late 2000 – After finishing his studies at Eton, Prince William works on volunteer projects in Chile, takes part out exercises with the Welsh Guards in Belize and rises at dawn to milk cows on a dairy farm in England.
– September 2001 – Enrolls at St. Andrews University in Scotland, where he meets Kate Middleton – a fellow art history student. She persuades him to stay at university after he admits finding it difficult to settle. Prince William later switched to a geography course.
– September 2002 – Prince William and Kate move into a shared student house with two other friends.
– May 2003 – Prince William and Kate are pictured deep in conversation at a rugby match, sparking rumors of a romance.
– June 2003 – Kate is a guest at Prince William’s 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle, but in an interview he denies he has a steady girlfriend.
– December 2003 – Prince William and Kate are rumored to have become an item around the Christmas period
– March 2004 – Prince William and Kate’s romance becomes public when they are pictured together on a Swiss skiing holiday.
– April 9, 2005 – Kate does not attend the wedding of Prince William’s father the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles in Windsor.
– June 2005 – Prince William and Kate both graduate in the same ceremony at St. Andrews and attend a celebratory lunch together with their families.
– December 2006- Prince William is commissioned as an army officer in front of the Queen at Sandhurst and joins the Household Cavalry as a second lieutenant. Kate attends the ceremony.
– April 2007 – British newspapers report that Prince William and Kate have split up. Prince Charles’ Clarence House office refuses to comment, but does not deny the report.
– July 2007- Media in the U.K. report that Prince William and Kate have rekindled their romance.
– April 11, 2008 – Kate is seen at Prince William’s side at his graduation ceremony from the Royal Air Force, taken as a signal by royal watchers that their relationship is now serious.
– June 16, 2008 – Kate attends the Order of the Garter service at Windsor Castle, the first time she has appeared at a formal royal public event.
– February 2010 – Asked by a member of the public about the prospect of a royal wedding, Prince William says: “You’ll have to wait a while yet.”
– October 2010 – Prince William proposes to Kate Middleton on a private holiday in Kenya.
– Nov. 16, 2010 – Clarence House officially announces the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – The top official from the U.N. body in charge of preserving historical sites says the development of economies in Africa should not be made at the expense of nature and culture.
Irina Bokova, director general of UNESCO, was responding to a question on Monday about a plan by Tanzania to build a highway through Serengeti National Park.
The 260-mile (420-kilometer) road would bisect the northern Serengeti, potentially jeopardizing the 2 million wildebeests and zebra who migrate in search for water from the southern Serengeti into Kenya’s adjacent Masai Mara reserve.
Conservationists says the road could devastate wildlife and should be built in a different location.
Tanzania’s government says it’s necessary for development.
Liberian professionals group to launch chapter in Minnesota
Mark your calendars for Wednesday, Nov. 17 and get ready to mingle. The Liberian Professional Network, or LPN, is coming to the Twin Cities. Liberia’s preeminent and largest group of high-ability and skilled professionals, with more than 5,000 members around the world, launches a new chapter in Minnesota at Mad Jack’s Sports Cafe in Brooklyn Park from 6:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M.
“There has been a growing demand from our members in the Midwest to expand,” says Taa Wongbe, co-founder and board member. As a group that is growing steadily, we want to continuously expand to meet our members’ needs.”
The organization has already established branches in New York, Boston, Washington, DC, London, and Monrovia, but this is its first Midwest chapter.
“Throughout the global Liberian community, there is a reservoir of talented Liberians serving as doctors, engineers, and scientists; LPN creates the space to facilitate professional engagement amongst this talented and accomplished pool of people,” says Seward Cooper, LPN’s branch head in the Maryland/Virginia/DC Metro area.
The networking group brings together Liberians representing many industries – from thriving entrepreneurs, private investors, and companies to non-profit organizations, academia, and healthcare. The goal is to gather, engage, and contribute to Liberia’s development by harnessing the collective talents of the country’s citizens and friends.
“The focus of what we do is to connect people. By connecting people, we are connecting resources,” says Wongbe, who is also head of the New York chapter. “There is no other Liberian organization that focuses on connecting people and creating a networking environment, where Liberians and friends of Liberia can meet in a social but yet professional setting.”
He says success for the LPN launch in Minnesota will come after people are connected and engaged with other participants they meet at the event.
Membership is free and open to Liberians as well as non-Liberians. Interested individuals can join by going to their website.
Legendary South African trumpeter, songwriter and singer, Hugh Masekela, played four shows at the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant in Minneapolis on Oct. 20-21. Between concerts at Carnegie Hall on the previous weekend, and on his way to a concert with violinist Gil Shaham at Symphony Center in Chicago, Mr. Masekela found time to pay a second visit to the intimate nightclub setting of the Dakota. He was very warmly and respectfully received and gave a very comfortable, free-wheeling performance.
An extremely talented group of hand-picked band-members followed Mr. Masekela’s lead very skillfully and presented this legendary figure of global music in the best possible light.
Cameron John Ward, lead guitarist and, at the tender age of 22, the most recent South African musician to benefit from Hugh Masekela’ s constant desire to identify and nurture exceptional young talent. Keyboardist Randall Skippers is a graduate of the vibrant Cape Town jazz scene. Abednigo “Fana” Zulu, widely regarded as South Africa’s finest bass player, has developed his own unique style with his upside-down strung, six-string bass guitar. Lee-Roy Sauls, a talented Cape Town rock ‘n’ roll drummer, has developed a name as a versatile jazz drummer under Mr. Masekela’s tutelage. Francis Manneh Fuster, one of Africa’s best-known percussionists, born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, was a member of the seminal Afrobeat group, The Heartbeats in 1962 and has been a permanent fixture in Mr. Masekela’s touring band and a vital part of the Masekela sound since 1982.
Mr. Masekela’s own position as a legend of global music history has been well-established year after year since 1959 when his group, The Jazz Epistles, recorded the first jazz album by a black, South African, jazz band. He dedicated his classic lament “Coal Train” to children, elderly, poverty victims, and women; victims of natural disasters “because of the way we have treated nature”; refugees, rape victims and those “running from target practice” by elected leaders in whom they have misplaced their trust; “. . . a prayer for the unfortunate who are catching hell all over the world”.
Mr. Masekela and his excellent band got the late crowd alternately dancing, shouting, and clapping along with his highly unique combination of jazz, Afrobeat, and Soweto “growler” style vocalization. For an encore, he brought the electrified room to its feet with his 1987 anthem, “Bring Him Back Home”, the song that helped keep the memory of Nelson Mandela alive through the decades of imprisonment until he finally emerged a free man to become the first black president of a South African nation free from the chains of apartheid.
In fact, this writer as a young man wrote a story for a small, underground newspaper about a young, black, South African lawyer who had been unjustly imprisoned since 1962, never dreaming that man would one day form the government of South Africa. Indeed, it was the global awareness kept alive in communities like Minneapolis/St. Paul all over the world, Mr. Masekela said, who refused to forget Nelson Mandela as he languished for 27 years, that made it possible for such a miracle to occur.
Asked backstage what words he had to offer to the African community of St. Paul/Minneapolis, Mr. Masekela unhesitatingly declared, “We need heritage restoration. Without it, we are doomed.” He adds, “It’s important for children of the future to say ‘I am African’, rather than, ‘we used to be African – long ago’. Heritage restoration, we can create the environment for it. I’m trying to get a foundation for that.”
Proving that, at 71 years of age, the story of the life of Hugh Masekela and his music will not yet part ways with the history of the times in which he lives–a true world citizen.
