Sunday, December 31, 2006

Cape Town

I've been enjoying the past 2 weeks in Cape Town and all that it has to offer. My sister Jessica was in town for about 10 days and we spent a lot of time running from place to place trying to squeeze everything before she had to head back to the US. I think we visited just about every single bay around here, made it up to table mountain (amazing), saw some large and gorgeous botanical gardens, went to cape point (which is not the southern most point of africa), got chased by penguins, did some wine tasting with chocolate and caught up with some old friends from our days in Zimbabwe. We had a fantastic time.

Unfortunately I sent my journal, with all the details, back to the US with my sis, so despite the myriad of activities I'm afraid I'll have to fill in the details at a later date. Right now I'm getting ready to make some dinner with friends Sian, Clare, and Trey before heading down to the beach! Happy New Year to everyone!

Photos: Cape Town

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Hi and Goodbye Nairobi

I got back to Nairobi last Thursday afternoon and have to say that coming from Ethipia, Kenya felt like a developed country when I arrived and it was good to be back. One of the major differences I noticed when I came back was the attitude of the people...being in such a closed culture in Ethiopia made me realize how much friendlier the people in Kenya are. I'm speaking in macro terms here, of course I met individuals in Ethiopia that were very friendly and I've met some not so friendly Kenyans, but in general the cultural attitudes towards outsiders/foreigners are much warmer in Kenya. My guess is that having repelled so many invaders (Ethiopia was never colonized) over the years has thoroughly ingrained a feeling of disdain and distance in the culture for anyone/anything foreign.

I have spent most of the week organizing and uploading photos, catching up on email, and finally motivating myself to catch up on all these blog entries. My friend Caroline, that I met in Mombasa on my first pass through, came to Nairobi and we got to hang out for a couple of days; she and I had a very American night and went to the Java House for guacamole bacon cheese burgers and carrot cake, and saw a movie: Borat. I also managed to see the new James Bond movie which reminded me how fun money, women, and fast cars can be...something you somewhat forget in the third world.

This afternoon I head off to Cape Town, where I'll be for Christmas and New Years. I have to admit that three months traveling around east africa has somewhat worn me down, especially my time in Ethiopia, and I'm looking forward to a break in the South before I press on to India mid-Jan. I'm sure I'll have the chance to do more frequent blog updating down there but just in case I don't, or I forget, I wanted to leave you with something for and called "Year's End":

Now the seasons are closing their files
on each of us, the heavy drawers
full of certificates rolling back
into the tree trunks, a few old papers
flocking away. Someone we loved
has fallen from our thoughts,
making a little, glittering splash
like a bicycle pushed by a breeze.
Otherwise, not much has happened;
we fell in love again, finding
that one red feather on the wind.

-Ted Kooser

Photos: Kenya

Back to Addis

My remaining couple days back in Addis were relatively uneventful. I spent most of one day shuttling back and forth to the Indian Embassy to get my visa sorted out. I hung out with my new friend little sammy, a kid living at the guest house. I had one last lunch with 'Pastor Z' and drove to the top of Ntoto Mountain just outside Addis. And on my last night in town MC and I had dinner with her friend Meaza, and they both decided it was a good idea to braid my hair...

The next morning I woke up sick with a cold but made it to the airport with plenty of time. Not surprisingly, the flight was delayed by about an hour, and then when I got on I had to switch seats three times due to some 'mix ups', ending up in a middle seat as opposed to my rightfully assigned exit row seat. I'm proud to say that despite this last straw almost breaking my back I managed to keep it together, thanks to a friendly German guy sitting next to me, and prevent myself from giving the Stewardess an ear-full, which I still think would have made me feel a lot better.

Despite the problems I had in Ethipia I think it's a place that I will have to come back to and explore in a bit more depth...hopefully at a time when other airlines are allowed to fly within the country. Axum and Lalibela could easily consume two weeks of exploring, as well as the much raved about Simien Mountains (often locally spelled 'Semen' for some reason!) which I had to skip. One major change I would make for those of you that might make it to Ethiopia one day, is that I would do the northern trip in reverse, starting in Axum and heading to Lalibela, Gondar, and Bahir Dar; all of the Christian Orthodox history made much more sense after I visited Axum and learned the pre-Christian history.

Photos: Addis Ababa

Friday, December 15, 2006

Axum Part 2

From the rubble palace we hurried over to see a few churches. The one old church that we went into, only open to men, of course had the obligatory ancient paintings of the cruficition, trinity, saint george, and mary, but for once they were in fairly decent shape, or not nearly as old as I was led to believe. From here we took a short walk to see the building that allegedly contains the 'Ark of the Covenant'. Haile told me some elaborate story about how it came to be in Ethiopia, but due to the 'no note taking' policy that he instated I'm afraid it's largely forgotten...something about king Solomon and Queen of Sheeba (who was Ethiopian) and their male offspring and ten tousand Jews bringing it back to Ethiopia.

This relatively small building resides within a gated compound and in addition to holding the Ark a lot of the artifacts that have been found in the area are also kept in this building/compound. All of this is looked after by a 'keeper of the ark', a man who is 72 years old and hasn't left the compound in seventy years! There is another long story about how this keeper is chosen/replaced and why he hasn't left the compound, but I'll leave that to Google for those interested. On our way to a church next to this compound we approached a side gate through which tourists can view some of the artifacts from Ethiopian Orthodox church history that are kept in the compound, mainly various crowns and goat skin books. Thanks to Haile I have a photo with said goat skin book.

As we approaced the gate the keeper of the Ark was actually out roaming inside the compound and he came over and had a nice friendly chat with Halie, they were apparently old friends. Haile instructed me that the keeper wanted to give me a blessing so I should step up to the gate. Now I had seen the 'blessing process' in Lalibela, which involves kissing the center of the cross held by the priest, then letting him touching it to your head, repeat, and then kissing the base. I thought I had it figured out. Well as I moved in for the first kiss I suddenly felt Haile's hand on the back of my head as he decided to take the liberty of making sure I did things right. Well I got the first kiss in ok and then the next thing I know the cross is being rubbed all over my face, then slapped on my back neck and shoulders before being offered for the base kiss. Obviously a different blessing process in Axum! Unfortunately no one is allowed to photograph the keeper so Haile didn't catch any of this action.

After my blessing, Haile leans over and whispers that he has told the guy that looks after some of the artifacts (different guy from the Ark Keeper) that I am an Archaeology student and has convinced him to show me a precious rock carving of the portrait of the Queen of Sheeba, something which is normally not for viewing. The rock is promptly brought out on a blue velvet pillow for me to ooh and ahh and snap a couple of photos. Of course, not being satisfied with just 'showing' me something special Halie then convinces this guy to hand over the rock through the fence so that he can get a picture of me holding it.

After handing back history we took a short walk to a large church built by the Emperor Haile Selassie, passing a few kids playing hide-n-seek. Inside the church I was marched passed a few more ancient paintings (one of the journey of the ark), and another ancient goat skin book. On the way out we passed an enterprising old man who convinced me to pay him to take a picture. To wrap things up we stopped by for a quick visit at the local museum, which Halie had called and convinced to stay open late for us. By this point I was a bit tired from the blitz tour and factually overwhelmed so I remember next to nothing about the museum...but there were some nice glasses.

After a full 5 hours of seeing Axum, a place I could have easily spent a week, I headed back to my hotel for a relatively early night. The next morning I was up with the sun and ready to head to the airport for my early flight...of course the only on time flight of the entire trip was my flight back to Addis!

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Axum Part 1

We arrived in Axum around 2pm, close to five hours late. When we arrived someone was, for the first time, checking passports. Now I had actually left my passport at the Indian Embassy in Addis to get my visa for India, but had been assured by my travel agent that I would have no problem as long as I had a photo ID and that had so far been true. When I handed my Colorado drivers license to the man checking passports (who seemed to be more interested in the covers than the content) he was dumbfounded of course. He's saying 'passport! passport!' and by this point patience has run out and I start yelling back, probably not the wisest course of action but after a few mins he ran off to some superior somewhere and came back and allowed me into the airport.

Despite being so late my guide, Haile Selassie, was determined to make the most of things. We dropped my bag at the hotel and were off to the 'Stelae Field' where all of the giant obelisks reside. When he picked me up at the airport I wasn't too sure about Haile, but he turned out to be my best guide yet. He gave me the history of the obelisks, why they were made, by whom etc...unfortunately, because he wanted me to see as much as possible, he refused to let me stop and take notes so almost all of the details are gone, but it sure was fascinating at the time. Haile was also the most photo happy of the guides (to the extent of snatching my camera from me on several occassionas), wanting to make sure he got pictures of me next to and in front of the main obelisk, in the stone frame, at the entrance to a tomb, inside the tomb, by the broken obelisk, etc. I think I have more photos with me in them from that afternoon than from the previous 6 months combined. One fact I do remember from that afternoon is that the broken obelisk is the largest single block of stone ever worked at a height of close to 38 meters and weighing close to 500 tonnes.

Another nugget of information from Halie was that before Ethiopia was a country it existed as part of the kingdom of Axum with consisted of modern day Sudan, Ethiopia and Yemen and was ruled by one king. That king had three sons and split the kingdom up into what are effectively Ethiopia/Eritrea, Sudan, and Yemen today to be ruled over by each of the three sons. From the the Stelae field we headed to a tomb for the first king of Ethiopia, a tomb that contains a 'treasure vault' that still hasn't been opened. One of the things that was amazing about Axum is that a lot of the history there seemed to be quite newly discovered. There were several occassions where I was told that such and such was just discovered a few months ago. Apparently there are at least a dozen archaeological digs currently going on by teams from German, France, England, and the US, and it seems like even with those they are just scratching the surface. One of the things that was discovered only ten months before by three farmers while plowing and only raised out of the ground three months before was a giant stone tablet, apparently similar to the 'rosetta stone' in Egypt, that has the story of some king written in three different languages.

From the 'Axumite Rosetta Stone' we headed to the alleged ruins of the palace of the Queen of Sheeba. I say alleged because a guide book I glanced at seemed to indicate that it was at least several hundred years to new for that, but either way it was an interesting place. What was most interesting was that it was built almost entirely of rubble, meaning that hardly any cut stone was used. I had seen this in other walls but this was the first time I'd see an entire building, let alone palace, constructed this way. Of course Haile had to get a few pictures of me at the palace: leaning against a wall, where the throne was, at the top of some stairs.

Photos: Axum

Lalibela

Just before the flight to Lalibela took off I started chatting with a nice couple from England that was coincidentally staying in the same guest house in Lalibela. When we arrived, since the entire day was gone, we sat down for dinner and swapped travel stories. They told me that Butan was a favorite destination but warned me that Easter Island was a disappointment. Needless to say they helped me add to my ever growing travel list.

Lalibela's claim to fame is a series of eleven rock-hewn (that's cut straight out fo the rock) churches. The quick story is that the Priest King Lalibela traveled to Jerusalem where he received a vision from God to go back and build these churches and in doing so create a second Jerusalem. Originally the town was called Roha, but was renamed after the King when the churches were constructed.

The next morning the three of us were guided through the first six of the churches. These churches are fascinating, which made me even more disappointed that my planned two days was cut short by one. The churches are connected by tunnels through the rock, some more complex than others. And in each church you are required to take your shoes off, so you hire a shoe person to look after your shoes and carry them from entrance to exit. The most well known of the churches is the Church of Saint George which when viewed from above looks like a cross. Each church also has its own head priest who is responsible for upkeep of the church as well as looking after the ceremonial cross and sacred books for that church.

After the morning round of churches we headed into the local market which was a fun experience. The area of Lalibela, and in fact most of Ethiopia, is farm land, and every Saturday people come in from the country side to sell their crops and whatever else, from coffee, to tef (the type of wheat used to make injera), to plastic shoes, pens, books, and donkeys. We broke for lunch in the heat of the day and regrouped a little after 2pm to tackle the remaining five churches.

Our guide had said that all eleven churches were constructed at the same time and only took twenty-four years to complete, however a guide book I managed to glance at said that the five from the afternoon were built first and appear to have not been churches originally with the six from the morning built upto a couple of hundred years later. This theory seemed to be supported by the look and feel of the churches themselves...the group we visited in the afternoon didn't feel nearly as intentional in their design as the group from the morning.

One of the things we observed while walking from church to church was that they were all surrounded by small caves, which we were told become occupied by hermits and pilgrims during certain parts of the year for religious festivals.

On the way to the airport the next morning we found out that the flight was (surprise!) delayed, so we had a chance to swing by another church on the way to the airport. Being that it was Sunday morning there was a service going on, though this seemed to be of little consequence to our guide who just pushed us through the congregation. I have to admit it was a bit awkward, walking through and being gawked at (and rightly so) by the congregation, but it was very interesting to witness a service: the challenge and responses, the passing of holy water, the kissing of the cross, the intent listening.

Even with the stop at the church we ended up waiting at the airport about three more hours for our flight to Axum and again lost half a day.

Photos: Lalibela

Gondar

I arrived in Gondar just before the sun went down and passed the night in a cold, dank, mispainted, poorly lit room with a lone picture on the wall. Early the next morning my guide picked me up to show me all that Gondar has to offer. Turns out Gondar doesn't really have all that much to offer and can be done in a couple of hours, but is mainly used as a jumping off point for the Simien Mountains a couple of hours drive away. Unfortunately because I was leaving relatively early the next morning, the Simien Mountains were out for me.

First we stopped at an old church, the name and history of which I confess I forgot. What did make it interesting is that its steeple cross had 7 ostrich eggs on it, which had alegedly been there since its construction 800 years before. Also, the inside walls of the church were covered with paintings depicting scenes and characters from the bible that are important in the Ethiopian Orthodox church, specifically 'the Crucifiction', Mary with baby Jesus, Saint George slaying the dragon, and the Trinity. Also, the ceiling was covered with paintings of angels, very unique.

From the church we headed to a compound containing full or partial remains for six castles built starting in the 13th century by King Faisalad and his descendants, one castle for each successive king. Unfortunately most of the building were bombed during fights with the Italians in the early part of the 20th century and only three of the castles are still standing. From the castle we went to visit a large pool built by King Faisalad that is currently undergoing rennovation but is usually filled, using a near by river, once a year and used for a religious ceremony.

I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the small town and met another pair from Canada that joined me for dinner. The next morning I hopped up early to head to the airport for my early flight...which you probably guessed by now was delayed...by seven hours. What was most infuriating this time was that three hours into being told every hour there would only be an hour delay, the Ethiopian Airlines employee finally admitted that the plane that took off shortly after my checkin was actually my plane but that it had to fly to Addis and back first...a five hour round trip.

Photos: Gondar

Bahir Dar Part 2

At the news of the cancellation the airline shuttled me and the two other stranded passengers to the Papyrus Hotel for the night. I spent the afternoon getting to know David and Sam, a father and son from Canada in Ethiopia for a few weeks to visit some relatives and squeezing in a bit of siteseeing in the process. I'm sorry to report that the Papyrus wasn't much to write home about but at least it was being taken care of and I'd be out early in the morning right? Wrong.

I woke up the next morning and was first told the flight would be at 9am. Nine turned in to ten and then noon with the flight not leaving until almost 4:30pm, all due to mechanical issues of course...this would become a theme. By this point I was pretty angry at being delayed for so long, especially since the drive to Gondar is only 2-3hrs (something I would only find out later). As a result of wasting an entire day and a half in Bahir Dar thanks to the Ethiopian Airlines I would have to skip my trip to the Simien Mountains outside of Gondar where I had planned to spend two days and one night trekking and camping...essentially the sole reason for going to Gondar at all! I would later find out that there was a religious festival in Axum and that Ethiopian Airlines was redirecting flights to shuttle people back and forth which is why my first flight was canceled and my second so delayed; not only did they cost me almost two days, they deceived me regarding the reason. Surely you can sense my frustration...it's not over yet.

Photos: Bahir Dar

Bahir Dar Part 1

Due to my relatively short amount of time in Ethiopia and difficulty in finding information on buses etc, I decided for the first time on my trip to do a 'package tour', at a cost of my entirely monthly budget for 8 packed days visiting the 'historic route' of northern Ethiopia. As part of this tour I would fly on Ethiopian Airlines to each location where I would be picked up by a guide and wisked off to see the sites and what not. Not exactly my style, but I have to admit I was looking forward to some hassle free site-seeing for once, and price dictated my expectations. Unfortunately we got off to a rocky start with a 3+ hour delay of my flight.

The first stop along the way was Bahir Dar, a town in the Amhara region located at the south of Lake Tana and a short distance from the Blue Nile falls. Lake Tana holds 37 islands of which 27 host monastaries. Since I arrived late Monday afternoon we decided to get an early start the next morning head to the falls and then come back to see a couple of monastaries before catching my afternoon flight to Gondar. The drive to the falls was fairly long, along a dusty gravel road followed by a quick hike to the falls. Unfortunately the river that feeds the falls is now being used for hydro power and so only 40-60% of the water flows to the falls now, but none-the-less it was still worth seeing...although my memories of Victoria falls easily put it to shame. On the way to the falls my guide, Misteru, called the airline to confirm my afternoon flight and was told that the flight was actually going to be early and that I needed to check in an hour earlier. So after snapping a few photos we rushed back down to the van and headed back to town.

We hopped a small orange boat to visit one of the island monastaries and again I was treated to a fairly lengthy ride; we reached the island after 30 mins putting along and rushed to what looked more like a small church than monastary and the sole priest in sight appeared to be closing shop. He was kind enough to show me the church's ceremonial cross and umbrella, as well as the first in what would become a long line of sacred goat skin bibles/books. Apparently the church, like most others on the historic route, was built about 800 years before and was still in active use. After the showing of the artifacts we were ushered out so the place could be locked up and we hopped back on our boat, from which my guide pointed out the start of the Blue Nile and we witnessed some men fishing from small papyrus boats.

On the way back to shore Misteru was insistent on getting a picture of me driving the boat and in the haste to get a good photo I almost ran us into some rocks! We picked up my bag from the hotel and raced to the airport. Misteru drops me and I check in and am told there will be a slight delay...alright no problem. After waiting about an hour I decide to head upstairs for some lunch, since I'd failed to eat any in my rush to get to the airport (good thing). Half way through my plate of scrambled eggs I'm told that the flight has been canceled and they will be putting me up in a hotel for the night to catch a flight in the morning at 9am.

Photos: Bahir Dar

Ethiopia: Addis Ababa Part 2

MC's friend Nebiu was nice enough to take MC, Tamara, and I to a not-quite-finished resort kind of place located on a small lake on the outskirts of Addis for two days and a night, which even after just a week was a welcome break from the hectic, polluted city that is Addis. Even in its half finished state it was a very nice place. We spent the first afternoon waiting for our rooms, apparently a break down in communication had left the folks at the resort unaware that we were coming, which we eventually sorted out and then headed to the 'Paradise Pyramid' for a late, long lunch with some interesting conversation including enlightening Nebiu to the phrase 'junk in the trunk'. After lots of laughter and food we headed back along the loosely termed road to the lake. We spent the evening sitting in front of a fire discussing the mysteries of life, making smores, and listening to music.

We woke up the next morning to a breakfast that was delivered and we ate overlooking the lake. I passed the day catching up on some journaling and reflection while the others took a dip in the lake, something I'm generally leary of in African bodies of fresh water. On our way back to Addis that afternoon we passed a go-cart track and pulled in for a few laps.

That next day after church I was fortunate to get to go to a delayed Thanksgiving dinner at the Mengistu's house where we not only had some great American food (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes) but also an entire roast goat to boot! I have to admit, as much as I love ethiopian food it was nice to get a break with some food from the home land paired with good company and conversation. The following morning I finalized my plans for a trip out of the city and that afternoon I headed to the airport to fly North to Bahir Dar.

Photos: Addis Ababa

Ethiopia: Addis Ababa Part 1

One of my main reasons for heading to Ethiopia was to catch up with some old family friends, the Mengistus, that I haven't seen for several years but have known me since I was a baby, and now live in Addis where they started Beza International. I arrived in Addis late Thursday night and was picked up by my Buddy Zeb and shuttled to a guest house run for some people working at Beza, where I met my fellow housemates (Sammy, MC, and David) before calling it a night.

I spent my first couple of days in Addis lounging around and reading 'King Leopold's Ghost', and but got rolling on Saturday when MC invited me to have Waffles with her and her friend Nebiu after which she and I headed to the 'Piassa' part of town, so named due to the Italian influence, where we wandered around for a while before making our way back to the guest house. We were walking back towards the house around 7pm and were about 50 yards from the gate when three guys came up behind us and said 'dont move'. By the time I had started to turn around one had grabbed MC and the other two grabbed and threw me down, punched me in the face, and rifled through my front pockets, making off with about $50US and a small notebook with some notes and contact info. The whole experience was certainly a bit harrowing, but I was very fortunate and got off fairly easily with just a slight black, sore eye for a few days. I figured something like this would likely happen somewhere along the way and if that's all that happens I'll be happy. I'm certainly a bit more paranoid now.

I spent the next few days doing a lot of reading and lounging around trying to figure out where all I wanted to go out of the city. On Wednesday another traveler, Malcolm from DC, arrived which gave me a good excuse to get out. Malcolm, MC and I went tooling around town first visiting the Indian Embassy to check on visa requirements, then to the 'Garden Cafe' where we met MC's friend Tamara and an Ethiopian man asked us if we thought he looked like a monkey, then to the ToMoCa coffee shop to pick up some strong, Ethiopian coffee. While Malcolm went inside to buy his coffee Tamara, MC and I sat and waited on the steps outside. Before too long a beautiful little girl, dressed in filthy rags, came and sat by us...a bit of a strange occurrence considering all of the other children tend to shy away or run away screaming. While she sat with us, MC went and bought bread for a the street kids and mothers that began to congregate. In Tanzania and Kenya I had dealt with plenty of beggars asking me for money but this was the first time I was really confronted face to face with young kids asking for nothing more than a roll of bread which was heart breaking.

That night MC took a big group of us to 'Fasika', a traditional Ethiopian restaurant with great food and an array of different traditional dances from around the country. From there we headed to, of all places, a jazz club...not exactly something I was expecting to find in Addis. We had a great time listening to some quality music.

Photos: Addis Ababa

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Book Reviews

Alright, despite the lack of blogging for the past few weeks I've kept up on the reading and rather than trying to write a review for each one, here is a quick break down.

Take Me With You: A Round-the-World Journey to Invite a Stranger Home by Brad Newsham:
An interesting book about a guy who spends three months traveling through developing countries in asia and africa in a quest to pick one local to bring back to the US for an all expense month trip to experience his culture, kind of as a way to show his appreciation for all of the great cultural experiences he's had during his travels. A good, quick read for those that like travelogues.

Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller:
About a cross country road trip from Texas to Oregon and the lessons in spiritual growth and relationships that are encountered along the way. A bit too 'coming of age' for me, but interesting an insightful none-the-less. But if you're beyond your early 20's you might want to check out 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' instead.

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild:
An amazing and detailed look at the history of the Congo as a colony of King Leopold of Belgium. While I'm generally not big into these 'history' books, this was fascinating, especially after reading 'The Poisonwood Bible' and 'East Along the Equator' which had both briefly touched on the Congo's terrible history. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of Congo or Africa in general.

The Prophet Muhammad: A Biography by Barnaby Rogerson:
At sometimes dry, this was a very refreshingly objective look at the Prophet Muhammed's life and the early history of Islam. A quick and easy read, it makes you wonder how things got to where they are today.

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch:
An amazing look at the history leading up to, including, and after the genocide in Rwanda. At time a difficult book to get through, mental images of which still linger, I would highly recommend this for anyone that has an interest in humanity.

Out of American: A Black Man Confronts Africa by Keith B. Richburg :
Very similar to a book I read before arriving in Africa, 'The Africans' by David Lamb, this is the story of an African American man that moved to Kenya in the early 90s to cover Africa for the Washington Post. What was unfortunate was that despite taking place 10+ years after 'The Africans', nothing much changed other than the names involved in the problems of Africa. The other interesting thing was the difference in perspective that this author had in being a black American in Africa. I was pleasantly surprised by the insight, especially one interesting section which included a high level comparison of the differences in post colonial development between Asia and Africa.

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey Sachs:
I didn't quite finish this one. This is one man's view of how poverty can be reduced within the current generation. While good in theory, the crux of which is pour more money into aid, personally I think that's as good as it gets...theory. I've just started 'White Man's Burden' which seems to be a direct response to this books theory...

The Light of Day by Graham Swift:
A pretty worthless novel that seems to be much more about writing style than actual story line. While there were a couple interesting sections, it was largely pretty boring and goes no where. Despite being a booker prize winner I would skip this one.

Hello Africa. Tell Me, How Are You Doing? by Osei G Kofi:
I haven't quite finished this one either, but so far this has been a very different look at the state of Africa, in large part because it comes from an African's perspective and not that of a European of American. One of the most interesting things in this book is the inside front cover which shows two maps of Africa, one with Africa as it is today as well as a pre-colonial map that shows what Africa looked like with all of its tribes before colonialism.