Life from the time immemorial regardless of region, race, available technology, political and economic prowess has often experienced and will continue to witness the unprecedented actions of selected few over diverse sectors, law and order, rights and wrongs, innovations, self-discovery, technological breakthroughs among a host of several other groundbreaking events. These radical set of being has been called by many names like innovator, legend, role model, a game changer, even god but for the purpose of this article, we prefer an astute term – change maker.
Tag: Information
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What is a Nation without Infrastructure?
When we are in a state of ignorance, it means we haven’t had the opportunity to be aware or we deliberately disregard important information. Our society is divided into the two aforementioned, with political leaders enlightened about how to better their government but neglect the feasibility, and citizens in complete obscurity of their rights. While the latter explains the category of people who sometimes don’t expect more than what is within their reach, unable to challenge the status quo. The former is aware that improvement can be done but totally evade the possibility sometimes for their own personal interest.
Infrastructure and basic amenities are the major problems in Africa especially in Sub-Saharan Africa ranging from electricity and water to roads, railways, functional airports and ports. No economy can function appropriately without infrastructure causing a decline in productivity. Opportunities come with power, for example, a petit trader of frozen fish will be able to run her shop effectively if she is guaranteed of regular power, it means she can use her profit for something else, maybe providing education for her child instead of spending on fuel for the generator. Traders and manufacturers will always need a reliable source of power and water, the population will always require good roads to enable movement and also importers and exporters will require ports to move their goods.
Leaders in Africa have been exposed to the international standards of living sometimes, by attending meeting and summits in other countries. In some cases, they have spent their study years living in economically developed countries, they have tasted and benefitted from good and perfect infrastructural settings. What then is the cause of this drawbacks in our countries? It is obvious that infrastructure is important in providing a quality life for people and promoting economic development but it is also a shame that some older people who have never had the opportunity to travel out of their countries might eventually go into their grave without experiencing 24/7 constant power supply. How pathetic!
Also, the rise of urbanization has caused a desire to move and relocate to urban centers thereby overpopulating these regions, Some urban centers house more people than its superficial. It is the crossroads where all ethnics meets thereby causing congestion, some of them live in dilapidated buildings with large families squeezed into unfit structures eventually leading to their collapse, especially in the swampy areas.
The government aptitude has to increase in ensuring the safety and well being of their population by providing the necessary infrastructure. A long term vision, maintenance and continuous progress by the government could be possible solutions. Additionally, the population has to be educated and cultivate good humanly habits. It is effortless to blame the government and leaders but the real change starts with revisiting our mindset as a people.
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CHINA AS THE NEXT SUPERPOWER
Alice Lyman Miller, a China scholar and a former CIA analyst define “A ‘superpower’ as a country that has the capacity to project dominating power and influence anywhere in the world, and sometimes, in more than one region of the globe at a time, and so may plausibly attain the status of global hegemony,” This requires excelling in multiple areas of power projection: economic, military, political and even cultural . In all standards, the United States only wear the cap appropriately since it overtook Great Britain as the world’s dominant country.
Over the years, there have been several potential superpowers emerging with promising prospects among which the European Union and the BRICS involving Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are recognized. These countries gain the individual international recognition they deserve, garnished with merited accolades in remaining relevant.
China has proved itself to be a formidable potential global force, with an outsize influence in shaping the 21st century but whether it overtakes the U.S. is still a mystery though it seems likely. They have been able to transform a poor society by an economic miracle to become arguably the world’s second-largest economy in the world.
In the last 15 years, China has been involved in a breathtaking and questionable lending, this goes far beyond it’s geographical regions to the depth of Africa. It is important to note that over 100 predominantly low-income countries have gotten Chinese loans in order to finance their infrastructure projects and sometimes expand their producing capacity.
For instance, Sri Lanka experienced a boom in their economy due to a loan they had gotten from China, the country prospered in all ways and manners but this was short-lived because when the payback time came, the Sri Lanka government realized they have way too much debt. As a result, they ended up renegotiating more deals with the Chinese government which involves a 99-year lease deal handling over control of it’s investments to the Chinese government, one of which is the port of Hambantota.
Another case, the Kilamba City in Angola is a large housing development which was built by the China International Trust and Investment Corporation and Investment Corporation with the aim of housing up to half a million people but the aftermath of this project was non-profitable as it was too expensive for the middle-class citizen. Nonetheless, the government had already signed a long term deal with their natural resources for the reimbursement of their debts to the Chinese government.
With over 10,000 Chinese-owned firms operating in Africa,¹ we must admit that the Chinese are doing quite well in being the next superpower but the motives are quite unclear essentially because, in some of the countries where they build infrastructural projects, they fly in their laborers taking away job opportunities from the population.
One is forced to ask what are the inherent motives to the Chinese lending, especially to these growing economies? What are the futuristic drawbacks of being indebted to Beijing? Is this the modern day colonialism? What are their diplomatic strategies?
China continues to make a mark on the world as they have the largest troop in the United Nations peacekeeping missions, pays more than 10 percent of the UN’s total budget above any country besides the United States. They have shown enormous interest in developing an edge in new technologies such as hypersonic missiles, cyber and artificial intelligence.
Obviously, China is not folding its arms for an opportunity to be presented to them on a platter of gold and have worked ceaselessly for every achievements and success they have made over the years. Nevertheless, there is more than meets the eyes.
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The Faults in Africa Education System
The education system in Africa, contrary to the belief of many, existed a long time possibly taking its origin from Ancient Egypt. The Schools of Holy Scriptures built in Egypt (former Ethiopia and Al-Azhar) were the first form of higher education. These schools became cultural and academic centers attracting people from all over the globe for knowledge and instruction. Meanwhile, the world’s first university was located in Timbuktu, opened in 2600 BC.
The indigenous knowledge system was based on traditions in which communities effectively taught and learned from themselves through daily life rather than strict education. They used modeling approaches to pass the necessary skills to younger members of the community.
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Colonization- A bowl of confusion
History is described as the chronological record of significant events that have occurred in the past and often including an explanation of how they have happened. When events happen before the written record, it is considered prehistory. According to Historians, West African region harbored some of the first settlers of people and have been in existence since 4000BCE. They grew large and created civilizations and settlements across the South of Sahara with Kingdoms often referred to as the Sahelian Kingdoms.
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Black History Month
A journey of a thousand years can only start with a single step regardless of how brisk, sluggish, disheartening, unrealistic or promising it might be. While the future is still cloudy, the sagacity of one’s belief and faith continually inspires to keep pushing.
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China’s Spring Festival
In China each year is represented by one of the 12 zodiac animals – Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Chinese New Year 2019 is the year of the Pig. The animal sign is believed to dominate the year and influence the character and destiny of people born in the year. Every Chinese knows his or her own animal sign. These are core heritage that no form of civilization can utter or remove. Chinese New Year festival falls on Feb. 5 in 2019 being the Year of the Pig according to the Chinese zodiac, which features a 12-year cycle with each year represented by a specific animal. People born in the Years of the Pig including 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, and 2007 will experience their Zodiac Year of Birth (Ben Ming Nian).
@TravelChinaguide