Thursday, November 02, 2006

APOLOGY,STUFF AND NEW DIRECTION!

As hard as it may be, today I need to start by saying sorry to all of you who have been visiting my blog in hope of finding something new just to find same old 14th October article. I know some of you have visited me, yes, I know and I thank you and beg you please accept my apology. See, blogging is fun but also a voluntary responsibility especially when you write for both sides of the sword, yourself and your readers. Somehow, I also start to think of blogging as some sort of addiction. I feel real bad when I don’t write anything for a even just a little while. I feel empty. Do you also feel the same?

Since the beginning of this blog, I have been writing and discussing almost everything on earth while paying a much closer attention to how global issues relates or affects the African continent. That explains this blog’s name;African Perspective.

While writing about almost everything is not that bad, I find it tiring, confusing and not real energenizing. At the end of a long day one does not real know where and on what he/she stands. The sense of specialization evaporates on air just like sweet cologne. You can call call it stinking cologne if you want.

Apparently, I have been blogging much about politics than any other subjects. I am not a politician. In fact, I hate politics. Whoever said there is a thin line between love and hate must have had a good point. In other words, I have been writing about what I do not like! Therefore, you can only imagine how much stress that has brought into my life.

On another hand, it is almost impossible to live without politics. I understand that part too. Almost everything around us is politicized. At the end of a long and rough day, I can hardly avoid seeing the 10 o’clock newscast just adding salt on a wound by bringing breaking news from political world. A painful day of seeing half of your cheque goes to Mr. Taxman ends with another pain!

Now, I seriously want to start blogging about things that I like most, things that will lift my spirit so that I can live longer. That should tell you that I do not fancy death.

One thing that I am very sure about is that I love Africa. I love its people, its environment, the savannah, the rivers, mountains, landscapes etc. I love the simplicity of African lifestyle. If you have ever heard that “there is no hurry in Africa”, you did not hear a myth. It is true.

Initially, my main plan was (and may be remains) to portray African continent, as it should. When I say as it should I mean the reverse of how the continent is currently portrayed or how it has been portrayed for centuries and decades. However, those intentions have slipped away sometimes. I have found myself writing about Canadian politics, American politics, world politics etc. I still believe that it is never a wrong thing to write, talk and discuss about something which, whether you like or not, affects your life both directly and indirectly. I just find it depressing and out of my core intention.

I therefore wish to go back to the intended roots. I want to make Africa shine in the eyes of Canadians, North Americans, Europeans and even African themselves. However, I still have one problem. That is where I want you to come in. What do you know about Africa and its people? It does not matter whether it is positive or negative. It should not matter whether you took African studies at university or never heard anything about the continent. The idea here is to allow you to help me shape the authority I want to take when it comes to Africa issues, written by an African in Canada.

If you happen to be an African, I would love to hear what do you miss most about Africa. What do you think this part of the world can learn from Africa? Goodbye politics. From now, I will write about politics only when I find it inescapable.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey jeff!!! glad you're returning to what lights your soul.....very important!!!

i can't say i really know much about africa other then what we learned in grade school, from national geographic and pbs programs. of course i am most taken with the various tribes (must be TONS). you know me, i love to learn about culture and spiritual issues.

history plays an important role too, and what africa was like before the coming of the white man. i guess there were imperialists from the mid east too...not sure.

where is africa headed on a spiritual plane? are spirtual leaders of tribes and assimilated people gathering and mapping out pre-colonial spiritual practises? is it a growing thing?

oops, i've probably thrown too much your way!!!

Jeff Msangi said...

Thanks a lot Scout,
I will take your comments and questions to my deep roadmap plans for the best of the soul and blogging.Stay tuned!

Louis Nyalifa said...

Dear Jeff!!!
I am an African and I do love my country Tanzania!
I won't comment on your decision to move away from politics, I have this feeling we will be seeing you there soon..........!!!
I am happy that you want to market Africa etc and I hope I may be able to come up with something in the future for this matter!
Lets take Tanzania as our point of study.
Yes we have abundant of natural resources, land for all purposes, beautiful weather including rain which our fellow earth citizens from UK term it as terrible weather, beautiful landscapes etc and etc and so on and so on......!
My question for today is, are we marketing our potentials in the most effective way???
I earn my bread from Dubai, been here the past 3 years and I can say for those who think Dubai is just a desert with camels and beadouins, think again (The palm). This emirate and country respectively invested heavily into marketing and they are enjoy the fruits of that decision. I won't debate the fact they have oil etc, but it takes a vision and commitment to channel whatever resources you have to a desired results. To come and think of it, Singapore has no natural resources but through the improvement of her human resources, they are step ahead! Then we go back to us, we have the resources but we don't have the manpower! I bet those with phds and masters and degrees are fuming. Well its true we are just slaving for another man's bread(politics now)!
Anyway I belive our marketing techniques have to change, we have to move on with time. I had the opportunity of attending a Tanzania delegation to promote investment in Tanzania here in Dubai, my conclusion, it was full of statistics, and promises but no clear vision. The major questions were left unaswered, eg. if I invest what is my expected turnaround period, rate etc, or how can you gurantee security for my business, etc. People are tired of reading through notes etc leave that to the lawyers to sort out, they want to see something real! And we fail to do that.
It's only recently that Mount Kilimanjaro was returned to Tanzanian from Kenya in the marketing sense.I personally was getting tired of telling people that Kilimanjaro belongs to Tanzanian and not Kenya. A sales executive for Kenyan Airways here in Dubai replied me this after I had accused them of using Mount Kilimanjaro on the wall of their offices as showing it belongs to them, his reply" we only said come and see mount kilimanjaro, but not climb it!"
I do hope in the course of your blog that we may come up with constructive ideas on marketing Tanzania and the beautiful continent of Africa. Its not full of diseases like they potray, I mean did not hear any mad cow chicken or whatever coming out from there, nor are we perfect on the side of the coin though!
Take care my friend

Anonymous said...

hi louise,
interesting reading your comments. alas, i still have not done my reading on tanzania , but i can suggest one thing that may be of interest.

resources are one thing, but does a nation truly want to be raped of them? it's rather tiring here in canada to watch and feel as the earth sustains more loss that contributes to global warming and other negative conditions brought about by this. we are a country that has become dependant on the export of our resources and sad to say this will not leave much for the 7th generation (a native indian principle of stewarding the land).

in the end, this dependancy will shut down the resources industries all together by depleting themselves from over use.

if tanzania's resources are untapped to a large extent then this is on your side as it gives other areas of economic development to focus on. one of those areas that brings in huge dollars is the tourist industry. this can be done in a sustainable way by promoting what is known as the geo-tourist. the geo-tourist is interested in the culture of a place...in general they like to participate and become involved and learn. they stay longer and spend more money.

any place geared towards the geo-tourist can apply to national geographic and if they meet standards will be listed as a recommended place (i'm sure you can guess at how exposure in this magazine would bolster numbers).

another 'soft industry' is movies. promoting location for the film industry and encouraging investment in studios and the latest in film technology and trained people is always a big time dollar winner. with kilamanjaro back in it's rightful place, you've a head start there.

it's late and i'm tired, but i think you get the drift of where i'm going. alternative health retreats for the huge baby boomer market is another area to think about delving into.

Amelopsis said...

Jeff I'm looking forward to your insights on Africa and glad that you've determined to follow that which moves you. Scout and Louis' thoughts seem on track to me; I have often wondered why solar energy or wind energy are not more prevalent in rural areas of Africa since they would not require constant shipments of purchased fuel to generate electricity...I'm thinking along Scout's train of thought...
It would be tragic to witness the slow rape of resources be repeated where it's not already underway.

Mandora the Explorer said...

Hiya Jeff! I havn't talked to you in a while, thought I'd pop by and say hello!

Hope you're keeping well!

Queen of Light and Joy said...

Jeff,
I have been thinking very intently about your questions and have come to the conclusion that I would like to know about African art, modern, contemporary, traditional, whatever you have to offer knowledge about I would like to know. Who are Africa’s most respected artists? Where does their inspiration come from? Similar to the Italian fresco painters, does Africa have a technique, which is solely theirs, something that they have cultivated and mastered? What is Africa’s belief about their artists? Does Africa support the arts? There is SO much that I would like to know about this area, please do a post on it.
Thanks you.

Jeff Msangi said...

Thanks a lot to all the readers and contributors.I truly appreciate your willingness of sharing with me your insight a variety of african related issues.

I will soon start answering your questions and suggestions by posting article on those matters.Thanks a lot.

Mandora,welcome back.I missed you too.