War is always ugly!
Iconic ‘Napalm Girl’ photo turns 40
In this June 8, 1972 file photo, crying children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, run down Route 1 near Trang Bang, Vietnam after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places as South Vietnamese forces from the 25th Division walk behind them. A South Vietnamese plane accidentally dropped its flaming napalm on South Vietnamese troops and civilians. From left, the children are Phan Thanh Tam, younger brother of Kim Phuc, who lost an eye, Phan Thanh Phouc, youngest brother of Kim Phuc, Kim Phuc, and Kim’s cousins Ho Van Bon, and Ho Thi Ting
Traditional Weddings: Masai (Kenya), Ndebele (South Africa), Rashaida (Eritrea), Karo (Ethiopia)
One of the unique ways members of the Diaspora preserve the heritage of their regional culture is by often having two weddings: one in a traditional “Western” institution such as a church or a court house, and another “traditional” wedding full of the rituals that have been passed down for many generations and hold great significance. Thanks to National Geographic, we are able to see a large gallery of photos of traditional weddings. Click through for more
shit but our cultures are fucking beautiful!
BYOOORIFUL!
Conduct yourself in this world as if you are here to stay forever, and yet prepare for eternity as if you are to die tomorrow.
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| — | Prophet Mohammed (s.a.w.) |
This isn’t the first time I am writing about Kontamonto Market on this blog. In previous posts, I talked about the overwhelming and intense aspects of the market that you experience on the first few visits. However, now that I actually feel quite comfortable going to Kont (as people often refer to it) I wanted to give some tips to new shoppers.
I used to be overwhelmed by the sheer density of people and goods, but now I realize that there is an order to the madness of it all. So, in this post I will outline some tips for a positive bargaining experience. For those of you who have not read my previous posts on Kontamonto, a brief introduction is in order.
Kontamonto is a huge open air market located near Makola Market in Accra, Ghana. The market sells second-hand clothing and shoes to the majority of Ghanaians. Different sections of the market sell different goods and variations of quality. Some items are fixed in price, where all items in a particular sellers pile are one cedi, but most items prices are determined via bargaining. Items for sale range greatly from brand new donated TOMS to old t-shirts to be used as rags and everything in between.
All of the items sold at Kontamonto were donated from Europe or the United States. However, rather than simply giving these clothes to people in need, they are divided up by their value and sold at the port to traders who further divide and sell them to other traders who in turn sell them to customers. This is a huge industry in Ghana. However, since it is part of the informal economy there are no records of how much revenue comes in from these sales.
When I first went to Kontamonto, I hated it. People pull at you to try to get you to buy their items and it can be a very intense experience. Over time, however, I have become acclimated to the Kontamonto experience. I have learned that walking into and out of the center of the market are by far the worst parts and that if you simply smile and think about something else while you are walking that annoying part ends rather quickly.
Once you are inside the market, the best thing you can do is to remain calm and smiling. This will make people less likely to hassle you and for you to get frustrated, and frustration is the key to a horrible experience at Kontamonto.
Also, purchasing used goods out of piles is much easier and cheaper than trying to get good prices for new stuff. With the big piles, the sellers don’t really know the exact price of what they have so if you make them a decent offer and bargain a bit you can get some really great prices. However, when sellers have a little shop with a bunch of TOMS or Nikes, they know what they have is valuable and they can get a high price from you.
With all bargaining, it is essential to remember not to take it too seriously for a number of reasons.
1. If you show a lot of interest in something, the seller will know that you really want it and they will raise the price higher.
2. If you are mean, the seller will hate you and won’t give you a good price.
3. If you are angry, you will get hot and aggravated more easily, which will ruin your day.
4. If you step back and think about the actual amount that you are arguing about, you will often realize that a small price difference isn’t worth a big fight.
Therefore, the best thing to do is be relaxed, make small talk, and act polite when bargaining. This will keep you and the seller in good spirits and might even score you a really great deal or a dash (an extra thing thrown into the deal as a bonus).
If you don’t like the price that you are being offered just say thank you but that’s too much for me and calmly walk away. This will save you and the seller a lot of aggravation.
Learning and practicing these simple bargaining rules can help make your next market experience both fun and successful. Happy shopping!
A Somali child from southern Somalia holds his brother as they wait outside a ruined building before making their way to the internally displaced persons camps in Mogadishu, Somalia.
25th February, 2012
Government offers humanitarian aid and security assistance in the hope of a stake in country’s future energy industry.
Britain is involved in a secret high-stakes dash for oil in Somalia, with the government offering humanitarian aid and security assistance in the hope of a stake in the beleaguered country’s future energy industry.
Riven by two decades of conflict that have seen the emergence of a dangerous Islamic insurgency, Somalia is routinely described as the world’s most comprehensively “failed” state, as well as one of its poorest. Its coastline has become a haven for pirates preying on international shipping in the Indian Ocean.
David Cameron last week hosted an international conference on Somalia, pledging more aid, financial help and measures to tackle terrorism. The summit followed a surprise visit by the foreign secretary, William Hague, to Mogadishu, the Somali capital, where he talked about “the beginnings of an opportunity” to rebuild the country.
The Observer can reveal that, away from the public focus of last week’s summit, talks are going on between British officials and Somali counterparts over exploiting oil reserves that have been explored in the arid north-eastern region of the country. Abdulkadir Abdi Hashi, minister for international cooperation in Puntland, north-east Somalia – where the first oil is expected to be extracted next month – said: “We have spoken to a number of UK officials, some have offered to help us with the future management of oil revenues. They will help us build our capacity to maximise future earnings from the oil industry.”
British involvement in the future Somali oil industry would be a boon for the UK economy and comes at a time when the world is increasingly concerned about the actions of Iran, the second-biggest oil producer in Opec.
Hashi, in charge of brokering deals for the region’s oil reserves, also said Somalia was looking to BP as the partner they wanted to “help us explore and build our oil capacity”. He added: “We need those with the necessary technical knowhow, we plan to talk to BP at the right time.”
Somali prime minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said his government had little choice but to entice western companies to Somalia by offering a slice of the country’s natural resources, which include oil, gas and large reserves of uranium. “The only way we can pay [western companies] is to pay them in kind, we can pay with natural resources at the fair market value.”
Britain is not the only country looking to develop Somalia’s vast natural resources. Last month oil exploration began in Puntland by the Canadian company Africa Oil, the first drilling in Somalia for 21 years. Hashi, who sealed the Africa Oil deal, said the first oil was expected to be extracted within the next “20 to 30 days”.
The company estimates there could be up to 4bn barrels (about $500bn worth at today’s prices) in its two drilling plots. Other surveys indicate that Puntland province alone has the potential to yield 10bn barrels, placing it among the top 20 countries holding oil. Chinese and US firms are among those understood to have also voiced interest about the potential for oil now that, for the first time in 20 years, the country is safe enough to drill.
Yet it is the extent of oil deposits beneath the Indian Ocean that is most exciting Somali officials. One said the potential was comparable to that of Kuwait, which has more than 100bn barrels of proven oil reserves. If true, the deposits would eclipse Nigeria’s reserves – 37.2bn barrels – and make Somalia the seventh largest oil-rich nation.
The state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation has tried to acquire an interest in Somalia’s reserves. Senior officials from the Somali transitional government are adamant that the imminent extraction of oil in Puntland next month would kickstart a scramble from the multinationals.
On Thursday, the last day of the London conference, BP and Shell unveiled an initiative to support job-creation projects in the coastal regions of Somalia. A subsidiary of Shell was thought to have acquired exploration concessions in Puntland before the descent into lawlessness in 1991.
A BP spokesman said there were “no plans” to work in Somalia and no official had recently visited the country.
Fuckers. The country’s war torn and starving and all these fuckers will ever care about is how fast they can rape it.
a lot of the language in this is disturbing to say the least. “The only way we can pay [western companies] is to pay them in kind, we can pay with natural resources at the fair market value.” ~ paying as in paying back, paying back debts we saddled them with while offering nothing for them..
I do not trust people who don’t love themselves and yet tell me, ‘I love you.’ there is an African saying which is: be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.
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| — | Maya Angelou (via warriorsrise) |
Armando Cabral for OUT Magazine, March 2012.Photographed by Dean Isidro.
(via shadesofblackness: modelsofcolor)
