« March 2007 | Main | May 2007 »
April 23, 2007
End of the Line for Djibo FM
On 12 April I received a phone call from a pastor in the south of Burkina, to tell me that we have once again been unsuccessful in our application for a radio license here in Djibo. Today I received the official confirmation that this is indeed the case.
The broadcasting license for Djibo was given instead to a local agriculture project which is due to close this year and which has already spent their funding.
During the application phase we were strongly advised to pay a small unofficial sum to each member of the ‘Conseil Superieur de Communication’ in order to sweeten them. The sum suggested was laughably small: 20,000 CFA ($40) for the president of the committee and 10,000 CFA ($20) for each of seven members. A grand total of $180.
Considering that our total budget for this project is in excess of $50,000, $180 would not have broken the bank. But as a board we had made a decision not to pay bribes. We thought that this kind of ruthless honesty was something that people would respect and God would honour. After all, the meaning of ‘Burkina Faso’ is ‘Land of Good and Upright Men’.
When I first heard the news that our application had been refused, it was a crushing disappointment. Disappointment in this country’s administration, disappointment in God and disappointment in myself. Could I have done anything better? Should I have paid the bribe, to achieve the greater-good? By not doing so, had I let down the community I had pledged to help?
I started planning this project four years ago. I have talked about it, blogged about it, prayed about it and fundraised for it more than I care to think about at the moment. I have invested many hundreds of hours, many hundreds of pounds and many kilojoules of hope in an enterprise which has come to absolutely nothing.
That’s the selfish angle on it, but the truth is, it’s not just me that has been working hard. Our partners in SIM, ASAREN and HCJB have been fully involved at every stage in the process.
There are some difficult decisions to be made now, regarding how and when to dismantle the project. My colleagues are advising me not to do anything rash just yet. But most of me would very much like to do something rash. The rasher the better, in fact. If you have any suggestions for Rash Things I Could Do To Vent Frustration, please add them in the comments section below.
Posted by sahelsteve at 04:21 PM
Songs of our Fathers
Africa Geographic sent me the proofs today for my article 'Songs of our Fathers'. Their designer has come up with this piece of artwork for the title page, which I think is very well-conceived and beautiful:
This article will be in the June issue of Africa Geographic.
Posted by sahelsteve at 02:43 PM
Reviews
'Sophie and the Albino Camel' has been longlisted for the Branford Boase award. Judges will decide on a shortlist by the end of this month.
Meanwhile, reviews of 'Sophie and the Locust Curse' are starting to come in.
Posted by sahelsteve at 10:28 AM
Yellowcake Conspiracy update
Received the 'Yellowcake Conspiracy' proofs last week, and they're looking good. The story is interspersed with screenshots of various websites where terrorists meet to plot and to buy/sell uranium. The designer has done a brilliant job on replicating these websites in the pages of the book, graphics and all, and I am very pleased with the result. I think boys will like it.
The publishers will be at the Bologna Book Fair as from tomorrow to try and sell foreign rights to Yellowcake.
A couple days ago, Tuareg rebels attacked French uranium prospectors near Arlit, the first such raid for many years. So this book is nothing if not topical.
The Yellowcake Conspiracy will be on the shelves in September.
Posted by sahelsteve at 09:52 AM
April 08, 2007
9/11: why the official account of the destruction of the World Trade Center cannot be true
This post is neither about Christian mission nor about Africa nor about children's writing. It's about 9/11. For now, I'll understate the argument because I believe in treading softly.
The official 9/11 Commission Report leaves a lot of unanswered questions about the events of 11 September 2001. Many people around the world are uneasy about the Report, including these professors.
There are hundreds of thousands of web-pages now devoted to exploring 9/11 evidence. I started with www.911exposed.org which contains a lot of well-referenced material but you may be put off by its rather sensationalist tone.
I recommend the following article by Professor David Griffin, which is rather long but well worth reading in full: The Destruction of the World Trade Center: Why the Official Account Cannot be True. The destruction of the towers is only one aspect of 9/11 research, but an excellent place to start if you are new to all this (as indeed I was a few days ago!). 'In the present essay,' Griffin writes, 'I focus on one question: why the Twin Towers and building 7 of the World Trade Center collapsed. One advantage of this focus, besides the fact that it allows us to go into considerable detail, is that the destruction of the World Trade Center provides one of the best windows into the truth about 9/11.'
I also recommend www.911scholars.org. This site is interesting because it engages intelligently with supporters of the 'official' line on 9/11 (see the Opinion Pieces in the right column).
If you have never looked at this issue seriously, have a probe and see what you think.
Posted by sahelsteve at 09:23 PM
April 07, 2007
Precious Girl Magazine
My fiancée Charlie continues her wonderful work as editor of Precious Girl Magazine, a 50-page glossy magazine for factory girls in Cambodia. She comes home in June but is hoping to leave the project in the hands of her team of Khmer writers and designers. Please pray for her.
Issue 6 of Precious Girl Magazine came out recently. It is published in Khmer, but now there are also English versions of all six issues available online for free.
Roathanak is an 18 year-old girl working in a garment factory in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. She grew up in the countryside but left school early and came to the big city. She hoped that the money she made would support her parents and her younger brothers and sisters back home.
Away from the security of ther family, Roathanak misses home, even though she shares her small bedroom with five other girls. On a good month, she can earn $68 with maximum overtime and bonuses, and sends $30 of this back to her family. With basic living expenses costing over $30, there is barely enough money for her to eat well, let alone buy books.
Roathanak is just one of about 300,000 young women working in garment factories in and around Phnom Penh. Clothing manufacture is an important industry in Cambodia, generating income for this developing country and providing employment for the daughters of poorer families.
Precious Girl is an affordable quarterly magazine which aims to be a blessing to these vulnerable young women. It is designed to encourage and inspire its readers and impress on them a sense of their immense value. Most Khmer magazines for young women are expensive, celebrity-laden and morally questionable, but Precious Girl is invariably wholesome and uplifting.
The glossy, full-colour pages are packed with health and beauty tips, creative ideas, inspirational stories and practical help for girls facing real-life dilemmas. The factory worker's photos, comments and letters are also printed - the only stars in this magazine are the readers themselves!
Precious Girl is run by a young vibrant team of local Christian girls. In producing this magazine, they want to celebrate the richness of the factory worker's lives and encourage thousands of girls like Roathanak to find meaning and happiness.
If you would like to donate, please do.
Posted by sahelsteve at 09:34 AM
April 04, 2007
Anarchic worship
Kids in Gorom-Gorom learning the worship song 'Foofo maa Alla' (thank you God). Haha.
Posted by sahelsteve at 10:30 PM
Dogon women pounding onions
A feel-good pounding song I recorded in Mali last year.
Posted by sahelsteve at 10:05 PM
Break in Ouagadougou
I am down in Ouagadougou for Easter week. Working on the third in the Sophie series: Sophie and the Pancake Campaign. General idea as follows:
Gidaado the griot is working as praise-singer for General Alai Crêpe-Sombo, and having a wonderful time. Gidaado rides his camel around behind Crêpe-Sombo, singing hilarious songs in support of the campaign and distributing banana crêpes (Sophie’s idea) to adoring crowds. As a result of Gidaado's work, Crêpe-Sombo is enjoying great success in the polls. But when Sophie overhears a secret meeting of Crêpe-Sombo’s campaign team, she begins to suspect that the General might not be the good guy that he makes himself out to be...
On a completely different note...
Lunchtime in Djibo: 
Lunchtime in Ouagadougou: 
I love Ouaga.