Sika | May 13, 2009
The elections are happening next Tuesday. I tried to get pictures of a group of women in UDF zitenje, but they wanted money I didn’t want to give them. I thought it would be nice for them, considering 95% of all TV media coverage, and most of the radio coverage is positively skewed to the [...]
Sika | March 18, 2009
This post at Shakesville honestly made me cry. It made me think about adoption in a way I never have before. It’s political, but not in any kind of a shrill way. Mostly it’s just heart-felt and heart-rending. You don’t need to have strong opinions about the matter: just read it. Maybe, like me, you’ll [...]
Sika | March 12, 2009
Beyond the connection issues and the sporadic disappearing text messages, Zain is doing two things I think are particularly nasty: 1. They’ve added expiration dates to their units. Celtel never had expiration dates before it became Zain. As a matter of fact, you can still use Celtel units to top up. People sell units on [...]
Sika | March 11, 2009
In the evening after Bo-Kaap, we did a tour of Langa and Khayelitsha—two townships just outside Cape Town. Gareth’s sister had wondered why we felt the need to do a township tour, seeing as how we know what poor Africa looks like and all that. But in Malawi things are a bit more balanced—the whole [...]
Sika | March 11, 2009
In Franschhoek we stayed at the Franschhoek Group Accomodation. We were a bit nervous when we got there because the place looks like an institution. As in, the type of place to which one can be involuntarily committed. But the rooms are sweet and neat, with duvets and comfortable twin beds. The couple running the [...]
Sika | February 20, 2009
When I think of writing now, my thoughts seem so negative. As much as Derek may rejoice in me becoming a jaded old PCV, I am not happy with the way all the negativity makes me and Malawi sound. So, I think I’m going to do what I did for my students after their practical [...]
Sika | January 22, 2009
I’ve tried repeatedly to lj-cut this, but it isn’t taking and the code is just getting worse every time I try. Maybe I’ll go through the effort on Monday to fix it. So anyway, sorry about the lack of cuts. Inauguration day, I was working late—we got out of the practical room just shortly before [...]
Sika | January 19, 2009
President Bingu wa Mutharika came to Zomba two weeks ago, and all of his supporters were out on the streets, in their blue zitenje and their shirts and trousers and skirts and dresses and headdresses made from the blue zitenje. When David and I went to the airport to go to South Africa, ex-president Muluzi [...]
Sika | January 19, 2009
Because it’s taken me about 5 hours to get a screen up I can post from, I’m going to hijack my own post to give y’all a link to an article that I think makes a good case for why Bush officials need to be prosecuted for war crimes: www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/01/18/prosecutions/ . It basically says that [...]
Sika | June 26, 2008
Probably our right to privacy is unimportant. Probably it was an oversight that allowed it into the Bill of Rights. All those people who don’t want us to discover exactly how badly the Bush Administration broke the law and exactly what the telecom companies did to enable them in their power grab: Probably they’re right [...]
Sika | February 25, 2008
I am listening to the NYC Live version of Bruce Springsteen singing 41 Shots (American Skin), a song, along with Tuesday Morning* by Melissa Etheridge, guaranteed to make you cry (well, ok, by you I mean me) and make you wonder at how we, as a race of humans, have survived this long. It’s distracting, [...]
Sika | February 15, 2008
I wanted to post this Wednesday but the vagaries of the internet prevented me from doing so. Please read the link below and then use the ACLU script (or your own if it’s better) to contact all the representatives you think might listen, should listen, need to listen. Honestly, I think this is one of [...]
Sika | February 11, 2008
Some people, when they think of Africa, think of corruption. Corruption of government, corruption of life, in ways big and small. Corruption is both bigger and smaller than you’d suppose. It can be ingrained, although some “corruption” is not viewed as such when we do it*. On a daily basis, corruption usually doesn’t come into [...]
Sika | February 1, 2008
Derek has been teasing me because when I got back from the U.S. I told him I was expecting rain but not the incessant cloudiness, continuous bursts of drizzling, and general dreariness. Specifically, I said, “Dammit, why is it acting like Seattle?” So, after the umpteen billionth time Derek teased me about how wrong I [...]
Sika | January 24, 2008
When I made these posts about FISA? Well, just like I promised, the issue has come up again, and Senator Reid is doing his best to make sure that the necessary amendments to the bill are not made. Please read Glen Greenwald on salon.com and read here for a list of the senators most likely [...]
