I just got this via email. Cape Town, 27 April. Dar es Salaam, 24 May. Cairo, 21 June. Going past Capricorn, Equator and Cancer latitude lines. Going, I am least likely.

- http://zainhd.com/2011/01/trans-africa-expedition/

Brilliant idea I suppose, though somewhat obvious. There are two points I’d raise from this. One from the idea, and the other on the video.

1- Building a plant that could generate a region far from it, would mean heavy reliance on one (or few) sources, which is/can be risky if not damaging, politically, socially and economically, even if sht doesn’t hit the fan. Following that, somewhat flipside to it, the growth of  relations from trade, knowledge and society between the source of the power, to the location it covers.

2- Notice how it’s always the same (background) music used when covering this region of the world? And for some reason, to some extent, music is not even used when footage of say, a different part of the world is being shown. I.e. Europe, northern America. Which says two things, either stereotype, or the target audience of this video. It’s meant to be viewed by people who needs this sound media to hit home to them to appreciate/acknowledge the different/foreign part of the world this video is narrating. I agree that most probably that was not the mindset or conscious perspective of the video producer when making it, but high chance he is at least towing the subconscious line of story telling tradition of the west, and to some extent, the world.

*Thank you Juana Jaafar for sharing this video.

- http://zainhd.com/2010/11/german-sahara-solar-plant/

The image is random. A doodle by Talya Goldberg. But do check out Tech4Africa. A web and emerging technology conference, bringing global perspective to the African context. Stuff like this makes me want to quicken my Africa trip in even more. A working trip.

*Came across this via Leila Janah of Samasource (Twitter) whom I’ve been following for a while now. Samasource works to connect women, youth and refugees to life-changing work via the internet. Leila was keynote speak at Tech4Africa.

- http://zainhd.com/2010/09/tech4africa/

Sou – Les Go

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Kampala, Uganda.

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http://ZainHD.com/

At dinner some nights ago, I found out that crossing into Israel via Egypt, with a Malaysian passport, will lead to you being detained for at least four days by the African counterpart.

Since I can’t decide which song from her I’d like to put up here, I’ll insert a clip to illustrates better her significance.

About ten months ago, I distinctively remember hearing the news online.  As her passing was inevitable, the sadness were proportionate, enough that I remember all day singing Mama Africa (Chico Cesar’s version) to my then eleven day old nephew.