Moonchild Sanelly

Recently I have started to listening to South African Moonchild Sanelly. Listen to her music below and read an interview with her in this article.

Strikes are nothing new - just ask the Ancient Egyptians

Did you think labor strikes is a new phenomena? Then you are wrong. Pharaoh Ramses III had to face a strike during his reign. The first recorded strike in human history occured in Ancient Egypt during the new kingdom (1570-1069 BC), after the wages were starting to come in late for the tomb-builders and artisans. The strike came as a surprise for the authorities since everyone are suppose to respect his or hers place in Egyptian society according to the philosophy ma´at. Read more here about the strike.

The situation for LGBT rights in Africa

Recently a lot has been written in media about the situation for LGBT rights in Tanzania. But how is the situation in the rest of Africa? According to Amnesty, it´s legal to be gay in only 21 countries. Here you can see in detail how gay people can be punished in each country where it is illegal.

Let´s hope people are more free to love whoever they want in the future, in the countries where it is now illegal.

ZImbabwe one year after Mugabe

It´s little more than a year ago that Robert Mugabe lost power over Zimbabwe. But what has happened since then? Well, you could find some answers in this article and in the video below.

And what about Mugabe himself? He now needs medical treatment,

The Africans who fought in World War I

Some ceremonies were held in Africa this weekend in memory of the end of World War I. Speaking of this, today we might not talk so much about the Africans who had to sacrifice their lives the World wars. This BBC article talks about the war in Kenya. But African soldiers were recruited from all over the continent. France recruited West Africans to the "Tirailleurs Sénégalais" (Senegalese riflemen) and they were not just Senegalese as the name will have you believe, they came from all over West Africa. France recruited 192 000 people to the Tirailleurs Sénégalais, 134 000 fought in Europe and 30 000 died in World War I. 

The first from the continent to score in the European cup

Earlier this year South African football player Johnny Hubbard passed away. The winger played for Glasgow Rangers between 1949 and 1959 and became the first man born on the African continent to score in the European cup, while scoring a penalty against Nice in the 1956/1957 season. In total he scored 104 goals in 238 appearences between 1949 and 1959 while at Rangers. Rangers website describes him as "a talented and immensely popular player" at the club.

On his personal values, in Johnny Hubbards autobiography "The penalty king" you can read the following statement that his background had an impact on his life:
"Although I was raised in a system of segregation, I was raised to respect black people, so when I arrived in Glasgow, I treated people alike, whether Catholic or Protestant. I think it becomes a question of personal values and I was brought up to respect everyone. By giving that respect, I have also received it from others. It is a good way to live".

A smart technology invented in Namibia

Today I will talk about a technology originating in Namibia. Scarcity of water can be a problem in some countries. But in Namibia a technology has been invented to turn sewage water into drinkable water - and they have been doing it for fifty years. You can say it´s a smart way to recycle water. This is done in the Goreangab facility outside the capital Windhoek. The recycling of water is made possible thanks to bacteria.

"Everything is done biologically, by the organisms", says process engineer Justina Haihambo to pri.org.

Didier Drogba retires from football

Former Chelsea and Ivory Coast forward Didier Drogba has decided to retire from football, according to BBC. He played his last football game for the team Phoenix rising in the American second division. He will be most remembered for his days at Chelsea where he, amongst other titles, won the UEFA champions league once and four Premier league trophies.

France might return art objects to Africa

France might soon return some of the art objects taken from African states during the colonial era, items which are now in French museums. At least that is the recommendation in a new report which will be given to French president Emmanuel Macron, written by French historian Bénédicte Savoy and Senegalese economist and writer Felwine Sarr. About two thirds of 90 000 African objects would be affected if the suggestions in this report would be a reality. Emmanuel Macron has also promised earlier to look into ths question.

"We are dealing with the case of a continent which has almost nothing left of its history when we have it all. The aim is not to empty Western museums to fill up the African ones, but to invent a new relationship based on ethics and equity", says Bénédicte Savoy according to theartnewspaper.com.

What is actually happening in Cameroon?

The recent tensions between the English-speaking Cameroonian people and the French speaking Cameroonian people traces it´s roots back to the colonial era, where one part of the country were run by the French and one part were run by the British. The Francophone people have most power and the Anglophone people feel marginalized. If you want to find out more, read this article which explains the situation in a simple way.

Great Zimbabwe

Have you ever heard anything about African history besides the slave trade and colonialism? The fact is Africa has a rich pre-colonial history that more people should know more about. One of those examples is the structure Great Zimbabwe.

One of the first things I was told when studying African history was how the legacy of Great Zimbabwe had been mistreated by the Europeans. They simply didn´t believe Africans were capable of building a structure like Great Zimbabwe and many different explanations for the structure were offered. In Rhodesia the official politics was that it was built by non-blacks. Modern research point to that it was a Shona speaking group who were the builders begind Great Zimbabwe. Find out more about Great Zimbabwe - and it´s real legacy - in the BBC documentary below.

Hailu Mergia and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Stockholm!

Very soon two famous people from the African continent will attend events in Stockholm. The Ethiopian musician Hailu Mergia will have a concert at Fasching on November 25 and the world famous Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will speak at Kulturhuset on Novermber 26.

Time for the Women´s African Cup of Nations!

On saturday it´s time for the Women´s Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana. Eight teams will compete for the honour of calling themselves the best national team on the continent. The final will be played on december 1. The top three teams advance to the World cup next year.

The eight teams are divided into two groups.
Group A
Ghana, Algeria, Mali, Cameroon
Group B
Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea

Nigeria are defending champions and have won the competion ten times! Only Equatorial Guinea has also managed to win the tournament (two times). One of the most shining star players of this year´s tournament is Asisat Oshoala who has been named Africa´s best player multiple times.

Fast and luxurious trains in Africa

Yesterday the fastest train in Africa was inaugurated in Morocco. The train will go between Casablanca and Tangiers. Present during the inauguration was Moroccan king Mohammed VI and Emmanuel Macron, the president of France.

Speaking of trains, two train journeys in Africa are listed here by CNN as two of the most luxurious train journeys in the world. Click here to find out where in Africa you need to go to experience this. 

A visit to Robben island

Nelson Mandela should have turned 100 years old this year. Last winter I made a visit to Cape town and of course took the boat out to see Robben island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. I really recommend a visit here, since they have former Robben island political prisoners as guides, who tell their own story of how it was like to be at Robben island prisoner during the apartheid era. When I was there, one of the guides spoke with such intensity that it was impossible not to be moved.

What is Kirsty Coventry doing now?

Do you remember the Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry? She is the most decorated olympian from the African continent ever with two gold medals, four silver medals and one bronze medal.

She is now involved in Zimbabwean politics as she in september was appointed as the minister of youth, sport, arts and recreation.

When Ethiopia won the war against Italy

During the scramble for Africa, Ethiopia managed to resist colonization by defeating Italy in the first Italo-Ethiopian war betwenn 1895 and 1896. Why did Ethiopia won? If you like history, watch the video below that in a very informative way explains just this.

Antibiotics made some Africans feel better over 2000 years ago

I found this story from 2010 about a scientific discovery that suggests some Africans may have known about antibiotics more than 2000 years ago, a long time before the modern discovery. Analysis from  mummies from the ancient Nubians, who lived south of ancient Egypt in modern day Sudan, have shown that they drank beer which contained tetracycline, a type of antibiotics. The question is if the Nubians knew what they were doing?

"Given the amount of tetracycline there, they had to know what they were doing. They may not have known what tetracycline was, but they certainly knew something was making them feel better", biologival anthropologist George Armelagos told the site www.abc.net.au.

African contributions to the Swedish champions

Today the football championship in my home country Sweden was decided. Stockholm team AIK finished first in the table and there were a few African contributions to this league victory.

Ghanaian Enoch Kofi Adu was an integral part of the team´s performance and played nearly every game as a midfielder.
Congolese-born Swedish winger Heradi Rashidi scored one goal during the season.
Swedish player Henok Goitom, who is of Eritrean descent and has played for the Eritrea national team, contributed a lot by scoring twelve goals.

Soulful music from Benin

Today´s music recommendation is the song "Vi Deka" by Vincent Ahehehinnou from Benin. Even if I don´t understand what they are singing about, you can tell that it is a very soulful song with a lot of feeling. Read more about Vincent Ahehehinnou here.

What´s going on in Ethiopia?

Ethiopia´s prime minister Abiy Ahmed has out forward a lot of talked about reforms lately. He has promoted peace with neighbouring Eritrea and a lot of women has been appointed to minsters. Ethiopia has even got their first female president. So is everything going to be fine now or is it more complicated? The site www.democracyinafrica.org tries to give som in depth analysis on the recent events.

Bina Fernandez from the University of Melbourne discusses what the many apointments of women as ministers will mean for Ethiopia here 


Hamza El Guili from the University of Abdelmalak Essaadi of Tanger in Morocco reflects on the the peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea here.

Legendary African goalkeepers

When thinking about footballers from Africa, it´s often the offensive qualities that comes to mind. Players like George Weah, Samuel Eto´o, Didier Drogba and Mohamed Salah have all given rise to that picture of the continent. But Africa has also produced some great goalkeepers that should be mentioned.

Arthur Wharton

Born in Accra in Ghana in 1865, the goalkeeper Arthur Wharton was to become the first black professional footballer in the UK. Not only that, this very talented athete also set a record in cycling and became the fastest man in Britain.

The Cameroonian goalkeeper factory

In the modern era, Cameroon has undoubtedly produced most of the high class goalkeepers in Africa. One such figure is Thomas N´kono who cotnributed to Cameroon´s quarter final place in the World cup 1990 and had a notable career with Espanyol in Spain. Actually, Gianluigi Buffon was very much inspired to become a goalkeeper after watching Nkono in the World cup. Other notable keepers from Cameroon include Joseph-Antoine Bell, Jacques Songo´o and Carlos Kameni.

Essam El Hadary

At 45 years old, the Egyptian became the oldest World cup player in history in 2018. He is a legend in his home country and has won the Africa cup of nations four times and the African champions league four times.

Do you know anyone that should be mentioned in this list?

Albertina Sisulu turns 100

A lot of men behind the anti-apartheid movement are famous, like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. But of course there have also been many women who have contributed to the rise of democracy in South Africa. One such woman is Albertina Sisulu who should have turned 100 years old this year.

She was a nurse and one of her first experiences of racism in South Africa was when black patients weren´t allowed to be treated in the "European" rooms,but instead had to lay on the floor. Albertina Sisulu was involved in a lot of political activities and was married to Walter Sisulu, another anti-apartheid activist. Click on this link to find out more about Albertina Sisulu.

An iconic African film

When most people think of film, Africa might not be the first that comes to mind in a westernern´s general view of the world. But there are of course a lot of movies from the continent that deserve more recognition.

Recently the Senegalese movie "Touki Bouki" was included in BBC´s list of the 100 greatest foreign language movies of all time. The film, directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty, is about  Mory and Anta who dream of a new life in France. The movie has also been noticed by Beyoncé and Jay Z, who made a reference to the film during their tour.

The famous American director Martin Scorcese is an admirer of "Touki Bouki".

Hopes for peace in South Sudan

A new peace deal was celebrated in South Sudan recently, which is meant to put an end to the civil war in the country. But the hopes for peace are fragile ones.
Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/oct/31/south-sudan-celebrates-new-peace-accord-amid-joy-and-scepticism

South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011 and a civil war has taken place since 2013.

Another milestone for women in Ethiopia

Recently Ethiopia got their first female president. Now Meaza Ashenafi has been appointed as the first woman to be president of the supreme court in Ethiopia. Read more here: https://www.google.se/amp/www.africanews.com/amp/2018/11/01/ethiopia-supreme-court-gets-its-first-woman-head-meaza-ashenafi/.

Below you can see an interview with her made a couple of years ago.