tagged w/ Ghana
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Per i bambini nelle zone rurali del Ghana, la bicicletta rappresenta più di un semplice trasporto e divertimento. Essa rappresenta anche la mobilità, la libertà e il cambiamento delle proprie esistenze. Ogni anno, dopo l'apertura nel 2009 del movimento: "La fabbrica di biciclette", da parte di una società canadese di Cadbury, in Ghana vengono costruite 3332 biciclette, appositamente progettate per la mobilità di grandi e piccoli, rendendo più facile la vita per i migliaia di bambini che tutte le mattine devono percorrere 30 kilometri per arrivare a scuola e per i loro genitori i quali usano le bici come cargo.Per i bambini nelle zone rurali del Ghana, la bicicletta rappresenta più di un... more
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Seven-year-old Nana Kyei demonstrates why he’s known as “Mr. Rhythm Machine” in his native Ghana. Just don't try this at home as you will probably bite your tongue/lip/smash your teeth.Seven-year-old Nana Kyei demonstrates why he’s known as “Mr. Rhythm... more
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Ghana is giving Uganda a run for their money in the Worst Place to be Gay contest. While the “rounding up” of all homosexuals in the country’s western parts isn’t quite Kill the Gays Bill level sensational, it’s hard to ignore the Holocaust parallels here.
Ghana’s Western Region Minister, Paul Evans Aidoo MP has ordered the immediate arrest of all homosexuals in the country’s west. Aidooo has tasked Ghana’s Bureau of National Investigations and security forces to round up the country’s gay population and has called on landlords and tenants to inform on people they suspect of being homosexuals.
“All efforts are being made to get rid of these people in the society,” he said. The move by the Minister follows months of campaigning by the Christian Council of Ghana which last week called on Ghanaians not to vote for any politician who believes in the rights of homosexuals.
Muslims and Christians in the Western Region have been staging protests ever since a local media report claimed there were around 8000 homosexuals and lesbians in the district
What happens next here? What does a nation that successfully demonizes an entire swath of people to the extent that their neighbors are willing to participate in the herding and arrests of them do next? In other words, once all of the country’s homosexuals are rounded up together, what does Ghana do with them?Ghana is giving Uganda a run for their money in the Worst Place to be Gay contest.... more
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Before I get to the grit, here’s a base of information for us to start with:
* Most consumer chocolate comes from cocoa beans that are farmed in West Africa.
* West Africa is known for forced labor, human trafficking and child labor – sometimes all three at once.
* Hershey, which has the largest market share in the US at 42.5%, gets the majority of their chocolate from – you guessed it! – West Africa.
* Out of every major (and a bunch of relatively minor) companies that produce chocolate, Hershey is the only one that refuses to certify their chocolate as fair trade.
In fact, not only does Hershey refuse to use chocolate from certified fair trade sources, it won’t even list them publicly. Does Hershey get its cocoa beans from the same places that practice forced child labor? We don’t know, because they won’t tell anyone: When asked by companies like Global Exchange and The International Labor Rights Forum, Hershey refused to provide public information about its cocoa sources in West Africa, period.
Here’s what we do know: the majority of Hershey’s cocoa is sourced from West Africa; the company has no purchasing policies that would prevent labor exploitation of those in West Africa; it refuses to shift to third-party fair trade certifications (which almost every other major chocolate manufacturer has); and even when Hershey’s investors asked the company to “institute supply-chain transparency programs for its cocoa,” the company refused.
Read more about Hershey and what you can do to stop child labor in West Africa:
http://www.awakenedaesthetic.com/2011/02/exposed-hersheys-chocolate/Before I get to the grit, here’s a base of information for us to start with:... more
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STX housing project may not begin due to unsuitable political turmoil in Ghana. STX housing project was debated in the Ghana parliament for quite some time before it was accepted.STX housing project may not begin due to unsuitable political turmoil in Ghana. STX... more
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1. The Introduction:
The Water-Cock tells Satyakama in the Chhandogyaa Upaneshada that the fourth PAADA/STEP or the characteristic of the BRHMA [ABSOLUTE] is that the BRHMA is ‘AAYATANASWARUUPA’. The word ‘AAYATANASWARUUPA’ is made up of two parts: AAYATANA [RECTANGULAR BODY] + SWARUUPA [FORM]. The word AAYATANA consists of two roots: AAYATA [RECTANGLE] + TANA [BODY]. The word ‘AAYATANA’ would then mean ‘the RECTANGULAR BODY’. So, the word ‘AAYATANASWARUUPA’ would mean ‘the ONE HAVING THE FORM OF A RECTANGULAR BODY’.
Also, we notice that the BRHMA [ABSOLUTE] is called the ‘SACH-CHEDAANANDAGHANA’ [SAT+CHETA+AANANDA+GHANA].
The word ‘AAYATAAKAARA’ in the English language means ‘the RECTANGULAR’. The word ‘GHANA’ in the English language means ‘the CUBE’. Obviously, the words ‘the RECTANGULAR’ and ‘the CUBE’ carry different meanings.
Then, how come the author of the instant article has said that the basic, elementary and fundamental particle, in an earlier article, is CUBICAL in structure?
2. The Discussion:
First of all, let us see the meanings of the terms the RECTANGLE, RECTANGULAR, CUBE, CUBIC and CUBOID as understood in the English and the Hindi languages.
[A] The Oxford ADVANCED LEARNER’S DICTIONARY of Current English, edited by A S Hornby and others, Seventh edition, 2005, published by the Oxford University Press defines the words Rectangle, Cube, Cuboid and Cubic as follows:
Rectangle:
“A flat shape with four straight sides two of which are longer than the other two and four angles of 90 degrees."
Cube:
“A solid or hollow figure with six equal square sides. ”
Cuboid:
*Noun (geometry) – “A solid object which has six RECTANGULAR sides at RIGHT ANGLES to each other. “
*Adjective – “Shaped approximately like a cube. “
Cubic:
“Having the shape of a cube. “
[B] The page number 711, The BHARGAVA’S STANDARD ILLUSTRATED DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (Anglo-Hindi Edition) Twelfth Edition (1965), Reprint, January 1980, published by BHARGAVA Book Depot, VARANASI (BANARAS), India gives the meaning of the word RECTANGLE and RECTANGULAR as shown below:
RECTANGLE:
AAYATA
RECTANGULAR:
AAYATAAKAARA
CUBE:
Thosa Ghana
The word ‘Thosa’ in the English language means a ‘Solid’.
The word ‘AAYATAAKAARA’ means ‘the RECTANGULAR’. The word ‘GHANA’ means ‘the cube’.
[C] Visualise a cuboid having 6 faces with the upper, lower, front and back faces being RECTANGULAR in shape. Also, visualize this cuboid having the left and the right faces as being SQUARE in shape.
Now, anyone who looks at the front, back, lower or upper face of this cuboid shall call it as being RECTANGULAR or ‘the AAYATAAKAARA’ in shape. But, the person who looks at the left or the right face of this cuboid shall term it to be SQUARE in shape and CUBIC or ‘the GHANA’ in structure. The fact remains that it is a cuboid only despite two different perceptions.
We further notice that a cuboid is shaped approximately like a cube. In other words, we may say that a cuboid is a special kind of cube only.
2. The Conclusion:
Hence, there is no contradiction between the Water-Cock telling Satyakama in the Chhandogyaa Upaneshada that the fourth PAADA/STEP or the characteristic of the BRHMA [ABSOLUTE] is ‘AAYATANASWARUUPA’ and the BRHMA [ABSOLUTE] being called the ‘SACH-CHEDAANANDAGHANA’ [SAT+CHETA+AANANDA+GHANA].
There is no word in the English dictionary which reconciles the above two differing perceptions. So, the author of the instant article has chosen/invented the new word ‘CUBICAL’ as a compromise to reconcile the above two differing perceptions.1. The Introduction:
The Water-Cock tells Satyakama in the Chhandogyaa Upaneshada... more
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Before Dider Drogba was named 2009's African Footballer of the Year, he was a 5-year-old living in Paris with his uncle, Michel Goba. In this Vanguard extra, correspondent Mariana van Zeller talks with Goba about Foot Solidaire, an organization that helps young players who have been abandoned by agents.
"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Wednesdays at 10/9c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.Before Dider Drogba was named 2009's African Footballer of the Year, he was a... more
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In this scene from Vanguard's "Soccer's Lost Boys," correspondent Mariana van Zeller travels to a prestigious -- and unconventional -- academy for young African footballers. Founder Tom Vernon explains how for the 40 boys currently attending Right to Dream in Ghana, an emphasis on both athletics and academics empowers students to plan for their future.
Learn more about Right to Dream: http://www.righttodream.com/
"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Wednesdays at 10/9c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.In this scene from Vanguard's "Soccer's Lost Boys," correspondent... more
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As the world turns its attention to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, the focus will be on many of the brightest stars in soccer like Chelsea players Didier Drogba (first) and Michael Essien and Inter Milan's Samuel Eto'o. In this episode of Vanguard, Mariana van Zeller explores the dark side to the sport's global popularity; what has been called "the new slave trade."
As more and more money flows into professional European soccer leagues, the demand for young West African players has skyrocketed - and so has the number of unlicensed agents, illegitimate soccer academies, and shady middlemen looking to exploit these players. For a very small percentage of these West African youngsters, their dreams of playing professionally in Europe come true. The rest face a litany of horrors: deadly Mediterranean crossings, broken promises, vanishing agents, brutal living conditions, and families torn apart. It's estimated that 20,000 young African soccer players are now stranded in Europe. Many more never even make it that far and remain stuck in transit, in port towns across Africa.
Mariana retraces the journey that these West African players often take in their quest to make it big in Europe. On the dirt fields of Ghana, she spends a week with a youth coach hungry to sell his players. In the slums of Morocco, she meets a growing community of West African players abandoned by agents who promised them professional contracts with European teams. And in Paris she witnesses how these trafficked players get forced underground, living illegally and putting their last hopes in shady, black market games where the best players compete for the attention of the agents and managers in attendance. The journey is full of heartbreak but along the way Mariana also meets a handful of individuals fighting for change, most notably the director of a soccer academy in rural Ghana called Right to Dream.As the world turns its attention to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, the focus... more
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Correspondent Mariana van Zeller and producer Jeff Plunkett both live tweeted the premiere of "Soccer's Lost Boys."
MarianaVZ In 15 mins you'll have new perspective on soccer. I'll be live tweeting, so you can tweet me to hell for ruining your #worldcup glee.
MarianaVZ Did anyone see the #uru #rsa game? It was sad to see Bafana bafana lose, but looks like Uruguay might be the hidden gem of the #worldcup
JKPlunkett Of the African World Cup teams, only Ghana looks likely to advance. That will make many of the people you're about to meet very happy.
MarianaVZ Francis is 1 of the sweetest people I've ever met. We met him shortly aftr we arrived in Morocco and spent the rest of our time there w/ him
MarianaVZ Didier Drogba just played against my country's team #por . He's good friends w/ my fave player Cristiano Ronaldo.
MarianaVZ I retraced some tracks for this story. A few years, ago I reported on African migration to Europe via Morocco + Mauritania.
MarianaVZ Thats when I first heard of soccer players being abandoned. [Watch Mariana reporting from Morocco in 2006.]
MarianaVZ I knew Africa was soccer crazy, but Ghana beats all. On arrival at airport there was huge crowd watching game on TV. Filming started immediately
JKPlunkett Ghana is one my favorite places ever. Such good people...at least most of them.
MarianaVZ We met Coach Smith on the sidelines of a soccer field on our 2nd day in Ghana. He thought we were soccer agents initially.
JKPlunkett Coach Smith kept the player cards in the cushions of his couch. Along with family photos. [Watch Mariana interview Coach Danny Smith about buying and selling players.]
MarianaVZ People wld come up to us while we were filming pickup games and ask if we were agents. Even aftr we insisted we were journos.
MarianaVZ Coach Smith was a soundbite machine, a real natural on camera. I didn't need to ask much as he loved 2 talk + explain how all works.
MarianaVZ Wait to end of piece and you'll see how Coach Smith takes over my job :-)
MarianaVZ We heard many heartbreaking stories of families torn apart because of false promises of soccer stardom. But still for most the dream remains
JKPlunkett Love Essien. So fun to pick what goal to use for that shot.
MarianaVZ Also retraced some old steps for this part. In 2006, I was in the same neighborhood covering the Paris Riots...
MarianaVZ My undercover producer is @jkplunkett. [Watch Mariana go undercover in a black market pick-up game outside Paris.]
JKPlunkett My cameo in the piece.
MarianaVZ . @jkplunkett knows a sh.t load about soccer and plays too. He has the "touch", as our African friends said. Means he's a talented player.
MarianaVZ This interview in an underground parking garage in Paris was one of the saddest intrvws I've ever done.
MarianaVZ This interview in an underground parking garage in Paris was one of the saddest intrvws I've ever done. It was so hard to keep my composure.
JKPlunkett I was outside the car shooting exteriors and had no idea what was going on inside the car. Such a strange experience.
MarianaVZ You'll soon meet Francis parents. They haven't seen their son in over 7 months
JKPlunkett Get ready to meet Francis's parents. You'll quickly understand why Francis is so sweet.
MarianaVZ I love this moment when Francis' dad talks about not liking his son's new dyed hair. It's so typical of dads all over the world.
MarianaVZ Stephen Appiah played for #gha in their first game of the #worldcup
JKPlunkett I love that Francis in Morocco and these lucky players at the academy are both wearing Man U gear.
MarianaVZ Right to Dream was such an inspirational place to visit. Aftr wks of reporting on ugly side of soccer it was gr8 2 see it can do good.
JKPlunkett Such good kids at Right to Dream. Amazing academy. I want to go work there.
MarianaVZ If you'd like to find out more abt Right to Dream academy - http://www.righttodream.com/. They're doing wonderful work. [Follow Right to Dream on Twitter.]
JKPlunkett Right to Dream has 4 players right now on full scholarship at UC Santa Cruz.
MarianaVZ The sage last words of coach Smith, when he takes over my job. He nailed it in the head -"It always comes back to what happens in Africa..."
MarianaVZ Thanks for watching "Soccer's Lost Boys". All the credit goes to @darren_foster and @jplunkett - incredible producers! Correspondent Mariana van Zeller and producer Jeff Plunkett both live tweeted the... more
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Eric Coomans, a retired Dutch school teacher who 3 years ago founded Child Support, a grassroots NGO providing support to children in need. Working with orphaned, malnourished and abused children, Child Support works with the local hospital, schools and health centres in providing the attention and support these children need, with the aim of nursing children back to health and reintegrating them back in to their families and communities.
Doctors, midwives, and medically skilled, he needs you!
www.whattookyousolong.orgEric Coomans, a retired Dutch school teacher who 3 years ago founded Child Support, a... more
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Mariana van Zeller is a correspondent for Vanguard.
Every four years, I look forward to the World Cup. It's the one time where my small country, Portugal, commands a little respect on the world stage. But this World Cup is different...I know too much.
Over the last six months, I've been investigating a particularly heartbreaking scandal for a Current TV documentary called "Soccer's Lost Boys," airing next Wednesday. The story took me from the dirt soccer pitches of Ghana to the migrant ghettos of Morocco and finally, to black market soccer games in Paris.
It's estimated that 20,000 young West African players are currently stranded throughout Europe--trafficked there by predatory agents who snatch them off the fields of Ghana and Senegal and Cameroon promising contracts with big European teams and then abandon them when those tryouts either don't materialize or don't go well.
Jean Claude Mbvoumin, one of the few advocates trying to help these kids through his small Paris-based organization Foot Solidaire, told me that 70 percent of the tryouts that took place in France last year were "uninvited," meaning that--like door-to-door salesmen--these agents just show up with a player--or three or 10--from parts unknown, hoping to get them in front of coaches. Not surprisingly, this approach leads far more often to heartbreak and suffering than to the fame and fortune promised these youngsters.
If you're reading this in the US, you may not be aware of what big industry soccer has become. Money on par with the salaries in the NFL, NBA and MLB are being paid to players from around the globe to play for teams in the UK, France, Italy, Spain. Soccer, or "football" as the rest of the world knows it, is the most global of sports and these days, there's perhaps no bigger market for promising new players than Africa.
Over the last decade there's been a surge in the number of Africans playing at big European clubs. To take the top English league for example, in 1989 it had only four players from Africa, all of them white Africans. In 2009, the league had 60 African-born players, nearly all of them blacks from West Africa. A handful, like Didier Drogba from the Ivory Coast or Michael Essien from Ghana, have risen to become global super stars and fabulously wealthy in the process. These rags-to-riches stories now serve as inspiration for thousands of young African boys who see soccer as their way out.
But the same desperation that drives many young Africans to pile 70 people in a fishing boat meant for seven to make the dangerous sea crossing to Europe, also makes them easy targets for unscrupulous agents, conmen and other unsavory characters. At the embassy of the Ivory Coast in Rabat, Morocco, the consular general pulled out a thick blue book--like an accountant's ledger--filled with the names and faces of young footballers who had been scammed and abandoned in Morocco. I stood in shock as page after page of young African faces stared back at me. My initial worries that we might be stretching some isolated, anecdotal cases of player trafficking into something bigger vanished on the spot. This problem was real--and real nasty.
I like to think of this story as an African Hoop Dreams, although a similar story could be told from South America or even Eastern Europe. Anywhere in the world where a passion of football is paired with the desperation of poverty, the conditions are ripe for the exploitation of young talent. As South Africa hosts the World Cup--the first African nation to do so--it's important that people realize that the growing popularity of European leagues around the globe has come at a cost.
The reason that FIFA, the governing body of the sport, has decided to hold the World Cup in Africa for the first time has nothing to do with the beauty of safari Africa--featured so prominently in ESPN's promo package--with its epic vistas and silhouetted giraffes. The passion for soccer in Africa lives in less picturesque places, like the war-torn Ivory Coast and the coastal slums of Accra. The World Cup is being held in Africa because the future of soccer is very much entwined with the future of the developing world.
The trafficking of young African players may be news to soccer's many millions of fans, but it's an open secret among those who oversee the sport. A few years ago, Sepp Blatter, FIFA's president, even accused top European clubs of "social and economic rape" in their search for new talent in Africa. But despite those harsh words, little has actually been done.
Now that FIFA is raking in billions of dollars in TV rights and sponsorships from the Cup in Africa, perhaps it's time to give a little back. The most popular sport in the world shouldn't be turning its back on thousands of its own.
"Soccer's Lost Boys" premieres on Current TV Wednesday, June 16 at 10/9c. Watch the episode trailer after the jump.
Mariana van Zeller is a correspondent for Vanguard.
Every four years, I look... more
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In this scene from Vanguard's "Soccer's Lost Boys," a coach in Ghana details for correspondent Mariana Van Zeller the alarming treatment of young players in West Africa.
As South Africa hosts the 2010 World Cup, the focus will be on many of the continent's brightest stars in soccer, including Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Inter Milan's Samuel Eto'o. In "Soccer's Lost Boys," correspondent Mariana van Zeller explores the dark side to the sport's global popularity, what has been called "the new slave trade."
"Soccer's Lost Boys" airs Wednesday, June 16 at 10/9c.
Watch a trailer here: http://current.com/shows/vanguard/blog/92469686_soccers-lost-boys-world-cup-dreams-and-nightmares.htm
"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Wednesdays at 10/9c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.In this scene from Vanguard's "Soccer's Lost Boys," a coach in... more
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As South Africa hosts the 2010 World Cup, the focus will be on many of the continent's brightest stars in soccer, including Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Inter Milan's Samuel Eto'o. In "Soccer's Lost Boys," correspondent Mariana van Zeller explores the dark side to the sport's global popularity, what has been called "the new slave trade."
The demand for young West African players in professional European soccer leagues has skyrocketed--and so has the number of unlicensed agents, illegitimate soccer academies, and shady middlemen looking to exploit these players. For a very small percentage of these West African youngsters, their dreams of playing professionally in Europe come true. The rest face a litany of horrors: deadly Mediterranean crossings, broken promises, vanishing agents, brutal living conditions, and families torn apart. It's estimated that 20,000 young African soccer players are now stranded in Europe. Many more never even make it that far and remain stuck in transit in port towns across Africa.
"Soccer's Lost Boys" airs Wednesday, June 16 at 10/9c. For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.
"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Wednesdays at 10/9c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.As South Africa hosts the 2010 World Cup, the focus will be on many of the... more
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Internet crime, drug trafficking, weapons smuggling issues which has become very rampant in West Africa, especially Ghana, is likely to be increasingly. The so-called African Criminal Networks (ACN) which affects the daily life and significantly undermines public institutions is due to the incapacity of the state to create effective mechanisms that prevent the rise of those networks.
Crime in the West African countries which is often “home state” seems to be increasingly problematic through the criminal gangs who take things easy with their mechanism in the West African countries.
The need for cooperation between public authorities at national, regional and international levels, particularly at national borders is obvious. Since they are able to pave their ways through bribe the criminal gangs in Ghana for instance take it easy to develop transnational networks in the whole West African sub-region.Internet crime, drug trafficking, weapons smuggling issues which has become very... more
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Tonight at 9pm on Current you can watch "The OxyContin Express," our Vanguard episode about prescription-drug abuse. We're so honored to have been recognized most recently with a Peabody Award for the piece.
In our upcoming season, I'll be reporting three very different stories from three very different locations:
+ A Lakota reservation in South Dakota:
+ Uganda and the controversy around a law that would criminalize homosexuality and in some cases make it punishable by death:
+ And I traveled to Ghana, Morocco, Brussels and Paris for a story about the trafficking of African soccer players to Europe:
You can watch as we put together the episodes at the Vanguard Blog.
Follow the Vanguard team on Twitter.Tonight at 9pm on Current you can watch "The OxyContin Express," our... more
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President Obama made his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa this week. In his speech in Ghana, he called for a renewed relationship between the US and the continent. But he also sprinkled in a little tough love (fast becoming a trademark of the new president's overseas appearances). While accepting some blame on behalf of the West for some of Africa's problems, Obama also held up the mirror, calling on Africans to rid themselves of the corruption, conflict, dependence on oil and other commodities, etc that have stood in the way of meaningful growth. Here's a few Vanguard pieces that cover some of the issues that Obama addressed in his speech:
Oil and Corruption
HIV
Conflict
And for good measure, we'll throw in a little China...
President Obama made his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa this week. In his... more
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