Hello. I am e.n.d. Once upon a time I came from Minnesota. But then I moved everywhere.
Curiosity didn't kill the cat. Complacency did.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
…see people first as human beings, not as president or prime minister. That’s why I can relate to a lady in the U.S. or to King Mswati in Swaziland.
Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, quoted recently in the New York Times article, A Charm Offensive Against AIDS.
Chinese foreign minister hails Africa as 'golden ground'
One day, there will be no natural resources left in Africa.
This should concern everyone. (Your cell phone. Your diamond ring. Your basketball shoes. Your oil. Your shrimp salad. Your cashews. Your bombs).
Extraction + depletion = war.
Find out more about how China is “developing” Africa by using your trusty search engine. And read between the lines.
WINDHOEK - Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Thursday hailed Africa as a “golden ground” for foreign investment, and vowed to work with Chinese firms to ensure they comply with local labour laws.
“Africa is a fertile place for foreign investors and it is a golden ground for Africa to attract foreign investors, especially for infrastructure which is the blood and muscle of a country,” Yang said during a visit to Namibia.
Yang spoke after meeting with his Namibian counterpart Utoni Nujoma in Windhoek, on the last leg of an African tour that also took him to Niger and Ivory Coast.
China has aggressively moved into African markets, tapping into natural resources to fuel its own economy but also taking a major role in building roads, bridges and other infrastructure across the continent.
The arrival of Chinese companies and workers has sometimes stirred conflict with locals, with Namibians complaining that some Chinese firms fail to respect the minimum wage and other labour laws.
“I am not saying every Chinese company here behaves in a perfect way. If not, I hope Namibia tells us and we do our best to solve it,” Yang told reporters. “We told our companies to adhere to laws here.”
After their 90-minute talks, the two ministers signed a technical cooperation agreement that included a 20-million-renminbi ($3.2-million, 2.5-million-euro) loan for projects that Namibia can decide upon later.
Yang started his five-day African tour on Monday to visit Niger and Ivory Coast before arriving in Namibia late Wednesday. It is his first visit to Namibia.
Last month China and Namibia signed a deal on animal health, which will allow Namibia to export fish and beef to China later this year, and Chinese firms have also sought greater stakes in uranium mining here.
China has in recent years expanded its aid to Namibia, building roads, schools and hospitals in remote areas, although the costs are not made public.
According to latest figures from the Business Journal of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 27 Chinese state companies are active in Namibia in construction, mining, engineering, information technology and financial services.
According to a World Bank report last month, about 35,000 Chinese nationals live in Namibia. The country has a population of about two million.
Stuck in China. Don’t be jelly. | radiothom
Leaving China tonight and heading back to Berlin. Two weeks left…
Some Karst for the road.
Karst landscape at dusk.
The view from my boat ride home on the Li River earlier today.
With the sounds of this classic Jesus and Mary Chain album in my ears.
The unfortunate fact is, we’re just not allowed to compete in this market, and that’s not up to us to change.
Twitter Founder, Jack Dorsey: Can’t Compete in China
(Oh, the irony, as I tumbl this in order to feed to twitter since I am in China right now, too, and can’t access the site directly…)
After teaching some of my Mom’s students an “African Geography” class in English yesterday, we headed to the Longji Rice Terraces this morning.
Upon arrival, we settled in a bit, had some lunch, went for a walk, and took a nap.
Later, my Dad and I hiked a bit further to the top of the mountain. He took in the view while I ended the evening with a solo trail run on a narrow 1.2 mile path along the rice terrace cliffs.
I ran back and forth until the sun started to go away.
The air is thinner here. My lungs are a bit sore. But the dusk sky made up for it.
Back to my moleskine, music and pen.
Made it to Yangshuo. Four flights and a long car ride, I finally arrived at my parents place.
The photos are of my near miss of a connection in Shenzhen. Driven personally across the tarmac by a couple of guys who saw me roaming around the airport until they finally asked, “Where you go, woman? You lost. You will miss your flight. Run with us.”
I’m in my pajamas. My Mom and I are listening to Nathan Fake now and I’m about to collapse.
:)
Looking forward to renting bikes with my Dad and getting lost somewhere near here.
:)
Karst scenery near Yangshuo.
I like when my Dad adds a brief caption, like below.
I want to finally see this for myself.
I keep saying that.
I just need to buy the damn ticket already.
In rural China, women do a lot of the heavy work, though the men certainly work hard as well. It’s true that in parts of China you do see machines to help with the field work, including harvest, but that’s the exception rather than the rule. Here in Guangxi, nearly all the work in the fields is done by hand. For certain tasks, like plowing a flooded rice field, a simple plow may be pulled by a water buffalo, but beyond that, human labor is still the way food is grown. With young people increasingly leaving their villages for jobs in distant cities, it places more and more of the labor burden on their parents and grandparents. Life these days in rural China is far from idyllic, if it ever was.
Another photo from my Dad.
:)
Five girls & one boy. Country elementary school. Rural Yangshuo County, China.
Somewhat near where my parents currently live.
Taken by my Dad.
Picturing him right now, hauling his camera all around these parts.
The lighting makes me think this was taken at dusk…
Beautiful.
Harvesting and threshing rice.
Rural Yangshuo, China.
