Obama Girl!

I knew before traveling that there’d be a great deal of Obamania on this side of the hemisphere considering how closely the elections were followed around the world and media images and stories I’ve seen from African news outlets. I expected lots of questions about the elections and what I thought Obama would do for Africa. However, I haven’t really gotten much of that, but since arriving in Cameroon, my colleague and I are being constantly referred to as “Obama girls”. Luckily it’s an endearing term because I love Obama. I couldn’t imagine if I was referred to as a “Bush girl”. YUCK! It has so many negative connotations.
But the funniest part about being an “Obama Girl” in Cameroon is that most people consider the two of us “Black American” because we are here representing a US based organization. It’s a bit odd for me to be referred as such because I consider myself Cameroonian American, but it is even odder for my colleague who was born and raised in Cameroon! And it gets even funnier when we meet expats who try to educate us on the ways of Cameroon.
However, I credit this to the diversity of Cameroon. For instance, there are certain countries in the world where their citizens are easily identifiable by their features. But Cameroonians throughout the country look completely different. Im sure it has a lot to do with its central location on the continent, but I also think it has a great deal to do with the open door system of the land and its people. During this trip, I’ve witnessed how easily people flow in and out of the country. I’m sure this is an issue of border control, but its also influenced by how welcoming the people are. Right now I am traveling throughout towns bordering the Central African Republic. You can see CAR from here and Central Africans are constantly crossing the border. Below are pictures of Central Africans crossing a small river into Cameroon.

YES WE CAN!!!

On November 4, 2008 Barack Obama became the first African-American president of the United States.

It was a very emotionally charged accomplishment with celebrations taking place all over the world- most notably in Obama's father's hometown of Kogelo, Kenya.

However, beyond the historical implications of this feat the world has so much to learn. For centuries Africans have been underestimated as a people and we have admittedly underestimated ourselves. Obama has not only shown young Black people in America and the Western world what they can some day be, but he has proven to the whole diaspora what we can strive to one day become as leaders of ourselves and the free world.

An editorial in Kampala, Uganda's New Vision newspaper summed up my sentiments exactly. Africa should use this excitement as an impetus for democratic reform and realize not what Obama can do for Africa, but what Africa can do for itself in cooperation with the US due to an Obama administration (a sentiment encouragingly echoed by President Kagame).

Yes we can!

EDITORIAL
5 November 2008
Posted to the web 6 November 2008

Kampala

History was yesterday made when Senator Barack Obama swept the polls to become the first African American president since the birth of the USA more than two centuries ago.

Obama's victory sealed his catch phrase: "Yes, we can," and demonstrates how determination and high level of organisation can deliver effective results against all odds. The Developing World and Africa in particular, has a lot to learn from this.

First, they should stop blaming their woes on others, put their act together and come up with strategies to pull the continent from backwardness. Yes, we can.

Secondly, the economic and political systems in the Developing World should be geared towards empowering the masses to recognise and promote talents and ability rather than mere party loyalty.

Thirdly, John McCain's acceptance of defeat and promise to work with Obama demonstrates that race and intrigue has no place in the modern world and that losing an election should not result into sworn enmity.

Obama has become president of the most powerful country in the world at the time the US is experiencing the worst economic crisis in a century.

However, the big problems he has at home should not obscure his view of the rest of the world. In particular, positive policies towards the Developing World like the African Growth and Opportunities Act, the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief and the Millennium Challenge Corporation - whether put in place by the Republicans or not should continue.

As the world celebrates, the Developing World should not expect immediate windfalls from the Obama administration. Because the US is facing the worst economic down turn, it is very easy to forget the rest of the world, especially Africa.

The Developing World should therefore, continue pressing for fair trade policies. As President Yoweri Museveni has always said, it is trade and not aid that will pull Africa out of poverty. Yes, we can.

Obama Believes in Transparency and So Does Africa!

The other day I told you about a group who was exploiting Obama's campaign in order to raise unauthorized funds. Well, I'm happy to report that the anti-graft investigators in the country have seized the money and will return it to those who attended the event. They recovered $630,000 but would not press charges against the event organizers, because no national laws had been broken.

But in an effort to stay positive... Yes We Can!

Africans for Obama

I knew that with all the excitement in Africa surrounding Senator Barack Obama's presidential nomination, it was only a matter of time before profiteers would rear their ugly heads.

As I have said a million times and will continue to say, I am a staunch supporter of Barack Obama, however, many Africans abroad seem to care more about Obama's political campaign than they do the politics of their own nation! Perhaps it is their way of coping with the pervasive lack of democracy consuming the continent or perhaps they celebrate his achievement in hopes that other Black leaders will follow his example.

But what I don't understand and most definitely cannot accept is the exploitation of Obama's campaign abroad.

The BBC recently exposed a group calling itself Africans for Obama that was holding fundraisers under the premise of Barack Obama's campaign. The group was charging $21,000 a table for events in support of Obama's bid for presidency. However, US political parties cannot accept funds from groups outside of the US. When the BBC confronted the leader of the group with this minor, but critical detail, she stated that the purpose of the event was raise funds to spend on advertising to convince their relatives in the US to vote for Obama in the upcoming election.

Putting aside the ridiculousness of this justification for fraud, why couldnt such an event be launched to reach out to rural voters within their own country and educate them about their political process, or to raise funds to ensure that all children receive insecticide treated bed nets to reduce the level of fatalities due to malaria, or to ensure that all households had access to safe and clean water, or donated to a million other issues that have hampered development in Africa?!?!?

Tonight, Barack Obama will become the first Black man to accept a major party nomination for President of the United States. Let us come together as Africans in support of his accomplishment and draft US foreign policy objectives that will build on Obama's legacy and benefit Africans across the globe!

I Couldn't Have Said it Better Myself

Let me preface this entry by saying "I support Barack Obama 100%" I voted for him during my primary election and will vote for him in November.
That being said, it really annoys me that everytime I speak to a friend or family member in Africa, conversation is CONSUMED with questions about Obama. I fully respect an individual's desire to follow news and politics abroad, because I clearly do the same. What I don't understand is this obsession with the elections in the US (as ground breaking as it is) when all is not at right at home!
I'll stop here and include an excerpt from Dorene Namanya's piece in The Monitor

"Obama- Let's Not Get Carried Away"
The morning after he won the democratic nomination, he was all everyone was talking about. From local TV and FM stations, the taxi driver chatting enthusiastically to his conductor, the leading dailies, to even talk among women who are normally far removed from the political surroundings (although to be fair they were discussing his looks). The Obama drug was taking effect. It was as if the prices of fuel, food and the northern war peace treaty (or lack thereof) no longer seemed to matter. Ugandans had embraced Obama.

This is worrying on so many fronts. One that we almost seem more enthusiastic about than our neighbours in Kenya and he is after all their cousin. Kind of like that woman who howls, wails and threatens to kill herself at the death of her stepchild when the child's mother is weeping quietly in a corner.

Two, that Obama's election will not change the situation here. Honest, those potholes will remain. Three, that Zimbabwe is still being led by a tyrant, Ugandans are being harassed in South Africa, there is a crisis in Darfur and yet we channel our energies in the Obama campaign. Four that he is still only just a candidate.

This is probably the one topic where people are taking advantage to show off their knowledge of international politics, but all that enthusiasm is not going to pay off in the end. I hate to disappoint all of you enthusiasts, but your opinion as Ugandans matters only so much.

Reminds me of the last US presidential elections, how a certain tabloid here ran an editorial on Election Day that read, "Here at (insert tabloid name) we support John Kerry." I bet John Kerry wrote them a letter later thanking them for their support. I bet he didn't.