Creative Lunacy OpEd

Ghana's Digital Dumping Ground

2009-09-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

On the outskirts of Ghana's biggest city sits a smoldering wasteland, a slum carved into the banks of the Korle Lagoon, one of the most polluted bodies of water on earth. The locals call it Sodom and Gomorrah.

Correspondent Peter Klein and a group of graduate journalism students from the University of British Columbia have come here as part of a global investigation -- to track a shadowy industry that's causing big problems here and around the world.

Their guide is a 13-year-old boy named Alex. He shows them his home, a small room in a mass of shanty dwellings, and offers to take them across a dead river to a notorious area called Agbogbloshie.

Agbogbloshie has become one of the world's digital dumping grounds, where the West's electronic waste, or e-waste, piles up -- hundreds of millions of tons of it each year.

The team meets with Mike Anane, a local journalist who has been writing about the boys at this e-waste dump.

“Life is really difficult; they eat here, surrounded by e-waste,” Anane tells them. “They basically are here to earn a living. But you can imagine the health implications.”

Some of the boys burn old foam on top of computers to melt away the plastic, leaving behind scraps of copper and iron they can collect to sell. The younger boys use magnets from old speakers to gather up the smaller pieces left behind at the burn site.

Anane says he used to play soccer here as a kid, when it was pristine wetland. Since then, he's become one of the country's leading environmental journalists.

“I'm trying to get some ownership labels,” Anane tells reporters. “I'm collecting them because you need them as evidence. You need to tell the world where these things are coming from. You have to prove it. Now, just look,” he says, pointing to an old computer with the label: “School District of Philadelphia.”

Onward - Barack Obama - Juan Roberts

2008-06-24T00:11:00.001-07:00

A Future of Contemplation
I have approximately 1,000 images of Sen. Obama from various online resources (not sure where this one comes from). Of all of the pics, I love this photo, taken as Barack peers through the bars of the 27 year home of Nelson Mandela on Robben Island. I can only imagine what is going through his mind, facing the toughest fight of his life, exposed to the entire world, crushing a paradigm of exclusion and preparing for a future of unending considerations and demanding decisions.

As an African American man pushing 50. I have so many conflicting emotions about the political season we are in. This is the first election in my lifetime that I truly feel vested in the process of deciding who will be the the most powerful position on the planet. I definitely want Bush's surrogate, McCain, on the outside looking in come November. If that takes both Barack and Hillary to do it, so be it, but it is painfully obvious that the configuration of the White House leadership is going to be a fresh perspective on the office.

Color probably has a lot to with it, I'm sure, however, I strive to step back and review where we are and from where we have come. The concept of a people brought here specifically to provide a free labor force to build a nation, now that nation has a man of African ancestry excelling to be within a breath from the oval office ... it is astonishing. In a few centuries, a Black man is campaigning to serve in the White House. Whoa.

As a conservative Democrat, I still tend to be a populist that demands accountability -- top to bottom. Barack needs to be held to a high standard during this race and even while in office. The cause & effect of high standard I speak of is already adding to the excitement of this democratic process. With all of our problems, all across the globe, this election season is emotional and breathtaking for the world.

I've talked to associates in China, Japan, Australia, Germany, Canada, even Russia -- everyone is astounded. This election will impact future global generations. History books, timelines, case studies, election strategies, etc. will forever be changed and include the name Barack Obama. My God.

Senator Obama, I pray that you contemplate soundly, be decisive often, stand strong always and love this country vigorously.

As is Mr. Mandela, you are outside the bars of confinement, free to continue to change the world ... onward my brotha.

Zambia Clothing Market

2008-06-24T00:09:00.000-07:00

SALAULA
Like a lot of you, I have been reading and consuming tons of news about the world condition. It is troubling how so much id going on, but we are seeing less. As scripture foretold, this luke warm society is racing towards the apocalypse with abandon.

Recently, I watched a PBS program about how donated clothing intended for the local poor, becomes the entreprenuership bonanza in Zambia. I always wondered how so many Africans get name brand fashions in remote areas -- now I know. We clear-out our closets, donate to a local charity, somehow they supply it to someone in bulk, which gets in the hands of Indian business men that sell to local African entreprenuers in huge bundles of mixed clothing. They sell their wares at local markets for a profit of approx. $30 a month. Leftovers are given to family members, who may in-turn take them up river to sell them in exchange for food.

Zambia was a world leader in copper and textiles, but once colonialism got involved and then the world bank took over, the country is in collapse. The cast-off clothing market has ruined the local textile industry.

What are we doing to ourselves? Do we not see this happening? Wow.