I love browsing blogs, for me there is a sense of excitement, I just never know what I’m going to find! I hope you find the same thing here.
There is so much gloom and doom about Africa in the press. Yet on the ground as it were, in Africa, life is upbeat. People try new things, they are always starting new enterprises, pushing the boundaries. I find that exciting and such a contrast to how Africa is portrayed in the press, and, to be honest, on many blogs.
One blog I particularly like reading is AfriGadget. It is one of those ‘one of a kind’ blogs that continually bring things to notice that might otherwise get overlooked. It celebrates African ingenuity. I love it! One article I read today focussed on cultural transfer. In this case ‘the Simpsons’, that eponymous American export. The cartoon that adults all over the world love.
Simpsons Carvings from Kenya
This one is not exactly AfriGadget, more like an AfriToy, but we love the story nonetheless. The video reporter Ruud Elmendorp visited the small village of Tabaaka, near Kakamega, in western province Kenya. Below is a video showing the master carvers at work, creating soapstone figures of The Simpsons characters.
The carvings are available for online purchase through the CraftVillage website.
You can watch a video about the carvers on the AfriGadget site
Kenya video : Earthwatch Puts Clean Water on the Map in Africa Kenya : Sustainable Development Training Initiative Mathare Youth Sports Association, Nairobi, Kenya Kenya : Development of Arid Lands Africa IMF Reports : Kenya 2009