I know a little bit more about South Sudan than about the average African nation because I attend an Episcopal church, and the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago has a relationship with the Episcopal Diocese of Renk, in South Sudan. The country became independent in 2011. Last year, Bishop Joseph Atem of the Diocese of Renk… [Read More]
Blog
Category: Africa
Central African Republic: Culture and Customs
I’m still working on learning a little about Africa, one nation at a time. I was hoping to find more good news than I have, but then I remember that life in Chicago looks very different to people who watch cable news than it does to people who live there. Yes, Chicago has too much… [Read More]
Cameroon: Your Madness, Not Mine
Next up in the African series is Cameroon. It’s a former French colony that became independent in 1960 and has had a relatively stable government since then. It’s not perfect, hardly. Per-Capital GDP is $2,400 – better than many of its neighbors in West Africa, but hardly great. This is a book of short stories published in 1999 by the… [Read More]
Wild Swans and nations in transition
This is an amazing book. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China is about one family’s experience in China before and during the Communist era. The author’s parents were high up in the Communist Party at the time of the Communist Revolution, and then they suffered mightily during the Cultural Revolution. The author, Jung Chang, has… [Read More]
Nigeria: Welcome to Nollywood
Nigeria is in the news now because of the bizarre Boko Haram kidnapping of schoolgirls. It is a nation of 177 million people, half of whom are Muslim, and 43% of whom are under that age of 14. It has Africa’s largest economy in terms of total GDP, at $478.5 billion. That translates to $2,800… [Read More]
