CAPE TO CAIRO - 22
It is my last evening in Africa and the mini bar has supplied me an Egpytian Sakara beer. Time to look back and take stock of my journey. "Africa remains Africa, from Cape to Cairo". Father Alfons told me this when I was saying goodbye to him and other Marianhiller missionaries in Zimbabwe. That morning the police had put up road blocks once again and were confiscating visitors' foreign currency.
Not so fortunate
It was time to go. With a German passport and an airline ticket in my pocket, I was able to leave the run-down country without a problem. Millions of Zimbabweans are not so fortunate. They must continue to let themselves be humiliated by that corrupt clique led President Mugabe and be beaten up and raped by his militia. Africa's politicians either look on doing nothing or even feel a sneaking sympathy for Mugabe! It is a tragedy.
Trying hard to heal past divisions
Quo vadis Africa? If there was one question I wanted to find an answer to during this Cape to Cairo trip, then it was this one. What did I discover? South Africa ten years after the end of aparheid: the rainbow nation is trying hard to heal past divisions, to grow togther. The daily violence is horrifying, particularly when directed at women and children. The AIDS epidemic continues unabated, assisted by the gvovernment's criminal AIDS policies. But it is encouraging to see that for young children, skin colour simply is not an issue. Anachronisms such as the Orania Boers' reserve can be expected to disapear eventually on their on accord.
Inflation 600%
Zimbabwe, once Africa's bread basket, is now a begging bowl. Now that are practically no white farmers left to beat up, Mugabeland has disappeared off the front pages of the world's newspapers. Inflation is running at 600%, two thirds of the population is dependent on international relief agencies for food. Yet Jacques Chirac invites Mugabe to Paris. Is this realpolitik?
Quarrelling over job of prime minister
The best news comes from Kenya. The Matatu minibuses, a threat to life and limb, need to be equipped with speed restricting devices and safety belts! One year after that dinosaur Arab Moi was voted out of office, the new government is cracking down hard on corruption in the police and judiciary. But Kenya wouldn't be Kenya if politicians hadn't started quarrelling over who should become prime minister -- even before the post itself has been created.
'gacaca' - flawed, but without alternative?
Rwanda is trying to come to terms with its legacy of genocide at grass roots level, with mixed results. Numerous accusers have been murdered after making their statement to the 'gacaca' courts. But what is the alternative to the 'gacaca' system, bearing in mind that tens of thousands of suspects - and innocent people - are still locked away in overcrowded prisons?
Warlords
Finally, Sudan and Somalia, two countries that give Africa great cause for concern, are now seated at the negotiating table. The prospects for peace are better in Sudan than in Somalia, where the warlords are still in control and continue to profit from anarchy.
What I would wish for Africa
It is not too late for wishes for the New Year and I would wish for Africa more women in top jobs and positions of authority in Africa. Or men, who can shoulder responsiblity, who use condoms, don't drive their minbuses like fanatics and keep their hands off children. I would wish for Africa politicians and elites that send their offspring to African schools and hospitals and not to those in London or Paris (then ordinary Africans would see more chalk and medicines).
Fewer "experts"
I would wish for Africa that it would cease to blame "the whites" and "neoliberalism" for those misfortunes that are of its own making. I would wish for Africa Western governments that appreciate the difference between development aid and export promotion. Finally I would wish for Africa aid organisations that that spend at least 70% of available funds on projects themselves rather than on Pajero jeeps and "experts".
Media and mobile phones
Technology will come to Africa's aid in the years to come. In almost all the countries I visited, I was able to file my reports to Europe using a conventional mobile phone as opposed to an expensive satellite phone. In Somalia, as many as three mobile phone operators are competing for customers. Internet shops are on every corner. The media landscape is becoming more varied. Opposition newspapers are still under attack in Sudan and Zambia, and the state-run broadcasters - apart from those in South Africa - are simply awful. Radio, though, is still the medium in Africa and its technical quality is improving.
"You are welcome", "I am sorry"
Africa's potential is its people. It's a wise old saying. The father in Rwanda who lost his whole family during the genoicde in 1994 and yet was still able to say "I am prepared to forgive". Margret from MamaFM in Kampala who works hard for next to nothing for the rights of rural women. Jan from the Child Protection Unit in Cape Town, who in the eighth year of his job still hasn't given up. A cheerful "you are welcome" from the neighbours in the bush. A sympathetic "I am sorry" when the lanky white man bangs his head. That compensates for the unpleasant things: Africa's ugly cities, double prices for whites and means of transport that are simply lethal!
No malaria!
A school class in Germany asked me "Did I come to any harm?". I was answering their questions down the phone as part of an Africa project organised by Germany's Centre for Political Education. I lost my bathing trunks in Mogadishu, a dark blue shirt in Zambia. Two pairs of sunglasses and mobile phone got broken. I was bitten by fleas, suffered from bouts of diarrhoea and lost a few kilos. No malaria! My thanks to the tireless individual who planned this trip. He knows how it is done!
Kwaheri Africa!
Africa, there were times when I felt I could have given up on you. But most of the time it was fun! Tonight I fly back to Germany with KLM. In Khartoum I came across a copy of the German weekly Die Zeit "Schröder's Agenda 2010 reform package", "Who will be federal president ?" I return to Africa in March. Until then, Kwaheri Africa - All the best, Africa
That was the last entry in Ludger Schadomsky's web diary "Cape to Cairo". You can write to him at capetocairo@dw-world.de. Thank you for your interest in "Cape to Cairo".