May 23d Ethiopian elections report for VOA English to Africa

Atlanda circumcision case report for English to Africa

thou shall strive to praise me...

In the midst of covering news and often speaking to political figures, I couldn't help but notice the rampant self-righteous attitude that plagues many of them (also known as 'the self-righteousness syndrome').
Taking a closer look around I also noticed people's readiness to praise those in power and senior level positions (as they too are looking for favours in return that can bring them praise of their own).
Granted it is a human nature for people to like being praised and adored but the psychological impact this creates is the feeling of superiority to the point where those being praised feel above average people and only willing to accept further praise and admiration from them. They become less inclined to take advice and constructive criticism and thus truth becomes lost, morality will be destroyed and a pavement to a corrupt society is formed.
This is the syndrome that unfortunately many African intellectuals suffer from.
It baffles me however as I always believed that knowledge brings enlightenment and therefore broadens the minds of those seeking knowledge. In today's age it seems there is a cap on the amount of knowledge one attains in the sense that once the seeker of knowledge acquires a certain level of knowledge that brings him praise from society, he feels accomplished already and gradually transitions from being a knowledge-seeking individual to a praised intellectual who falls in the pit of the self-righteousness syndrome.
Humility is a dying characteric amongst today's people.

reconstructing history

Last weekend I attended a lecture on the history of Islamic civilisation in Africa and Western Europe and was amazed at how history that is taught to us today has been used to maintain the status quo of the Euro-centrics. I remember in school when the history of Spain and their invasion of Latin America was being taught to us and the Islamic civilisation was always portrayed as a bunch of Moors that came to invade Spain for a little bit and were chased out. Furthermore they were depicted as barbaric baboons that weren't literate but were only strong and characteristic, a clear reflection of portrayals of black people on modern day TV and cinema.
Bearing in mind that history is usually regarded as a record of past events I realise that historians will always arrange available information according to their understanding or mandate and thus never objective. Consequently history is used to tell the stories of the conquerors.
If one switches its lens to the other side of the coin, it quickly becomes obvious that America for example was not 'discovered' by Columbus in 1492 as this would indicate that no one lived there but rather was lost on his way to India and stumbled upon the land of the Native Indians. But when history teaches this invastion as a discovery, it allows the invaders to fulfil their intentions and deny the existence of the original people.
Going back to Spain the Islamic civilisation lasted for over 700 years leaving many historical facts such as a thriving economy, literacy across the Iberian region, public services and generally advancing the standards of living whilst the rest of Europe lived in the dark ages. Another amazing fact was that most of the Muslims that lived in that region were the indigenous people that willingly accepted Islam, not the Moors, and it wasn't forced on them.
As I sat through the lecture, I started to wish I knew this information during my history classes back in my school days. What also dawned on me is the fact that youngsters in school today are still being taught this history from a Euro-centric perpective and thus come out of school with their minds filled with historical facts that withold some of the information and don't paint the full picture.
There is a need for a movement to create awareness and tell the stories of Islamic civilisation and African history accurately.