Could Shoes Help Contain the Ebola Epidemic?

Growing Up in Sierra Leone, I Walked Barefoot. It Was Painful, and Now It’s a Public Health Hazard.

Growing up in the village of Konjo in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone, I remember the walks. After waking up to the crowing of hens, I’d take long, cold morning walks to the farms to chase away birds from our little crops and work for as many as 12 hours. I’d walk barefoot to and from school. I’d carry our chickens in a cage with a rope tied to it and hung around my head so that the cage rested on my back while my head held the weight.

I …

by Stephen T. Fomba | August 15, 2014

Africa’s Entrepreneurs Are Young and Restless

With Fast-Growing Economies, Middle-Class Ambitions, and a Boom in Technology, There’s No Waiting Around in Africa

by Sarah Rothbard | March 6, 2014

Nigerian-American journalist Dayo Olopade spent two years traveling through 17 African countries. But it’s still difficult for her to talk about the continent, she told a crowd at The Actors’ …

A New Map of Africa

The Bright Continent

by Dayo Olopade | March 4, 2014

In the 21st century, the West sees Africa as a problem that needs solving from the outside. But even as they pour in millions of dollars in aid, Westerners don’t …

Africa Is Not a Country

And Other Shocking Things Americans Would Be Better Off Knowing About the Continent

March 3, 2014

Not to pick on Sarah Palin, but it’s troubling for all Americans when there are rumors that a vice presidential candidate thinks Africa is a country, not a continent. Africa …

Mandela and Tyrants: a Defense

South Africa’s Statesman Stayed Loyal To Some Nasty Friends. But His Calculations Were Not Amoral.

by T.A. Frank | December 6, 2013

In late 1992, when I was a student living in China, Nelson Mandela, two years out of prison but not yet elected president, paid a visit to Beijing University. This …

Letter from Dakar

by Karen Carissimo | April 12, 2013

beginning with a line by Fernando Pessoa

It is night. It’s very dark. In a house far away
a red sun has drained into the sea.
From the city I left, …

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