See Africa Differently
Posted on | May 6, 2009 | No Comments
When you think of Africa, what do you see? A new website called See Africa Differently wants to challenge the images of drought, hunger and disease that come to many people’s minds and instead focus on progress, education and opportunity.
“We’re here to tell you some pretty amazing news about the world’s second largest continent”, say the creators behind the website. And here’s some of those good news:
* Across Africa there are at least 18 countries whose economies have been growing at an average of 5.5% per year over the past 10 years. One third of all Africans live in these countries.
* Since 2003, 29 million more African children have started primary school.
* In 2007, £1.6bn was spent globally on Fairtrade certified products which directly benefited 7 million farmers, workers and their families across Africa.
* In just five years, the number of people living with HIV in Africa receiving treatment increased from 1% to 30%.
* Rwanda now has the largest proportion of women in parliament than in any other country around the world.
Visit See Africa Differently to read more! A new book by Richard Dowden called “Altered States, Ordinary Miracles” also aims to correct the negative stereotypes. “We journalists tend to cover Africa in stark and simple contrasts, but countries live and grow and falter in grays. So it’s refreshing to encounter not only Dowden’s hopefulness, but also his reliance on shading and nuance, on the recognition that the world does not have to feel sorry for Africa to care about it”, writes Nicholas Kristof in his NY Times review of the book.
Written by Fanny Johansson
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