The reality, however, is that the country is now under military rule and the economy will get worse, not better. Supporters of the coup ask how a country, which is rich in uranium, coal, and gold, could be so poor. Many other resource-rich nations are also poor. Venezuela has oil; the Democratic Republic of the Congo has diamonds; and Angola has both oil and diamonds. And yet these countries are all poor.

Ever since the pandemic struck, our lives have changed. We are now governed by new rules – wear a mask, sanitize, maintain social distance. Although life is considerably different from what we are used to, most of us have adapted to the new changes. People still need to travel and experience new environments, and one solution is virtual tours -- which are the perfect way to ward off the COVID-induced boredom to which most of us have succumbed.

Over the next few weeks, we taught the kids baseball, held English and math classes, helped with homework, walked down to the Zambezi River (watching for crocodiles), and took a field trip to a terrifying swinging bridge at Chiningi. And I tell you, those kids have nothing close to material wealth. They dress in hand-me-downs. They eat meager meals that fill their stomachs but nowhere near provide the well-balanced nutrition children need: nshima (a thick maize porridge), little fishies, boiled greens. And yet, those children exude so much joy. 

Lately, the United States has moved to aggressively bolster pro-Western forces in the Ukraine and promote democracy in the Middle East and Asia. But once again, the U.S. and other western powers are largely ignoring Africa, even as democratic movements are quietly spreading throughout the continent after a generation of leaders who often hoarded power and wealth at the expense of their people.

From the pages of private notebooks to the dog-eared copies of rare published editions, the works of modern African poets are emerging with great fanfare thanks to a dedicated handful of writers and teachers building a network of libraries and websites on the Internet. The South African Badilisha Poetry X-change is one such group which recently posted its archive of poems and writings on a “mobile-first” site. 

As the three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit got underway here Monday, anti-corruption activists urged President Barack Obama to prod a key U.S. agency to issue long-awaited regulations requiring oil, gas, and mining companies to publish all payments they make in countries where they operate.“The companies need to be held accountable, and we would ask President Obama to also support us in this message,” said Ali Idrissa.

Those individuals who are identified with Boko Haram do not refer to themselves as Boko Haram. Boko Haram, in the local Hausa language, means something along the line of, “Western education is forbidden.” It’s a term applied to them by residents in the communities in which the movement arose in the early 2000s, in the northeast of Nigeria. They refer to themselves differently, as Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad (People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad). 

Though the number of people returning is “impossible to quantify,” signals such as airlines flying daily to the capital of Mogadishu or “chatter in the community about returning” can’t be ignored, said Ryan Allen, principal researcher and assistant community and economic development professor. Humphrey research consultant Kadra Abdi said other research has looked at the financial side of people returning, but they wanted to focus on the social aspect.

A new report by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a U.K.-based think tank, identifies Kenya as one of 11 countries most at risk for disaster-induced poverty. The report, entitled “The geography of poverty, disasters and climate extremes in 2030”, warns that the international community has yet to properly address the threats disasters pose to the poorest parts of the world. The report includes locations where both poverty and natural disasters will likely be concentrated in 2030; and in many instances, these locations overlap. 

A pioneering new survey of public opinion in 34 countries across the continent suggests that the relatively high average growth in gross domestic product (GDP) reported in recent years is not reflected in the experiences of most citizens. An average of one in five Africans still often goes without food, clean water or medical care. Only one in three think economic conditions in their country are good. Fifty-three percent say they are "fairly bad" or "very bad".