WYCLEF JEAN: CAN HIS FAME GUARANTEE HIS POLITICAL AMBITION?

Wyclef Jean


Ambition, fame, and money are some of the tools that inspire many people into one thing or another. Rapper and R&B singer Wyclef Jean would like to be the president of his native country, Haiti.


Cross-over from one profession to another has been successful for many, but not everyone. Ronald Reagan was a former actor who became a governor in the state of California, then in 1981, went on to become the president of the United States of America.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-born bodybuilder turned film star, gradually made it to the top to become the governor of California. Fred Thompson, from the television series "Law and Order," couldn't achieve his political ambition as a senator because of little support.

In Africa, especially Nigeria, many millionaires, including  Moshood Abiola, Obafemi Awolowo (both deceased), couldn't fulfill their dreams of being the president of their country. The great Afro-Beat musician, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, also failed despite his thousands of fans behind him.

George Weah, the Liberian soccer star, in the year 2005, joined the presidential race in his country, Liberia, but couldn't achieve his political dream.  He is now studying economics at the University of Florida in America.

The question is, "Can Wyclef Jean's fame enhance his chance as a politician to win a seat as president in his country, suppose he wants to contest?" The answer is unknown. But it is always better for one to try something and see the result than not to try at all.

Children's Rights That Are Constantly Abused By Adults

Children's Rights

Every child has the right to live, but how many children are killed worldwide before and after they are born? Every child has the right to information, but how many are prevented from knowing the truth?

Every child has the right to education and social amenities, but how many are denied access to education and happiness? We are witnessing the cruelties against children today worldwide. 

Every child has the right to medical care, but thousands are dying every day from diseases, such as Aids, kwashiorkor, etc, in painful ways. Every child has the right to decision and opinion, but how many are victims of injustices every day?

Every child has the right to be named and to have a nationality, but there are thousands of children denied nationality by many countries. 

Every child in this world has the right to eat and drink enough. Unfortunately, thousands of children are dying as a result of hunger, famine, and lack of water every day.

When children are trained to take an interest in reading, they benefit greatly from the wider knowledge they gain from learning about people and places outside their own narrow world. Unfortunately, so many children do not know what education is about.

A child shouldn't be a victim of war or be used as a soldier. But today, thousands of children are drawn into conflicts, tribal uprisings, and wars to fight with adults.

A child shouldn't be abused, burdened, or sold into slavery for child labour. But today, thousands of children are being trafficked, forced into prostitution and hard labour in every horrific manner to make money.

A child can never fight for himself. They depend on parents or adults because they easily trust people, but today, the same adults that the children trust are making them miserable, unhappy, and even killing them. 

So, who must children depend on now for a better future? Children are an asset to national development in every part of the world. It's the responsibility of adults to give them every care, help, and education in their growth and development.

RYSZARD KAPUSCINSKI's SHADOW OF THE SUN (My African Life)

Ryszard Kapuscinski, the Polish writer and journalist



As a foreign correspondent for PAP, the Polish News Agency, until 1981, Africa was like a second home to Ryszard Kapuscinski. 


He was an eyewitness to revolutions, coups, and civil wars in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Experience is the best teacher, they say. His life experience in Africa has given him one of the finest books ever written by a white journalist.

The shadow of the Sun (My African Life) covers Kapuscinski's experience in Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, etc, making the book brilliant and interesting for anyone interested in great humanitarian writing. 

The book was actually published first in Polish before translation. He writes, "I lived in Africa for several years. I first went there in 1957. Then over the next forty years, I returned whenever the opportunity arose."

"I travelled extensively, avoiding official routes, palaces, important personages, and high-level politics. Instead, I opted to hitch rides on passing trucks, wander with nomads through the desert, and be the guest of peasants of the tropical savannah. Their life is endless toil, a torment they endure with astonishing patience and good humour."

On his visit to Accra-Ghana, Kapuscinski writes, "The street is a road delineated on both sides by an open sewer. There are no sidewalks. Cars mingle with crowds. Everything moves in concert: pedestrians, automobiles, bicycles, cars, cows, and goats. 

On the other side of the sewer, along with the entire length of the street, domestic scenes unfold. Women pounding manioc, baking taro bulbs over the coals, cooking dishes of one sort or another, hawking chewing gum, crackers, and aspirin, and washing and drying laundry."

The description of activities in Accra by Kapuscinski is actually Europe's image of Africa. More is hunger, disease, and skeletal children. However, he failed to ask or write the reason Ghana or Africa in general has been in such an appalling state for ages. 

Before the colonial masters scrambled over Africa, I might say Ghana was under development. Then, many years after European occupation, they left the countries they had occupied after independence, leaving the countries in the same way.

In this case, why did they go to Africa at all? Is it right or wrong when one says they were only interested in the continent's rich mineral resources? To loot but nothing else. They looted the continent to build Europe, and they left the countries in a deplorable state. 

Kapuscinski should have known better as a journalist. Was he expecting Ghana to be like a modern European country when, for a very long time, the country has suffered from the criminal activities of colonial rule?

The British and the Dutch were both in Ghana before the country attained its independence in 1957. The Ghanaians also moved in concert with cars, bicycles, cows, and goats. 

Even though Kapuscinski's book is an interesting book about Africa, he should have commented deeply on the mistakes and crimes the Europeans committed in Africa during the colonial era.

The Shadow Of The Sun is available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Sun-Ryszard-Kapuscinski/dp/0679779078/