IF you’ve ever read or seen The Jungle Book and fantasized what it might be like to have all those animal friends like Mowgli, then you will love this collection from a real life version of the story in Africa. As the daughter of French wildlife photographers Alain Degré and Sylvie Robert, Tippi Degré grew up fearless of animals, as she was surrounded by many. Born in Namibia, her parents were in the Kalahari for 7 years filming and photographing meerkats and also beautifully documented Tippi’s childhood. As a young girl, she is recorded saying, “I don’t have friends here because I never see children. So the animals are my friends.” [Read more...]
Sculpted Clay Paintings Show Universal Connectedness
I was first introduced to Arnaud Ramde at a live music venue in NYC through a dear friend of mine. Like all of the people I have met from Burkina Faso, he emanated a calm, comforting, positive energy; an obvious contentment with life that is uncommon in the Western world. He seemed to have an understanding of the universe and the love that connects us all. When I first saw his art, it was like he had found the way to express all of this knowledge and share it with the world. Using a mixture of homemade clay and acrylic paint for color, Ramde brings a canvas to life with unique texture and dimension in a practice he calls “Vie Nenga” which is French for “Life Figures.” His sculpted paintings express a universal truth- the value of family, love, and work. [Read more...]
Invisible Children + Resolve: The LRA Crisis Tracker
The Invisible Children organization has set the internet ablaze this week with their newest KONY 2012 video — which went viral on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook — and has succeeded in its goal of making African war criminal, Joseph Kony, famous. From celebrity backers — Oprah, Kim Kardashian, Ryan Seacrest, and Rhianna to name a few — Twitter updates, long winded Facebook rants, and critical assessments by Yale sociology professors, everyone is talking about it; and the reaction has been both good and bad. [Read more...]
Kalahari 47°: The Heat of Africa on Oven Toasted Prints
Covering most of Botswana and good portions of Namibia and South Africa, the semi-arid Kalahari desert is home to a host of wild animals and diverse peoples. The harsh area takes its name from local dialects, literally meaning “a waterless place,” and sees less than 7 inches of rain annually. The wide plain has a stark beauty, and is colored with the bright sun and dry dust of the earth. [Read more...]
Strings Are Stronger than Guns
Masoud Bwisri has become a star in Libya since the start of the revolution last year. As the protests turned into a fight for freedom, Bwisri marched on the front lines with his guitar side by side with machine guns and rocket launchers. A year after the start of this revolution, fears of what the future holds are in the forefront of public concern. Bwisri believes that the revolution has brought guns instead of peace as militias have not turned over their guns and in many cases have more control than the National Transition Council (NTC). “Music brings peace. Machine guns cannot bring peace. Strings, for me,” said Bwisri, “are stronger than guns.”
Help Train 300 Destitute Kenyan Girls For Self-Reliance
Want to make a real difference this holiday season? Seed of Hope, a Kenya based humanitarian group has a really amazing grass-roots project that is greatly effecting the lives of hundreds. What’s the challenge? As much as 80% of teenage girls in Kenya never have the opportunity to attend secondary school. Because of this lack of education, their life options growing up are severely limited and they often find themselves pressured into high-risk ways of survival, from child marriage to prostitution. Their lives all too frequently include great human abuses, extreme poverty and hunger. This problem not only effects their lives, but the community fabric as a whole.
That’s where Seed of Hope is coming to the rescue. This straight forward organization is educating girls, giving them the knowledge they need to strike out on their own, helping themselves while also providing support for their families and community. [Read more...]
Inspiring Artwork for Creative Activists: Dan Eldon
With the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991, the country has seen two decades of some of the most violent and poverty stricken times in Africa’s history. With no central government to control the majority of Somalia, it is has been called a failed state. In 1992, at the young age of 22, artist/journalist Dan Eldon was hired by Reuters to photograph the war. When the Marines landed in Mogadishu, he was on assignment taking photos in the very beginnings of the war. Then in 1993 the horrible happened: Dan was stoned to death along with three other journalists by an angry mob. [Read more...]
Plastic Bottles: 20 Times stronger than Bricks
Life in Africa has many challenges: from disease to poverty and war. The continent also has a reputation for extreme difficulties that are fixable, but a lack of resources often prevents the problems from being solved.This is where resourcefulness comes into play: if you don’t have what you need make do with what you already have. A surplus of empty plastic bottles is something that not only affects Africa, but the entire planet. [Read more...]













