Angola's Golden Sport

Though football (soccer) is listed as the 'national sport' of Angola and most all of the continent of Africa, basketball is more popular in Angola and the country is far better known for its basketball credentials than its football credentials.

Currently ranking 12th in the world, Angola is Africa's top basketball team having won eight of the last nine Africa Basketball Championships. The Angolan team recently sealed their reputation as a basketball powerhouse in the 2009 Africa Nations Basketball Championships, capturing their sixth straight Afrobasket gold medal, and their tenth in the last eleven tournaments.  This is a fantastic record, but it is more outstanding because several of these previous triumphs came when the country was embroiled in its civil war. 

The national team has consistently maintained a high global ranking to earn an invitation to the last five summer Olympic Games.  Their Olympic ranking during these last five Games ranges between 10th to 12th.

Angolan Agriculture: On the Rebound

Eight years after the end of a 27 year civil war, Angola' agriculture is slowly rebounding.  This is a marked turnaround from the decimation that this sector experienced during the war, given the potential of the rich and fertile land that Angola possesses.

Before independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola had a flourishing tradition of family-based farming and was self-sufficient in all major food crops; Angola was the world's fourth largest exporter of coffee; a competitive exporter of sugarcane, bananas, palm oil and sisal; and self-sufficient in all crops but wheat. But leading up to political changes in 1975, poor global market prices and lack of investment began to severely limit the sector after independence.

The Angolan Civil War (1975-2002), the consequent deterioration of the rural economy and neglect of the farming sector dealt the devastating blow to the country’s agricultural productivity. During the civil war, most small-scale farmers reverted to subsistence farming.  Angola has been dependent on commercial imports since 1977 and was heavily dependent up to the end of the war.  By the 1990s Angola was producing less than 1 per cent of the volume of coffee it had produced in the early 1970s, while production of cotton, tobacco and sugar cane had ceased almost entirely.

The war reduced the nation from being one of the largest food exporters on the continent to being a major recipient of global food assistance. For 30 years, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) conducted massive food aid assistance programs to feed the struggling population.  Even now, as the

agriculture sector rebounds, malnutrition remains a problem. Malnutrition is alarmingly high in the remote areas among the young, with almost one third of children underweight and almost one in two children under age five stunted.

Though there is a marked return to agricultural productivity in rural areas, the advances are proving difficult and slow. Large areas remain uncultivable because of the presence of landmines. Functioning infrastructure in rural areas is limited, and there are few incentives for people to return to farming. After the war, from 2003 to 2004 only 2.9 million hectares (5%) of the available 57 million hectares of arable agricultural land was cultivated.

The increasing popularity of West Africa

Four years ago I embarked on a life-changing journey to Senegal, to live and study there. I remember before leaving that none of my friends or family in the UK could tell me the location of one of West Africa’s 16 countries, let alone tell me the name of one of its hundreds of tribes, or tell me about the climate in a particular region. Nor had they ever heard of Amadou & Mariam, Tinariwen or Ali Farka Toure, now big names in most of the major European summer music festivals.

Thanks to increased media coverage such as articles in the Guardian and the Independant, covering a range of topics from politics to travel and music coming out of West Africa reaching out to the millions at big UK festivals. Documentaries on the National Geographic and Discovery channels introducing us to different tribal systems and natural wonders and various exhibitions displaying the region’s rich cultural heritage. West Africa is coming out of the ‘black hole’ – as someone described the region to me at last year’s WTM Trade Show - to become a region of the world that inspires, intrigues, mystifies and excites the Western cultural scene.

Why is it only now that we are really discovering a region of the world which is only five hours away by plane? What has made the eyes of the West’s popular culture scene turn towards the likes of Senegal and Sierra Leone, Mali and Cameroon?

West Africa has been off the media map in terms of positive stories for a long time - the only stories that had come out of the region were tales of bloody civil wars, gold and diamond mining, corrupt leaders, disease and famine - but now that is changing; and we are learning a lot more about the deeper aspects of the rich heritage of West Africa.

Musically, West Africa produces some of the most talented acts in/on the so-called ‘World Music’ scene and has included some of the most famous musicians to come out of Africa. Festival organisers such as Glastonbury Festival and WOMAD are now queuing up to get the likes of Tinariwen (Mali), Ismael Lo (Senegal), Baka Beyond (Cameroon) and the Sierra Leone Refugee all stars, booked for the main stages. But also small events such as the Fringe festival in Brighton display musical and dancing acts from West Africa in their Africa Unite II event this year.

Culturally, there are many documentaries being shown on TV which have introduced us to the different tribes of West Africa. The Ashanti from Ghana, the Igbo from Nigeria and the Dogon from Mali are the most well known of them, and have sparked curiosity and stimulated the hearts and minds of those who have watched these programs. Maybe this is because we lack the social values that they have, we are seeking to re-learn something lost or because we find that our lives of too much work and no play need some sort of escape route.

Proof of the ever increasing popularity of West Africa’s traditional cultures is demonstrated by the 'Kingdom of Ife' exhibition (which we will cover in next week’s blog) now showing at the British museum and is already being hailed as ‘Potentially the exhibition of the year’ by the Telegraph newspaper.

Sport is also a big influence on popular interests. Football, for example, has a lot of role models within the most supported teams in the UK who come from West Africa or have an affiliation with the region. Didier Drogba who hails from Côte d’Ivoire and plays for Chelsea is an example and is well known for his skills on the pitch; however it has also come to light that he is a big charity supporter having donated millions to build and sustain hospitals in his home country.

Another player who has created a media buzz about West Africa is Craig Bellamy (Man City) whose foundation has contributed towards setting up sports academies in Sierra Leone.

West Africa’s natural heritage has also come to our TV sets through programmes such as the BBC’s Autumn Watch which has covered Senegal, showing that West Africa has been on the migration path of many species of birds for millennia.

In terms of Tourism, the Guardian and Times travel sections have regularly published articles describing West Africa as an alternate, exciting and new destination for travellers seeking new experiences full of educational opportunities, coupled with sea, sun and beaches (see our previous blog on the potential for West Africa as a Responsible Tourism destination). It also seems as though tourism to the geographical region of West Africa is set to increase. The latest Brussels Airlines' news stating that the airline is now flying directly to Ghana, Benin, Togo and Burkina-Faso from European destinations can only be a sign that the shores of West Africa are worthwhile touristic destinations to fly to.

All the above factors have contributed to the UK’s increasing interest in West Africa and that interest is only set to grow even stronger because of the sheer diversity of cultural, natural and historical heritage still to be discovered.

But instead of waiting for more news, start your own discovery by visiting our web portal (www.westafricadiscovery.co.uk) , joining us on Facebook or following us on Twitter. We look forward to welcoming you!

African Folklore: Why Does the Lion Roar?

According to African folklore, the Lion became the most feared of the predators. In these early days, Lion still had a gentle voice, not very loud at all, and so he was able to catch and eat the other animals without much trouble.

This, of course, greatly worried the other animals, since they never knew when Lion was on the hunt. They decided to hold a meeting to find a way of somehow making Lion less dangerous. They talked for a long time, but none of them could think of anything.

Hare, always the imaginative one, then had a bright idea. "I know a way that would make Lion's voice like the terrible thunder of a summer's storm;' he said, "and then we would always know when he was coming:'

The other animals all agreed that this was a marvelous idea. But how was Hare going to manage such a thing? Hare just winked and set off on his difficult task.
Eventually Hare found Lion resting beneath a shady umbrella tree, and approaching him carefully,saying, "O Great One, I am truly most unhappy to bring you bad news, but your brother is very ill, and requests to see you at once:' Lion was dreadfully upset to hear this news and told Hare to lead him to his brother as fast as possible.
 
Hare took lion for miles and miles around the Bushveld and after several hours lion (who, after all, had been disturbed during his morning sleep) was so weary he could go no further, He lay down in a shady spot and slept.

Now,with the help of a honeyguide bird, the crafty Hare found a wild bees' nest in a tree not too far away. After following the required custom of leaving a good piece of the honeycomb as a "thank-you" for the little bird, Hare took some of the honey and dribbled it all over the paws and head of the sleeping lion. Hare then ran off to some thick bushes nearby and hid.

When the bees returned home and saw that someone had raided their hive, they were terribly angry. They soon found lion sleeping nearby, with honey all over his paws. In a raging swarm, the bees attacked him, and
lion was stung so many times and was in such pain that his soft cries soon swelled to a thunderous roar that could be heard for miles around!

That is the story of how lion's voice was changed forever. The animals were very grateful to Hare because, from then on, they could hear lion's roar from a long way away,and be warned that the Kingof Beasts was on
the hunt.  (From: When the Hippo was Hairy and Other tales from Africa; Nick Greaves.)