TP Mazembe: The Boys from Lubumbashi who are the Toasts of Africa

Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo

Something about the Congolese city of Lubumbashi has always fascinated me. Maybe its because of its prominence in the Congolese civil war from 1960-1963. In colonial and post-colonial Congo, Lubumbashi was called Elisabethville and was the centre of power in the mineral-rich province of Katanga. As we learnt in history, Katanga attempted an unsuccessful  (in?)famous secession from the Congo in 1960 which lead to a series of unfortunate events.

 

Many years ago, before I went to college, I became BFFs  (Best Friends Forever) with a guy from Lubumbashi I met in Cape Town, South Africa called Hugues. In an eerie coincidence, while in college in the US , a random chat with a Haitian-American woman revealed that not only had she grown up in the Congo but her's and Hugues' family were very close acquaintances. This was really beyond happenstance!
 

But I digress. I was talking about Lubumbashi. The fair city has been in the news recently for reasons that have little to do with civil war, mineral-wealth or irrelevant 1 degree of separation stories. This time its all about 'The Beautiful Game'.
 

TP Mazembe Football Club

Tomorrow, the Lubumbashi-based football club Tout Puissant Mazembe (All-punishing Mazembe) will face F.C. Internazionale Milano in the FIFA Club World Cup. This is the first time an African team has reached the finals and  in case you were in doubt,  Internazionale Milano  go by the popular name of 'Inter Milan'.
 

Inter Milan are the current holders of the UEFA Champions league and can boast of the likes of Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon, Javier Zanetti of Argentina, Sulley Muntari of Ghana and  former player Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Sweden. Quizzically, nobody I have spoken to seems to be able to identify even one TP Mazembe player.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic: The (former) pride of Inter Milan. 

Although the match may just be a case of David  up against Goliath, TP Mazembe have done very well for themselves in recent years. They are currently the holders of the CAF Champions League  for a second year in a row. The fact that they have reached the FIFA Club World Cup is not only a credit to African football but to Africa as a whole. Let's face it, club football in Africa is in the doldrums and with the popularity of the English,  Spanish, Italian , French and German premier leagues on the continent, you are more likely to find people in Accra who are fans of Chelsea of London than  Hearts of Oak of Accra.

TP Mazembe is boldly opening up a world of possibilities and showing us all what African club football  can be. Tomorrow I'm firmly behind the boys from Lubumbashi all the way. Allez TP Mazembe - may you indeed live up to your name!!

Let it flow, Let it flow, Let it flow : Oil pumping starts in Ghana today

Cover of the book Black Gold by George Orwel 

Today oil in large commercial quantities starts to flow for the first time in Ghana. There's a big ceremony  full of pomp and pageantry underway off the shores of Takoradi. We are being told not to be overly optimistic and also not to order our range rovers just yet. Frankly, I am yet to fully appreciate what positive impacts the oil can have for Ghana.  In addition, the picture on the front cover of today's Daily Graphic showing whales washed ashore on a beach close to the oil zone is far from comforting. My oceanography knowledge is set to zero but beached whales can never really be a positive sign. Despite my skepticism, if we have  the right policies in place governing how we handle our oil, we could potentially reap positive benefits from this gift. The question is, do we have policies already in place?

Ghana Daily Graphic Newspaper 15 December 2010: Beached whale in oil zone 

Saluting Ghanaian Farmers: Happy *Belated* Farmer's Day!

Up close and personal with beautiful cocoa pods

December 3rd marked the annual Farmer's Day Holiday in Ghana. It is supposed to be the day that Ghanaians congratulate farmers and fishermen for the hard-work they are doing in feeding us and basically keep our economy afloat. Did you know that agriculture accounts for 37.3% of Ghana's GDP? Anyway, back to Farmer's day. While I'm sure many of my urban contemporaries:

• Partied on the beach
• Partied at home
• Partied at the mall
• Caught up on sleep or episodes of Grey's Anatomy

I actually went farming! It's a long story but this past weekend, I was in the rural hinterlands of the Central and Western Regions of Ghana and so decided to take the opportunity to try my hand at farming. I should state that the 1.5 hour trek to the farm (on the top of a hill) was the hardest part and near killed me! Despite being of farming stock, I was an abysmal disaster but I certainly learnt a thing or two. I have always had a profound respect for farmers but now I have deep admiration  for not only their stamina but also their knowledge.

The long trail to the farm

I'm beginning to think it would be good to integrate a compulsory fishing/farming component into the national service training for all young people in Ghana. It would not only build character but foster an appreciation for agriculture. 

Skills up a pawpaw tree

Can you name this plant?!

Freshly picked tomatoes