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Showing posts from September, 2010

Time to leave Dar (again)

It's funny how many times over the last 6 years I have had to feel like this. Once again I will be leaving Dar early tomorrow morning before the sun is up. As always, I have a sense of nervous delight at the opportunity that exists to work on sustainable and socially beneficial enterprise here; nervous because I hate to leave it, and delight because I have a renewed sense of direction. A lot of work to be done in coming months. After meeting the likes of Sarah Markes of DarSketches, Rakesh Rajani of Twaweza, Joe Rugaramabu of TBC and Altaaf Hasham of AKF, it's difficult to stand by and watch everything exciting happen in Dar without getting involved. I've also been able to touch base with organizations like Zanzibits, Ushahidi and TanSAO, and I'm thrilled at the prospects of future collaborative work between all of them. I'm looking forward to London and to the rest of my grad program, as I am to finding ways to fuse it with Tanzanian development. I'm going to m

Tony Blair on American Leadership

Time had an essay from Tony Blair on Clinton, Bush, and the American Character . It is a condensed adaptation of his recently published book, A Journey: My Political Life . One paragraph on values stood out for me: "That nobility isn't about being nicer, better or more successful than anyone else. It is a feeling about the country. It is a devotion to the American ideal that at a certain point transcends class, race, religion or upbringing. That ideal is about values: freedom, the rule of law, democracy. It is also about the way you achieve: on merit, by your own efforts and hard work. But it is most of all that in striving for and protecting that ideal, you as an individual take second place to the interests of the nation as a whole. It is what makes the country determined to overcome its challenges. It is what makes its soldiers give their lives in sacrifice. It is what brings every variety of American, from the lowest to the highest, to their feet when "The Star-Span