The Journey

The Trip to South Africa and thoughts on the process.

It's 4:35am in San Francisco...but not here. I'm 35,000 feet over South Africa. It's 1:35 in the afternoon and I will be on the ground in an hour. I've had a lot of time to think about the trip...19 hours of flying so far with another 5 hours in Jo Burg and then two and a half hours to Harare. The sky seems so different here...the clouds seem more spread out, more compact, more fluffy.

When I tell people I do media training in Africa, they ask me who is paying for it. We do, I reply, we pay for it. Most seem to think of every trip to Africa as either vacation or charitable work. For me, it is neither. We are not here to go on Safaris or save the continent. We are investing...time and resources...into what I see as one of the largest growth opportunities of this century.

I don't see what I am doing here as bringing value to the areas that we are working. The value is already here. We're just digging for it...as a miner digs for gold. The gold has value which draws people to it. But getting to it can be tricky. Of course, if was easy...everyone would be doing it.

But I'm not here to find gold or diamonds or oil. I'm here to find something far more valuable...human resources...artistic talent. For Africa is as rich in artistic talent as it is in any mineral resource. You see it everywhere. It's not something that is just taught in school. It is embedded in the culture. African art dominates the world markets...from European artists who have borrowed heavily from their african counterparts to jazz, hip hop and rock and roll. And as media increasingly becomes both important and fragmented...they are playing into Africa's hands...whether they know it or not. All that is missing are the tools.

Unfortunately, most only see the human resources in this continent as something to take care of or to exploit. I don't see the people here as either. I see them as partners, hopefully, if we are successful.

Of course, partnerships are not easily created nor are they produced quickly. I feel very fortunate to have two primary partners here...Saki Mafundikwa in Zimbabwe and Hanif Abdulrasul in Tanzania. Both bring very different focuses and skills. Saki, while a businessman, is an artist and a scholar while Hanif, while artistic, is also more of businessman. What they both have in common is a deep understanding of their countries, a commitment to what they are doing and vision. All of which are often hard to find. I teach their students technical skills...they teach me everything else.

Of course, having visited a few times, we have a growing number of partners who I will introduce you to throughout the trip.

I feel that I should thank a few companies for their support of our trip... Auto Des Sys ,Adobe ,Maxon ,Apple ,Kaidan ,Real Viz , Samso, DPI , and ZIVA ...We'll talk more about them throughout the trip, As you begin to work on these things, you really get how little you can do by yourself. We simply couldn't get off the ground without help from companies like these. I also want to thank everyone at dvGarage and the Pixel Corps for sharing my efforts and making all of this possible.

Ok...That was long one...don't expect them all to be this long.

Posted: Mon - June 30, 2003 at 05:38 PM Africa, Summer (Winter) 2003 Email Comments