Dirty shoes create employment in Ghana

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Although dust makes life uncomfortable, it is the main source of employment for several young boys in Ghana. It is very common to spot young boys in the mornings with dirty wooden boxes filled with shoe polish, brush, thread, needle and glue moving from house to house to polish dusty shoes for a fee. This video profiles the life of one of the boys popularly known as shoe shine boys who has an ambition to become a nurse or land economist.

Breaking tweets breaking traditional media

A screen shot of breaking tweets

A 23-year-old journalism student in the USA has staged a media revolution that is breaking the dominance of traditional media and known major news websites as news sources. Craig Kanalley, a graduate student of DePaul University in Chicago, is using twitter – a social network platform – to break major news all over the world with the speed of a bullet.

Experts: Stroke-stricken newspapers won’t die

Panel discussion at the international conference in Berlin

The newspaper business is a (fast) collapsing industry all over the world. Companies are cutting down on advertisements – the oxygen of newspapers – due to economic privation. Circulation has plunged. The new media – mobile phones, PDA and social networks – have reshaped the delivery and reading of news. It is cheaper and easier to read news now than 10 years back.

Africa, paying for the “sins” of the rich

It is often said that when America sneezes, Africa catches flu. The credit/economic crunch in America and later in Europe started as an isolated case. However, Africa – an innocent bystander – is feeling the pinch and heat. Latest report released by ActionAid said the financial crisis and global recession will see African economies lose up to $49bn by the end of this year.

Ghana: Mobile phones to improve healthcare

Nurses in Ghana work under difficult conditions

Nurses in Ghana will soon move from using bulky paper-based documents to store patients’ data to the use of electronic mobile applications. The status quo at the health centres is time consuming.  The new system will free up their time, enabling more focus on hands-on, primary healthcare for patients.

Financial crisis crumpling Ghana newspapers

Daily Graphic is well resourced in Ghana

The newspaper industry in Ghana is being buffeted by an array of challenging forces ranging from changing trends in advertising, rising costs due to the worldwide financial crisis to a decline in circulation arising from economic constraints facing newspaper readers. In a distressing case, the country’s highest circulated private newspaper, The Accra Daily Mail, has been forced to cut down on printing and has not appeared in newsstands since January.

Africa FOR SALE!

Chinese goods have taken over the Africa market

I cried and laughed as I looked into the mirror this morning to get set for work. I cried as I wondered what the future hold for my children and my children’s children. I laughed because something told me I’m just hallucinating. But read on to draw a line in that oxymoron: The bed sheet and the pillow case I slept on were “Made in China.” The slippers I used to the bathroom, the tooth brush and paste (Colgate), the sponge and soap were all “Made in China” or outside Ghana.