The Big Book of Baby Names

I’ve decided not to buy a car here in Brisbane.  Public transportation is good, parking and petrol are expensive, and I can’t imagine I would really need a car that often.  I figure if I need to make a trip in a car I will just rent one for the weekend.

But I’ve ridden in cars as a passenger a few times since my arrival.  There are a few things I’ve noticed during these outings:

1. Everyone has a GPS.  And the GPS isn’t always that useful.  There is a giant river running through Brisbane, there are only a few bridges open to vehicles, and most of the streets are either one way, or two lanes, one running in each direction.  So one wrong turn, or getting stuck behind an accident can easily delay your commute for an hour.

2. I often feel as if we are driving too close to the medians and that we are about to jump a curb.  Throughout most of my time in Africa I lived in countries where they drove on the left.  In fact, I even took driving lessons and got my Botswana driver’s license.  But there are lots of very tight roundabouts and traffic calming measures which often make me feel like we are about to crash at any moment, and

3. Everyone names their cars. In fact, some people not only name their cars, they also name their portable GPS.  In the last few days I have met Pearl (a beautiful Subaru BRZ sports car), Sheryl (a portable GPS who got us lost downtown in the middle of Friday night rush hour), and Belinda (which it seems is not only a very popular car name, but the most common female name here).

Funny enough, I was just noticing the car/GPS naming prevalence, and then last night on the news they were talking about the most popular car names in Australia.  Approximately half of all Australians name their cars and if the names aren’t related to the car make, model or colour (Suzy- for a Suzuki or Getzy- for the Hyundai Getz), then movie characters seem to be popular.  Some of the top choices were Kermit and Bumblebee (from Transformers).

The number 1 car name?  That’s right. Dory.

But my favourite part of the news story was the comparison the newscasters made between car names in Australia and baby names in the U.S.: “Dory and Kermit may be a little cartoonish, but they are more practical than what Hollywood celebrities name their kids: Summer Rain? Buzz Michelangelo? North West?  Is this a kid or a compass?”

Ebola in the U.S.: MINOR PROBLEM

If you had to choose, which would you rather have: access to the Internet? Or access to a toilet (i.e. indoor plumbing)?

Yesterday the Washington Post published an article stating that 4.4 billion people around the world still don’t have Internet.  The thing about living abroad is that your perspective changes, without you putting in any effort at all. Upon reading that headline I immediately thought to myself: So what?! Several billion people don’t have access to toilets!  If I had to choose one, I would opt for sanitation and hygiene over a virtual update of Kimye’s most recent scandals any day.

I admit the Internet is useful.  I no longer own a bound dictionary because I can use dictionary.com.  When I was learning to drive a manual on the left side of the road, I watched youtube videos for practice. And naturally, as a professor, I use the Internet every day before I teach to see if there are any current events related to my class which I should discuss with my students.  Yes, the Internet is great.  But I don’t think the fact that two-thirds of the world population is sans Internet is all that unfortunate.  According to The World Bank, only 24% of Sub-Saharan Africa has electricity.  You can’t have Internet without at least some access to electricity.  But Obama’s Power Africa initiative is a foolish endeavor (read: DISASTER) which I will save to address a different day.

World Toilet Day is celebrated annually on November 19^th aimed at bringing attention to the need for behavior change and policy implementation “to end open-air defecation.”  Currently, more than 2.5 billion people worldwide do not have access to toilets.  This means they have to relieve themselves in the open.  For those living in rural areas, individuals can try to find somewhere secluded, but this is a security risk.  If you remember that rash of rapes and murders in India recently, many of those occurred because girls had no access to latrines, forcing them to go out into fields to relieve themselves, and there they were easy prey for violent attacks. However, many of these people without access to toilet facilities don’t live strictly in rural areas; many live in incredibly crowded slums in the inner-cities.

When I was in Sierra Leone a few years ago I visited Kroo Bay, one of the largest slums in Freetown, the nation’s capital.  In one Kroo Bay neighborhood 15,000 people live in very cramped quarters with access to four, FOUR (4!) toilets.  Also, it should be noted these are long drops, not toilets with running water.  If you are unfamiliar with a long drop please read my previous post here.  If you would like to see some photos of the Kroo Bay neighborhood, check out this BBC article (be sure to click through the pictures).

The lack of toilets, running water and sanitation is why Africa has an Ebola problem.  When I was in Kroo Bay there was an outbreak of cholera, leprosy was rampant, and the life expectancy was, and still is, 35 years.  Everyone is concerned about Ebola coming to America.  The simple truth is, this should not be a problem here and it should be halted immediately without significant concern.

As Americans we are fortunate.  We have access to running water, thus we can use flush toilets and wash our hands.  We wear shoes, therefore we don’t have to worry about walking around barefoot and potentially stepping in someone’s bodily fluids and contracting a disease.  And for the most part, we live in reasonable accommodations, not cramped living quarters where we are subject to others’ illnesses due to close proximity and the inability to quarantine ourselves (or others) when we are sick.

So, back to the original question: Would you rather have access to the Internet or to a toilet?  I know this may be a tough one for some of you, but try to consider the facts I mentioned above.

Here is a picture I took when I was in Kroo Bay, Sierra Leone.  On the left side you can see a child wearing a blue and white shirt squatting and going to the “toilet.”  Also on the left you can see a woman standing up (there is a man in jeans and a white and gray shirt behind her) who is doing laundry in this creek.  And then if you look on the right side, there is a boy with a bag next to a set of stairs.  Next to that boy you can see the back end of a pig (black and white, or pink? legs and tail):

A New Meaning for the Term Authoritarian

I’m not entirely against the idea of authoritarian rule.  To a certain extent parents are authoritarian, at least until their children reach a reasonable age.  I’m sure all my graduate students probably describe me as being authoritarian, “You are going to take this Statistics class.  You are going to enjoy it and use this statistical method whether you like it or not.  I don’t care what Dr. So-and-so’s students are doing.  As long as I am your chair this is what you are going to do because it is good for you.”  But I think there is a limit to just how far authoritarianism should go.  I realized the necessity of limits to authoritarian rule recently.

Here in Botswana we are in the midst of a marriage ban.  Yes, you read that correctly.  If you are a Batswana citizen you MAY NOT GET MARRIED.

The marriage ban was instituted back in September 2013 and is scheduled to continue through March 2014.  However, there is a lot of discussion regarding whether the ban will actually end or be extended.  Why ban marriages?  Because the Batswana royal family wants citizens to concentrate on arable farming.  I have no clue how those two are related.

Keep in mind, marriage has nothing to do with children.  Having children is a given.  Getting married is optional.  Most couples have at least one child before getting married here.  As a woman in my mid-30s no one really blinks when I say I’m single.  However, the follow up question is always, “Well, how many children do you have?” When I say I don’t have any the typical response is either, “Shame,” “Why not?” or “Are you sick?” (implying the inability to actually have children).

Point being, the marriage ban has not resulted in a drop in the birthrate.  As a lay person who knows nothing about children, marriage or arable farming I would deduce that having children would prevent arable farming because you are busy taking care of the kids instead of working in the fields.  I wouldn’t think marriage would impede arable farming.  Nevertheless, the marriage ban exists.

The problem with the marriage ban is that it is having repercussions throughout the economy.  In my class we always talk about the economic impact of the events industry.  THIS is a real life example.  A recent newspaper article stated that hospitality businesses, particularly those which center around photography; tent rentals; floral and décor; DJs, bands, entertainers and other sound/AV equipment providers; printing (invitations and stationary); caterers and of course hotel and banquet hall facilities have suffered considerably since the ban took effect.  In fact, some businesses have been unable to pay their monthly bills and bank loans due to lack of income.

I know there has been a lot of discussion around the world recently about gay marriage.  And everyone has an opinion.  I have no desire to get into a debate with anyone here.  But the marriage ban has simply made me wonder, what if no one was allowed to get married?  What if marriage became extinct?  I suppose if the desire for arable farming becomes too great, perhaps it could.  I don’t know.  The one thing I will say is that Botswana has enough of a fidelity problem without the added encouragement by preventing marriages. It will certainly be interesting to see if the ban is overturned next month or if it persists.

Happy Valentine’s Day- Are you enjoying your chocolate?

Apparently it is Valentine’s Day. I had no idea.  If we celebrate it here then it has not reached the level of market saturation you see in the U.S.  This evening I had a Skype meeting with my graduate students, who wished me a Happy Valentine’s Day.  If they hadn’t said something I probably would have missed the holiday completely.

I don’t know about most of you, but Valentine’s Day reminds me of one thing- chocolate. In my time as a Hospitality & Tourism Professor I’ve spent a fair amount of time around chocolate.  And I’m not talking about the stuff in the grocery stores.  I’ve had three very distinct chocolate experiences on three different continents.  And they have all led me to one conclusion: I don’t eat chocolate.  I know, shocking, right?  (I will say there are a few exceptions to that rule).

I’ve spent a lot of time in France and Switzerland around chocolate.  Did you know that the chocolate candy you eat, the manufactured stuff, is typically less than 5% cocoa?  Hershey’s, Cadbury, Mars- most of their chocolate bars are chocolate flavored, not true cocoa.  I believe you can determine whether a piece of candy is truly chocolate based on price.  I remember watching a man in Paris at a Chocolaterie agonizing over which types of chocolates he wanted.  He eventually chose six, each about the size of a quarter and each different, costing an equivalent of about $20.  The kind of chocolate candy we have in the U.S. would never be considered real chocolate by any European, who typically have 75%+ cocoa in their confections.

Last year I took my students to Costa Rica.  We visited several chocolate plantations there.  While we didn’t get much chocolate candy, we did drink some hot chocolate.  But, again, it tastes nothing like we have here.  It is very bitter and not sweet at all.  You may be asking yourself, “Well then, why drink it?”  There it is more like coffee, but they don’t drink it with the frequency of coffee.  You often use chili powder to enhance the taste, and of course you can sweeten it, typically with honey or cane sugar.

The real king of chocolate though is West Africa.  West Africa supplies nearly 75% of the world’s cocoa, with Ivory Coast accounting for nearly 35%.  When I was in West Africa I visited a few small chocolate farms.  That’s the way the chocolate industry is organized here.  It is lots of small family farms handed down from generation to generation.  But their products are bought by major corporations through exporters.  The price given for the chocolate is so low that the farmers live at the poverty level.  In order to try to increase production to make their farms breakeven and make some kind of living, the farmers often utilize child and slave labor.  It is estimated that nearly 2 million children and slaves are involved in the production of chocolate in West Africa. Experts suggest that the price of chocolate would have to increase ten-fold in order to provide producers with a reasonable standard of living and make the use of child and slave labor extinct.  $10 Snickers bar anyone?

When I was on those chocolate farms in Sierra Leone I remember asking a farmer if he liked chocolate.  He said he had never eaten it.  I thought about it for a moment and realized I had never seen a chocolate product in any store in the country.  How odd is that to grow something and have no idea what it is really used for?  But I guess I could ask the same question of the consumers.  Have you ever seen real cacao?  Here is a cocoa pod:

Once the cocoa pods are ripe, they are picked and opened with a machete.  Inside is about 30-50 cocoa beans which are removed and fermented and then dried.  Here you can see what the beans look like inside the pod:

I sincerely hope you are all enjoying your Valentine’s Day, and chocolates, if you received them.  As for me, I will pass.