₦airaland Forum

It's a very personal decision. People need to tone down the rhetoric (on both sides).

Many people have humbled themselves and started over in middle age abroad. And it wasn't a horror story because they were leveraging their resources, life experience, professional experience, and education. There's tons of people who simply went to nursing school, and they're enjoying a middle class life somewhere in America. There's also plenty of 20somethings intent on going elsewhere who find themselves right back home. Being 20 doesn't somehow make you immune to brokeness.

I don't want to bring them up, but there's plenty of middle-aged Asians and Hispanics/Latinos that don't hesitate. And a lot of them barely speak English. lol Most of the latin ones don't even have an education.

bump

The Gold (twisty, interesting drama, second season should be good)
Drama series inspired by true events surrounding the 1983 Brink's-Mat robbery, and the remarkable story that followed.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14063678/

Mr. Bates vs The Post Office (truly messed up what they did to mainly a lot of elderly people, and it seems like it's only because of this drama that they've started to really try to make it right)
One of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history where hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a defective IT system.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27867155/

Trigger Point (over the top action)
Drama series following Lana Washington, an experienced bomb disposal officer working for the Metropolitan Police.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11958610/

Undercover (solid drama, explores the life of deep undercover cops)
A lawyer returns to Britain to become the first black Director of Public Prosecutions. She begins to suspect that everything she knew about the man she has been married to for the past 20 years is a lie.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5057932/

KINSHASA, April 26 (Reuters) - Kenya Airways on Friday accused authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) of harassment over the continued detention of two of the airline's staff for alleged customs violations despite a court ordering their release.

A senior Kenyan government official said Kenya had also objected to what he said was their arrest and detention.

Officers from Congo's military intelligence detained the pair on April 19 for allegedly failing to complete customs documentation related to valuable cargo that was meant to be transported a week earlier, the airline said in a statement.

The airline workers have been granted only one short visit by Kenya's embassy staff, Kenya's national carrier said. Congo's government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said he would give a response later.

"We are perturbed by this action targeting innocent staff and consider it harassment targeting Kenya Airways' business," the airline said.
Korir Sing'oei, the principal secretary at Kenya's foreign affairs ministry, said the government was committed to protecting its citizens abroad.

"Kenya takes great exception to the arrest and detention of its nationals lawfully carrying out commercial activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo by authorities in DRC," he said on social media platform X.

"Our Mission in Kinshasa is engaging actively on the matter."

At the time of the pair's arrest, Kenya Airways (KQ) had not taken possession of the cargo because the logistics handler was still processing documentation, the airline said.

"This cargo was still in the baggage section undergoing clearance when the security team arrived and alleged that KQ was transporting cargo without customs clearance," it said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/kenya-airways-accuses-congo-harassment-over-detained-staff-2024-04-26/
On April 25 a court said the two employees should be released to allow due process, the airline added.

Conflict has arisen over the control of illicit trade in tin and gold as well as in coltan and tantalum - widely used in cell phones and computers - all mined in Congo before being smuggled out through neighbouring Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi.

In September 2023, Congo President Felix Tshisekedi met with international law firm Amsterdam & Partners LLP to investigate the supply chain of tin, tungsten and tantalum - known as 3T minerals - due to concerns about illegal exports, the law firm said.

It said it had notified Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday of a series of questions based on fears about its supply chain and also wrote to Apple subsidiaries in France, requesting answers within three weeks.

"Although Apple has affirmed that it verifies the origins of minerals it uses to manufacture its products, those claims do not appear to be based on concrete, verifiable evidence," Amsterdam said in a statement on Thursday.

"The world's eyes are wide shut: Rwanda's production of key 3T minerals is near zero, and yet big tech companies say their minerals are sourced in Rwanda," it said.

Apple referred Reuters to its latest Conflict Minerals Report.

It said that 100% of identified smelters and refiners in the supply chain for all applicable Apple products manufactured in 2023 had participated in an independent third-party conflict minerals audit for 3T minerals and gold (3TG).

"We found no reasonable basis for concluding that any of the smelters or refiners of 3TG determined to be in our supply chain as of December 31, 2023 directly or indirectly financed or benefited armed groups in the DRC or an adjoining country," the Apple report said.

The Amsterdam statement coincided with the release of a report by the law firm accusing Rwanda and private entities of laundering 3T and other conflict minerals from Congo.

Rwanda and Congo's governments did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Congo is the world's leading producer of tantalum, followed by Rwanda. It is also the number one producer of copper and cobalt, a key ingredient in electric batteries.

Most of Congo's mineral resources are concentrated in the east, where insecurity has worsened since a rebel group known as the M23 made a major comeback in March 2022.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dr-congo-presses-apple-over-113858322.html

Pricing? Reliability? Value?

Just to be clear, the purpose of this thread is to share the beauty of Angola and tourism/vacation experiences. I'm not trying to say you should go and hustle. And I hope no one actually thought that was the point. Furthermore, vacationing in Angola is expensive, in case you didn't know.

"Anabolic steroids can cause severe, long-lasting, and in some cases, irreversible damage. They can lead to early heart attacks, strokes, liver tumors, kidney failure, and psychiatric problems. In addition, stopping steroid use can cause depression, often leading to resumption of use."

https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/anabolic-steroids

"Anabolic Steroids can reduce the pleasurable effects of certain drugs. The diminished high caused by Steroids leads many users to take higher doses of other drugs than they normally would. This increases the risk of overdose."

"Some people become addicted to alcohol or other drugs in an attempt to self-medicate unwanted side effects of Anabolic Steroids, like insomnia and aggression. A study of men with Heroin addiction found that 9% of them started taking the drug because of their Steroid use."

https://www.addictioncenter.com/stimulants/steroids/

"As mentioned, when gynecomastia appears in bodybuilders, it’s typically caused by the use of anabolic steroids, such as exogenous testosterone derivatives. Gynecomastia occurs due to the body’s attempt to remove circulating testosterone in response.

One of the byproducts of testosterone breakdown is estradiol, a type of estrogen hormone that results in the development of female secondary sex characteristics.

In the case of males with high estradiol, the result includes the development and enlargement of breast tissue.

Gynecomastia can also be caused by certain drugs and over-the-counter supplements. However, not all individuals experience these side effects."

https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/gyno-bodybuilding

Talks between striking Kenyan doctors and the government have broken down, the medics' union said Wednesday, bringing misery for thousands of patients after six weeks of industrial action.

Some 7,000 members of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) walked off the job in mid-March over demands for improved pay and the implementation of a 2017 collective agreement hammered out after a previous strike.

Last week, a Nairobi labour court ordered that a return-to-work agreement should be reached by close of April 19.

But talks to resolve the standoff collapsed on Tuesday, KMPDU deputy secretary general Dennis Miskellah told AFP.

"The talks collapsed yesterday. Right now we are just chilling and resting," he said, adding that the government had put their union through fruitless pressure for four days.

"They called us late for meetings that go up to midnight or 4:00 am just trying to tire us out."

At the centre of the row is a move by the government to slash the salaries of medical interns, who make up about 30 percent of doctors, according to KMPDU.

President William Ruto's cabinet said on Tuesday it had resolved all the doctors' 19 grievances except the issue of intern salaries.

It said it "was adamant that it is unsustainable" to pay the interns a monthly stipend of 206,000 Kenyan shillings ($1,530) as laid out in the 2017 agreement, and instead offered $530.

But the doctors have vowed not to return to the negotiating table if the initial pay level is not restored.

"The strike will only end with our issues addressed or a framework for addressing them put in place," Miskellah said.

"We realised that even if we talked about everything else and not talk about the intern issue, the strike will never end," he added, describing it as a "deal breaker".

Strikes over working conditions in public hospitals are common in Kenya, leaving a trail of suffering and often triggering an exodus of Kenyan medics to other African countries and further afield.

In 2017, doctors staged a 100-day nationwide strike that left public hospitals shut.

Dozens of patients died from a lack of treatment during that walkout, which ended after the collective bargaining agreement was reached.

But doctors have accused the government of reneging on some parts of the deal, leading to the current strike.

Meanwhile, the national Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA Kenya) said on Wednesday it was "deeply concerned" by the current strike and was considering taking legal action against those who failed to resolve the walkout, without specifying who.

"This disruption has disproportionate effects on women and girls who continue to bear the brunt as primary caregivers," it said, adding that expectant mothers were being turned away from public hospitals.

https://www.barrons.com/news/kenya-doctors-wage-talks-collapse-strike-to-go-on-union-a767a41c

The mere mention of Zanzibar evokes images of sun-kissed beaches, pristine water, and year-round sunshine. The picturesque island off the coast of Tanzania in East Africa has long been a celebrated tourist hot spot. But in recent years, the country has been orchestrating a shift in the island’s identity in an effort to christen it Silicon Zanzibar—Africa’s tech capital.

To enable tech’s growth in Zanzibar, the country is rolling out multiple incentives to attract Pan-African tech companies. Relocating-tech workers are getting visas easily, making it more seamless for startups in Zanzibar to attract global talent and retain them. Moreover, companies based in the Zanzibar Free Economic Zone are subject to several incentives such as a 10-year exemption from corporate tax.

The effort was buoyed in late 2022, when Wasoko—Africa’s largest B2B e-commerce company—shifted part of its team to Zanzibar, becoming a leading proponent of the Silicon Zanzibar effort. Daniel Yu, CEO of Wasoko, says part of what drew him to the island was the Tanzanian government’s effort as compared to its home base of Kenya. Throughout 2022, Yu says, “We ended up then expanding the collaboration with the government to become this kind of wider initiative . . . that is promoting this opportunity to any company that’s interested in benefiting from the same kind of work that we’re doing.”

But in March, not long after its valuation was slashed from $510 million to $260 million, the company pulled the plug on its Zanzibar campus as it merged with Egyptian company MaxAB. Wasoko consolidated its tech outfit in Egypt to “optimize on the resources between the two companies,” Yu said in an email. And though the company told Fast Company via email that it was still “fully dedicated to establishing Zanzibar as the leading destination for Africa’s tech talent to thrive” as a private-sector ambassador, though a big part of its role was an exemplar of what Silicon Zanzibar could be.

But even without Wasoko in Zanzibar, the island’s potential as a haven for tech companies remains. For one, it’s part of one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies. By 2028, the IMF projects Tanzania’s GDP to reach $136 billion from the current $85.9 billion. The key will be diversifying beyond its thriving agricultural and fishing sectors, and adding industries that are less unpredictable than the country’s tourism market. Though it’s driven by the roughly 50,000 climbers who attempt to summit Mount Kilimanjaro every year, the pandemic highlighted its unpredictability. As smaller companies move into Zanzibar, educational institutions are also moving in, setting up a pipeline of educated workers to companies that relocate there.

In November 2023, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), known as a top-tier technological institution in India, established its first international campus in Zanzibar. The 200-acre campus marks a significant development that bolsters Zanzibar’s role as a burgeoning tech education landscape. Another feather in Zanzibar’s tech education cap is the expansion of African School of Economics (ASE) to Zanzibar, marking the university’s first location in East Africa where it will deliver degree programs focused on STEM and social science.

ASE founder and president Leonard Wanthekon says Zanzibar has “potential to be at least a very important tech hub in Africa.” He adds that his aim is to attract students and faculties from across Africa, and eventually from the world, to ASE Zanzibar. “We need to really develop pan-African markets for education. For instance, having people from North Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa to seamlessly move from one region to another to learn and to interact. We already have a campus in Nigeria, which will represent West Africa mostly . . . so we need something in East Africa.” Wantchekon, who also teaches politics, international affairs, and economics at Princeton is also spearheading efforts to forge research collaborations between ASE Zanzibar and Princeton with faculty from the Ivy League school visiting ASE Zanzibar to teach in the near future.

Tech worker-focused developments like Fumba Town are also cropping up. The spacious, green neighborhood-to-be was unveiled in 2015, and when it’s complete in 2030, it will include about 3,000 residential units with access to 1.5 km of seafront. “(Fumba Town) creates a safe environment for people coming from the tech industry to be able to easily navigate and set base over here,” says Andrew Mwaimu, sales specialist at CPS, the developer behind Fumba Town.

Although developments are slowly taking place in the shape of tech institutions and infrastructure, the Silicon Zanzibar vision is still in its nascent stages and has a long way to go to truly achieve its mission. Before Wasoko packed up its operations on the island, Yu admitted that the “vision will require significant time and effort,” but could offer something unique for African startups who want a workforce that represents the diversity of the continent.

“No one country is going to have all of the talent that you need to be successful across all 54,” he says. “We have to have these kinds of places, these kinds of ecosystems that enable us to bring together the best talent from all the different corners of Africa and beyond. And so, I do believe that Zanzibar from a tech company perspective, could be that place.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/91109823/silicon-zanzibar-wasoko-tanzania

More info:
https://www.nairaland.com/6773150/angola-experiences-info

Family trip back home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBs_pe3VCl8

Woman spoils her husband on his birthday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kml47wgDRoU

Update: World Bank Suspends Funding For Ruaha National Park Project
https://www.nairaland.com/8071040/tanzania-tourism-world-bank-suspends

The World Bank has halted its funding of a $150m ($120m) tourism project in Tanzania following allegations of rape, evictions and killings.

The Ruaha National Park was reportedly meant to double in size as part of the project, but critics say the expansion has led to widespread abuses.

The bank began investigating last year after it was accused of complicity in the abuses.

On Tuesday, it said it was "deeply concerned" about the allegations.

"We have therefore decided to suspend further disbursement of funds with immediate effect," a spokesperson from the bank, which provides loans to developing countries, said.

The Resilient Natural Resource Management for Tourism and Growth (Regrow) project was launched in 2017 in an effort to improve the "management of natural resources and tourism assets" in southern Tanzania, including in a number of national parks, the bank said.

At least $100m has already been disbursed for the project, according to the US-based think tank Oakland Institute.

Work to expand the boundaries of the Ruaha National Park, a 12,950-sq-km (5,000-sq-mile) conservation area that is home to lions and other wild animals, has been under heavy scrutiny.

For over a year Oakland Institute has reported alleged abuses linked to development which, while being funded by the bank, has been carried out by the Tanzanian authorities.

The Tanzanian government had not responded to BBC requests for comment.

After the bank announced it was suspending its funding of Regrow on Tuesday, Anuradha Mittal, executive director of Oakland Institute, said the "long overdue" decision was a "crucial step towards accountability and justice".

"It sends a resounding message to the Tanzanian government that there are consequences for its rampant rights abuses taking place across the country to boost tourism."

The think tank said villagers who had been "victims of gross human rights violations" should now receive "adequate" and "prompt" reparations.

It also said the bank must prevent the forced evictions of other villagers.

The bank said it had "robust policies" in place to prevent any potential "harmful impacts" and that it would "continue to work with the authorities and the local communities to ensure all Bank-supported projects protect and improve the lives of Tanzanians".

Allegations of abuse are not limited to tourism projects is the south - in recent years groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have accused the government of forcibly evicting thousands of Tanzanians from the Maasai ethnic group in order to develop a game reserve in the northern Ngorongoro region.

The government has previously denied the allegations.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-68882065

How Gulf princes, the safari industry, and conservation groups are displacing the Maasai from the last of their Serengeti homeland

It was high safari season in Tanzania, the long rains over, the grasses yellowing and dry. Land Cruisers were speeding toward the Serengeti Plain. Billionaires were flying into private hunting concessions. And at a crowded and dusty livestock market far away from all that, a man named Songoyo had decided not to hang himself, not today, and was instead pinching the skin of a sheep.
“Please!” he was saying to a potential buyer with thousands of animals to choose from on this morning. “You can see, he is so fat!”

The buyer moved on. Songoyo rubbed his eyes. He was tired. He’d spent the whole night walking, herding another man’s sheep across miles of grass and scrub and pitted roads to reach this market by opening time. He hadn’t slept. He hadn’t eaten. He’d somehow fended off an elephant with a stick. What he needed to do was sell the sheep so their owner would pay him, so he could try to start a new life now that the old one was finished.
The old life: He’d had all the things that made a person such as him rich and respected. Three wives, 14 children, a large compound with 75 cows and enough land to graze them—“such sweet land,” he would say when he could bear to think of it—and that was how things had been going until recently.

The new life: no cows, because the Tanzanian government had seized every single one of them. No compound, because the government had bulldozed it, along with hundreds of others. No land, because more and more of the finest, lushest land in northern Tanzania was being set aside for conservation, which turned out to mean for trophy hunters, and tourists on “bespoke expeditions,” and cappuccino trucks in proximity to buffalo viewing—anything and anyone except the people who had lived there since the 17th century, the pastoralists known as the Maasai.

They were the ones tourists saw through their windshields selling beaded key chains at the gates of Serengeti National Park, or performing dances after dinner at safari lodges. They were famous for their red shawls and recycled-tire sandals. They grazed their cattle with zebras and giraffes, and built mud-and-dung houses encircled by stick fences barely distinguishable from the wild landscape. They were among the lightest-living people on the planet, and yet it was the Maasai who were being told that the biggest threat to conservation and national progress was them. Their whole way of life had to go.

And so Songoyo, after considering his alternatives, had devised a last-ditch plan for his own survival, one that had brought him to a town in Kenya called Aitong, where a cool wind was slapping sand and dung into his face as he scanned the market for buyers. He was far from home, roughly 65 miles north of the village in Tanzania where he had been tear-gassed and shot at for the first time in his life. He had seen elderly men beaten and guns fired at old women, and now it was down to this: He was a herder for hire, working for a distant relative, trying to make enough money to buy one single cow.
“Come!” he called to the buyers who kept passing his herd and weaving through the bleating mass. “You will not find any better!”

This was his plan: one cow, because that was the starting point of what it meant to be a Maasai man, which was what he still wanted to be.

Full article here: https://archive.is/20240410125831/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/05/maasai-tribe-tanzania-forced-land-evictions-serengeti/677835/

Angola, the seventh-largest country in Africa, is most well-known for being one of the region’s biggest oil exporters. The commodity provides around half of the country’s fiscal revenues, yet it is not oil that is piquing renewed international interest in the country of late but rather its largely untapped mineral wealth.

The Southern African country already has a thriving diamond mining sector – accounting for around 8% of global production – yet approximately 60% of its territory is thought to be unexplored for metals and minerals.

“The fascinating thing about Angola is, it has so many mineral deposits but so few mines,” says Bryony Richards, an economic geologist at the University of Utah, whose specialisms include exploration and critical minerals. “There are enormous swathes of the country that have no real information about them besides some basic geology maps.”

Within these underexplored areas there are estimated to be considerable reserves of critical and rare earth minerals including copper, cobalt, manganese and lithium. These natural resources could provide Angola with an opportunity to diversify away from its over-reliance on oil and diamonds.

Diamonds are forever
Angola’s lucrative diamond mining sector is showing no signs of slowing down, despite a downturn in demand for the precious gems. Last year the country produced 9.7 million carats but expects this to increase by 50% in 2024.

If achieved, this will largely be down to the new Luele project, where state-controlled diamond miner Catoca started production last November. The project is the biggest diamond mine in the country and one of the world’s largest by estimated resources, which are expected to be in the region of 628 million carats to be mined over 60 years, according to estimates by the company seen by Reuters. Another of the company’s diamond mines, Catoca, is the world’s fourth largest.

De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer by volume, is also increasing its presence in the country, having signed several agreements with the government covering processing and exploration. These are in addition to other contracts signed in 2022 when the company returned to Angola after exiting in 2012.

While diamonds are set to be the biggest contributor to mining revenue in the country for some time to come, there is increasing interest from foreign mining companies in exploring the country’s other resources.

Angola’s untapped rare earth riches
Notable recent investments in Angola include Pensana’s Longonjo rare earths project and Canadian miner Ivanhoe securing exploration rights over a vast area of the country.

The Longonjo rare earths deposit is located adjacent to the Lobito rail Corridor, which is set to provide a quicker western route to market for metal and minerals. The operation, which has an upfront capital cost of $217m (Kz182.21bn), will extract, concentrate, calcine and chemically refine the free dig material to produce a high-value mixed rare earth carbonate that contains 50% total rare earth oxide, of which 24% is neodymium and praseodymium. The commodity will then be railed 273km to the Atlantic port of Lobito for export.

Read more here: https://www.mining-technology.com/features/angola-mining-resources-critical-minerals-rare-earths/?cf-view&cf-closed

More about Angolan cuisine:
https://www.chefspencil.com/most-popular-foods-of-angola/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djonn-S4OiU

This Mufete though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REwjgobmCFQ

Cachupa. Looks good, but they put everything in it though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4O_z2CIr9M

I don't have any details for you, but people have good things to say about Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire.

.

Beautiful women (the guys are handsome too ladies ), bomb food, good beaches, great music, clubs, and parties. Vacationing there is expensive af, but IMHO, it's worth it because they have everything.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heJ69qwmxCk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTMoh7_Erxk

Angolan cuties and food below:

I don't know about that, but consider this:
1.) There are parts of the US where no one wants to live/work/study/visit. Now, these aren't dangerous places or places full of trashy people. They just don't have much going on, low population, sprawled resources, and the job market there isn't the greatest. But, they still have opportunities. And it's a bit easier to get to the US if you're willing to work/study there. There's also the potential to get a higher salary because these companies know no one wants to be there.

2.) If you have the stomach for it, there are also work opportunities in remote areas in the US and Canada. Basically, Alaska, oil fields, mining, fishing, nurses/doctors/etc, and the tiny wilderness towns of Canada. These pay very well and aren't that hard to get. They'll train you, and there's a variety of positions. However, with most of these jobs, you're doing very long days, and in some cases, dangerous and/or strenuous work. But it's not like these jobs are all terrible. It's just not something the average person usually wants.

3.) Nigerians can join the US military. I don't know the details, so you'll have to speak with a recruiter and talk to other Nigerians that have gone through the process. It's not for everyone, but it's definitely a good opportunity, and they're having a hard time recruiting right now, so your chances of getting in are better. You basically earn citizenship through service, and just as important, you get great benefits, free education, and valuable experience. You could turn it into a full career and retire well. Also, the military takes care of its families, so if you have a spouse and kids, it could be awesome, but again, I'm not sure of how this works for immigrants.

That said, you really need to be careful and do your research.

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70.
Perm rod curls

Just a reminder.

Black Snow (Australian series)

It's a whodunit, conspiracy show about a murder in a South Sea Islander community. Pretty good. I'm liking how they build the characters. And each character is kind of familiar.

People are wondering why on earth someone would go to a shithole like India. I'm thinking it's because they:
a) were scammed by locals (tr4fficker network)
b) are a village person that doesn't believe it's a toilet
c) are a criminal
d) are fooled by outsourcing

I don't know what it's going to take to drive home the message that certain countries are just evil places and no one should ever go there. But government needs to figure it out.

Racism is a profound mental illness.

Imagine a man (if such a person can be called that) investing time, energy, and even money into pushing this lie about desirability. The reality is that the only foreigners that consistently have trouble getting partners in different countries are east and south Asian males. Almost everyone else does just fine.

Just a reminder. Get your paperwork together.