Camels to Africa? Is This A Case of ‘Carrying Coals to Newcastle’?

There is an advertisement sponsored by an NGO which has been airing on Irish radio over the last number of weeks.

It features a goat asking the question: “are we there yet?”, and the goat being informed that their destination is ‘Africa’!

Image credit: John O’Neill (jjron)

The subject of the advertisement is a project which involves sending animals to the target destination being undertaken by the NGO, and which includes camels!

Really?

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the camel population in Africa is 30.1 million or 86.5% of the world’s total.

The region with the highest number of camels is Eastern Africa with 12.2 million.

Below, are the 2017 FAO figures for selected livestock related to Africa:

So, the question is: where did that camel “going to Africa” start its journey?

Incidentally, Africa’s goat population in 2017 according to the FAO was 423 million or 40.9% of the world’s total.

Image source: https://www.magzter.com/articles/3894/357652/5d2474f819af1

Image source: https://www.africanfarming.com/small-scale-farmers-export-live-goats/

So, perhaps there are enough camels and goats in Africa already?

2019 Booker Prize Joint Winner Bernardine Evaristo’s 1998 Dublin Visit

The BBC 10 o’clock evening news was on. “Bernardine Evaristo has been jointly awarded the Booker Prize (with Margaret Atwood)”, I was awoken from my half-sleep on the couch to be given this exciting news.

My first reaction was to rush to the bookshelf to grab the copy of Lara which I knew was there somewhere.

Back in November 1998, Bernardine was one of the writers invited to participate in the Literature programme of the Africa Festival, which was held in association with the Irish Writers Centre. 

The theme for that year was Identity, with the discussions focused on the many ways in which ‘Identity’ can be manifested. 

Irish-Nigerian poet and playwright, Gabriel Gbadamosi (Limerick mother and Nigerian father), author of the play No Blacks, No Irish, was another invited writer.

Article on Bernardine Evaristo prior to her Dublin visit 

Twenty-one years on, we here in Dublin recall Bernardine Evaristo’s visit with fondness and are delighted to celebrate with her this Booker Prize win.

Special mention of the role of poet and writer Peter Sirr, who was director of the Irish Writers Centre, the co-presenter of the Africa Festival’s Literature Programme.

We look forward to seeing Bernadine back in Ireland soon.