Think Global: Sub Saharan Africa

By: Sam Whitty                              With increased implementation of technology in both the government and the private sector, Malawi is working hard to catch up to the rest of the world. Currently, it does not have the infrastructure for a robust technological market. Malawi is only ranked 168 out of 175 countries in the 2016 edition of the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Global ICT Development Index ( 2 ). In the future however, Malawi is planning to develop its market for technology to revolutionize the country. They cannot do it alone, however. In 2017, the World Bank released $72.4 million to help Malawi connect to the global digital market, and investments into technology are becoming more widespread as time goes on. While a technological future for Malawi may sound like welcome progress for the nation, it comes with troubling consequences. Because Malawi is late to use technologies widespread, the government must be responsible and learn from other nations

 By: Sam Whitty [ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her book " We Should All Be Feminists "]               Although the United Nations, whose goal is to prevent human rights violations across the globe and to keep the peace between countries, was founded about 75 years ago, sex trafficking has never been discussed as a serious issue until recently. Instead, people preferred to write about issues that were perceived as more serious such as nuclear proliferation. The idea that human trafficking is not a serious discussion is blasphemy, and Kristoff is correct in labeling the practice as slavery. There is barely any difference between conditions that victims of sex trafficking are forced to endure and the conditions that slaves were forced to endure in the early years of America. Women are taken from their homes just like Africans were taken from their homeland, bought and sold on a market just like slaves were in the south, and forced to perform services for their master without co

By: Sam Whitty [Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaks at Harvard Graduation in 2018 ( 1 )]             Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the Nigerian author of  Americanah  and other prize winning publications. As a child, she was introduced to reading at a young age, but the books that she read were mostly foreign. She found it difficult to read any African literature because it was scarce. As a result, her easily misled, young mind was thought that literature as a rule must be foreign. Because she had no representation of herself in children's literature, she assumed that a Nigerian girl could not exist in a book. In this way, she was like the billions of people that are given a single story to base their assumptions and opinions on. This single story can alienate and undermine an entire population, creating stereotypes that govern what can and cannot exist in the world.             The dangers of a single story are clear. Single stories hurt the people about whom they tell. They create a

     The Democratic Republic of Congo is a Sub-Saharan African country. Over the past couple decades, the DRC has been destroyed by political corruption and internal conflict. The result has left a DRC that is very poor and has high tensions. Along with this, the country's infrastructure is very weak and broken. With the last dictator and two corrupt presidents, the nation's landline telephone network is almost completely destroyed. Only 2.54% respondents in Kinshasa (the capital) reported having a landline ( Gjerstad ). A land-line isn't a very modern form of technology but this is an accurate representation of the technology in the DRC. The technology usually isn't the most innovative around. There is also many shortages and lack of technology.  There is also a lack in organization in science to improve technologies. The science community has no common representative structure such as an academy or professional associates" ( Assessment ).  Not only is there disor

  Mali has a population of over 19 million people, including 13 national languages and dozens of different ethnic groups (The World Factbook, 2018). It is easy to assume that there is a large variety of interests and characteristics within this country, which may cause problems. Mali has been experiencing instability and conflict and the government has struggled to keep the civilians under control.   “A coup in 2012, ensuing military intervention in the north, and regular uprisings by rebel and extremist groups throughout the country have left the nation of about 19 million people vulnerable” (Reid, Kathryn, 2020). Conflict in Mali continues as violence between armed groups and state forces are rampant. After 8 years from the initial rebellion, attacks and ethnic killings are routine, with large swaths of the country still outside of government control (Al Jazeera, 2020). Mali’s president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, was recently forced to resign due to mass protests, alleged corruption a

 By Halie Schuster [ Tewodros Square, a busy roundabout in Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa]      The modern world is heavily tied with technology. In fact, it is hard to even imagine a world independent of technological outputs like cell phones, the internet, computers and other hardware and software technologies. Ethiopia too is taking advantage of these new technologies and is well on its to becoming one of the major tech hubs on the African continent. While the country’s agriculture and manufacturing sectors have previously driven the progressive transformation of Ethiopia’s economy, present Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, has his sights set on improving technology in the country.       Tech-led growth is an exciting prospect for Ethiopia. And Ethiopia has a substantial advantage in regard to its growing technology sector – a large number of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) educated graduates are beginning to enter the job market following the Ethiopian’s