2006

One of the unexpected things I've caught since coming to Africa for the long haul is a certain disturbing feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's grown there quietly, feeding, I suspect, on the various foreign sights and sounds around here, especially those of the children.

I received an email the other day from a Christian in Ontario upset over, in his words, "the pantywaist liberalism" of his employer.

Beautiful women and mobile phones might not be the first pictures that come to mind when you think of Africa. But one of the more interesting things about life on the so-called dark continent is that, even here, image sells.

After 20 years of terrorizing northern Ugandans, Joseph Kony and his hoods in the Lord's Resistance Army have made it to the big time. Their story, and that of the thousands of children they've killed or made into child soldiers, has made "Oprah."

We're driving home with African radio on, and this is what we hear. Christian tunes. Nice.

My first image of God hung in my bedroom and watched over my childhood. You've probably seen the painting, known as Head of Christ, countless times yourself.

Image sells, even in Africa. And so Nokia's annual Face of Africa contest, a shameless commercial venture now in full swing, will again make some young African woman very wealthy, at least by her parched continent's standards.

Getting up in the morning and putting on the sandals of everyday life is not unlike what Jesus did.

It's not the Glacier Express climbing through the Swiss Alps. It's not Vietnam's Reunification Express winding into the more exotic jungles of the world. And it's certainly not the Orient Express, that legendary locomotive of opulence and intrigue immortalized by Agatha Christie.

Ugandans are happy with leaders who allow them to go to bed without getting shot or raped before morning.

Drought has caused huge cutbacks in Ugandan electricity generation. Businesses will close and thousands will be left jobless, causing an exodus from cities.

Ugandan President Museveni celebrated 20 years in power this year — and he wants another seven . Critics want change.

Here's a thought for today: BANG! You've been shot. Shot through the heart. Can you imagine it?

Nowadays you just gotta love the skin you re in no matter what it s made of.