The [tag]TEDGlobal2007[/tag] conference is days away, it starts June 4 - smack in the Tanzanian resort town of Arusha.
When I applied for a fellowship to avoid paying the four-figure gate-tab, I didn’t think much of the event. Even though I won the one of the 100 fellowship slots, it won’t be of any use to me: I won’t be there. But I have to stay back in Minnesota and earn my pay-check - by untangling some critical mess I know nothing of. Uhhhhh!!!
When I saw the list of conference attendees and the speaker lineup last week, my jaw dropped, and I knew there and then that I had missed one of the greatest events in Africa this year. I regret tying up and wasting a valuable fellowship slot - there are several others that would have jumped at the opportunity to visit Arusha and network with some of the best minds in world and some fellow African bloggers.
As long as I’m not self-employed, it is most likely I will be missing more engagements. Thank goodness I made New Delhi last December - even if I could only stay for some 3 miserable nights!… I just need to be calling my own shots. I really do. I will only see Arusha in my dreams!
Links
Read about the TED conference in Arusha
Jen an African America in China and A TED fellow writes about TED:
Kenyan blogger Mentalacrobatics discusses TED:
Oh! dear, dats a pity, ain’t it? Well, there’s always another one. Cheers!
June 1, 2007 at 3:36 pm
[...] Dernière ligne droite avant le TEDGlobal à Arusha, je pense que tout est ficelé et il ne me reste plus qu’à attendre le jour J. L’agenda des programmes est déjà consultable sur le site de TED et on vient d’annoncer la présence de Youssou N’Dour … Parmi les blogueurs qui diffuseront l’évenement en Live, on retrouve le Grand Emeka Okafor, les web guru Ethan Zuckerman , Mental Acrobatics, Bankelele, Kenyan Pundit, White African, Afromusing, Imnakoya, Rafiq Phillips, Fran Osseo-Asare, Jennifer Brea, Ramon Thomas, Ndesanjo, mon ami zambien Mweshi… moi-même et surement d’autres dont je n’ai pas encore connaissance … je suis quand même un peu triste de ne pas pouvoir rencontrer le blogueur Nigerien derrière le Grandiose Parlor… Je serai sur place samedi soir, Je passerai la journée de dimanche dans une des programmes de “pre-conference field trip” proposés par TED le: Acumen Fund & Sumitomo Chemical and A to Z Bednets, j’en reparlerai dans un post future mais ce sont des ONG qui fabriquent des moyens de lutte contre le malaria (paludisme) qui fait un ravage en Afrique. Puis le lundi matin on visitera The Lapdesk Company & Endeavor une ONG fondé par L’archevêque et prix Nobel de la paix sud-africain Desmond Mpilo Tutu Suivi dans l’après midi on attaquera les premières conférences … [...]
June 1, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Jambo Bwana - meaning and translated in English as???? someone who spkeaks French please help for i think the comment above will make interesting reading.
June 3, 2007 at 3:18 am
ive got your back imnakoya. my handy n70 & this super slim samsung d900 will be filming &taking as many photos as possible. currently waiting to board at OR Tambo… will be posting straight to Web AddiCT(s); stay tuned.
June 3, 2007 at 5:09 am
This Imna, this life…
June 4, 2007 at 10:27 am
you’re here in spirit! just keep writing, doin’ your thing.
June 5, 2007 at 10:24 am
Thanks y’all! Just come back with some scoops…
June 5, 2007 at 5:04 pm
hey ! I was just saying in french that I was sad because You won’t come to Arusha …
If you haven’t ask four your, pease send me an e-mail 
You are lucky because we have a good news for you … You can have the Laptop from google and sun too because you are TEDfellow like us, for that you have just to choose beetwen MAC or PC
cheers
June 15, 2007 at 10:39 am
[...] Prepping for the premiere of the conference video of the Arusha TEDGlobal conference in August, TED Blog is featuring postings from some Afro-bloggers, including yours truly. Here are excerpts from Imnakoya: As one of the missing-in-action Fellows who couldn’t attend the conference, the only rational thing I could do was plug into the mainstream media (MSM)-€“dominated information pipeline to follow the event. Well, this didn’€™t happen; the MSM dropped the ball — there was little or no coverage. Unexpectedly, the African bloggers stepped up to the plate, giving a comprehensive and almost hourly rendition of event. This is unprecedented in Africa. As I write this piece, African blogs are the only existing and extensive source of information on the TEDGlobal conference. [...]
July 26, 2007 at 11:28 am
[...] Prepping for the premiere of the conference video of the Arusha TEDGlobal conference in August, TED Blog is featuring postings from some Afro-bloggers, including yours truly. Here are excerpts from Imnakoya: As one of the missing-in-action Fellows who couldn’t attend the conference, the only rational thing I could do was plug into the mainstream media (MSM)-dominated information pipeline to follow the event. Well, this didn’t happen; the MSM dropped the ball — there was little or no coverage. Unexpectedly, the African bloggers stepped up to the plate, giving a comprehensive and almost hourly rendition of event. This is unprecedented in Africa. As I write this piece, African blogs are the only existing and extensive source of information on the TEDGlobal conference. [...]
July 31, 2007 at 11:40 pm