http://www.russiatoday.com/About_Us/Blogs/Embedded_in_Africa RT : Embedded in Africa en RT /About_Us/Blogs/Embedded_in_Africa/2009-7-13.html http://www.russiatoday.com/About_Us/Blogs/Embedded_in_Africa/2009-7-13.html Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:20:00 +0300 I'm home in New York now, my body running on nervous energy, my stomach reeling from a bacterial infection for which I am ingesting strong antibiotics. In the less traveled areas of Africa like Benin, it is nearly impossible not to catch some form of intestinal ailment. When you must deal with these pains in the gut on two impossibly long, back-to-back sleepless flights, you begin to hallucinate and, on occasion, fantasize about the onset of early death.I'm back in familiar territory.Read moreBack to sitting behind my drums and banging out the super fast tempo to a punk rock song. /About_Us/Blogs/Embedded_in_Africa/2009-7-2.html http://www.russiatoday.com/About_Us/Blogs/Embedded_in_Africa/2009-7-2.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:11:00 +0300 Slowly, the outboard motor burping toxic gasoline fumes, we float on into the village proper. I find myself surrounded by pastel colored single and two-storied square-shaped buildings held aloft by vertical wood and bamboo stilts. Construction materials consist of wood, tin and, on occasion, plastic obviously scrounged from the mainland. Farther in I’m surprised to come across a new masonry structure that utilizes heavier timbers for its supports. I’m not surprised, however, to find that it is abandoned, as are so many masonry structures in Africa. /About_Us/Blogs/Embedded_in_Africa/2009-6-25.html http://www.russiatoday.com/About_Us/Blogs/Embedded_in_Africa/2009-6-25.html Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:19:00 +0300 The early Sunday morning mist floats like a giant ghost above the city of Cotonou, on Benin’s calm Oueme River. My guide and longboat captain introduces himself as Joseph. He speaks something in his native language that eludes my limited high school French. It’s then I realize I should have brought along a translator for what will be the long journey upriver and across the Lac du Nokoue to the remote stilt village of Ganvie. Read moreJoseph is a tall thin man of maybe 50. Clean shaven and bare footed, he wears a short sleeve shirt, light pants and a baseball cap -- clothing that appears to afford him cool comfort in the alreadyA typical riverbank village (photo by Vincent Zandri)oppressive African heat and humidity. /About_Us/Blogs/Embedded_in_Africa/2009-6-17.html http://www.russiatoday.com/About_Us/Blogs/Embedded_in_Africa/2009-6-17.html Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:20:00 +0300 We traverse a two-track on a winding journey through the Hevier bush. To my right, an anthill rises up out of the grass like a giant pyramid made of mottled red clay. To my left, nothing but green bush that extends for as far as the eye can see. We come upon a well and a water tower made of concrete. Turns out, that's our marker. Not more than 50 meters in the distance, a clearing emerges in the bush. As a former construction pro, I immediately recognize the clearing as the site for an in-progress construction project. /About_Us/Blogs/Embedded_in_Africa/2009-6-13.html http://www.russiatoday.com/About_Us/Blogs/Embedded_in_Africa/2009-6-13.html Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:09:00 +0300 “Don’t take pictures of the people,” the driver orders. “They believe the camera robs them of their souls.”We’ve arrived at the outskirts of a place called Hevier, which on a map of Benin, West Africa, is located some 15 or so miles northwest of the port city of Cotonou, although my sense of direction could be a little off. I call Hevier a “place”, as opposed to a town or a village since at first glance it appears to be a kind of crowded rural settlement. /About_Us/Blogs/Embedded_in_Africa/2009-6-8.html http://www.russiatoday.com/About_Us/Blogs/Embedded_in_Africa/2009-6-8.html Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:48:00 +0300 Two adjoining surgical rooms contain two surgical tables each. Each table contains a patient. Each patient is being cared for by a team of nurses of both sexes and, judging by their accents, originating from all parts of the globe. Their ages range from early twenties to one Englishwoman I'm pegging for close to 70. Working beside them are two doctors and an anesthesiologist. The Chief surgeon, a green-scrubbed, 50-something, gray-bearded American by the name of Dr. Glenn Strauss, greets me with a warm smile.