Category: Africa
Into Parts Unknown, II
The Daily Friend February 16, 2025 Five decades ago Barry and his wife, Shel, arrived in South Africa with he hoping to make the transition from academia to journalism and tell the story of transformation, from white rule receding to freedom in southern Africa. Early frustration became opportunity when Barry was hired as a reporter at the Financial Mail. With money now jangling in their … Continue reading Into Parts Unknown, II
Into Parts Unknown
Five decades ago, traveling nearly three weeks by freighter to Cape Town began an adventure that turned an academic into a journalist. Continue reading Into Parts Unknown
Cecil Rhodes With His Pants Down
In September 1891 Cecil Rhodes set out from Beira in Portuguese East Africa for the new settlement of Salisbury in Mashonaland 310 miles away. It was an arduous journey through lion country and knoted forests. There was no road and a rail line was some years away. Empire builder Rhodes was at the time prime minister of the Cape Province. A year earlier he had dispatched to … Continue reading Cecil Rhodes With His Pants Down
Remembering Portugal’s Revolution That Changed Africa
Forty years ago a brave band of junior officers overthrew Portugal’s dictatorship. On April 25th, 1974 thousands poured into Lisbon’s plazas in celebration. Flower sellers did a brisk trade in red carnations that poked from the barrels of soldiers’ rifles. Marcelo Caetano, the despot who headed the fascist government in power since 1932, fled to Brazil. The young captains behind the coup had seen for … Continue reading Remembering Portugal’s Revolution That Changed Africa
Barry D. Wood 