Merigoesaround

Since Moyo was interviewed in the FT some months ago http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4121b1fa-ee5a-11dd-b791-0000779fd2ac.html?ftcamp=rss she's being literally everywhere. Even in my friend’s Martin facebook status. Today he wrote: “Moyo in the FT weekend, what's wrong with the press?” If Ms. Moyo wanted to heat the development debate, she has truly excelled at that. Among Collier, Rodrik, Easterly and the likes, a stylish young women with (also) something non conventional to say is refreshing. Maybe that is part of her success. Moyo's proposal of cutting aid for developing countries in the next five years and helping the poor through microfinance, for instance, leads me to the question: what if even if her idea has pitfalls is it really about time to get to the bottom of the pyramid with close-to-the-poor interventions that relegate governments to a temporary second stage? I think what is catchy of Moyo’s message is the kind of Yes We (Africans) can , empowering message behind ...

That the French are crazy about their food is no news. But to sympathize with their habit of eating the inside parts of animals, the tripes and so on...needs longer than the short half a year I have been here. Or another dinner at my friends' terrace. It might be very refined to eat those parts of the animal anatomy but in my country they are used to produce fibers for instruments or as a coat for chorizos. I have very sweet memories of my childhood winters in my grandma's village...the ritual of killing the pig (la matanza) and producing chorizos and ham; when I think about this twice now I reckon I should be a traumatized (and vegetarian) adult. La matanza is probably the least child-friendly activity you can think of. I am going to avoid describing how they sacrifice pigs in rural Spain for the sake of keeping my friends reading me and this posting free of digressions. I admire how the French eat viscera in a classy, refined, different way. From my friends' Matt&Mich...

When traveling to a Muslim country there are some things that you should not do and others you should be ready for. I managed to do many of the wrong things in a short Saturday morning. Hence, the one in the picture above is merigoingaround. Woke up. 30 degrees outside. What to wear, a simple tank top with an apparently too conspicuous cleavage. WROOONG . Showing boobs and shoulders in a small village of 2000 inhabitants is not interculturally sensitive. Village time. Walked around with the villagers. Glanced at potatoes fields, men, many unemployed young men. Got interested in their economic activity. Eco-tourism might work, I think. They indicated they have some cows and sheep. Do you have pigs? I asked. WROOONG. Lunch time. Sweet villagers preparing a two-course meal based on roast chicken and couscous. Me wants to go to the ladies' room. No ladies' room, just lots of fields. I like that, reminds me of my summers. Lady of the house indicates I better go to the place where th...

Needing some protection?: Fed up with your kids, looking for a school surrounded by nature, a cheaper alternative to a Swiss boarding school, where to ship them out?: Contrast. Like other transition economies Morocco is populated by virginity soap adolescent shoppers (Touch me!) and villages with no electricity or access to water. Accompanying a mission to explain the benefits of eco-sanitation to remote Moroccan villagers I felt the old feeling of transition. Transition to what. Morocco is almost there, close to having citizens who have access to education that teaches kids something, health services that can heal you without killing your pocket, good roads that facilitate people and markets' mobility, water, electricity access...almost there but not yet. At least not big chunks of the country. What can be done for the next development push? How can the country create employment for those thousands of youngest whose main distraction appears to be watching the Spanish soccer league...

TED just told me that the Spanish word Ole! comes from Allah. A little bit of me wants to be her, dark hair version. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html