In 1999, "google" was not yet a verb...and Google was barely a year old. I spent many nights that year in Mali baking under my mosquito net in my second-story mud oven, listening to the Voice of America on my short wave radio by the light of my flashlight. In 2012, I am back in Africa sleeping in a drafty house of tile and cement, with my LED light shining on my Kindle as I download a french newspaper, from a website...in the U.S. Some things have really changed.
Despite the warp speed that technological development has been traveling at the past few years, Africa is still Africa. Somehow the continent seems to always be uniquely affected by technology. Running water, electricity, and paved roads might be scarce, but cell phones are ubiquitous. Though cell phones are extremely useful, especially in a place where people skipped right over having a landline, wouldn't better/more/some access to potable water for most of the people have been a better start on development? Maybe so, but I am pretty sure those mining companies getting all the coltan they can out of the Congo aren't really caring much about whether the people who end up using their product have clean water. Also, I wonder if people here spend more time thinking about their cell phones than how clean their water is?
Though many things in Somalia are different than in Mali, some things look very familiar. Like northern Mali, northern Somalia is dusty, prayer call happens five times a day, and there are still more goats than people on the streets. There are also almost as many donkey carts as cars. However, there is camel meat and camel milk readily available and there is a cold wind and a warm sun here, something I never found in Mali. In Mali, there was always a warm sun...I begged for clouds, even rain.
Another difference - that takes some getting used to (and that wasn't necessarily the norm even a few years ago from what I hear) - is that the women in Somalia are completely covered, some with just their eyes and hands visible for identification. Compared with the colorful and laid-back attire of Malian women, the dress here seems quite austere. It is like the Victorian era in a Muslim context - muted colors, layers of clothing covering every inch of skin, hair tied up and back, and the head covered. It also seems that striving for the appearance of piety is almost more important than actually being pious, but this is just what I have heard.
The caveat is that I have only been in Somalia for one month and I have experienced exactly one place - Hargeisa. I did make it out of town for a hike in the surrounding hills last weekend, but as you might imagine, there are not so many people out there. So, my view is still pretty limited. I will get out into the field in February though, and will have some more first-hand info to pass along.
