West Africa/East Africa

Downtown in Arusha, Marcello’s new home

Cronies seem to be showing up all over the Mother Continent. It was when she went off to see the Teranga Lions thrash the hapless national team of Tanzania in an African Cup of Nations qualifier that I realized I had not done enough to plug Senegal Stories, the blog of my friend and former TIME colleague Jessica Reaves. The intrepid Jessica is a native of Pittsburgh, but she’s lately decamped to Dakar to write about AIDS treatment programs — and also to share with us her adventures in a city in which I’ve only ever touched down to refuel without being allowed off the plane. So it’s a vicarious thing, especially the fish stew, and that nutter Dioufy banging ’em in against the poor Tanzanians.

But the Tanzanians, of course, at least have the consolation of having in their midst the wonderful Marcello Mongardi, whose own blog Safi Kabisa has just appeared on my radar. Marcello, a teacher formerly of East Village and Brooklyn locales (but originally Italian-Australian) recently moved to Arusha to teach. His site is a marvelous collection of photographs, anecdotes, gardening and eating tips, and, of course, keen observations on the goings on at the Cricket World Cup. Living proof that the “information superhighway” has reached rural Tanzania!

Check out both, you’ll be glad you did