Mr Eddie Turkson reported on the details of the agreement:

“THE Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC) has signed a partnership agreement with Rising Data Solutions Limited (RDS), a business process outsourcing (BPO) company, to train people and create jobs in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry.

Under the agreement, RDS will provide a curriculum and logistics in the field and train teachers to teach the course at the college, while GTUC would house the classrooms, hardware and teaching personnel for the implementation of the course.

The college will also absorb the class into its official curriculum where students who earn qualifying marks in the course will gain employment with RDS.
The President of GTUC, Dr Osei K. Darkwa, said the government had identified Information Technology Enabled Service (ITES) and the BPO industry as one of the key industries for the creation of jobs and the provision of marketable skills for the youth for the country to position itself as a destination of choice for outsourcing.”

Ghana Voices defined the BPO industry as:

An information technology enabled service industry in which clients from other parts of the world subcontract services of which they have low competitive advantage over to local firms who have high competitive advantage in that area.

Ghana Voices also discussed the sector’s potential to benefit the country, stating that:

It is estimated that the sector could provide over 37,000 jobs for the youth by 2011 in Ghana, with an added value to the country’s economy of over 750 million dollars.

Bpoevents reported Dr Darkwa’s hopes for students’ skills development:

Dr. Darkwa expressed the hope that, the collaboration with RDS would equip the students in the areas like communication skills, computer skills, telemarketing, listening skills, accent neutralisation and keyboard skills which are required to succeed in the industry. Supporting this hope, Mr A. J. Whitman, RDS’s Public Relations Manager, said that this partnership was part of RDS’s campaign to bring more jobs to Ghana.

Daikieusown quoted Mr Whitman as saying:

We are proud of this partnership with GTUC, in large part because both parties recognize that the private sector cannot grow without the education sector, and vice versa. While still fledging in Ghana, RDS is banking on their ability to drive the sector by strategic partnerships, allowing skills development based on knowledge sharing that benefits all stakeholders, most importantly students.

The BPO industry has been a significant economic driver of countries such as India, Malaysia, and the Philippines, which had been responsible for the creation of tens of thousands of jobs.

Even Vodaphone, noted Eddie Turkson, commented on the agreement:

The Head of Corporate Communication, Vodaphone, Mr Albert Don-Chebe, gave assurance that Vodaphone was strongly behind the deal and commended RDS for having the courage to invest in Ghana, despite the challenges.

During the ceremony, Dr Darkwa mentioned that the challenges facing the industry were the “shortage of manpower which was restricting its growth”, as reported by Ghana Voices, and that:

It was to reverse this trend that the GTUC signed the MOU with the RDS to develop a talent pipeline in the short and long term, which would ensure continuous supply of trained manpower to feed the industry.
His colleague, Dr. Robert Baffour, The Vice President of GTUC, further stressed that GTUC would continue to develop all necessary platforms and build the requisite foundation to place Ghana on the technology map

Daikieusown quoted Dr Baffour, the Vice President of Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC):

GTUC has been the leader in ICT activities in the country and would continue to lead and chart the way forward for our country.””

on the evening of the ceremony in Accra.

Independence Day was celebrated all throughout the country, but it was in the eastern city of Goma (the capital of North Kivu province) that the official festivities took place with the participation of President Joseph Kabila, as well as the presidents of a number of other countries. Here are a few bloggers' reactions to this historic anniversary, celebrated in a city that not long ago was a war zone.

Colette Braeckman [FR], a Belgian journalist specializing in Central Africa, wrote about holding the celebrations in Goma:

Voici moins d’un an, qui aurait cru que l’indépendance du 30 juin, date mythique s’il en est, serait célébrée à Goma ? A l’époque, le chef rebelle Laurent Nkunda recevait toutes les télévisions du monde et devenait une star médiatique, entrant en concurrence avec les deux chefs d’Etat des pays concernés, le président Kabila et son homologue rwandais le président Kagame.

A l’époque, la peur régnait dans de vastes zones du Nord Kivu, à la merci d’attaques du CNDP […]

For Dawn Hurley, an American expat in Goma who blogs at From Congo, the choice was risky:

It is not the most logical place to invite hot shots of all sorts to celebrate this grand holiday. It is an unruly city on the very edge the country. But it precisely this reputation as the Wild west (or rather Wild East) of Congo, that has led the President to choose to celebrate here.

For Colette Braeckman, celebrating the Independence in Goma has a strong significance:

Malgré les peurs des uns, les critiques des autres, il faut reconnaître que célébrer l’indépendance à Goma, hier terrorisée, assiégée et qui se sentait oubliée de Kinshasa, est un symbole fort. Le symbole d’un pays qui a entamé sa reconstruction et récupéré son contrôle sur toutes ses provinces, […] le symbole d’un géant convalescent, qui vacille encore un peu, mais qui, de manière décidée, s’est remis debout…

Dawn of From Congo also commented on the works happening around the city in preparation for the official festivities:

So for the past month Goma has been a giant dust bowl. The roads of Goma, which are perpetually in a ridiculous state of disrepair, have been dug up, marked off, and attacked with a variety of roadwork tools. Road workers have appeared out of nowhere and worked day and night over the past month, to turn Goma into a presentable city.

Boubol, the Goma correspondent for the popular Congoblog [FR], also wrote about Goma's makeover for the celebration (including some photos of the works):

« Je n’ai jamais vécu une telle situation à Goma, qui donne l’impression de se trouver dans une cité industrielle » s’exclame Mzee Paul, un sexagénaire, rencontré le long du boulevard Kanyamuhanga. Ce tronçon, sur lequel s’effectuera le défilé, revêt une nouvelle couche de bitume. C’est depuis la dernière éruption survenue en 2002 qu’il était dénué.

Nombreux sont le badauds qui passent leurs temps admirer les pylônes qui poussent depuis peu sur les routes de la capitale touristique. Au total, 600 réverbères éclaireront Goma d’ici le 30 juin, à en croire un des superviseurs des travaux: « La ville de Goma sera la ville la plus éclairée, après la ville de Kinshasa qui compte seulement 300 pylônes en bon état » a-t-il ajouté.

However, Boboul wonders about the long-term permanence of the makeover:

S’ils se réjouissent en voyant ces travaux, les habitants de Goma ne se font pas d’illusion. Il faut attendre de voir s’il s’agit bien d’un élan de reconstruction ou si ce n’est qu’un embelissement temporaire, le temps de la fête.

Apparently the Independence festivities included some fireworks, which some people mistook for shooting as shown by this story at From Congo:

Argentine and Mapendo (two of the SHONA women) spent last night trying to decide where to hide. They heard shooting and assumed the town was being attacked. […]

In fact it was fireworks. Yesterday was Independence Day in Congo and a fireworks display ran for at least half an hour last night. I couldn't see the fireworks from my house, and apparently Argentine and Mapendo couldn't see them from their hiding spots. But we could all hear the explosions, and I have to say that it was as long and impressive sounding a display as I have ever heard.

I, for one, am not suprised the a fireworks display in a region which is still a war-zone, would scare the living daylights out of people. They announced it on the radio beforehand but many people, like Argentine and Mapendo, didn't hear the warnings and were left to assume the worst.

Goma-based journalist Yves Zihindula [FR], who also noted the impressive works happening in his city, offers a bit of a pessimistic reflection about the Congo after 49 years of indepence:

Ceux qui ont vécu les années après le 30 juin 1960, parlent des bonnes choses du Congo et disent par exemple qu’un zaïre (monnaie locale de l’époque) équivalait à plus d’un dollar américain. Normal qu’un jeune de mon âge ait difficile à les comprendre. Pas de système d’éducation fiable, pas d’eau potable, pas d’électricité, pas de routes dans la plupart des localités… voilà ce que nous vivons depuis notre enfance.

49 ans après l’indépendance, quel bilan faire ? Qu’est ce qu’il faut que je réponde ? Je n’ai rien vécu jusque là. J’attends vivre… et ferais un bilan le moment venu.

In a similar vein, Espérance-Francois Bulayumi at Mbokamosika [FR] wonders:

Devrions-nous organiser ce mardi 30 juin 2009 une fête pompeuse pour célébrer la journée commémorative du 30 juin dans la situation où se trouve le pays actuellement?

John Passou offered this reflection at the blog Aujourd'hui c'est Aujourd'hui [FR]:

L’indépendance du Congo est à reconquérir. Corriger aujourd’hui les vices du régime Mobutu, ce n’est pas, comme d’aucuns s’imaginent, l’œuvre d’un jour. Ce doit être l’œuvre d’une politique de longue haleine, habile et circonspecte. La domination néocoloniale a plongé la société congolaise dans un pourrissement tel qu’il nous faudra des années pour la purifier.

At the heart of the matter is a grievance by public sector doctors that they are paid as much as 50% less then other public sector employee's at a similar levels. Additional issues include long shifts, conditions at hospitals and doctor to patient ratios. The doctors have set up a facebook group for supporters where you can find a full history of the events up to now as well as grievances.

According to the facebook group, they also feel they are not being sufficiently represented by unions such as the South African Medical Association (SAMA) and SAMA have come to an agreement with government without the support of their members.

SAMA states

We would like to reassure our members of SAMA’s commitment to advancing the interests of members, by negotiating for an OSD that reflects the aspirations and needs of our members. It is on this basis that we have attempted to keep members continuously and accurately updated on the employer’s proposal. Communicating the employer’s proposals is however, not an indication that SAMA accepts such proposals. Pronouncements by the doctor-grouping that SAMA has reached an agreement with the Department of Health are disingenuous, blatant untruths, and disrespectful to all parties involved in the OSD-negotiations.

While traditional media has reported on the hardline stance taken by the ANC on the striking doctors.

The African National Congress and Cosatu in KwaZulu-Natal have released a press release condemning doctors for their “unprofessional” strike action in the province.

In a strongly worded statement, the alliance partners suggested doctors were being unreasonable and had thwarted attempts by National Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and the provincial MEC, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, to reach an agreement.

They accused doctors of refusing to stick with the process and channels available to them.

The provincial department of health in Kwa-Zulu Natal have also fired over 200 doctors for not appearing at work after an interdict was granted against them by the courts:

More than 200 doctors have been fired for failing to report to work in different hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal, SABC radio news reported on Monday evening.

The provincial health department said it had issued 226 letters of dismissal to health care professionals so far.

Some of the perspectives from the blogosphere

Fhuluphelo writes

One thing that I learnt while sitting in that ward was the impact the doctor’s strike is doing to these poor patients. According to this lady, it took her more than 10 hours to receive attention on arriving at the hospital as there were not doctors available and the nurses are not authorized to administer any medication before the patient is admitted and seen by a doctor. Not even pain killers and this woman was lying there all that time in pain.

An anonymous doctor at moralfibe writes

I had mixed feelings about striking and abandoning our patients in what is seen by the general public as just a dispute over salaries. The protest action is in fact a culmination of years of abuse that medical professionals have endured at the hands of the government.

Let’s start with working conditions. The hospitals are over-capacity, and the doctors are overworked. In my ward, we officially have place for 65 patients. We had more than 85 for the best part of last week. Doctors work 30 hour shifts when they do overtime, working a minimum of 60 hours a week in my hospital, but it’s not like this everywhere. Usually it’s worse. Although, this certainly is an improvement since 2002 when as an intern, I worked 100 hours a week and 30 hour shifts every third day. We are expected to do procedures with needles potentially putting ourselves and others at risk of contracting HIV by needlestick injuries, this even after having been awake and on our feet for 24 hours and more.

Further he/she writes

To do the job I do in the hospital I have three degrees in the medical field, but earn less than a gym personal trainer. If you compare my job requirements and qualification to any other professional in the government sector, I am being underpaid by at least 50%. In private practice I would be earning at least 300% of my current salary.

and he/she also believes the government is using sneaky tactics to remove support for the strike action

When the Minister held that press conference on Wednesday, it was a sneaky political move. When has any employer presented a wage offer to the public without first taking it the bargaining chamber? It was a move that they knew would be highly publicized and designed to remove public support for the strike action.

Karren Little writes about the ethics

It's a very sticky ethical situation. The public is suffering, and there is a good chance that people will die as a consequence of the strike. On the other hand, the public suffers massively and thousands of lives are lost every day as the government continues to under-fund and mismanage the health care system.

Karren is not striking, but fully supports the strike action.

In The Crater, we're not striking - we're the only source of emergency care in a hundred-kilometre radius, and it really would be unethical to strike. But I would like to say that I support the strike and am grateful to my colleagues who have been brave enough to take action - and put their jobs on the line - for the sake of us all.

Sandile questions the morality of it all

It is all about the alleged poor salaries that medical doctors and only medical doctors get.

Well, what about their colleagues who are administrators, clerks, cleaners, drivers, nurses and others in the emergency services? There is something that is fundamentally wrong when medical doctors abandon wards with sick and dying people simply because they want more money.

Tourism radio South Africa writes

In my opinion, both parties are wrong. Both are in a position that they feel they cannot budge from but this goes beyond money. Here, I tell you what, throw some money at terminal patients and lets talk again. I don't believe in the health care system in SA, public or private, never have. I don't believe in medical aids either, its like playing a reality TV version of Fear Factor with a cash prize naturally. Can you be a capitalist and a doctor or politician? Seems so. Are those the only options? Apparently. So here's my argument…Above all, do no harm. I think all parties involved could take a lesson from the oath or at the very least, don't promise what you can't deliver.

This is Wikipedia description of the vuvuzela:

a blowing horn, approximately one metre in length, commonly blown by fans at football matches in South Africa. The origin of the name is disputed. It may originate from the Zulu for “making noise,” from the “vuvu” sound it makes, or from township slang related to the word for “shower.”

Opinions in the blogosphere are deeply divided. Some bloggers are completely outraged by the sound produced by vuvuzelas while others call for tolerance and understanding. One blogger goes as far as claiming that the instrument spreads HIV!

Dave Taylor describes vuvuzelas as “the traditional instruments of football mayhem.”

To Chris of World Cup blog, the vuvuzela is “that giant swarm of insects…”:

That giant swarm of insects you’ve been hearing at every Confederations Cup game is not, in fact, one of the Biblical Plagues migrating south. It’s actually called a vuvuzela…

Capitals Kremlin considers the vuvuzela the most annoying noisemaker:

Ladies and gentlemen, Caps Kremlin is pleased to present to you: the world's most annoying noisemaker, the vuvuzela.

There is one long description of the vuvuzela from 24.com:

…take a sport from England called football, take a snort of glitter-eyed powder-nosed marketing gnomes, a large liquor conglomerate wanting to increase market share, add a white guy called Van Schalkwyk with a take-the-gap mentality and a plastics factory and what do you get? The vuvuzela.

Pitch Invasion calls the vuvuzela “Satan's instrument.”

Welcome to plastic Africa:

You then follow it up with a barrage of press releases about the kudu horn being used in ancient times to summon villagers to meetings, Christian cults claiming it as part of their sacred rituals and we get stuck with football games that can only be watched on TV with the mute button firmly on. And if you don’t like it, you must be at best a racist or at worst one of those guys who when he hears the word “culture” reaches for his gun.

Welcome to plastic Africa. And rue an opportunity missed.

From the Foreign Policy blog, “The World Cup's biggest concern is a trumpet,”

Five years ago, when South Africa won the right to host the 2010 World Cup, many were concerned whether the country had the infrastructure to host the huge tournament. With one year to go, though, most observers agree that the country will be pass that test. Instead, the biggest complaints have centered on an instrument called the vuvuzela.

ReasonCheck wonders, “…if these heathen brutes could be introduced to the joys of producing actual musical notes from their hellish plastic pipes”:

If you’ve caught any of the games on TV, you would have heard a continuous droning sound, like a perpetually embittered swarm of hornets. But you really have to be there to appreciate the full horror of the cacophony. I took my son to a game a few nights ago and have been suffering from headaches ever since, and am sleeping fitfully.

I then got to thinking that if these heathen brutes could be introduced to the joys of producing actual musical notes from their hellish plastic pipes there might just be a shift in Zeitgeist amongst them and they might seek to actually make music.

Pitch Invasion looks at the history of noisemaking in world football starting with the first popular noisemaker in Britain, the wooden rattle:

The first popular noisemaker in football — and one that made a sound to make even a vuvuzela wince — was the wooden rattle in Britain.
Writing in the Guardian, Simon Burnton hoped that “perhaps South Africa can learn from the loud wooden rattles that soundtracked British football in the post-war era – and fell out of favour when everyone realised just how annoying they were. I can only hope that one day soon a similar fate will befall the vuvuzelas.”
Yet it was a shift in the entire base of fan culture, rather than a simple realisation that rattles were annoying, that removed the rattle from the terraces.
Though a fairly recent instrument at South African football games, some trace the roots to African tradition. “The ancestor of the vuvuzela is said to be the kudu horn - ixilongo in isiXhosa, mhalamhala in Tshivenda - blown to summon African villagers to meetings.”
It seems to have been in 1992 that the vuvuzela was first used at South African football matches, by supporters of AmaZulu F.C.. Supporters made the horns out of discarded tin cans, and the use spread wildly, to the joy of many and the irritation of some: South African writer Jon Qwelane wrote in 2007 that “Nowadays, there is an instrument from hell, called the vuvuzela, which has largely formed my decision to abandon all live games and rather watch on TV, with the sound totally muted.”
In the 2000s, with South Africa’s World Cup bid on the horizon, the vuvuzela became a mass produced commercialised phenomenon as the result of a grant given by SAB Miller (the giant South African brewer) to Neil van Schalkwyk’s company Masincedane Sport in 2001, who began to mass produce a cheap plastic version.

SA Sucks disputes the “history” of the vuvuzela as “the ridiculous lie being spread via Wikipedia”:

Incredibly, the ridiculous lie is now being spread via Wikipedia (thanks Karooboy for pointing out) that the origin of the Vuvuzela is actually based on a “Kudu horn” that the blacks used to blow. I almost died laughing at this pathetic fiction but suppose its to be expected - the truth that these destructive beasts ripped them from trains in orgies of vandalism is obviously too politically incorrect to swallow. A bit further down this article is an image of a yellow horn-shaped vuvuzela - I got this image from one of the hundreds of spam emails which landed up in my mailbox, urging me to order 10 000 of these pieces of shit, with my corporate logo stuck on them. The horn shape is extremely unusual but as with the Wikipedia article, to be expected as PR companies do their best to bury the real history behind it.

According to SA Sucks there is nothing authentic African about the vuvuzela:

One of the things I love most about the politicians that run this fair dominion is how, at their discretion, they can make up their own history as they go along. The vuvuzela is one such example.
Those arguing for the vuvuzela maintain that it is part of the great South African soccer culture and that not allowing it would truly be an injustice. Bullshit. They’ve been around less than ten years. It was only when some bastard called “Neil van Schalkwyk, the co-owner of Masincedane Sport, which manufactures the plastic vuvuzela, won the SAB KickStart Award in 2001, which is an SAB-run project that assists entrepreneurs by providing grants and mentorship during the start-up phase of business.” that the vuvuzela really started making an impact.

Dave Taylor found the noise from the vuvuzela annoying and distracting:

A half-dozen fans having one of these, or even a lot of fans who blow on them to celebrate a goal or terrific defensively play is one thing, but as those of us that watched the FIFA Confederations Cup learned, the practice in South Africa seems to be to keep a continuous drone of vuvuzela going throughout the match.
And we’re not talking about twenty or thirty people in the stadium, we’re talking about hundreds, if not thousands, of locals keeping a deafening racket during the entire match.

I found the constant clamor to be most distracting and annoying, and it even got in the way of being able to hear the crowd reaction to terrific plays or bad calls by referees both.

Language Log notes that vuvuzela “is woth 23 scrabble points even before bonuses — or would be, if it were added to the official word list.”

Mark Gleeson at Reuters blog thinks that in the end money will talk louder than any vuvuzela. He says that the debate around the vuvuzela has become “almost a neo-colonial conflict”:

The debate around the vuvuzela was always going to generate big noise but for some South African commentators it has become almost a neo-colonial conflict.
The noisy trumpet, which dominates the sound waves around the stadiums during the Confederations Cup, has got a lot of people covering their ears.
Complaints from TV viewers across Europe have been vociferous enough for the future of the plastic pest to become the major item on the agenda at the series of press conferences FIFA president Sepp Blatter has held during the tournament in South Africa.
At the end the day, it is the big TV money that talks. If the world’s broadcasters feel the cacophony of vuvuzelas detracts from the viewing pleasure of their public, FIFA will be forced to back down and ban the trumpets from the 2010 World Cup stadiums.
It won’t have anything to do with any ‘ism, just cold hard cash.

Bob of the unofficial blog of DC United does not understand the vuvuzela haters:

I personally don't understand the vuvuzela haters. I guess some people have no ability to filter out these quiet buzzing sounds from the ubiquitous noisemakers in the stands during the Confederations Cup matches. Apparently, they are called vuvuzelas. I want one.

From the very first seconds of the very first Confederations Cup match that I watched this year, New Zealand v Spain, I thought, “what is that interesting sound?” and then promptly filtered it out. In a similar way, when I lived in Rosslyn, under the flight path of the planes approaching National Airport, the noisy planes bothered me for about a week. Then I didn't hear it anymore.

Anyone who has been to a live soccer match knows that it is an event of experiences. There is the game itself, but there are songs, Roman Candles, smoke bombs, drums, horns. Oh yeah, and drunk supporters too.

Some of his readers disagree. One of them hates “the damn thing” because it destroys the game atmosphere:

I'm one of the haters, and I can't comprehend someone who actually enjoys watching soccer on TV liking them. I hate the damn things. But it's not because they're loud and annoying. Lots of things — hell, lots of people — are loud and annoying, even (especially) at soccer matches. It's not because they're loud and annoying. It's because they absolutely, completely, utterly destroy the game-related atmosphere at the matches. Destroy it.

Another reader says, “it's insane”:

*You* may have some wonderful ability to push it into your mental background, but for most of us, it's insane. The sound is *not* “atmospheric”, it is *not* a minor part of the viewing experience, and it is *not* acceptable.

Setumo writes about the vuvuzela and intolerance:

For the record, we do not blow the vuvuzela because we are Africans. We blow the vuvuzela because we get an adrenalin rush from the creative noise it makes. Also, we get an adrenalin rush because we are human. Not because we are Africans!
Now that we have moved away from the racial stereotype, it becomes easier to clear the noise. Subsequently, we could agree in unison that this is a matter of like, dislike and intolerance.

One of Setumo's readers argues that World Cup is not and “African” thing:

So the Vuvu is an African thing?? The FIFA 2010 fiasco is not an “African” thing .. it is an international thing. The fact is that SA is only hosting the tourno, and trying hard to get as many international visitors to SA next year. So, have a bit of understanding that most non-Africans find the V-noise irritating in the extreme. I doubt that many non-African countries aspire to be anything like “African”, given the general mayhem, murder, & mis-Government that exists in this sick Continent.

Another reader likes the sound so much and would even buy vuvuzela ringtone!:

@mcOlly - As a Texan, I would totally buy that ringtone.
All this uproar over the vuvuzela is silly. If it doesn’t sound nice on TV, then the broadcasters should turn the stadium mics down. I just learned of the vuvuzela by watching the Confederations Cup, and it makes me want to go to the WC even more.

Shine2010 thinks that vuvuzelas will teach the world tolerance and respect:

…maybe an encounter with a few thousand vuvuzelas will force the world, and soccer, to actually adopt some of the ideals – tolerance, respect, etc. – that it constantly preaches.

Robyn has become a vuvuzela addict:

I first tried to blow a vuvuzela two weeks ago, at the start of the Confederations Cup which has been held in South Africa ahead of next year’s World Cup. I failed miserably. I blew and I blew and nothing happened, just a few insipid little parps. But at the Brazil vs. Italy game, I got the hang of the vuvuzela and quickly joined the crowd in a jaunty one-note tune. Baaaah! Baaah! Baaah!
It is a sound so irritating and so obnoxious that it’s best to stick with the maxim “if you can’t beat ‘em, join em.” Not blowing a vuvuzela at a South African football game not only makes you feel a bit left out but it also makes you resent the noise everyone else it making.

I Luv SA has a piece of advice for vuvuzela haters, “Suck it up”:
Me, I'd say to Fifa, you bought the spiel to host the cup in South Africa, you get to eat up the whole enchilada which includes the main ingredient, the vuvuzela. It's like telling English fans to shut the irritating background drone they call singing. Suck it up.

“Critics are saying they are too noisy. I say so what?,” writes Ash on South Africa Football Fans blog:

That is the purpose of the Vuvuzela after all. It is there to get the atmosphere buzzzzing. This is Africa and we are renowned for dancing and singing and generally creating a great vibe at our football matches.
It’s all part of the uniquely South African experience and I’m certain that if our foreign visitors attend the games and experience the electrifying atmosphere they will fall in love with the Vuvuzela.

To me asking the local supporters to leave their Vuvuzela’s at home would be like asking the Liverpool fans not to sing You'll Never Walk Alone, or asking the Brazilian fans not to create the Samba atmosphere at their matches.

“What happened to dancing and singing and costumes?,” one reader asks and adds, “Don't let your only contribution to the world be an almost universally annoying one! “:

If that is the only culture South Africa has to share, that is pretty bad. Whatever happened to dancing and singing and costumes? Seems to work for other countries just fine. Don't let your only contribution to the world be an almost universally annoying one! 
It's a question of hospitality too. Blasting noise in our ears is just plain rude. I for one am turning the sound off. I feel sorry for anyone travelling to SA to watch the games. They have no choice in the matter.

Another reader compares the vuvuzela sound to “an annoying swarm of bees buzzing around your head…”:

The argument the blogger is making about comparing Liverpool songs and Brazil's samba atmosphere borders on retarded. I would certainly ask a Liverpool fan to stop if they just screamed one note of YWNWA in my ear for an hour and a half. There is a big difference between an annoying swarm of bees buzzing around your head a samba dance.

“You won't be watching your local teams or players,” another reader responds:

How is South Africa telling the world that they are football visitors? Visitors to the country yes. Visitors to football? Don't make me laugh. This is not South African football next year. It's world football in South Africa. You won't be watching your local teams or players.

Anders tells us that vuvuzela haters are the people who were watching the games on TV:

The vuvuzela outcry is mainly coming from those, like my friend, who are watching the tournament abroad. In the stadium, the fans love them. It's one of those things you bemoan until you actually are able to try it: think laser pointer. On TV the horns conflict with the commentary, among other things, but in the ground the ambient noise is part of the atmosphere. It is undoubtedly less abrasive in person than it is via satellite.

The real vuvuzela war, we are told, is not on the Internet but in the Netherlands:

There is a real Vuvuzela war threat in the Netherlands. The company SoccerID reported Monday to import the controversial South African horn to Europe. Within three to four weeks the first Vuvuzela's should be for sale in the Netherlands. NoLimitation however, claims to have exclusive distribution rights for the Vuvuzela.

NoLimitation BV acquired the exclusive rights to the Vuvuzela and use of the name through Urbas Kehrberg GmbH, the German company which claims to have the rights to all EU countries. This means that, according NoLimitation, they are the only company in the Netherlands with the right to sell the three-piece horn under the name Vuvuzela.

Chris of World Cup blog agrees that the vuvuzela is “quintessentially South African” but…

Problem is, it’s also quintessentially obnoxious. If you’ve watched even 30 seconds of a Confederations Cup, you’ve surely noticed the all-enveloping buzzing sound - and chances are those horns are the reason you only watched 30 seconds.
it’s just one long 90 minute droning sound. To the point you begin to wonder when the B-list horror movie is going to break out before your eyes. I’ve personally begun watching the games on mute - what with the combination of ESPN’s commentary team and the vuvuzela capable of being substituted for lethal injection and all.

Phobian suggests that the vuvuzela be allowed when South Africa plays:

The World Cup is for everyone, not just the Vuvuzela blowers. Maybe they should only be allowed at games where SA plays. The other soccer teams playing should also have some say in whether there should be Vuvuzelas or not at their games.

SA Sucks takes the vuvuzela debate to a totally new ground by arguing that apart from the possibility of damaging one's hearing, the instrument might spread HIV/AIDS!

SA Sucks writes, “Apparently Sipho would empty the vuvuzela every often by swinging it wildly, splattering strings of HIV-positive / TB (& God knows what other nasty diseases) gob all over the hapless person behind, in front of and next to him.”:

Medical experts are issuing warnings that the noise from a vuvuzela can permanently damage a person’s hearing, but that’s never mind the HIV/ AIDS dangers of this thing.
From last week’s Confederations Cup matches, spectators were blasted from all directions by the earth-shattering noise of the vuvuzela. In addition to the health hazards of ringing ears and thundering headaches, a by-product of mindlessly blowing on this instrument is the accumulation of a huge amount of saliva. Apparently Sipho would empty the vuvuzela every often by swinging it wildly, splattering strings of HIV-positive / TB (& God knows what other nasty diseases) gob all over the hapless person behind, in front of and next to him.

The vuvuzela is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the “Sub-Saharan Africoon”:

Personally, I love it! If anything is going to bring the World Cup 2010 down, and become a symbol of everything that is wrong with the sub-Saharan Africoon, it will be the damned vuvuzela. Just think how the filth, squalor, violent ape-like behaviour and deafening racket this thing produces will be beamed into 500 million White Western homes, for all the world to see.

SA Sucks warns World Cup visitors to prepare for an anthropological “baptism of fire.” The blogger experienced himself “three hours of hell on earth”:

But on Sunday I was subjected to more than three hours of this hell on earth.I vowed, then and there, that after that first (and only) evening of the authentic South African soccer experience, I would never ever allow myself to be subjected to it again. There were many things amiss that left me disappointed and angry that evening, but none so offensive to my senses as the Vuvuzela.

“If FIFA were to ban the vuvuzela then they may as well scrap the rotation policy of the World Cup and just stage it every year in Europe at times that suit the Europeans and with a European atmosphere at the stadia,” writes Visual Guidance:

Of course, there has to be something to moan about though. No complaints from the people at the stadium. They love it. No, it is the sofa slobs thousands of miles away, slouched in front of their TV and whining that the noise is giving them a headache. Boo hoo. Answer me this – are the horns any more annoying than the Ultras with mega-phones at partisan stadia across the peninsula or the England Band droning out ‘The Great Escape’ constantly at Wembley?
This tournament is being played in Africa. This is what they do at football games in their country, it’s their football culture. If FIFA were to ban the vuvuzela then they may as well scrap the rotation policy of the World Cup and just stage it every year in Europe at times that suit the Europeans and with a European atmosphere at the stadia.

Garreth finds the vuvuzela's noise awful and horrifying but feels that the global football community needs to explore new footballing cultures:

Even though the noise is awful (horrifying really) I’m inclined to agree with the SAFA on this one. As much as the World Cup is about football it is also about the global football community and exploring new footballing cultures. If I’m starting to sound a bit like a hippy here I’m sorry, but it generally is the way I feel.

The vuvuzela sound is annoying and that is why walls of Jericho fell!:

The sound is annoying! That’s why the walls of Jericho fell! The people of Jericho broke the walls down on themselves to escape the blaring! Death was the sweeter option. Now, as for those South African fans, they are ALL LUNGS! Don’t they realize the commotion they’re creating? I’m fully aware that it is the country’s soccer culture, but it has to be done away with! Nobody will buy a ticket to have some guy blow the crap out of a vuvuzela throughout the match!

Cape Town Daily Photo does not think the noise was all that bad:

I’ve never been a fan of the vuvuzela (that long plastic trumpet that South African supporters blow at soccer matches), but to be honest, it really wasn’t so bad. They weren’t too loud and I have to say that they did add to the atmosphere significantly. They are an integral part of South African soccer culture and it just wouldn’t be the same without them.

Getting ready for World Cup 2010?:

Buy ear plugs from a music store - you’ll still be able to enjoy the atmosphere, even if you find a vuvuzela positioned right next to your ear.

If you are a fan of vuvuzela, you can visit Blow Me website to blow the virtual vuvuzela.

Welcome Michael, can you please tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m the founder of and currently work as the Executive Director of Young People We Care (YPWC). I completed a four-year undergraduate degree at the University of Cape Coast, majoring in Economics and Geography, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences. I’m passionate about youth empowerment and believe that youth must be empowered now to ensure a brighter tomorrow for everyone.

I am also an advisory board member of the Bangladesh Youth Parliament, and the Country Representative of UNICEF Rural Voices of Youth. I am currently doing national service with the United Nations Development Programme, Ghana.

YPWC, founded in 2005, is a youth-led and -focused organisation that is headquartered in Ghana, with satellite offices in the United Kingdom and Canada. The organisation is operated by young people aged ten to thirty-five years and adult partners working on youth-and development-related issues worldwide.

Basically, we aim to educate, inform and inspire youth participation in global issues, to build sustainable partnerships aimed at youth development, and to provide young people with the tools and resources to take action themselves.

We believe that through informing and engaging youth, they will be inspired to get involved and take action to improve their local communities. For example, we have held workshops on communication skills and report writing for youth in far-flung regions of Ghana with sponsorship from Disney, which might seem surprising but it’s brilliant to see the youth in those areas organizing themselves and responding to these inputs.

And we believe that this is how we can change the world. So, we try to create a platform for youth to translate what they have learnt into action and involve them in decision making on key developmental and global issues.

The online volunteering programme provides opportunities for volunteers to provide support and assistance “virtually”, in other words, they volunteer via the internet. The virtual volunteer programme is innovative and, of course, cost effective for all involved. Volunteers can work from anywhere and don’t have to travel all the way to Ghana just to help out; they can volunteer in their pyjamas in their rooms anywhere in the world.

Our online volunteering programme started through the UN Online Volunteering system  in 2006. You can see that the site is divided into two parts: one for the volunteers and the other for the organizations.

When I started YPWC, it was hard for partners to trust the capability of our team because we had no record of successful project management to go on. Realizing that it would be hard to mobilize funding to get the organisation started, I decided to search for assistance from experts online for things like the design of a website and the brochure. These would normally cost a significant amount of money. That’s when I came across UN Online Volunteering and it has proved very helpful for YPWC. Currently the monthly newsletters and the YPWC website updates are carried out by UN Online Volunteers. Acknowledging the impact of UN Online Volunteers assistance to YPWC, in August 2008 the UNV featured YPWC in their newsletter. Honestly, the assistance and expertise given by virtual volunteers has changed the face of YPWC. It has provided greater opportunities and benefits for us and those we work with, despite the limited funding we received from donor organizations and individuals. We’re still working with online volunteers today.

Occasionally we post volunteer opportunities online through the official YPWC website or the UN Online Volunteer website. Interested volunteers who meet our criteria for a particular project or assignment are contacted and given a final work schedule and details about any support they might need. The great thing is that they can sit in a small or big town anywhere across the globe and help. You can work as a virtual volunteer without stepping outside your home; you only need to have a reliable internet access on your computer. We have an online group that volunteers join and that’s where we do a lot of chatting, cross-checking, and planning.

In the past months, our online volunteers have helped to create bi-monthly newsletters, moderate online discussions on the theme of migration, proof-read documents, and assist with website construction and management. Currently they are helping in the creation of a Youth Action Guide as well.

If anyone wishes to know more, they can contract Shimrit Janes, one of our lead volunteers, at Janes@ypwc.org.

We communicate via email and also through social networks. On urgent matters we use SKYPE phone calls or have instant chats.

I work with our YPWC staff to create opportunities for online volunteers. I assist online volunteers if they need more details about volunteer opportunities. I provide input to ensure that the tools or materials being created will actually meet the objectives of the project for which they are being designed.

They come from all over the world: United Kingdom, Canada, Cameroon, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Bulgaria, India, and USA.

We know that blogging is very effective in sharing and spreading knowledge and ideas, especially for those who traditionally do not have a “voice”—and that usually means youth. As such, the YPWC Blog has been created to meet one of our main objectives: to provide a “youthful voice” for the leaders of tomorrow.

We’re encouraging YPWC’s staff, volunteers and friends to write and engage in discussions concerning the thematic areas of YPWC’s work like youth and migration. We hope it will provide an ongoing platform to showcase YPWC’s work and that of those connected with YPWC, too.

We are now inviting writers to come and post. If you are interested, please visit our info page for more details.

How will it work? Who’s managing it? What do you hope to achieve from it?

We are looking for original content. We do have guidelines about posting that will be provided upon acceptance to post, including obtaining permission from copyright owners before posting copyrighted materials, and verifying facts before posting–all the usual conditions. We're OK with posts on our blog being posted elsewhere, provided YPWC is credited and the actual blog post is linked to.

The Blog is being managed by YPWC’s Online Community Manager who can be reached at Oluwakorede.Asuni@ypwc.org

For now we are not connected with any Ghanaian bloggers, which we hope to change. We have received applications from Nigerian bloggers, which is excellent.

Currently, our most active social media network is Facebook. You can check out our page here.

I hope to specialize in migration issues in future and continue to connect with youth everywhere to take action for change.

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your fantastic experiences working with young people in Ghana and telling us how you are making the most of new media.

A Nigerian performer impersonates Michael Jackson at a concert in Abuja. Photo courtesy of N.R. on Flickr.

The death of American pop star Michael Jackson has sparked an outpouring of emotion from nearly every corner of the world. Fans are sharing their memories of Jackson on his official site in nearly a dozen languages, and the news made the front page of papers across the globe.

In Africa, bloggers are paying tribute to the King of Pop by posting pictures and music videos. Writing from Nigeria, Oluniyi David Ajao offers a list of his 26 favorite Michael Jackson songs, while Ugandan blogger Serakelz honors Jackson's memory with instructions on how to do the moonwalk, a dance move created by Jackson.

In Ghana, Kent Mensah of Africa News collects reactions to Jackson's passing on Twitter and Facebook:

“Africa loves Michael Jackson… from birth you learn how to survive and that Michael Jackson is music… the most famous musician ever,” Rasco Patterson said on twitter @chickenwang4.

“Make this world a better place for me and you these are the words from a true legend like Michael Jackson. I will always remember you Waco Jaco,” Elton Afari, Accra, Ghana said on Facebook.

Echoing the sentiments of many African fans, Sudanese Thinker remembers the pop star fondly:

In a lot of ways Michael Jackson was my childhood. His music filled it with lots of joy and beautiful memories. It uplifted me when I was down. It made me happy when I was sad.

And as awkward and flawed as he was, I will dearly miss him and his talents.

And Ugandan blogger Dickson Wasake honors Jackson with a poem:

On the death of Michael Jackson;
The tears fill the earth,
Black or white;
The Liberian girl cries,
And so does dirty Diana,
even the stranger in Moscow,
We all scream;
“Oh it’s too bad; oh it’s too sad;
The king is gone too soon,
And I just can’t stop loving him!”

Though many bloggers are grieving over Jackson's death, others are questioning his eccentricities, including his changing skin color. In Ghana, blogger Emmanuel Bensa laments:

….the African culture tells us that we don't speak ill of the dead–and I am not about to do so anytime soon, but what I will do is to categorically state how much of a bad decision it was to become a white man.

Black is beautiful–and it will forever be so. As a Black Man, Michael Jackson had the looks, the voice; the talent. Oh what a shame.

For Ugandan blogger Rosebell, Jackson's death prompted reflections on why the news pays so much more attention to the death of a pop star than to other tragedies:

As I watched the reaction around the world to Jackson’s death I wondered if really all humans can ever be equal. Not that I don’t recognise MJ’s contribution to music and his great talent, I would be naïve to do so, but I wonder why we no longer get the shock when we see death around the world. Everyone seemed to say oh he died young at 50, and then I thought that actually in Uganda life expectancy is at 50. Do you know in many African countries dying of old age is almost history? Do you know that this shock we feel at the loss MJ’s death, many Iraqis face it everyday? The fear for the loss of their own lives and the puzzles of how their children will grow, grips people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Omar Basawad of Safari Notes dismisses these criticisms, focusing on Jackson's legendary talent:

Whatever might be said about Michael Jackson, whatever one might think of him - one thing is certain: he defined an era.

“RIP MJ,” writes Kenyan blogger WildeYearnings. “You now have the whole sky to moonwalk on…”