Monday, October 27, 2008

Putting things in perspective

The New York Times Saturday Profile highlights a musician from Mozambique. In addition to his career as a musician, he runs an organization which promotes clean water and safe sanitation. Mainly, they install concrete latrines.

When you look at how badly your 401K is doing, consider these statistics for Mozambique: (from the BBC Country Profile)

Between 1977 and 1992 up to a million Mozambicans died from fighting and famine in a war that ruined the economy and much of the countryside. The country has been left with a legacy of landmines and amputees.

Life expectancy: 42 years (men), 42 years (women) (UN)

GNI per capita: US $310 (World Bank, 2006)



The movie, Madagascar:Escape 2 Africa, will be released November 7th.

The premise of the movie is the animals leave Madagascar and end up on the mainland of Africa. If one assumes they land on the spot just west of Madagascar, they will be in Mozambique.

Unfortunately, I don't think the movie will make any mention of the country. That's too bad. Mozambique could use some tourism promotion.

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