Ricardo Lima is one of the scientists working on Sao Tome Para treinar tecnicas de censo de aves, os alunos tiveram que descobrir uma serie de especies novas para a Ciencia ao longo de uma das Avenidas da capital! To train techniques for the discovery of birds, students had to discover a series of new […]
I write by hand in the moleskine that won my love. The flight to Praia delayed over an hour. TAAG flight leaving Luanda with a stop in Sao Tome and Sal. Leave Sao Tome with a good impression. I did not go to Principe. It would take more time. Next time. In the future, with […]
I first wrote about the One Laptop Per Child project in Sao Tomé this February. A group of University of Illinois students brought OLPC computers to Sao Tomé in summer 2009, as part of their internship program. Later, in October 2009, Beth Santos followed up with her own project, making sure laptops were used throughout the school. […]
Saotomeblog is inviting You to contribute stories. The following story was submitted by Sergio trough Facebook. You can also use the big organge “Submit Your Story” button above on the right. Since Kris has kindly invited me to write something on my experiences in Sao Tome, please allow me to mention just 7 of the […]
November 1975: The final exodus of the Portuguese in Angola. A plane packed full of people and overloaded, approaches São Tomé and Principe across the Gulf of Guinea. Inside, the silent crowd, a young couple holding hands, pretending to sleep. José, an agricultural engineer, expert on coffee plantations, worried about the future. Luisa, a teacher, this time not […]
Manfred Galland is German. But he’s lived in Africa for almost 50 years, and first came to Sao Tomé over 30 years ago. Manfred has been the director of the Miramar Hotel for 12 years, and previously led the Polana hotel in Maputo, Mozambique. Standing inside his hotel, Manfred has no idea about the young man outside, devouring […]
The Liceo Nacional, the main high school of São Tomé. It is on the Marginal on the east side of town, facing the water. The main Liceo building was built by the Portuguese in 1969. It is pink and looks pretty, but it is also concrete and badly ventilated. Temperatures in the classrooms – often […]
Cocoa plants survive on the fields of Claudio Corallo. Cocoa is the largest export of the country. This is what Corallo was after, when he first came to Sao Tome over 30 years ago.
Apparently, the airport in São Tomé is in danger of being shut down, because of a impeding ban by the International Civil Aviation Organization, following an inspection in January. Companies flying the Santomean flag were previously banned from flying into European airspace, for lax safety measures. According to Tela Non, the islands will have to implement fundamental […]
We’ve previously listed blogs covering Sao Tome & Principe. As the Santomean blogosphere is tiny, one might say non-existent, most of the discussion goes on around stories produced by newspapers. So today we give you a list of all the Santomean newspapers that are available online – enjoy! Obviously, these newspapers are in Portuguese, so you […]
São Tomé, like the calm sea, rolling softly on the beach of Ana Chaves Bay, remains quiet and almost frozen in time. As if we had retreated 30 years. Or maybe more. Marks of the past are everywhere. The streets are wide and without traffic. And the low houses of colonial origin, show, in many cases, […]
The scene is impressive. Hundreds of women washing their clothes in a river. On a road to one of the Roças (plantations) of São Tomé. The river crosses the island, and then flows into the Atlantic. Clothes are hanging on the rocks, and on the bare soil. When done, the women, and children, mostly girls, with basins […]
Fradique de Menezes, the President of Sao Tome e Principe, has announced by decree that next Santomean municipal elections will take place on the 25th of July, followed by Parliamentary elections on the 1st of August. The announcement was released on radio and television late Wednesday night. Here’s a list of coverage (in Portuguese) by various news sources […]
This is a special tribute to an iconic Santomean poet, an important figure in the national movement, who has left the Santomean community. Alda Graça do Espírito Santo Poet and a great exponent of Saotomean nationalism. The author of “Trinity” and other verses that inspired nationalism in Sao Tome, Alda Graça do Espírito Santo, died. […]
This week I found out about the Santomean OLPC project. Chica Umeadi was one of the volunteers who deployed the first XO laptops at the São João school in summer 2009. They want to “revolutionize how children learn through the use of technology”. First Deployment One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) volunteers had difficulties in getting […]
This is a roundup of all the bloggers I’ve found that blog about Sao Tome & Principe. This is the full list including inactive blogs (noted). Most of the are in Portuguese (the ones dealing with the OLPC project are in English). If your blog is missing, get in touch with me, and I’ll see […]
I was inspired to start writing this blog by a few people I met in Lisbon. This is my first real attempt (with consistent updates and everything) at writing a blog so we’ll see how it goes. I am sure we will improve things with time. Africa is Changing When I heard that 2009 […]
Ambassador Mart Tarmak and Ambassador Alda Alves de Melo signed diplomatic relations between Estonia and Sao Tome and Principe in May 2009. Tarmak said Sao Tome would make a good tourist destination for Estonians.