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Interview: Hans-Peter Kriegs
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A first-hand impression of Africa | |
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| Hans-Peter Kriegs, legal adviser at the Federal Agency for Civic Education, spent a week in Ghana and Nigeria in December 2009 on behalf of the project "Go Africa...Go Germany". The trip altered his perspective on life in Germany.
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| Rhaban Schulze Horn (left) with Femi Longe and Hans-Peter Kriegs. |
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Why did you travel to Africa?
Hans-Peter Kriegs: We Mr. Schulze Horn and I were looking for travel agencies for the "Go Africa... Go Germany" scholarship holder programme in March 2010 that could organise the trip locally in Ghana and Nigeria in accordance with the programme. The Procurement Office had recommended that we look at travel agencies in the countries themselves.
Have you been successful?
Hans-Peter Kriegs: Yes. We looked at and assessed a number of travel agencies in Ghana and managed to contract a suitable travel agency. However, it was most difficult to find any travel agency at all in Nigeria, which is definitely not a tourist country. We also inspected hotels. However, there is no comparison between their standards and ours. Most of the hotels are in very poor condition but in the end we did manage to find adequate accommodation.
What did your job as a legal adviser involve?
Hans-Peter Kriegs: My role initially was that of an observer during negotiations or discussions. I only became actively involved when it came to costs. I asked questions when unclear issues arose in order to ensure that the services we required would actually be provided. After the appointments, we discussed whether an agency or a representative of an agency was trustworthy and capable of doing the job.
What impressions did you gain of the two countries?
Hans-Peter Kriegs: First of all, one needs to make a distinction between Ghana and Nigeria. In Ghana, I was in Accra, In Nigeria, I was in Lagos. For a European like me who had never been to Africa before Ghana is "Africa light", so to speak. You felt safe and were able to walk the streets without danger. The infrastructure in Ghana is much better than in Nigeria, tourism is being gradually promoted. The first shoots of tourism are visible. The people are open towards us foreigners and are most helpful. They refer to us as "white bread"! When we asked directions, people looked like they wanted to take us by the hand and guide us there. But even in Ghana, I noticed the poor conditions the people often have to live in. There are slums and poverty is visible.
What about Nigeria?
Hans-Peter Kriegs: I felt threatened almost permanently in Nigeria, poverty there is far worse than in Ghana. I was shocked to see that in this day and age there can still be such abject poverty and that people are simply left to fend for themselves. Nobody looks after these people, there is no social welfare system in place. I had never seen an actual slum before. You simply cannot imagine the sights I saw. There is no sewerage system. People urinate and defecate in front of their door or straight into an open drain. They live from hand to mouth. Some of the slums sprawl into the lagoon and are built on wooden stilts.
On the other hand, you see rich people driving through the streets in luxury cars. They live outside the city on properties that are protected by high walls, iron gates and guards. I also noticed that whole streets were sealed off by steel gates. The gap between rich and poor is enormous.
Did you also feel personally threatened?
Hans-Peter Kriegs: Yes, I did, on the day we were leaving Lagos. Our contact in Lagos, Mr. Longe, wanted to show us the beach on our way to the airport. Why not enjoy the setting sun and take a couple of nice photographs? However, this situation became dangerous we drove to the beach and parked our car in a carpark. There, we were harassed by six to eight young Nigerians, some of whom were under the influence of alcohol or drugs. They wanted to charge us to view the beach. We refused. The situation escalated. In the end, an older Nigerian man intervened and started arguing with the young people. We seized the opportunity to get into our car and drove away.
Why do you think the situation is so much worse in Nigeria?
Hans-Peter Kriegs: Before the trip, I received a lot of information from my wife, who teaches geography, among other subjects, and was able to tell me a few things about Nigeria: about the abundant oil resources, which unfortunately do not benefit the people of Nigeria but rather the rich oil companies, about the people from rural areas who are trying in vain to earn a living in the large cities, especially Lagos, and about the fact that corruption is rife and that no social welfare exists.
What impressions did you take back to Germany from the trip?
Hans-Peter Kriegs: I definitely gained a different perspective. When you experience this poverty, especially in Lagos, first-hand and not on television and then return to Germany, you truly realise what a privilege it is to have been born here. We live the life of Riley. People there practically live from hand to mouth while we are thinking about where we might like to go on a lovely holiday in seven or eight months time. I also try to impress this upon my children, who are constantly making more and more demands and are influenced more by those who are better off than by those who are worse off than them.
Hans-Peter Kriegs was interviewed by Miriam Vogel on February 3rd, 2010.
23. Februar 2010 | |
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Informationen zur politischen Bildung |
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Afrika - Schwerpunktthemen
Die Lebenswelten in Afrika sind vielfältig und vielschichtig, doch es gibt auch geteilte Herausforderungen: Klimawandel, Migration, Urbanisierung, die Entstehung demokratischer Zivilgesellschaften. Das Heft beleuchtet diese zentralen Aspekte. |
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Informationen zur politischen Bildung |
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Afrika Länder und Regionen
Afrikas Vielfalt und Afrikas Gemeinsamkeiten: Ein Überblick mit Schwerpunkt auf Politik und Wirtschaft erschließt die fünf Großräume des Kontinents und Länder, die für ihre Region charakteristisch oder besonders bedeutsam sind. |
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