The fact that you are alive is proof that you are becoming something.

What you have become today is a product of the choices, decisions, indecisions, actions and inactions of yesterday.

What you will become tomorrow is a function of today’s choices, decisions, indecisions, actions and inactions.

The truth stands that you are becoming something.

The question then is what are you becoming?

In a world where too many people are on autopilot: doing the same thing every day, without thinking, and expecting that out-of-the-blues breakthrough, we must stop and think.

If I continue living, acting and reacting as I currently do, what will I become in ten (10) years?

The answer to that question is the key to a meaningful existence

There are three great painters of old;

Leonardo da Vinci who painted Mona Lisa, Michaelangelo who painted the Sistine Chapel and Pablo Picasso who invented the art form known as Cubism

Picasso had this to say about his life:

My mum said to me

If you become a monk, you will end up the pope

If you join the army, you end up a general

So I became a painter and wound up as Pablo Picasso

What are you becoming and how well are you becoming what you are becoming?

Welcome to Become Excellence where we are committed to equipping you to Become EXCELLENCE.

You can be the best, don’t settle for anything else.

- BarCamp Abidjan has just begun!! And it will be on, until Sunday. You can follow live updates on Twitter from @africamps, or through the tag #bcbabi. Looking forward to all the sessions and talks!!

- Regarding African politics this week, well, no one can doubt the man's entertainment value. This week Zuma visited the UK, where he accused the British media of seeing Africans as "barbaric". Not only Zuma's personal life, but also his attitude, declarations, and the state of South African politics led to plenty of comments on the media - from the ridiculous (the Daily Mail column that rightly ofended Zuma), to this article by Mark Gevisser and even today's editorial on The Guardian (partly siding with Zuma in criticising the media's "undertone of imperial snobbishness" and a "British national weakness for thinking of foreign leaders in the most simplistic, comic-book terms".

- Togolese elections yesterday, apperaed to have gone smoothly. For all the information tune to the African Elections Togo site - here

- After China and India, attention now turns to new "emergent" powers in Africa - Iran (and Israel). See this article on the Economist and this one by the Deutsche-Welle.

- This week's issue of Pambazuka News carries plenty of interesting articles, on various topics such as Zimbabwe's unity government's staggering from pillar to post, (incidentally, we have also recently learnt that external support for the regime is in decline, after China affirmed it does not consider Zimbabwe a "friend"); US interference in Nigeria's constitutional crisis; how Abahlali baseMjondolo is gathering strengthafter the Kennedy Road evictions and a Campaign for democracy in Swaziland.

- Global Voices carries this week two interesting articles on the topic - first is a mention to this very interesting article on Afromusing from early February (which I read at the time but forgot to share), and also this piece by Rebekah Heacock on whether "Is ICT all it's cracked up to be?". She discusses how, in Sudan for example, some ICT4D (ICT for development) initiatives that are all the hype at the moment, have failed to produce results. A test to see how far citizen involvement on politics can go, she argues, will be the forthcoming Sudanese elections. And just to prove the point of ICT4D being fashionable, the World bank has launched "a new online game, Evoke, to channel gamer obsession and time (3 billion hours per week) into solving Africa's problems" (via Bombastic Element)

- Away from politics, A Bombastic Element has an entry on the latest news and initiatives around Bushpunk (definition here), and on the recently concluded Design Indaba.

- And Africa Is A Country shares his enthusiasm for the forthcoming Pop Africana Magazine.

Click on the picture to see the magazine's site

The United Nations announced the deaths of at least 140 people in clashes in Warrap state, southern Sudan. Local sources suggest an inter-tribal conflict, but the circumstances of the clashes are still very fuzzy.

• Sudan: At least 140 violent deaths in one week in the south (jeuneafrique.com)

TORIT, southern Sudan, Dec 17 (IPS) - All day Rosalinda Duany sells vegetables from her stall at the local market, earning a living to feed her family while her husband spends his days idling with his friends. But when his days become too boring and he demands his conjugal rights, Duany wordlessly stops work just to oblige him.

• South Sudan: Women Perpetuate Culture of Submission. (ipsnews.net)