Like his own body, Arafat s familiar world was steadily fading away with irreversible loss of control.

Bassel isn t coming back and every day the hope that he will ever come back fades away... Holding on to hope is something beautiful and powerful.

Against the background of the past failures, there has been much cynicism and concern, not least in Africa itself, that the new millennial momentum will fizzle away.

Still, where mainstream media interest wanes, we're the ones who strive to continue documenting what local bloggers everywhere need the world to know.