The promise and possibilities of running in and out of Africa: Survey Results of Top East African Women Runners

First paragraph of introduction: In addressing the promise and possibilities of running in and out of Africa this contribution begins by making a number of introductory remarks. First, that while it draws evidence from specific parts of Africa, notably Kenya and Ethiopia, many of the themes in this chapter could relate to other parts of Africa in the 21st century. With a population of about 690 million people living in 53 countries and one disputed territory, covering a total area of 11.7million square miles, Africa is the world’s second- largest continent (Meredith, 2005). The Sahara covers 3.3 million square miles, almost 25 per cent of land mass. Cairo is the biggest city in Africa, home to 9.2 million people. Sudan is the largest country covering 968,000 square miles but the most populated country in Africa is Nigeria, which, with more than 125 million people, is also the tenth most populated country in the world. Liberia has not only the highest unemployment rate in Africa (85%) but the highest in the world. Angola has the highest infant mortality rate, 192.5 deaths per 1,000 live births, while 18 of the top 20 countries world-wide with the highest infant mortality rates are in Africa. The richest country in Africa per capita is Mauritius, with US$11,400 of GDP per head. Somalia and Niger are amongst the world’s poorest countries with Somalia, the second poorest in the world, at $500 of GDP per capita. Sixteen African countries are in the top 20 poorest in the world, with 70% of Africa’s population surviving on less than $2 a day. To put this in some comparative context, for the season 2003-4 the wage and transfer bill of the four English football divisions stood at £1,049billion, a figure which eclipses the gross domestic product of some small African nations such as Lesotho and Mauritania, and could wipe out most of the debt of many countries both within and outside of Africa. The first point then is that the relational position of Africa in the world and the relations that make up Africa itself are complex, and uneven in the same way that the social and economic resources that flow in and out of parts of Africa are also complex, uneven, differentiated and in some cases unjust